TOMATO RASAM

Usually on sunday afternoon we indulge ourselfs without keeping an eye on calories...So for dinner we prefer something light thats when I make rasam and have our dinner with just rasam and some thoran..

Ingredients

Tomato -5

Toor dhal- less than 1/4 cup

garlic - 5-6 pods

redchilly powder- 1/2 tsp

turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

pepper powder - 1/4 tsp

coriander leaves

curry leaves

cumin seeds

asafoetida- pinch

Preparation

Cook toor dhal in a pressure cooker by adding more water .Take the stock and add little of cooked dhal to the stock.

In saucepan add oil and add cumin seeds and crushed garlic and stir for few seconds. Add chopped tomatoes , redchilly powder,tumeric powder,pepper powder,salt and stir for few mintes. Add toor dhal stock and cook for 20 minutes.

In a pan take some oil sputter mustard seeds,add curry leaves and a pinch of asafoetida.Stir for few seconds. Add this to rasam.

Garnish rasam with chopped coriander leaves.

Glass painting

I love to do painting..But now adays I dont have enough time for my craft works..Here is one of my glass painting which I did long time back...

Tandoori chicken in oven

Recipe adapted from Vahchef

Chicken legs- 1 kilogram
Kashmiri red chilli powder - 2 tbs
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 1/2 tbs
Garam masala/chicken  masala - 1 tsp
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Cumin Powder- 1 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 3 tsp
Yogurt - 4 tbs
Lime juice - 2 tbs
kasoori methi powder - 2 tsp
Salt
Oil - 4 tbs + extra for basting

Preparation

1.Marinate the chicken legs with all the ingredients and keep it at least for 1-2 hrs or preferably overnight.
2.Place them in a tray and cook in a preheated oven at 180 degree C for 40 minutes, basting it with oil every  10 -15minutes and  flipping sides half way through( this is important as this keeps the chicken juicy )

Enjoy hot !

Ney payasam

Ingredients

Rice - 1/2 cup

Jaggery- 1 1/2 - 2 cup

Ghee - 1/2 cup

cahshewnut

cardamom powder

Preparation

Cook rice and keep aside

Melt jaggery by adding little water in a saucepan , add cooked rice to it and cook for few minutes. Add ghee slowly to the mixture.Simmer the stove until the payasam becomes thick . For the aroma add little cardamom powder.

Fry cashewnuts in ghee and garnish the payasam with cashewnuts.

We usually dont make this payasam at home ,we get this payasam from temple as prasadam.Usually in ney payasam a lot of ghee is added ,its very very rich...I didn't add that much ghee ...Those who are not scared of eating more ghee can add 1 to 1 1/2 cup ghee.

Chicken Curry

Back home in Kannur my mom make varutharacha chicken curry ,but I am not a big fan of varutharacha curry,but if we want more gravy then there is no other option rather than varutharakkal. If there is any non malayalees reading this they might be wondering what varutharakkal is ..We saute grated coconut in coconut oil till it becomes dark brown in colour and then grind it in a mixie to get a smooth paste that is what we call varuthrakkal. To add taste we add curry leaves, redchillies, shallots, cinnamon sticks, fennelseeds, cardamom , pepper pods, garlic , cloves etc to grated coconut .The aroma of that paste is so good.This is not the recipe that I am going to post now.

Here goes my recipe

Ingredients
Onions - 5 large
Green chillies - 4-5
Curry leaves
Tomatoes - 1-2
Ginger garlic paste- 11/2 tablespoon
Redchilly powder - 2tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Chicken masala - 2 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1tsp (By grinding same ratio of cinnamon sticks,cloves ,fennel seeds and cardamom )
salt
coriander leaves
Chicken 1 kg

Marinate chicken pieces with redchilly powder,turmeric powder,chicken masala,Coriander powder and salt .Keep it aside for 1/2 an hour

Saute onions is a saucepan till it become light brown in colour ,add chopped tomatoes,ginger garlic paste,green chillies,curryleaves and saute for few minutes. Add marinated chicken piece and cook until chicken is cooked. Add pepper powder and garam masala powder and let it boil for few minutes.Garnish with coriander leaves

I usually dont add water or coconut milk to the curry as we get lot of water from chicken itself,the gravy will be much more tastier if we dont add water or coconut milk.But if we want more gravy add some water while cooking chicken or if coconut milk is your choice add coconut milk after the chicken is cooked. Adding grinded coconut is another option which also tastes good.

Dhal and Seafood

I am dedicating this recipe to my 13 month old baby as this curry was an experiment I tried to make him eat rice. When he was around 7 months I started giving rice to him with parippu as curry, Just the plain parippu with salt and turmeric..but later on I started adding vegetables to parippu so that he will eat vegetables aswell. I didnt gave him any meat or fish till his first birthday..I thought let him be a pure vegeterian till his birthday..Soon after his birthday I gave him meat and fish and he liked it very much ..After having meat and fish for fewdays I cooked a vegetable curry last week but he started spitting rice without meat or fish..I tried the vegetable curry next day also, but again he started spitting and I didnt want to starve him....Thats how I made this dish which is very easy if you have seafood collection in your freezer.

Ingredients
toor daal - 1/4 cup
Onions - 2
Tomato - 1
Green chillies-2-3
Curry leaves
Garlic -2-3 pods
chilly powder - 1 tsp
turmeric powder - little
coriander powder- 1 1/2 tsp
chicken masala - 1 tsp
salt
seafood collection( prawns,mussels,scallops etc)

Preparation
Saute onions till pink in colour add chopped tomato saute for few minutes till it become a paste. Add greenchillies, garlic,curry leaves and all the powders and add some water.Add seafood collection and cook.
Cook toor daal in a pressure cooker and pour it to the curry mixture.Let the mixture boil for few minutes. our curry is ready..Garnish with coriander leaves.