Kovakka Urulakizhangu Thoran ( Ivy gourd potato stir fry)

I never liked kovakka when I grew up but after marriage my mother in law used to make kovakka with potato and it tasted great.The combination with potato makes this thoran yummy and now Ivy gourd has become my favourite thoran.Here is my mother in law's recipe..

Ingredients

Kovakka(Ivy gourd) - 250 gm
Potato - 1
Tomato - 1/2
Onion -1
Green chillies- 2-3
Pepper powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt
Curry leaves
Grated coconut - 3-4 tbs

Preparation

In a pan take some oil and sputter mustard seeds.Add chopped onions and saute for few minutes.Add chopped kovakka(chopped lengthwise), potato and tomato together with green chillies,turmeric and pepper powder. Add salt and water and cook .When it is almost cooked add grated conut and curry leaves and cook for few more minutes.

Kadala curry ( Black channa curry)

Ingredients

Kadala(Black channa) - 3/4 cup
Onion -1
Green chillies -2
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1tsp
Pepper powder -1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1tbs
Coriander powder - 2 tbs
Chicken masala powder - 1 tbs
Ginger chopped -1tbs
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves
Red chillies -2
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Oil
salt

Preparation

Soak kadala overnight.

Grind the grated coconut in a mixie by adding little turmeric powder and cumin seeds into a smooth paste.

In a pressure cooker,cook kadala by adding water along with chopped onions, ginger and green chillies to 3 whistle.Add ground coconut,salt and all the spice powders and cook for few minutes.

Tempering

In a pan add some oil sputter mustard seeds ,then add red chillies and curry leaves.Add this to the gravy.

Ceramic work and Awards

These 2 pot works are ceramic work that I did long time ago..

Its award time again...

Devi has been very kind enough to share this award with me.Thank you so much Devi.


Priya of Priya's recipe has shared this beautiful award with me. She always share her awards with me, she is a sweet friend.Thank you so much Priya.

Sowmya , my new friend has shared 2 awards with me .Thank you much Sowmya, It means a lot to me.




I would like share all the awards with all my blogger friends .Please accept it.

Hyderabadi chicken biriyani in cooker

Hyderabadi biriyani needs no introduction. Its very famous in India and I have tasted this so many times from hyderbadi restaurants in Pune. It was my cousin sister who told me that she makes hyderbadi biriyani at home which always turns out good for her. She was following an online recipe. You can find the original recipe here. When I tried it first, I followed the recipe exactly as mentioned. Second time, I made a few changes and turned out better. In the original recipe the chef is using fried onions, but in my version, to be more healthy, I sauted onions till it was golden brown. Also, in the original recipe javantri is a key ingredient but since I didn't like the taste of javantri(mace) I didnt use it. Since hyderbadi biriyani is a dum biriyani, the steam should not escape when cooking it. First time, I sealed the vessel with flour, but second time I tried it in pressure cooker, which gave an awesome result. The rice was very soft and tender.

Here goes the recipe...

Ingredients

To marinate

Chicken - 750 gm
Green chillies -3
Ginger garlic paste - 2tbs
Cinnamon sticks -2
Cloves -5
Cardamom -4 pods
Cumin seeds -1tsp
Corainder powder - 2 tbs
Chilly powder -1tbs
Pepper powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Mint leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few
Salt
Yogurt - 3/4 cup

For Biriyani

Onions -3
Basmathi rice - 3 cup
Fried onions to garnish
Saffron water

Preparation

Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients and keep it aside for 1-2 hrs.

Soak rice in water for 30 minutes.Boil water in a vessel and add rice to boiling water.Cook the rice till it is half done.Drain the water.

In a pressure cooker add oil and saute the chopped onions till golden brown.Turn off the stove and add the marinated chicken and mix well. Above the chicken layer spread the half cooked rice and sprinkle the saffron water.Cover the pressure cooker and put the weight.Cook on a high flame for about 5 minutes and 10 minutes on a medium flame and 15 minutes on a low flame.

Garnish with fried onions and mint leaves.

Masala dosha

Ingredients (for dosha)

Rice - 1 cup
Urad dal - 1/4cup
Chana dal- 1/4 cup
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tbs
Rice flakes/poha/avil - handful
salt
oil/ghee

Preparation

Soak rice,urad dal,chana dal and fenugreek seeds for 6-7 hrs . Add rice flakes to the soaked ingredients and let it soak for 10 - 15 minutes. Add cooked rice to soaked ingredients and grind by adding enough water . Allow it to ferment overnight( I kept it 2 overnights because of the cold weather here).Add salt to the batter and mix well.
Heat a non stick pan /griddle, rub some oil/ghee on the pan and pour one laddle of batter and spread it with bottom of the laddle as thin as possible.Cook it covered for 1-2 minutes.When the bottom of the dosha is brown and crisp its ready!!

Rava idly

Ingredients

Rava - 1 cup
Yogurt - 1 cup
Water - 1/2 cup(as required)
carrot -1 (very finely chopped)
Urad dal- 1tsp
Green chillies -2
Curry leaves - few
Asafoetida -pinch
Baking soda -1/4 tsp
Salt

Preparation

In a pan take some oil and sputter mustard seeds,add urad dal and stir until it becomes light brown.Add finely chopped carrot, green chillies and curry leaves and stir for few seconds.Add rava and asafoetida and stir until rava gets roasted.Allow it cool down.
Add yogurt and water to the rava mixture and mix well.Finally add salt and baking soda to the batter.Pour the batter into a greased idly maker and steam it for 15 seconds.

Broccoli and prawns stir fry( broccoli and chemmen thoran) and an award

Ingredients
Broccoli -1
onion - 1
prawns - 3/4 cup
Green chillies -3
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Grated coconut - 2-3 tbs
Curry leaves - few
salt

Preparation
In a pan take some oil and sputter mustard seeds,add chopped onions and saute well until onions become soft. Add broccoli florets, and prawns. Add green chillies,turmeric powder,pepper powder,salt and cook it covered.When it almost cooked add grated cocnut and curry leaves and saute for few seconds and turn off the flame.

Award time again...

My friend Dolly has passed this beautiful award to me...I am so happy and thrilled to receive this award...Thank you Dolly for this beautiful award and for all the support you give me through your encouraging comments.



I would like to pass this award to all my blogger friends.Please accept it .

Pepper chicken

Ingredients
Chicken - 600 gm
onion - 3
Tomato -2
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbs
Cinnamon /patta - 1 stick
Cardamom/ elakka - 2 pods
Clove/ grambu -3
Bay leaf -1
Star anise / thakkolam -1
Fennel seeds/ perum jeerakam - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds / jeerakam - 1/4 tsp
Pepper corns/ kurumulaku - As per your taste  ( for crushing in the end )
Curry leaves
To marinate
Redchilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Pepper powder - 1 tbs
Coriander powder - 2 tbs
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Salt

Preparation

1. Marinate the chicken with red chilly powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, pepper powder and half of the ginger garlic paste and keep aside for 1 hour.
2. In a saucepan add some oil and sputter cumin seeds and fennel seeds.
3.  Add the whole spices and stir for few seconds.
4. Add finely chopped onions and saute until it becomes brown in colour.
5. Add rest of the ginger garlic paste and saute again until the raw smell goes. 
6. Add chopped tomatoes and saute until it is well cooked and mushy. 
7. Add  marinated chicken to this  and stir well.
8. Cook coverd in a lowflame. Donot add any water as chicken itself will leave water while cooking.When chicken is almost cooked add freshly crushed peppercorns and curry leaves.To make the gravy dry, cook for fewminutes taking the lid off untill the chicken is well coated in the gravy.                                                                                                                                                           

Rogan josh

During our 1 year stay in Pune (back in 2006), me and my hubby  used to go out for dinner every Friday night and treat ourselves with a three course dinner. I really miss those beautiful Friday nights. We covered so many restaurants in the city and tried all types of cuisines available there. But among all restauranst my fvoutite one was a Kashmiri restaurant. It was from there, I tasted this wonderful dish for the  first time. The taste was so incredible that every time I go there I ended up ordering the same thing.   This was my first attempt to prepare this at home, I did little google search, went through so many recipes and finally made my version. I made this for dinner and luckily it came out well and I was planning to take a picture next day during daylight but nothing was left after the dinner :( Here goes the recipe. 

Updated with a new picture  - I still follow the same recipe and has been making this for so many years! Jan 2021

  Ingredients 

Lamb - 500 g ( diced)

Onion - 3

 Tomato - 2 small or 1 large

Green chillies -2 

Cinnamon stick -1 

Bayleaf - 1 

Cardamom pods -1 

Cloves -2 

Cumin - 1 tsp

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbs 

Kashmiri redchilly powder - 1 tsp

 Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp 

Coraiander powder - 2 tsp 

Garam masala - 1 tsp

 Yogurt -2 tbs 

Salt

corianader leaves

Preparation

In a saucepan take some oil sputter some cumin seeds, add the whole spices (cinnamom, cloves, cardamom, bayleaf) and stir for few seconds.

Add the finely chopped onions to it and saute until onions becomes soft. 

Add ginger garlic paste and stir again.

Add all powders and stir until the raw smell goes. Add the diced lamb and fry it for few minutes till the meat becomes little brown. 

Add tomato puree and stir for few minutes.

Finally add the yogurt and cook it uncovered for 5 minutes.

When it is about to boil simmer it cook on a low heat , strirring occassionally until the meat is well cooked. It took 1 hour for me.. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Pancake

I love pancakes not just because its yummy but it the easiest breakfast that anyone can cook.
Egg,milk and fruits makes it nutrious as well. Feeding my toddler is a tough job for me but when I make this I dont have to run after him, he will come after me..he loves it,thats why I love this pancake :)

Ingredients

Self raising flour/All purpose flour - 1 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Egg - 1
Grated fruit(I used apple) - 1 apple
Baking soda(optional) If you are using all purpose flour add 1/4 tsp baking soda ,no need to add for selfraising flour
salt - pinch
Butter - as required

For serving

Yoghurt
Honey

Preparation

In a mixing bowl take flour,add milk,egg,baking soda and a pinch of salt.Whisk until the batter is smooth. Add grated fruit and mix .
Heat a pan add little butter and when it melts pour a laddle of batter.Cook it uncovered.When the bottom side is golden brown flip them over and cook for a 1-2 minutes or until they are done.
Serve pancake with yoghurt and honey, by drizzling honey over yoghurt.

Recipe courtsey
Jamie oliver, channel 4