Pigeon Peas Thoran

Yet another week passed by and its only today I got some time for blogging.Last week I got an opportunity to Volunteer my lil A's nursery for their visit to Local library, I throughly enjoyed being with Nursery kids. It was a tough job to make 25 kids walk through the pavement of busy roads,making them cross the signal etc etc.They had a big rope with strings attached on each side of the rope and each one has to hold a string tightly and never let it go,and I was surprised how the kids listened and behaved !! Just before they entered the library they were asked to keep fingers on their lips and to be quiet (SHHHH) and guess what they didnt utter a word !!

Anyway coming to todays topic,Pigeon peas is my new discovery,I had no idea how to cook it or how long it will take to cook when I bought it , first time I tried to cook it a saucepan and waited for 20 mins,but there was no sign of pigeon peas getting cooked so I transferred it to a pressure cooker and gave 2 whistles ,voila ! it was cooked,and thoran was so delicious and I loved it.I am going to make this a regular in my kitchen from now on.

Here goes my recipe

Ingredients

Pigeon peas -250gm

Shallots - 7-8

Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

Red chilly powder- 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/3 tsp

Salt

Curry leaves

Preparation

Pressure cook pigeon peas with 1/8 cup of water adding redchilly powder,turmeric and salt.

Make a coarse paste of shallots and grated coconut and add this to cooked pigeon peas .

Cook the pigeon peas for 1-2 minutes until the raw taste of shallots and coconut goes.

In a pan ad oil and sputter some mustard seeds and add curry leaves to.

Add this to cooked pigeon peas and mix .

Toast with spinach and fried egg(Quick and healthy breakfast option for kids)

Last few days has been so eventful and hectic for me and my lil one. My lil one started Nursery in a Primary School and since he got the afternoon session we have been finding it so hard to find a routine. Giving lunch at 11.30 a.m was the biggest challenge for me,we both are getting slowly adjusted to the new routine. He used to take nice 2 hour nap before , so now when he comes from School I have to engage him without switching on TV or anything and make him eat his dinner by 6.30 and then off he goes to bed by 7.30 !! So everything is time bound now, thats the reason I havent been updating my blog or visiting others for the past 2 weeks..

On his first day I guess I was more nervous than him,he was so excited and when I dropped him, to my surprise he went happily without any problem ,but after the initial excitement he realised that I m not there and then he became upset, so the following 2-3 days he was crying when I drop him and I too was a bit touched by his tears . He is now nearly settled there and has made few friends .

Coming to todays recipe. I came across this recipe in a supermarket's magazine. This will hardly take any time and its a great way give some greens for breakfast .

Ingredients
Egg - 1
whole meal bread - 1 slice
Butter/Spread- 1 tbs
Spinach - 100 gm
Salt and Pepper

Preparation
Fry the egg and season it with some salt and pepper.
In a pan add spread/butter and when it is melted add spinach and cook for 1-2 minutes or until spinach is wilted. Season it with salt and pepper if u like.
Toast the bread.
Place the spinach on toasted bread and pop the fried egg on the top ot it.

Malabar Kozhi Nirachathu/Malabar style stuffed chicken for 4 years of blogging !!

Yay..I m so happy to reach yet another mile stone.I has been a slow coach ever since I started my blog,Well ,if you check the number of posts on my blog, its only in 120's ,but I m happy that I managed to keep this alive for 4 years !!I m sure this wouldnt have been possible without your support and comments.Even now the first thing that I do in the morning if I have posted something the previous day is check my blog for comments !! Each single comment brings a smile on my face :)
To share my happiness I am posting a malabar special recipe for you.I first came across this recipe in Malabar spice and then I got inspired from Shabs of Shabs cuisine ,she even gave me a tip to do some pre-planning as it is a bit laborious process.Thanks to Shabs for that ,as I did cleaning and basic marination overnight it was easy for me the next day.I prepared this for a dinner party and we all loved each single bit of it.

Ingredients
Whole chicken -1 small( I used a chciken which rougly weighed a kilo)
Redchilly powder - 1 tbs
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt

For stuffing
Boiled eggs - 2 no
Onion - 2 small
Tomato -1/2 of a tomato
Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp
Redchilly powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Chicken masala - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Poppy seeds - 1/4 tsp
Raisins - 1 tbs
Cashewnut chopped - 1 tbs
Miced ginger - 1 tsp
salt
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves

For gravy
Onion -3
Tomato 1 1/2
Ginger garlic paste - 2tsp
Green chillies - 3 nos
Redchilly powder -1 tbs
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbs
Chicken masala - 1 tsp
Fennel powder - 1tsp
salt
curryleaves
coriander leaves
oil for frying - 1/3 cup
cooking twine

Preparation
Clean the whole chicken and make some gashes on it.
Marinate the chicken with spice powders overnight or for couple of hours.

For stuffing
In a saucepan add some oil and sputter fennel seeds.
Add chopped onions and saute till becomes soft.
Add minced ginger,cury leaves and saute for 1-2 minutes.
Add chopped tomoto and spice powders and cook till tomotoes are mashed.
Add poppyseeds,cashewnuts , raisins,boiled eggs and saute for 1 minute.
Add chopped coriander leaves and turn off the flame.

Stuff the chicken wiith masala and tie the hands and legs of chicken with a cooking twine.

In a big wok add oil and shallow fry the chicken till all sides becomes brown.

For gravy
In a saucepan add the same oil used for deep frying and saute the onions till brown in colour.
Add ginger garlic paste,green chillies,curry leaves and saute for 1-2 minute.
Add tomotoes and all spice powders and saute till its mashed up and becomes a paste.
Add coriander leaves too.

Preheat the oven to 180 degree centigrade and cook the marinated chicken covered(with a foil) for 30 minutes flipping the sides halfway.
Coat the fried chicken with the gravy evenly and cook it uncovered for another 25 - 30 minutes turning the sides in between.
Run a knife through the chicken and if juice comes out clear chicken is cooked.

Sending this to Kerala kitchen hosted by Kaveri of Palakkad Chamayal