Gulab Jamun, A guest post for Rafeeda of Big Sweet Tooth

 

Rafeeda or Rafee as I fondly call her who blogs at Big sweet tooth is one of the sweetest friend virtual friend has gifted me. She has been a great support and encouragement for my blog through her beautiful comments which comes straight from her heart. I owe it to Rafee for  making my blog's font to a readable size as they were really really small before and it was she pointed out that I should make it a bit bigger. So after lots of experiments finally I figured out everything and changed it but what surprised me was  even before mentioning that to her  she noticed the difference  and got back to me ! Such genuine friends are rare to find right ??

I look up to Rafee’s blog not just for recipes, I enjoy reading her lovely write ups and beautiful quotes she posts in her blog. Rafees recipes has left me drooling several times, especially all her typical Malabar dishes and various Biriyani’s. When Rafee hosted a cook out in kerala kitchen I joined her and tried her Attipathiri recipe. She gave all the directions precisely in post, so it was so easy to follow her recipe and it tasted soo delicious too !

When Rafee asked whether  I could do a guest post for her I was more than happy to do it for her and knowing me well, she gave 3 months time, so I got ample time to plan and do this post for her. Since she she left everything to me and I choose this gulab jamun for the Big sweet tooth girl J 

Coming to the  post, making Gulab jamuns were  not really easy peasy as I thought or maybe I should say it’s so easy to  screw it up  if u don’t follow the recipe to dot and that’s what my over confidence did to me. First time I made this I added a  little extra baking soda so even though jamuns tasted good, it didn’t hold the round shape after it was fried.  Second time I reduced the baking soda but I think I added one spoon extra butter moreover the baking soda was still more so it had to be  binned straight away as it didn’t hold shape at all. So by the third time I had better idea and the jamus came out soo perfect ! So the key to get a good jamun is to add just a pinch of baking soda which  doesn’t mean  ¼ tsp or 1/8 tsp as I  thought ( silly me ! ). A pinch really does mean a pinch in gulab jamun recipe !! If you would like to see  the recipe head over to Rafee's blog and while you are there please dont forget to check out her blog.

Chemmen ullarthu / chemmen roast/ Kerala prawns roast

After a 2 weeks silence, I am back again with a simple post. During our last trip to India my sis in law made this yummy prawn’s ullarthu for us and ever since I was dying to make this at home. Getting hold of fresh/ raw prawns is an expensive affair here, so we always buy the prepared prawns (cooked and peeled) which doesn’t have any flavour like the ones  we get back home. Couple of weeks backs we found a good deal for raw prawns in an Asian market , so I picked one packet with this ullarthu in mind. Despite of having a hectic day I cooked the prawns same day as I didn’t want to freeze it and miss out that fresh flavour. The prawn’s tastes yumm after a long time, but it  still it missed the flavour I grew up eating, but nonetheless we all enjoyed it as it was a delicious preparation. 

Ingredients Prawns – 500 gm (cleaned) Shallots/ cheriya ulli (thinly sliced) 3/4 cup  or 2 medium onion  thinly sliced Ginger (minced) – 2 tsp. Garlic (minced) – 2 tsp. Curry leaves – few sprigs Red chilli powder – 2 tbs Turmeric powder – 2 tsp Salt Coconut oil Crushed red chilli flakes - 1 tsp Method Marinate the prawns with red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt for 30 minutes . In a non stick pan  add coconut oil and fry the red chill flakes for few seconds,  add in the  sliced shallots and saute until soft. Add minced ginger – garlic, curry leaves and fry for a minute or so. Add marinated  prawns stir until prawns are coated in masala. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until prawns are cooked. Remove the lid and cook for 2-3 minutes on high flame until prawns are well coated in the masala.