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

Black Forest cake (version 2) for a sweet beginning

Wishing you all a Very Happy New Year. Hope you all had nice holidays.We too had a good one.
This cake recipe is from a cookery show hosted by Lakshmi nair. I have seen the video long time ago and thought of making it and never did,but when I saw the same recipe in kothiyavunu I got real inspiration to try it out and it turned out just great.I watched the video in youtube long time ago but cannot find the link now :(

Ingredients
Flour - 1/2 cup
Cocoa powder- 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1cup
Butter - 3/4 cup
Eggs -6
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Salt

for filling
double cream - 2 cups(300-400 ml)
Powdered sugar - 5 tbs or according to your sweetness
glazed cherries - 200 gm
for syrup
sugar- 1/2 cup
Water - 1 cup
Brandy - 2 tbs
for decoration
Chcocolate strands / chocolate shavings/Grated chocolate
Cherries- few

Preparation

• Sift together flour,cocoa powder and salt.
• Melt the butter and keep it aside.
• Break 6 eggs in a bowl and add sugar and vanilla extract and beat it for atleast 10 minutes until the mixture becomes very light in colour and increases the volume upto 4-5 times.
• Add in the flour mixture and fold in until it is is well incorporated.
• Add the melted butter butter gradually and gently fold in.
• Bake it in a preheated oven at 180 degree centigrade for35- 40 minutes.
• Allow the cake to cool for sometime in cake tin and then in wire rack for 30- 45 minutes.

Preparing the syrup
In a saucepan add sugar and water and stir it until it boils and all the sugar melts.Turn off the flame and 2 tbs of brandy.

Whipping the cream
Whip the cream with powdered sugar until soft peaks are formed.

Assembling the cake
Cut the cake into 2 slices .
Place the first slice on the cake board with cutside up and carefully prick the cake with fork or tooth pick.
Pour the syrup to the cake with a spoon evenly on the cake.
Spread the cream on the cake and spread cherries on top of cream layer.
Place the other slice on top of it and so the pricking again.
Pour the syrup evenly.
Spread the cream on the top and sides of the cake and allow the cake to set in the fridge for sometime.
Decorated the cake with cherries and chocolate strands/shavings or grated chocolate according to your liking.

Fruit cake/ Kerala plum cake

Hope all my friends had a fabulous Christmas.We had a good one too, the days passed so quickly and I feel a bit bored today after a busy and fun filled week. We had a great Christmas with friends and lil A was so happy to get a Christmas gift from Santa (which we wrapped and kept for him under the tree ).Boxing day sales were fabulous,this time we too managed to do some shopping amongst the crowd, the bargains were soo hard to resist. 

Coming to the topic, plum cake/ fruit cakes which we used to buy from bakery were not my favourite cake, I always preferred sponge cake over it. I had no plans even to bake them until a fortnight ago, but two of our friends had a craving to eat our plum cake , so I got an inspiration to bake it to give them.When I searched for the recipes, it looked bit laborious and intimidating (caramel prapartion) but when I got enough support from hubby I decided to go ahead. All the recipes were asking to soak the dry fruits a bit longer but since I didn't have enough time I could soak them only for 4 days .After baking it I kept it for maturing for 2 days to infuse all the flavours and our much awaited cake was ready for Christmas. Trust me ,the cake was sooo delicious and it was much much better than the bakery ones .This cake was the best fruit cake I had in my life. This recipe is adapted from Kothiyavunnu ,Collaborative curry  and Kitchenmishmash

Update -  I have been baking this cake for 9 years now. It has become a tradition in my house to soak the fruits and nuts by October end and bake 3-4 plumcakes every year for ourselves and our friends. Just like us , all our friends love it too !

OCT 2020

Ingredients

Plain flour/ Maida - 1 cup/ 125 gm + 1 tbsp

 Unsalted butter softened - 160 gm / roughly 3/4 cup

 Eggs -2 no ( large)

 Granulated sugar - 185 gm/ a tablespoon less than 1 cup

 Baking powder- 1tsp 

Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp 

Nutmeg powder 1/8 tsp 

Cloves powder - 1/4 tsp 

Ground ginger - 1/2tsp

Salt - one  pinch

 Vanilla extract - 1tsp

orange zest - 1 tsp ( use unwaxed orange)

For caramel syrup  

Sugar - 1/2 cup 

water - 1/2 cup +1 tbs

For soaking 

Tooti fruity/ Mixed dry fruits  - 1/2 cup 

Chopped baking dates ( not the super soft types) - 1 heaped tablespoon)

Glaced cherries - 1/8 cup

Raisins , sultanas, cranberries, candied citrus peels - 1/2cup

 Cashew nuts chopped- 1/8 cup 

Walnut/ almonds - 1/8 cup 

Rum /Brandy - 1 cup or enough to soak fruits and nuts

Preparation

Soak the fruits and nuts in rum/brandy for minimum 1 week. If you have time , soak for  couple of weeks. Longer the better ! 

Preparing the caramel - In a pan add 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tbs of water and keep it on a medium- low  flame. Keep a close eye on the sugar (caramel burns quickly after it melts and can taste bitter). Once the sugar  melts  and  starts to become  golden , swirl it around until all the sugar has caramelised and changed into slighlty darker golden/brown shade without burning it ( the colour of the cake depends on the shade of your caramel).

Switch off the flame and immediately pour 1/2 cup of water to the caramel(be careful as this might splash ).The caramel syrup is ready. Let it cool down

P.s If there is any undissolved caramel,  put the caramel  back on the flame and gently heat it until it has melted.

Baking Cake

 In a bowl sift flour, baking powder , spice powders and salt and keep it aside. 

Separate eggs yolks and whites.

Beat egg whites until creamy and thick. Check whether its done by inverting the bowl and if it's done the cream will stick to the bowl. 

Beat sugar and butter until creamy . Add egg yolks, orange zest , vanilla and beat until mixed.

 Add the dry ingredients and fold in. 

Add the caramel syrup and fold in. 

Drain  the fruit and nuts  from the rum/brandy , squeeze the excess rum and add 1 tbs of flour to it  and mix. 

Add 1 1/4- 1 1/2 cup of drained fruits and nuts to the batter and mix well.

Finally add the beaten egg whites and fold in gently until  mixed .

 Line the cake tin with a parchment paper .

Pour the batter to it greased cake tin and bake it in a preheated oven at 175 degree centigrade for 35- 40 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes our clean. Cool the cake completely. 

It's better to wait for at least 1 day before you cut the cake which allows the flavours to mingle. You can also brush the cake with rum/brand to enhance the flavour !

Moist Sponge Cake

This season is really inspiring me a lot to bake,whenever I switch on the TV,all the chefs will be cooking their Christmas feasts from starter to maincourse, desserts to cakes and much more. They also say to indulge during this season without keeping an eye on calories or fat ! Thats exactly what I am doing too :) Its hard to resist baking during festive times.

I have been baking this cake for a long time now, I wonder why I never posted this .....I shared this recipe to my few friends who were new in baking and even they could bake perfect cake with this recipe.

Here goes the recipe

Ingredients

Plain flour(maida) - 1 1/2 cup
Unsalted Butter - 1/2 cup(softened)
Eggs -2
Sugar -1 cup
Baking powder - 2tsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Milk - 1/2 cup
Salt - pinch

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 175 degree centigrade.
In a bowl beat eggs and butter .
Add sugar and beat again.
Add flour,baking powder,baking soda, salt, vanilla extract and fold in.
Add milk little by little and beat .
Pour the batter into to greased pan dusted with some flour.Bake it for 35- 40 minutes or untill tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Sending this to Christmas Delicacy at Erivum Puliyum

Mango pie for all mango lovers..

Who doesnt love mangoes right ?? My love for mangoes started years agoo.When I was growing up , I used to wait for our summer holidays to visit our ammamma (grandmother) ,she has a large orchard with mango trees, jackfruit trees , cashew trees and lotts..The kids in the village had lot of fun making her angry by throwing stones for mangoes,she used to look around and watch the trees to save the mangoes for grandkids. Once we reach there, all the cousins get together and my cousin brother S who was tall used to climb the tree and pick mangoes for all of us, he picks both raw and riped ones,we eat raw ones with little salt and riped ones as such or to give a twist we eat it with redchilly powder and salt.We eat as much mangoes as we can during those days and to relish the mangoes later my mom pickles it .My grandma had a bharani (an earthern pot) in which she pickles the whole mango and keep it for later use. she used those pickled mangoes for making some curries which tastes heavenly !!

Ingredients
Digestive biscuits - 10-12
Unsalted butter - 25 gm
Mango pulp - 1 cup (200 ml)
Milk - 1 cup(200 ml)
Gelatin - 1 packet
Sugar - 1/2 cup (according to your sweetness)
Double cream -150 ml

Preparation
In a bag crush the digective biscuits with rolling pin.
Melt the butter.
Mix the crushed biscuits with melted butter.Spread the biscuit layer into a pudding bowl.Set in the fridge for 2 hours.
Soak gelatin in little water.
In a saucepan mix mango pulp, milk and sugar. When it is about to boil add the soaked gelatin and stir it until gelatin is completely dissolved. Allow it cool to room temparature.
Pour the cooled mango pulp into biscuit layer and chill it in the refrigerator again for 3-4 hours or until completely set.
Beat double cream with little sugar until soft peaks are formed.
Spread the cream to the top of mango layer.

Sending this to Christmas delicacy at Erivum Puliyum