Gooseberry chammanthi

Sometimes little things might work wonders such as this

Beef cutlet

Day before yesterday we celebrated our first wedding anniversary....cant imagine we had completed an year so soon...I made some chicken biriyani,beef cutlets and vegetable cutlets...This beef cutlet is my mom's special recipie which I had relished during my childhood days.My mom makes this often and takes it to her office and shares it with her colleagues....I do also remember she made during one of the mission sales day in school and I sold some 40 cutlets for 700 rupees...I started selling the cutlets for 4 rupees each and as the demand increased we increased its price up to 15 and 20 rupees... still there were students ready to pay for it.I guess that was in my 4th or 5th standard and our class stood second in mission sales collection..

Kerala style fish curry

Fish curry in kerala is cooked in earthern pots which elevates its flavour.
For that matter any dish cooked in an earthern pot has an unique taste.

I still remember the taste of fish curry made by my grandmother freshly plucked and ground spices available at home like pepper,turmeric,chillies ,curry leaves and the fish caught just few moments before making the curry from the river flowing beside our house.Makes me feel nostalgic...Waiting for my next visit to kerala.

Here goes the recipie.

Kozhukatta

Rice dumplings stuffed with a mixture made of coconut and jaggery, a traditional sweet.

After a long time made kozhukattas...


Its our family' all time favourite and I make it when I want to avoid a deep fried snack or when there is extra coconut in my shelf  else when I have leftover dough of iddiyappam.

But this time, I had planned to make it as I had a sudden craving for it.Kozhukattas are prepared at home very frequently and especially on saturday, previous day to palm sunday.And the day is called "kozhukatta shinyaicha" or kozhukatta saturday in cochin.

I feel really happy when I cook traditional food because I feel a kind of reunion being established with my roots and also it reminds me of sweet old childhood days.

Badam Sweet

Sweet made of almonds garnished with cardomon and saffron.

 

Aloo Paratha

Aloo paratha, indian flat bread made of whole wheat stuffed with potatoes.

Parippu Vada

A deep fried tea time snack mostly had in south india.

Palak paneer

Paneer (indian cottage cheese) cooked with spinach.This is can be served with chappathis or any indian bread.

Chicken Masala

Chicken cooked with home ground spices and coconut milk.This can be had with chappathis rice or used as  a masala for biriyani too.

Onion Theeyal

Onions fried and cooked with roasted coconut along with spices and coconut oil.
Can be served with rice.It can be stored for a longer time.I used to take this to hostel and have it whenever I disliked the side dishes there.

Vendakka/ladies finger Pachadi

This is another onam special dish cooked in curd.This is a simple recipie and tasty too.

Mango pachadi

Creamy dish containing mango pieces cooked with coconut and curd and some spices.This goes well with rice.This is part of onam sadhya and is made in different ways.Here is one recipie.

Varathuaracha Sambar

This sambar is made by roasting coconut with few spices and tastes different from the ordinary one.

Unripe banana spicy fry or pacha kaya fry

This is a spicy side dish which can be accompanied along with bland gravies.

Idli or steamed rice cakes

Idlis are fluffy rice cakes made out of rice and black gram and is recommended during a digestive disorder by doctors.

The procedure is same as preparing the batter for dosa however the consistency is thick compared to dosa.

Chocolate moist cake

It was my husband's birthday 2 days back and wanted to make a cake for him.So tried out this chocolate moist cake.It came out well.Except for the icing part, which I had to do in a hurry and when my husband was out, so did a chocolate one which I had prepared earlier...I have given the vanilla icing recipie preparation here which suits this cake well.. you could go with that...

This is an excellent recipie, and trust me you will never regret.

Spicy Pappad

This is a spicy pappad recipie which goes well with bland gravies.It can be prepared easily and takes less time.

This is  a simple recipie, yet I wanted to feature it here because I have rarely seen people having pappad this way.This is one interesting way to have pappad especially people who opt for spicy dishes.

Snake gourd and dhal

This is another recipie from my mom.I refer to this as yellow gravy, since I dint know its name.

This is a yummy recipie which is less spicy yet adoring.Please do try it.

Ribbon murrukku

This is a crispy snack item which is in the shape of a ribbon and often found in bakeries.

It is a combination of bengal gram flour,maida,egg,rice flour and salt.

Here is this recipie.

Sev

This so called sev recipie is a combination of bengal gram flour and small amount of rice flour with few spices.It is a crispy snack.Try it.

Puttu and green gram gravy( Cherrupayar curry)

Puttu is a breakfast item of kerala and is also popular in some areas of Tamil nadu and Srilanka.It is a steamed rice cake layered with grated coconut.

It is a breakfast item that is cooked frequently in Kerala homes.Malayalees who migrate to other countries never fail to get a puttu kuti (puttu mould).

Puttu is mostly taken in combination with banana,green gram curry (cherupayar curry),Black chick pea curry (kadala curry) etc.. you can also try combinations of your choice.My husband has it even with chicken curry :-).In parts of cochin, puttu is had with beef stew and also with sweetened and cardomom flavoured coconut milk.

Here I have prepared puttu with green gram curry.....

Butter Cookies

Cookies are said to be derived from the dutch word called koekje which means " little cake".Cooks wanted to test the temperature of their oven so they made smaller samples of it for testing which however became a hit.

This is a simple butter cookie, and uses readily available ingredients.It is tasty,buttery and is crisp, which makes it an ideal companion for tea.

And no one can eat just one!!!.

Fried Rice

Fried rice is a popular recipie of Asian cuisine.especially in Chinese and American Chinese cuisine,Indo chinese cuisine with countless varieties.There are different types of fried rice varying from veg fried rice, egg fried rice,chicken fried rice,prawns fried rice,mixed fried rice to fried rice recipie associated with places of origin.

This is a simple recipie and could be prepared during a party at your home.

And believe me children will like it the most.

It could be served with chilli chicken or any chinese side dishes.

I prepared this fried rice today since I felt bored and wanted to boot myself ...you know sometimes cooking refreshes you and all the more when someone compliments you for it :-)..My husband calls this kochi fried rice.

Drumstick and Dhal curry

This week has been a drumstick week for me.. as my husband had brought a good number of drumsticks from the grocery.

Drumstick is a very healthy vegetable,it serves as a source of iron,calcium,potassium and many other vitamins and minerals.In some parts of tamil nadu drumsticks are used in sambar s and other curries especially every tuesday and friday, when they refrain from having non vegetarian food.

So I am trying to cook them in different ways to utilise them.

This recipie here is a  simple combination of drumsticks and dhal yet appetising and great to have with rice.

Chappathi Rolls F6UWXTV5AMH5

This is one my dad's recipies.It is easy to cook and also yummy.

After my marriage I prepared this for mother in law and husband and they liked it too...Also it is a portable breakfast item.You can easily prepare this and pack it up by wrapping it in a tisssue or silver foil.And you can have it while travelling to your office.Also it occupies less space.

My husband goes to office by 7 in the morning and sometimes when we miss the alarm..and if I am spared with 15 minutes to 7 ...I prepare this recipie and pack it for him so that he has it while travelling to office or while at office. 

Avalose unda

This is one of kerala's traditional snacks.

It is one among the snacks that we prepare at home during christmas, while we were staying in tamil nadu.Three or four days prior to christmas, I guess that would be during our half yearly holidays in school we would start our preparations.As my mom was working she would be availed leave only 1 day prior to christmas so we spent our time late nights to make all the "palakarams" or snacks for christmas, so that we could distribute to our neighbours and friends on 'Christmas day'.

Sometimes these unda's turn out hard, so my sister and I, while having a scuffle,used to tease our mom threatening to use "mom's avalose unda" as a weapon to safeguard oneself.However when I grew up found out that lemon juice used could soften these unda's.So here is the recipie.

To know how to make avalose podi please refer to Avalose podi.

Vegetable stew

This stew is mostly prepared by kerala christians.During certain occasions you never miss out this stew.I have used only potatoes here however carrots can be used too.It is yummy.

Drumstick curry kerala style

When I was staying in tamil nadu, we had a drumstick tree which had many drumsticks on it.Each of it used to be very long and fleshy.Sometimes, especially during the summer season there would be many long ,fresh and fleshy drumsticks on the tree and less number leaves on the branches of the trees.

People nearby used to wonder and ask for its stem to plant it in their houses.But it never grew as the way it did in our house.

I took few stems to plant it in our house in kerala, but never succeeded.I guess the soil conditions are different.Anyways I love drumsticks!!! this recipie here is one special to me.

Ingredients

Drumstick -2 nos

Tomatoes-2 small juicy

Chilly powder-1 tsp

Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

For grinding

Garlic-2

Green chillies-2

Grated coconut-4-5 tbsps

Cumin seeds-pinch

Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp

For seasoning

Mustard seeds-1tsp

Baby onions-3-4 crushed

Red chillies-3

Few curry leaves

Directions

Take a deep bottomed pan, add cut drumstick pieces and chopped tomatoes, add turmeric powder,chilly powder and salt .Add water just to emerse them and cook for a few minutes.

Grind all the ingredients under gringing section to a fine paste with some water.

Add this to the cooked drumstick and tomatoe mixture and add some water to it (not too watery) and wait until bubbles surface.

Remove from flame.Now take another small pan add 4-6 tbsps of oil (preferred coconut oil), add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter, add onions and saute till light brown,add broken red chillies and curry leaves and saute for few secs.Now pour this to the drumstick mixture and mix well.

Serve with rice.

Prawns masala

Prawns are my all time favourite.Every time I go home from college for a vaccation/holiday, I call up my mom the previous day and arrange my menu for the next day, which consists of only prawns, sometimes 3 times a day.My dad keeps dictating "too much of prawns are not good" still he gets me huge amount of prawns from the fishing harbour every time and my mom spends her time cleaning it.

Also when I return to hostel, I carry a bottle of prawns pickle with me,which would last for just 2-3 days...:-(.

This is one of the simplest recipie of prawns and you can have this solely with rice without any other gravies/curries.

Ingredients

Prawns-1 cup cooked prawns

Cook prawns with 2 split green chillies, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste and salt.

Onions-3

Tomatoes-2

Green chillies-1

Ginger garlic paste -1tbsp (ginger small piece and garlic-4 cloves)

Chilly powder-1 tsp

Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp

Pepper powder- 1/2 tsp

Few curry leaves

Salt to taste

Directions

Heat a pan, add oil, chopped onions and fry till it becomes light brown, add curry leaves,ginger garlic paste, tomatoes and saute till it is cooked.Then add chilly powder,turmeric powder,pepper powder, and saute for 2-3 minutes.

Add cooked prawns along with its stock.Mix well.Check for salt and add accordingly.

Keep frying until it becomes semi dry and is coated well in the masala.Garnish with corrainder leaves.Serve hot with rice.

Mixed Vegetable kurma

This is a recipie, which I had came out well by sheer serendipity.

We were given a treat by one of my husband's friends.And I spotted out a dish among them, which looked like a vegetable kurma, it was creamy and green in colour.I did not like the colour, however when I tasted it ,it was really good.I could figure out that there was no chilly powder used in that recipie and wanted to try out similar stuff at home and atlast ended up preparing this dish.

Ingredients

Onions -2

Tomatoes-1 small

Green chillies-4

Grated coconut-4-5 tbsps

Potatoes-2

Carrot-1

Beans-10-15 nos

Ginger-1/2 inch

Garlic-4 nos

Chilly powder- 1tsp

Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp

Corriander powder-1 tsp

Garam masala- a pinch

Corriander leaves-few for garnish +1 tsp paste

Curry leaves- few

salt to taste

Crush the following ingredients

Fennel seeds - pinch

Cardomom- 2 nos

Cinnamon -3 nos

Cloves -2 nos

Directions

Chop potatoes,carrots,beans into small pieces, and boil with salt, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and little water in a pressure cooker.Wait for 1 whistle and turn off the stove.

Heat a pan, add oil add chopped onions and fry till becomes light brown, add crushed ingredients fry for a few secs, now add tomatoes, ginger garlic paste, 3 split green chillies and also corrainder paste and fry till it is cooked.Add corriander powder and turmeric powder and fry for few minutes.

Now mix in the cooked vegetables without them getting mashed.Add the coconut paste and water, allow it to cook till bubbles start appearing on the surface.Add salt to taste.Before turning off the stove add a pinch of garam masala and garnish with corrainder leaves.

Serve with chappathis, iddiyappam or appam.

Drumstick curry or Murrugakka karakulumbu

Karakulumbu is a famous curry among the tamilians.I had not tasted it until I stayed in a hostel while I was working in chennai.Also at every hostel it tasted differently.My aunt who also lives in chennai use to cook this recipie, which she got it from her neighbour.

I dont exactly remember the types of karakulambu I have had...however recently my sister tempted me telling me that she had drumstick karakulambu  today and there came an instant urge in me to have it.It is a lip smacking dish when served hot with rice.

Here is the recipie...

Ingredients

Drumsticks – 2 nos

Sambar Onion –15 nos
Garlic - 5-6 cloves

Onion – 1

Tomato – 1
Grated coconut -1 tbsp
Tamarind – lemon size ball
Sambar Powder – 1 heaped tbsp
Turmeric Powder –1/2 tsp
Oil – 2 tsp (gingelly oil preferred)

Mustard –1/2 tsp
Fenugreek – 1/4 tsp
Red Chillies – 2
Bengal Gram dhal – 1 tbsp
Curry leaves – few
Salt – to taste

Directions

Cut the drumstick s into medium size pieces as shown in picture below.
In a sauce pan add one tsp oil and add chopped onions and fry till it turns transparent.
now.

Add chopped tomatoes and fry till they are cooked.

Add grated coconut and sambar powder and fry for two minutes.Cool it and grind it to a fine paste.

Soak tamarind in water and strain out to make 2 cups of tamarind water.

Add the remaining oil to the same sauce pan When it is hot add mustard. When it popup, add bengal gram dhal, broken red chillies, curry leaves.
Then add fenugreek and fry till it turns light brown.

Add whole sambar onions and garlic fry well.
Then add drumstick pieces and fry for two to three minutes.
Add tamarind water along with turmeric powder. Bring to boil. Reduce the heat and cook till the drumstick become soft.

Now add the ground paste along with a cup of water and stir well. Allow to cook in very low flame for 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from flame and serve hot with rice.

Spicy Beef fry

This is a simple beef recipie.

Here is the recipie....

Ingredients

Beef- 1/2 kg  (1 full medium sized bowl of cooked meat)

[I took 1 kg of beef and cooked it in a pressure cooker with 4 spit green chiilies,1/2 tsp turmeric powder, ginger(thumb size) and 4 cloves of garlic crushed ,salt and 1/4 water]

Took half of this amount for making this dish.Also used the stock obtained.

Onions-3

Tomato-1 small

Green chillies-1

Ginger -an inch

Garlic-4 cloves

Chilly powder-1 tsp

Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp

Meat masala-1-2 tsp

Garam masala-1/2 tsp

Corriander leaves-few

Pepper powder-1/2 tsp

Curry leaves-few

salt to taste

 

 

Directions

Take oil in a pan add chopped onions and saute well for a minute

Add ground ginger garlic corriander leaves paste, curry leaves, green chillies and fry.

Add chopped tomatoes and cook until tomatoes become mushy.

Add chilly powder, meat masala, pepper powder, turmeric powder and fry for a minute.

Now add half the amount of cooked beef to this mixture and coat with this masala.

Add some amount of the beef stock (obtained while pressure cooking) to this mixture and keep stiring until all the water evaporates.Add salt as required.Before removing from fire, sprinkle garam masala,mix well and wait for few secs.

Garnish with corriander leaves and serve hot.

Morru curry / Curry made with Buttermilk

Morru curry tastes good with any oil fried spicy vegetable side dish.There are many variants.

Some recipies suggest adding corriander powder and gram dhal,anyhow here I have not used them still tastes fine.

Ingredients

Yoghurt/Curd- 2 1/2 cup
Baby onions -4
Green Chillies- 5-6

Grated coconut-1/4 cup

Turmeric Powder-1/2 tsp

Methi Powder-1/4 tsp
Cumin Powder-1/4 tsp
Salt to taste

Oil to cook

Mustard seeds-1 tsp 
Curry leaves-few

Dried red chillies-1
(coconut oil preferred)

 　

　

Directions

Splutter mustard seeds, add green chillies,broken red chilly, curry leaves, onions and fry for a minute in a pan.

Grind the coconut well in mixie. Whip the yogurt.

Add the turmeric powder, methi powder, cumin seed powder and salt to the pan.

Now add the coconut and a cup of water. Cover it and cook for some time.

When cooked well, switch off the stove, and after a while add the yogurt to it, stir well.Add salt as required.

Serve hot with rice.

Idiyappam/string hoppers

Idiyappam/String hoppers make an excellent breakfast recipie.It is one another proof

to why food recipies derived from rice still reign in south india.

Ingredients

Rice flour-2 cups

Fresh grated coconut-1 cup
Coconut oil-little

Salt to taste

 

Directions

Add the boiling water and salt to the flour and knead to a soft dough.

Grease the idiyappam press mould and put in one portion of the dough.

Press out the dough to form small circular mounds onto each of the iddiappam moulds.

Steam for about 10 minutes in a pressure cooker without a weight,till the iddappam is cooked.

Badhusha

This is one of my favourite snacks. Everytime I reach my appartment from office my bus stops in front of adayar krishna sweets and I can never ignore the smell of ghee coming out from there.Poor me..my office was also situated opposite another branch of krishna sweets in Vadapalani.Even though I control my taste buds when I start from office, by the time I reach adayar my mind says indulging once in a while is fine...Then I figured out this recipie.

So you too indulge once in a while no harm...:-).

Ingredients

Maida-1 1/2 cups
Sugar-1/2 tsp
Baking powder-1/2 tsp
Curd-1 1/2 tsp
Water-1/4 cup
Butter-1/4 cup
Oil-1/8 cup
For deep frying-oil

For sugar syrup

Sugar-1/2 cup
Water to immerse sugar
Lemon juice-1/2 tsp
Elachi-1/2 tsp powdered
Saffron-pinch

Directions　
Add sugar,curd,oil and baking powder to melted butter and use a whisk to mix well,to make it almost frothy.

Add the flour to it and knead into a smooth dough with water.

Make lemon size balls,flatten a bit, pull out the sides and fold inwards to get a design on the outer side of badhusha.

Heat oil in a deep bottomed pan to a very temperature, but take care that it does not smoke.Remove from flame and put the badhusha one by one in it and allow it to get cooked.

Once all the badhusha pops up to the surface, place the pan back on the stove and simmer for 5-10 mins until all the sides have turned golden brown evenly.

Drain them of oil and place them on a paper towel and then put them in to the hot syrup one by one and let it stay for a minute and remove to a serving dish.

Preparation of sugar syrup

Immerse sugar in water and keep stirring till we get a thread consistency.
Add lemon juice, elachi and saffron.

Uttappam

This is one recipie I tried after marraige.This came out well and husband liked it.

Ingredients

Dosa batter-3 cups

Onions -2

Green chillies-2

Curry leaves-as required

Salt to taste

Tomatoes-1 (optional)

Ginger-small piece

Corriander leaves

Directions

Add chopped onions, green chillies, ginger, salt,corriander leaves, curry leaves and tomatoes to dosa batter.

Heat oil in a pan, and pour some batter to the pan, round out on the pan like dosa not too thin.

When one side is cooked, turn over to cook the other side.Once done serve hot with onion or any chutney.







Chappathi

Chappathi's are an easy to make breakfast item.And coupled with any veg or non veg dish tastes good.

Ingredients

Wheat Flour-2 cups

Salt to taste

Hot Water-1 cup

Oil-2 tbsps

Directions

Add salt as required to hot water and mix with wheat flour.

Knead well and sprinkle flour to make into a non sticky dough.

Let the dough be loose ,add oil and knead again.

Make a lemon size balls and flatten into a round using the rolling pin on a rolling board.Sprinkle flour and brush lightly,if the batter sticks to the board.

Heat a pan, brush oil or ghee on the pan and cook the chappathis by turning it on both sides till done.

Remove from flame and serve hot with any side dishes like kurma or dhal curry.



North indian style peas masala

This is one recipie which I tried from a north indian menu.

Ingredients

Green peas-1 cup

Red chilly powder - 1 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Chole masala - 2 tbsp

Onions - 2 medium,finely chopped

Tomatoes - 2 medium,finely chopped

Green chilly - 1,finely chopped

Ginger chopped - 1 tbsp

Coriander leaves - 3 tbsp,finely chopped

Kasuri methi - 1 tbsp
Chat masala,garam masala - 1 tsp each[optional]

Oil - 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Directions

Fry onions in a little oil till brown,add the tomatoes and fry till it is cooked.Let it cool, grind to a smooth paste.

In a pan pour oil and fry the onion-tomato paste for 2 minutes.

Add the green chilly and ginger,fry for a minute.

Add red chilly powder,coriander powder and chole masala and fry for 2 minutes.

When everything gets mixed well, add the cooked &drained peas and mix well.

Add salt.

Add coriander leaves and kasuri methi and let it simmer for 10 minutes.

Before switching off, add the garam masala and chat masala and let it boil.

Serve hot with chapathi.