Bhindi-Tomato curry

Bhindi(okra) is all time favorite in the family, so I like to make new dishes with bhindi.

The original recipe of this dish is from the very famous cookery show in one of our regional channel, ‘Magic Oven’ by Lekshmi Nair. Her dishes are always simple and easy to make.  I watch this long back,  but  the first attempt was not so perfect , coconut got roasted a little extra. …:)  but this time it’s just perfect.  Given below is an easy recipe to spice up your meal.  We had it with chapati and I am sure it will go well with rice also.

Ingredients :-

Bindi(Okra)- 10-15 (small)
Tomato- 3 medium sized
Onion-2 medium
Curry leaves
Fenugreek (Uluva) -1/4 teaspoon

To grind
Coconut- 1 cup
Garlic -4 cloves
Small onion- 4-5
Redchilli powder- 2 teaspoon
Coriander powder- 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder- ¼ teaspoon

Preparation: 

Heat the pan add coconut, garlic and small onion , sauté it till the color starts to change. In this preparation you don’t have to roast the coconut to dark brown, a slight change in the color is just perfect,  add chili powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder and stir fry till it gives an aroma. Add a little coconut oil and mix well. Remove from the stove, allow to cool and grind it to a smooth paste. You can add water to make it a paste. Keep aside
In another pan heat oil, add curry leaves, add the Bindi and fry it with frequent stirring , when the bindi become soft  add onion and stir fry it till it become soft.  Add the masala paste.  Sauté it for 2 minutes, add the tomatoes and salt to taste.  Add  1 ½ cups of water mix well .  Allow to cook for 5-6 minutes.  Add the fenugreek powder, adding this gives a special aroma and taste to the curry. Remove from the stove.  Garnish with more curry leaves.  Curry is ready!

Pumpkin with Daal

Pumpkin with daal is another delicacy from my mother in laws kitchen. She prepares erisseri and this an adaptation of the same. Erisseri is a common dish from Kerala. it is a combination of vegetables and pulses and it is even served in traditional Sadyas.
The difference of this dish from the tradional erisseri  is , erisseri is usually garnished with roasted coconut, which is not done here.  And vanpayaru (red cow peas) is commonly used .. but, here I used Pumpkin and Moong Daal.
This is best with rice, and can be used for chapathi also.

Ingredients: -
1 ½ cups of pumpkin peeled and cut into cubes
Moong Daal- ¾ cup
Grated coconut – ½ cup
Cumin seeds- ½   teaspoon
Small onion -3-4
GreenChilli- 3
Garlic- 2 cloves
Turmeric powder- ¼ teaspoon
Curry leaves

Preparation:

Grind Grated Coconut, Small onions, cumin, Turmeric powder, Green chillies, garlic and keep aside.
Cook pumpkin with Daal after adding enough water and salt. Add the grounded coconut mixture to this, mix well. With a wooden spoon mash the pumpkins, you can leave a few chunky pieces if you like.  Cook for another 5-6 min in low flame.  Remove from stove.
For garnishing, heat the oil in a pan, splutter the mustard seeds, add curry leaves and  2-3 red chillies.  Pour this to the curry and mix gently.
I wanted to make it an oil free dish, so i skipped the garnishing part. instead, garnished it with some fresh curry leaves . The taste was equally good.  But of course garnishing gives an extra taste.

Fish Curry

The way fish curry is made varies from place to place in kerala.  Some use Kudam Puli, while others use tamarind or tomatoes.  The red curry with kudampuli is most common in my place.  But this may not be the traditional way of preparation, this is how i do it.

Keep the curry at least for 1 or 2 hours before serving so that the gravy absorbs all flavors. Fish curry made in clay pot( chatti) gives an extra taste to the curry. The flavor intensifies after a day.

The fish used here is 'para' , i've no idea about the english name. :) You can use any fish of your choice.

This goes excellent with boiled tapioca (kappa) or rice. But at the same time puttu is also a perfect partner. Nothing is better than puttu and fish curry to win an appreciation from my husband :)

Ingredients:-

Fish-500gm
Kudam puli - 2 nos
Red chilly powder-2 tbsp
Turmeric powder –½  tsp
Coriander powder – ½  tbsp
small onion - 5 - 6 nos
Ginger – 1 ½ teaspoon chopped
Garlic - 3 cloves
Green chillies - 2 nos
Curry leaves
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tbsp
Fenugreek (Uluva) - 1/2 tbsp
Salt
Water

Preparation:

Make a mix of red chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder add some water to make it a paste. Keep aside.
Heat oil in a pan or clay pot, add the mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds. When they splutter, Add the ginger and garlic, small onions curry leaves and green chilies, when the onions turns golden yellow add the masala paste and fry it for few second. Add 1 ½ cups of water , and mix well. Add salt and kudampuli.
When it starts to boil add the fish pieces, close the lid and cook for 5 min. open the lid and cook uncovered for another 10 minutes  in low flame swirling the pan occasionally.
Remove from the stove, Close the pot , keep it at least for 1-2 hours before serving, so that the fish absorbs all the flavors.

Gajar ka Halwa (Carrot Halwa)

I love sweets.. and this one for my sweet tooth. :D

Many recipes I found for Gajar Ka Halwa, combining those, I have devised my own way of cooking this. I really don’t mind making it rich and with lots of dry fruits because it’s made once in a while.  Below is my version.

Ingredients:-

2 cups shredded carrots
2 cups milk
½ cup water
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon cardamom powder
Cashew nuts
Raisins
Butter

Preparation:-

Put the water to boil, when it starts boiling add the grated carrots. Cook for 5-7 minutes. Set aside.
Boil the milk on medium-high heat in a non-stick pan until it is reduced to about to 1 cup. Stir often to ensure the milk does not burn in the bottom of the pan.
Add the cooked carrots to the milk Add sugar, mix well and cook till the sugar has dissolved and all the milk has been absorbed.
add cardamom powder and stir-fry for another three to four minutes until the halwa starts to leave the side of frying pan.
Roast the cashew nuts and raisins for the garnish.

Tomato Rice

Tomato rice is something easy to make and light on the ingredient; this is an extremely flavorful rice dish using ripe red tomatoes and rice.  It is simple , yet amazingly tasty.
Raita is all that you need to make this a perfect easy meal..... :)

Ingredients:

2 cups Basmati rice
5 large ripe tomatoes cut into cubes
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 large onion chopped fine
3 green chillies

Ginger Garlic paste - 1½ tablespoon
1 teaspoon chillipowder powder
½ teaspoon Turmeric Powder
1 teaspoon garam masala

Coriander leaves for garnishing
Salt to taste

Preparation:-

Cook the rice separately, keep aside.  

Heat the oil in a deep pan and add the mustard seeds and green chillies. Allow to pop, add ginger garlic paste and fry for few seconds.  add the onion and fry till soft. Add the tomato and mix well. Cook till the tomatoes turn pulpy. Add the red chilli powder,Turmeric powder, garam masala powder, salt to taste and mix well. Cook on a low flame for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently.
Turn off the fire and add the rice. Mix well. garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
Serve with raita.

Batter Fried Chicken

Chicken Fry is very popular because of it taste. Fried chicken can be made in a variety of methods, by just altering the way you make batter. Indeed, preparing fried chicken batter recipe depends entirely upon your taste buds. Simply soaking chicken pieces in a well-prepared batter for a specific time can convert your Fried chicken into something very special and tasty. 
My modification to the dish is I garnished the fried pieces with a tadka,  it’s a simple garnishing but the output was really nice.

Ingredients:-
Chicken – 400gm
Ginger paste- 1 ½ teaspoon
Garlic paste- 1 ½ teaspoon
Turmeric Powder- ¼ teaspoon
Garam masala- 1 teaspoon
Salt
Corn flour- 2 table spoon
Rice flour-1 tablespoon
Gram Flour (kadalamavu) – 1 tablespoon
Egg – 1

Oil for Frying

For Garnishing:-
Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon
Green chili -2
Curry leaves
Onion- 1 chopped
Red chili powder- ½ teaspoon
Coconut Oil

Method:- 

Marinate the chicken with Ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, corn flour, gram flour, rice flour, salt, and 1 egg.  Mix well with hand and keep it for 1 hour.

Heat oil in a kadai and deep fry the marinated chicken pieces  Cook for 13-15 minutes or until golden

Add 1 spoon of coconut oil in a pan, pop the mustard seeds,  add green chilies and curry leaves, sauté it for  few seconds, add the onions , sauté it till it become soft.  Add the red chili powder and mix well. Remove from the stove.

Garnish the fried chicken in the serving dish with the above  mixture.

Moru Curry

In kerala, it is a common practice to finish any meal with yogurt or buttermilk. 

There are a number of ways you can customize the taste of buttermilk. and I follow the easiest amongst all..  but great in taste as well…. :)

Ingredients :-

Youghurt-1 ½ cup (Mix ½ cup of water and beat it in a blender) or you can use 2 cups of Laban (butter milk)
Small onion 3-4 (cut straight)
Ginger – 1 teaspoon finely chopped
Garlic -1 clove (crushed)
Mustard seeds-1 teaspon
Green chillies-2
Cumin (jeera) powder – ¼ teaspoon
Fenugreek powder- ¼ teaspoon
Turmeric powder- less than  ¼ teaspoon
Curry leaves
Oil

Preparation: 

Mix the cumin powder, fenugreek powder and turmeric powder with 2 spoons of water to get a paste, keep aside.
Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, when it start to pop add ginger and garlic and sauté for few seconds, add the small onions, green chillies and curry leaves, when the onion becomes golden brown add the masala paste and sauté for a 2-3 min. keep the flame low and add the laban (buttermilk), add salt ,stir for 2 min. remove from the stove. Moru curry is ready.!

Daal in Roasted Coconut

My Mother in law makes many varieties of Daal, ( not only Daal many other dishes also… which will be shared later in the blog  :)… ) and this Daal is one among  the favorite dishes in the family.  The combination of Daal and the roasted coconut gives a unique taste to the dish.

If you make the roasted coconut masala in sufficient quantity, you can keep the remaining for later use, but what i shared here is just perfect for this dish alone. The same masala can be used for many other dishes also.

I’m lucky that I have the masala readymade from my mother in law,preparing this dish is much easier for me. 

I used moong daal here, the same recipe can be used for other types of daal also. 

Ingredients:-

Moong daal- 1 cup
Onion -1 chopped
3 medium size Tomato (chopped)
Green chillies- 2
Mustard seeds
Salt
Curry leaves

Oil

Masala ingredients :
Coconut grated -2 table spoon
Red chili powder- ½ teaspoon (or u can use 3 red chilies)
Coriander powder - ½ teaspoon ( ½ spoon coriander)
Turmeric Powder- ¼ teaspoon
Cumin Seeds (jeera) - ¼ teaspoon
Fenugreek (Uluva) – ¼ teaspoon

Directions

Cook the Daal, in a pressure cooker with 3 ½  cups of water.  1 whistle should be enough.If you are not using pressure cooker, cook in a closed, thick-bottomed pan for about 15-20 mins until the dal is cooked soft

Heat 1 tsp of oil in a small pan and saute coconut till brown.  Add red chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin seeds and Fenugreek and stir fry till it gives an aroma and the coconut turns golden yellow. Be sure to simmer it, thus preventing masalas from getting burned too much. Keep aside and cool. Grind it to a smooth fine paste.

In an another pan heat oil, add mustard seeds, when they start to pop, add curry leaves onion and green chillies, sauté till the onions becomes golden brown, add tomatoes and sauté it for some time, add the cooked daal and add masala, add salt and mix well.  Cook for another 4-5 min in medium flame.  Add more curry leaves.  Remove from the stove .  Daal with roasted coconut is ready to serve.

Garlic Chicken Fry

I made this simple non spicy Chicken fry yesterday, and it looked very attractive so I took a picture of it. I feel like sharing it here. The taste was much more than the picture. :) This chicken fry is very simple and nothing much to write about. Garlic is the main ingredient, so I named it 'Garlic Chicken Fry'.

Ingredients:

Chicken Drumstick- 400gms
Garlic paste- 2 spoon
Ginger paste- ¾  spoon
Turmeric powder- ¼ teaspoon
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Preparation

Wash, Clean and remove skin and fat from chicken drumsticks. Marinate it with Ginger paste, Garlic paste, Turmeric powder and salt for about 1 hr.
In a frying pan heat the oil up to medium heat, Fry the drumstick, turning it often so that it cooks evenly and doesn’t get brown too fast.
Cook until drumstick is done and golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve warm.

Veg Pulao

Everyday you need to try something new to make the kids eat their vegetables.  Veg pulao , I guess is an easiest option. Easy for you and for the kids as well… :). 

You can use the vegetables of your choice to customize the pulao according to your taste.  

Ingredients:
Basmati rice- 2 cups
Carrot, beans, potato, capsicum – 1 ½ cup (finely chopped)
Onion-1 finely chopped
Ginger- ½  teaspoon finely chopped
Garlic – ½  teaspoon finely chopped

Cloves-2
Cinnamon –small piece
Oil

 

Preparation

Soak the rice in water for 30 min.

Heat oil in a pan, add the cloves and cinnamon, add the ginger and garlic , add the onion and sauté it till it becomes soft, add the vegetables and sauté it for a while, add rice and mix well.  Add 4 cups of water (its the1:2 ratios, 2 cups of water for 1 cup of rice), add salt to taste . Close the lid and cook for about 10-12 min.  Without disturbing the rice, open the lid and cook it in low flame for another 3-5 min. Remove from the stove, do not put the spoon on the hot rice. Wait for another 5 min, move pulao to the serving dish and enjoy.

You can garnish the pulao with cashews and raisins fried in ghee.(optional)

Chicken with Coconut

Keralaties love to have coconut in any dish... Chicken with coconut is almost similar to the dish 'chicken thoran' from kerala. Again this is another easy method of cooking chicken. This taste its best with rice and moru (laban). its a dry dish.

Ingredients:-

Chicken - 800g ( cut into small pieces)

Small onion -15-20 nos

Garlic - 4 cloves(finely chopped)

Ginger -  2 teaspoon finely chopped

Green chilli-3

Cloves-2

Cinnamon - small piece

Coconut grated 1 cup

Coconut Oil

Curry leaves

Masala

Red chilli powder-1 teaspoon

Cumin powder- 1/2 teaspoon

Turmeric powder-1/4 teaspoon

Garam masala-1/2 teaspoon

Black pepper -1 teaspoon

Fennel seeds (perumjeerakam)- 1/2 tea spoon

Directions:

Cook the chicken in a pressure cooker, The chicken will be cooked nicely and you can save the cooking time also.

Heat the masala ingredients and grind it. 

Heat the coconut oil in a pan, add the cloves and cinnamon, add ginger and garlic, after few seconds add green chillies, curry leaves and onion and saute till the onions become soft. you will get a nice aroma, add the cooked chicken and stir for 2 min, add salt, add the masala and mix well. cook for another 5 min. Add the grated coconut and mix well. Add more curry leaves.  Remove it from the stove. 

In this recipe coconut is not getting cooked. its with its raw taste, but mixed with all the masala and the chicken it taste even better than the cooked

Chicken with coconut is ready! :)

Daal

Daal is suitable for a lazy day cooking...:) its much more simple than u could actually imagine, at the same time very healthy and tasty. Daal is at its best with Basmati rice, good with chapatti also,  as it is quite thick in consistency. Yellow daal is plain and simple, you can customize it with the ingredients of your choice of taste. 

Ingredients:

Moong Daal- 1 cup

Onion- 1 (Finely Chopped)

Tomatto- 1 (Cubed)

Turmeric powder- 1/4 teaspoon

Garlic-2 cloves (crushed)

Salt- to taste

mustard seeds -1/2 teaspoon

Jeera/cumin seeds -1/2 teaspoon

Coriander leaves (Finely chopped)

Preparation:

Cook the Daal,Tomatto and Turmeric powder in a pressure cooker with 3 cups of water. 1 whistle should be enough. if you are not using pressure cooker, cook in a closed, thick-bottomed pan for about 15-20 mins until the dal is cooked soft

Heat oil in a pan. add the mustard seeds, once the mustard seeds start to pop  add jeera , add onion add garlic , saute till the onion turns golden yellow. Add the cooked daal .add salt and mix well.

Garnish with coriander leaves.

Adding a spoon of butter gives an extra taste to the daal. Serve with rice or chapatti.

Cake ( Vanilla- Chocolate cake)

Baking is always fun, especially when you have kids to help …  :)) they just love playing with the batter, help in each and every step from beating the eggs to buttering the cake tray, They have their hand in all. 

This is a very simple recipe from my sister in law, with some variations from my side.  I’ve a group of cake lovers around me… and I dedicate this recipe to all of them. 

This is not the typical vanilla - chocolate swirl cake as the chocolate portion in this preparation is very low and instead of the dark coco powder, here i used the drinking chocolate powder. 

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups self raising flour
Eggs -4
Powdered sugar- 1 ½ cups
Oil (Sunflower oil) – 1 cup
Milk – 1 cup
Baking powder- 1 teaspoon
Vanilla essence – 1 teaspoon
Chocolate powder- 2 table spoon

 Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour cake pan.
• In a bowl combine flour and baking powder with a wire whisk.
• Separate the egg whites from yolk, beat the whites separately , Add sugar, Add vanilla and mix until completely combines. Slowly add flour alternately with milk. finally stir in the oil , At end of addition batter should be smooth.
• Divide the mixture between 2 bowls.  Stir the chocolate powder into the mixture in one of the bowls. Take 2 spoons and use them to dollop the chocolate and vanilla cake mixes into the tin alternately. When all the mixture has been used up  tap the bottom  to ensure that there aren't any air bubbles. Take a knife and swirl it around the mixture in the pan a few times to create a marbled effect.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool cake in pan, and on a wire rack, for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan, and cool completely.

Ari Payasam ( Rice Payasam)

Ari payasam is a sweet desert made of rice and milk. you can call it a 'Rice milk pudding'. This is my Mothers recipe , which is the perfect choice  for someone like me, who loves easy cooking.

Aripayasam is a perfect desert for Sadya, and its true taste comes when you are enjoying it in the banana leaf.

Ingredients:

Milk – 4 cups

Rice – 2/3 cups (i used the red rice soaked in cold water for 30 minutes)
Water – 3 cups
Sugar – 1 cup
1/2 tsp cardamom powder or 2 cardamoms crushed

1/2 tsp Dried ginger powder/chukku podi
Cashew nuts – 5-6 (toasted in ghee)

Method:

Mix water and milk and cook in medium heat and stir occasionally until the volume reduces to half. ( you can also use 1 cup of evaporated milk to reduce the cooking time) . add rice to the milk and cook in medium heat till the rice is done. Add sugar and cook for another 15 min . Stir frequently. Add crushed cardamom and chukku podi. Remove the payasam  from the stove.

garnish with  toasted cashewnuts.  

Garnishing with chopped coconuts also gives a special crunchy taste to the payasam. Heat ghee in a small skillet and fry 2 spoons of chopped coconut and pour this over the payasam.

Paneer Masala

The Dish for the day is Paneer Masala, it is  usually served with an Indian type of bread (Chappathi, Roti , Naan, etc. ). Some people prefer it to take with rice preparations also. First, the cottage cheese (paneer) is prepared in the traditional method. Here i used the readymade one.

  

To make Paneer :

Boil 1 liter of milk , 
Add two spoons of Lemon juice and a spoon of fermented Yogurt. The milk and water gets separated.
Strain the water and put the paneer in a muslin cloth and keep a heavy weight on top of it for a few hours.
After the paneer gets set, steam it in a pressure cooker for five minutes.
Remove the paneer and make it into cubes. 

Ingredients :

• 1 onion
• 1 tomato
• Ginger small piece
• 10 garlic cloves
• Corriander leaves (finely chopped)
• green chillies 3-4
• 1 piece cardamom
• 2 pieces of cloves
• Chilly powder-1 tsp
• Turmeric Powder-1/4 tsp
• Oil

Masala :

Heat oil in a pan. Then add the clove and cardamom. Fry for a few seconds. Add finely cut Garlic, Ginger, and half of the onions. sauté all these things nicely. When the onions turn golden brown and gives a nice aroma, add the tomatoes and sauté. add chilly powder  turmeric powder. Saute all the ingredients ,remove the pan from stove. And cool the masala. Grind the masala well in a grinder with water . Masala should be of medium consistency.

Heat the pan, add a little oil and add the remaining onions and green chillies and add the grinded masala. To this add salt to taste and the paneer cubes. Cook this in slow fire for 15 - 20 minutes. serve with hot bread.

Gobi Munchurian

My kids like Gobi Manchurian after tasting in a restaurant. and I tried this from one of my friend's recipe. I wont say this one tasted exactly what they had in restaurant. But it was good and tasted nice.. we all liked it. there was a big smile on their face, which says it all... :)

• 1 medium capsicum
• 1 medium Cauliflower
• 1/2 cup Maida
• 1 tbsp Corn Flour
• Salt to taste
• 1 Chopped green chili
• 1 tbsp Garlic Paste
• 1 tbsp Ginger Paste
• Onions - 1 cup (finely Chopped )
• Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves
• Green capsicum (cut to sqaure pieces)
• 2 tbsp Soya Sauce
• 2-3 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
• 2 tbsp Oil

Method 

• Make a paste of maida, corn flour and salt using water, add ginger garlic paste.
• Dip the cauliflower in the paste and deep fry till golden brown. Keep aside.
• Heat oil in a pan and add the left ginger & garlic paste, chopped onions , green chili and green capsicum to it.
• Now, mix soya sauce and tomato sauce to it.
• Add fried Gobi kept aside and mix well. 
• Garnish it with coriander leaves. 
• enjoy the gobi manchurian hot.