Mambhazha Pulissery (Mango Pulissery)

Its mango season in Kerala now and recently my husband  had a short visit, my mother in law send some fresh ripe mangoes from the tree in front of our house.  Sweet and juicy ripe mangoes. Very tasty as a fruit as such, Mangoes…. always makes you nostalgic. 
Mambhazha pulissery is a simple dish.. a perfect combo of ripe mangoes and yoghurt. The tampering with mustards, fenugreek and chillies gives the extra flavors and taste. My daughter loves this curry too.

Best with rice , Can be part of the Kerala sadya ,mambhazhapulissery contributes the sweet taste.
Here is my version

Ingredients :-
Ripe mangoes - 2
Red chili powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Water
yogurt / curd – 1 ½  cups

Salt
Grated coconut – ½  cup

Cumin seeds - ½  teaspoon
Turmeric powder- ¼   teaspoon
Green chili - 2 no.s
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Fenugreek seeds – ½   teaspoon
Dry red chili (whole) - 4 no.s
Curry leaves
Oil

Method

Peel the skin of the mangoes.  I used not so small mangoes. So I cut the flesh into pieces and discarded the skin. Cook the mangoes with ¼ tea spoon turmeric powder, ½ tea spoon chilli powder, salt and water.
Grind the grated coconut, cumin seeds, turmeric powder, and green chilli with some curd to make it a smooth paste.  Add the paste to the cooked mangoes and cook again for another 3-4 min.
Lower the flame and add the curd and mix well.
Heat oil in a pan , splutter the mustard seeds, fenugreek seed, red chillies and curry leaves.  Pour this tampering over the pulissery.
Mambhazha pulissery is ready!

Chilli Paneer

Indo Chinese fusions like chilli or manjoorian dishes has a special taste. very popular as well… more popular with chicken , But taste equally good with paneer or Gobi.

Increasing demand for paneer dishes made me cook this chilli paneer... :)
Chilli paneer  is a spicy dish which can be served  as an appetizer, it tastes great with fried rice and noodles .
Here is my version of chilli Paneer which I love to have anytime a day. The same for my kids also..  :) 

You can make it spicy by increasing the amount of green chillies.  As always I made it less spicy.

Ingredients :-

Paneer - 250gm
Capsicum -1/2 green and 1/2 red
Onions- 2 large 

Green chillies, 4 slit
Ginger garlic paste 1 tsp
Soya sauce 1 tbsp
Chilli sauce – ½ teaspoon
Tomato sauce- 1 table spoon
Sugar- 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

For the Marinade:
All-purpose flour - 3 tbsp
Corn flour- 2 tbsp
Pepper- 1 tspn
Garlic paste 1 tsp
Salt
Water

Method

 Marinate the panner pieces in a paste made out of the ingredients to marinade. Keep for 5 min. 
Add oil in a pan and shallow fry the paneer pieces, make sure all the sides are brown. Drain them and keep aside.
Heat oil in a pan, add chopped onions, capsicum and  green chillies,. Cook until the onions turn transparent . Add ginger garlic paste , soya sauce, chilli sauce, tomato sauce and sugar. Stir-fry on high flame for about 1min  turn the flame to medium-low..  Add salt if needed.
Add the fried paneer cubes and combine well. Stir cook for sometime.. add corn starch (½ tbsp of corn flour mixed with 2 tbsp of water) and cook for some more time until the sauce thickens.
Remove from pan, Serve hot.

Chicken Curry (Chettinadu style)

Another Chicken Dish… Chicken curry in Chettinadu style..
Deeply flavorful chicken dish , cooked in coconut milk with a blend of the flavors of quite a few spices.
Its not the usual ‘easy’ recipe . There’s no marination or frying or anything involved in my version of  recipe but preparing the ingredients consume more time than the actual cooking.  But worth the effort….
Serve hot with Chapathi or rice. I love it with both :)

Ingredients:
Chicken – 700gm
Shallots/ small onion - 1 cup
Tomato -3 medium size
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Coconut Milk - 1 cup
Green Chillies - 2 nos
Garlic – 8 flakes
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Salt
Coriander leaves

Curry leaves

Masala ingredients:
Coriander seeds - 1 tablespoons
Dry red chillies - 6 nos
Black Pepper - 1/2 teaspoon
Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Fennel seeds - 1/2  teaspoon
Cardamoms - 2
Cinnamon - 1 small piece
Curry leaves

Method

Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a pan and roast the masala ingredients- (black pepper, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, red chillies, cardamom, cinnamon and curry leaves) for 2-3 min on medium heat with constant stirring. Remove from fire, cool and grind.
Make a paste of ginger, garlic , green chilli and soaked poppy seeds keep aside.
Heat oil in a pan, add small onions and curry leaves, sauté till the onions becomes transparent,
Add the ginger garlic chilli paste mixture and cook in medium heat for a min, gives you a good aroma, add chicken, with constant stirring cook for 3-4 minutes on a high flame.  Add turmeric powder, tomatoes and salt , mix well cook this for some more time. Transfer this to a pressure cooker and add coconut milk. Cooking time varies depending upon the quality of the chicken used.  For me the chicken was done in two whistles. ( around 5 min)
Open the pressure cooker, add the grounded masala and combine well. Cook for another 3-4 min. the gravy gets thicken , add more curry leaves. Remove from stove.
Transfer to a serving dish. Garnish with coriander leaves.
Serve Hot.

Chicken Roast

This dish is a fantastic blend of Chicken, Onion, Tomatoes and Spices.
Adaptation of this recipe is  again from a cooking program on TV,  with some alteration to customize it according to our taste buds.
The aroma  of curry leaves and the coconut oil makes it a complete Kerala dish. .. a mouth watering one….
The chicken is usually deep fried and then mixed with masala.  For a healthier option, I avoided the deep frying and pressure cooked it instead.It goes well with rice or chappathi
Sometimes I have the feeling, that I now cook so I can take pics.. I’m not sure that the picture gives enough justice to the statement.  Anyways I enjoy both…. Caputuring it on camera and eating it as well!! 

Ingredients
Chicken -750 gm
Pepper powder – 2 table spoon
Lemon juice – 2 table spoon
Chillipowder  2 table spoon
Turmeric powder-  ¼  teaspoon
Coriander Powder- 1 teaspoon
Onion – 5 medium size( finely chopped)
Ginger – 2 ½ table spoon
Garlic-2 ½ table spoon
Green chilli
Tomato -3 big
Garam masala- 1 tea spoon
Salt

Preparation

preparing the chicken includes two sets of marination.
First Marinate the chicken with ½ teaspoon of pepper powder, salt and lemon juice, for about 30 mins.
For the second marinade - 1tablespoon Chilli powder – , ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, ¼ teaspoon pepper powder, add water and make it a paste.  Mix it well with the chicken and keep it aside for sometime.  Deep fry the marinated chicken in coconut oil… that’s the original way.
My version has some changes here , after the first marination , I cooked the chicken in pressure cooker.. then I did the second marination.  Since the chicken is cooked already…  a stir fry was enough to change the raw taste of the marinade. 
Now the masala part….
Heat oil in a pan,  add ginger , garlic and green chilli and fry  till there is a nice aroma,  Add the onions, sauté it til it become golden brown, Add 1 table spoon chilli powder,I teaspoon coriander powder, ¼ tea spoon turmeric powder , fry  for a minute. Add the tomatoes  and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Add garam masala and curry leaves and mix well..
 Now add the  fried chicken and roast  it for  sometime  till the masala gets well coated over the chicken. add more curry leaves , Remove from stove .
serve with rice or chapathi. 

Paneer Biriyani

Today I wanted to make something special for the kids and decided to go with Paneer Biriyani.  Normally Biriyani preparation takes a lot of patience and effort…  . And I was not in mood to spend hours in the kitchen also. so i followed an easy method of Biriyani . I got the idea from one of the cooking programs in our local channel.
 My daughter recently developed a liking towards paneer…  that’s how I started cooking more with paneer. 
Paneer ( Cottage cheese) Biriyani was the perfect choice for a one pot dish.  Combination of raitha and pickle… makes this a delicious meal.
And today I am happy that both my kids loved it…  Nothing gives me more happiness then to see them relishing the food I make. :)

Ingredients :-

2 cups Basmati rice
1 cup of paneer cubes
1 onion chopped
2 green chillies
Tomatoes -3 (cut into small cubes)
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1 ½  teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon garlic chopped
Chilli powder -2 teaspoon
Coriander powder -1 teaspoon
Pepper powder-1 teaspoon
Garam Masala- 1 teaspoon
Kasthuri Methi – 1 teaspoon
Cumin seed- 1 teaspoon
Coriander seeds- 1 teaspoon
ghee
corriander leaves
Mint leaves

Preparation:-

Divide  the task into various small tasks and then assembling makes it more easy to understand.
The first step is to prepare the rice .  cook the rice with more water , when it is more than half cooked add the carrots. when cooked completely, drain the rice and keep aside.
The next step is to prepare the paneer. Deep fry the paneers to golden Brown keep aside.
To prepare the masala. Heat 2 table spoons of ghee in a pan, add the ginger paste and chopped garlic and sauté for a while.  Add the green chillies. Stir fry for some time.  Add chillipowder, coriander powder  and cook till the raw smell goes, Add sliced tomato & cook. When oil starts appearing add salt, pepper powder, kasthuri methi and garam masala. cook for some more time and remove from fire.
Now it’s the final stage, assembling all the ingredients. Heat 2 table spoons of ghee + 1 spoon oil, add the cumin seeds and coriander seeds. Add onions and Cook on medium heat with  stirring constantly so that the onions don’t get burned. Add the cooked rice and fry it  for sometime.  Add the fried panner to the rice.  Add the masala in small amount mixing it with the rice.  Add mint leaves and corrainder leaves .  mix everything well so that the masala reaches every single rice. Cook it covered for 4-5 min.
If you want you can garnish the biriyani with cashews and raisins fried in ghee.
Finally the paneer biriyani  is ready to serve hot.  Serve it with onion and cucumber raitha.