Ras Malai

My little one turned two and i am reminiscing the day he was born, which is like yesterday to me. I think all mothers think likewise too. He was born a day before my birthday, which made him the best birthday present ever i could ask for. Let me check myself here, before i become too sentimental. Wishing my little one and myself a happy birthday !

I made this ras malai for the first time, which turned out quiet well.....

Ingredients

1/2 gallon - Whole milk
1 cup - Vinegar

For sugar syrup

5 cups - Water
1 cup - Sugar

For making ras for malai

1 can - Sweetened Condensed milk
2 can - Evaporated milk
( recommend carnation brand )
1/4 cup - Almonds, chopped
1/4 cup - Pistachios, chopped
A few saffron strands

Method

1 ) First to make malai, boil milk to the boiling point and pour vinegar to curdle the milk. Stir continuously. The milk will curdle and whey will separate. Take off the stove and let it stand for a few minutes.

(In picture boiling milk and then curdled milk )

2 ) Pour the contents to a cheese cloth placed on a sieve. Squeeze & drain out all the whey to get fresh paneer /malai.

3 ) Wash the paneer well with water. You can run water into the drained paneer in the cheese cloth, by placing under a tap.This will remove the vinegar taste.

4 ) Squeeze & drain all the water very well.

• Then you have to knead the paneer very well. You can knead with hand ( which you will really have to knead for a long time to get soft paneer dough ) or place paneer in food processor and do as dough is made for chapati.

5 ) Make small patties of the paneer.

• Meanwhile to make sugar syrup, boil water and add sugar to it. Once the sugar has dissolved. Bring the syrup to a good boil, simmer then add the paneer patties to the syrup.
• On a medium heat cook the paneer patties with lid closed for 5 to 8 minutes. Paneer will double up in size. Switch off the heat and take off the stove. ( It's best to cook paneer patties in small batches, since there should be space in pan, when paneer doubles up)
  

6 ) To make ras - Mix together evaporated milk and sweetened condense milk.

• Drain paneer patties from sugar syrup and add to the ras.
• Then add chopped up almonds, pistachios and garnish with few saffron strands. Refrigerate for an hour.

Serve cold and enjoy this sweet treat.

Kadala Curry

Puttum kadalaum...hmm....irrestible combo for a malayali. There are other combinations with which puttu is had with, but this the most popular one. Black chickpea is used to make kadala curry. Kadala curry goes so well with vellayappam too. A detailed post on how to make puttu, was posted before. So here is the kadala curry i learned from my mother.

Ingredients

3 cups - Kadala / Kala chana / Black chickpea ( cooked )
1 medium - Tomato, quartered
2 - Green chili, slit in center
1'' piece - Ginger, grated
2 to 3 tbsp - Coconut cut to small bit's ( Thenga kothu )
3 to 4 sprigs - Curry leaves

To Roast & grind to a smooth paste

1 to 1.5 cup - Grated coconut
4 big - Shallots, chopped
6 big - Garlic flakes
1 medium size stick - Cinnamon
2 - Clove
1 tsp - pepper corns
1 - Star anise
1 - Cardamom
2 tsp - Fennel Seeds / Perumjeerakam
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1 tsp - Red chili powder
3 to 4 tsp - Coriander powder
3 sprigs - Curry leaves

Seasoning

2 tsp - Mustard seeds
1/2 of one - Onion, chopped
Coconut oil or Seasame oil

Method

1 ) To cook kadala - Soak kadala over night, then pressure cook for 30 minutes, with little turmeric powder, a small stick of Cinnamon, salt to taste and enough water.

2 ) To make masala for the gravy - Heat little coconut oil in a pan, add coconut, fennel seeds, star anise, cardamom,cloves, cinnamon, stir and roast till coconut turns medium brown in color on a low flame.Transfer to another utensil to cool.

3 ) Now add little coconut oil to the pan, add pepper corn, small onion, garlic, curry leaves - stir on low heat. Add turmeric, red chili and coriander powder, stir till the powders looses the raw smell. Take off the stove and cool.

4 ) Transfer browned coconut and roasted masala powders to a blender. Grind the ingredients to a smooth paste with water.

5 ) To make the curry - To a big utensil, add cooked kadala, stock from the cooked kadala, tomato, green chili, ginger, curry leaves , coconut bit's and cook the kadala till the tomato gets cooked. Then add the ground coconut masala paste to the kadala. Add enough water to make a semi thick gravy. Bring to a boil, adjust salt to taste.

6 ) Seasoning - Heat coconut oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and pop it, then add onion and brown the onion to golden brown color. Pour this seasoning on the curry and mix in.



Serve for breakfast with puttu or appam to experience keralites favorite breakfast.

Aloo Paratha

Paratha's are flatbread made with whole wheat flour. Mostly they are stuffed with vegetables, like potato, radish, cauliflower, cabbage and so on. Aloo paratha's are more popular among paratha's. Spiced potato stuffing is used as a filling to make aloo paratha. Though i am a beginner at making paratha's, here is a picture presentation of how i made it.

Ingredients

For dough

3 cups - Wheat flour
1 tbsp - Ghee /Oil
Water to knead the dough
Salt to taste

Instead of ghee or oil, i used 1/4 cup - crumbled paneer, freshly made. ( This helps in making paratha soft)

For filling

4 - Potatoes, boil & mash
1/2 cup - Onion, chopped finely
2- 3 - Green chili, chopped finely
1/2 tsp - Ginger, grated
1 cup - Coriander leaves, chopped finely
1/4 to 1/2 tsp - Ajwain
1 tsp - Coriander powder
1/2 tsp - Amchoor powder / Dry mango powder
1/2 tsp - Garam masala powder
2 pinch - Roasted jeera powder / Roasted cumin powder
Salt to taste

Method

1 ) To make the filling - Boil potatoes and mash it well. Add rest of the ingredients listed for filling and mix well with potato.

2 ) To make the dough - Mix wheat flour, oil and salt. Mix and rub the flour to get oil and salt well mixed. Then add water little by little, knead and make a stiff dough. Rest the dough for 20 to 30 minutes. Cover with wet towel, so that dough doesn't dry out. Then again knead the dough to get a soft workable dough.

Here is two methods to roll out the paratha.

Method 1

a ) Make 10 small balls of the dough. Take one dough ball and roll it out with a rolling pin.

• Make a small ball of filling and place in the center of the rolled out dough.
• Now as in picture in the middle, wrap the dough around the filling ball and close. Dust some flour and then lightly flatten the dough with hand.
  

b) With a rolling pin, roll out carefully to make a round paratha.

Method 2

a ) Out of the 10 dough balls. Divide each dough ball into 2. So now you have 20 dough balls in total.

• To make one paratha, roll out 2 dough balls.
• In one rolled out dough, spread the filling, as in picture above.
• Place the other rolled out dough on top of the filled dough. Press the edges to seal in. Dust with flour and roll out the paratha.

b ) If pressing the edges is not working out then try as shown in third picture above, by folding the edges and roll out the paratha.

3 ) Heat a tawa or a pan, on medium heat and place the paratha in it. Smear some oil on top and around the paratha. Flip and cook evenly on both sides, till it's golden brown in colour on both sides.

Serve with plain yogurts /curds or raita and pickle.

Enjoy this hearty meal with a glass of Sweet or salty Lassi.

• Other stuffed parantha's to try -

Matar Parantha - Green peas paratha

Kori Kari - Chicken Curry

Here is a typical mangalorian chicken curry known as kori kari. This is a kudla style of chicken preparation. Flavoured with coconut and spices, gives this curry a tantalizing taste, which has similarities with kerala kozhi curry.This goes well with neer dosa, appam, idiappam and rice.

Ingredients

2 lb - Chicken

2 medium size - Tomato, chopped

Marble size - Tamarind

1 medium - Onion, chopped

1 cup - Thick coconut milk

To fry

2 tsp - Khus khus / Poppy seeds

4 - cloves

1 - Cinnamon stick

1/2 of one - Onion, chopped

1/2 cup - Grated coconut, fresh

Dry roast

1 tbsp - Coriander seeds

1/2 tsp - Jeera / Cumin

1/4 tsp - Methi seeds / Fenugreek / Uluva

1/2 tsp - Mustard seeds

1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder

20 - Whole dry red chili ( increase or decrease as per individual taste buds )

Preparing the masala

1 ) Heat oil in a pan, fry khus-khus, clove, cinnamon and onion. Fry till onion is lightly brown. Then add coconut and fry till coconut is lightly browned. Take off the stove and cool.

2 ) Heat a pan to dry roast, coriander seeds, jeera, methi, mustard, turmeric and red chili. Roast on low heat for 1 minutes. Take off the stove.

Now add to a blender both the fried and dry roasted ingredients. Add tamarind, some water and grind to a paste.

To make the curry

3 ) Heat oil in a heavy bottom saucepan. Add onion and brown it lightly, then add tomatoes and chicken. When the chicken is half cooked add the ground masala. Add salt to taste and little water. Cook till chicken is fully cooked.

4 ) Add coconut milk and bring to boil. Garnish with coriander leaves and take off the stove.

Serve with appam, neer dosa, or with rice.

Kori kari tastes even better the next day. Spare some for the next day and taste the enhanced taste of this curry.

Spinach / Palak Paneer Kofta

To make palak paneer kofta seemed to be a long process. Since i was making paneer fresh at home. But when i started cooking, it didn't take too long to finish it.

Ingredients

To make fresh paneer
1.5 cup - Whole milk
3 tsp - Vinegar

To make spinach paneer dough

Prepared fresh paneer
10 oz ( 283 gram) - Frozen Spinach packet or use fresh spinach,chopped
3 to 4 tsp - Besan / bengal gram flour
1/2 tsp - Red chili powder
1/2 tsp - Ginger paste
1/2 tsp - Coriander powder
1/2 tsp - Garam masala powder
1 pinch - MDH kofta masala powder

To make gravy

1/2 tsp - Jeera / cumin
1 pinch - Hing
3 flakes - Garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp - Ginger, grated
1 - Green chili, chopped
1 medium size - Onion, chopped
2 - Tomato
1 tsp - Tomato paste
5 - Almonds
5 - Cashew nuts
3 to 4 tsp - Whipping cream Or
1.5 tsp - yogurts /curds
1.5 cup - Water

Garnish

Coriander leaves, chopped

Method

1 ) To make paneer - In a heavy bottom utensil, bring milk to a boil. Simmer heat and add vinegar. Stir continuously. The milk will curdle and whey will separate. Take off the stove and let it stand for a few minutes. (In picture, boiling milk and then curdled milk.)

2 ) Pour the contents to a cheese cloth placed on a sieve. Squeeze & drain out all the whey to get fresh paneer.

3 ) To make the kofta - Mix fresh paneer with rest of the ingredients listed for the kofta dough.When using frozen spinach, wash and drain all the water. Squeeze out all the water and then mix with other ingredients to make a dough.

4 ) Make small balls of the dough. Heat enough oil to deep fry kofta's. Fry kofta's to deep brown color. Take out and set aside.

5 ) To make the gravy - In a heavy bottom pan, heat some oil, add jeera, hing, garlic, ginger, green chili. Stir and fry for a minute. Add chopped onions and brown it well. Now add chopped tomatoes and tomato paste, stir and fry till oil separates. Add almonds, cashew nuts and salt to taste. Take off the stove and cool.

6 ) Add the cooked gravy ingredients to a blender, add whipping cream or you can use yogurt and make a smooth paste.

7 ) Place a saucepan on stove, add the ground gravy paste and water in it. Bring to a boil, simmer and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Adjust salt to taste. Now add the fried kofta's to the gravy and cook for a minute or two. Take off the stove.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot as a side dish with roti or steamed basmati rice.

This is my recipe contribution for JFI-WBB greens, hosted by Indira of Mahanandi.

Mutton Masala Chops

Ingredients

1 lb - Mutton chops

2 - Tomato, finely chopped

1/4 cup - Curds

1 tsp - Coriander powder

1 tsp - Red chili powder

1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp - Cumin powder/ Jeera

1.5 cup - water

Salt to taste

Grind to paste

1 medium size - Onion

1 inch piece - Ginger

2 - Green chili

6 flakes - Garlic

Garnish

1 cup - Coriander leaves, chopped

1/2 tsp - Garam masala powder

Method

1 ) Heat oil in a pressure cooker, add the ground ingredients and fry till golden brown.

2 ) Add chili powder, turmeric, coriander and cumin powder. Stir and fry for a second. Add tomato and yogurt. Stir and fry till tomatoes are well mashed and oil separates.

3 ) Add mutton chops and salt to taste. Fry till chops are brown. Add water and pressure cook for 3 to 4 whistles. Take off stove, cool and open pressure cooker.

4 ) Place cooker back on stove. Add coriander leaves and garam masala. Cook till the gravy is thick. Take off the stove and serve.

Serve hot with kerala porotta or roti.

Chemmeen / Prawns Theeyal

There are certain curries, you will not be satisfied having just a little and end up having a large meal. This is one such curry for me. I heard about chemmeen theeyal from a friend and how good it tasted. She is so right and i am hooked.

Ingredients

1 lb - Prawns, cleaned
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
2 to 3 piece - Kodampuli
Salt to taste

Dry roast & grind to paste

1 cup - Grated coconut
2 tsp - Red chili powder
2 to 3 tsp - Coriander powder
2 pinch - Fenugreek powder / Uluva

Seasoning

1 tbsp - Coconut bits / Thenga kothu
4 - Shallots, sliced
2 - Green chili, slit in center
2 sprig - Curry leaves
Coconut oil


Method

1 ) Clean prawns and marinate with turmeric powder and salt. Set aside. Wash kodampuli and soak in little water.

2 ) In a pan, dry roast grated coconut till light brown in color. Then add red chili, coriander and fenugreek powder. Stir for a minute, take off the stove and cool. Grind to a smooth paste with water.

3 ) Heat Coconut oil in a saucepan, add coconut bit and fry lightly. Then add shallots, green chili and curry leaves. Lightly fry the ingredients.

4 ) Add marinated prawns, ground coconut paste, kodampuli and enough water to make a gravy. Cook to a boil and simmer. Adjust salt as to taste. Simmer and cook till prawns is cooked.

Serve hot with rice and let me know if you are hooked or not.

Chembu / Taro Moru Curry

Taro is extensively used in South Asia. In Kerala state, it is used as a staple food, as a side dish, or as a component in various side dishes. As a staple food it is steamed, and eaten with a chutney of green pepper and shallot onions. The leaves and stems of certain varieties of taro are used as a vegetable in Kerala.

Taro is consumed in most of the regions of South Asia. It is called chembu in Malayalam, arvi in Hindi, kesu or kesuvinagadde in Kannada, aalu (अळू)

or arukudya in Marathi, alvamande in Konkani, chamagadda or chamadumpa in Telugu, chembu or cheppankizhangu in Tamil, saruwada in Oriya, and kochu in Bengali.Taro is so widely available in India and Bangladesh that its Bengali name kochu can also mean "worthless thing" or "nothing" in sayings. [ Source - Wikipedia ]

This moru curry's main ingredient is Chembu / Taro. A meal with chemu moru curry, meat masala fry along with rice is a great combination. The combination is irresistible for me. Curry tastes even better once it cools and sits for a while.

Ingredients

6 - Chembu / Taro, cut to small pieces
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp - Red chili powder

Salt to taste

Grind to a paste with yogurt

1 cup - Coconut
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp - Jeera / Cumin

1 - Green chili
2 - 3 flakes - Garlic
1/2 inch - Ginger
1 cup - Yogurt / Curds

Seasoning

1 tsp - Mustard seeds
1 tsp - Fenugreek seeds / Uluva
4 - Whole dry red chili
2 sprigs - Curry leaves
Sesame oil

Method

1 ) Boil taro in enough water with red chili powder, turmeric powder and salt. Cook till taro is well cooked.

2 ) Meanwhile grind ingredients listed to be ground to a thick paste.

3 ) Add ground paste to cooked taro. Add little water to make a thick gravy. Adjust salt as to taste. Cook on low heat till it comes to a boil. Take off the stove.

4 ) In a pan heat oil and pop mustards. Then add fenugreek seeds, whole red chili, curry leaves. Season chembu moru curry.

Serve with rice as a side dish.

Peanut Chikki

Kadala mithai as peanut chikki is known in malayalam, is a favorite sweet treat in our house. It's a simple recipe to follow.

Ingredients

1 cup - Roasted peanuts
1 cup - Jaggery
Little ghee

Method

1 ) Dissolve jaggery in little water, filter to remove any impurities.

2 ) Boil jaggery on medium heat, till jaggery thickens a bit. To check if the jaggery syrup is cooked enough to add peanuts; just drop some syrup drops in cold water. Take the drops, to test if it forms like a ball. If it is like a string, it needs to be cooked a bit more, till it forms like a ball.

3 ) Once the syrup is ready, add a little ghee to the syrup and also the roasted peanuts. Stir and mix for a minute. Keep ready a plate, that is greased with ghee. Transfer the peanuts to the plate and spread.

4 ) Cool for a while. Then you can apply a little ghee in your hands and make small balls of this peanut chikki. Otherwise you can cut into squares and break it up when cool.

Crunch on some chikki's and enjoy the flavour and taste of peanuts and jaggery.

Ela Ada - Steamed Sweet Dumpling

Ela Ada is a traditional kerala dish, which makes a great breakfast or a evening snack. Ela in malayalam means leaf and the leaf used in making this Ada is banana leaves. Before using banana leaves to make ada, the banana leaves has to be mildly wilted. By holding the banana leaf on top of a low flame for a few seconds, this can be done.Then cut the leaf to small desired pieces.
This is my first shot at making ela ada and i am satisfied with the outcome. I have tried with rice dough and ragi dough.

Ingredients for rice dough

1 cup - Rice flour, lightly roasted
1.5 cup - Water
1 tbsp - Oil
Salt to taste

Ingredients for ragi dough

1 cup - Ragi powder
1/4 cup - Rice flour
Salt to taste

For filling

1.5 cup - Grated coconut, fresh
150 gm - Jaggery
2 - Cardamom, powdered
3 - Ripe plantain, cut to small pieces
1 cup - Beaten rice / Aval / Poha

For wrapping

Banana leaves

Method

1 ) To make rice dough - Boil water in a pan, add salt and oil.To boiling water add rice flour, put off the flame, stir and mix the flour very well. Close with a lid and set aside for a while. When the dough cools, but still slightly warm, knead the dough well and then make balls out of the dough.

2 ) To make ragi dough - Use enough cold water and mix all the ingredients listed for ragi dough.

2 ) To make filling - Boil little water & jaggery in a pan. Once the jaggery has dissolved, filter it and remove any dust particles. Then again boil melted jaggery to a thick syrup. Add coconut, beaten rice, Cardamom powder & banana pieces. Mix all ingredients well and cook till the filling is thick. Take off the stove.

3 ) On a small piece of banana leaf, place one rice dough ball, press and spread out on the leaf. Dipping your fingers in water will make it easy to spread the rice dough on the leaf.
Make small balls of ragi dough and spread out like the rice dough was done.

4 ) Spread the filling in the center, like in the picture. You can even just use grated coconut as a filling.

5 ) Now after the filling is done, fold the leaf in half and then press. Press the sides as well, so that the filling will not come out.

6 ) Place the prepared banana wraps in steaming vessel and steam for 10 to 15 minutes, till it is fully cooked.

7 ) Take the steamed ada out of the banana leaf wrap and serve.

Enjoy this delicious Ela Ada for breakfast or as a sweet treat.

If banana leaves are not available then parchment paper is used to make this ada. Check out Surya's Healthy N spicy and Priya's Kitchen to make with parchment paper.
Ammupatti's thoughts have displayed in a video, how traditionally elai adai is made.

Broccoli Masoor Dal Sabzi

Today it's broccoli and masoor dal sabzi with garlic naan, for lunch. I thought i will share my lunch with every one, in the cyber way of sharing.

Ingredients

1 cup - Masoor dal
2 cup - Broccoli, chopped
1 - Tomato, diced
1/2 inch piece - Ginger, grated
1 pinch - Asafoetida / Hing
1/4 tsp - Turmeric powder
1 tsp - Crushed red chili powder
1/2 tsp - Jeera powder/ Cumin seed powder
1/2 tsp - Garam masala powder
Salt to taste
Corn oil

Seasoning

1 tsp - Mustard seeds
2 - Shallots, chopped

Method

1 ) In a saucepan, cook masoor dal with turmeric powder, crushed red chili powder, hing, jeera, garam masala powder, ginger, tomato, salt to taste and little oil. Add enough water to cook the dal.

2 ) When the dal is cooking, in another pan, heat some oil and pop mustard in it. Add shallots, brown lightly, then add broccoli and stir fry. Cook on low heat. Don't over cook broccoli.

3 ) Once the dal is cooked, add broccoli , mix in well. Adjust salt to taste. Cook on low heat for 2 minutes. Take off the stove and serve

Serve hot with rice or roti.