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Monday, August 27, 2007
Paal Payasam
Want to make some Paal payasam the easy way ?? Then follow me....
Ingredients
1/3 cup - Rosematta rice, wash well
1.5 cup - sugar
8 cups - Milk ( read note below )
2 - Cardamom ( optional ), crush and powder
Garnishing
Few cashew nuts
Few white dry raisins
Ghee
Method
1 ) In a pressure cooker boil the milk. Then add washed rice, sugar and close the pressure cooker with the lid. Bring to a full cooking pressure. After the first whistle, low the heat to very low simmer and cook for 45 minutes.
2 ) Open the pressure cooker after it has cooled down to see a paal payasam with a beautiful dark pink shade. Check the sweetness and add more sugar if necessary. You can serve the payasam without garnish at this point.
3 ) Proceed to garnish and flavour with cardamom. Add cardamom powder and stir. In a pan heat some ghee and fry the cashew nuts and raisins. Garnish the payasam.
Serve this paal payasam as dessert after the onasadhya.
A dessert entry for the summer express cooking event, hosted by Mallugirl of Malabar Spices.
Also sending in this for Shri Krishna Janmashtami festival food event, that Latha of ' The yum blog ' is organising.
Note : The measuring cup i have used to measure the milk in is with " Anchor Hocking 2-Cup Glass Measuring Cup". Please note this, as i have come to realise that every measuring cup, does not give the same measurement. This can result in the recipe not turning out as expected. So use same measuring cup to measure rice,milk and sugar.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Fish in coconut milk gravy
Ingredients
1.5 lb - Fish , clean & cut to medium size pieces
1.5 to 2 tsp - Red chili powder
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1 tsp - Coriander powder
1 medium size - tomato Or 5 - cherry tomatoes, chopped
4 - Kodampuli , wash
2 to 3 sprigs - Curry leaves
Coarsely crush
1 inch piece - ginger
2 to 3 - Green chili
3 flakes - Garlic
3 - Shallots
Coconut milk from half of a coconut.
- 1/2 cup - Thick 1st extracted coconut milk
- 1 cup - Second extracted coconut milk
Method
1 ) Dilute red chili, turmeric and coriander powder in little water. In microwave safe bowl, cook kodampuli in 1/2 a cup of water for one minute.2 ) In a manchatti (earthen pot used to cook fish curry in kerala ) or in a kadai heat coconut oil, add crushed ingredients, curry leaves, stir and fry for a minute. Add tomatoes, stir and fry well.
3 ) Add diluted powders, stir and fry till oil comes out. Add kodampuli with the water and the fish pieces. Add little more water, if necessary for the fish to cook. Add salt to taste.4 ) When the fish is half cooked, add the second extracted milk. Cover with a lid and cook on low flame till the fish is fully cooked and the gravy has thickened.
5 ) Finally pour in the thick coconut milk, bring to a boil and take off the stove. Garnish with some fresh curry leaves.
Serve hot with rice and pappad.I am all smiles to receive the "Rocking girl blogger award" from three fellow blogger friends. Richa of As dear as salt, Viji of Malabar Ruchi and by Kribha of En Samayal Pakkam .
Viji also passed on "The Power of Schmooze Award" to me. I feel humbled and thank you ladies for considering me.
It looks like most of the foodie blogger friends i know, already have received these awards. None the less i am sure it will always be a pleasure to be nominated once, twice or thrice again. Right :D ??
As per the tradition of passing on these awards, I would like to pass on Rockin' Girl Blogger Award to:
Seema of Recipe Junction
Sukanya of Hot N'Sweet Bowl
Rahin of Lazzat
Viji of Vcuisine
Bhags of Crazy Curry
Jyothsna of Currybazaar
Hima of SnackORama
The Power of Schmooze Award is for bloggers who “effortlessly weave their way in and out of the blogosphere, leaving friendly trails and smiles, happily making new friends along the way. They don’t limit their visits to only the rich and successful, but spend some time to say hello to new blogs as well. They are the ones who engage others in meaningful conversations, refusing to let it end at a mere hello - all the while fostering a sense of closeness and friendship.”
The Power of Schmooze Award to :
Asha of Aroma
Shn of Mishmash
Sia of Spice Corner
Sig of Live to eat
Sharmi of Neivedyam
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Murukku - Chakli
Ingredients
2 cups - Rice flour
1 cup - Besan flour / Gram flour
1 tbsp - Ajwain / Carom seeds
1 tbsp - White sesame seeds
1 tsp - Red chili powder
1/4 tsp - Hing powder / Asafoedita
1/4 cup - Melted butter or Margarine
About 2 cups - Lukewarm water
Salt to taste
Oil to fry ( Peanut oil )
Method
1 ) Sieve rice and besan flour together to a mixing bowl. Add ajwain, sesame seeds, red chili, hing, salt and mix together. Pour the melted butter and mix.
2 )Add water little at a time and make a chapati like dough. Dough should not be too stiff nor too loose.
3 ) Shown in picture below, is the murukku presser. Take little of the dough and fill into the murukku mold.
6 ) Heat oil in a wok or kadai. Carefully slide shaped murukku dough into the hot oil. Fry both sides on a medium high heat, till crisp and golden.
Take off the oil and drain on a paper towel.
Serve as a evening snack with tea or coffee.
Sending this recipe to the event "Fun in the sun" hosted by Anupama of "Food-n-more" and also to the event "WYF- Snacks" hosted by hima of "SnackORama"
Update
You can also make with this proportion, that is 2 cups of rice flour and 1/2 cup Besan. Since besan fries faster than rice flour, with this proportion you will get even cooking.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Pulihora - Tamarind Rice
An Andhra preparation of the tamarind rice, that my friend prepares so well and she has so graciously shown me, step by step how she prepares this rice.
Ingredients
3 cups - Raw rice ( Use : Sona Masuri, Basmati or Long grain rice )
Seasoning
2 tbsp - Mustard seeds
1/4 cup - Urad dal
1/4 cup - Chana dal
1/4 cup - Peanuts
6 to 8 - Whole dried red chili
1 tsp - Turmeric powder
1 big yellow lemon size - Tamarind
1/4 to 1/2 tsp - Hing
2 to 3 sprigs - Curry leaves
1 cup - Oil
Salt to taste
Method
1 ) In the first step, cook the rice and then spread out in a big plate to cool a bit.
2 ) Second step is to Season. Heat oil in a pan and fry the whole red chillies. Take it off the oil and set aside. Then add chana dal, peanuts, urad dal and fry on medium low heat. Then add mustard and after mustard pops, add curry leaves, hing and take off the stove.
3 ) Thirdly, pour the seasoning onto the cooked rice.
Then to make the tamarind paste, extract thick tamarind paste from the tamarind by adding little by little water and squeezing out a thick tamarind juice. Now cook the extracted juice till it thickens to a semi-thick concentrated paste. Add salt to taste when cooking the tamarind juice.
4 ) Add the cooked tamarind paste to the cooked rice. Now mix the rice well with the seasoning and the tamarind paste. Mix thoroughly and then serve.
Variations to this recipe
- If you like mustard flavor, you can add a little mustard paste to the rice and mix well. Take 1 tsp mustard seeds and make a paste with little water. Crush with a mortar and a pestle.
- Sesame seeds can be dry roasted and powdered. Add the powder to the rice and mix well.
Now if you want to make this rice with ready made Puliogare powder -
1) Follow the first step to cook the rice.
2 ) Then follow the second step to season. At the end of the seasoning, add 3 to 4 tbsp of ready made puliogare powder into the oil, before taking off the stove.
3 ) Pour the seasoning onto the cooked rice and mix thoroughly. If you need more sour and tangy taste, add 2 to 3 tbsp of lemon juice to the rice and mix.
JFI for the month of Sept, is hosted by the lovely sharmi of Neivedyam, who has a array of mouth water recipes to feast on. Rice is the chosen ingredient and i am sending in Pulihora as my entry for this event.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Chili Chutney
Chili peppers contain antioxidants and a lot of health benefits. There are different varieties of chili peppers available, which have their own unique factors like the taste, shape, color, the level and degree of pungency.
This is a green chili chutney, in which Serrano peppers are used as a main ingredient. Select fully dark green colored peppers for this chutney. Other chili peppers can also be used to make this chutney. Got this chutney recipe and suggestions, from a good friend of mine. Chutney goes very well with dosa, idli, rice, chapati and bread. Even though a lot of serrano peppers are used to make this chutney, it is not very spicy as one might conclude.
Ingredients
10 - Serrano pepper, slit lengthwise and chopped
2 tbsp - White sesame seeds
small key lime size - Tamarind
1/2 tsp - Jeera /Cumin seeds
2 flakes - Garlic
1/4 cup - Water
Salt to taste
Seasoning
1/2 tsp - Mustard seeds
1 tsp - Urad dal
1 tsp - Chana dal
1 sprig - Curry leaves
1/4 tsp - Hing
1/4 tsp - Turmeric powder
1 - Whole red chili
Method
1) Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped green chili to it. Fry for a minute and then close with a lid and cook on low heat till the chili is cooked and soft. Add salt to taste when cooking.
2 ) Meanwhile, dry roast the sesame seeds in another pan to a light brown color. Take off heat and cool.
3 ) To soften tamarind - Place tamarind in a microwave safe bowl, add little water and cook for less than a minute.
3 ) To a blender, add cooked chili, sesame seeds, jeera, tamarind, garlic and salt to taste. Grind to a smooth paste. Add water little by little as needed.
4 ) To season, heat oil in a pan and add mustard, urad dal, chana dal,curry leaves, whole red chili, hing & turmeric powder.
5 ) Add this seasoning to the prepared chutney and serve.
Serve as a side dish to go with dosa, idli, rice, chapati or bread.
This is my entry for JFI - Chillies. The ingredient chosen is chillies by Nandita of "Saffron trail " fame, who is hosting JFI for the month of August.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
A post that hit a century with a homemade cookie !
Now in Seattle, I got together with my good friend Lakshmi, who is by her own rights, a great cook. She told me about this simple homemade biscuits / cookies that is quite popular in her hometown. With minimal ingredients and less baking time, this cookie tastes simply awesome. It's something that you can do in a jiffy. This could be something you could bake with kids.
Ingredients
1 cup - Maida / all purpose flour
1/2 cup - Sugar
1/2 cup - Melted ghee ( at room temperature)
Method
1 ) Add maida, sugar and melted ghee into a mixing bowl.
2 ) Combine the ingredients to make a dough.
3 ) Take a small amount of the cookie dough, shape it to a small ball and then flatten it. Then shape with a cookie cutter or you can shape the cookie even with a glass as shown in the pictures below.
4 ) Transfer the shaped cookie dough to a baking tray. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and bake the cookies for 15 minutes. The bottom of the cookies will be lightly golden in colour.
Transfer the cookies from baking tray to a wire rack and cool.
Treat yourself and your kids with this delicious cookie.
Note : Use only melted desi ghee for this recipe. Do not melt butter and use.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Mutton Varutharacha Curry
Ingredients
2 to 3 - Green chili, slit in center
2 inch piece - Ginger, chopped
1 sprig - Curry leaves
4 - Cloves
1 tsp - Fennel seeds / Perumjeerakam
3 tbsp - Coriander powder
1 tsp - Red chili powder
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
5- 6 - Shallots, chopped
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Potato Ishtoo / Stew
Ingredients
2 big - Potatoes, quartered
1/2 of a medium size -Onion, chopped
2 - Jalapeno chili pepper Or 4 - green chili, slit in center
1 to 2 inch piece - Ginger, chopped
1 medium size - Tomato, chopped
2 to 3 sprigs - Curry leaves
1 stick - Cinnamon
4 to 6 - Cloves
1 whole - Grated coconut, to extract coconut milk
4 - Hard boiled eggs, cut into two ( Optional )
Garnishing
1/2 cup - Onion chopped, fry in oil to a light brown color
Coconut oil
Method
1 ) Extract coconut milk - In a blender/ grinder, grind grated coconut with little water and then extract the first thick coconut milk. Keep aside for final garnish.
- Make second extraction with same ground coconut. Pour 1.5 cup water and make second extraction.
- Make a third extraction with 1.5 cup water.
With one whole coconut, you will get a very rich gravy. You can use half of one whole coconut too for the above ingredient proportion. Use less water in extraction.
2) Heat little oil in a sauce pan, add cinnamon, cloves and curry leaves to the pan. Add onion, saute till onions become soft. Then add chili and ginger.
3 ) Pour the 3rd extracted coconut milk. Add potato, salt to taste and cook till potato is fully cooked. Don't over cook the potatoes.
4 ) Add tomato and the 2nd extracted milk. Bring to a boil and simmer. Adjust salt to taste. Add boiled eggs and simmer for 2 minutes.
Finally add the thick 1st extracted coconut milk and take off the stove. Garnish with some onions fried to light brown color.
.
Serve with Appam, idiappam, puttu or neipathiri.
Tip
- If the gravy is watery when using half of a coconut, then mix little rice flour in water and add to the gravy. This will thicken the gravy.
- Mixed vegetable ishtoo / stew also can be made in the same manner, cooking other vegetables( peas, carrot, french beans ) along with potato.
- You can use canned coconut milk instead of extracting coconut milk. You will need one can of coconut milk. Dilute half of the coconut milk with water and use as 2nd extract. Use thick coconut milk as 1 st extract.Cook vegetables in water.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Kootu Curry
Ingredients
2 cups - Black chickpeas / Kadala / kala chana, cooked
1 cup - Yam / Suran, chopped
Salt to taste
Dry roast
1/2 tsp - Red chili powder
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
Grind to paste
1 cup - Grated Coconut , dry roast to light brown colour
1/2 tsp - Cumin seeds / jeera
2 - Shallots / small onions
Seasoning
1 tsp - Mustard seeds
2 - Dry whole red chili
2 sprigs - Curry leaves
Method
1 ) Cook suran in water with roasted red chili and turmeric powder.The vegetable should very well cooked. Add cooked kadala and salt to taste.
2 ) Add the ground coconut mixture, mix with the cooked vegetable and kadala. Add enough water for gravy and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
3 ) Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and pop it. Then add dry chili and curry leaves. Season the kootu curry with this.
Serve hot with rice. This will make a good addition to Onam sadhya.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Chakka Pathiri and Neipathiri / Neypathal
Pathiri, neipathiri or poricha ( fried ) pathiri are some of the specialities among Mappila (Muslims) in kerala.
Pathiri /Neriya pathiri is rolled out very thin and puffs up when cooked on a tava. Neipathiri denotes, pathiri fried in ghee. Present days other healthy oils are used instead of ghee.
Chakka is the malayalam name for jackfruit and pathiri is like a pancake made out of rice flour.
Ingredients
2 cups - Rice flour
2 cups - Water
Salt to taste
Oil for frying
To grind
1 cup - Raw jackfruit, chopped
1/2 tsp - Jeera / Cumin seeds
2 - Shallot / small onion
1/2 cup - Grated coconut
Method
1 ) In a blender, grind coconut, jeera and shallot without adding any water. Then add the chopped jackfruit and grind the ingredients together.
2 )Heat water to a boil with salt. Add the ground ingredients to the water and bring water to a boil again. Simmer heat, slowly add rice flour and stir well with a spoon. Turn off the heat and close with a lid. Open the lid after 5 to 10 minutes and when it is still warm, but manageable to knead, knead well without adding any more water. Knead to a smooth dough.
3 ) Make small balls of the dough....
4 ) With a rolling pin, roll the dough balls. Dust with rice flour as needed to help rolling the dough to a round shape. Use a round cutter or a lid to get a perfect round shape.
5 ) Heat oil in a wok or kadai. Slide in the pathiri and fry on both sides. Take off the oil to a serving plate.
Serve with sweetened coconut milk or goes so very well with non-veg, mutton and chicken curries.
This chakka ( jackfruit ) pathiri is my contribution to JFI for this month, hosted by Jai & Bee of Jugalbandi.
To make Neipathiri, ingredients are similar, except for jackfruit. Method is the same as above. This is known as neipathiri or neypathal in the malabar region.
Ingredients for Neipathiri
2 cups - Rice flour
2 cups - water
Salt to taste
Oil for frying
To grind
1/2 cup - Grated coconut
1/2 tsp - Jeera
1/2 tsp - Fennel seeds
2 - Shallot
Method
1 ) Grind the ingredients listed to be ground without any water in a blender. Heat water to a boil with salt. Add the ground ingredients to the water and bring water to a boil again. Simmer heat, slowly add rice flour and stir well with a spoon. Turn off the heat and close with a lid. Open the lid after 5 to 10 minutes and when it is still warm, but manageable to knead, knead well without adding any more water.
2 ) Make small balls of the dough and roll out with a rolling pin. Dust with rice flour to help in rolling out. Cut with a round cutter or a lid to get a good round shape. Pathiri will be little thicker.
3 ) Heat a wok or kadai with oil on medium heat. Slide pathiri into the hot oil and fry on both sides. Take out off the oil and transfer to a plate.
Serve with non-veg curry. Try with -
Note
1 ) You can dry roast the rice flour lightly and use. This will help in the rolled out pathiri not breaking. I have not dry roasted rice flour for above recipes.
2 ) Instead of frying neipathiri, you can roll out a thin pathiri and cook in a tava or non-stick pan. Flip and cook on both sides.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Pacha Manga Curry / Raw Mango Curry
Since pachamanga is sour, yogurt is not necessary to make this curry. I was supposed to make this curry with unripe mangoes, but by the time i got down to make this curry, mangoes became semi-ripe. Anyways, i went ahead and the final result was really a yummy mango curry. The aroma was overwhelmingly so similar to mambazha pulissery.
Ingredients
2 - Unripe or semi-ripe mangoes, peel skin off & chopped
1/4 tsp - Turmeric powder
1/4 tsp - Red chili powder
Salt to taste
Grind to a paste
1/2 to 3/4 cup - Grated coconut
1/2 tsp - Jeera / Cumin
1/4 tsp - Turmeric powder
Seasoning
1 tsp - Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp - Fenugreek seeds / Uluva
2 sprigs - Curry leaves
2 - Dry whole red chili
Coconut oil 0r sesame oil
Method
1) Chop mango to small pieces. Cook mango in little water with turmeric and red chili powder. Add salt to taste. Cook till mango is cooked, which won't take long.
2 ) Add ground paste to the cooked mango. Add just enough water to get a thick gravy consistency. Adjust salt to taste and cook for a minute on low heat.
3 ) Meanwhile, heat some oil in a pan. Pop the mustards, then add fenugreek seeds, dry chili and curry leaves. Season the manga curry with this. Take off the stove and serve.
Serve as a side dish with rice.
Recipes with mango
- Mambazha pulissery - Ripe mango curry
- Mango Kadhi with onion pakoda
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Tinda Sabzi
I got a packet of frozen tinda, from the Indian store. The packet says "punjabi Tinda", which is also a Indian baby pumpkin. Then i looked up the web and wikipedia says -
Tinda,also called Indian round gourd or apple gourd, is an annual vine grown for its immature fruit, a vegetable especially popular in South Asia.This vegetable is cooked in different ways in India, especially in the northern part of India. I heard about this vegetable from a close friend in school and was on the look out for this vegetable. Though i didn't get any fresh ones, these frozen ones turned out equally good.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Matar Parantha - Green Peas Paratha
For dough
3 ) 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.
4 ) To roll out the paratha - Make 10 small balls of the dough. Take one dough ball and roll it out with a rolling pin.
- Take a small amount of filling and place in the center of the rolled out dough.
- Wrap the dough around the filling ball and close, as is shown in picture below. Dust some flour and then lightly flatten the dough with hand.
- With a rolling pin, roll out carefully to make a round paratha, as in second picture above.
- Other stuffed parantha's to try -