Tamarind Date Chutney

This Sweet and sour chutney is like a dipping sauce and very much a must accompaniment with savoury snack like chats and samosas.

Ingredients

1 cup - Seedless Tamarind
1/2 cup - Dates, finely chopped
3/4 to 1 cup - Jaggery, grated
1/4 cup - Brown sugar or Sugar
4 cups - Water

Seasoning

2 tsp - Roasted cumin powder
1 tsp - Red chili powder
1/2 tsp - Garam masala powder
1/2 tsp - Black salt
1/4 tsp - Dry ginger powder
1 tsp - Salt or more to taste

Method

1 ) To a saucepan, crumble and add tamarind. Then dates, jaggery, brown sugar and 4 cups water and bring to a boil. Simmer and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Stir and crush the tamarind to the side of the pan with spoon. Once this has cooked and thickened, take off stove.

2 ) Strain through a sieve and place the strained sauce back on stove. Add the seasoning powders and salt. Bring to a boil and thicken the sauce a bit. Take off the stove and cool. Chutney will thicken more as it cools down completely. Store in fridge and use as needed.


Serve as a dipping sauce with savoury snacks.

Spiced Lamb Fry

This is a popular lamb fry at my cousin in-laws place. Having heard how tasty the lamb fry is, i gave the recipe a try and it is finger licking good.

Ingredients

2 lb - Lamb, chopped to small pieces

To marinate meat

5 - Green chili
1 inch piece - Ginger
5 flakes - Garlic
2 sprigs - Curry leaves, finely chopped
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp - Red chili powder
Salt to taste

For meat masala powder

1 small - Cinnamon stick
1 - Star anise
1/2 tsp - Fennel seeds / Perumjeera
2 - Cloves
1/2 tsp - Khus- Khus / Poppy seeds
2 tsp - Coriander powder

For masala gravy

1 - Onion, chopped
2 sprig - Curry leaves
4 - Garlic, crushed
2 - Green chili, slit in center
1/2 inch piece - Ginger, grated
1 - Tomato, chopped
1 tsp - Red chili flakes
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1/2 bunch - Coriander leaves, chopped
1/2 tsp - Black pepper powder, coarsely crushed

Method

1 ) First make the meat masala powder. If you have eastern meat masala powder, you can use that, instead of making this masala powder. You will need this powder to marinate and to add to the gravy masala.

2 ) To marinate meat - Grind green chili, ginger and garlic to a paste. Mix this paste with curry leaves, salt to taste, red chili, turmeric and 1.5 tsp meat masala powder. Apply the mixture on the meat and marinate for 1 hour.

3 ) Add the meat into a pressure cooker and pressure cook for 2 to 3 whistles.

4 ) To make the gravy - Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan, add curry leaves, garlic, onion and fry till onion is browned. Then add green chili, ginger, chili flakes, turmeric powder, 1 to 2 tsp meat masala powder and fry for a minute.

5 ) Add tomato and fry tomato very well. Then add coriander leaves, cooked meat, stir and mix. Close with a lid and cook on low heat for 5 minutes. Cook till the meat is well dried. Sprinkle some black pepper powder, stir in. Finally, Crush a few curry leaves and add to the meat.


Serve hot and have with rice or roti. This will taste even better the next day, when the masala gets into the meat well.

Check this Meat Fry preparation too - Erachi Varattiyathu

kozhi Curry - Chicken Curry

A nadan style chicken curry, with coconut ground with spices to make a thick gravy. This curry goes very well with rice.Since there is no need for marinating, you can make this curry very quickly.

Ingredients

3 - Chicken breast pieces, cut to small pieces
1 - Onion, chopped
2 - Tomato, chopped
6 to 8 - Green chilies, slit in center
1 tbsp - Ginger-garlic paste
2 tsp - Red chili powder
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
3 tbsp - Coriander powder

To grind to a smooth paste

1 cup - Freshly grated coconut
4 - Cloves
2 small - Cinnamon sticks
2 tsp - Fennel seeds /Perumjeera

Garnish

4 big - Shallots
1/2 bunch - Coriander leaves, chopped
2 to 3 sprigs - Curry leaves

Method

1 ) Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan, add curry leaves, green chili, onion and fry till onion is translucent. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry further till the raw smell goes. Now add red chili powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder. Fry till the raw smell of the powders goes. Add tomato, chicken pieces, salt to taste, stir and mix. Close with a lid and cook on low heat till the chicken is cooked.

2 ) Open the lid and add the ground coconut paste to the cooked chicken. Add enough water to make a thick gravy. Bring to a boil. Adjust salt to taste. Add coriander leaves, stir in and cook for a minute.

3 ) In another pan heat some oil and fry the shallots to brown color. Pour this over the chicken curry as a seasoning. Take off the stove and serve.


Serve with rice.

Kadala Fry and "E For Excellent" Blog Award

This is a dry preparation with black chickpeas /kadala. This is a usual side dish, we have with kanji.

Ingredients

3 cups - Cooked kadala / black chickpeas

Seasoning

1 tsp - Mustard seeds

2 sprigs - Curry leaves

6 big flakes - Garlic, crushed

2 tsp - Red chili flakes

1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Sesame oil

Method

1 ) Black chickpeas is soaked over night and then pressure cooked in enough water with little turmeric powder and salt to taste.

2 ) Heat a pan with oil, add mustard and pop. Then add curry leaves, garlic and fry on low heat. Just fry garlic till lightly brown, don't make it dark brown. Add chili flakes, turmeric powder and fry for second in the oil.

3 ) Add the cooked kadala and little gravy from the boiled kadala. Add salt to taste, close with a lid and cook on low heat. Once the kadala is cooked for few minutes in this masala, open the lid and cook till dry.

Serve as a side dish.

Now this is really flattering to get one after another awards and this time its from Kalai of "Samaithu paarkalaam", who has been generous with words and says " Her gorgeous pics would tempt a vegetarian to want to eat non-veg! I get the urge to try all of her recipes as soon as I read them...." these are very complimentary words, kalai. Thank you so much for this award.

This Blog is Rated "E" For Excellent

I admire the work of many fellow bloggers, for the excellent posts, pictures, information and also for their sense of humor. This award is to all the bloggers out there, but since i can select only a few of you, i am passing this award on to five blogger buddies - Asha of " Foodie's Hope", Kribha of " En samayal Pakkam", Richa of " As Dear As Salt", Sia of "Monsoon Spice", Sunita of "Sunita's World".

Pal Khova - Peda

Relatively an easy way to make pal khova / Peda, from the tedious way of stirring milk for a long time to reduce and thicken the milk. The taste is so delightful and makes a great sweet treat !

Ingredients

15 oz (425 g) - Ricotta cheese

1/2 cup - Blanched almond

1 cup - Milk powder

3/4 cup - Brown sugar

Method

1 ) Powder almond to a fine powder and set a side.

2 ) To a non stick saucepan, add ricotta cheese. Keep the pan on a low heat, let the ricotta cheese loosen up and when the bubbles start forming, add almond powder. Cook ricotta and almond. When it is half cooked, add milk powder, stir and mix well. Stir and cook till it starts leaving the sides of the pan and start balling up.You get to see a change in the color .

3 ) Add brown sugar, stir and let the sugar melt. Stir well till it starts leaving the sides and balls up. Take off the stove. When it cools done a bit, take a small amount and roll into round balls.

Serve as a dessert.

From sweet peda to a "Nice matters award" that has been presented to me by the lovely and ever so nice Sig of " Live to Eat ". I feel so touched and happy to receive this award, sig. Thank you so much!

“Nice Matters Award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world.”

Now i would really like to pass this award to all the blog buddies whom i have come to know, but then this can be passed on to only a few and some of you have already got this award. So i would like to pass this award to those of you, who haven't.

Mallugirl of "Malabar Spices", RP of "My Workshop", Bhags of "Crazy Curry", Seena of " Simple and Delicious", Seema of "Everyday cooking recipes from my kitchen", Easy crafts of " An Easy Cooking blog" Purnima of " Fantasy Cooking"

Meen Peera Pattichathu

A dry preparation with fish, mostly done with small fishes like smelt (natholi ) or very small sardine, this preparation brings out a good taste.

Ingredients

1 lb - Smelt, cleaned & washed

1/4 tsp - Turmeric powder

3/4 tsp - Red chili powder

1 big - Kodampuli

Salt to taste

To make a coarse mixture

1/2 cup - Grated coconut

1 big - Shallot, chopped

2 - Green chili, chopped

1/2 '' piece - Ginger, chopped

1/4 tsp - Jeera

Seasoning

1 tsp - Mustard seeds

2 sprigs - Curry leaves

Method

1 ) Wash kodampuli and then soak it in one cup warm water for 10 minutes. Make a coarse paste of coconut, shallot, ginger, green chili and jeera in a blender.

2 ) To a meen chatty or to a deep pan, add kodampuli along with the water it is soaked in to the chatty, red chili powder, turmeric powder and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, simmer and cook for 3- 4 minutes. Now add fish and cook till the fish is just about cooked. Add coconut mixture to the fish and cook till all the water is used up. This fish cooks very fast and can break to pieces.

3 ) Heat a pan with oil. Pop mustard seeds and then add curry leaves. Pour this seasoning on the fish and mix. Take off the stove and serve.

Serve hot with rice.

Egg Pakoda

Simply a irresistible pakoda, this happens to be. Quick and easy to make, when you have a guest dropping in suddenly.

Ingredients

2 - Large eggs

For batter

1 cup - Besan / gram flour
1/4 tsp - Red chili powder
1/4 tsp - Coriander powder
1/4 tsp - Garam masala powder
1/4 tsp - Amchoor powder / dry mango powder
1/8 tsp - Dry ginger powder
1 to 2 tbsp - Coriander leaves, chopped finely
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

Method

1 ) Beat eggs. Do not add salt to it. Heat a little oil in a pan. Pour egg to the pan and make omelette. Take off the pan, cool and cut it into thick long strips.

2 ) For the batter - Sift besan to remove lumps. Add to besan, red chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, amchoor powder, dry ginger powder ( if you don't have dry ginger, add little grated fresh ginger ) coriander leaves, salt to taste and by adding little water at time make a semi-thick batter. ( you can adjust the masala powders as per your taste) Add egg strips into the batter and coat it well with batter.

3 ) Heat a wok or kadai with enough oil to deep fry. Let the oil heat up. Then add one by one egg strips well coated with batter into the hot oil. Deep fry on both sides to a golden brown color. Take pakoda out of the oil and drain on a paper towel.


Serve hot with tea. Yum !! :)

Besan Dosa with Soya and Onion Chutney

Laziness creeps in on sundays and then to whip up a instant dosa, checking into my pantry for ingredients available, i put together this besan soya dosa. I got these Nutrela high protein soya granules and was struck with it, not knowing what to make with it. Besan dominates the taste, more like a pakoda. Substitute soya with any vegetable you like.

Ingredients

1 cup - Besan / Gram flour
1/2 cup - Rice flour
1/2 cup - Soya granules
1 - Egg
1/4 tsp - Red chili powder
1/4 tsp - Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp - Jeera, crushed coarsely
2 big - Shallots, finely chopped
1 - Green chili, finely chopped
Few curry leaves, finely chopped
Salt to taste
Sesame oil

Method

1 ) Add 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt to soya granules. Place on stove and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes and then remove from stove. After 10 minutes, drain out water, wash soya 2-3 times in fresh water. Squeeze out excess water before use. This is the instruction given on the soya packet, that is to be done, before using soya granules as an ingredient.

2 ) Sift besan, to remove the lumps. Now to a mixing bowl, add egg and beat it well. Add besan, rice flour and add little water as required. Mix to make a smooth batter, that is nor too thick nor too thin. Add salt to taste. Whisk till you see some air bubbles. Add prepared soya granules, chopped onions, green chili, curry leaves, jeera, red chili and turmeric powder. Mix to combine.

3 ) Heat a non-stick pan on medium heat. When the pan is hot enough, add a little amount of the batter and spread into thin round. Sprinkle little oil on the dosa and then flip and cook on both sides evenly.


Serve this hot with chutney.

Here is a onion chutney that tasted so well with this dosa.

Onion Chutney

Ingredients

4 big - Shallots, chopped
1/4 '' piece - Ginger, chopped
1 flake - Garlic, chopped
2 to 3 - Green chili, chopped
1 medium size - Tomato, chopped
1 pinch - Tamarind
Salt to taste

Seasoning

1/2 tsp - Mustard seeds
1 sprig - Curry leaf

Method

1 ) In a pan heat oil, add green chilies and fry them lightly. Then add shallots, garlic, ginger and fry them lightly to a light brown color. Add enough oil when frying. Now add tomato, salt to taste, fry and cook till tomato is mashed and cooked. Take off from stove and cool.

2 ) To a blender add the cooked ingredients, tamarind and grind to a smooth paste. Add very little water if you are not able to get a smooth paste form..

3 ) Heat oil in a pan and pop the mustard seeds, then add curry leaves and season the chutney.

Vendaka Upperi

Vendaka as okra/lady's finger is known in malayalam is prepared as a mezhukkupuratti / upperi, which is like a stir fry. A simple preparation that makes a tasty side dish.

Ingredients

1/2 lb - Okra / lady's finger
2 to 3 - Green chili, slit in center
2 big - Shallots, diced
1/4 tsp - Turmeric powder
1/4 tsp - Black pepper powder
1 sprig - Curry leaf
Salt to taste
Coconut oil

Method

1 ) Wash and dry okra. Trim off the top and bottom. Cut to small pieces. Partially cook okra in microwave for 3 to 4 minutes. Place cut okra pieces in microwave safe bowl,cook for a minute. Stop and again cook for a minute...likewise for total of 3 to 4 minutes, stopping every minute. Pour little oil around okra and cook for a minute. By this time okra will be cooked.

2 ) In a kadai or wok, heat 1 to 2 tbsp oil on low heat. Add curry leaves, green chili and fry lightly. Then add shallots and fry lightly. Now add turmeric powder, then black pepper powder and salt to taste. Let the powders fry for a second then add okra, stir and mix well. Cook on low heat stirring and fry the okra till done.

Serve hot with rice.

Keema Matar

Keema matar, a combination of minced meat and green peas, this will be a dish to go with roti and paratha's.

Ingredients

2 cups - Mince meat
3/4 cup - Green peas
1 big - Onion, chopped finely
1'' piece - Ginger, chopped finely
1 tbsp - Garlic, crushed
2 medium - Tomatoes, chopped
2 small - Cinnamon sticks
2 pods - Cardamom seeds, crushed
3 - Cloves
1 - Bay leaf
1/2 tsp - Coriander powder
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp - Cunim powder
1/2 tsp - Red chili powder
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves to garnish

Method

1) Mix coriander, turmeric, red chili and cumin powder with little water, salt to taste and set aside.

2 ) Heat oil in a pan and fry onions until golden brown. Add garlic, ginger, tomatoes, cardamom, cinnamom, cloves, bay leaf and fry for 3 - 4 minutes. Add the powder paste and continue frying for a minute.

3 ) Add minced meat, peas and fry for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until meat turns brown. Add 1 and 1/4th cup boiling water to the meat. Cover and cook on low heat until meat is cooked and the gravy is thick. Now you can further cook without the lid, till all the water is used up. Add little oil and fry the meat. Garnish with corinader leaves.


Serve hot with roti, paratha or rice.

Mixed Raita

I just about made this raita for lunch and couldn't stop scooping and tasting it, that half the raita was gone :) My initial plan was to make potato raita, but then ended up adding few other veggies too. Quick and easy yogurt based dish to make.

Ingredients

2 cup - Yogurt
1 medium - Potato, cut to small cubes
1/4 to 1/2 cup - Cucumber, chopped to small pieces
1 medium - Tomato , chopped to small pieces
2 to 3 big - Shallots, diced finely Or 1 small regular onion
1 - Green chili, chopped finely
2 tbsp - Coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 tsp - Sugar
Salt to taste

Masala powders

1/2 tsp - Roasted cumin powder
1/4 tsp - Garam masala powder
1/4 tsp - Black pepper powder
1/2 tsp - Chat masala powder

Seasoning

1/2 tsp - Mustard seeds
1 sprig - Curry leaves
1 tsp - Fresh ginger, grated
1 - whole dry red chili
1 tsp - Chana dal ( optional )
Ghee to fry

Method

1 ) Beat or whisk the yogurt well to a smooth consistency. Boil potato in enough water, in the microwave or on stove top. Cool the potatoes.

2 ) Add all the veggies to the yogurt, sugar and salt. Mix well and adjust as per taste. If the yogurt is a bit sour, you will need a bit more sugar. Otherwise less of sugar.

3 ) In a pan heat ghee, pop mustard, then add chana dal, dry red chili, curry leaves and ginger. Fry ginger a bit. Take off stove and cool. Add to yogurt and mix.

4 ) Now sprinkle all the masala powders listed one by one on top of the raita. When serving you can mix the masala powders with yogurt.

Serve as a condiment with paratha's . This will taste best when fresh.

Stir Fried Masala Bhindi / Okra

Bhindi is what okra is known as in Hindi. American English this vegetable is known as okra and in British English as lady's finger- wiki
Here in this preparation i have cut the okra, lengthwise in strips to make this stir fry. The masala can be stuffed into the okra, to make stuffed okra. You can try either way.

Ingredients

1 lb - Tender Okra/ lady's finger
1/4 tsp - Jeera / cumin seeds
1 pinch - Hing
Oil to fry

Masala powder

1/2 tsp - Coriander powder
1/2 tsp - Red chili powder /kasmiri chili powder
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1/4 tsp - Garam masala powder
1/8 tsp - Hing powder
1/2 tsp - Amchoor powder/ dry mango powder
1/4 tsp - Black pepper powder
1/2 tsp - Dry ginger powder
1/2 tsp - Fennel powder / Saunf powder
Salt to taste

Stir Fry Method

1 ) Mix all the powders listed in masala powder with little oil. Wash and dry the okra. Trim the top and end of the okra. Cut okra lengthwise into long strips. Apply the masala on cut okra and keep aside for 5 minutes.

2 ) Heat 1 to 2 tbsp oil in a pan. Add jeera, let it brown lightly, add hing powder, let it sizzle and immediately add the marinated okra. Lower the heat and cook the okra covered with a lid. Occasionally in between cooking, open the lid and stir fry the pieces, so that the okra gets browned evenly. Add little more oil if necessary. Cook till the okra is cooked and browned. Take off the stove and serve.

Serve with roti and raita.

To make stuffed okra -

Slit the okra partially in the center, fill mixed masala powder inside the okra. Heat oil in a pan, add jeera and follow as above recipe.

Gajar Aloo Paratha

Stuffed paratha with carrot, potato and spices, makes a satisfying meal. Paratha's has been something easy to carry for lunch in our household. To make it interesting, different stuffing's can be used and here goes a stuffing with carrot and potato.

Ingredients

For the dough

3 cup - Wheat flour
Salt to taste
Water to knead the dough

For stuffing

5 medium size - Carrot, finely grated
2 medium size - Potato, boiled and mashed
2 tbsp - Coriander leaves, finely chopped
6 to 8 - Green chili, finely chopped
1/2 tsp - Ajwain/ carom seeds
1/2 '' piece - Ginger, finely grated
1/2 tsp - Garam masala powder
1/2 tsp - Coriander powder
1/2 tsp - Anardana powder /Pomegranate Powder
Salt to taste

Method

1 ) To make the dough - Mix wheat flour and salt, 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.

2 ) To make stuffing - Squeeze the finely grated carrot with hands, to take out the carrot juice. This step is necessary to avoid excess water in stuffing. Now to this grated carrot, add boiled & mashed potato and rest of the ingredients listed in stuffing. Mix all the ingredients well and set aside.

3) To make parathas - Make small key lime size balls of the dough. To make one paratha, roll out 2 dough balls. In one rolled out dough, spread the filling. 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 gently. To get a perfect round shape, use a round lid to cut a perfect round shape.

4 ) Heat a tawa or a nonstick pan, on medium heat and place the paratha in it. Smear some ghee / 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 raita and pickle.

Check out other Parantha's with detailed pictures -

Aloo Paratha
Green Peas Paratha
Chana Dal Paratha
Mooli Paratha
Parsely Paratha