Sraavu / Shark Curry

How about some fish and rice for lunch ? If there is a good fish curry, then there is nothing more i need with rice.When i got some fresh sraavu from market, i remembered the sraavu curry amma used to prepare. The gravy had a slight mustard flavor to it and made the taste quite unique for this fish curry. I have not seen amma add mustard seeds that is ground with other ingredients, for any other fish curry. So this was special for sraavu curry. I called amma for the recipe and here it goes.

Ingredients

1 kilo- Shark, skinned & cut to small pieces

1 tsp - Red chili powder

1 tsp - Turmeric powder

2 to 4 - Green chili, slit in center

1/2 cup - Small onion, diced

2'' piece - Ginger, chopped

1 big lemon size - Tamarind

Few sprigs - Curry leaves

Salt to taste

To grind to a smooth paste

1/2 shell - Coconut grated

4 - Kashmiri dry whole chili

1.5 to 2 tsp - Mustard seeds

Method

1 ) Extract 1 to 1.5 cup tamarind juice from the tamarind pulp, by soaking in water.

2 ) To a earthen pot add fish pieces, chili powder, turmeric powder, green chili, ginger, small onion, curry leaves, salt and enough water to immerse the fish in. Bring to a boil, simmer and cook till the fish is cooked.

3 ) Meanwhile, grind to a smooth paste, coconut and kashmiri chili with tamarind water. Then add mustard seeds and pulse two to three times to get the mustard seeds crushed. Just get the seeds crushed and not a paste.

4 ) Add the coconut paste to the fish and add more water if needed to get a semi- thick gravy consistency. Bring to a boil, simmer for a few minutes, add some curry leaves and pour some coconut oil on top. Take off the stove and serve hot.

Serve hot with rice and enjoy the meal.

Chicken Manchurian

I was so carried away by the beautiful blooms in my little garden, i was more focused on capturing the flowers in the frame rather than the chicken manchurian. Just love the picture to see the blooms. Coming to the recipe, a popular Indian chinese dish called chicken manchurian goes well with chinese fried rice. A manchurian implies, a sweet and salty brown sauce and you can read more about the origin of indian - chinese cuisine here.

Ingredients

1 kilo - Boneless chicken, cut into small pieces

1 - Egg white

1 tbsp - Cornflour

To marinate chicken

2 tsp - Red chili powder
1 tsp - Black pepper powder

2 tsp - Worcestershire sauce

Salt to taste

For Sauce

8 big flakes - Garlic, crushed & chopped finely

2 - Green chili, chopped

2 to 3 stalks - Spring onion, chopped

1/2 tbsp - Vinegar

1 cup Water

1 tbsp - Corn flour

1 tbsp - Soya sauce

1/2 tsp - Sugar

1/4 tsp - Pepper powder

Method

1 ) Marinate chicken pieces in ingredients listed for marination. Marinate for 3o minutes. Mix egg white and cornflour well. Add this mixture to chicken pieces and mix well.

2 ) Heat enough oil to deep fry. When the oil is hot, add chicken pieces in batches and fry till brown and done. Drain off the oil and set aside.

3 ) To make the sauce - Mix cornflour, vinegar, soya sauce, sugar, salt, pepper powder to one cup water and keep aside.Heat some oil in a pan , add garlic and green chilies and saute till garlic looses its raw smell, then set aside some spring onion for final garnish, rest add to the pan and saute for a minute. Then add the mixed ingredients in water to the pan, stir and bring to a boil. Simmer and add the chicken piece to the sauce and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, closed with a lid. Once the sauce has thickened and coated the chicken pieces, take off the stove and serve garnished with some chopped spring onion.

Serve hot as a side dish with chinese fried rice.

Note - I have suggested boneless chicken pieces, but i have done with chicken with bones. Also to enhance the Chinese flavor, a pinch of MSG, know as ajinomoto can be added, which is optional.

Idichakka Thoran - Tender Jackfruit Stir Fry

When such traditional dishes are made, makes me think, if only i had the ammikallu. That would have made the pounding easy. I remember as a kid,my mother's kitchen well equipped with traditional gadgets like ammi kallu and like. But then later those gadget were replaced by modern gadget like mixie / grinder that made life easy in a city life. Though bit laborious in comparison to grinder to make a smooth paste of ingredients with ammi kallu, the taste that is got from ingredients pounded and ground in ammi kallu is not found in the modern grinder.
Coming to the recipe, very young and tender jackfruit is used to make this thoran. Applying oil liberally on hands and knife before cutting helps to prevent your hand and knife getting sticky from the gum inside the jackfruit. De-skin the jackfruit and then chop the jackfruit to small pieces. Once done with chopping, you can clean the knife clean, by placing it on fire and then wiping the knife with a newspaper.

Ingredients

3 cups - Chopped tender jackfruit

1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder

Few curry leaves

Coconut oil

Salt to taste

Grind coarsely

1/2 to 3/4 cup - Freshly grated coconut

1/2 tsp - Cumin / jeera seeds

4 - Green chili

6 big flakes - Garlic

2 - Shallots / small onion

A small piece - Ginger

Few curry leaves

Seasoning

1 tsp - Mustard seeds

1 tsp - Urad dal

2 - Whole dry red chili

1/3 cup - Shallots, chopped

Few curry leaves

Method

1 ) To a pan add 1.5 cup water, turmeric powder, salt to taste and bring to a boil. Add jackfruit pieces, little coconut oil and cook closed with a lid on simmer till jackfruit is cooked well. Once jack fruit pieces are cooked, increase heat and let all the water dry out. Cool and then you can add in little batches jack fruit into a blender/ grinder and pulse one or two times to get it crushed. Or you can use a mortar and a pestle to pound the jack fruit pieces lightly.

2 ) Heat a kadai /wok with coconut oil, add mustard seeds urad dal and let the mustard seeds pop. Then add dry chili and saute, then small onion and fry till lightly browned. Add curry leaves and the coarsely ground coconut mixture. Fry till the raw smell goes, then add jack fruit and mix in well. Stir and fry for a few minutes and take off the stove.

Serve with rice as a side dish.

Rogan Josh

Mutton cooked in a rich gravy of spices, that is roasted and ground to a smooth paste, releases an aroma that is so delightful, it can tickle your palate with flavor and taste. Kashmiri chili gives the deep red color for the gravy.

Ingredients

1 to 1.1/4 Kilo - Mutton Shoulder, cut to small pieces
2 medium - Onion, sliced
2 Medium - Tomato, pureed
2 - Bay leaves
2 sticks - Cinnamon
5 - Green cardamoms
1 tsp - Turmeric powder
1 tbsp - Red chili powder
3/4 cup - Thick & sour Curds /yogurt, beaten

To roast

1 tbsp - Coriander seeds
2 tsp - Cumin seeds
1 tbsp - Poppy seeds
16 - Almonds, shelled
2 - Brown cardamoms
1/4 tsp - Pepper corns
4 - Cloves
A large pinch - Mace
2 Tbsp - Coconut, grated

To grind along with roasted ingredients

5 to 6 - Kashmiri,whole dry red chili
2'' piece - Ginger, chopped
10 to 15 flakes - Garlic
A large pinch - Nutmeg, grated

Method

1 ) Soak kashmiri chili in 1/2 cup hot water for 15 minutes. In a pan roast all ingredients listed to roast from coriander seeds to coconut on medium heat, stirring continuously until the spices give out their distinct aromas.

2 ) Now grind the roasted ingredients to a smooth paste along with kashmiri chili, ginger, garlic and nutmeg. Add and use the water in which kashmiri chilies were soaked in, little by little to grind the ingredients to a smooth paste.Aroma from the spices ground fills up your kitchen.

3 ) Heat oil in a pressure cooker, add bay leaves, cinnamon and green cardamoms. Stir for a few seconds Then add onion and fry till onions are golden brown. Now reduce flame and add turmeric powder, chili powder and stir for a second. Then add the ground paste, tomato puree and stir well.

4 ) Add one tablespoon curds, stir till curd is well blended. In the same way, add remaining curds one tablespoon at a time, till all curd is used up. Now stir and cook till oil separates on the top. Add meat and salt to taste. Stir meat till lightly browned. Add one cup water, stir well. Close the cooker and pressure cook for 10 minutes. Remove cooker from heat and cool.

Serve with basmati rice or roti.

Egg Vindaloo

Portuguese influenced Indian cooking and this influence can be seen in the Goan cuisine. Vindaloo style of preparation was introduced by the Portuguese in Goa. The traditional Portuguese dish, vindaloo evolved into a fiery, vinegary curry with the addition of various indian spices that was ground with vinegar to give it a unique taste, that is tangy, spicy and flavorful. This egg vindaloo has got a sweet and sour taste to it.

Ingredients

8 to 10 - Hard boiled eggs, shelled & cut into halves

2 big - Onion, sliced

6 flakes - Garlic, crushed

1'' piece - Ginger, minced

1 medium size - Cinnamon bark

2 tsp - Chili powder

1/4 tsp - Cumin seed powder

2 tsp - Sugar

3 tbsp - Vinegar

2 tsp - Worcestershire sauce

Salt to taste

Method

1 ) Heat one tablespoon ghee, in a pan, add cinnamon bark,onion and fry until onion turn light brown in color. Now add garlic, ginger and saute, then add chili powder, cumin powder, fry for a second and then vinegar. Fry the spices well with the onion for five minutes.

2 ) Now its time to add sugar, Worcestershire sauce, salt and one cup of water. When the curry boils add egg and simmer for 10 minutes, closed with a lid. Once done take off the stove and serve after half an hour to let the spices and vinegar settle and balance the flavors. Egg vindaloo can be had on the same day or after 2 to 3 days too.

Note - Boiled potato, cut in quarters can be added along with egg.

Rava Idli

While those white idlis are a common sight and need ahead of preparation time for soaking and fermenting, rava idli is a quick fix in comparison. With the addition of veggies like peas, tomato, it's nutritious as well as filling.

Ingredients

1 cup - Sooji rawa

2 cups - Curds / yogurt

1/4 cup - Green peas (optional )

1/4 cup - Freshly grated coconut

1 to 2 - Green chili, finely chopped

1 small piece - Ginger, finely chopped

1 small - Tomato, chopped (optional )

1/4 cup - Coriander leaves, finely chopped

4 to 5 - Cashew, spilt into half's

1/8 tsp - Hing powder

1/4 tsp - Baking soda / cooking soda
1/4 tsp - Eno fruit salt

Salt to taste

Seasoning

1/2 tsp - Mustard seeds

1 tsp - Urad dal

3 to 4 sprigs - Curry leaves

3 tbsp - Ghee

Method

1 ) Heat ghee in a kadai / wok, add mustard, urad dal and fry till mustard has spluttered and dal has lightly browned. Then add green chili, ginger and fry for few seconds. Then add curry leave, coriander leaves and fry a second . Now add rawa, cashew nut and fry for 3 to 4 minutes on low heat till rawa becomes crisp or roasted lightly.

2 ) Now transfer to a plate and cool. Once rawa has cooled down,then do the next step. In a mixing bowl add curds and beat well.Then add green peas, tomato, coconut and salt to taste. Dissolve hing powder in little water and add to the batter. Then add cooking soda and eno to the batter and stir in well. Then add roasted rawa and mix well. The batter consistency should be like the idli batter ( add little water if the batter is too thick). Immediately go ahead and make the idli's.

3 ) Now steam idli's in an idli cooker, pouring the mixture into well greased idli moulds. Steam cook for 10 minutes. Once idli is cooked, remove from cooker and cool for 5 minutes then remove from the mould and serve.

Serve with chutney. Makes a good breakfast dish or a good evening snack. This batter yields about 10 to 12 idli's.

Note - If the curds/ yogurt is sour then don't add tomato. End result could be too sour idli. Use yogurt that is not sour for this recipe.

Mushroom Theeyal

Theeyal prepared with different types of veggies and even non-veg like prawns theeyal is a typical kerala dish, were coconut and spices are roasted to a brown color and cooked along with tamarind juice. I guess i didn't roast the coconut enough to attain that typical theeyal deep brown color. None the less, theeyal was tasty when cooked with mushrooms and went so well with rice. Adding a teaspoon of cornflour in water, makes cleaning mushrooms easy. The dirty surfaces to the top quickly.

Ingredients

200 to 250 grams - Button mushrooms
10 big - Shallots, chopped
2 - Green chili, slit in center
2 to 4 big flakes - Garlic, chopped
A marble size - Tamarind

To roast & grind

1 cup - Freshly grated coconut
4 to 6 - Dry red chili
1 tbsp - Coriander seeds
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
6 - Black pepper corns
A pinch - Fenugreek seeds

Seasoning

1 tsp - Mustard seeds
3 to 4 sprigs - Curry leaves

Method

1 ) Cut cleaned mushrooms in halves. Add 1/2 cup water to tamarind and extract juice. Heat a pan, add little coconut oil, then add coconut, fenugreek seeds, red chili, coriander seeds, peppercorns stir and roast on low heat till it becomes golden brown in color. Then add turmeric powder and further brown the coconut to a deep brown color without burning it. Take off stove and cool. Transfer to a blender/ grinder and grind to a smooth paste adding very little water.

2 ) Heat little coconut oil in a pan, add mustard seeds,let it pop then add curry leaves ( you can do the seasoning in the last if you like and skip doing it in this step ) Then add green chili, shallots and garlic and fry for a minute. Then add mushroom and saute for a minute or two. Now add salt to taste, one cup of water and cook till the mushroom is well cooked.

3 ) Now add the ground coconut paste, wash the blender well with little water and add to the pan. Close with a lid and cook. Then add tamarind juice and bring to a boil. Adjust salt to taste. Now if you skipped seasoning, in step 2, you can finally season with mustard and curry leaves in the end.

Serve with rice and you may not need any non-veg curry for this meal.

Mixed Vegetable Korma

A flavorful korma with a mixed vegetables like mushroom, peas, potato and carrot which is cooked with aromatic spices, will make a good side dish to go with appam, steamed basmati rice or roti.

Ingredients

2 cups - Button Mushroom, chopped
1 big - Potato, quartered

1 cup - Green Peas

1 medium size - Carrot, chopped

1 big - Tomato, quartered

3 medium - Onion, diced

1 - Bay leaf

1 small piece - Cinnamon stick

2 - cloves

1 to 1.5 cup - Freshly made thick coconut milk

Grind to a paste

3 tbsp - Poppy seeds / Khus khus

6 to 8 - Green chili

6 flakes - Garlic

Garnishing

1 cup - Coriander leaves, chopped

Method

1 ) In a pan boil with enough water, peas, potato, carrot and tomato till half cooked along with bay leaf, cinnamon and cloves. Then add mushroom and cook till all the veggies are fully cooked with salt to taste.

2 ) Soak poppy seeds in warm water for 10 minutes. Then grind to a smooth paste along with green chili and garlic.

3 ) In another pan heat some oil, add onion and fry till light brown in color. Now add the ground poppy + chili + garlic paste and fry in oil for 5 minutes till the raw smell goes. Now add boiled veggies with stock, mix well and bring to a boil. (If there is no enough stock along with boiled veggies then add little water and bring to a boil). Adjust salt to taste. Now simmer and add coconut milk, bring to a boil. Garnish with coriander leaves and take off the stove.

Serve hot with appam, rice or chapathi.

Kakka Irachi Molagu Chaar - Spicy Clams Red Curry

A simple curry that doesn't need much of ingredients is this clam curry, that mom used to make for lunch. It used to be so yum that i didn't need any other curry to have with rice as a kid. Now when i got some fresh clams, i got back those memories and made the same clam curry, just as mom made it. The gravy is very thin and spicy with red chilly powder giving the curry a red spicy look.

Clams have to be cleaned well before cooking. Have a look here to learn how to choose good clams and clean them.

Ingredients

1 to 1.5 cup - Cleaned & shelled Clams

2 to 3 tsp - Kashmiri chili powder

1/4 tsp - Turmeric powder

2 to 3 sprigs - Curry leaves

Salt to taste

Seasoning

1 tsp - Mustard Seeds

1/2 cup - Shallots / small onion, chopped

Coconut oil

Method

1 ) First to clean the freshly brought clams in the shell. Wash the shells very well, many a times. Then place the shells in a pot with enough water to cover the shells well. The stock obtained from this, is used to make gravy. So add enough water. Now bring to a boil, remove any scum that surfaces on top. Once the clams have opened the shell, stopped boiling and take off the stove and cool. Discard all those shells that have not opened.

2 ) Take the meat out of the shell and discard most of the shell, saving some to cook with the gravy. This will give more flavor. Now you can clean the clam meat in water to further clear out any dirt. Strain out clear stock obtained from boiling the clams in shell.

3 ) Pour the clear stock into a chatty, pot or a pan, add chilli powder, turmeric powder, some cleaned clam shells, salt to taste and bring to a boil. Add the clam meat and curry leaves. Simmer and cook till for 5 minutes. Pour little coconut oil on top and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes more. Now turn off the stove.

4 ) Season with mustard and shallots. Heat coconut oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and pop it, then add shallots and fry till lightly browned. Pour this seasoning on top on the curry and cover the curry pan immediately to hold the aroma of the seasoning in the curry. Open after 5 minutes to serve hot with rice.

Serve hot with rice.

Paneer Bhurji

I hope every one had a good start of the year and are sticking to the new year resolutions :) Now to kick start the year 2010 blogging, let me present you with this Paneer dish. It's called paneer bhurji, which means scrambled paneer. Along with green peas and freshly made paneer, this makes a lip smacking side dish to have with roti.

Ingredients

2 cups - Freshly made crumbled Paneer
1 cup - Green peas, boiled
1 cup - Spring onion Or 1 big - Red onion, finely chopped
1'' piece - Ginger, finely chopped
2 - Green chili, finely chopped
1 big - Tomato, chopped
1/4 tsp - Turmeric powder
1/4 tsp - Garam masala powder
1 tsp - Coriander powder
1/4 tsp - R ed chili powder
Salt to taste

Garnishing

1 cup - Coriander leaves, chopped

Method

1 ) Heat oil in a pan, add green chili, ginger and fry for a second then add spring onion or onion and fry the onion, till lightly browned. Then add the powders - turmeric, coriander, red chili and garam masala powder. Fry for a second in oil, then add tomato, green peas and salt to taste. Close with a lid and cook on low heat till tomato is fully cooked.

2 ) Now add paneer and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Close with a lid and cook for few minutes. Open and garnish with coriander leaves. Stir and fry till you get dry bhurji.

Serve hot with roti.

Note - Instead of green peas you can use bell pepper. To make it colorful you could use, red, green and yellow bell pepper. If the paneer turns out too dry then add one spoon of whipping cream.

Sabudana Vada

Wrapping up the year 2009 blogging with this vada made with sabudana and potato, which is a popular Marathi fasting snack. During fasting there are certain restrictions followed in the food preparations. Like for this vada, addition of onion and coriander leaves will add good flavor and taste. But during fasting these are avoided. Do add onion and coriander leaves to suit your taste. Even without them this vada tastes good.
There was a lot of changes in my life during 2009 and it reflected on my blogging slowing down [ If any one noticed :) ] a bit. Hoping the brand new year 2010 brings in new opportunities , positivity and prosperity. Here i wish all my readers a happy new year in advance. Hope you guys and gals have a good year ahead.

Ingredients

1.5 cup - Sabudana/ sago
3 to 4 medium size - Potato, boiled & chopped to small bits
1/2 cup - Roasted & ground peanut powder
5 to 6 - Green chili, finely chopped
1 tsp - Jeera seeds
1 to 2 sprigs - Curry leaves, chopped
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method

1 ) Soak sago overnight in water and drain into a colander in the morning. Keep aside to drain for an hour or 2 . Drain off all the water very well. Soaking time can be for 3 to 4 hours.

2 ) Into a mixing bowl add, sago, potato, jeera, chili, peanut powder, curry leaves and salt to taste. Combine all the ingredients and make small equal size balls. Take one ball at a time, place it in the center of one palm and flattened with the other palm.

3 ) Heat enough oil to deep fry on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, fry the vada till both sides turn golden brown. Drain off the oil and transfer to a plate.

Serve with tea and if needed with your choice of chutney.

Mushroom Soup

Happy holidays, everyone ! With the cold weather outside, you can warm up with a cuppa soup, cozying up in a couch. Or you can serve this soup along with your Christmas feast. Mushroom soup was one soup i loved as a kid and still a favourite. Try this homemade mushroom soup and let me know what you think.

Ingredients

1 +1 cups - Chopped Button Mushrooms

1/2 cup - Shallots, chopped

6 flakes - Garlic, crushed

2 tbsp - Maida / All purpose flour

1 cup - Milk

1 - Bay leaf

3 cups - Chicken stock Or water

1 to 1.5 tsp - Lemon juice

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 to 2 tbsp - Cream / half and half

Garnishing

5 - Shallots, diced

1 tbsp - Chopped Parsley

Method

1 ) Heat 2 tbsp to 3 tbsp butter in a big pan. Fry the shallots for garnishing to a brown and crisp on medium heat. Drain off the butter and set aside. Now add 1/2 cup chopped shallots and garlic and fry till they soften. Now add 1 cup of chopped mushroom to the pan and fry till they soften and starts to fry a bit. Now stir in 2 tbsp of flour, mix well and cook for 3 minutes.

2 ) Remove pan from fire and gradually add the 3 cups chicken stock or water, bay leaf, salt and pepper powder to taste and bring to a boil. Now simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Turn the stove off and cool a bit.

3 ) Sieve or liquidize and strain the soup.If you are liquidizing the soup, add the contents to a blender to liquidise only after the soup has cool down a bit. Otherwise there is all possibility of the hot contents splashing out of the blender. It happened to me and i learnt my lesson, so just a word of caution here.

4 ) Pour the strained soup back into the pan and keep it back on fire. Now add 1 cup milk, 1 to 1.5 cup water and 1 cup chopped mushrooms. Bring to a boil and adjust salt and pepper to taste. Simmer and cook covered for 10 minutes. Turn off the stove. Now add lemon juice, stir in and then cream.

5 ) Garnish with fried shallots and parsley.

Serve hot and enjoy. You can reheat the soup, but do not bring it to a boil.

To clean Mushroom : Mix a spoonful of cornflour in water and wash mushroom with this. This will remove all the surface mud.

Chakka / Jackfruit Avial

Getting to see young unripe jack fruits in the market now. The young small ones will be good to make, thoran, avial, idichakka and like dishes. Jack fruits are found in abundance in kerala, during the season. Ripe and unripe fruit is used to make different dishes. Buy a small unripe jack fruit to make jack fruit avial.

Ingredients

4 cups - Unripe jack fruit, chopped to small pieces
1/2 to 1 tsp - Turmeric powder
4 to5 tsp - Curds
2 sprigs - Curry leaves
2 tbsp - Coconut oil
Salt to taste

Grind to a coarse paste

1 cup - Freshly grated coconut
1/4 tsp - Jeera
4 - Green chili
5 - Shallots/ small onion
2 flakes - Garlic
1 sprig - Curry leaves

Method

1 ) Cook jack fruit with turmeric powder and salt till soft. You can pressure cook in cooker for one whistle or simmer and cook in a pan with enough water. Add a little coconut oil when the water boils.

2 ) Just coarsely grind ingredients listed to be ground. Add this mixture to the cooked jack fruit. Add salt to taste and bring to a boil. Then simmer, add curds and stir in.

3 ) Crush some curry leaves and add to the pan then pour coconut oil on top, stir and close with a lid. Take off stove and serve.

Serve as a side dish with rice.