Looking for a recipe...search here
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Neimeen Porichathu - Spiced Masala Fish Fry
Now to the recipe to make a delicious fish fry with, Neimeen /Seer fish. A ground spicy masala is used to marinate the fish, then coated with rawa /semolina and deep fried along with a lot of curry leaves fried in the oil. I noticed when i fried curry leaves in the oil before placing the fish, the fish didn't stick to the pan ( when usually fish sticks to the pan ). So curry leaves imparts flavor and also gives a non-stick effect.
Ingredients
5 to 6 - Neimeen /Seer fish slices
To marinate
4 to 5 - Green chili
1'' piece - Ginger
2 tsp - Red chili powder
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1 tsp - Black pepper corns
2 sprigs - Curry leaves
Salt to taste
To Coat
1/2 cup - Idli rawa /Semolina
For frying
Coconut oil
6 to 8 sprigs - Curry leaves, washed & dried
Method
1 ) Make a smooth paste of the ingredients listed for marinating with little water. Apply and coat well on the fish slices. Marinate for 30 minutes.
2 ) On to a plate spread rawa. Take one fish slice at a time and coat rawa on both sides by turning the fish over on both sides. Do likewise to rest of the slices.
3 ) Heat coconut oil in a kadai /wok, add half of the curry leaves to the oil and let it become crisp. Place one or two fish slices on the bed of curry leaves in the oil and fry the fish on low flame. Fry the fish to a golden brown color on both sides. Drain off the oil and transfer to a serving plate. Add more curry leaves and oil to fry the next batch of fish slices.
Serve hot as a starter or as a side dish with rice dishes or rotis.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Fried Ayala / Mackerel Curry
Ingredients
To fry fish
6 - Medium size Indian Mackerel, cleaned & cut to pieces
2 tsp - Chili powder
2 tsp - Kashmiri chili powder
1/2 tsp -Turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Coconut oil to fry
For curry
3 cups - Coconut milk, freshly extracted
2 '' piece - Ginger, grated
4 - Green chili, slit in center
10 big - Shallots, chopped
3 sprigs - Curry leaves
5 pieces - Kudampuli /Gambooge
Method
1 ) First, mix chili powder, turmeric and salt with little water to make a paste. Apply the paste on fish pieces and marinate for 15 to 30 minutes. Wash Kudampuli well and soak in water for half an hour.
2 ) Heat a big pan or a manchatti with oil. Add fish pieces, 2 or 3 at a time and quick fry the fish pieces on both sides for few seconds. Take off the oil and transfer to a plate. Do not brown the pieces. Fry all the pieces in the same way.
3 ) Add ginger, green chili, shallots, curry leaves, kudampuli and 1 cup water to the pan. Also add the remaining marinade of chilly paste applied on fish. Bring to a boil, then simmer and cook for 5 minutes to let the kudampuli release the tamarind flavors.
4 ) Add fried fish pieces and coconut milk to the pan.Don't leave out the oil that has come out of the fish and on to the plate.Pour that in too. Bring to a boil, then simmer and cook for 5 to 10 minutes. Taste the curry for salt. Add more salt as required. Take off the stove and serve hot.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
A Surreal Effect On A Sunday Morning !
I am not sure if i was able to capture, the real effects the sky had with my camera....but still just to share with my reader something i captured from my 7 th floor balcony in a hurry before the effects faded away. Was not able to capture the whole rainbow in one frame....but then could see the start and end of it...and maybe i should go looking for that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow :)
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Neichoru / Ghee Rice
Ingredients
2 cups - Basmati rice
4 cups - Water
1 - Onion, thinly sliced
4 - cloves
2 inch long - Cinnamon
4 tbsp - Ghee
Salt to taste
Garnishing
2 - Onions, thinly sliced
Few golden raisins
Few cashew nuts
Method
1 ) Wash rice and drain very well.
2 ) In a deep heavy bottom utensil, heat ghee, add cinnamon and cloves. Fry for a few seconds, then add onion and fry till onion is translucent. Now add the drained rice and on simmer, fry the rice well in ghee, till you can hear ' tick tick ' sound.
3 ) Meanwhile in another utensil, place 4 cups water on stove and bring to a boil and switch off the stove. Now carefully, with stove on simmer, pour water into the rice utensil. Add salt to taste and stir once. Close with a tight lid and cook on simmer for 5 minutes. Once the rice has absorbed all the water and is cooked, switch off the stove. Do not open the lid now. Keep it closed for 10 to 15 minutes. Then open the lid and gently stir the rice.
4 ) To garnish - Heat 3 to 4 tbsp ghee, simmer then add raisins and fry till raisins plump up. Drain off from the ghee and set aside. Now add cashew nuts and fry, till cashews turns lightly brown. Drain and set aside along with raisins. Now add onion, sprinkle little sugar on top, to speed up onion caramelising. Fry till onion turns golden brown. Drain and set aside.
5 ) Mix little of the fried onion, cashew and raisin with the rice and set aside some to garnish finally on top of the rice, when serving. Serve rice on a platter, then on top of the rice, garnish with fried onion, cashew and raisins.
Serve hot with any meat gravy preparation. I served ghee rice with fish mollee, pappadam and raita.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Kuthappam /Muttayappam / Ottayappam / Mutta Pathiri
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Broken Wheat / Lapsi Upma
Serve hot for breakfast with steamed ripe & sweet plantain and if you like pappad.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Banana Bajji
Ingredients
3 - Unripe raw banana, washed
2 cups - Besan powder, shifted
1 tbsp - Rice flour
1.5 tsp - Red chili powder or to taste
3 to 4 big flakes - Garlic, crushed and finely grated
1/2 tsp - Hing powder
1 tbsp - Ghee
Salt to taste
Peanut oil or sunflower
Method
1 ) Make a thick batter by mixing besan, rice flour, chili powder, garlic, hing, ghee, salt to taste along with enough water.
2 ) Cut banana into thin slices longitudinally. Discard the skin on both edges of the banana, if you do not prefer the skin.
3 ) Heat oil in a kadai or wok. Dip and coat each banana slice well with the batter and deep fry in medium hot oil till golden brown in color. Oil should be hot enough before sliding in the slices. Drain out of the oil and place in a platter to serve.
Serve hot as is or with coconut chutney.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Ari + Dates Unda
Ingredients
1/2 kilo - Red boiled rice (matta)
1/2 kilo - Roasted peanuts or roasted cashewnuts
1/2 kilo - Jaggery
1/2 kilo - Dates, chopped to small pieces
50 grams / 2 big pieces - Dry ginger
10 - Green cardamoms
1 whole - Coconut, grated
A pinch of salt
Method
1 ) First wash rice well and drain. Drain water completely till the grains are completely dry. In a heavy bottom kadai / wok, add rice, dry ginger, cardamom and dry roast on a slow flame. Rice grains will start crackling, turn a light brown color and slightly puffed. Take off the stove and cool.
2 ) Take 2 cups water and heat to make jaggery syrup. Add jaggery and melt completely. Strain to take off any impurities. Keep back on stove add dates and boil well till the dates get mashed a bit.Then add grated coconut, a pinch of salt and boil for a few seconds. Switch off the stove.
3 ) Powder the dry roasted rice, dry ginger, cardamom to fine powder. Then powder roasted peanuts to fine powder. Mix both the powders well and blend in.
4 ) Now add the powders to the prepared jaggery syrup little by little and mix well with a big spoon. Let the mixture cool for a while. While it is still slightly warm, start making round balls taking little mixture at a time.
Ari Unda without dates
1 kilo Or 4 cups - Matta, red boiled rice
1/2 kilo - Groundnut, roasted
1 kilo - Jaggery, make syrup with 2 cup water
10 to 15 - Green cardamom, powdered
50 gm - Dry ginger
1 whole - Coconut, grated
A big pinch - Salt
Method - The process is as given above. Just do not add dates, or do the steps with dates.
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Black Pepper Chicken
Ingredients
2 kilo - Chicken, cut to small pieces
To marinate
4 to 5 tsp - Black pepper powder
2 tsp - Turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Other ingredients
1 cups - Small onions / shallots, chopped
1 tsp - Black pepper powder
8 to 10 - Green chilies, chopped
1'' piece - Ginger
4 to 5 sprigs - Curry leaves
Method
1 ) Mix black pepper powder, turmeric, salt with little water and apply on the chicken pieces. Marinate for 1/2 hours.
2 ) Transfer chicken to a pan and cook on low flame, covered with a lid. Chicken will give out water, so cook in that water till chicken is fully cooked and tender. Dry out all excess water once the chicken is cooked.
3 ) Heat 3 tbsp of coconut oil in another big pan, add black pepper powder, fry for few seconds, then add green chili, curry leaves, ginger and fry for a minute. Now add onion and fry till onion is lightly browned. Add cooked chicken pieces, add more oil, fry very well till the pieces are browned well and you get a well browned chicken.
This is for people who love spicy food !
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Unakka Chemmeen Or Fresh Prawns Curry
Ingredients
2 cups – Dried shrimps or fresh prawns
1 or 2 medium size – Unripe sour mango, cut to pieces
2 tsp – red chili powder
½ tsp – Turmeric powder
½ tsp – Coriander powder
4 – Green chilies
½ inch piece – Ginger, grated
5 big – Shallots, diced
3 to 4 sprigs – Curry leaves
Salt to taste
Grind to a smooth paste
1 and ¾ cup to 2 cup – Freshly grated coconut
Seasoning
6 big – Shallots, diced
Coconut oil
Method
1 ) Wash dried shrimp well. Transfer to a pot or pan to cook in. Add mango, red chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, green chili, ginger, shallots, curry leaves and salt to taste. To this add 2 to 2.5 cups of water and place on stove. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and cook till shrimps and mango are cooked well and most of the water is used up.
2 ) Meanwhile, grind coconut to a smooth paste with water. Add this to the cooked shrimp. Add little more water to get a semi thick gravy consistency. Bring to a boil, lower heat and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Check salt to taste. Turn off the stove.
3 ) For seasoning, heat coconut oil in another pan, add diced shallots and brown it on lower heat. Add the seasoning on to the curry.
Tip : If mango is not sour enough, add a piece of kudampuli , while cooking the dry Shrimp.
2 ) When cooking with fresh prawns, in the initial cooking with mango, you don't need 2 to 2.5 cups water to cook prawns. Use 1 or 1.5 cups of water to cook.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Vazhapoo / Banana Flower Thoran
Ingredients
2 – Banana flower
1 cup – Chana dal
½ cup – Shallots chopped
½ cup – Freshly grated coconut
1.5 tsp to 2 tsp – Crushed chili flakes
½ tsp – Turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Seasoning
2 tsp – Mustard seeds
3 to 4 sprigs – Curry leaves.
Coconut oil
Method
1 ) Wash chana dal and soak in enough water for one hour. Then in little water cook chana dal till it is fully cooked, but should not get mashed up. Add salt to taste. Check dal while cooking, so that it doesn't get over cooked. Switch off stove and drain off excess water, if any.
2 ) Heat a pan with little coconut oil, add mustard seeds and pop it. Then add shallots, curry leaves and fry till shallots are very lightly browned. Now add chili flakes, turmeric powder and fry for a few seconds. Then add coconut and fry for a minute.
3 ) Squeeze out all the water from the banana flower and add to the pan. Stir and mix in well. Cook on low heat till the flower is cooked, stirring in between. Add salt to taste. Once the flower has cooked, add chana dal and mix in. On low heat cook stirring occasionally, till ingredients are mixed well and cooked. Adjust salt to taste. Turn off the stove and serve.
Serve hot with roti or steamed rice.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Mani Puttu
1 cup – finely grated fresh coconut
1 and ¾ cup – Water
¾ tsp – Salt
1.5 to 2 cup – Thick coconut milk
Sugar to taste
Method
1 ) Combine grated coconut, water and salt in an utensil. Place on stove and just bring to a boil. Turn off the stove.
2 ) Add rice flour to a mixing bowl, pour the hot water mixture slowly on the rice flour and stir well with a spoon to make a dough. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes. Then knead the dough. To test if the dough is ready to make small balls out of it. Take a little dough and roll on the palm and if it rolls out well without sticking, dough is ready to be rolled to small balls. Otherwise if it is sticky add little more rice flour, to get the desired proportion.
3 ) Take little dough at a time and make small balls out of it. You can make elongated shape too. Place the shaped dough in a plate. You can pile up dough balls on one another. It will not stick.
4 ) Use a steamer to steam or a pressure cooker. In a pressure cooker place the plate and steam without the placing the weight. Steam for 15 to 20 minutes.
5 ) Meanwhile keep coconut milk ready, sweetened with sugar. Take the steamed dumplings out and immediately immerse in coconut milk. Keep soaked for 15 minutes.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Welcoming a brand New Year 2009
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Koorkka Mezhukkupuratti / Stir Fry
Ingredients
4 cups – Koorkka, cleaned ( about 1 kilo )
2 tbsp - Garlic, coarsely crushed ( about 15 big flakes )
½ cup – Shallots, coarsely crushed
1 tbsp - Red chili flakes
¼ tsp – Turmeric powder
2.5 cup – Water
Salt to taste
Seasoning
1.5 to 2 tsp – Mustard seeds
3 to 4 sprigs – Curry leaves
3 tbsp – Coconut oil
Method
1 ) Quarter koorkka to small pieces. Use a mortar and pestle to crush garlic and shallots. Or chop very finely.
2 ) Heat a kadai or wok with 3 tbsp coconut oil, on medium heat. Add mustard seeds and pop it. Then add shallots, curry leaves and fry lightly for a second. Then add garlic and fry lightly just till garlic looses the raw smell. Don’t brown the garlic. Then add turmeric powder and chili flakes. Stir and fry till you get a good aroma of the powders fried on a low flame. Add salt to taste and stir in.
3 ) Add koorkka stir and mix in well. On medium heat, stir and fry for 2 to 3 minutes, so that the spices are infused into the koorkka. Then add 2.5 cups of water and bring to a boil. Lower the flame to the minimum. Cover with a tight lid and cook till koorkka is cooked and soft. Check in between to see if the koorkka is well cooked and soft. Once soft, take off the lid and dry off any excess water on high flame.
Serve as a side dish with rice or roti.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Nellikka Achar / Pickled Gooseberries
Ingredients
15 big size - Nellikka / Amala / Gooseberries
2 tbsp – Red chili powder
¼ tsp – Fenugreek powder / methi / uluva
¼ tsp – Hing powder / Asafetida
1 tsp – Mustard seed
3 to 4 sprigs – Curry leaves, washed and dried well.
4 to 5 tbsp – Sesame oil
3 tsp – Salt or to taste
Method
1 ) Powder the mustard seeds. Wash gooseberries well, then wipe dry off any water. Cut gooseberries to small pieces.
2 ) Heat a kadai or pan with 2 tbsp of oil on medium low heat. Add the cut gooseberry pieces, 1 tsp salt and fry the pieces till pieces turn soft, which will take 2 to 3 minutes. Once the pieces are soft, transfer the pieces to another utensil and set aside.
3 ) Add 2 to 3 tbsp oil into the pan and heat the pan on low flame. Add curry leaves and fry the leaves crisp, then add red chili powder, fenugreek powder, mustard powder, hing powder, one after the other. Fry the powders in the oil, till you get a good aroma of the powders. But take care not to burn it.
4 ) Add fried gooseberry pieces to this masala , 2 tsp of salt or to taste, stir and mix well. Coat the pieces well with the masala. Take off the stove and cool.
Use a sterilized bottle to store this pickle in. Bottle should be wiped well off any water in it. Once the pickle has cooled off, transfer pickle into the sterilized bottle. Can keep the pickle outside for two to three days then refrigerate.Do shake the bottle to coat the pieces with masala and oil each time you take it.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Ridge Gourd Thoran
To make this natural body scrubber, ridge gourd is allowed to mature and then let to dry in the vine of the plant.Once dry all that is left is the skeleton of the vegetable with seeds inside.To remove the seeds, top portion of the vegetable is cut off and seeds are removed.Then ridge gourd is washed well and soaked in water, which will make it soft.Then it is dried and is used as a scrubber.
Ingredients
2 to 3 medium size - Ridge gourd
1/4 to 1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1/2 cup - Small onion / Shallots, chopped
3 to 4 - Green chili, slit in center
1/2 cup - Freshly grated coconut
2 to 3 sprigs - Curry leaves
3 ) Add ridge gourd, salt to taste and give a good stir. Mix all the ingredients well.Close with a tight lid and cook on a very low flame till ridge gourd is fully cooked. Ridge gourd will give out some water and will get cooked in that water. Once ridge gourd is cooked, open the lid, increase heat and cook, if there is excess water to be cooked away. Stir and cook till all the water is used up. Take off the stove once you get a dry thoran.
Monday, November 03, 2008
Unakka Chemmeen Chammanthi
Ingredients
1 cup - Dried small shrimps
8 to 10 - Dried whole red chilies
1/2 cup - Freshly grated coconut
5 flakes - Garlic
small piece - Ginger
A small marble size - Seedless tamarind
2 sprigs - Curry leaves
Salt to taste
Method
1 ) Heat a pan with little coconut oil, add dried shrimps, red chilies and on a low flame fry, taking care not to burn the ingredients till the shrimps are fried and cooked in that low flame. Take off the stove and cool.
2 ) Add to a blender / grinder, the fried ingredients, run the blender and powder the shrimp and chilies. Then add garlic, ginger, curry leaves, tamarind, coconut and salt to taste. Run the blender and grind all the ingredients well to a coarse mixture.
Serve as a side dish with kanji or rice.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Elaanji / Crepes with sweet filling - 2nd Blog Anniversary !
Now over to snacking on something sweet. "Elaanji" is what this crepes is known as in norther part of kerala. I have even heard it is called as a 'love letter', but am not sure why so. A sweet snack for tea time, filled with coconut, sweetened with sugar and spiced with cardamom.
Ingredients
1 cup - All purpose flour / Maida
1.5 cup - Cold Whole milk
1 - Egg
A pinch of salt
Ghee
For filling
1 whole - Coconut, freshly grated
10 - Green cardamom, powdered
3/4 cup - Sugar
Method
1 ) To make the filling - heat a pan on low flame, add 2 tsp of ghee, coconut, cardamom, and stir till all the ingredients are mixed well.Let the sugar mix in well with coconut, stir for a minute or 2. Take off the stove and set aside.
2 ) To make the batter - Shift all purpose flour and set aside. To a mixing bowl, add egg and beat well with a wire whisk. Then pour in milk, a pinch of salt and give a good whisk. Slowly, little by little add flour and make thin batter.Batter should be very thin, so if needed add more milk to make a thin batter.
3 ) Heat a crepe pan /non-stick pan over a moderate flame. Wipe the pan with cloth dipped in oil. When the pan is hot, pour a ladleful of batter on the pan and spread around with the ladle in a circular motion to form a thin layer. Lower the heat, drizzle some ghee on the sides and let the batter cook and set.
4 ) Take a spoonful of coconut mixture and place it on the edge side of the crepe. Then fold and roll the crepe till the end.Repeat the same with the rest of the batter and coconut filling and make more crepes.
Note - Few drops of vanilla extract can be added to the batter. This is optional. But if you don't like the egg smell in the batter, vanilla extract will help to take away that smell.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Kaipakka / Bitter gourd Curry
Ingredients
2 medium size - Bitter gourd
Grind to a smooth paste with little water
1.5 cup - Freshly grated coconut
2 big - Small onions/ Shallots
3/4 tsp - Chilly powder
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
Seasoning
1 tsp - Mustard seed
6 big - Small onions / shallots,chopped
2 - Green chili, chopped
3 sprigs - Curry leaves
Method
1 ) Cut bittergourd into very small fine pieces. Heat little oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and pop it. Then add onion, chili and curry leaves. Fry for a minute then add bitter gourd. On a slow flame, fry till bitter gourd is light brown in color.
2 ) Add ground coconut mixture into the pan with bitter gourd. Add just little water to make a thick gravy. Add salt to taste and just bring to a boil. Don't boil over. Take off the stove.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Neer Dosa
Ingredients
2 cups - Raw rice , soaked overnight
1/2 cup - Freshly grated coconut
3 cups - Water
Salt to taste
Method
1 ) Soak raw rice overnight in enough water. Drain out the water. Grind rice with coconut to a smooth paste with water in small batches, using up 3 cups of water. Batter should be very thin and watery. Add salt to taste.
2 ) Heat a non- stick flat griddle or tawa on a moderate heat. Wipe clean the inside of the pan with cloth dipped in oil. When the Tawa is hot, pour batter and spread around the tawa to make a thin dosa. Since the batter is watery,you will not be able to spread batter like you can with regular dosa batter.
3 ) Lower the heat, cover with a lid and cook till the dosa is cooked. Then fold the dosa in half and again half. Take off the stove and transfer to a serving plate.Use rest of the batter to make neer dosa in similar way.
Serve for breakfast with chutney or have for dinner with any non- vegetarian curry.