Mini's kitchen

Silent Valley

2009-11-24T20:46:00.000-08:00

God still lives here-
God’s own valley,
The abode of God

Like in the ‘ark’
Birds, mammals, reptiles
In pairs they live in peace

Trees and herbs
Flowers and fruits
Sparkling rivers, with the mystic touch of God

Silence is the rule
Close your eyes
You will feel the presence of God

Dare not touch
A flower, leaf or stone
Forbidden valley for man

Step in only-
If pure in heart and soul
Determined not to hurt even the air

Else the eerie silence will bite you
The deadly- dark shadow,
Will haunt you
For ‘Nature the God’ is powerful for ever

mini thomas

Prawn Chutney Powder

2009-11-19T01:50:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Grated coconut -2 cups
Dried prawns -1 ½ cup
Dried red chillies - 3
Pepper corns - 15
Urad dal - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves - ½ cup
Sliced shallots (small onions)- ½ cup
Ginger grated -3 tbsp
Chopped garlic - 2 tbsp
Tamarind - 1 tbsp
Oil - ½ cup
Salt to taste

Preparation

On a low flame, in a wok, pour a tablespoon of
oil for frying each ingredient separately.
Red chilli, pepper corns and urad dal can be fried together.
Each ingredient should be fried crisp.

Grind each ingredient seperately in a chutney grinder.
Mix all items together with sea salt and grind again.
Now, add the tamarind and run the mixer on high speed.
See that there are no lumps.
Store the chutney powder in an air-tight container.

Prawn chutney powder goes well with rice and curd.

It is helpful if we stock a bottle of prawn chutney or
Fish pickle to manage the lazy days.
May be a day after Onam, when you have all the
left over veggies but no fish!!

Generally,two types of dried prawns are available.
One is red, firm and comparatively bigger in size.
The other one is soft, smaller and pale in colour.
For making chutney, softer dried prawns are preferred.

Mutton Chops in Cashew Paste

2009-10-12T02:21:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Mutton chops - ½ kg
Cashew nuts - 1 cup
Chopped onion – 1 cup
Ginger paste - 2 tsp
Garlic paste - 2 tsp
Curd - ½ cup
Turmeric powder -1 tsp
Chilli powder – 2tsp
Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
Cardamom powder -2 tsp
Whole garam masala – 1tsp
(2cardamom,4cloves,2 inch cinnamon)
Coriander leaves – 1 tbsp
Salt
Oil -1 tbsp
Ghee – 1tbsp

To marinate

Curd – ½ cup
Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
Nutmeg powder – ¼ tsp
Fennel powder – 1 tsp
Coriander powder – 1tsp
Chili powder – 1tsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Salt

Preparation

Wash and dry the ribs.
With a knife push the meat from one end to another.
Pat the meat once with a heavy object.
Marinate the chops and keep it in the fridge for a night.

Next day sauté the cashew nuts brown and grind it to
a fine paste and keep aside.
In a small pressure cooker heat oil and add whole garam masala.
Add chopped onion and salt.Saut till transparent.
Now add chops and ginger, garlic paste and stir.
Mix turmeric, chili and coriander powder in curd and
pour into the chops. Let it simmer till fat separates.
Pour quarter cup of water, close the lid and pressure cook it for 35 minutes.
As the pressure is released open the lid, add in cashew paste and
cardamom powder. Keep on the flame till the gravy is thick
and coated on the chops.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves,
lemon and onion rings.
Serve with chappati or rice, dal and raita.

Ginger Snaps

2009-10-06T02:35:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Plain flour - 2 ½ cups
Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Salt
Ginger powder – 2 tbsp
Cinnamon powder – 2 tsp
Black pepper powder – ½ tsp
Butter - 11 tbsp
Brown sugar - 2/3 cup
Vanilla essence - ½ tsp
Molasses – ¼ cup
Egg - 1 large
Zest of 1 lemon
Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Preparation

Sieve flour and baking powder together.
Add cinnamon, ginger and black pepper powder.

Beat egg and molasses (jaggery), lemon juice and zest.
Now add cold butter, vanilla essence and powdered brown sugar.
Into this add the flour mixture.
Mix well. Keep on a plastic paper and roll it into a log.
Keep this plastic wrapped log into the fridge until firm.
Slice thin to about quarter an inch, coat it with sugar and bake
for 15 minutes. Take it out and turn each ginger snaps
upside down and let it cool.

Store in an air-tight cookie jar.
Plain milk and cookies is a good combination.
Spicy ginger snaps and half a cup of hot plain milk
is a combination even I would like to vote for.

Meat Pickles

2009-08-19T04:05:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Boneless meat - ½ kg
Onion - 1
Ginger - 60 gm
Small garlic pods - 20
Curry leaves
Turmeric powder - 1tsp
Dry red chilli - 4
kashmere chilli powder - 2 tbsp
pepper corns -20
cloves - 4
green cardamom - 4
fennel seeds (perum jeerakam) - ½ tsp
a petal of star anise (takkolam)
nutmeg - ½ inch
cinnamon - ½ inch
vegetable oil - 2 cup
Natural vineger -1 cup
salt
sugar - ½ tsp

Preparation

Wash the meat twice and cut into two inch pieces.
Cook the meat with salt and ½ tbsp of chilli powder.
When cooked, see that no water is remaining.

In a non-stick pan, pour a table spoon of oil and
sauté the meat dry and keep it aside.

Grind all the spices from pepper corns to cinnamon
into fine powder.

Peel and thinly slice the onion.

Make a paste of ginger and garlic.

On medium flame, in a wok, pour oil and deep fry
the onion crispy, dark brown.
Take out the crispy onion and to the same hot oil
add curry leaves, de-seeded dry red chillies.
Scoop these out and add ginger garlic paste.
Stir continuously till light brown .
Turn the fire low and add turmeric powder,
Chilli powder, all the spice powder and sauté for a minute.
Now add the fried onion, curry leaves, dry red chilli and the meat.
Mix well as you pour vinegar ,sugar and salt.

When cooled, store in an air–tight jar.
Start using after three days.

Intake of pickles should be in moderation ,
as too much salt is added to the pickles.
But one thing we must admit, sending home made
pickles to our loved ones like all other goodies, is
a remedy for home sickness.

Chocolate Truffles

2009-06-23T21:41:00.001-07:00

Ingredients

Dark chocolate -250 gm
White chocolate -120 gm
Cream -4 tbsp
Powdered sugar -5 tbsp
Butter -2 tbsp

Preparation

Keep a saucepan on medium flame, pour
two glasses of water and bring to boil.
On top of the saucepan keep a larger bowl with
broken pieces of dark chocolate and white chocolate.
Reserve about 20 gm of white chocolate for decorating
the truffles on the top.
Simultaneously in another vessel heat half a glass of cream.
As the chocolate melts pour 3 to 4 tbsp of hot cream.
Pour cream only as much needed.

Take the bowl from the flame and keep on stiring.
Add powdered sugar, vanilla essence or any flavour.
Keep on stirring.
As the chocolate cools , it gets a shining texture.
Now add butter and stir.

In small greased ice trays or small moulds pour this
smooth and shining chocolate and refrigerate for 24 hrs.

Next day double boil the reserved white chocolate as before
and pipe it on the truffles and refrigerate again .

Wrap each individually in transparent covers and gift it to
your dear ones.

Dal (Lentil Curry)

2009-06-23T03:22:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Chana dal - 1 ½ cup
(split chick peas)
Masoor dal - ½ cup
(orange coloured lentils)
Water - 5 cups
Oil -1 tsp
Ghee -1tbsp
Mustard -1tsp
Jeera -1tsp
Urad dal -1tsp
(split black gram)
Garlic - 15 pods
Green chillies –3
Coriander leaves -2 stem
Curry leaves - a bunch
Tomatoes - 2 small
Turmeric powder – 2 tsp
Chilli powder -1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Jaggery - 1 tsp
Lemon - ½

preparation

In a bowl, soak chana dal and masoor dal together
for half an hour;
drain out the water and wash twice.

Pressure cook dal by adding five cups of water
and a tsp of turmeric powder .
After three whistles, turn off the flame.

Cut garlic, green chillies, coriander leaves
and tomatoes into small pieces.

In a wok,on low flame pour oil and ghee .
Add mustard, jeera and urad dal.
As it splutters and change colour, add garlic.
As it turns brown, add green chillies,
Coriander leaves and curry leaves.
Keep stirring.
Now add tomatoes, salt and jaggery.
Saute till it is soft.
Put a teaspoon each of
turmeric and chilli powder.
Pour the cooked dal and lemon juice into the wok;
add salt to taste.
Let it simmer for five more minutes.

Serve hot with rice or chappati....

Lentils or dal is very much part of daily diet of an Indian.
For vegetarians, lentils are an excellent source of protein,
a kind of substitute to meat products.
Even for non-vegetarians who suddenly start dieting
and stop taking meat, including dal in their daily diet
helps to keep them fit and healthy.

Monsoon is here.....

2009-06-05T04:07:00.000-07:00

A beautiful sight to watch with a hot cup of coffee.

A prayer and a hope

2009-06-05T03:27:00.000-07:00

A bowl of clean water on a hot summer day.
With a feel of natural surroundings attracts a lot of birds.
Every morning the birds wait for me to change the water.
In the afternoon each wait for their turn to take bath.
In summer, water is the most scarce thing available.
Birds die of thirst than of hunger.

A bowl of water and bread is not charity,
but a prayer, a offering to the beautiful creation of God,
who do have every right to this land as we do.

Floret Buns

2009-05-10T05:45:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Milk - ½ cup
Butter - ½ cup
Sugar - 1/3 cup
Eggs -2
Instant yeast -2 tsp
Salt -1 tsp
Plain flour -4 cups

Preparation

Take quarter cup of warm milk and dissolve
a teaspoon of sugar and two tsp of yeast.
Keep in a warm place to rise.
Powder the sugar and beat in butter,eggs
milk, salt and yeast.

Mix the flour spoon by spoon .
Knead well into a dough.
Watch for the consistency.
See that it is not very loose or tight.
Keep in a large vessel and
cover with a moist cloth.

After about two hours,
divide the dough into ten balls.

With a rolling pin, roll each ball
into rectangular shape.
Grease each one with soft butter.

Take five rectangular shaped dough
and stack one upon another.
Repeat the same with other five;
You get two sets.

With your hand, roll each set into a
Cylindrical shape .
You get two cylindrical shaped dough.

Cut each cylinderical dough into
two inch thick triangles.

Arrange these florets in a baking dish and
keep aside to double for about four hours.
You can keep this over night.

Time the dough takes to double,
depends on the quality of yeast you use.

In a pre- heated oven, bake the
floret buns in 180c for 35 minutes.

After 20 minutes of baking, egg wash
the florets with beaten egg, milk and sugar.
keep in the oven for 15 minutes more.

To make small crispy florets

Divide the dough into fifteen balls.
With both hands, lengthen each ball into a ribbon.
Roll each ribbon round to get floret shape.
Arrange these florets in a baking dish.
Cover it with a moist cloth;
let it double and then bake it for 30 minutes.
This is more easy and crispy.
Hot,crispy floret buns will surely be a hit for kids' parties.

Eden to Earth

2009-04-23T05:22:00.001-07:00

God created Eden,
He created wind and water
Light and darkness
Birds and animals
Sparkling rivers and lotus ponds…

There stood an apple tree by the pond
Frogs hopping on the lotus leaves
Squirrels running up and down the tree
In the shade, lived a rat and a cat
Greatest friends in Eden!
Rat, string some apple seeds
Wore them as anklets;
Cat, tied a lotus leaf
As a bandana on his head
Handsome they looked
Hand in hand they sang and danced around…

On the sixth day-
With the leftovers
God created Man.
Man roamed in Eden with greed and pride.

On the seventh day, there was a lull…
Guilty of his last creation,
God left Eden.
Man stopped the river from flowing,
He axed the apple tree,
Crushing the squirrels underneath.
Caught the cat, tore off his bandana
Broke the anklets of the rat,
Poured hatred, the magic potion
Into their throat.
Eden was turned to Earth.

Then he roamed and roamed,
Round and round in search of GOD!

mini thomas

Stuffed chicken

2009-04-11T11:53:00.000-07:00

Easter Special

The resurrection of Jesus gives us
the message of hope, peace and love!
happy easter to all my friends!

<Ingredients

Chicken – 1 full
Onions – 8
Tomatoes - 3 Large
Eggs- 2
Chilly Powder – 3 tbs
Turmeric powder – 1Tbs
Garam Masala powder – 3Tps
Curry leaves
Coriander Leaves
Bay Leaves -2
Salt - To taste
Lemon -2
Oil

Preparation

Clean the chicken both inside and outside
using a table spoon of lemon juice
and salt to get rid of the smell
and wash thoroughly with cold water.

In a bowl, make a paste of chilly powder,
turmeric powder, salt and juice of one lemon.
Add sufficient water to make the paste smooth,
but not watery.

Apply the paste all over the chicken
and let it marinate overnight.

Take a pan and heat sufficient oil for deep frying.
When the oil is hot, add the chicken and fry it
until it turns golden brown on all sides.

Stuffing

Slice onions and sauté them in oil
till golden brown.
Add chopped tomatoes, some coriander leaves
and curry leaves. Saute till the tomatoes turn soft.
To this again add garam masala powder,
chilly powder,some pepper powder, bay leaves and salt.
Add little water to wet the mixture and cook it for 5 minutes.

Boil two eggs and de-shell it.

Marinate the boiled eggs in half
quantity of the gravy.
stuff it inside the chicken.

Take the rest of the gravy add
some more water and keep on low
flame for few minutes.

In a baking pan, place the chicken and pour
the rest of the gravy on top of it.
Bake the chicken in an oven at 180 degrees for 15minutes.

Serve hot and enjoy with rice or roti.

This is a traditional malabari recipe
very tasty yet high on calorie.
Few restaurants in calicut
serve this delicacy.

This stuffed chicken is the creation of
our trio-Arun,Leah and Merin.

Bread Fruit Curry (kadachakka curry)

2009-03-23T06:49:00.000-07:00

Bread fruit - ½
Onion - 1
Ginger - 3 inch
Green chillies -2
Curry leaves - a bunch
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Chilli powder – ½ tbsp
Garam masala -1 tbsp
(10 pepper corns, 2 cloves,
2 petals of star anise, 4 cardamoms)
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
Grated coconut - of 1 full
Oil - 3 tbsp
Mustard - 1tbsp
Shallots - 4
Garlic - 4
Green chillies - 2
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Vinegar - 1 tbsp

Peel , wash and cut bread fruit into small triangles.
Slice onion ,ginger, green chillies.

Combine these cut vegetables in a vessel with turmeric,
Coriander, red chilli powder, garam masala, salt, curry leaves
and half glass of water. Let it cook covered on low flame till
the bread fruit is soft.
In a blender, pour warm water and grated coconut to extract
thick and thin coconut milk.

Add thin coconut milk to the cooked bread fruit and let it simmer
on low flame for 10 minutes.
Now pour the thick coconut milk, keep on low flame for 5 more minutes.
Pour 1 tbsp of vinegar. Stir and add salt if needed.

In a wok add oil, mustard seeds. As it splutter add sliced- shallots,
Garlic, green chillies and curry leaves . As the green chillies turn
Brighter in colour, turn off the flame and pour on the curry.
Serve hot or cold with rice or chappati.

Though it is called bread fruit , it turns soft as butter when it is cooked.
You can make wafers, erisheri , cutlets etc. with this bread fruit.

Prawn Papaya Curry(chemmeen kapenga palucurry)

2009-03-15T22:15:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
Prawns - 15 nos
Raw papaya - ½
Raw mango - ½
Grated coconut - 1 full
Onion -1
Green chillies - 3
Ginger -3 inch
Curry leaves - a bunch
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Fish masala -1 tbsp
chilli powder,fenugreek and dry ginger powder)
Kudampuli(gamboge,kokam) – 1
Salt - to taste
Oil - 3 tbsp
Mustard - 2 tsp
Shallots - 5
Garlic - 5
Dry red chillies - 4

Preparation
Peel, de-vein, wash and cut the prawns into pieces.
Size of the prawns does not matter.

In a wet chutney grinder, put 1 cup grated coconut,
1 green chilli, 1 inch ginger, half onion, 1 tbsp curry leaves,
1 tbsp fish masala, turmeric powder and ¼ glass of water.
Blend it to a fine paste and set aside.

Extract thick and thin milk from the
remaining grated coconut.
In a blender, pour warm water and
grated coconut to extract coconut milk.

Peel and cut papaya and mango into
about 3 inch long pieces.
Slice remaining half onion,green chillies and ginger.

In an earthern vessel, add prawns, papaya,
mango, green chillies,ginger,curry leaves,
coconut-fish masala paste, salt, small kudampuli
and the thin coconut milk. Cover the vessel half and
cook on low flame till the papaya pieces turn soft.

Add the thick coconut milk and
cook for 5 minutes on low flame.

In a wok,on low flame pour oil,add
mustard seeds,thinly sliced shallots,
garlic,dry red chillies and curry leaves.
Saute,till the ingredients turn crisp.
Pour this on the curry and close the lid
to lock the flavours in.

As the curry cools,it gets thicker and creamier.
All the taste of the prawns and mango are absorbed
in the gravy and papaya pieces.

This prawn curry is one of our all time favourite dishes .

A bit of history

There was a time when prawns was affordable to
both rich and poor.Though not tiger prawns,the
small shrimps were abundantly available.
It is extremely difficult to clean but those
small ones are realy tasty.

Necessity is the mother of all inventions.
To feed the large number of family members,
the queen of the house had to come out with some new ideas.
Which resulted in adding suitable vegetables with
those shrimps, to bring out recipes which could double
the quantity with out compromising taste.

Thus in cochin side with prawns, raw papaya, mango,
long beans,snake gourd and many more were combined
to make tasty dishes.

Prawns- fresh or dry, roast or fry, curry or chutney powder,
you name it... prawns was essential part of dining.

Muffins

2009-03-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Plain flour -2 ½ cups
Baking powder - 2 ½ tsp
Sugar - 1 ½ cups
Salt - ½ tsp
Soft butter - 7 tbsp
Egg -1 large
Curd - ½ cup
Vanilla essence – ½ tsp

Preparation
Sift flour and baking powder twice and keep aside.
Powder sugar and mix in butter.
Wisk till smooth.
Beat an egg to its peak and fold in to the butter sugar mixture.
Add salt, vanilla essence and curd. Mix well.
Spoon by spoon fold in flour baking powder mixture.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Line muffin tins with paper cups.
Fill the cups to the top.
Pre- heat oven.
Bake for 20 minutes at 180c.
Prick the muffins with a skewer to see whether it is done.

Morning Glory

2009-01-24T21:35:00.000-08:00

Manglore Kadri kambla fields

The cool breeze,
The scent of wild flowers…
The chirping of birds…
Awaits the morning walker.
Take a deep breath;
Walk briskly,
To keep energetic the whole day.

Sauteed Bitter gourd (paveka ularthu)

2009-01-20T02:42:00.000-08:00

Ingredients
Bitter gourd -1
Tomato - 2
Onion -2
Green chilli -2
Water - ¼ glass
Oil -1 tbsp
Curry leaves
Turmeric powder -1 tsp
Chilli powder -2 tsp
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Salt

Preparation
Wash the vegetables thoroughly. Split open the
bitter gourd (karela/ paveka)
and discard the seeds.
Length wise cut into four and slice thinly.
Chop tomatoes, cut onions into cubes and split green chillies.
In a vessel,add the cut vegetables, salt ,
½ tsp turmeric powder,water and let it cook
on low flame till the bitter gourd
and tomatoes are turned soft.

In a wok on low flame, pour oil add curry leaves,
½ tsp turmeric powder,2 tsp chilli powder
and sauté for a minute.
Now, add 1 cup of grated coconut, a pinch of salt
and sauté till the aroma of the fried coconut fills your kitchen.
Mix in the cooked vegetables and stir fry
to serve hot, with rice and moru curry (moru kachiyathu).

Bitter gourd is a very nutritious vegetable rich in iron and vitamins.
In southern part of India we find white bitter gourd which is less bitter.
In north India dark green bitter gourd is available which is more bitter.
There is a smaller variety of bitter gourd with less spikes
and but not bitter at all.
In Delhi markets,this veriety is found very often
We call it yeruma paveka.
Bitter gourd juice is advised for diabetic patients.
It has something like plant-insulin which
helps in lowering sugar level in our body.

Inspiration...
At Shornur railway station there is one restaurant
run by ladies that serve simple hot and fresh lunch.
This recipe is inspired by
the paveka ularthu they served us.
As its inspiration came from Shornur, we at home call it
paveka shornuri.

Our Rivers
Shornur is a small town on the banks of river Bharthapuzha.
Half of the year the river stays almost dry due to the
dams built on it and also due to uncontrolled digging for sand.

A movement to save and revive our rivers is very urgent.
Many small rivers and brooks have disappeared.
In my own native town Tripunithura,there was a rivulet
bodering, the eighth century- built
Karingachira church.
I remember my father narrating his childhood memories
of going for a swim with his friends
to this Karigachirapuzha(rivulet).
Now the rivulet is no longer visible...?

A river is like an artery –a lifeline in the area which
connects people, culture, religion …

Legend and the river....

There is another old story told by my father about
Karingachira river and Poornathrayesha temple, the
main temple of Tripunithura.
During the temple festival, there was an old custom of
offering or gifting a certain volume of coconut oil
to Karingachira church by Poornathrayesha temple.
The Deity- Tripunithura appan on an elephant,
adorned with netipattam(jewellery worn on the forehead of the
elephant)would lead a procession through the main road.
As it reaches the Karingachira church,
offers the usual gift of Coconut oil,
takes a dip in the Karingachirapuzha and returns.

Once, after the procession, as the nettipattam was lowered,
it was noticed that one of the golden dome shaped ornament on
the nettipattam was missing…
It was considered bad omen and the reason for this was enquired.
The answer from Tripunithura appan was-
“You have deviated from
the old tradition of gifting my brother; Correct it and you will
get the jewel back from the Karingachira river”.
The story goes that the temple authorities gifted the coconut oil
and got back the gold ornament from the river.

Natural Hair Conditioner

2009-01-11T22:00:00.001-08:00

Long black hair, wide eyes, chembaka poovin varnam(colour of golden champak flower)are traditionally attributed to a malayali beauty.

Length, colour and texture of your hair surely depend on
the genes you inherit,healthy lifestyle and
the plesant nature you keep.
But as you age, to maintain healthy hair you should
turn to herbal way.
There are different herbal combinations for hair and
skin care.
I use the following henna combination for my hair
which gives me great satisfaction.

Items needed

Henna leaves - 5 cups
Red hibiscus flowers - 5 nos
Hibiscus leaves - 1 cup
Goose berry(amla) - 3 nos
Curd - ½ cup
Eucalyptus oil - 3 drops
Egg - 1

Preparation

In a mixer, put henna leaves, red thick hibiscus flowers
( chumanna adduku chembarathi), hibiscus leaves,
curd and amla (goose berry). Blend it to a fine paste.
Pour into a bowl, add three drops of eucalyptus oil and
keep aside for a day.
Next day, beat in an egg to this henna mixture
and apply it on your scalp and hair.
Wash your hair after two hours.
Do not use hot water.
Use mild soap to wash your hair for fragrance.
Remember hibiscus leaves and flowers
act as shampoo and conditioner.
Henna gives colour and volume to your hair.
You can use dry henna powder also.
Eucalyptus oil helps to bring out the colour in the henna.
Do not add more eucalyptus oil.
Apply this herbal mix twice a month for good results.

Hair care with henna is traditional to India.
In north Indian states like Delhi, women carry
ready-to-apply henna to give home service.
Hibiscus, henna and amla grow in all tropical regions and
women traditionally used it for hair care.

Orange Yogurt Cake

2008-12-22T21:50:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Flour (maida) - 2 cups
Baking powder - ½ tsp
Butter - ¾ cup
Sugar - 1 ½ cup
Eggs – 3
Yougurt - ½ cup
Orange juice - ½ cup
Orange zest - 1 tbsp
Vanilla essence - ½ tsp
Salt - ¼ tsp

Preparation

Add baking powder to the flour sieve twice
sprinkle orange zest in the flour and keep aside.
Powder the sugar and mix well with soft butter.
Separate egg yolks and white.
Add the yolks and salt to the butter sugar mixture
beat to a silky consistency.
Beat egg whites to its peak and keep aside.
Add yogurt, orange juice and vanilla essence
spoon by spoon and whisk well.
Fold in the egg whites .
Now spoon by spoon add in
flour and baking powder mixture.
Grease the baking pan with butter and dust with flour.

Pre heat the oven at 180 .
Bake the cake for 45 to50 minutes.
After 45 minutes insert a skewer and
if the skewer comes out clean, the cake
is done. If it is sticky keep again in the oven for
few more minutes.
Let the cake pan cool on the wire mesh for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes remove from the pan
And brush it with orange glaze.

Orange glaze

Orange juice -3 tbsp
Sugar - 6 tbsp
Rum -1 tsp
Butter - ½ tsp
Mix sugar in orange juice and keep on low flame.
Take out from flame and immediately add rum and butter.
Brush the glaze on the cake for sweet and golden colour.

Christmas Cake with Royal Icing

2008-12-17T06:14:00.000-08:00

"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace,
good will toward men!"

Merry Christmas to all my friends!

For recipe, refer to my previous posts
(Christmas cake, Tea cake and Royal Icing).

Panettone( Italian Sweet Bread)

2008-12-01T06:07:00.000-08:00

Panettone is a sweet Italian bread traditionaly
cupola(dome)shaped, made mostly during
Christmas and New Year.

Legends and history add to its popularity.
One story dates back to 15th century Court of
the duke of Milan, where a kitchen boy, 'Toni', baked
a sweet bread for christmas and the court cook presented
it to the guests as a sweet dish.
In appreciation,this sweet bread was named -
Toni's bread (Pan de Toni).

There are lots of variations found in this recipe.
Almost all the ingredients used in christmas cake is
included in this recipe.

In Italy this bread is served mainly with a
glass of wine and 'cream of mascarpone' made from
mascarpone cheese.

'Panettone' is truly a bread of luxury.

Ingredients

Flour - 2 ½ cups
Sugar - 1/3 cup
Dry yeast – 2 ½ tsp
Salt -1/4 tsp
Warm milk - ½ cup
Soft butter – ¼ cup
Eggs - 3 large
Raisins - 1 cup
Orange zest - 1 tbsp

Preparation

In a cup of warm milk add 1 tablespoon of
sugar and dissolve yeast;
keep aside to rise in a warm place.

Take a large bowl beat eggs, add the remaining sugar, salt, butter,
the doubled yeast in milk, raisins and flour. Mix well and pour
into a greased, dusted baking dish, cover it with a warm
moist cloth.
Keep in a warm place again for the dough to double for about
2 to 4 hours.
Preheat the oven and bake the bread for 35 minutes.
As soon as you take it from the oven, with a skewer, pierce
the top of the bread all over and pour hot rum syrup.
After about 10 minutes remove from the baking dish .

Serve panettone with plain soft butter and a glass of wine.
This sweet and soft panettone will be a
great hit on your christmas table....

Rum Syrup

Rum - 1/3 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Combine rum and sugar and bring to a boil.
Turn off the flame and pour the rum syrup hot on the bread.

All the ingredients specially yeast should be fresh and
in room temperature for best results.

Tea Cake with Royal Icing

2008-11-25T04:06:00.000-08:00

Tea cake

ingredients

Maida(plain flour) - 3 cups
Baking powder - 3 tsp
Butter -1 cup
Sugar - 3 cups
Eggs large - 6
Vanilla essence -1 tsp
Salt - ¼ tsp
Lemon zest - 1 tbsp
Rum (optional) -1 tbsp

preparation

All ingredients should be in room temperature.

Sieve maida and baking powder thrice and keep aside.

Powder the sugar and mix it with soft butter in a large
mixing bowl. Mix till it is silky soft.

Separate the yolk and the white from the eggs.
Add the yolks, essence, salt and rum to the mixing bowl .
Wisk till it has a silky flow.

Beat egg whites frothy to its peak.
Add egg whites to the mixing bowl and slowly
fold in. Now spoon by spoon fold in sieved
maida and lemon zest.

In a baking dish apply butter on all sides and
dust it with maida. Pour the cake batter to
half the baking dish and pat it on
the work floor to release air.
If you want to decorate the cake with
nuts on top, first dust the nuts with plain flour
then sprinkle the nuts on the cake or else
the nuts will sink to the bottom.

Preheat the oven at 180c .Place the baking dish and
bake for 45 minutes. If you are pouring the cake batter
in cups or small bowls , you will get your cakes
ready in 25 minutes. After the baking time
prick the cake with a skewer and if it comes out clean the
message is your cake is done.

Royal icing

Icing sugar - 400 gms
Egg white - 1
Lime juice -1 tbsp
vanilla essence - 1/4 tsp

In a bowl beat egg white gradually adding
icing sugar and vanilla essence. Add lime juice and
whisk faster till it stands on its peak
very smooth and white like snow.

Royal icing can be used to cover the cake,
do lattice work or write with a nozzle.
Adjust the icing sugar as you need the flow.

Fish Pickle

2008-11-05T22:24:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Fish - 1 kg
Garlic - 100 gm
Ginger - 200 gm
Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
Chilli powder -3 tbsp
Kashmiri chilli powder -1 tbsp
Oil - 3 cups
Natural vinegar - 2 cups
Salt
curry leaves - 1 cup

Preparation

Cut the fish and wash thoroughly with salt and water.
Marinate the fish (prawns or oysters ) with 1 tbsp chilli powder,
turmeric and salt. Do not add water.

Peel and wash ginger , garlic and pat it dry.
Make a fine paste of it by adding a little salt and vinegar.

Fry the fish pieces, curry leaves and retain the oil.

In another wok pour oil and sauté the ginger- garlic paste.
As it turns brown add turmeric ,chilli powder and sauté
for two minutes. Now add the remaining fish oil,
vinegar and fried fish. When it is cooled, store it
in an air–tight container.
It looks gorgeous....

This pickle is of a great help to our children
from the boring hostel food.

Stuffed Banana Roast

2008-10-16T21:21:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Ripe banana (kerala banana) - 2
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Sugar - 3 tbsp
Water -3 tbsp
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Maida (plain flour) -1 cup

Preparation

Make a slit on the banana (ethapazham) with the skin on.
Steam it in a steamer till it turns soft.
Peel and remove the outer strings and inner seed strings.
Mash the bananas without any lumps.
Do not use very ripe bananas.

In a wok on medium flame, add sugar and water .
Stir till you get sugar syrup. To this, add grated coconut
and cardamom powder.

Make six balls of the mashed banana and stuff it with
the sweet coconut mixture. Roll this in flour and
deep fry in oil on medium flame.
Try to retain its golden yellow colour.
Serve hot with tea.

This recipe takes me back to an instance years back.
Banana roast or unnakaya famous in Malabar, was not much
known in southern and central part of Kerala at that time.
Just married and very young, I had to take charge of the kitchen
for some days, as my in–laws were not in station.
Message came, my in-law’s aunt, a grand old lady
and her two daughters were arriving for tea in an hour.
Though I had no experience in cooking, I decided
to serve this banana roast for tea. Our maid
tried to dissuade me saying time was limited
and that she has also never tried this before.
My first attempt came out successfull and
Well appreciated by the guests.
Later my mother-in-law was surprised to hear from her
aunt “ the banana fritters your daughter-in-law
made was great!”
Thereafter, at our home this snack is known
‘marumode vazhkapam’.
These nutritious bananas (ethapazham /nentrapazham)
are mainly grown in Kerala and in parts of Tamilnadu.
Unlike other small bananas, this banana is a food in itself

Our balcony

2008-10-14T01:56:00.000-07:00

Honey dear

Roses at bloom

Full bloom

flowering time

Our dear bulbuls.

One of the squirrels who visit us.

one of my friends.

A bull and his master.A view from our balcony

Sanyasis with an elephant.

A man with a monkey.

During festival season people dressed
as tiger and lion visit houses and
perform pulikali a kind of dance.
A view from my balcony.