Mini's kitchen

Vattayappam

2011-12-25T01:29:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

White raw rice - 2 cups
(sona masuri rice)
water to soak rice
Scoop out tender coconut - 1
Rice flour - 2 tbsp
Yeast - ¾ tsp
Sugar - 2 cups
Cardamom - 6
Sultanas -

Preparation

Wash rice twice and then
soak rice in warm water for 8 hrs.
After 8 hrs, grind the rice using the same water,
into a fine batter.

Scoop out tender coconut and blend it into a
fine paste separately.
Now pour the coconut paste into the rice batter and
run the grinder for 5 more minutes.

In a tumbler take ¼ glass of warm water and
mix in yeast and 1 tbsp of sugar. Keep in a warm
place to rise.
In a vessel pour 1 ½ glass of water and 2 tbsp rice flour.
Keep this on low flame and keep on stirring till the
mixture gets thick yet has a loose consistency.

Combine yeast, sugar, thickened rice flour with
the batter and keep it to rise for 8 hrs.
After the batter has doubled add salt, cardamom powder,
sultanas pour in the desired moulds and steam for 20 minutes.

Vattayappam is a sweet dish made on Christmas and Easter.
Though a sweet dish it goes well with spicy motton curry.

In olden days during christmas, in Kerala
all types of appams were made-
steamed, sweet, savoury, deep fried
vattayappam,vellayappam,achappam, kuzhalappam, chippappam,
avulosundda and many more regional recipes.
But cake baking was never part of home cooking.

Tandoori Chicken

2011-12-25T01:24:00.000-08:00

Veg Fritters

2011-12-18T21:43:00.001-08:00

Ingredients

Grated bottle gourd - ½ kg
Chopped coriander leaves - 1 hand full
Green chillies - 2
Mint leaves - 5
Crushed pepper -1tsp
Chik pea flour (besan) - 1 cup
Egg - 1
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
Salt --

Preparation

Mix all the ingredients together just before frying.
Do not keep the mix for long time .
Shallow fry it immediately.
Serve with tomato sauce.
Vegetables like carrots, spinach,
spring onions can be used.

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-17T23:58:00.000-08:00

Sweet and happy christmas to all.
As always my christmas cake is ready in advance
to be couriered to our daughters.
This year Merin is at home for christmas and
Leah will be joining us in january.
Both with real precious gift from God.

This year's dry fruits used in the christmas cake
was soaked in home made wine rather than in rum or brandy.
The recipe is featured before.

Happy Onam-2011

2011-09-02T03:45:00.000-07:00

Rogan Josh

2011-08-23T22:38:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

To marinate

Mutton - 1/2 kg
Curd - ½ cup
Ginger paste - 1tsp
Coriander leaves
Asafotida – ¼ tsp (optional)

Whole spices

Bay leaves - 2
Cinnamon - 1 stick
Cloves - 8
Green cardamom - 10
Black cardamom - 1
Fennel seeds - 1tsp

Powdered Spices

Cinnamon - ½ tsp
Green cardamom - ½ tsp
Cloves - ¼ tsp
Black pepper - ½ tsp
Nutmeg, mace - ¼ tsp

Kashmiri chilly - 2tbsp
oil - 2tbsp
(Mustard oil)
Water - 2cups
Salt

Saffron strands dissolved in 2 tbsp of milk.

Preparation

Marinate mutton(preferably with fat) for 1 hour in curd,
ginger paste, 1 tbsp chilly powder,
asafotida and chopped coriander leaves.

In a heavy bottomed vessel, heat oil and add the whole spices and then
add the marinated meat and stir till the oiI separates.
Keep the flame low.

Now add the remaining 1 tbsp kashmiri chilly powder and spice powder.
(set aside a pinch of the spice powder to sprinkle in the end).
Stir well till the spices are well coated and fried.
Pour 2 cups of water, salt to taste.
Cover and cook till the mutton is tender.
(for 1 hour)
Put saffron milk and pinch of the reserved spice powder
into this mutton gravy.
Stir for 2 minutes; sprinkle chopped coriander leaves or ginger julian.

Serve hot with chapatti or any Indian bread.

Aloo Jeera

2011-06-13T05:38:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Potatoes - 3 large
Mustard oil - 4tbsp
Jeera (cummin seeds) - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
Chili powder - ½ tbsp
Salt
Water -3 tbsp
Chopped coriander leaves -2 tbsp
Lemon wedges

Preparation

In a heavy bottomed vessel pour mustard oil.
Add jeera and as it crackles add skinned and
cubed potatoes.
Sauté till it turns golden brown.
Potato shrinks in size.
Add turmeric, chili powder, salt and stir till it is fried
and well coated to the potato.
Pour water and let it simmer on low flame keeping the lid on.
After a couple of minutes when the potatoes are soft and well
coated with the masala squeeze lime about a teaspoon.
Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves and serve with raita and hot chappatis.

For this recipe mustard oil cannot be substituted by any other oil.

Softy Sandwich

2011-06-10T00:09:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Bread -4 slices
Hung curd - ½ cup
Coriander leaves - 1 cup
Green chilies - 1
Onion - ½
salt
Grated cucumber – ½ cup
Honey - 2 tbsp
Sweet mango
or
pineapple - ½ cup
Grated carrot – ½ cup
Tomato sauce -2 tbsp

Preparation

Make green chutney with coriander leaves,
Green chilies, onion and salt
Slice cucumber into juliann and keep aside.
Skin and chop mango or pineapple and mix in honey.
Grate carrot and keep aside.
Keep all these in the fridge in different containers.

Just before serving-

On the first sandwich bread, spread tomato sauce and grated carrot.
Top it with second bread which is spread with a teaspoon of curd .
Spoon in mango or pineapple honey on top of the second bread
and place the third bread spread with curd.
Spoon in cucumber and green chutney mixture on top.
Cover this with fourth bread which is spread with curd.
Slice it to get a triangular shape.
A very soft and healthy sandwich is ready.

To make hung curd – in a fine sieve or muslin cloth
Pour curd and keep on a vessel in the fridge for an hour.
The water will collect in the vessel and you
get thick curd to spread.

To make tomato sauce - In a blender put two cut
tomatoes,two garlic,salt,half tsp sugar,half tsp chili powder
and blend it to a fine paste.On medium flame boil till it reduces.
You get fresh tomato sauce without any preservatives.

Prawn & Egg Noodles

2011-06-05T23:55:00.001-07:00

Ingredients

Noodles/spaghetti –a hand full
Prawns - ½ cup
Spring onions green - 3
Garlic - 6
Milk 2 tbsp
Eggs - 2
Parmesan cheese - 20 gms
Olive oil
Pepper
Chili flakes
Sea Salt

Preparation

Boil noodles adding salt and oil in water.
Drain in right time.
In a wok, heat oil add chopped garlic and
Spring onions.
Let it sweat; then add prawns,salt,chilli flakes and crushed pepper.
Stir till the prawns turn pink and is cooked.
Now, add noodles and toss it.

Beat eggs, milk, salt, pepper and grated parmesan together.
Pour on the noodles, on low flame stir till egg gets well coated.
Garnish with chopped green spring onions and chili flakes.
Serve hot straight from the pan.

Mangalore friends

2011-06-05T22:56:00.000-07:00

Remembering our eagle friends.
I just had to call 'eagle'...
wherever they are, they used to
fly and perch on the coconut tree-
near my kitchen window and were ready to
eat the fish or bread I keep on the
window sill...

We have moved to Trivandrum and do
miss namma Mangaluru and our dear friends..

Pizza

2011-02-18T21:30:00.001-08:00

Home made pizza with foccacia base.
I topped it with parmeesan and mozarella cheese,
onion,tomato,rose mary ,olive oil and beef roast.
Tomato sauce was added while serving.
Foccacia recipe is already featured in my earlier post.

Shahi Mushroom Curry

2011-01-09T23:55:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Mushroom - 200gm
Oil - 2tbsp
Butter - 2tsp
Onion - 2
Ginger - 2 inch
Garlic - 3
Green chillies - 2
Pepper - 6
Black cardamom - 1 small
Green cardamom - 3
Cinnamon - 3 inch
Mace - ¼ tsp
Nutmeg - ¼ tsp
Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
Red cashmere chilli - 1
Dry ginger - ½ tsp
Turmeric - ½ tsp
Cashew nuts - 12
Milk - ½ cup
Water - ½ cup
Coriander leaves
Sea Salt

Preparation

Sauté mushroom in oil and butter
and keep aside.
Soak cashew in warm water.

Make a fine paste of ginger,garlic, onion
and green chillies.
Dry roast pepper, both cardamoms, dry ginger,
mace, nutmeg, red chilli,fennel seeds and cinnamon.
In a passel and mortar crush these into a fine powder.
Make a fine paste of cashew nuts in milk.

In the wok add some more oil, butter and sauté
onion, ginger, garlic, chilli paste .
As the paste gets dry, add
the crushed garam masala powder reserving
half a teaspoon of the garam masala to
add later.
Sauté till oil separates.
Now add cashew paste keep stirring.
Add water,salt, sauté mushroom,half teaspoon
garam masala powder and chopped coriander leaves.
Keep stirring on low flame, to get the right consistency
Garnish with juliann ginger and cream if you prefer.

Serve hot with chappati, puri or any Indian bread.

Black cardamom is bigger in size and
has a smoky taste.
Green cardamom has a sweet taste.
As black cardamom has a stronger flavour,
try to use it less.
Green cardamom is grown in Kerala,
so it is widely available in south of India.
Black cardamom is mostly used in North Indian cooking.

Meen Pollichathu (hariyali)

2011-01-07T00:57:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Fish - 1 medium sized
Coriander leaves - a bunch
Green chillies - 3
Ginger - 3 inch
Garlic pods - 2
Black pepper - 6
(fresh green pepper-optional)
Vinegar - 1 tbsp
Sea salt

Preparation

Karimeen (pearl spot) or white pomfret fish
preferred for this recipe.
Cut clean and make slits on the fish.

Make a fine paste of coriander leaves,
Pepper, ginger, garlic and green chillies,
Vineger and salt.

Marinate the fish and wrap it in a banana leaf
And keep aside for 30 minutes.
Just before serving
grill it for 20 to 25 minutes on a tawa (iron pan).
turn up side down after 10 minutes
to grill evenly.
Serve hot.

If green pepper (not capsicum)
is available add the whole string.

Meen pollichathu (grilled) is the most healthiest
and the oldest way of cooking.
Traditionally grilled on red hot coal
or wooden stove.

To wrap any thing in banana leaves,
lightly heat the banana leaf on the flame
or else the leaf may tear while wrapping.

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T01:26:00.000-08:00

Ginger flower and yellow roses
in our balcony welcoming the new year.

Santa came Home

2010-12-24T01:56:00.000-08:00

On 22 nd evening I heard a flap on my window.
To my surprise,I saw a parrot sitting on our window sill.
A green parrot with a red feathers on his wings.
Looked a older bird with a serious look.
I slowly opened the window, it flew and sat on the chair.
For a second I was stunned! Then I went to the kitchen
to get him some nuts, tomato and cooked rice.
It flew to the kitchen and ate everything and drank water.
I felt he was hungry and tired after a long flight.
It might have been a pet released by somebody.
I showed him a basket on which he perched.
I kept him in the balcony and he was happy,
watched the squirrels, and bulbuls visiting.

We named him Santa!
He liked the guvava
and pistachios I gave him.
On 24 th morning he had his heavy break fast,
enjoyed a bath, ate something from the mud in the pots,
and suddenly flew away.

I and my husband really enjoyed his company.
Even our daughters were excited when they heard
of Santa.They rang up every now and then to enquire
about him.

I am happy Santa flew to his freedom;
I Pray to God for his safety.
He was a real Christmas gift to us.

Meat Kebabs

2010-11-04T23:19:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Ground meat - ¼ kg
Spring onion - 3
Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp
Green chilli - 2
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Nutmeg powder - 1/4 tsp
Cinnamon powder - ½ tsp
Cardamom powder - ½ tsp
Chilli powder - ½ tsp
Dry ginger powder - ½ tsp
Salt
Bread crumbs of - 2
Egg - 1
Oil to fry

Preparation

Wash meat thrice and dry well with a
Kitchen towel .Ground it into a fine paste.
Finely cut coriander leaves, green chillies and spring onions.
Mix all ingredients and pour beaten egg only as much needed.
Store in the fridge for a day.
Next day make small balls and deep fry it on
Medium flame.
Serve with tangy mint chutney.

Sweet Papaya Preserve

2010-09-26T01:09:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Sweet papaya mashed - 3 cups
Jaggery - 1 ½ cup
Cardamom - ½ tsp

Preparation

Remove the skin and mash papaya.
Use very ripe papaya to make a preserve.
In heavy bottomed vessel combine
mashed papaya and jaggery.
Keep it on medium flame and
Sauté till the water from the papaya
is fully evaporated.
Now it starts to stick to the sides of the vessel.
Add cardamom powder and mix well.
Turn off the flame.
This radiant natural red colour preserve is
a healthy preparation.

Adding sugar instead of jaggery will
give a different deep orange colour.
Papaya preserve should be refrigerated
for a longer shelf life.

Fresh sweet papaya is very nutritious
as all fruits are. But it is not so popular
among children.
Habit of eating all types of fruits should
be developed among children.

Focaccia Bread

2010-09-21T07:20:00.000-07:00

Focaccia is an Italian flat salted bread.
It can be made sweet also, stuffed
with fruits, nuts and sugar.
Fresh home made bread tastes better than
the ones you buy from market.
Variety makes it more exciting!!

Ingredients

Flour (maida) - 3 cups
Sea salt -1 tsp
Sugar - 1tsp
Dry yeast - 1 tsp
Warm water - ¾ cup
Grated garlic -1 tbsp
Rosemary - 2 tbsp
(dried or fresh)
crushed black pepper - 1tsp
grated parmesan cheese - 2 tbsp
olive oil - 2 tbsp

Egg wash

egg - 1
milk - 2 tbsp

Preparation

In a bowl mix yeast, sugar and warm water.
Keep in a warm place to rise.

Take a large bowl, mix flour, yeast, oil, salt,
pepper, rosemary and knead well.
Brush the dough with Olive oil,
cover the bowl and keep in a warm place to rise
for about six hours, till the dough doubles.

Punch the dough down and give a desired shape;
keep it the baking tray.
Traditionally focaccia is a
flat bread.
I made focaccia into a loaf and into a bowl shaped,
to stuff it.

Brush the focaccia with olive oil and again
keep aside to rise for about one hour.
Brush it with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sea salt,
crushed pepper, rosemary, grated garlic
and grated parmeesan cheese.

For stuffing – sauté cubed tomatoe ,onions,
minced meat and flavour with lots of olive oil ,
coarse salt, rosemary and pepper.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes according to the size of focaccia.

Focaccia is more like a flat crust pizza.
Coarse salt, rosemary and crushed pepper makes the difference!

Parippu Payasam(Onam Special)

2010-08-22T23:00:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Chana dal -2 cups
Jaggery - 1½ cup
Grated coconut - 4 cups
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Ghee - 5 tbsp
Coconut pieces – 3 tbsp
Cashew nuts - 2 tbsp
Sultanas -2 tbsp
Rice flour - 1 tbsp
Crushed cardamom - 1 tbsp

Preparation

Wash and drain chana dal.
Pressure cook chana dal till it is soft.
Mash chana dal.
Some pieces of dal can be left as it is,
so that it can give a bite in the payasam.

On low flame, in a 'uruli'or any heavy-bottom vessel,
pour ghee and fry coconut pieces and
dry fruits into golden brown.
Keep aside these to garnish later.

In the same ghee, sauté rice flour.
See that it does not turn brown.
In this, add mashed chana dal and sauté for a while.
Now add jaggery dissolved in one cup water.
Let it simmer for a while.

Extract first and second milk from the grated coconut .
Reserve the first thick coconut milk.

First, pour in the thin second extract.
As the 'payasam'thickens, pour the first thick coconut milk.
Sprinkle crushed cardamom powder.
Keep stirring for five minutes and then turn off the flame.
Garnish the payasam with golden brown nuts.

Serve hot or cold.
'Thiruonam' is the day when you really get drunk with Payasam.

In the first stage, you drink payasam plain.

Second stage, to your payasam bowl,add banana cut into pieces.
Banana will give a different twist
to the intense sweetness of the payasam.

Third stage, crush two crispy kerala papadam
into the payasam with banana pieces.

Finally, lick a piece of red hot and sour lemon pickle before
each sip of payasam.
That is how you get drunk with payasam.

HAPPY ONAM.

Kuruku Kalan

2010-08-18T03:14:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Raw banana - 3
Shallots -- 20
Half coconut grated
Green chilli - 3
Mustard seeds -1 tsp
Fenugreek - ½ tsp
Jeera - ½ tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Sugar - 1 tsp
Curd - 2 cups
Coconut oil - 2 tbsp
Dry red chilli - 3
Curry leaves
Pepper corns(optional) – 8

Preparation

Remove the skin of the raw banana, shallots and cut into thin slices.
On a low flame in a vessel put the cut banana, shallots, turmeric, salt
and water. Cook till it is soft.
Mean while in a pan dry roast mustard, jeera, fenugreek. Add this to
Coconut, green chilli, curry leaves and grind into a fine paste.
Add this paste to the cooked banana and simmer till you get
a thick consistency.
Beat curd and pour into the curry.
Keep on stirring slowly.
Add sugar and salt for taste.
Season the kalan with mustard,pepper,red chilli,
curry leaves in coconut oil.

As it cools the kalan gets thicker and tastier.

Happy Birthday...Miniskitchen turns 3 !

2010-06-16T20:50:00.000-07:00

Ever Green

2010-06-03T18:56:00.000-07:00

Green plants, pebbles in the water-
a feel of nature in our terrace.

Chicken Curry

2010-06-02T21:49:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Chicken - ½ kg
Shallots - ½ kg
Tomato - 2 big
Ginger - 2 inch
Garlic - 6
Coriander powder - 2 tbsp
Chilli powder - 2 tbsp
Fennel - 1 tsp
Pepper - 1 tsp
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon - ½ tsp

Preparation

Wash and dry medium sized chicken pieces.
Marinate the chicken with salt and vinegar for one hour.
Peel the shallots.
Cook shallots and tomatoes in a vessel with
quarter glass of water.
Drain out shallots and tomatoes.
Retain the stock to use later.
Remove the skin of the tomates.
Blend shallots and tomatoes well.
Peel ginger , garlic and make affine paste.

In a wok on medium flame pour oil and
fry chicken pieces light brown and keep aside.
Retain the water from the marinated chicken
to use it later .
In the same oil sauté ginger, garlic paste for a while
and then add shallot tomato paste.
As it gets dry add coriander , chilly ,pepper
fennel, cinnamon and clove powder.
Stir till dry.
Now add the stock from shallot, tomato and chicken.
Put the fried chicken pieces and add salt as you need
and cover it with a lid.
On low flame let the chicken cook well and the gravy thicken.
In a frying pan, fry coriander leaves and red chilly retaining
their colour.

Garnish the chicken curry with fried coriander leaves
And chilly and serve hot with roti or bread.

Phirni

2010-03-28T03:36:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Milk - 1 glass
Rice flour - 1 tbsp
Sugar - 1 tbsp
green Cardamom - 1
Badam - 10
Pista - 15
saffron (optional)

Preparation

In a pan pour thick milk and mix rice flour.
Keep on slow fire and stir continously.
As it cooks and start to thicken,
add sugar and crushed badam and pista.
Stir till it turns thick and creamy.
Add crushed cardamom and garnish with
crushed green pistas.
Rerigerate it for 2 hours

Serve this soft mildly flavoured sweet
after a heavy biriyani.

A very easy north indian dessert .

Yellow Roses

2010-02-05T20:50:00.000-08:00

This yellow rose is a true survivor.
After each flowering she comes out with
lots of shoots ,each with buds.
I give her a handful of compost she presents
me with a handful of yellow roses.

Pink Hydrangea

2010-01-29T21:18:00.000-08:00

First bloom in our pink hydrangea.

Fish Masala

2010-01-06T23:33:00.000-08:00

Fish - 4 pieces

For chilli paste
Red cashmere chilli - 4
(piriyan mulaku)
grated coconut - 1 cup
ginger - 2 inch
pepper corns - 10
cloves - 4
petals from a star anise – 2
onion - ½
Natural vinegar – 3 tbsp
sea salt - to taste

For sautéing
Garlic - 6
Green chilli -2
Onion - 1
Tomatoes – 2
Ginger - 2 inch
Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp

Cut and clean the fish with salt and cold water.
Make a fine wet paste of chilli,coconut and all
Other above ingredients.

Chop finely onion, ginger, garlic, chilli,
tomatoes and coriander leaves .

In an earthen pot add oil and sauté garlic to golden brown.
Now add green chilli, onion and ginger sauté for two minutes
Then add the chilli paste sauté for five minutes on slow flame.
Pour half a glass of water, fish pieces, tomato pieces and coriander leaves.
Taste, add salt and vinegar only if needed.

This fish masala is great with roti or white rice.
Always skin the fish while cleaning.
Espesially pomfret and seer fish.
Instead of fish you can add prawns and make prawn masala.

Home Made Wine

2009-12-31T19:58:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year
A toast for a sweet and colourful New Year

Grapes - 3 kg
Sugar -1/2 kg
Broken wheat - 100gm
cinnamon sticks - 6 inch long

Seperate the grapes from the stem.
Wash ,dry and crush grapes.

In a dry and clean earthen jar (barani),
add crushed grapes,sugar,cinnamon sticks and broken wheat.
Close the lid tight cover with a thick cloth and tie it tight.
Keep the jar in a dark and humid corner
of your room for forty days.
Once a week open the lid and stir it
with a wooden ladel.
After forty days strain the wine
through a muslin cloth and
store in air tight bottles.

After a week as the wine gets clear you can
slowly pour it into another bottle.

Traditionally in the slow process of
matuering wine, broken wheat is not added.
Only two ingredients go into the jar.
Grapes and sugar.
For two kilogram grapes I add one kilogram sugar.
But for many people the ratio is 1:1.
Close the lid and just forget for 90 days.
Open the jar after 3 months, seive through a
fine muslin cloth and bottle it.

Wine made by adding wheat, and wine made of
only sugar and grapes has lot of difference in
its texture and taste.

Try to make both the types of wine and enjoy...

Black colour grapes give dark red wine.
Light red coloured grapes give rose wine.

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.

Meat Ball Curry

2008-09-16T03:02:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Minced meat - ¼ kg
Boiled potato – 1 big
Onion - 2 big
Green chillies – 3 to 4
Ginger - 3 inch
Egg - 1
Bread crumbs from 3 slices
Oil
Onion - ½
Corriander powder - 1 ½ tbsp
Chilli powder - ½ tbsp
Garam masala powder - ½ tbsp
Grated coconut - ½ cup
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Dry red chilli - 4
Curry leaves
Thick and thin milk of one coconut
Vinegar
Salt

Preparation

Wash thoroughly and mince the meat.
Boil, skin and mash the potato.
Chop onion, ginger and green chillies.
Mix all the items together.
Add chilli and crushed pepper.
Make small balls and keep aside.

Keep a wok with oil on medium flame .
Beat an egg in a bowl.
Dip the meat balls one by one in this beaten egg;
roll in bread-crumbs and deep fry golden brown.

Take half a cup of grated coconut, half onion,
corriander, chilli and garam masala powder.
Blend it to a fine paste.

Slice half of the remaining onion, 2 green chillies,
ginger, garlic and set aside.
Extract thick and thin milk from one coconut and keep aside.

Keep a wok on low flame. Pour oil put mustard seeds,
chopped garlic, red chilli, curry leaves
and as it gets bright colour,
add sliced onion, chillies and ginger.
Sauté till it turns light brown.
Add half teaspoon each of turmeric
and chilli powder sauté for a minute.
Add the coconut paste and salt.
Sauté till oil comes out of it.
Now pour in 2 cups of thin coconut milk .
As it boils, gently place each meat ball.
Keep on low flame for five minutes.

Pour the thick coconut milk.
Still on low flame, as the steam arises add
one table spoon of natural vinegar and
sprinkle pepper powder.

Turn off the flame and serve with any Indian bread.

Coconut Prawns Fry

2008-09-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

Large prawns -10
Egg -1
Bread - ½
Coconut - ¼
Dry red chilly -3
Curry leaves
Garlic - 2 cloves
Oil to fry

De-shell and de-vein the prawns but retain the tail.
Split open the prawns lengthwise up to the tail.
This will give you a double sized prawns for presentation.
Take care not to split apart.

In a coffee grinder add bread pieces, coconut slices, dry red chilly,
Garlic and grind it coarsely.

Beat an egg adding salt. Dip the prawns in beaten egg and then coat it
Well with the coconut mixture. Deep fry the prawns in medium flame.

Serve it hot with chilly dip.

Do not marinate the prawns , this will give you fresh sea taste.
Use sea salt and natural vinegar to make the dip.

Mukkuti Poov (Gods Own)

2008-09-05T07:21:00.000-07:00

Let our children aim high
and glance down as well.
Find happiness in small things,
and let them be more sensitive.
Watch birds and the small flowers
that bloom,not only in our
garden, but also on the wayside.

Never thought a Malayali child
would ever ask-‘which is mukkuti”
Ask him to pluck a mukkuti.
It will be a learning process,
to pluck it with a soft touch,
without hurting the petals.
His heart will just mellow down,
and will have the lightest fingers-
by the time he plucks some kaka poov.

It hurts to see mukkuti, thumba,
Kaka poov and other small Gods own flowers
disappearing from our landscape.

Let our children watch birds,out in nature
rather than in cages.
Keep a bowl of food and water
for the bulbuls and squirrels.
Up in the terrace or in the balcony .
Sit far and just watch them calmly.
They do recognize the person
who feeds them.

Isn’t it heartening to think that
there is somebody up there
watching you from the tree top,
and waiting for you
Back home.
HAPPY ONAM

Banana Chocolate Shake

2008-07-04T05:36:00.000-07:00

Banana - 1
Milk - ½ glass
Grated milk chocolate – 40 gm
Or
Chocolate sauce - 3tbsp
Instant - coffee powder -1 tbsp
Vanilla ice-cream -1 scoop

Grate chocolate and slice bananas.
In a blender add grated chocolate, banana
And chilled milk. Blend well till you get
Smooth and thick shake.
Pour in a glass tumbler , top it with
A spoon of ice-cream and dust it with
Instant coffee powder.
Serve immediately.

The Red Punch

2008-06-19T02:22:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Tomato - 5
Carrot - 2
Amla -1
(goose berry)
Beetroot - ¼
Curry leaves -4 sprig
Water - ¼ glass

Preparation

Skin quarter of a beetroot , 2 carrots
and wash all the ingredients thoroughly.
Cut these vegetables and add one by one in
the juicer to extract fresh juice.Add quarter
glass of water, chill for half an hour and
serve in two glasses.

Do not add sugar or salt.
Organic vegetables are smaller in size
and intense in flavour.
For a different flavour, you can try
coriander leaves or mint leaves.

Taking this punch once a day , thrice a week,
gives you a glowing skin.
Remember, any veg or fruit juice
with a regular balanced diet will keep one healthy.

I dedicate the following lines to
the health-conscious,dieting generation.

Dieting Generation

Mention to your neighbour about your mild headache.
A very concerened neighhbour asks you ,
Got your health check-up done?
You might first dismiss it;
but at the back of your mind it starts haunting you.
Weeks later, like all your nighbours, with your
spouse, you reach for a check-up empty stomach.
Fasting ,feasting –blood ,urine testing, X-Ray, E.C.G ultrasound etc…
In and out through the huge awful machines.
Tense moments…

Crossed forty! Sure, your report card will have the warning
of border line –B.P, Cholesterol, sugar –
Advised - diet ,exercise.

Till then you never knew, day breaks so early.
On the road , in the park, the morning walkers are creating
a traffic jam.
First, it will be no salt to low salt. No sugar to diet sugar.
Bye to fry and hi to micro wave. Blame the iodised salt,
Change the cereals – from rice to oats -
the lunch of horses in Scotland ,we have for breakfast today.
A whole new discussion emerges about health drinks, fresh juice, yoga , dietitian,
health clubs,and preaching new diet and gains to others.

But the complaint still remains the same …
I jog for one hour daily yet my pot belly has not changed its size.
Weeks past, then you remember those silver words
your doctor told you. 'Once in a while you can have food from outside'.
Off you go to the restaurant ; order from
starter to dessert and gulp down everything!
With a triumph and a bit of guilt, you head back home,
ready to explore the latest food joint soon.

mini thomas

Happy Birthday

2008-06-16T20:50:00.000-07:00

On this occasion of my first birthday I would like to
thank all my viewers for all the support and encouragement.

Bread Roll

2008-05-28T21:41:00.001-07:00

Ingredients

Potatoes – 2
Chillies – 3
Coriander leaves – a hand full
Ginger – 2 inch
Grated coconut – 2 tbsp
Curd – 3tbsp
Lemon juice – ½ lemon
Bread – 6 slices
Semolina (rava) – ½ cup
Oil – 1 cup

Preparation
Make a slit on the potatoes and steam them, with a skewer check
whether it is cooked. Mash the potatoes and keep aside.

To make green chutney, in a blender grind coriander leaves,
grated coconut, ginger, 2 chillies, curd and lemon juice and salt.

To make the filling, in a wok pour 1 tbsp oil and keep on low flame.
Add the mashed potatoes ad a tablespoon of chopped coriander leaves,
1 green chilli, a pinch of salt and a tsp of lemon juice.

Slightly wet the bread slices and roll them gently with a rolling pin.
Spread the green chutney, keep a tablespoon of filling and roll the
bread slices gently on your palm and press with wet palm to get a
cylindrical shape. Roll them on rava to coat it well.
Deep fry till golden brown.
Serve them hot with green chutney, dates chutney or tomato ketchup.

Jackfruit Erisheri

2008-05-23T22:54:00.000-07:00

Jackfruit is a summer fruit very much found in South India
especially in Kerala and Karnataka; in few parts of north
mainly Uttar Pradesh, this fruit is available in plenty.
In the North, people prefer raw jackfruit, kattal,
and mostly use to make curry.
For Malayalees, chakka is nostalgia.
They like it in any form,
raw or ripe. Raw jackfruit is used to make wafers,
thoran and erisheri (chakka vevichathu). Jack fruit seeds
are also used to make thoran, mezhukkupuratti etc .
Halwa made of ripe jackfruit is a delicacy in itself,
but its preparation is extremely time-consuming
and tiresome. Children eagerly wait
for summers to enjoy chakka appam.Cutting jackfruit
is a tough task. Some use sickle or even an axe
to cut huge jackfruits. I have seen
people holding jackfruit on its stem and with a
sharp knife peeling off its thorns like we peel
a pineapple. It is a wonderful sight to see the yellow
jackfruit pods holding on to the stem.
Jackfruit is a healthy fruit with lots of fiber.
Give your children jackfruit every summer,
let them enjoy the true taste of Kerala.

Ingredients

De-seeded raw jackfruit pods - 30
Grated ½ coconut
Green chilies -3 nos
Shallots (sambhar onions) -10 nos
Geera - 1 tsp
Garlic – 4 nos
Curry leaves- 3 sprigs
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
Chili powder – 1 tsp

For seasoning
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Oil – 2 tbsp
Dry red chili whole- 5 nos
Curry leaves – 4 sprigs
Grated coconut – 1 tbsp
Shallots- 5 nos
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
Chilli powder- ½ tsp
Preparation
Cut the raw jackfruit, de- seed the pods and pressure
cook it with turmeric powder, red chilli, salt and 2 cups of water.
Pressure cook it for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the coconut
paste with grated coconut, geera, shallots, garlic and curry leaves in a mixer.
Open the pressure cooker and add the coconut paste.
Lower the flame and further cook for ten minutes.
Keep on stirring to prevent it from sticking to the base of the vessel.
In another wok (kadai) heat the oil, add mustard seeds,
red chilli, curry leaves, finely chopped shallots and grated coconut.
Let it fry till the coconut becomes brown. Add ½ tsp turmeric
and chilli powder. After a minute add the seasoning to the
jackfruit erisheri and serve hot with fish curry or mango pickle.

Pidi and chicken curry

2008-03-25T04:27:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Rice flour -1 cup
Boiling water -2 cups
Salt -
Jeera - ½ tsp
First and second
Milk extracted from
Half coconut.

Preparation

Boil water add salt and pour
Little by little into the rice flour
And mix well
with a spoon.The whole rice flour will be wet
and cooked.It should not be watery.
(smoother version of
Chappati dough).Add crushed jeera powder to the dough.
Cover the dough and keep aside for 15 minutes.

Wet your palms roll the whole dough in
your hand to make it smooth.

Now make small balls from this dough.

In a vessel pour second coconut milk, add salt
And keep on low flame.
Drop the dumplings(pidi)
One by one into the simmering milk.
After 5 minutes
Pour the first coconut milk. Keep on the low flame till
You get thick white sauce. If it takes more time to get
thick sauce add ½ tsp rice flour.
Serve your pidi with chickn curry or chicken fry.

To get a sweeter version, you can add sugar and
cardamom just before adding first coconut milk.
A different payasam.

Pidi is a rice dumpling prepared in coconut milk
Or plain water. Pidi is mostly prepared
in northern part of Kerala. Syrian Christians
make small pidi(dumpling) in coconut milk.
Others make larger dumplings and drain the water.
Difference is like kanji and cooked rice.

Moringa-Curry leaves health drink

2008-03-19T01:34:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe recommended by my mother.
She drinks quarter glass of this juice every day .
It has helped her to improve her
immunity and has put a control on her cholesterol.
As we have moringa tree in our backyard it is
easy for her to make it fresh everyday.

Moringa leaves are well known for its richness .
Drum sticks are widely used in sambar and curries.
Bark of the moringa tree is used by some people
to make a chutney as an accompaniment for pork curries.
They say it helps to digest the fat in the pork.

Moringa leaves(muringa) -2 hand full
Curry leaves -1 hand full
Chemeen puli leaves - 2 small
Jeera - ½ tsp
Fenugreek (uluva) - ½ tsp
Garlic - 2
Water - ½ glass

Crush all these lightly in a pestle and mortar.
Take a vessel , pour half a glass of water add this
crushed mixture and keep on low flame to boil
for two minutes sieve and squeeze it to a tumbler.

As our age increases and our activity decrease,
we have to watch our diet. Control our carbs,
Sugar, salt, oil and fat. Regular use of vegetables
Fruits , proteins , fresh juice gives a hope for a
better healthy life style . That is the new mantra
of this age.

Rawa Laddo (semolina laddo)

2008-02-26T02:08:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Rawa -3 ½ cups
Sugar -3cups
Cardamom-10
Milk - ½ cup
Ghee -2tbsp
Golden sultanas-20

Preparation

In a wok on low flame pour ghee and
add the sultanas.
Sauté for a minute , then mix rawa and
Sauté for another 2 minutes. See that
The rawa does not change its colour.
Powder sugar with cardamom.
Mix this powdered sugar with the warm rawa.
Keep on a low flame and pour little by little
hot milk and mix well. Do not add more milk.
Turn off the flame and roll in your palm to
get a laddo shape.

Tips

As milk is used to make this laddo,
it has a lesser shelf life.

Egg roast

2008-02-17T01:30:00.000-08:00

This is Merin, writing my first post in my mother’s blog.
Like my mom I too love cooking and experimenting and I am pretty good at it( as per comments of those who have tasted my creations!!)
Among few of my specialties is egg roast.
Most of the hotels in kerala serve brilliant egg roast with appam and I can still recall the taste of the egg roast we had in a restaurant in kottayam when we were on our way to parumala church.
I am home for a short vacation and few days ago I made egg roast for breakfast.

Ingredients
Eggs -2
Onions – 3 (large)
Tomato – 1 (large)
Ginger – 2 inches long
Green chilli -1
Curry leaves

Red chili powder – 2 teaspoon
Kashmiri chilli powder- 1 teaspoon
Turmeric – ¼ teaspoon
Dry ginger powder – ½ teaspoon
Cumin powder ( saunf ) -1/2 teaspoon
Cinnamon powder – ¼ teaspoon
Cardamom crushed – 2
Oil -3 tablespoon
Black pepper powder – 2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Vinegar – 1 tablespoon

Preparation

Take a pan and heat oil. Add chopped onions and sauté until
golden brown. Then add chopped ginger and green chilli.
next add chopped tomatoes, curry leaves and mix
them all well. After the tomatoes are cooked well add a
dash of oil and all the dry ingredients(except pepper powder) given above.
Sauté them well in oil to remove its raw taste and then mix it up
well with the tomato- onion -ginger mixture. Add little water to
the mixture and let it cook for 2 mins. Then add crushed
pepper powder, salt and vinegar.
Boil the eggs and shell them.
Now prick the boiled eggs and add to the gravy.
Be sure that the water content is less
and the masala is dry and spicy.
The speciality in this recipe would be its spiciness
due to black pepper and mild tanginess of vinegar.
Garnish with fresh curry leaves and serve with hot chappatis or appam.

This breakfast meal gets your eyes opened for the day!!!
Bon appetite

Stuffed Buns

2008-02-12T08:52:00.000-08:00

Stuffed buns are our daughter's
favourite breakfast meal.
Stuff the buns with minced meat,
dry chilli chicken,veg or any sweet stuffing.

preparation

This is in continuation of my recipe on braided buns.
Mix the dough as explained there and keep aside to rise
and double in size for 4 hours.Divide the dough into small
balls; flatten it and fill with the stuffing (meat or veg).
Stuffing should be dry or semi dry.Keep the stuffed dough
to rise for another 2 hours.
Thereafter pre-heat your oven and bake the buns
for 20 minutes at 180 degree.
Take out the buns from the oven
and brush them with beaten eggs with a little sugar added.
Again keep it in the oven for another 15 minutes for baking.
Your stuffed buns are ready ! Serve it hot.

If you are serving on the next day, microwave it for 2minutes.

Braided Buns

2008-01-18T21:39:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year
These roses in my balcony inspired me
to post this first blog of 2008.

Ingredients

Maida (plain flour) -3 ½ cup
Warm water - ¼ glass
Dry yeast -3tsp
Warm milk - ¼ glass
Egg -1
Sugar -4tbsp
Butter -4tbsp
Salt - ¼ tsp
Sesame seeds

preparation

Sieve maida and keep aside.
Take quarter glass of water in a tumbler
and dissolve yeast and one table spoon
of sugar in it.
Cover the tumbler and keep aside for
15 to 30 minutes to act.
In a bowl pour warm milk,dissolve 3table spoons of
sugar and salt. Beat in egg and butter.
Pour the rising yeast into this bowl
and mix in the flour.
Kneed for 15 minutes into a smooth dough.
If the dough is dry, add few drops of
warm milk and butter.
Cover this with a warm moist cloth and keep
in a warm place to rise for four hours.

Divide the dough into three or six balls
and roll in your palm to braid it;
keep in a greased and dusted pan
for another two hours to double in size.

Bake it in a pre-heated oven at 180 degreeC
first for 20 minutes
and then take the pan with buns out of
the oven and brush with beaten egg and
sprinkle sesame seeds on the top.
Bake it again for 5 more minutes.

Serve the buns hot with honey or strawberry jam.

Tips

While covering the dough with a cloth,
take care the cloth does not touch the dough.
Use very fresh yeast.
All ingredients should be in room temperature.
You can shape the dough into a duck, a crab or a knot.

Your kids will surely say ...o mommy great..

Merry Christmas(Christmas Cake)

2007-12-22T07:34:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Maida -2 ½ cup
Butter – 1 ¾ cup
Brown sugar -2 ½ cup
Eggs - 5
Salt - ¼ pinch
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon and nutmeg powder – ¼ tsp
Dry fruits –1cup
(raisins, cherries, sultanas ,figs)
orange peel, lemon peel -1tbsp
Rum or brandy - 1/2 cup
Cashew nuts - ¼ cups
Pineapple jam - ¼ cup
Vanilla essence - ½ tsp

Preparation

Preparation for this cake starts
three weeks before baking.
In a glass jar, pour ½ a cup of rum
and add 4 tbsp of powdered sugar,
chopped dry fruits and orange peel.

Sieve twice maida, baking powder and spices.
Add crushed cashew nuts to the sieved flour
and keep aside.
Beat butter and powdered brown sugar
till it is smooth and fluffy.
Beat in egg yolks one by one smoothly.
Add ¼ of a pinch of salt .
Add dry fruits- in -rum and pineapple jam.
Mix well.
Beat egg whites lightly.
Fold this egg white slowly to the
butter sugar mixture.
Spoon by spoon fold in maida(flour)
See that there are no lumps.
Pour vanilla essence and fold in smoothly.

Pre-heat oven 180 degree C for 10 minutes.
Apply butter to the baking dish and dust
flour on all sides. Pour the cake batter and
tap the dish lightly on the work floor to release air .
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes in convection oven.
(not in microwave)
Check the cake has left the sides.
Insert a skewer in the middle of the cake.
See that the skewer comes out neat.
If the cake sticks on the skewer,
bake it for 5 to 10 minutes more or till the skewer comes out clean.
Turn the cake on the wire mesh after 10 minutes.
When it is cooled, wrap in a
butter paper brushed with rum.
After 3 days, that is on Christmas day.
Cut the cake, share it with your family and friends .
This cake has a longer shelf life.

Tips

1. If brown sugar is not available,
use regular white sugar 2 ½ cups.
To caramelise
2. On a thick bottom pan, add 1/2 cup
of sugar and keep on low flame.
As it caramelizes, pour in 1/2 cup of
boiling water as needed.It should not be very watery nor firm like toffee . When cooled ,you can pour in
the cake batter along with butter
and powdered sugar.
3. Use only fresh flour and fresh baking powder.
4. All the ingredients should be in room temperature.5. Baking time depends on the size of your baking dish and
how moist your cake batter is .

Meen Pollichathu with Orange Salad

2007-12-14T21:37:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Karimeen or pomfret -1 large
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
Hot chilli powder -1 tbsp
Kashmiri chilli powder -2 tbsp
Pepper -1 tbsp
Shallots (small onions) -8
Garlic -2 cloves
Ginger - 2 inch
Curry leaves -1tbsp
Coconut milk -2 tbsp
Banana leaf to wrap

Preparation

Cut and make slits on the fish and clean thoroughly.
Make a paste of pepper, curry leaves, ginger and garlic
in coconut milk. To this paste add both varieties of
chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and mix well.
Marinate the fish in this paste and keep aside
for 3 hours.
wrap in a fresh banana leaf and keep on a tava(iorn pan)
on a low flame for 20 minutes. Cover with a lid.
Turn the wrapped fish in between to cook
both sides evenly .
Serve hot...

Orange salad goes well with this.
Peel orange, slice onion and green chillies
squeeze lime and sprinkle salt.
Colourful and juicy salad is ready.

As no oil is used in any stage of its preparation
Karimeen pollichathu is very healthy.
This authentic cuisine is from Kerala
the land of coconut trees and back waters.

Aloo Gobi Paratha (Stuffed Indian Bread)

2007-12-09T22:11:00.000-08:00

Stuffing

Potato - 1
Cauliflower -5 florets
Onion - ½
Green chilli -1
Grated ginger -1 tsp
Chopped coriander leaves – 2 tbsp
Chilli powder - ½ tsp
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
Lime juice -1 tsp
sugar – ½ tsp
salt
butter
oil

Mash boiled potato and keep aside.
Grate onion, cauliflower, ginger and chilli.
Keep a pan on low flame and pour a teaspoon
of oil and butter each. Now add the grated vegetables,
salt, chilli and turmeric powder. Saute till it is soft.
Add the mashed potato, chopped coriander, lime juice,
sugar and salt. Saute till it is mixed well.
Take out from flame,make lemon sized ball and keep aside.
(more spices can be added if you prefer so)

Paratha

Wheat flour -3 cups
Warm water
Salt
Add water as much as to knead into a smooth chappati dough.
Roll in your palm 8 lemon size balls.
Keep one stuffing in between two chappati dough.
Press all sides round and roll it with a rolling pin gently.
Dust it with some flour while rolling so that it does not stick.
On a hot tava (iorn pan) adding butter, fry the parathas on both sides.
Be generous with butter.Forget the calories.

To Serve

Parathas go well with deep fried green chillies.
Deep fry chillies for a minute.
Less hot chillies prefered.
Serve the parathas with fried chillies,
Cool thick curd accompanied by a cup of sweet
cardamom tea.
Take a bite of the green chilly, a piece of paratha
dipped in curd and then the cardamom tea.
That is the combination.

It is a breakfast enjoyed by people of north India,
especially during winter.
This brings me sweet memories of the foggy winter mornings in Delhi.

Sweet Toffees

2007-11-26T21:06:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Sugar -1 cup
Salted butter -1 cup
Crushed roasted nuts – ½ cup
Chocolate chips(optional) – 1 cup

Preparation

Melt sugar and butter in medium flame.
Stir slowly with a wooden spoon.
When it turns amber in colour, spread
on a butter paper and sprinkle
crushed roasted nuts.
Draw squares on the toffee
with a knife to break into desired shape.
Store air-tight.

Can add semi –sweet chocolate chips on the toffee
before cooling and spread it .

Sweet Rice( pachoru)

2007-11-18T10:34:00.000-08:00

This recipe may be known to everyone.
I just wanted to share it .
A nostalgia that connects to the nercha
Of our Tripunitura st. Mary’s feast.
Tamuku nercha or pachoru nercha (payasa choru).
After long hours of service on the feast day,
A dollop of pachoru was an instant energy
Packed with sweetness helped us to walk back home.

Rice -3cups
Coconut grated -1cup
Milk -1cup
Jaggery (molasses) -1 ½ cup
Cardamom powder -1tsp
Clarified butter(ghee) -1tsp
Thinly sliced coconut -1tsp

Preparation

Cook rice. When it is well cooked, add milk and
Grated coconut. Stir continuously. In quarter glass of water
melt and strain jaggery(molasses). Pour this syrup into
the rice mixture. Stir till it is almost dry. Turn off the flame.
Fry thinly sliced coconut and add to this sweet rice.
Sprinkle powdered cardamom and serve cold.

One of my friends wo visit me daily. Three squirrels,two pigeons
and two bulbuls are regulars. Morning 7 ‘o’ clock is breakfast time
for them. Sharp 6.30 a.m the bulbuls will be calling for me.
Others will be impatiently walking up and down for
fresh water and food.

Thank You for the birds that sing,
Thank You ,God,……….

Easy Prawn Biriyani

2007-11-16T03:26:00.000-08:00

Prawns -1 cup
Onions -2
Green chilli -3
Ginger -3inch
Garlic -7
Chilli powder -1 tsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Corriander leaves -3 tbsp
Mint leaves – 2 tbsp
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Curd -1 cup

Oil to fry
Ghee -2tbsp optional
Bay leaves -1
Cardamom -10
Cinnamon sticks -1 tbsp
Cloves - 6
Cashew nuts -10
Raisins -1 tbsp
Biriyani rice -3 cups

Preparation

Keep a vessel on low flame. Pour oil ,bay leaves
And half of the given cloves ,cardamom and cinnamon.
Pour enough water and put thoroughly washed rice.
When the rice is ¾ cooked drain the water.
When you break a single rice , you can see a
White spot in the middle. That is where you have
to stop cooking.

In a wok sauté the remaining cardamom, cinnamon,cloves,
Cashew and raisins , scoop it out and fry thinly sliced onions.
Keep aside fried onions and remaining oil separately to use later.

Make a fine paste of ginger and garlic.Chop finely mint and coriander leaves.
In the wok add 2 tbsp of the remaining oil and 1tbsp ghee, half
of the fried onions, spices and nuts.
Mix in it chopped mint and coriander leaves,
ginger ,garlic paste, turmeric and chilli powder,lime juice and curd,
salt and prawns. Top it with cooked rice, remaining fried
onions, spices and nuts.
Pour on this , 2 tbsp of oil and 1 tbsp of ghee.
Cover it with a lid and keep on
low flame for about 8 minutes.
See that the gravy has not dried out fully.
Serve it with fresh salad in curd ,lime pickles and papad.

Butter Cookies (Nankatai)

2007-11-01T01:16:00.000-07:00

Diwali is a festival of lights and sweets.
This Nankatai will surely add a distinct flavour to your
Diwali this year.
Many times my friends call up and ask for some easy recipes;
Here is an easy one…..

Ingredients

Flour (maida) – 1 ½ cups
Unsalted butter - 1 cup
Sugar _ 1 cup
Crushed Cardamom - ½ tsp
Pistachios to garnish

Preparation

Powder sugar and keep aside.
Take out butter from the fridge.
See that the butter does not melt.
As the butter reaches the correct
temperature to kneed with the flour,
mix well all the ingredients
into a smooth dough.
Roll this into small lemon size balls.
Press these balls gently one by one
in your palm; do not press it flat.
Keep a pista piece on each cookie.

In hot and humid climate ,
if you keep butter for long in
room temperature it melts and
you will have to add more flour.
which will make your cookies more hard.

Pre-heat oven at 180 degrees C for 10 minutes.
Place the nankatai in a pan; no need to grease the pan;
There shall be space between two cookies as it tends to
expand while baking.

Now, keep the pan with the butter cookies in the oven
for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, take out the pan and slowly overturn the
Cookies to cool.
Store the cookies air-tight in a cookie jar.

Cinnamon Chicken

2007-10-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

Traditionally, all good recipes are passed on to the
new generations by mothers ; I learnt this wonderful
recipe from my mother in law; and my daughters
Leah and Merin keep up the tradition of making this
Cinnamon chicken in our family get-togethers .
Here, I am sharing this very personal recipe
to you, young ladies…

Ingredients

Chicken – 1 kg
Onions- 6 nos(big)
Potato – 4 nos
Red chilli powder – 1 ½ tbsp
Kashmiri chilli powder – 1 tbsp
Cinnamon powder - 1 ½ tbsp
Pepper powder – 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
Lime juice - 1 tbsp
Water - ½ glass
Oil to fry

Preparation

Marinate chicken for half an hour in chilli, cinnamon,
Pepper, turmeric salt and lime juice.
Add half glass of water and pressure
cook it for 20minutes. Separate chicken from
gravy and keep aside.
peel and slice onions and potatoes
in round shape.

Keep a wok on medium flame. Pour oil for deep
frying potatoes. Deep fry potato slices until
golden brown and keep aside. In the same wok,
remove excess oil and saute onions until
golden brown. In a non stick pan, pour 2 tbsp of oil
and fry chicken pieces to golden brown.

Now mix fried potatoes, onions,
chicken pieces and gravy into the pan.
Add sufficient salt to taste and keep on medium
flame till gravy thickens.

Serve hot with rice or chappatis.

Tips

1. Avoid over cooking chicken,
or else the chicken pieces will
lose its shape while frying.
2. Onions and potatoes should not be
sliced very thinly.

Glazed Chocolate Cake

2007-10-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

This chocolate cake is the most loved and relished cake in our family!!
It is soft and yummy and I make it very often as it is in great demand during all seasons and occasions.

Ingredients:

Butter- 1 cup
Brown sugar- 1 ½ cups
White sugar- 2 ½ cups
Eggs- 4 nos
Flour (Maida) - 3 ½ cups
Dark Cocoa powder- 4 tbsp
Baking powder- 3 tsp
Salt- a pinch
Vanilla essence - 2 ½ tsp
Curd - 1cup

Ingredients for glazing the cake:

Chocolate chips- 1 cup (250 ml)
Instant coffee powder -1 tbsp
Water- ½ cup
Powdered sugar - 1 tbsp
Rum – 2 tbsp
Butter - 1 tbsp

Preparation

Powder white sugar and brown sugar in a grinder.
Take a bowl and mix this powdered sugar with butter
and beat till it becomes very smooth.
Separate egg whites from egg yolk; add egg yolks into the bowl
and mix well to make it fluffy and soft.
Beat the egg whites till it is stiff and frothy.
Add this to the bowl and blend gently.
Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder thrice.
Add the flour to the sugar, butter and egg mixture
spoon by spoon; make sure that you
mix the flour gently so that there are no lumps.
Pour the curd in between, in little amounts and
fold the mixture slowly. Repeat this many times
so that the air gets into the mixture.
Add vanilla essence and salt and mix well.

Pre heat the oven in 180 degrees for 10 minutes.
Take a large pan and grease it with butter and dust with flour.
Now , pour in the cake batter. Level the batter in the pan
by swirling it and then pat the pan gently to remove the trapped air .
Now bake it for 45 minutes at 180 degrees.
Take the pan out from the oven; insert a skewer in the center of the cake
and remove to check whether it has come out clean without
anything sticking on to it. Run a knife around the cake
and transfer the cake on to wire mesh to cool it.
You can glaze the cake when it is cool.
Glazing the cake
In a double boiler add water, coffee and sugar powder.
As it simmers, add chocolate chips and stir it till it melts and thickens.
Remove it from fire; and then add rum.
As it cools, blend in butter; now you can pour the glaze over the cake.

Tips

1. All the ingredients used in the preparation of the cake should be fresh and should be in room temperature.
2. Use only unsalted butter available in market. Do not use homemade butter as it contains more moisture.
3. Baking powder should be freshly purchased and used well within the expiry date.
4. While beating the egg white, add a drop of lime juice which helps them to hold their stiff peaks.
5. Medium tea cups are used for measurement in this recipe.

Travancore Fish Red Curry ( Meen Vevichathu )

2007-10-01T23:59:00.000-07:00

Meen vevichathu is very much a southern Kerala
Christian dish , red and hot .
Our children call it meen red curry.

Among the Syrian christians of southern Kerala,
four days prior to the wedding day i.e if the wedding
is on a Sunday, four days before on Thursday, is the day for
kalunattal (the first pole is planted to make a pandal), moru kachal
(buttermilk curry), and meen vevikal. It is a small funtion when
elderly ladies of the family and neighbourhood assemble
in the kitchen and start cooking with their expert hands, which is
enhanced with a pinch of laughter, and a dash of gossip. The
outcome is a perfect meen vevichathu and moru kachiyathu
which are the indispensable dishes in a Christian sadhya.
Other items are kozhi curry,beef fry, fish fry, thoran ,
pachadi, avial ,poovan pazham and hot jeera water
on a hot summer after noon .
The wedding sadhya is complete.

Fish pieces - ½ kg
Chilli powder -3tbsp
Kashmere chilli powder-2tbsp
Turmeric powder -1tsp
Shallots -4tbsp
Garlic -2tbsp
Ginger grated -2tbsp
Fenugreek (methi) -1tbsp
Curry leaves -bunch
Kudampuli -6
Coconut oil -7tbsp
Earthenware(chatti)
Nothing in this recipe is optional.

Skin the fish and cut into medium pieces. Put some salt
and keep aside for 15 minutes; then wash and drain it.
(it is important to skin the fish, or else a white substance
from the skin, changes the colour and taste of the curry)
Seer fish (neymeen) is the most suitable fish for this curry.
Neymeen looks like tuna, but has white meat.

In a chutney grinder, put chilli powder turmeric powder,
1tbsp shallots (sambar onions), 1tspgarlic and a pinch
of salt. Grind it into a fine paste. Kashmere chilli is
not hot ,it just gives colour.

Cut finely shallots ,garlic, ginger and keep aside.
Wash curry leaves ; do not remove the stem.
Fry fenugreek (methi/ uluva) and powder it in
a pessel and mortar.

In a wok on low flame, pour 3 tbsp of coconut oil
and add the sliced shallots, garlic and ginger.
Stir till it turns golden brown.
Add 1 tbsp oil and then add chilli paste and
stir continuously, till oil comes out see that it
is not burnt. Mix the fish in chilli paste
with a lighter hand, and keep aside.

Keep a chatti on low flame, pour 3 tbsp of oil and
swirl the chatti So that oil is coated all around.
Now lay the curry leaves criss- cross,
in the chatti and keep on it washed and cut kudampuli pieces.
Again layer the fish pieces coated in chilli paste.
On the fish pieces keep again Kudampuli pieces,
and on top curry leaves. Pour water to immerse the
contents and keep on low flame till the oil floats.
Sprinkle the methi powder.

Now your favourite red fish curry is ready.
Serve it with rice.

During marriages, this chatti is kept on low flame every day,
And by the wedding day the whole gravy will be drunk by the
Fish pieces. Very little gravy will be left behind.

Meen vevichathu with kappa(tapioca) is the best combination
>

Onam Ada

2007-09-06T17:53:00.000-07:00

Banana leaves -2
Rice flour -1 cup
Boiling water -2cups
Salt
Grated coconut -1 ½ cup
Jaggery - ½ cup
Water -4tbsp
Cardamom powder- ½ tsp

In a bowl put rice flour and sprinkle some salt.
Make a well in the middle and pour boiling water
little by little, while mixing with a spoon. Pour
as much water to get a smooth dough.

On a low flame in a wok , pour water and put jaggery.
As the jaggery melts, add grated coconut and cardamom
powder. As it turns thick, yet juicy, turn off the flame.

Wash and wipe the banana leaves.Tear the leaves into
rectangular pieces. Apply a drop of oil in each piece.
Dip your fingers in water, take a lemon sized dough,
keep on the rectangular leaves and lightly press
backward and forward to get a paper - thin look
on the leaves. On the half of the thin dough on the leaves,
put the coconut in jaggery and fold the leaves and press
it on three sides. In a steamer ,keep these
ada and steam for about 3 to 4 minutes.
Paper thin ada is ready. Have it hot,
it almost melts in the mouth.

Tips-
You can also roast the adas on a frying pan.
Which will give the ada a firm texture;
but will have a different flavour of the roasted banana
Leaves.
Youcan make variations in stuffing ,by adding sliced and boiled
ethapazham (Kerala banana) with grated coconut and jaggery.

In different parts of Kerala ada has different adjectives.
Onam ada –made on onam for breakfast, ela- ada as
it is made on Leaves, poovada as it is
soft and beautiful as a flower.

During festivals , from Maharashtra to south, ada is made in
different shapes with stuffings. In Karnataka ,
it is made in jack fruit leaves or turmeric leaves.
During Ganesh festival , it is modak and
in Kerala among Christians ,
it turns kozhukatta during kozhukatta-perunal.
With any shape or stuffing, ada is a healthy snack.

Fish Portuguese ( kochi style )

2007-09-05T20:51:00.000-07:00

Fish - 2
Onions - 2
Green chillies - 2
Ginger - 2 inch
Garlic - 5 pods
Tomato - 1
Curry leaves - 3 sprig
Grated coconut - 1 coconut
Pepper - 15
Cloves - 3
Coriander powder – 2tsp
Chilli powder - 3tsp
Meat masala - 1tsp
Turmeric - ½ tsp
Ginger powder - ½ tsp
Vineger - 1tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

Kanambu is the suitable fish for this curry. Mackrel can also be used.
Cut the fish, clean with salt and water. Make 3 slits and apply a mixture
of chilli, pepper, turmeric powder and salt. Fry the fish and keep aside.
Reserve the fish- fried oil to use again.

Chop thinly onion, ginger, garlic and slit green chillies.
Grate one full coconut . Reserve ½ cup grated coconut to make a fine paste.
Of the remaining grated coconut, extract first and second milk.

In a chutney grinder, put ½ cup grated coconut, pepper, cloves,1tsp chillipowder,
coriander powder, meat masala and grind it into a fine paste.

In a earthen ware, pour oil, add chopped onion, ginger, garlic, curry leaves and chillies. Add some salt and sauté on low flame till it is translucent. Put 1tsp
chilli powder, turmeric, ginger powder ,sauté for a minute and then add the
coconut paste. Stir till it is dry. Now add one tomato cut into 4 and pour the
second coconut milk and salt. Let it simmer till the sauce thickens.Now slowly keep the fish inside. After a minute pour the first milk . On low flame itself
let it simmer for two more minutes. Now add 1 tbsp of vineger.Add salt if needed
and turn off the flame.Now you can add the fish fried oil on top and serve with
chappati or rice.

I always wondered how this Portuguese name is attached to this curry; may be when the Portuguese came to Kerala ,their cooking style of using vineger, tomato and spices blended with the Kochi style of using coconut.

Clams in Pepper Masala ( Kakka -erachi varuthathu)

2007-09-01T11:47:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
1. clams -50 nos
2. shallots -20
(sambar onions)
3. garlic -10 pods
4. ginger -1 inch
5. curry leaves-2 tbsp
6. pepper powder -1tbsp
7. chilli powder - ½ tsp
8. turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
9. vineger - ½ tsp
10. maida(flour) – 1tsp
11. water - ¼ glass
12. oil - 2tbsp
13. salt -to taste

Wash clams in water thoroughly to remove sand .
In a steamer , as the water starts boiling, steam the clams
for about 3 minutes. Watch, as the clam shells starts to open,
turn off the flame and scoop out the clams .In the corner of
the clams meat , you can see a black point which can be discarded.
Squeeze it out with your fingers. Now , keep the cleaned
clams aside.

Cut shallots and garlic , grate ginger and keep aside.
Deep fry curry leaves, as it turns crisp, spoon it on a paper to use
later.

In a wok on medium flame , pour 2 tbsp of oil , add shallots
and garlic. When it turns golden brown, and the aroma fills
your kitchen, add grated ginger, lower the flame and add
turmeric , chilli and pepper powder.
Saute for a second and pour maida , dissolved in water. As
it starts to thicken, add vineger ,salt and clams. Keep on high
flame and stir continuously till it becomes dry. Now crush the
crispy curry leaves and sprinkle on top.

Tips –

1. This dish is best in a sandwich, chhappati roll or with rice.
2. You need at least 200 clams to serve four.
3. Add little salt than usual .
4. Shell fish should not be cooked for longer time as it tends to get
harder.
5. Clams are eaten raw, boiled or fried.
6. Varieties of Clams are abundantly found in coastal areas.

Tropical Smoothie

2007-08-19T06:11:00.000-07:00

Papaya - 1 cup (coffee mug)
Mango - 1 cup
Milk - ¼ cup
Sugar - 1tbsp
Vanilla Ice –Cream

Wash papaya and mango and dry them with
a napkin. Peel and cut the fruits into chunks.

In a blender first put papaya. Run the blender for
one minute. Now add mango milk and sugar.
Switch-on the blender for two minutes.

Cool it and serve with a scoop of ice - cream.
The sweet tempting smoothie to cool
you on a hot summer day….

Tips:
1. Papaya should not be too ripe.
Too ripe papaya will affect the smoothie’s
Silky consistency.
2. Use the same cup to measure all the ingredients.

Chemmeen Olathiyathu (Tangy Prawns in Coconut)

2007-08-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

Prawns - ½ kg
Coconut - ½
Grated coconut - ½ cup
Big onions - 2
Green chillies - 2
Garlic pod - 10
Ginger - 3 inch
Curry leaves - a bunch
Red chilli powder – 1 ½ tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1tsp
Kudampuli (kokum ) – 4 pieces
Water - ¼ glass
Salt to taste

Remove the shells and devein the prawns.
Wash thoroughly and keep aside.

Chop onions, ginger , garlic and slit green chillies.
Scoop out ½ coconut from its shell and thinly slice it.
Put them in an earthen ware (chatti ) along with
curry leaves , prawns ,turmeric, red chilli powder ,salt
and grated coconut.

Cut kudampuli into small pieces, wash them twice.
Add ¼ glass of water and kudumpuli to the
prawns (chemmeen ) mix in the chatti and keep on
medium flame till the water gets dried.

Keep a wok on low flame .Pour a table spoon of oil ,add
curry leaves and crushed garlic.When the garlic turns
golden brown ,add the chemmeen mix into the wok.
Stir for two minutes, on high flame and serve hot with rice .

Tips:
1.Take care not to over cook the prawns. It is more soft
and tasty when just- cooked. Adjust the flame accordingly.

Avial (Onam Special )

2007-08-17T09:56:00.000-07:00

Yam - 100 gm
Carrot - 100gm
Ash gourd - 100gm
Pumpkin -100gm
Drumsticks - 2
Raw mango - half of a mango
Small onions - 1 ½ cup
(shallots)
water - ½ glass

grated coconut - ½ of a coconut
green chillies - 3
jeera - 1tsp
mustard - ½ tsp
chilli powder -1 tsp
turmeric powder –1tsp
curry leaves -a bunch
oil for seasoning

On a low flame, keep a vessel with ½ a glass of water.
As yam takes a lot of time to cook,
first cut yam into 2 inch pieces,wash twice and
put into the simmering water and close the lid .
Clean and cut the carrots ,
layer on top of the yam and close the lid.
Now goes in, the cut kumbalanga(gourd),
peeled and cut drumsticks ,Pumpkin,
1 cup small onions and cut - pieces of mango.

Add salt , chilli and turmeric powder .
Stir and check in between whether the
vegetables are evenly cooked.

In a chutney grinder put grated coconut,
green chillies, ½ cup sambar onions, jeera, mustard
and 2 tbsp curry leaves from the bunch.
Grind with- out adding water.

In a cheena chatti (wok) on medium flame, pour 2 tbsp of oil (coconut oil preferred ),
put the remaining curry leaves to let it turn crisp and emerald green.
Now add the Coconut mixture and vegetables,
add salt as needed and stir till it is dry.
Serve hot with rice.

Tips: 1. Can use vegetables of your choice, but try to stick to shallots and coconut oil.
2. For a gravy version , curd is used instead-of raw mango.
3. Try to cut vegetables in same length.
4. Before cutting yam, apply oil on your palm . This will reduce itching.

Prawn Fry (Konch Varuthathu)

2007-08-15T08:34:00.000-07:00

Tiger Prawns - ½ kg
Chilli powder - 1 tbsp
Ginger - 3 inch size
Garlic - 6 pods
Salt - to taste
Curd - 1 tbsp
Bread crumbs of 2 slices
Oil for frying

Peel the tiger prawns and remove the veins.
Wash twice and keep aside.
In a chutney grinder, make a paste of ginger and garlic by adding curd ,
Chilli, turmeric powder and salt. Marinate the prawns in this paste
overnight or keep atleast for 4 hours in the fridge.

Keep a wok ( cheenachatti) on medium flame; insert each prawn
with a tooth pick , dip in bread crumbs and deep fry.
Serve hot.
Excellent as starters or as side dish with rice.

Tips;
1. While peeling the prawns, retain the tail , for better presentation.
2. Insert the tooth pick straight into the prawn so that it does not
curl much while frying.

Fish Moly (Kuttanadan special)

2007-08-13T08:04:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

Karimeen (Pearl spot) or Pomfret - ½ kg
Grated Coconut - 1 whole
Big Onions - 2
Green Chillies - 5
Ginger - 3 inch
Garlic - 4 pods
Big tomato - 1
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Maida - 2 tsp
Oil for frying
Salt to taste

Cut fish into medium size. Clean thoroughly with salt. Make a slit on each piece and apply turmeric and salt. Fry the fish lightly on both sides. See that it does not turn brown and that it retains the yellow colour. Keep aside the fish and also the remaining oil. In a grinder, put the grated coconut and extract first and second milk from it. Keep them separately. Keep a cheena chatti (wok) on medium flame and pour the remaining oil that you have reserved after frying the fish. Add the onions (medium sliced), chilies cut length-wise and julians of ginger and garlic. Saute till translucent but not golden brown. Add the second coconut milk and let it simmer for a while on low flame. Gently keep the fried fish and a tomato cut into four big pieces. After about 3 minutes, add the first milk. Now mix maida in half glass of water. As the fish molly starts to simmer, pour the maida mixed in water. Let it simmer for two minutes on low flame. Now, the sauce slowly starts thickening… we are done, turn off the flame. Serve hot or cold with appam or bread.

Tips:
1. Use only green chilies for this lip smacking subtle delicacy of kerala.

Caramel Pudding

2007-07-25T22:06:00.000-07:00

Caramel Pudding
Milk –2medium glass
Eggs –4
Sugar –6tbsp
Grated nutmeg –1/4tsp
Butter to grease
lemon zest –1/2 tsp
Sugar to caramelize –3tbsp
Take a bowl ,grease it with butter .Put 3tbsp of
Sugar and keep on a low flame to caramelise . As it
turns into deep colour ,off the flame .Tilt the bowl
And swirl it around to get a round shape .Immediately
sprinkle the grated lemon zest .Keep aside to cool .
Beat thoroughly 4 eggs and 2cups of milk with 6tbsp
Of sugar .Pour into the caramelised bowl sprinkle1/4 tsp
of grated nutmeg and double boil it .Close the bowl with
a loose lid .Keep on a medium flame for 20 minutes .
Let it cool ,then refrigerate it .Do not freeze .After an hour,
keep a serving plate upside down on the bowl , catching
firmly on the bowl and plate , turn it up .Remove the bowl .
Wow …there it is .
As jewellery is to the dressing up of a lady ,dessert is
the jewel of the dinner table .Decorate it .

To double boil - In a large vessel pour 2 glasses of water
keep the bowl raised in the vessel , so that water does not enter the bowl
while boiling.Now close the bowl and the large vessel with a loose lid .

Caramel banana split

2007-07-22T01:16:00.000-07:00

Ripe banana ( ethapazham) – 1big

Clarified butter ( ghee) – 1tbsp
Sugar – 3tbsp
Honey –2tbsp
Fresh orange juice – 4tbsp
Grated orange zest – ½ tsp
Vanilla ice-cream

Take very ripe banana and slice

it into 8 pieces lengthwise ,
or into round shape. Keep a frying pan on low flame . Put 1tbsp
Of ghee and the sliced bananas in the pan . Sorte for a second and
Close the lid for two minutes. When the banana turns golden brown ,
Soft and smells great,take it out and keep aside. Add sugar in the
Same pan and let it caramelise .Now pour the orange juice with
The zest and after a minute add the golden bananas .
Turn off the fire, add 2 tbsp of honey and mix well . Arrange the
Caramelised golden banana pieces in a bowl and top it with a
Scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Pour the remaining hot caramelised
Sauce, flavoured with orange and honey on the ice-cream .
Just forget the calories and scream for more……..

Use only most ripe bananas ;do not cool after cooking.Serve hot with ice-cream.

merging of different flavours make -
this dessert distinct..

Crab Fry

2007-07-15T07:03:00.000-07:00

Crab(medium size) - 5
Onion big -2
Ginger -3 inch
Garlic -4
Green chillies -2
Tomato -1
Curry leaves
Coriander powder -1 1/2 tbsp
Pepper powder -2 tsp
Chilli powder – ½ tsp
Turmeric powder –1/4 tsp
Kudampuli - 3 small pieces

Ginger and pepper are the taste makers of this recipe;
So be generous with them.

Cleaning the crab – Unlike other sea fish ,cleaning the
Crab needs lot of patience .Wash the crab twice and
Boil the crab wholly in a big vessel for about 5 minutes ,
till it turns red .As it cools, take out and turn the red side of
the crab down . Pull open the V shape. The red part
can be discarded. On the white part you see the gills which
should be removed . Now, from the 2 claws you get fairly good
amount of meat .Gently strike the claws with the handle of
your knife to crack it. Scoop out the meat and add to the main
part. From other legs you get very little meat.

Slice finely , onions, garlic,ginger and chillies .Keep a frying pan
On medium flame with one table spoon of oil .First sauté garlic
Then add onion ,ginger,chillies and curry leaves. As it turns
Translucent add finely chopped tomato and salt. Saute till
It blends well ; now add coriander ,chilli ,turmeric and pepper
Powder. Saute for two minutes . Wash kudampuli and with half
A glass of water, pour into the mixture . As it boils add crab
And keep on low flame till it turns dry.
Now you can say – move crabby move- as my children say.
Crab is the tastiest seafood ; just enjoy with your family .

Appam (Rendha appam)

2007-07-13T06:31:00.000-07:00

Raw rice - 3 cups
Cooked rice - 1 cup
Grated coconut –1 cup
Sugar – 2 tbsp
Dry yeast fresh -1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Soak rice in the morning . In the evening
By 8 ,in a ¼ glass of warm water ,desolve 1 tsp sugar and1/2 tsp yeast .
Keep it aside for ½ an hour . Meanwhile in a
mixer grind the soaked rice , adding only the necessary water to
get a smooth batter . Now in a small mixer bowl ,separately
grind the cooked boiled rice and sugar and grated coconut into a fine paste .
Now combine the three together .Add yeast to the rice batter .
Mix well and keep in a warm place for the batter to ferment over night .
In the morning in a appa chatti ,kept on a medium flame , pour 3 tbsp of batter and tilt the vessel round and let the batter flow to the center , to get a small mount in the middle .Close the lid ,keep on a high flame for a minute and on medium flame for 2 minutes .Serve hot or cold .
Key to a fine appam is fresh yeast ,right mesurement ,fine batter
And a warm climate .
As the sides of the appam looks like a lace it is called rendayappam .

Mutton Stew

2007-07-13T06:19:00.000-07:00

Mutton -1/4 kg
Potatoes – 3
Carrot - 1
Peas -2tbsp
Beans –6
Onion -1
Chillies - 2
Ginger - 2 inch
Garlic -3
Curry leaves
Bay leaves -1
Water -1/2 glass
Oil -1tbsp
Vineger -1tbsp
Cinnamon -2
Cardamom -4
Cloves -2
Pepper -12
One whole coconut grated
maida -2tsp , pepper powder -1tsp
Cut mutton and potatoes in big pieces .
Crush garlic , ginger and chillies .Also crush cinnamon ,cardamom ,
Cloves and pepper .
Extract coconut milk from 1 full coconut grated .Keep aside the first and
Second milk .
Keep a pressure cooker on fire , pour 1 tbsp of oil add the crushed
spices ,then chilli ,ginger ,garlic and onions . Add salt and sauté for
2minutes ,add peas ,beans ,carrot ,potatoes ,mutton , bay leaves
and curry leaves with ½ a glass of water and salt to taste .Pressure cook it for 30 minutes .
Turn off the flame . After 5 minutes open the lid and add the second
Coconut milk and let it simmer for 10 minutes .Now pour the first
Milk and keep on low flame for 2 minutes then add the maida desolved in
¼ glass of water , go on stiring for 2 more minutes .Turn off the fire and
add vinegar , pepper powder and stir .Serve after 10 minutes .
You can make a vegetable stew the same way .

Erachi ularthiyathu (mutton with raw banana )

2007-07-11T06:22:00.000-07:00

Mutton ½ kg
Ethakaya (raw banana) –1big
Coriander powder –2tbsp
Meat masala –3tbsp
Turmeric –1/2 tsp
chilli powder –1/2tsp
pepper corns -12
cloves –2
cardamom –2
curry leaves
onions - 1 large
ginger – 2 inch
garlic - 4
green chillies -1
Cut mutton and banana into 2 inch pieces and wash
Twice and keep aside to drain .Ground the spices .
Marinate mutton and ethakaya with coriander powder ,
meat masala ,chilli ,turmeric and spice powder .In a
pressure cooker , put this marinated meat with ½ a
glass of water keep on high flame till the first whistle .
reduse the flame and keep for 20 more minutes .Keep
a frying pan on the fire with 1 tbsp of oil ,and sauté
the thinly sliced onions , ginger ,green chillies , garlic
and curry leaves till golden brown .Add the cooked
meat into the frying pan and stir till it is dry .

Meen peera

2007-07-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

Fish -1/2 kg
Grated coconut –2 cups
Green chillies –3
Ginger –2 inch length
Onion –1big
Garlic –6
Curry leaves
Kudum puli (kokum) -2big
Coconut oil -1tbsp
Clean the fish with salt and keep aside .
In a mixer bowl, add coconut green chillies ,
ginger ,onion ,garlic and corsely grind it
without adding water.Soak the kudampuli
for 2 minutes in water and cut them into
small pieces.Drain the puli and combine with
fish ,coconut mixture ,curry leaves ,salt and
¼ glass of water in a earthenware for 10 minutes
in low flame .Turn off the fire and pour 1 tbsp ,
coconut oil on top .
hot or cold the smell itself is appetising .
-Small fishes or sardines are preferred for this dish .

Egg cutlet

2007-07-10T05:47:00.000-07:00

Boild eggs
Bone less Meat -1/4 kg
Potatoes -3
Onion - 1
Green chillies - 3
Ginger -3 inch length
Bread crumbs -1 cup
Beaten egg to dip -1
Pepper powder -1tsp
Oil to fry
Mint leaves
Lemon -1
Clean and drain the meat .
pressure cook the meat with salt, desolved
in water and pepper powder for half an hour.
See that the meat is cooked dry .Grind the meat
in a mixer and keep it aside .Boil the potatoes,
Peel it and mash it well . Finely chop onions, green chillies
And ginger .Saute it till golden brown .Mix this mixture with
Meat and mashed potatoes . Check and add salt as you need .
Boil the eggs .Remove the the shell and scoop out the egg yolk
And mix it with , finely chopped onion , green chilli and mint leaves .
Add some drops of lemon juice and salt .Fill both the sides of the egg-
White , with this yolk mixture , close it and cover it with the meat -
Cutlet mixture ,and slowly give the shape of the egg .Pour a teaspoon of
Beaten egg on all side of it and coat it with bread crumbs .
Now deep fry it in a pan in medium flame .Serve with salad or tomato sauce .
Going on a long drive , pack these cutlets with some bread .
To make bread crumbs ,-put some pieces of bread or rusk
In a mixer bowl and run it for a minute .

Oroti (rice roti with onions)

2007-07-04T23:53:00.000-07:00

Rice flour - 1 cup
Grated coconut –1 cup
Small sambar onions –1/1/2cup
Water –2cups
Salt
Oil
Keep water for boiling.In a bowl, take rice flour and add salt .
Pour the boiling water little by little to the bowl .
keep on kneeding the flour with a spoon till you can roll it into a nice dough . Mix the grated coconut and thinly sliced onions with the dough
,and cover it with a cloth and keep it aside to cool .
Apply oil on your palm.Take a handful of
dough,roll and pat it to a round shape.Pour a teaspoon of oil on the
hot frying pan and fry the roti golden brown on both sides.As you turn
the roti to fry on other side , pour a teaspoon of oil more. Serve the oroti after 5 minutes.

With the nice aroma of the onions this roti, is a great hit on our breakfast table. Oroti goes well with egg ,fish or chicken curry.

Egg Curry

2007-07-04T23:43:00.000-07:00

eggs -2
large onion -1
green chillies -2
ginger -1 inch
curry leaves
vineger -1tbsp
grated coconut for paste –1/2 cup
coriander powder -1 tbsp
meat masala -1tbsp
pepper corns -5
cardamom -2
cloves - 1

oil
grated coconut to extract milk -2 cups

Boil eggs and keep aside.
Slice onions ,chillies and ginger thinly -
. Grind into a paste -grated coconut ,coriander powder ,meat masala ,
Pepper corns ,cardamom and cloves keep aside. Put 2 cups of grated coconut and
1 cup of water in a blender .Seive it into a bowl and keep the first milk, aside.
Again put the same coconut in the blender with a cup of water to extract the second milk.

Saute onion ,chillies , ginger and curry leaves .Add the coconut paste and salt and stir till it is dry . Now add the second coconut milk and boiled eggs . Keep it on low flame till the gravy is thick . Add the first coconut milk and keep on stiring on low flame for two minutes.
.Add vineger and turn off the flame.

Lauki curry (churakka)

2007-06-25T01:39:00.000-07:00

Bottle gourd –1/2kg (churakka1/2kg)
Raw mango –1/2 of a mango
Grated coconut –1/2
Green Chillies –2
Onion -1/2
garlic –4 pods
Jeera –1/2tsp
Water - 1glass
Oil -2tbsp
Small onions -4 (sambar onions)
Red chillies -2
Curry leaves 2
Turmeric ,chilli powder -(just to add colour)
Peal the gourd and mango.Cut mango into small pieces and cut gourd
into one inch pieces.Combine grated coconut ,chillies ,onion, garlic ,jeera
with quater glass of water in a mixer bowl ,and blend it into a fine paste.
Mix the coconut paste,half glass water, mango pieces and churakka with
Some turmeric and salt in a pressure cooker.Keep on fire till a whistle is heard.Take a frying pan pour 2 tbsp of oil ,add mustard seeds, let it splutter.Now add curry leaves as it become crisp add thinly cut small onions.Stir till crisp,fry red chillies and turn off the fire.Now add a pinch of turmeric and chilli powder.Pour this on the curry and can serve with
Rice and fish fry.

Cochin fish curry

2007-06-20T04:35:00.000-07:00

Fish-1/2kg
Grated coconut-1
Onions-1 large
Ginger- 1tsp
Garlic –4cloves
Green chillies –3
green mango –half(optional)
curry leaves –5
red chilli powder –2tsp
turmeric powder -1tsp
tomato -2 small
kokum (kudampuli) –2pieces

Cut the fish ,clean it with some salt and keep aside.

Grate one coconut, from it take half a cup and grind it into a fine paste.
From rest of the coconut make coconut milk and keep aside.
Cut onion ,ginger,garlic, and slit chillies.
Saute for some time,add salt,
which will help it ,to sweat.
Now put turmeric and chilli powder,stir till you get a good aroma.
Add half of a mango, sliced.Pour three table spoons
of water,close the lid and cook for 5 minutes.Add coconut paste, bring to a boil, and add the sliced and washed kokum(add one more piece of kokum if no mango).
Pour the second coconut milk ,fish pieces, salt to taste and curry leaves .
Cover the lid half ,keep on low flame for 10 minutes.
Pour the first coconut milk and let it simmer for 3 more minutes,keeping the lid open..
Turn off the flame and let it cool fo a while .
Special cochin meen curry is ready.

Tips –
To make coconut milk –add
grated coconut and water in a blender

Strain,for the first milk.
Keep the first milk aside.

Blend again the same coconut to get the second milk.
You get kokum in south Indian stores.It is a dried fruit ,black in colour, sour to taste.

Earthen ware (chatti)

2007-06-20T04:19:00.000-07:00

When we buy earthen ware from a potter,we cannot use it
immediately for cooking.We have to groom it.First apply
Oil and salt on it .After cooking rice, pour the rice water in
this earthen bowl add salt then keep on slow fire. Repeat
this for four days.
(New earthen wares, absorb the taste of the curry while cooking)

Fish fry

2007-06-20T04:16:00.000-07:00

Fish -1/2 kg
Chilli powder -1tbsp
Turmeric powder -1tsp
Pepper –1tbsp
Salt
Oil

Cut the fish and clean it with some salt.
Make slits on the
Fish so that the masala can get in.
Pepper should be coarsly ground.
Mix the four ingredients without water and apply it on the wet fish.
Shallow fry it and serve hot with fresh salad.

Beans mezhukupurati

2007-06-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

Tender beans - 1/4kg
Grated coconut - 2tbsp
Onion - 1
Garlic - 5cloves
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2tsp
Curry leaves
Butter - 1/2tsp

Slit the beans lengthwise,
and then cut into pieces.
Add little water and salt,cook for two minutes with the lid on.
Remove the lid and cook till
it is soft.
See that the beans does not loose its colour.
Crush garlic,cut onions.
Take a frying pan,pour a table spoon of oil
put the crushed garlic,onions,
Curry leaves and stir for two minutes.
Now add turmeric and chilli powder,
then add grated coconut stir for some time.
Finally put the cooked beans and butter.
serve hot.