Mirchi Ka Saalan

Mirchi Ka Saalan or Curried Chilli Peppers is one dish from the Hyderabadi cuisine, that has always left me drooling at the simple thought itself, ever since I had it from a restaurant. Such an enticing curry with the perfect blend of all  flavors- tangy, spicy, grainy ....A perfect combo with hot phulkas or chapatis that you might end up eating more chapatis than you usually have.

When this curry was made the other day at home, I was not sure whether it would be accepted by my kids and better half, but let me tell you, my joy knew no boundaries to see them licking off the curry from their plates.

The hero of the dish - large green chilly 

Ingredients
250 grams large green chillies
4 medium onions, cut into large chunks
1 lemon size ball of tamarind, soaked in 1 cup of warm water, mashed and strained
1 1/2 tablespoon roughly chopped ginger
2 tablespoons roughly chopped garlic
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/4 cup roasted peanuts
2 teaspoons grated coconut
1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon  red chilli powder
1 teaspoon jaggery or sugar
few curry leaves
oil
salt

Method

• Make a slit on one side of each chilli and remove the seeds through the slit. Do not split the chilli into two.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in pan and roast the chillies, tossing continuously until golden brown spots appear on the chillies. Remove the chillies from the pan and keep aside.
• In the same pan, add 1 tsp oil and roast the onions for around 8-10 minutes or until browned.
• Remove the onion from the pan and keep aside.
• Now in the same pan add the coriander seeds, sesame seeds, peanuts, cumin, coconut and fenugreek seeds. Dry roast these spices until they darken slightly. Once cooled grind these roasted spices with the roasted onion, ginger, garlic, salt, turmeric, chilli powder and jaggery/sugar into a fine paste. Add the tamarind water also and churn into a smooth paste.
• Heat little(3-4 tbsp) oil in a kadai, add curry leaves and the ground paste. Saute this well for around 5-10 minutes on a medium flame.
• Add the roasted chillies. Add 1/2 cup water, cover and cook on a medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once it starts boiling, reduce the flame and cook for 4-5 minutes or until the oil comes to the top.
• Mirchi ki saalan is ready to be served:)!!!!

Natholi/Anchovies Peera

Ingredients

1/2 kg natholi/anchovies

1 cup grated coconut

4-5 green chillies

1' ginger piece

5-6 cloves garlic

1 lemon size tamarind, soaked in water and strained

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

2-3 tablespoon coconut oil

a handful curry leaves

salt

Method

• Crush or grind coarsely the coconut, green chillies, ginger, garlic, tamarind, cumin seeds and curry leaves together.
• Cook the cleaned natholi/anchovies in one cup water with salt, turmeric powder and chilli powder.
• In a separate pan, heat 2 tablespoons of coconut oil. 
• Add the mustard seeds. Once they start to splutter add the grinded or crushed coconut mixture . Mix well.
• Make little space in the centre of the coconut mixture and add the cooked natholi . Cover it with the coconut mixture from all sides.
• Cover the pan with a lid and allow this to cook on very low flame for 2-3 minutes.
• Open and mix gently. Check for salt and add more if required. Then cook uncovered till all the water is absorbed. 
• Remove from flame and finally add few more curry leaves(slightly crushed with your hands).
• Drizzle little more coconut oil on top and serve hot with rice.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

When the bell rang at that odd hour of the day, and I opened the door with a confused state of mind, little did I expect to see my friend,co-blogger standing over there with her little one. Then from behind the wall came her better half holding this amazing cake. And, together they sang, 'Happy Birthday to you..'

Just maybe an hour or so ago we reached back home after our weekly shopping for vegetables and provisions. Though I saw her picking up a few items from the bakery section, I had never thought that on reaching home she would quickly whip up everything and bake this cake, just to make my birthday a memorable one.

Thankyou my dear friend for that wonderful surprise. The cake tasted heavenly, as beyond all the other ingredients it had the essence of love and friendship in it. 

Over to Tessa, for the recipe of the Chocolate Fudge Cake with dark chocolate icing, she baked for her chocolate loving friend:)))))))

Before settling down with this surprise,I thought of getting you a gift.After exploring various options,I concluded that being a co-blogger,what better gift than a home made cake!!!!! Am glad that you really enjoyed it.Wishing you love,luck and happiness alwayz.....Over to the recipe..

For Chocolate Fudge Cake

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

A pinch of salt

115 grams unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

 1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup hot milk

Method

• Pre- heat the oven to 180 degree.
• Grease a 9" baking tray with butter and flour and keep aside.
• Melt butter in a heat proof bowl and allow it to cool.
• Add sugar to it and mix well.
• Add eggs and vanilla extract and stir well with a wooden spatula.
• Add baking soda,salt,cocoa powder and mix with out any  lumps. 
• Add in the flour and stir slowly  until the dry and wet ingredients are well combined.
• Add in the hot milk and mix till everything blends well.
• Pour the batter to the greased tin and bake for 35-40 minutes.
• Allow the cake to cool completely for icing to be done.

For Dark Chocolate Icing

Ingredients

150 gram chopped plain dark chocolate(75%cocoa solids)

1 cup water

15 grams butter

1/2 cup sugar

Method

• Melt the chocolate with 2 tablespoons water in a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water.
• Stir in the butter until smooth. 
• Put the remaining water and sugar in a pan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved.
• Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
• Gradually pour the syrup into the melted chocolate,stirring until a thick frosting consistency (you may not need all the sugar syrup)
• Allow to cool slightly and pour over the cake.
• Leave to set at room temperature.

Broken Wheat Salad

A salad that is a meal by itself!!

Ingredients

1/2 cup broken wheat/cracked wheat(soaked in hot water for 20 minutes and drained)

1 medium ripe tomato chopped

1 carrot,chopped

2 cucumber,peeled and chopped

1 teaspoon crushed pepper                                                                         

1/2-3/4 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon chat masala

Salt to taste

Method

• Combine carrot,cucumber,tomato in a bowl along with broken wheat.
• Add lemon juice,crushed pepper, salt and give a good stir.
• Sprinkle chat masala on top and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Serve chilled.

Brinjal/ Vazhuthananga Theeyal

Another cherished moment for us, we are again getting a chance to do a guest post!!! This time its for none other than our dear blogger friend, who has made us feel so confident, happy and what not..with her lovely comments and whose blog with her daily ramblings(as she calls it) makes us feel so close to her. More than her recipes we have always loved to go through her quote worthy descriptions that she always adds prior to her each and every recipe. Yes, we are talking about none other than our dear Rafeeda from THE BIG SWEET TOOTH As the name of her blog so is she...a very sweeeeeet person. When Rafeeda whom we lovingly nicknamed Rafee(without her permission) asked us to do a guest post, we were very excited and happy. We were wondering what should we give her. As we were on our vacation back home in Kerala, we decided to do a Keralite dish itself. You can find our guest post for her here.

Brinjal/Vazhuthananga Theeyal
Spicy food and monsoons go hand in hand for me. Its raining cats and dogs outside, and sitting at home in the comfort of the company of your dear ones is something that keeps you warm inside. To top it, how about some spicy food from your mom's hand. Amma's food is something that is irreplaceable. I am sure this is a fact which you all will agree with me.

Here comes a typical Kerala spicy dish, which my Amma cooked for us on a heavy rainy day. The aroma of the roasted coconut and shallots made me literally drooooool; which is indeed a very beautiful smell!!

Ingredients
3 long green brinjals sliced into thin semicircles
25 shallots peeled
3 tablespoons grated coconut
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 green chilli, slit into two
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
3 teaspoons coriander powder
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 garlic clove
2 sprigs curry leaves
1 gooseberry sized tamarind pulp, soak in 1 cup of warm water and extract the juice
salt as required
 4-5 tablespoons coconut oil
Method

• Heat around 4 tablespoons of oil in a kadai/cheenachatti. Add 20 shallots and fry until the shallots turn light golden. Drain from the oil and keep aside.
• To the same oil add the sliced brinjals and fry well until the brinjals turn brown in colour. Drain and keep aside.

• Heat another pan and add the coconut, fennel, green chilli, garlic, remaining shallots, few curry leaves. Dry roast on a medium low flame all these until the coconut turns golden brown in colour.
• At this stage, add the coriander powder, chili powder and roast for 2-3 minutes or until the raw smell of the the powders goes off.
• Switch off the flame. Once cooled, grind this into a smooth paste, adding enough water.

• Heat a kadai, pour the extracted tamarind juice and the grinded paste. Add 1 - 11/2 cups of water, salt and allow it to boil well.
• Once it is brought to a boil add the fried shallots and brinjal. Continue to cook until the gravy thickens.

• Switch off the flame and garnish with a sprig of curry leaves.

* You can season with mustard, red chillies, few fenugreek seeds  and curry leaves. Just splutter all of these in a little coconut oil and add it to the dish finally. Its optional. Here the seasoning was not done but still it tasted yummy. But seasoning will make the theeyal taste more yummy!!

Vendakka/ Ladies finger Kichadi

Onam is within reach. Only few more days left for the most awaited Malayali utsav. Everyone are already in the festive mood, which is very much evident in the textile shops and floral shops in Kerala. 

Today I am sharing a kichadi recipe here. Kichadis are common in sadyas, the varieties ranging from vellarika/cucumber kichadi, mathan/pumpkin kichadi, pavakka/bittergourd kichadi and so on. But onion is not usually used in the sadya kichadi recipes. At home, we all love vendakka kichadi or ladiesfinger kichadi. Onion is added in the recipe here, but even if you skip the onion and go on with the recipe, it still tastes awesome. 

Ingredients
250 grams ladies finger/vendakka/okra sliced into thin rounds
1 onion chopped fine
1 green chili chopped
1/2 inch ginger piece, chopped fine
few curry leaves
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 cup yoghurt, beaten well
salt
1 - 2 tablespoon oil

Method

• Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Add the mustard seeds. Once they splutter add the onion, ginger, green chilies and curry leaves.
• Sauté until the onion turns soft and translucent.
• Add the ladies finger and salt. Mix well.
• Cook covered for 2 minutes.
• Open and fry the ladies finger on a medium low flame until the ladies finger turns brown and crisp. This will take around 10-15 minutes. Remember to cook on a low flame taking care not to burn the ladies finger.
• Once the ladies finger turns crispy, off the flame.
• Add the yoghurt and serve immediately.
• The yoghurt should be added only at the time of serving, in order to maintain the crispiness of the ladies finger.

Indo-Chinese Mushroom

Ingredients

500 grams brown button mushrooms, chopped

1 medium onion chopped

4-5 cloves garlic, sliced

1 green chili, chopped

1 teaspoon pepper powder

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

¼ teaspoon garam masala powder

½ tablespoon soy sauce

Salt to taste

Oil for sautéing
Method    

• Heat oil in a pan.
• Add onion, garlic, green chilies and sauté for 1-2 minutes on low flame.
• Add pepper powder,salt, turmeric powder, soy sauce and give a good stir.
• Add chopped mushrooms, mix well, cover and cook on medium flame for 5-10 minutes.
• Open and stir on high flame until the water is completely evaporated.
• Turnoff the flame and sprinkle garam masala on top.
• Serve hot with chapatti/plain rice.

Ladiesfinger/Bhindi with Oats

Ladies-finger with Oats..sounds a bit odd, right. I too had the same feeling when I read about this recipe. But as it was a Sanjeev Kapoor recipe, I was sure that it won't be bad. Tried it out the other day, and must say it was lipsmacking dish with the spiciness of the chilli and the tanginess of the mango  powder. And moreover oats is considered as the staple food nowadays:))) considering the health benefits of this cereal such as low calorie food, helps to stop cravings, high in fibre, low in fat and high in proteins. Ah! what more do you want! Here goes the recipe of bhindi/ladies-finger with oats...

Ingredients
250 grams ladiesfinger/bhindi sliced diagonally
1 medium onion, chopped roughly
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
few curry leaves
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon kashmiri chili powder(use less if you don't want it that spicy, this quantiy makes the dish very spicy)
1 teaspoon amchur/mango powder
salt
2 tablespoon oats
2 tablespoon oil
Method

• Heat oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds. Once it starts to brown add the curry leaves and onion.
• Saute for a minute and then add the sliced ladiesfinger. Mix well.
• Add the turmeric powder, chili powder,salt and mango powder.
• Saute well for 4-5 minutes on a medium flame.
• Add the oats and saute for 2-3 minutes more.
• Switch off the flame and serve hot as a side dish with rice/chapathi and dal.

Nadan Mathi/Sardine curry

Ingredients
8-10 sardines
5 shallots
4 garlic cloves
1/2" ginger piece
6-7 sprigs curry leaves
4-5 tablespoons Kashmiri chili powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon fenugreek powder
1 tablespoon coriander powder
2 gambooge/kudampulli, soaked in water and torn into small pieces
salt
coconut oil

Method

• Clean the sardines well. Rub little salt all over the fish and wash again. Make slits on each fish and keep aside.
• Grind the shallots, ginger, garlic, chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, fenugreek powder and few curry leaves into a fine paste.
• Marinate the fish with the grinded paste, kudampulli pieces and salt and keep aside.
• Heat a wide bottomed pan, preferably a mann chatti(earthen pot). Pour 2 tablespoons of coconut oil and rotate the chatti, so that the oil spreads all over the bottom of the chatti.
• Arrange 4 sprigs of curry leaves in the hot oil. Now place the marinated fish over the sprigs of curry leaves.
• Pour little water so that the water covers the fish. Allow this to boil.
• Rotate the chatti at regular intervals so that the curry is well mixed. Do not stir as this will cause the fish pieces to break off.
• Once it starts boiling, put the remaining sprigs of curry leaves on top the curry and reduce the flame to low.
• Allow this to simmer for 20 minutes or until the gravy thickens and the water is evaporated. Do not forget to rotate the chatti in between.
• Now switch off the flame and drizzle little coconut oil on the curry and serve.
• This nadan fish curry tastes best the next day!!!

Note: This is a very spicy dish. Kerala nadan fish curries are supposed to be very spicy. However you can adjust the chili powder levels according to your taste.

Aloo Achari

Ingredients
4 medium potatoes, boiled and cut into 1 inch pieces
5 medium onions, grinded into a paste
1 1/2 teaspoon ginger paste
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic paste
1 1/2 teaspoon kashmiri chili powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
salt to taste
oil for frying
3 tablespoon vinegar
2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon nigella seeds
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
4 whole dry chilies

Method

• Heat oil for frying in a kadai and fry the potato pieces until golden brown in colour. Drain onto to tissue paper and keep it aside.
• Heat little oil in a separate pan and add the grinded onions. Fry this on a medium flame for about 8- 10 minutes till it is golden brown.
• Add the ginger and garlic pastes and fry for a minute. 
• Add salt, turmeric and chili powder and mix well.
• Add the fried potatoes and mix gently. Pour about 1/2 cup of water and cook on low heat for about 5 minutes so that the spices blend well with the potatoes. Remove from flame.
• Mix the sugar in the vinegar. Add this mixture to the potatoes and mix well,, but gently so that you don't mash up the potatoes.
• In another pan heat 2 tbsp of oil and add the dry chillies, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and at last add the nigella seeds. Once the mustard starts to crackle and red chilies darken, pour this over the potato mixture and mix well.
• Transfer onto a serving dish and serve hot with hot parathas or phulkas. Its really yummyyyyyyyy!!!!!!

Onam Special- Paal Payasam

A very happy Onam to all of you out there. How about completing your sadya or feast with a paal payasam? Here goes the recipe for the same

Ingredients
1/2 cup raw broken rice/unakalari
1 cup sugar
4 cups milk
3 or 4 cardamom
1 tablespoon ghee

Method

• In  a pressure cooker, add the milk, sugar, cardamoms and washed and drained rice.
• Close the cooker. Keep it on a medium flame( without the weight). 

• Once the steam starts coming, reduce the flame to minimum and put the weight on the cooker.
• Cook for 20 minutes. Switch off the flame after 20 minutes(cooker may give off one or two whistles in some cases).
• Let the cooker cool down and after all the steam has been released, open the cooker and add the ghee. Mix well. Delicious and quick paal payasam is ready to be served.

Rasam

Rasam is yet another item in the sadya menu. Rasams usually vary in the preparation styles and ingredients from place to place. The one that is served during sadyas never have garlic in them. Actually speaking none of the items served during the sadya have garlic in them. Here I am sharing the recipe of the typical sadya rasam ,served in the sadyas at Thrissur.

Ingredients
1 gooseberry size tamarind pulp, soaked in 1 cup of water and strained
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
a pinch turmeric powder
1 teaspoon black pepper powder
a pinch of asafoetida/kaayam
salt
1/4 cup tuvar dal, cooked well with 2 cups of water, strained and keep the water aside
3 tomatoes , sliced into thick pieces
1/4 teaspoon mustard
2 stalks coriander leaves chopped
 few curry leaves
2 tablespoon coconut oil

 Method

• Into the strained tamarind juice add the chili powder, turmeric powder, pepper, asafoetida and salt. Allow this to boil for 5-10 minutes.
• Now add the water in which the dal was cooked.
• Add the tomato pieces and once the tomatoes are cooked remove from flame.
• Heat the coconut oil in a small pan. Add the mustard seeds. Once they start to crackle, add the curry leaves and switch off the flame. Add this to the prepared rasam.
• Add the coriander leaves. Keep the rasam covered for 5 minutes before serving.

Wheat Vellappam

Vellappam or Paalappam is a typical breakfast dish served in Kerala. Its our all time favourite at home, but most commonly made with rice. I came across this recipe of making vellappam with wheat flour in an old magazine lying at home during my vacations to Kerala. Gave it a try and the outcome was not bad:))But personally if you ask me, well, the rice ones are more tasty. Still for those of you who would like to go on a rice free diet this one might come of help to you. 

Ingredients
3 cups wheat flour/atta
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon yeast
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 egg, beaten well
salt
lukewarm water
Method

• Mix the wheat flour, yeast, salt and 1 tablespoon sugar. Add lukewarm water little by little into this mixture, mixing well, until you get a smooth batter without any lumps.
• Allow this to ferment for at least 8 hours.
• Add the coconut milk and beaten egg. Mix well. The batter for making the appams is ready.
• Heat a non stick kadai or appa chatti. Pour a ladle full of the batter into the chatti. Pick up the chatti  and rotate it,  so that the batter evenly spreads around the sides of the chatti. The centre will be thick and the outer portion will be like a lace.

• Place the pan back on the stove. Cover and cook on a medium low flame so that the appam is cooked.
• Serve these appams with egg curry, chicken curry, vegetable khorma or stew.

Mutton Curry

Ingredients
1kg mutton cut into bite sized pieces
1 teaspoon whole pepper corns
3 cups chopped onion
3 green chilies slit lengthwise
2 sprigs curry leaves
1 1/2 tablespoon ginger finely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoon garlic finely chopped
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tomato chopped
1 potato diced
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

Dry Roast
5 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder
4teaspoon coriander powder
1/4 teaspoon fennel powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 1/2 teaspoon pepper powder

Seasoning
3 shallots finely sliced
2 sprigs curry leaves
a pinch roasted fenugreek powder

salt
coconut oil

Method

• In a pressure cooker heat coconut oil and add the pepper corns and sauté for a few seconds.
• Add the green chillies, curry leaves, onion, turmeric powder, ginger and garlic and sauté until onion turns golden brown.
• Add tomatoes, potatoes, mutton, vinegar and salt. Mix well.
• Close the cooker and cook on medium low flame until the cooker gives off 6 whistles.(if the mutton is tender, 3 whistles will do)
• In a separate pan dry roast all the spices under 'Dry Roast' until it gives off a beautiful aroma. Take care not to burn the spices.
• Once the cooker is ready to open, after all the steam has been released, add salt,1 cup water and the roasted powders to the curry. Mix well and allow to boil until the gravy thickens. Remove from the flame and keep aside.
• In a small pan heat little coconut oil and add the sliced shallots and curry leaves. Fry until shallots turn golden brown. Then add the fenugreek powder. Fry for a second or two.
• Now add this to the prepared mutton curry and mix well.
• Serve hot with rice, kerala porotta, chappathi or nan.

Recipe courtesy : lifescoops.blogspot.in