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

No Bake Mango Cheesecake

Ingredients
250 grams cream cheese
170 grams cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup mango puree
1 1/2 tablespoon gelatin
1/4 cup hot water
10-12 digestive biscuits
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
Method

• Crush the biscuits in food processor until well powdered.
• Add the melted butter to the powdered biscuits and whiz in the processor until well combined.
• Line an eight inch pan with aluminum foil and spread the biscuit mixture evenly in a layer on it. Press firmly to make an even layer. Keep this in the refrigerator to set.
• In the meantime, make the rest of the cheesecake. Mix well the cream, cheese and sugar in a bowl.
• Mix gelatin in the hot water. Stir well until the gelatin dissolves completely. Add this to the mango puree and mix well.
• Add half of the mango puree into the cream and cheese mixture. Mix well.
• Take the pan from the refrigerator and pour the cream mix on top of the biscuit layer. Return this back to the refrigerator. Refrigerate until the cheese layer is fully set.
• Once the cheese layer is fully set, pour the remaining mango puree on top of the set cheese layer. Refrigerate again until the mango puree layer is also fully set, preferably refrigerate it overnight.
• Enjoy yummy mango cheesecake the next day.

Roasted Yam

 Ingredients
250 grams yam/chena
10 shallots
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 teaspoons Kashmiri chilli powder
1 teaspoon lime juice
salt
coconut oil
Method

• Peel the yam and slice into thin squares.
• Grind the shallots with chili powder, turmeric powder and salt into a fine paste.
• Marinate the yam pieces with this paste and keep aside for half an hour.
• Heat a non-stick pan. Drizzle some coconut oil on the pan and shallow fry the marinated yam pieces on a medium low flame. Turn over at regular intervals and roast until the yam pieces are cooked and gets roasted on both the sides. Drizzle more coconut oil if required.
• Once roasted remove from the pan and sprinkle the lime juice over the yam pieces. Serve hot.

Chemmeen Kurukki Varattiyathu

Ingredients

For Marination

1kg prawns, cleaned, deveined

1 ¼ tablespoon red chili powder

3 tablespoon coriander powder

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Salt as required

For The Gravy

6 medium onions thinly sliced

2” ginger, crushed

5-6 cloves garlic,crushed

2 sprigs curry leaves

2-3 green chilies,chopped

4-5 shallots,thinly sliced

1 tablespoon pepper powder

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

2-3 tablespoon chicken masala powder

3 medium tomatoes,chopped

2-3 tablespoon coconut oil

¼ cup water

Salt to taste

Coriander chopped for garnishing

Method

For Marination

Fry chillipowder and coriander powder in a non stick pan without adding oil on low flame.

Marinate the prawns with the above mixture along with lemon juice and salt.

Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

For The Gravy  

• Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan and sauté onions until dark brown.
• Add ginger, garlic, curry leaves, shallots,green chilies and fry for 3-4 minutes.
• Add chicken masala, pepper powder,turmeric powder and sauté for a minute.
• Reduce the flame and add chopped tomatoes.
• Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes until the tomatoes are mashed.
•  Add the marinated prawns along with required salt and water.
• Cook for 35-40 minutes on very low flame until the gravy thickens. Stir
• In between.
• Garnish with chopped coriander on top.
• Serve hot with plain rice. 

Tomato & Fennel Rice

Ingredients

1 ½ cup basmati rice

1 small onion finely chopped

2 teaspoon fennel seeds

2 cloves garlic, chopped

3 ripe tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoon sunflower oil

2 ½ cups water

Salt to taste

Coriander chopped, for garnishing.

Method

• Wash the rice, soak in water for 15 minutes and drain thoroughly.
• Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan and fry the onion,garlic and fennel seeds for  4-5 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes along with rice and stir for 2-3 minutes.
• Add water along with salt and give a good stir.
• Cover tightly,reduce the flame and simmer for 10 minutes or until the rice gets cooked.
• Turn off the flame and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
• Serve hot with raita/curry of your choice.

*I tried the same recipe with cuscous instead of rice. Addition of 3 tablespoons of red and green  bell pepper along with onion,fennel seeds and garlic added extra taste to the dish ...Below is the picture of Tomato & Fennel Cuscous which I made.Hope you all enjoi...

Peechinga -Chemeen Ularthiyathu (Ridge gourd-Prawns Stir fry)

The first time I had this dish was from my Mother In Law’s kitchen…She never gets tired of cooking. She loves experimenting on dishes. She normally uses small prawns for this dish which makes it more delicious. But since we don’t have it available here I used large prawns.
 

Ingredients

2 large ridge gourds

10-15 large prawns,cleaned and cut into small pieces

5-6 shallots,crushed

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 sprig curry leaves

¼  teaspoon turmeric powder

2 teaspoon kashmiri chili powder

1 small cocum/kudampuli

Salt to taste          

2 tablespoon oil

 

Method

• Peel the hard outer ridges of ridge gourd and cut into small cubes and keep separate.
• Cook prawns with cocum and salt.
• Pour 2 tablespoon oil in a pan and shallow fry shallots,curry leaves and garlic.
• Add  chili powder and turmeric powder on low flame and stir for a minute.
• Add ridge gourd, mix well,cover and cook on low flame for about 5-10 minutes. Stir in between.
• Remove the cover and stir on high flame until water from the ridge gourd completely evaporates.
• Mix prawns to the above ridge gourd and cook on low flame for 5 more minutes.
• Add more salt if required.
• Turn off the flame and serve hot with plain rice and curry of your choice.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Butter Icing

Another summer has come…schools have closed for another fun filled vacation….but it might not be an exciting vacation for kids who stay back here. Our family was one of those. My brother’s kids had come down for a sleepover last week. Initially they were excited but then they started getting bored with the normal monotonous routine games &cartoons. The day light heat was unbearable for some outdoor activities. So then thought, why not get them involved in some cooking??That thought got them excited as well. Undisputedly yelled out one name (which normally never happens)….Cupcake!!!!!

Ingredients

For Cupcakes

100 grams unsalted butter, room temperature

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

125 grams granulated white sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Zest of 1 large lemon

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup milk

For butter cream frosting

2 cups icing sugar, sifted

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 tablespoon milk  

Food colour (not a must)

Method

For Cupcakes

• Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius.
• Sift flour, baking powder and salt and keep aside
• Using a mixer, beat butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy.
• Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
• Add lemon zest to the above mixture.
• Reduce the speed of the mixer and alternately add flour mixture and milk.
• Line a muffin tray with paper liners.
• Evenly fill them with the batter and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.
• Once the cupcakes have completely cool down, frost with icing.

For butter icing

• Add vanilla essence to the butter and beat until smooth.
• Reduce the speed and gradually add icing sugar.
• Add milk and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy.
• Mix with your choice of food colour if needed.
• Fill the frosting in a piping bag with nozzle of your choice and decorate your cupcakes.

*The butter icing can be stored in a refrigerator for up to 10 days.