Ladies Finger with Curd ~ Kerala Style

I don’t know what it is called in Kerala but I know it is a very well known sabzi. Actually I was more interested in knowing the recipe than name.

Ingredients

Ladies Finger – 10 No.
Coconut – ½
Green chillies – 3-4 depending on your taste
Curd – 2 cups
Curry leaves – 2 springs
Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil for frying and seasoning

Procedure

Make a paste of coconut and green chillies in a blender. Keep it aside.

Cut Ladies fingers to an inch size. In a non-stick pan, pour 1tbsp of oil and fry ladies finger till tender. Now add coconut paste and fry for 2 minutes on low flame. Allow it to cool before adding the whisked curd.
Season this with curry leaves and mustard seeds.

English Breakfast

Two things I always admired about English people - their breakfast and of course literature.

Nothing can make my Sunday more exciting than having Mash potato, baked beans with toast of bread. Last but never the least scrambled egg.

Mash Potato

Mash the boiled and peeled potatoes. Add a tbsp of butter , pinch of salt and tsp of pepper. Make cookie size patties and bake it with little butter for 30 minutes.

Baked Beans

Read to eat tin

Scrambled Egg

I scrambled the egg in butter and pinch of salt. I never pollute it with any other spices.

Dosa Wrap

Ingredients:

Dosa batter – 1 cup (for 3 dosas)
Corns kennels – ¼ cup
Onions – 1 small chopped
Italian seasoning / Paprika and chilly flakes
1 tsp of olive oil
Salt to taste
Fresh parsley leaves

Procedure:

In a pan, take 1 tsp of olive oil and fry the onions. To this add corn and salt. Cook it covered for few minutes till the corn is tender. Add dry seasonings and parsley leave. Keep this aside.

Heat the dosa pan. Pour a full ladle of batter and using ladle spread the batter to form a circle. Pour little oil on the edges of the dosa. Once it starts leaving the pan, off the stove and place the corn mixture in the center of dosa and wrap it.

My Ugaadi 2010

Do I still need to say how it was :)

Milton’s Book of Genesis

This was on one of those nights when I was very seriously trying to concentrate on Milton’s Paradise Lost. The reason for this miraculous act was next day being my semester examination. My goal was only to mug up few lines so that I can quote them and impress the examiner. It was a purely selfish motto to score some marks.

I opened Book I (of Paradise Lost) and plunged into it knowing least that I could never float back. When I read the first few lines, I realized that I read the whole Old Testament. The joy of reading such a wonderful epic was enormous. How wonderfully Milton has crushed those hundreds of stories and put in a nutshell.

It is a Marvel of Marvels and Miracle of Miracles, here it goes-

Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste

Brought death into the World, and all our woe,

With loss of Eden, till one greater Man

Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,

P.S: Forgot to tell about my motto for which I started reading it. From that day, these lines were etched on my heart forever. I did quote them in my examination but never bother to know if my examiner was impressed or not. I surely was.


The above picture depicts Angel Micheal expelling Adam and Eve from Garden of Eden

Haiku

Haiku - Haiku is a Japanese verse form in 3 or 5 short lines.

I have this craving for literary genre especially poetry post MA because of which I had to know more about Prosody. In one of those excavations about meters I happen to read about Haiku. I though it was quite interesting and tried few. After writing this I totally agree with all those who believe that meter provides both power and melody to poetry.


5,7,5 syllable pattern

Sometimes I feel that
you are far as star but then
as close as heartbeat

5,7,5,7,5 pattern

Wish I could undo.
This love is endless ruthless
It hurts, it consoles
but until it touched me
never knew pain for sure.

Chicken 65

This is one of the Chicken 65 version from the ETV cookery show. I tried and it tasted differently(i meant differently nice) yummy.

Ingredients

1. Boneless chicken – ¼ kg
2. Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp
3. Gram masala – 2 tsp
4. Chilli powder – 2 tbsp
5. Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
6. Coriander Powder – 1 tsp
7. Salt to taste
8. Food color – Red a pinch (optional)
9. Corn and All purpose flour in 1:1 ration – ¼ cup
10. Garlic pods – 5-7 finely chopped
11. Green chillies – 4 with a slit
12. Oil to shallow fry
13. Few sprigs of Curry leaves


Procedure

Mix all the ingredients numbering from 1 to 8 and allow it to marinate for at least half an hour.

In a wok, heat the oil. Once the oil is heated turn the gas on low flame. Dust the marinated chicken pieces one by one in the flour mixture and fry till reddish brown and remove them on to a tissue paper.
In another wok, add 1 tbsp of oil and fry chopped garlic, curry leave and green chillies for 2 minutes. Add fried chicken and toss once before removing it from this stove.

Easy Malaysian Chicken Fry (Believe me it is very simple)

Malaysian chicken fry that Kanthi mummy makes is a very famous secret dish in our family. And it is a must have whenever we visit them. I asked the recipe many times but got multiple versions of it till one day when suzy akka leaked that to me. I was surprised to know that it didn’t include any of those aromatic powders, which I always though would make an amazing finger licking fry. Here is our family’s secret recipe.

Ingredients

Chicken pieces – 5 nos. medium sized
Clove 6 no. freshly powdered
Ginger garlic paste – 3 tbsp
Chilly powder – 2 tbsp
Curd – 2 tbsp
Turmeric – 1 tsp
All purpose flour – ¼ cup
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

Procedure:

Marinate the chicken with all ingredients except oil and set aside for atleast 1 hour.

Heat the oil in the frying pan and turn the flame low while frying the chicken. Roll the marinated chicken in the all purpose flour and put it in the oil. Repeat till you finish with all the pieces and cover it with a lid. After 5-7 minutes, uncover and turn the chicken. Allow it to fry for 5 more minutes and without lid. Remove them on to a tissue and dig in.

Stuffed Capsicum

I’m not a lover of capsicum in any form but this is one of the versions, which I love to eat.

Ingredients

Capsicum – 2 no.
Potatoes – 2 no. boiled
Oregano seasoning – 1tsp
Pepper Powder – 1tsp
Chilly flakes – 1 tsp
Salt for taste
Butter – 1 tbspCheese grated – 3-5 tbsp (Optional)

Procedure

To the boiled potatoes, add the oregano seasoning, pepper powder, salt, Chilly flakes and grated cheese and mash coarsely. Set this aside.

Deseed the capsicum by cutting it from one side and also to stuff the mashed potato. Brush the outside of the capsicum with butter and stuff with the potato mixer. Bake it in oven for 15 – 20 minutes at 150 Degree C. You can also grill it in the microwave for 10 minutes.
Remove it from the oven and decorate with freshly chopped coriander leaves and tomato ketchup. It tastes great with baked beans. Use the tinned stuff.

Potato Fry

If you think you can afford to indulge in something sinful with extra calories then this is something you should try out. I just love eating this but every mouth I take it makes me feel so guilty for the calories that I’m adding to the already piled and not to know how to burn calories…hehehe

Ingredients

Potatoes – 2 no. big chopped to thin cubes
Oil to deep fry
Salt to taste
Chilly powder

Procedure

Deep fry the potatoes to golden brown in a think bottom wok. Once fried, drain the oil from the wok. To the potatoes add chilly powder and salt. Leave the flame low for few minutes. Serve it hot with sambar or rasam. Actually, I make sambar or rasam so that i can eat with this ;)