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 ;)

Hilsa Fish With Mustards / Shorshelish / Patodi

This a favorite bengali steamed fish recipe, which I got from my friend Mousumi. Though I do not eat seafood I learned this for amith. He tasted it when he visited Kolkata. Ofcourse my cooking could never level it but i tried my best to make this steam fish tasty.


Ingredients

Hilsa Fish – 4 pieces
Mustard seeds – 2 tbsp
Green chillies – 6 no.
Curd – 2tbsp
Turmeric – 1/2 tsp
Mustard oil/ refined oil
Poppy seeds / khus- kus – 2tbsp (optional)
Salt to taste

Procedure:

Clean the fish and marinate it with haldi, salt.

Make a paste of mustard seeds, Green chilli (2 no.) and khus-kus. Take curd, turmeric and salt in a bowl and add the paste. Apply this mixture to the fish pieces.

Wrap the marinated fish with a slit green chilly in a banana leave. Chilli will make the fish spicy.




In a flat wok or pan, add little mustard oil or vegetable oil and fry the wrapped fish pieces for 10 minutes by turning in between.




In microwave - Brush little oil of the microwave plate and place the wrap on it. Microwave it for 15mts turning sides once in between.

Simple Egg Noodles

Ingredients

Plain Chinese Noodles (Hakka) – ½ pack
Eggs – 4 no.
Onion – 1 no. Finely chopped
Green chillies – 4 no. Slit it
Ajinomoto /Chinese salt – a pinch
Soya sauce – 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil


Procedure:

In a bowl, take noodles and add water till the noodles are ¾ in the water. Allow it to boil with a tbsp of oil. This would avoid sticking of noodles. Once the noodles are done. Drain the extra water and run them under cold water. Set it aside.

In a non-stick pan, add little oil to scrabble the eggs. Add salt to taste and 1 tsp of pepper powder. Transfer the scrabbled egg into a separate plate. In the same pan, add little more oil and fry onions till transparent and green chillies till done. Reduce the flame to low and add the salt, Chinese salt and soya sauce. Stir for a minute and add the noodles and slowly fold into the onions. Add the scrabbled egg finally and fold in. I love it without any sauce.

Corn Patties ~ Corn Vada

Ingredient

Corn kernel – 1 Cup
Rice flour – ¼ Cup
Onion –1 no. Medium sized
Green Chillies – 3 no.
Coriander leaves – few sprigs
Cumin / jeera – 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Procedure:

Make a coarse paste of all the ingredients except rice flour WITHOUT water. To this paste add flour to bind the ingredients.
Make lemon size balls and with a wet hand press it till you get a round flat shape. Put a small hole in the center with your finger. Deep-fry the patties. They taste good with Green chutney.

Coconut Rice

Where ever I traveled (down south) I found authentic coconut rice preparations belonging to that region. And almost all of them are different- different in taste and preparation. But one thing was common- the delicious taste.

Here is Andhra version of it, which I learned from my mom.

Ingredients

Rice – 1 cup
Coconut milk - 2 cups
Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
Cloves – 5 no.
Cardamom – 2 no.
Ghee – 1 tbsp

Procedure:

Coconut milk preparation: Make a paste of fresh coconut in a blender and add it to the 2 cups of warm water. Leave it for 10 minutes and them strain.

In the cooker / Rice cooker, take the washed rice and add the coconut milk and set it aside. In a wok, pour 1tbsp of ghee and add spices, curry leave. Sauté for few minutes. Add this to the soaked rice with salt and cook it till the rice is done.
It goes very well with the Andhra chicken.

Andhra Chicken Curry

This recipe was supposed to be posted long back but becoz of my hectic schedule got delayed. Deeps tasted this curry when she visited me last time and feel in love with that taste (of course, i didn't make it. It was mom.). From then she is waiting for this recipe. So here it is Deeps, exclusively for you.


Ingredients

Chicken – ¼ kg
Onion – 1 big no.
Tomato – 1 big no.
Coconut– quarter piece of a medium sized coconut
Cloves – 5 no.
Cardamom - 2 no.
Cinnamon – 1 inch pieces 2
Green chillies – 2 no.
Ginger Garlic paste – 2 tbsp
Oil – ¼ cup
Salt to taste
Chilli powder, Turmeric as required

Procedure:

Make a paste of onions, tomatoes, coconut, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and green chillies with little water. Set it aside.

Take a non-stick pan and heat oil. Once warm add washed chicken and ginger garlic paste. Allow the paste to fry for 2-3 minutes while stirring. Now add salt, turmeric, and chilly powder and fry it for few more minutes till the chicken starts changing color to brown. Add the paste and fry for few minutes before covering. Cook on a medium flame till chicken is tender. Don’t forget to garnish it with coriander leaves.

Tastes amazing with roties and tadka rice.

For Dry Skin

1. Oatmeal Yogurt: Oatmeal is supposed to be very good for the dry skin. To the fine granules of oatmeal add little yogurt and apply to the face. Leave it for at least 30 minutes before you rinse.
2. Banana honey mask is also very effective for dry skin. Leave this mask for 10 minutes and rinse. Check if honey suits your skin coz my mom landed up with rash when she used honey on skin.
3. Olive oil is also great for dry skin. It has loads of Vitamin K. Use it as a moisturizer and apply before going to bed. I use this for my baby for massaging before bath. I use it only for face.

For Dry Hair

These are result of my tremendous research to find home remedies for dry hair. Hoping you all will add few more to my list.

1. Banana pulp with little curd would act as a good conditioner for dry hair.
   I tried this and it actually works.

2. Olive oil is also very good for dry hair and also fights dandruff. Apply warm oil before going to bed. Next morning shampoo the hair.
3. Hot towel treatment also helps. Apply warm oil to the scalp and tie a hot towel to the hair. Repeat it hot towel treatment for at least 4-5 times before washing.
4. Also hibiscus leaves paste acts really fast on the dry hair. You can make the difference in a single wash but I find difficult to wash the bathroom as the leaves are very sticky and the whole place will be a mess :)

Chicken Roast ~ With Potatoes

When I say Chicken Roast, most of them feel it is a fry dish. But actually it is not.

I like it because there is no heavy masala and oil in it. I love the potatoes more than the chicken.

Ingredients

Chicken – ¼ kg
Potatoes – big 1 no. Remove the skin and cut into 4 pieces
Tomatoes – 2 big no. Chopped
Onion – 1 big no. Chopped
Green/Red chillies – 4 no. Slit them
Whole Pepper – 6 -7 no.
Ginger – 2-inch piece finely chopped
Cinnamon, Cardamom and Cloves - 2 each
Turmeric – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil – ¼ cup

Preparation

In a cooking bowl, add all ingredients except oil with 1 ½ cup water and cook till chicken is tender. Take out the chicken pieces from the rest and set aside.

Take a kadaii and heat the oil. To the oil add the boiled chicken and fry till brown. Once the chicken is fried add the rest of the boiled veggies and leave it on a low flame till thickens. Garnish with green chillies, coriander leaves and onion rings.

Note: If needed bake for 30 minutes. I rarely do that. I prefer the other way.

Dum Ka Murgh

I learned this dish for Benna aunty, amith's aathi. Now i've excelled this dish becoz of her. She was the only person who told me that Dum chicken is once of the easiest chicken dish. I was confused then but now i totally agree with her. Again she is a great cook. Hoping to learn more recipes from her kitchen for all of US.

It is a easy chicken dish when you have guests at home.

Ingredients


Chicken – ½ kg
Onions – big 2 no. (1 chopped, 1 grinded)
Tomatoes – big 2 no. (1 chopped, 1 grinded)
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp
Gram masala – 1 ½ tsp
Chilli powder – 1½ tbsp
Coriander powder – 2 tsp
Chilli sauce – 1 ½ tsp
Soya sauce – 1 tsp
Vinegar – 1 tsp
Red food color – a pinch
Tomato sauce – ½ tsp (Optional) Add this if you want to have with Roti
Jeera and Mustard powder – 1 tsp (Optional)Oil – ½ cup or more. You need little more oil for this recipe



Procedure

Mix in all the ingredients except for the chopped tomatoes and onions. If the chicken pieces are big, pock the chicken using a fork. Allow this to marinate for at least 30 minutes.

In a thick bottom wok, to the warm oil add onions and fry till transparent. Add tomatoes and also the marinated chicken. Allow the chicken to cook under a medium flame till tender and oil starts separating. Transfer this to oven and bake it for 20 to 30 minutes at 150 Deg C. Garnish with Curry leaves, Coriander leaves ,mint leaves and green chillies.

Variation:
You can have a gravy version also. Just add little more paste of tomatoes and onions. And DO NOT bake it. This tastes great with roties.

Groundnut Chutney ~ goes well with Dosa, Idly and vada

This is my favorite chutney that my mom makes and it’s a super hit among my friends.

Ingredients

Groundnuts / Palli – 1 cup
Green chillies – 5 no.
Garlic pods – 4 no.
Cumin/ jeera – 2 tbsp
Tamarind pulp – 2 tbsp
Curry leave – 1 sprig
Red chillies – few
Salt to taste

Procedure:

Fry groundnuts and green chillies in little oil; set aside.

In a blender, add fried groundnuts with chillies, jeera, tamarind, garlic pods and salt to make it to a paste. Season it with cumin, curry leaves and red chillies.

Tastes amazing with dosa, idly and vada :)