Injithair / Ginger curd recipe

Today, I've got injithair for u from the onam menu which is best to have along with a heavy meal, to get rid of gas trouble, good for your stomach. This is one of the oldest recipes of Kerala,considered equivalent to 1000+ curries . Usually, just one spoon of injithair is served along with sadyas.. Guys, thats more than enough for the magic work of inji which I mentioned earlier! This is very easy to prepare, need not much ingredients, yet tasty. Goes best with rice.

Ginger : 1/4 cup

Grated coconut : 1/2 cup

Green chilly : 1 no. (if required)

Thick curd : 1 cup

Salt : as required

• Finely grind ginger n grated coconut together.
• Take the ground ingredients and pour it onto a bowl. Add thick curd along with required salt and mix well. Add more curd depending upon your preferences.

Note : If you are towards the spicier side, you may add 1 green chilly along with ginger n grated coconut and grind them together.

Okra / Vendakka Pachadi

Yet another okra recipe, which brings the 'nadan' lunch taste to your tongue, stimulating your taste buds! Oh! am beginning to luv this vegetable! Earlier, I thought of this one as a sticky, messy veg, used only in sambars. Anyways, these new variations are taking okra to a different level, its not at all messy now a days;)! This is from the onam menu which is just perfect with rice! So, here comes a simple Kerala recipe to be added to your lunch menu. Try it out!

Ingredients:

Okra / Ladies finger : 15 nos.

Coconut oil : 1 tbspn

Yogurt / thick curd : 1/2 a cup

Salt : as required

For seasoning, we require, 

Coconut oil : 2 tbspn

Grated coconut : 3 tbspn

Mustard seeds : 1/2 tspn

Red chilly : 2 nos.

Shallots : 5 nos.

Curry leaves : 2 sprigs

Finely grind the following;

Grated coconut : 1/2 a cup

Green chilly : 2 nos.

Ginger : 1/2 inch piece

Mustard seeds : 1/4 tspn

Jeera seeds : 1/4 tspn

• Clean okra and cut off both the tips. Cut the okra into thin pieces as you do for okra stir fry and keep aside.
• Take a non-stick pan and pour 1 tbspn oil to it; fry the okra pieces along with a little salt until crisp.
• Take the pan again, pour the remaining oil. When hot, add the mustard seeds and allow to splutter.
• Add chopped shallots followed by grated coconut, red chillies cut into two and then add curry leaves and saute very well under medium flame. 
• Take a bowl and pour the yogurt into it along with ground coconut and then add the fried okra.
• Once seasoning is done, pour this to the bowl containing the remaining ingredients and cover it for a minute. 
• Mix everything together; check salt and add if required.

Note : You may increase the amount of yogurt and okra if required, for richness.

Cabbage Thoran - for the newly weds, neutral families and amateurs:)!

As one of my best friends' suggested, I'm thinking of concentrating on the basic recipes too a little bit more along with the new ones.. Now, regarding cabbage thoran, what can I say, it is considered to be one compulsory item in the basic menu of any Keralite's tiffin box, isn't it? which simply means its easy to make n also nutritious, which our moms would've aimed at while we were schoolgoers, right? a 'thattikkoottu'(prepared in rush without much effort) item as we Keralites would describe it, this one goes to all those newly weds and those away from home struggling to impress their hubbies :).. 

Ingredients :

Cabbage : 1 cup

Coconut oil : 2 tbspn

Mustard seeds : 1/2 tspn

Dried red chilly : 2 nos.

Curry leaves : 1 sprig

The following are to be mixed together;

Grated coconut : 1 cup

Sliced shallots : 20 nos. 

Finely sliced green chilly : 1 no.

Turmeric powder : 1/2 tspn

Garlic cut into tiny pieces: 5 pods

Crushed ginger : a pinch or about 1/4 inch piece

Cumin seeds(Jeerakam) : 1/2 tspn

Shredded curry leaves : 1 sprig

• Mix the aforesaid ingredients (starting from grated coconut) thoroughly with your hands and keep aside.
• Clean the cabbage by removing the outer cover off it. Cut the cabbage into tiny pieces, as tiny as the grated carrots we use for carrot halwa.
• Take a non-stick pan or kadai and pour oil onto it. When hot, add mustard seeds and allow to splutter. Add red chillies cut into about 1 inch pieces and saute for 2 secs. Now, add curry leaves and now, the seasoning is done with.
• Add shredded cabbage to it. Saute for a while under low flame.
• Add the mixed ingredients and required salt. Mix well with a spatula. Add a little oil through the sides if required. 
• Cook covered under low flame, sauteing them occasionally.
• And... thats it!

 Note : Add a little water after adding the mixed ingredients if you are not using a non-stick pan.

           You may avoid using ginger if you are fine with the raw smell of cabbage.

Cauliflower / Gobi fry

Today's recipe is gonnabe something made out of a very beautiful vegetable, which resembles a garland of flowers, cauliflower.. There are a vast variety of cauliflower dishes, however, I thought of starting off with the fry version, which takes no much time and is simple n tasty.. Even though cauliflower is considered to be used very commonly in northy dishes, its gradually becoming one of Kerala special recipes too... So, try out n enjoy!

Ingredients

Cauliflower : 1 cup

Rice flour : 1 tbspn

Corn flour : 1 tspn

Chilly powder :1 tspn

Turmeric powder : 1 tspn

Coarse paste of shallots(7 nos), ginger(1 inch piece), garlic(5 pods) and green chilly(2 nos)

Salt : 1/2 tspn

Oil to deep fry

Fried curry leaves (1 sprig) to garnish

• Wash the cauliflower florets thoroughly and boil them with a little salt and 1/2 tspn turmeric powder so as to get rid of the impurities/tiny worms if any. Keep aside to cool.
• Marinate the florets with the coarse paste.
• Mix rice flour, corn flour, chilly powder, remaining turmeric powder along with required salt and a little water to make a smooth paste. Keep aside for about 1/2 an hour.
• Pour oil in a kadai n fry the curry leaves' sprig and keep aside.
• Put the florets one by one and deep fry under medium flame.
• Garnish with fried curry leaves. Serve hot with plain rice or chappathi.

Note : You may replace rice flour with all purpose flour in case you are short of the former, but it would be crispy only if served hot.. 

Potato mezhukkupuratti / Potato Stir fry

Hey! here comes a very simple n easy recipe, can be a first try for those amateur cooks out there cuz this turns out to be too good to be avoided by anyone of your guests! :) . I remember, one of my college mates used to bring this for lunch very often and it so happens that she gets nothing left to eat when start 'tasting' her potato stir fry! So, I guess this is again a common recipe of most of the Kerala housewives who has got no much time to spend at kitchen.. Try it out!

Ingredients :

Potato : 4 nos.

Finely sliced onion : 2 nos.

Green chilly : 3 nos.

Curry leaves : 2 sprigs

Turmeric powder : 1 tspn

Chilly powder : 2 tspn

Coconut oil : 2 tbspn

Mustard seeds : 1/2 tspn

Salt : as required

• Wash and peel off the skin of the potatoes. Dice them into tiny pieces and marinate with a little salt, turmeric powder and chilly powder and keep aside.
• Take a non-stick pan and pour 1 tbspn of oil. Add mustard seeds and allow to splutter. 
• Add sliced onion along with green chillies slit into halves or finely sliced ones. 
• Add curry leaves and a little salt and saute until the onion gets transparent.
• Add marinated potatoes and mix well with the remaining ingredients.
• Cook covered under low flame for the potatoes to get cooked. Saute occasionally.
• After about 5 minutes, add the remaining oil or you may opt for butter too.
• Saute well and continue cooking covered, under low flame until the potatoes gets fried /roasted on all sides. Check salt and add if required.

Note : Do not add water to fasten the cooking process cuz that will mash the potatoes. This goes best with plain rice & chappathi.

Dal curry / Parippu curry

Parippu curry is a favourite of Keralites; and hence, I guess, it has got a significant place in every household and in the minds of every Keralite..A must for onasadhya and during Vishu too.. My hubby, who says a strict no-no to veg curries, 'gulps' a significant amount of rice when it comes to making this dish at home.. and I love to watch it.. The deadly combination of rice with ghee sprinkled/poured over and parippu curry, along with pappad is his all-time favourite. Am sure this would make you 'feel good at tummy' too...

Moong dal (Cherupayar parippu) : 100g

Turmeric powder : 1/4 tspn

Green chilly : 2 nos.

Curry leaves : 2 sprigs

Coconut Oil : 3 tbspn

Grated coconut : 1 cup

Cumin seeds : 1/4 tspn

Garlic : 3 pods

Shallots : 10 nos.

Red chilly : 2 nos.

Mustard seeds : 1/4 tspn

Salt : as required.

• Wash moong dal thoroughly and dry roast slightly for a few minutes.Remove from fire and keep aside.
• Along with 150 ml of water in a pressure cooker, add turmeric powder, green chillies slit lengthwise, 1 sprig of curry leaves, 5 whole shallots, salt and 1 tbspn coconut oil. Wait for 3-4 whistles and remove from flame and keep aside.
• Grind grated coconut along with cumin seeds and garlic.
• Once the cooker depressurizes, open the lid and add the above ground ingredients and cook under medium flame. Add water to reach the consistency of your choice, if less. 
• Add 1 tbspn of coconut oil to it. Check salt and add if required.
  Take a pan and pour the remaining coconut oil. Once hot, add mustard seeds and allow to splutter. Add finely sliced shallots along with dry red chillies cut into pieces and curry leaves(tempering). Remove from flame once golden brown. 
• Pour the above ingredients to the dal curry and mix well. Remove from flame.

This goes best with rice (as described earlier) and chappathi.

This can also be made with Thuar dal / thuvara parippu. Try it out..

Prawn / Konchu Roast

First prawn recipe of my blog; starting off with prawn / shrimp roast would be great na? Since prawn is not a regular of our homes as regular as meat, we often make just a few recipes out of it like prawn masala/prawn roast n that's a super hit among my folks! This is a specialty of Kerala n u get fresh shrimps n prawns here..you should definitely make use of it.. I have used the small ones n I feel its more tastier...

Prawn : 500g

Turmeric powder : 1 tspn

Chilly powder : 3 tbspn

Coriander powder : 2 tbspn

Fennel seeds powder : 2 tbspn

Pepper powder : 1 tspn

Finely sliced onion(big) : 1 no.

Juicy tomato chopped : 1 no.

Shallots : 20 nos.

Ginger : 2 inch piece

Garlic : 15 pods

Green chilly : 7 nos.

Garam masala : 1 tspn

Coconut oil : 5 tbspn

Coconut milk : 1 cup

Small coconut pieces (1 inch) : a handful 

Salt : as required

Curry leaves : 2 sprigs

Clean and de-shell the prawns, wash them properly, keep aside.
Coarsely grind ginger, garlic, 5 green chillies and shallots and keep aside. 
Fry coconut pieces and 1 sprig of curry leaves n keep aside.

• Heat 1 tbspn of oil in a heavy bottomed pan and saute ginger-garlic-greenchilly-shallots paste until the raw smell goes off.
• Add finely sliced onions, 1/2 tspn turmeric powder with required salt and saute until soft n transparent. Cook covered under low flame. Add 1 tbspn of oil along with this.
• Add prawns to it and saute for a minute.
• Add the remaining turmeric powder, chilly powder, coriander powder, fennel seeds powder and pepper powder and saute under low flame for a minute. Add finely chopped tomato and saute until it gets mashed. 
• Add coconut milk, check taste and add salt if required. Cook covered for about 5 minutes.
• Add oil through the sides of the pan and saute until the milk evaporates.
• Saute garam masala and 1 sprig of curry leaves along with this. Add the fried coconut pieces n mix well.

Simple Fish (Pepper) Fry / Poricha meen

Guys, did u realise? Not even one fish recipe in this blog! That's not happenin'!... anyways, I'll start off with the most common n irresistible dish of any Kerala household which is adored by each n every Keralite..Be it lunch, or even as a snack, fish fries are always favourite for us.. and I guess for any non-veg in India too!

Fish fries would be the best if you use fresh fish along with using the right marination & the right quantities. You may use any freshwater fish like Pearlspot (Karimeen) or King fish (Neymeen) or .. Pompfret (aavoli) or any fish actually... Try this recipe with the fish u bought today.. Though there are different types of marinades, I would like to come up with the easiest n yummiest recipe for u... No much prep work needed!!!

If you bought Pearlspot, you needed  cut it into pieces, however, if its King fish, cut the fish into 1 inch pieces.

Ingredients :

Pearl Spot : 2 medium ones.

Turmeric powder : 1/4 tspn

Pepper powder : 11/2 tspn

Chilly powder : 1/2 tspn

Lemon juice : 5-7 drops

Curry leaves: 2 sprigs

Coconut oil : 3 tbspn

Salt : as required

Onion rings : 10 nos.

A slice of lemon

• Wash and clean the fish thoroughly. Now make slits over the body without squeezing the fish / giving pressure. Drain water and keep aside.
• Mix the three powders mentioned above along with salt (according to your preference) and water n make a thick paste and also, add lemon juice to it. Taste the marinade and add more pepper if you need it to be more spicy and also add salt if less.
• Marinate the fish with the paste, keep aside for 1-2 hours. Take care to marinate the fish evenly allowing the paste to cover the fish and even the slits and sides of the head.
• Take a heavy-bottomed pan, pour oil to it. Once hot, add the curry leaves along with the sprig and fry them, remove and keep aside.
• Now, put the marinated fish or fish pieces onto the pan and deep fry under medium flame or shallow fry until crispy. Do not flip the fish very often to prevent cracking and for the marination to stick to the fish. Wait for about say, 2-3 minutes and then, flip the fish..
• Garnish with fried curry leaves, onion rings and a slice of lemon. 

If you've got excess marination, you may fry the same under low flame till crispy and sprinkle over the fried fish.

Tomato Egg Fried Rice

This is a very very quick n tasty dish. Its often perceived that any fried rice variant is difficult to prepare and hence most of them avoid preparing fried rice. Hence, I would say; start off with this dish and then you'll know fried rice is really easy!

Basmati rice : 2 cups

Cardamom : 3 nos.

Cinnamon : 1 inch piece

Cloves : 1 no.

Pepper : 5 nos.

Egg : 3 nos.

Ripe tomato (big ) : 1 no.

Chilly powder : 3/4 tspn

Finely sliced onion : 2 big ones

Pepper powder : 1 tspn

Turmeric powder : 1/2 tspn

Green chilly : 3 nos.

Mustard seeds : 1/4 tspn

Crushed jeera / jeera powder : 1/2 tspn

Bay leaves : 1 no.

Coriander leaves : 1 bunch

Salt : as required

Garam masala : 1/4 tspn

Ghee : 3 tbspn

Oil : 1 tspn

• Wash rice and drain; keep aside. Take a large bowl and pour half the amount of required ghee in it; saute the raw spices; cardamom, cinnamon, pepper and cloves for about a min. Add bay leaves cut into 1 inch piece.
• Put the drained rice in the pan and saute thoroughly with a wooden spoon until the rice gets completely mixed with the ghee. 
• Pour 4 cups of water and cook rice covered along with required salt. Keep aside to cool.
• Beat the eggs with required salt, chilly powder and 1/4 tspn pepper powder and scramble it and keep aside.
• Take a heavy bottomed pan and pour the remaining ghee. Once hot, put the mustard seeds. Once they start to splutter, add the finely sliced onion, sliced green chillies, turmeric powder, remaining pepper powder, crushed jeera with required salt. Saute until the onion gets golden brown in colour.
• Add the tomato cut into small dices and saute until they get completely mashed. Check salt and add if required. Now, the masala is done.
• Add the cooked rice to the masala and mix thoroughly. Add garam masala, scrambled eggs and mix well.
• Sprinkle coriander leaves cut into small pieces and mix for a minute. And its ready!!!

Note : To those who would prefer a description of scrambled eggs, take a pan and pour oil, pour the beaten eggs. You may add a little water or milk to the mix and beat until fluffy. Cook slowly under low flame. High temperature might turn them rubbery. Stir it often until it forms clumps and its done.  

Its better to prepare scrambled egg after ur done with the masala and rice since keeping it for long might make the egg slightly rubbery.
kerala 

Beef Fry / Beef Ularthiyathu

So guys,this is gonnabe the first beef dish of my blog.. and am sure this is a favourite of all household, really spicy n tasty to the extent that all those homesick Kerala NRIs take along the 'beef ularthu' made by their moms or wives while leaving homes, and its a perfect match to chappathis! This wud let u get rid off homesickness; oh! I cant guarantee that! Anyways, try it out n enjoy! :)

Ingredients :

Beef : 1 kg

Green chilly : 10 nos.

Ginger : 3 inch piece

Garlic : 10 big pods

Shallots : 15 nos.

Onion : 2 big nos.

Garam Masala : 1 tspn

Turmeric powder : 1/2 tspn

Chilly powder : 3 tspn heaped

Coriander powder : 2 tspn

Fennel seeds powder : 2 tspn heaped

Pepper powder : 1/2 tspn

Coconut oil : 4-5 tbspn

Salt : as required

Vinegar : 1/2 tspn (required if beef is hard)

Coconut cut into small dices : a handful

Curry leaves : 2 sprigs

Thin slices of lemon

• Clean beef n cut them into small pieces.
• Coarsely grind shallots, green chillies, ginger n garlic with half a tspn of powdered garam masala and keep aside.
• Marinate the beef with a little salt, half the coarsely ground mix, turmeric powder, 2 tspns of chilly powder, 1 1/2 tspn of coriander powder and 11/2 tspn of fennel seeds powder.
• Cook the above ingredients in a pressure cooker until you get 5 whistles and keep aside to cool off. 
• Take a heavy bottomed pan and pour oil. Allow it to heat, put curry leaves and also the stem cut into small pieces for that excellent aroma. Once that gets fried, add the coconut pieces and fry until slight brownish. Remove them from oil and keep aside.
• Add the coarsely ground ingredients and saute until the raw smell goes off. 
• Finely slice one onion and add to this and saute until slightly brownish.
• Add the cooked beef into this and put the remaining powders except garam masala and stir continuously for the powders to get mixed with the beef very well. Check salt and add if less.
• Add pepper powder and saute very well. Pour oil gradually at different intervals from the sides of the pan and keep stirring to avoid sticking to the bottom, under low flame.
• Add the remaining garam masala and u'll get the perfect aroma now. Add the fried curry leaves n coconut pieces. Continue stirring until its dry.
• Garnish with round slices of onions and lemon. 

Note : In case the beef you've bought is hard, pour 1/2 a teaspoon of vinegar to the marinated beef n cook for it to become tender.

Mutton Pepper Fry - Kerala Style

Hmm... I know I ve not yet served all those mutton lovers thru my blog; sorry guys..I was thinking; which mutton dish would be a perfect opener... and mutton pepper fry came to my mind within a fraction of a sec  and I love making this one..very spicy n mouth-watering indeed! You jus wont b able to stop eating..Hence, try this out today itself..

Ingredients :

Boneless mutton : 1 kg

Onion : 1 finely sliced

Curry leaves : 1 sprig

Green chillies : 12 nos.

Ginger : 2 inch piece

Garlic : 15 pods

Shallots : 20 nos.

Chilly powder : 3 heaped tspns

Turmeric powder : 1/2 tspn

Coriander powder : 2 tspns

Fennel seed powder : 2 tspns

Garam masala : 1/2 tspn

Pepper powder : 1 tspn

Coconut oil : 3 tbspn

Salt : as required

Coriander leaves : a bunch

• Clean n wash mutton n cut it into small pieces. Drain water n keep aside.
• Coarsely grind shallots, ginger, garlic and 9 green chillies n marinate the mutton with 3/4th the amount. 
• Mix turmeric powder, chilly powder, coriander powder and fennel seeds powder with a little water to make a paste and apply on mutton evenly. 
• Add required salt and bring to cook in a pressure cooker. Need not add water since the water in mutton would be enough to get it cooked. Cook under low flame for about half an hour. Keep aside to cool.

Note : If the meat is tender, you may require to cook for 20 mins only. If it is not, you can make it tender by adding a tspn of vinegar to it before cooking. 

• Take a heavy bottomed wok or kadai and heat 1 1/2 tbspn oil in it. Once hot, put the ginger-garlic-shallots-green chilly paste into it and saute till the raw smell goes off. 
• Add curry leaves, 2 slit green chillies and finely sliced onions; saute till golden brown. Now, add the whole contents from the cooker along with mutton stock (water remaining after cooked). Check taste; add salt if required.
• Keep on sauteing, pouring oil through sides occasionally under low flame. Saute till its completely dry n roasted. 
• Sprinkle pepper powder and garam masala and mix well. Add the remaining green chilly slit into 4 pieces. You may add coriander leaves to garnish if you like coriander leaves. Thats it!

Note : This is very spicy; if you wish it to be less spicier, you may reduce the amount of chilly or pepper powder.

I ve got one tip for u to make this dish more tastier;add fried coconut pieces onto this and you wud definitely luv it!

Crispy Chicken fry : Kerala Style

This is a very common dish 'burped after' by almost everyone of us, but when we try to recreate the taste in our tongues s where we understand the magic in the hands of our mom, mom-in-law n grandmas and the importance of using the right amount of ingredients to get the perfect taste..This one s a must try guys! Perfect idea to make ur hubby praise u ;)!

We would require

Chicken pieces; leg pieces would be perfect : 4-5 pieces

To marinate;

1. Ginger : 1 inch piece
2. Garlic : 7 pods
3. Green chilly : 5 nos.
4. Shallots : 10 nos
5. Garam masala : 1/2 tspn
6. Red chilly powder : 3 tspn
7. Turmeric powder : 1/2 tspn
8. Coriander powder : 1/2 tspn
9. Fennel seeds powder : 1 tspn
10. Salt : 1/2 tspn or asper ur preferences
11. Cornflour : 1 tspn
12. Red colour : a pinch

To fry;

Coconut oil : 3 tbspn

Onion : 1 small (finely sliced vertically)

Curry leaves : 1 sprig

Green chilly : 2 nos

To garnish; 

Onion : 1 no.

Half a lemon

Clean the chicken legs and make slits on them diagonally from upside left to down. Grind the first 5 ingredients to make a coarse to fine paste and marinate all parts of the chicken (including inside the slit parts) and keep aside. Now, mix ingredients from 6 -12 with a little water and squeeze about 9 drops of lemon to make a thick paste. Marinate the chicken pieces thoroughly with the paste and keep aside for about 2 hours.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a heavy bottomed pan and fry the curry leaves, remove them once done. Fry the onion till golden brown n crispy and diagonally cut the green chillies and drain oil n keep aside for garnishing.Now, fry the chicken pieces in medium flame ; flipping each side after about 2 minutes until golden brown. Do not flip very often or else the marination would go off from the pieces. Remove from pan and keep over tissue paper to drain excess oil. Fry the remaining mix used for marination until crispy for garnishing.

To garnish, first of all, place the chicken legs on a lovely plate and sprinkle over with fried marination mix, curry leaves and onions. Keep a round slice of lemon on one side and rings of fresh onion over the fry. Serve hot!!!

Special Chicken Curry

Hiya! today, lets make a spl chicken curry.. really spicy n tasty one.. Kerala style.. try it out n let me knw..

Here, we require the following items..

Chicken, cleaned with a bit of salt and turmeric powder, cut into small pieces :1 kg
Onion : 5 big ones sliced in small square pieces
Oil : 3 tbsp
Salt - 1 1/2 tspn or as rqrd

Turmeric Powder : 1/2 tspn

Chilly Powder - 2 tspn
Coriander Powder : 2 tspn
Fennel seed powder : 2 - 3 tspn

Make a fine paste of the above 4 ingredients with a little amount of water.

Shallots :15-20 nos.
Ginger : 1 inch piece
Garlic : 15-20 pods
Green Chilly : 9 nos

Coarsely grind the above 4 ingredients and keep aside.

Cloves : 1 no.
Cardamom : 2 pods
Cinnamon : 2 inch piece

Pepper : 2 nos.

Grind all 4 items together finely after slightly heating them in a pan.

Note: I'd like to remind you that its always advisable to use a pressure cooker while cooking (unless specified otherwise) as it saves a lot of fuel and most of all, ur time. Since we are taking 1 kg of chicken, u may take a pressure cooker with 5kg capacity. 

This is how it goes;

Heat oil in the pressure cooker, add the spices and saute for a sec and then add the coarsely ground shallots-ginger-garlic-green chilly paste.Saute them in low flame till the raw smell goes off. Now, add the sliced onion and mix it very well with the rest. Add a pinch of salt and turmeric powder each and cover the lid and cook.  

Now here's a quick tip for easy cooking; adding a pinch of salt and turmeric powder each to sliced onions and covered cooking would save a lot of fuel and time. This tip is applicable wherever u need to add onions and turmeric powder.

After about 5 mins, you may open the lid and check for the onion to become soft and transparent. Add the chicken pieces and saute till the mix gets in the pieces, say for about 2-3 mins. Once its done, add the turmeric-chilly-coriander-fennel seeds paste into the cooker and mix very well. Add sufficient water to produce a thick gravy. Add salt as required. Cook in low heat until u get two whistles on the cooker. Once the pressure inside the cooker is completely nil, u may open it and check if its too watery. If so, u can cook with the lid open till the gravy is thick. To make it more delicious, u may add a 1-2 tbsp of coconut milk to the curry and cook for a min on low heat and serve! Spl Curry ready!!!

Biriyani neychoru (Ghee rice)

Wondering what sort of a name this is... ? Actually, this one s my version of ghee rice alias neychoru as we keralites say it, which has been promoted by everyone of my family members n guests.. So, this one s exclusively for u..

Ingredients:

Basmati / Biriyani rice : 1 kg

Onion : 3-4 big ones sliced in small square pieces

Black pepper powder : 1/2 a teaspoon

Turmeric powder : 1/4 a teaspoon

Biriyani or bay leaf : 2 nos.

Ghee : 100 g

Coconut oil : 2-3 tablespoons

Salt - 1 teaspoon or as much required to taste

Water : Double the quantity of rice; Here, we have taken 4 cups of rice hence, 8 cups of water.

Shallots :15-20 nos.
Ginger : 2 inch piece
Garlic : 15-20 pods
Green Chilly : 10-15 nos
Coarsely grind the above 4 ingredients and keep aside.

Cloves : 1 no.

Cardamom : 2 pods

Cinnamon : 2 inch piece

Grind all 3 items together finely after slightly heating them in a pan.

To garnish,
Roasted cashews: a handful.
Golden raisin: 10-15 nos.
Onion: 2 nos. sliced across finely.
Pudina leaves 

Now, are you all ready? Alright, lets get started!

First of all, wash the rice very well and keep aside for half an hour or more. Take a heavy bottomed pan and pour 3 spoonfuls of coconut oil. While it gets heated, put the coarsely ground ingredients ie, shallots, ginger, garlic and green chilly and saute them till the raw smell goes off. Add the cinnamon, cloves and crushed cardamom and saute for 2 seconds. Now, put the sliced onions and 1/2 a teaspoon of salt, reduce the flame and cover the pan and cook. Check in between and saute till the onion becomes so soft and transparent. When its done, add 1/2 a teaspoon of black pepper powder and cut bay leaves and saute and cook covered for 1 minute.

Add 8 cups of water (double the amount of rice as said earlier) and then add drained rice and check the water for taste; and add salt as required. Here, one thing which u need to keep in mind is that only if u add slightly more salt than is normally required will it be accurate, after the rice gets cooked. Now, cover and cook in low flame for 20 mins. In between, u may open and check whether the rice has got completely cooked. If it has and still there is water, open and cook. The 20 minutes time limit wouldn't be appropriate for all sort of rices. Hence, its advisable to check in between and saute without the rice gettin broken. Now, if required u may pour a bit of biriyani essence or pineapple essence which u can buy from supermarkets for that intoxicatin aroma!But Im sure, that won't be required though since the bay leaves would've already served the purpose!

Now, in this 20 mins, you gotta take another small pan, put some ghee, and put the cashew nuts and saute for less than a minute or as soon as the cashews gets slightly brownish. After taking them off, saute the raisins till they blow up to the size of a grape. Take those off too and put the finely sliced onions and fry till crisp or slightly brownish. Now, come back to the rice and check for the water to get absorbed completely. Pour that ghee to the rice and fluff it gently; spread the cashews, raisins and fried onion over it. U may put pudina or cilantro over it to garnish... and now....... YOU ARE DONE!!!