Easy Peasy Semolina Sweet / Rava Kesari

Lets make something sweet today...this one is liked by all alike.. This one is actually a favourite of South Indians.. and my mom makes this much much better than me.. Yeah guys.. and hence, this recipe comes straight from her..Usually, I have seen that many of my frnds n relatives make this with water however, I am using milk instead. You may opt for any of these.

Ingredients:

Semolina / Rava /Sooji : 1 cup

Milk : 2 cups

Ghee : 1 cup

Sugar : 2 cups

Cashew : a handful

Golden raisins : a handful

Crushed cardamom : 1/2 tspn

Yellow powder & Orange powder

• Heat 1/2 a cup of ghee in a heavy bottomed pan and fry cashews n raisins n keep aside. 
• Fry rava in the same pan under low flame, stirring constantly until it turns slightly pinkish. Keep aside.
• Boil milk along with a small pinch of lemon n orange colour each mixed into it and add sugar and keep stirring occasionally. 
• Now, add the roasted rava slowly into the boiled milk and keep on stirring under low flame to avoid lumps. Allow it to cook. We require more amount of liquid content for the rava to get cooked. So, if you feel the milk is less, you may add more until it gets cooked or may add water instead. Check sweetness and add appropriately.
• Keep on stirring to avoid sticking to the bottom. Add ghee occasionally in small quantities until the rava starts coming off the sides of the pan.
• Sprinkle crushed cardamom and garnish with fried cashews n raisins.Serve hot or cold.

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!

Vermicelli Pudding / Semia Payasam

Im sure almost all of us wud have had this at any point in our lives; be it birthday, festival or jus any day when u 'felt' like having Vermicelli pudding aka semia payasam. Actually, for Keralites, payasam means semia payasam. Its like THE brand name for payasams. That shows the popularity! 

Today is my mom-in-law's b'day and I made semia payasam.. Its usually her who makes payasam when its any of the family members' birthday. So, this one goes to her on behalf of all of us:)! 

Ingredients:

Vermicelli : 100g

Milk : 1 1/2 litre

Milk powder : 1 tbspn

Sweetened condensed milk : 1 tspn (to garnish)

Ghee : 50g

Sugar : 5 tbspn or as per preference

Cashew : a handful

Seedless golden raisins : 20-25 nos.

Crushed cardamom : 3 nos. 

Salt : a few drops / a pinch

We get plain n roasted vermicelli at supermarkets. If u have bought the roasted one, u just need to stir it with ghee to get them completely coated. I bought the plain one. Hence, those with plain vermicelli, follow me!

• Break the vermicelli into 1 inch pieces (better break it inside the cover itself cuz otherwise, it would be all over ur kitchen!). 
• Heat 3/4th of the ghee in a pan and fry cashews and raisins until slightly decoloured and remove them. 
• Put the vermicelli into it n roast them until golden in low flame stirring continuously n keep aside. 
• Pour the milk along with sugar into a bowl n bring to boil; under low flame. Also, add milk powder mixed in a little water, onto it. Actually, its advisable to boil it in a pressure cooker under low flame until 3 whistles.You will see that the milk has reduced in volume and has developed a slight pinkish colour and has become thicker. 
• Put the roasted vermicelli in milk and keep on stirring to avoid lumps. Now, cover n cook the vermicelli for about 15-20 minutes under low flame. Check sugar n add more if required.
• Add about 5-7 drops of salt or sprinkle a pinch so that u do not feel dizzy cuz of sweetness!
• Add the fried cashews n raisins. Add crushed cardamom n mix well. Pour the condensed milk over to garnish. Switch off the stove. 

However, I advise u to wait for about 20 minutes more before u serve payasam cuz there is something called 'paathrabhaagam' in malayalam which simply means keeping the payasam in the bowl for some more time since that would give it a much greater taste.

I would definitely like all my frnds to know one of my personal favourites; which is adding Tapioca Pearls/Chowwari/Sabodana (soaked in water and cooked) to milk (3rd step). This would make the payasam thicker n gives a different flavour. Try that too n let me know which one stole ur hearts! :)

Anyways, the semia payasam turned out well.. and I wud luv to knw how was urs! Take care!

Tomato roast

My mom used to make this dish since we luvd it with chappathi. Its a quick n easy dish yet too tasty.. After marriage, I used to try this at my home but it neva gave me THE taste of my mom's hands.. and hence, I was particular that I wud call her n record the conversation to get the right amount of ingredients for that matters..Still not satisfied, I went down to her n made her prepare it before me! See, am I not taking extra care to give u THE best?! And guess what, my mommy dearest dint show any disinterest to prepare the dish for me even after a long day's work.

Now this is Mili speaking on behalf of her beloved mother :)

Juicy red tomato : 4 nos.

Onion : 1 big sliced finely in length

Green chilly : 4 - 5 nos.

Garam masala : a pinch

Turmeric powder : 1/2 tspn

Red chilly powder : 1 tspn

Fennel seeds powder : 1/2 tspn

Mustard seeds : 1/4 tspn

Red chilly : 2 nos.

Curry leaves : 1 sprig

Salt : as required

Oil : 2 tbspn

Take a kadai n heat the oil in it, season mustard seeds n allow it to splutter, then add red chillies cut into pieces n curry leaves and saute for a minute. Now, add finely sliced onions and green chillies each slit n cut into two along with required salt and saute till golden brown. Add 1/4 tspn fennel seed powder. Now add the finely sliced tomatoes, turmeric powder and chilly powder and saute thoroughly. Cover n cook under low flame, sauteing occasionally. Do not add water to cook since the water from tomatoes would be enough for the dish to get cooked. U can b sure that your tomato roast is ready once the tomatoes get completely mashed and the oil starts to appear in the sides. Serve hot or cold, as u wish along with chappathi/roti/puri!
kerala

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!!!

Softy delicate Pancakes / Paalaada

Some of u might b wondering why I have added a lot of a's in Paalaada instead of writing paladapradhaman or jus palada. That's simply because, here, we r gonna meet a completely different dish, which is so softy n juicy and am sure, u guys wud luv it.. and its easy too! :)

Ingredients :

All purpose flour / Maida : 1 cup
Egg : 2 nos.
Coconut milk : 3 cups
Sugar : 3 tbspn
Salt : 1/2 tspn
Ghee : 2 tbspn

Beat the eggs using an egg beater until fluffy. Take coconut milk from about half a coconut grated. The more the coconut milk, the more tastier would be our dish today! Pour these both into a mixer and add flour to it and mix very well without lumps. Add salt as required. See to it that the batter formed is very loose, to the consistency of milk. Now take a non-stick pan and grease it with a very little oil under medium flame. Once hot, pour a spoonful of the batter and tilt circularly to spread all over. Cover with a lid and allow to cook. Now, open the lid and grease it with ghee all over and sprinkle sugar over it. Fold it once to make a half circle and.... we r done. Remember, serve hot and you'd luv them more than served cold. 

This is a perfect addition to ur breakfast menu as well as a teatime snack. For those health conscious, u may avoid using ghee and sugar, instead u can have it along with any veg or non-veg curry.
kerala

Carrot Halwa / Gajar ka Halwa

Here comes one of the easiest and sweetest dishes rich in Vitamin A, thus good for eyes and a kiddo favourite too! Try this out!

Carrot : 1 kg

Sugar : 1/2 kg or as per ur preferences

Full Fat Milk : 1 litre

Ghee : 3 tbspn

Crushed cardamom : 5 nos.

Dry fruits (cashewnuts, raisins, badam, pista / almond) : 1 cup

Orange or red colour : if required

Condensed milk : 1 tbspn ( if required)

Are u ready? This is how we go; Clean the carrots, scratch off the skin and grate them. Take a heavy bottomed pan and pour 2 tbspn ghee into it. Add the carrots and saute it for about 2-3 minutes. Now add milk (mixed with a few drops of colour if required) and sugar and cook covered in low flame until the carrot gets cooked and the milk gets completely absorbed, making the mixture thick. Stir occasionally in order to avoid sticking to the bottom. Keep on adding ghee until the mix is not sticky or till the ghee separates. Add crushed cardamom and mix them well. Take another pan n pour the remaining ghee and fry the cashews n raisins and add to the halwa along with the ghee. U may also garnish it with grated badam, pistachios or almond.

Note : U may add condensed milk along with 1 litre milk if u donot have full fat milk or if ur towards the sweeter side. 
Indian

Hot n' Spicy Chicken roll!

I have always luvd snacks, and am sure thats normal! Each of us forget about calories when its snack time right?! Now this one is an all time favourite snack; one of kids' fav too!

To make chicken rolls, we require

Maida / All Purpose flour : 1 cup
Dry yeast : 1 1/4 tspn
Egg : 1 no.
Butter : 1 tspn
Bread crumps : as much to roll the chicken rolls
Sugar : 1 1/2 tbspn
Salt : 1/4 tspn
Milk : 1 tbspn

All the above ingredients are for making the dough.

For the filling, take

Minced boneless chicken (cooked with a little turmeric and salt) : 250g
Onion : a big one finely sliced
Turmeric powder : 1/2 tspn
Red chilly powder: 1 tspn
Pepper powder : a little based on ur preferences
Garlic : 5 pods
Ginger : 1 very small piece
Green chilly : 2 nos.
Coriander leaves : 1 sprig
Garam masala : 1/4 tspn
Oil : 5 tbspn

Firstly, take a bowl; add 1/2 an egg, sugar, salt and butter and mix thoroughly using an egg beater or manually beat until foam arise. Then put maida / all purpose flour into it. Add yeast melted in water or milk and mix them well. Now, make a firm dough as we would for chappathi or roti; add milk and butter as required to get a smooth n soft dough, without lumps. Cover it using a wet muslin / cotton cloth and keep aside for an hour or more. The more u keep, the more it rises.

Meanwhile, take a kadai and pour 1 tbspn oil onto it. When it gets heated, add chopped ginger, garlic and green chilly and saute until the raw smell subsides. Then add finely sliced onion and saute with a little amount of turmeric powder and salt until it turns slightly brownish. Add red chilly powder and saute well. Add minced chicken and add a little amount of water for the content to get cooked. Add a little pepper powder if u r towards the spicier side. Add garam masala. Close the lid and cook in low flame for 3 minutes. Now, add the chopped coriander leaves and mix very well. Now, the filling is done. See to it that the filling is dry.

Now, make small balls out of the dough and roll it to the size of a chappathi. Grease it with butter and add the filling to one side of the same and roll towards the other end. Paste both sides with a little amount of water so that it doesn't open up while frying. Dip each of these rolls in the remaining beaten egg, then rolled in bread crumbs.

Take a frying pan and pour the remaining oil for deep frying. Once it gets really hot, dip each of the rolls into the oil in high flame and fry until golden brown. And now..... serve hot with tomato sauce!
Kerala

Sunday Funday : Aripathiri (Rice Paratha) and Egg Mishmash with coconut milk

Hey guys! Rockin'?! Alright, today, I wud like to invite u all to our sunday breakast which is the most widely accepted taste of malabar (Kerala)! At my home, Sunday starts with preparation of aripathiri and Egg mishmash, served with coconut milk.. Yummmmmmy! I guess u guys shud try it out atleast once..

Ingredients for Aripathiri:

Rice Flour : 1 cup
Water : 2 cups
Grated coconut : 1 cup
Salt : 1/2 teaspoon or as required

This is how we prepare the dough for aripathiri. First of all, take a pan and boil the water with grated coconut. Add required salt keeping in mind that u need to add rice flour to this mixture. Once it gets completely boiled, add the rice flour and knead thoroughly. See to it that the consistency of the same is similar to that of chappathi or poori. Switch off the flame and keep aside to cool. Then, knead the dough thoroughly so that no lumps are left, for a softy softy aripathiri! Then, make small balls out of it. Now, take a chappathi/poori  presser and coat both sides with a little oil. and press each of those tiny balls which would resemble a poori. Heat a tawa and put the pathiri on it turning it occasionally until it puffs up and gets cooked. In between u may brush the tawa with a little oil in case the pathiri gets sticked to it. Now thats all with pathiri! Hey, dont go away.. we have got more to do..:)

Egg Mishmash

Ingredients:

Onion : 3 big ones sliced into small square pieces
Coconut Oil : 3-4 tablespoons
Red Chilly : 2-3 nos.
Curry leaves : 1 sprig
Mustard seeds : 1/2 a teaspoon
Turmeric Powder : 1/2 a teaspoon
Red Chilly Powder : 2 teaspoons
Coriander Powder : 1/2 teaspoon
Fennel-seeds Powder : 2 teaspoons
Potato : 1 big or 2 small ones, cut into cubes
Egg : 2 nos.
Salt: as required

This is news for all the vegans out there! Usually, aripathiri is served best with mutton stew or chicken curry or any non-veg curry. But I assure u, this curry goes very well with aripathiri and its completely veggy!

So, lets start off; Take a pressure cooker and pour some oil. Once the oil gets heated, season the mustard seeds until they splutter. Then add the dried red chillies, broken into pieces and the curry leaves. Saute for a minute and then add the onion and mix very well. Add turmeric powder and salt and saute very well and cook covered for 5 minutes under low flame. Now, add chilly powder, coriander powder and fennel-seeds powder and mix them thoroughly. Now, add required water and check if salt is to be added. Then, we need to add the sliced potatoes and cover the vessel with the lid and wait for about 5-6 whistles for the curry to get completely cooked. Meanwhile, boil the eggs, once its done, shell off the eggs and make slits on them vertically and keep aside.

To prepare coconut milk, take the grated coconut and pour a little amount of water and grind it in a mixer or grinder. Then squeeze the content to a bowl through a kitchen towel or a strainer. Strain again after grinding with a little more water for more milk but see to it that water content is not too much or else the exact taste of coconut milk wouldn't remain.

Now, am sure you'd have heard the whistles from our pressure cooker. Allow it to cool and open the lid and mash the potatoes very well so that you get a thick gravy. Now, add the slit eggs and serve hot! Ohh! I guess I missed something.. When ur ready to serve, dip the aripathiris in coconut milk and the have them with our Egg mishmash! Yummy isn't!? Do let me know...

Smashtos (manjacurry) - Yellow Potato curry for Dosa

Today, I've got an 'easy to prepare' recipe for u.. Am sure most of my frnds, especially the vegans wud wanna try this out. This requires very less oil and hence, health-friendly too! This one goes well with dosa, a south indian breakfast item. 

You'd require

Potatoes : 3-4 small ones.
Onion : 1 medium size finely sliced vertically

Turmeric powder : 1/4 tspn

Green chilly : 4-5 nos. slit lengthwise
Garlic : 5 pods, cut into tiny pieces

Mustard seeds : 1/4 tspn

Oil : 1 tbspn

Curry leaves : 1 sprig

Salt : as required

Preparation is as follows:

Even before slicing the onions, take a pressure cooker and boil the potatoes till u get 3 whistles. Peel off the potatoes and smash them and keep aside. 

Take a kadai or a non-stick pan and pour oil in it. Once the oil gets heated, put the mustard seeds into it to crackle. Then add the finely sliced onions and saute in medium flame. Add curry leaves. After 3-4 minutes, add the garlic pieces and saute till the raw smell disappears. Now, add a little salt  and then add 2 slit green chillies. Once the onions becomes golden brown, add the smashed potatoes and mix them very well. Add the remaining green chillies and saute for a minute. Now, add turmeric powder mixed with a little amount of water to make a 'not too loose, not too thick' consistency. Alright... lemme make it clear; you may add half a cup of water in case u need gravy or else, just a little amount would be enough. Cover and cook for 5 minutes in low flame in case more water has been added or else, 2 minutes cooking would be more than enough. Now thats what I call a quick n delicious side dish! 
Tag : Kerala

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!!!