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.

Puttum kadalayum (Steam cake with chick pea curry)

Wow! puttum kadalayum is THE perfect combo for breakfast for me.. a real delicacy of every Kerala household.. I jus love the combination n would 'gulp' double the quantity of breakfast I would have if its some other variety.. This is a big hit in thattukadas (the dhabas / roadside 'after 12 pm' shops) a low cost dish in our God's own country and people cherish it a lot that they forget the ambience n stuff and jus get into the best thattukadas and order in bulk n eat tummy full.. Now, thats the ranking for today's menu.

However, some of us might have a bad experience of puttum kadalayum since they r usually a regular at hostels due to its low cost and puttu there is often too hard and the curry, too watery... However, I assure you that all those 'haunting' dreams would leave you if you try this out! Definitely!

Ingredients for Puttu / Steam cake

Rice flour : 1 cup

Grated coconut : 1/2 a cup

Salt : 1/2 tspn

Boiled water : 1/4 cup

Plain water : a little

• Add salt to rice flour and mix well. Add boiled water to the flour and mix well with a spatula/spoon. 
• Sprinkle plain water gradually and mix with your hand carefully breaking big rice balls to tiny ones. Mix water until the flour is moist or wet enough to steam.If you feel you cannot break the balls, just run it in your grinder for once and it'll come out well.
• Take a puttu kutti(a cylindrical vessel) and put a 1/2 inch layer of grated coconut and then add about 2-3 inch layer of rice flour and then again grated coconut and continue the process until you reach the top. Remember not to stuff rice flour in such a way that pressure couldn't come out while steaming. Add them very softly; alright! think that the flour n coconut would get hurt if you press.. So, thats the idea, gotcha?!
• Close the lid and keep it over the puttu kudam/pot (which comes along with the puttu kutti) which should contain water enough to steam.
• Keep over high flame and wait until steam comes from the holes in the upper lid.
• Push from the lower end with a spoon to a serving dish and serve hot with... what?? kadala curry is on the way.. wait now!

Ingredients for kadala/chick pea curry

To roast, we require

Grated coconut : 1 cup

Turmeric powder : 1/2 tspn

Chilly powder : 2 tspn

Coriander powder : 1 tspn

Fennel seeds powder : 1/2 tspn

Cardamom : 1 no.

Cloves : 1 no.

Cinnamon : 2 inch piece 

For seasoning, we require

Mustard seeds : 1/2 tspn

Dried red chilly :3 nos.

Sliced shallots : 7 nos.

Curry leaves : 2 sprigs

Black chana/chick pea : 1 cup

Finely sliced onion :a big one

Coconut oil : 3 tbspn

Salt : as required

• Soak chick pea overnight or for about 6-8 hours and pressure cook with a little salt until you hear about 10 whistles on your cooker and keep aside to cool.
• Take a tawa/pan and pour 1 tbspn of oil and add spices and saute for a minute. 
• Add grated coconut along with turmeric powder and saute frequently under low flame.
  Once the coconut gets roasted, add the chilly powder, coriander powder and fennel seeds powder and saute frequently and switch off the flame and keep aside to cool.
• Add a little water and a handful of cooked chana/chick pea along with the roasted ingredients to make a smooth fine paste.
• Take a pressure cooker, pour remaining oil, add mustard seeds and allow to splutter. Then add red chilly pieces and sliced shallots and saute until the shallots turn slightly roasted. Add curry leaves and mix well. Now, thats seasoning.. 
• Add sliced onion along with a little salt and cook covered under low flame.
• Add the paste and allow to mix well. Add required water to reach the consistency of your choice and add cooked chana. Check salt and add if required. 
• Pressure cook under high flame, until you get 5-7 whistles and now, your are done!!!

Note : This recipe goes well with black chick pea and I do the 'no roast' version of this recipe with white chick pea, those beautiful cute ones, remember? Try out n Njoy!!!

Rice Pudding / Kheer

Actually, my rice pudding recipe is something which was an accident-turned-yummy recipe! Once, when I overcooked rice and didn't know what to do out of the leftover, I tried this out to avoid wasting... This is a perfect sweet dish after lunch and also can be given to anyone and everyone cuz this is a darling recipe.. 

Ingredients :

Cooked white rice : 1 cup

Milk : 2 cups

Sugar : 1 cup

Fried cashews : 1/2 cup

Pista / Badam : 1/2 cup

Cardamom powder : 1/2 tspn

Sweetened condensed milk : 1/2 cup

Ghee : 3 tbspn

Salt : a pinch

Fresh / sweetened whipped cream : to garnish

• Take a bowl and pour ghee onto it. Put the cooked rice into it and saute for 2-3 minutes under medium flame.
• Take another bowl and pour milk along with sugar and boil under low flame until the milk reduces to 3/4th of its original content. Keep stirring occasionally.
• Add cardamom powder and then, a pinch of salt and mix well.
• Add the above rice mix to the bowl containing milk and cook covered under low flame to the consistency of your choice. A not too loose to thick consistency is ideal.
• Add condensed milk and stir well. Switch off the flame.
• Add fried cashews (and raisins if you wish) and stir well.
• Garnish the pudding with fresh cream and then, badam and pista over it. Rich isn't it?

- You may also make rice pudding with plain, overcooked basmati rice.

- If the rice is not overcooked, mash it and then saute in ghee.

- If the pudding is too thick, add more milk & required sugar to the consistency of your choice.

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..

Cool Cool Cold Coffee!!!

Under the scrotching sun, I really feel I should offer you a cool drink recipe which can be made at home.. I guess all of the recipes I've jot down here is easy to make at home... isn't it? Now, this is the most easiest cool drink you'd ever get and has become a regular in Indian households. This one would make all those cappuccino lovers glue to my blog.. very easy n yummy indeed..

You would just need

Frozen milk : 500 ml

Sugar : 5 tbspn

Instant coffee : 2 tspn

Fresh cream : 2 tbspn

• Crush the frozen milk and add instant coffee powder along with sugar to a mixer / blender and blend well until frothy. You may add a few ice cubes too in case you feel the milk is too thick.
• Pour the smoothie into different glasses and pour fresh cream over it to make it more rich!
• Serve super chilled!

Note : The amount of coffee powder you should take would vary with different coffee brands. Hence, taste the mix after blending and add if less. Add more sugar according to your preference, if less.

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.

Cumin seeds /Jeera Chappathi

This is a not so common yet very simple dish. I am sure everyone of us would know how to make chappathi, and jeera chappathi is just an addition of another ingredient; and here you are, before a very soft n delicate, healthy dish.. I tried it with maida / all purpose flour and u can try it with atta if you wish. Im making the oil-free version, its so soft n tasty! check it out!

Ingredients 

Maida / All purpose flour : 1 cup

Rice flour : 1 tbspn

Salt : 1/2 tspn

Cumin seeds : 1 tspn

Oil : 1 tspn

Boiled water : as required to knead the dough

• Add salt and slightly crushed cumin seeds to maida and mix thoroughly. 
• Add boiled water to the flour and mix well with a spatula. Add oil gradually and knead thoroughly with hand to make a soft, non-sticky dough. 
• Make small balls out of it and dip each of those in rice flour and roll into round chappathis.
• Place the chappathi on a pre-heated tawa under medium flame; flipping after 1 minute and then again flipping until cooked, pressing with spatula to puff up.  

Note : The more you knead and mix well, the more softer would be your chappathis. You will know the kneading process is done when you find bubbles forming in the dough.

I haven't used oil to cook the chappathis. You may use them if required. 

Kozhukkatta / Sweet Rice Balls

I am sure the subject line of today's post would've taken many of u to those good ol' days... kozhukkatta is one such recipe which brings about nostalgic memories off u... u start remembering ur school days, vacations, tea-time,etc.. ain't I right? This is a traditional Kerala dish and I remember, at our home, whenever kozhukkatta was made, we used to snatch as many no. as possible and would eat'em as if we've got the whole world in our hands! Hey guys, the recipe is simple actually.. All those who are away from your moms, don't worry.. try this out.. 

Ingredients : 

Rice flour : 2 cups

Grated jaggery : 2 cups

Grated coconut : 1 cup

Sugar : 1 tspn

Salt : 1/4 tspn

Cashew : 1 tbspn

Raisins : 1 tspn

Ghee : 1 tspn

Cardamom powder : 1 tspn

Cumin seeds : 1/2 tspn

Dried ginger powder (chukku) : 1/2 tspn

You can make the sweet mix for kozhukkatta in 4 different ways;

1. Grated coconut + grated jaggery
2. Grated coconut + grated jaggery + cumin seeds
3. Grated coconut + grated jaggery + cardamom powder
4. Grated coconut + grated jaggery + cardamom powder + chukku

Note : Adding one tspn of sugar along with each of these would be even better..  

I've listed all the ingredients required and you can opt for any of these sweet mixes.. I would make the 4th mix for u..alright? OK, lets start!

• Add salt to the rice flour and mix well. Boil water in a bowl. Once the water is hot, add the rice  flour to it and mix well. Keep aside to cool, make a fine dough without lumps, make small balls out of it as you do for ari pathiri. The consistency shouldn't be too loose or too hard. 
• Prepare the sweet mix with grated coconut, grated jaggery, cardamom powder and chukku and sprinkle a little water and mix thoroughly with hand. If required, you may add fried cashew n raisins along with the sweet mix for richness ;)!
• Place each ball on ur hand and flatten it to rounds, keep the sweet mix in middle and close the dough to form a perfect ball. Remember, do not add more amount of sweet mix into the flattened ball or else, it would break.  Also, try to cover the ball evenly spreading the dough everywhere equally after closing it. 
• Steam the balls in a idiappam(rice noodles) or idli cooker for about 10-15 minutes and keep aside to cool.

This is a perfect tea-time snack or can even be had for breakfast. Eat well n enjoy!!!

Semolina / Rava Pathiri

We often make pathiri with rice and am sure thats now become very common dish of every Kerala household.. right? Now, we'll try the same with semolina or rava and trust me, thats really tasty.. and very simple too..

 
Ingredients

Rava : 1 cup
Water : 2 cups
Ghee : 2 tbspn
Salt : as required
Grated coconut : 1 cup
A little rice flour : to sprinkle over.
A little oil to grease the chappathi presser.

• Boil water with grated coconut and salt required. Adding a little more salt than required would be advised since adding rava would reduce the salinity. Once completely boiled, add rava gradually, stirring continuously.
• Stir under low flame, until the water content completely evaporates. Add a little ghee, if required, for softness.
• Switch off the flame, keep aside to cool.
• Knead the dough thoroughly adding some ghee so that no lumps are left. Then, make small balls out of it.
• Take a chappathi/poori  presser and coat both sides with a little oil. Press each of those tiny balls which would resemble a poori. You may also roll them out into small rounds on a chappathi board by adding rice flour occasionally so that they do not stick to the board.
• Heat a tawa and put the pathiri on it turning it occasionally until it gets cooked. In between u may brush the tawa with a little oil in case the pathiri gets sticked to it. You may add ghee if required for the richness.

Note : You can even make this without adding grated coconut which wud give u plain rava  pathiri. 

This goes well with chicken curry, beef ularthiyathu, mutton pepper fry, etc..Try out na, for a change!

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.

Okra Stir fry / Vendakka mezhukkupuratti

Firstly, a sincere apology to all my regular readers for being a bit late to come up with a new dish. Thanks for bearing me and coming back to try out my recipe.. :)

Most of us dislike okra or ladies finger cuz its too sticky n messy and also not that great in taste.. But even the vegetables u dislike can be easily converted to a most sort for dish thru some simple n easy steps...thats what we Keralites do..why not take some effort to intake okra which helps in weight loss n in maintaining good health? hence, here's one with very simple steps for u! Definitely try this out cuz this is simply delicious! 

Okra (ladies finger) : 9 nos.

Finely slices onion : 1 no.

Green chilly : 2 nos.

Mustard seeds : 1/2 tspn

Turmeric powder : 1/2 tspn

Chilly powder : 1/2 tspn

Oil : 2 tbspn

Salt : acc. to ur taste

• Clean okra, cut both ends and slice them into tiny rings. Its often advisable to take immature okra since the older ones tend to be more harder n hence would b less tastier.
• Take a non-stick pan and pour half one tablespoon oil onto it. Put mustard seeds n allow to splutter.
• Add finely sliced onion along with green chillies cut into small pieces, under low flame. Saute until the onion gets slightly decoloured n softer.
• Add finely cut okra along with required salt, turmeric powder and chilly powder and mix each ingredient with the other. 
• Add remaining oil and saute without mashing the okra until it gets crispy. Cook covered under low flame. 
• You are done once the okra is crispy roasted and the onion gets slightly brownish in colour.

Remember, the onion shouldn't get darker for that would make the dish get a charred effect. This is best with chappathi, rice and .. Actually, I found it best with these two! You guys try out n lemme knw what else wud go best with our okra stir-fry!