Puttu

Puttu is a very easy breakfast ofcourse well known to all kerala homes. Just sharing for others. Its a steamed rice flour dish. Puttu can be made from the white raw rice powder or the chemba rice powder. It is made in a long steamer which is called as puttu kudam in malayalam.
Below recipe will give about 2 to 2 1/2 tubes of puttu.

Puttu Powder - 2 cups (i used chemba one)
coconut grated - about 1 cup (use more or less as you prefer)
water - about 1/2 cup (a little more or less depending on the flour)
salt

Take puttu powder in a bowl, mix in salt.
Sprinkle water little by little and mix in.
At a point if you take some flour in hand and press, it will hold the shape.
In short the flour should be wet through, but should not go to dough form.
It will take a little practice to find the right amount of water.

Now in the bottom portion of the puttu kudam, fill 3/4 with water and bring it to boil.
In the top cylinder shape, put in the circle sieve first. Add about 2 spoons of coconut. Followed by wet flour, use gentle hands when filling it. half way through add some more coconut grated and then flour and finally coconut grated.
Close the lid.
Keep it on top of the bottom with boiling water.
Steam for 5 minutes. You will see steam coming out of hole on the top lid.
Take it and push it out with a long stick. I use the back of a wooden spatula.
Enjoy with kadala curry or which ever combination you prefer.

Kadala Curry

Kadala curry is a kerala recipe with the black channa. It goes well with puttu or appam or upma.

Black channa(kadala) - 1 cup
coconut grated - 1/2 cup
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
coriander powder - 1 tsp
garam masala - 1 tsp
onion - 1
ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
coconut slices - some
curry leaves
mustard
oil

Wash and soak black channa over night or at least 3 to 4 hours.
Pressure cook it with a little salt and turmeric powder and keep aside.

In a pan dry roast coconut grated until nicely browned. Turn off the flame and add turmeric,chilli,coriander,garam masala and stir well. The heat will be enough to toast them or else you might burn them. Grind them into a smooth paste.

In a pan, add 2 tsp oil, splutter mustard.Add curry leaves.
Add coconut slices and fry till its slightly brown.
Add sliced onion and saute. add ginger garlic paste too and saute.
Now add the cooked black channa, ground paste and salt.
Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Done.

Pound cake or Vanilla cake

Call it a pound cake or vanilla cake ,this cake is my family's all time favourite. And may be the most often made. Probably many of you will have a similar recipe. If its just to eat as such i follow the below recipe as like.
But if i'm going to do some icing on it, i cut the sugar amount a 1/2 cup less because i feel the cake will be too sweet with filling and icing and you wont be able to eat more :)

With the below quantity, it makes one 13 * 9 inches cake or two 8" rounds.
Remember to use everything in room temperature. That will make the cake come out soft.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour or maida - 3 cups
sugar - 3 cups
butter - 2 sticks ( 1 cup)
eggs - 5
salt - a pinch
milk - 1 cup
baking soda - 1/2 tsp ( dissolve it in 1 tbsp hot water and keep)
vanilla essence - 2 tsp

Method:

In a bowl, take sugar and butter and cream them together very well with a whisk or electric mixer.

Add eggs one by one and mix them in.
Add salt and then add milk slowly and keep mixing.
Add flour slowly spoon by spoon and incorporate it well.
Add vanilla essence and baking soda in water and give it a final mix.
In between all these mixing remember to scrap down the edges at times.

Pour it into a buttered pan and gently tap it to release any air bubbles.

Bake in 300F for about 1 hour. [ depending on the oven the time might vary from 50 min to 1 hr and 10 min, so better start checking it at 50 min ]
Check for doneness.
Cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Turn it out and cool completely.

Enjoy!

note : This cake is a little denser type but moist. If you try the "Tea Cake" recipe in the blog, it will give you a more spongier cake but will be to the drier side. When going for icing and filling go for the more matching version of the cake with it.

Arachuvitta Fish Curry

Fish - 1 lb (1/2 kg) (i used red snapper here)

onion - 2 big

ginger& garlic - 1 tbsp

turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

kashmiri chilli powder - 2 tsp

coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

kudam puli(kerala fish puli) - 2 pieces

coconut milk - 1/2 cup

oil

mustard

curry leaves

Clean and cut the fish into pieces. Soak kudam puli in some water.

Heat 2 tsp of oil. Splutter mustard and curry leaves.

Add ginger and garlic, followed by onion and saute well.

Add turmeric, chilli and coriander powder and saute for a minute.

Switch it off and grind it well.

Add it back to the pot along with kudam puli and the water which it was soaked.

Allow it to boil well. Add salt too.

Now add the fish pieces and allow it to cook for 8-10 minutes depending on the fish you are using.

Add the coconut milk and let it simmer for a minute.

Done.

Koobum Payarum(Banana flower-Green gram dal) Thoran

This is a nice dry dish with lot of nutrients. Banana Flower is fiber rich and has lot of vitamins. More than that it has got many medicinal properties . Then green gram dal, its one of the very good in its family with lot of proteins and crab. This dal wont make you heavy or wont create gas problem. So in total its a great dish.

Vazha koombu /Banana flower - 1

Green gram dal - 1/2 cup

turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

coconut grated - 1/4 to 1/2 cup

green chillies - 1

salt to taste

oil

mustard

curry leaves

Clean and chop finely the vazha koombu and immerse it in water mixed with turmeric powder for 15 minutes.

If you are not familiar with it; remove the purple covers over it until you are no longer able to take it off and it will be yellow in colour. Save the flowers you find on the way.

To clean the flowers you need some patience. If you plan to use that separate the tough parts, the stigma and transparent cover, otherwise discard that.

Finely chop all and soak in turmeric water.

Pressure cook green gram dal with enough water and salt.

Squeeze out the water from the chopped vazha koombu.

In a pan add 2 tsp of oil, splutter mustard and curry leaves and add chopped koombu.

Saute for about 5 minutes.

Crush coconut and green chilly.

Add the cooked green gram dal and crushed coconut.

Check for salt.

Saute for a couple of minutes until its dry.

Done.

Chembu Asthram / Taro root curry

This is a coconut yogurt based curry with taro root. The name is kind of fancy, but the recipe is similar to kaalan.

Taro root / Chembu - 5 or 6

coconut - 3/4th cup(grated)

small onion - 3

cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

yogurt/curd - 1/2 cup

turmeric powder - a pinch

chilli powder - 1/2 to 1 tsp (depending on the heat)

salt to taste

Clean and cut taro root(chembu). While cleaning scrap off all the brown and green skin completely.

Take them in a vessel. Cover with water. Add turmeric,chilli powders and salt and let it cook well.

Grind together coconut,small onions and cumin seeds to a smooth paste.

Add yogurt into the ground mixture and add them to the cooked roots.

Keep the flame in lowest. Let it gently heat through.dont let it boil.

Season oil with mustard seeds,dry red chilli,chopped small onions and curry leaves and pour over the chembu curry. Done.

Turkey Rolls

This is a roll with some turkey and vegetable mix filling. You can replace it with chicken if you don't have some.

Cooked turkey - 1 cup (cubed)

Any mix of cooked vegetables -1/2 cup cut [ i used potatoes and snow peas]

Cream cheese - 2 or 3 tbsp

garam masala - 1/2 tsp

pre made crescent roll dough- 1 can [a can will have 8 pieces, you can find it in refrigerator section of supermarket]

Cook turkey and vegetables separately with salt.

In a pan, add them and garam masala and cream cheese. Mix it well and heat through.

Take out the crescent dough, open it up and cut up the triangles.

Arrange it in a baking sheet. Add a spoon of filling into each and wrap it over.

Bake in 375F for 12 - 15 minutes.

note: its an easy appetizer which you can vary with any filling of your choice.

Pazham Unniappam

This is a very easy evening snack. And it needs over ripe banana. So do not throw them away:)

Banana's are plentiful in kerala houses. So my grandma used to make this often.

Banana - 1 (nice ripe or over ripe)

sarkara / brown sugar cane- about 1/2 cup grated (add more if u like it more sweet)

APF or maida - 5 or 6 heaped tbsp

baking powder - 1/4 tsp

salt - a small pinch

oil -for frying

Peel banana and mash it well with a fork. Add grated brown sugar cane and mix well.

Add a pinch of salt and baking powder and mix.

Keep adding flour 1 tbsp at a time and mix.

Stop adding flour when the batter is not runny.

Not too thick not too loose.

Heat oil in medium low fire. Spoon batter into oil and deep fry.

It will only take a couple of minute.

Drain and enjoy.

konjum mangayum(dry shrimp mango curry)

This a nice kerala recipe with dry seafood which goes well with some steaming boiled rice.

Here in US we can get dry shrimp from kerala stores or korean stores like Hmart.

dry shrimp - 1 cup

raw mango - 1/2 (I used frozen, use 4 or 5 slices)

ginger - a small piece

small onion - 5 or 6

tomato - 1

green chilli - 1

coconut grated - 3/4 to 1 cup

cumin seeds -1/4 tsp

turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

chilli powder 1/2 tsp

mustard - 1/2 tsp

curry leaves - 1 or 2 sprigs

oil-2tsp

salt to taste

Wash and clean the dry shrimps. If its very salty type soak in water for a few minutes. Remove its head part and discard. we need only the body part.

Slice small onions, tomato, chilli, mango and ginger.

Cook the shrimp with all the above sliced ones and turmeric powder, chilli powder and some water. Let it the shrimp cook.

Grind together coconut and cumin seeds.

Add it to the cooked shrimp.

Add salt after checking for it. Because the dry shrimp will give out some salt.

Continue cooking for another 5 minutes.

Heat oil for seasoning. Add mustard and curry leaves. Pour over shrimp curry and mix.

Done.

Diamond Cuts

Its a simple snack from kerala. The dough is rolled out and cut into diamond shapes and hence the name.

All purpose flour or Maida - 2 cups

Sugar - 2 tbsp

salt - a small pinch

Egg - 1 (optional)

Black sesame seeds or Ellu - about 2 tsp

water - about 1 cup

Oil for frying.

Make a dough like you make for poori with flour,sugar,salt,ellu,water and egg if using. Let it rest for 15 minutes.

Roll it out nice and thin and cut into diamond shapes.

Deep fry in oil until nice and crisp. Keep the flame medium or less.
Be with it moving them around.

Strain,cool and keep in air tight container and enjoy..

To make a sweet version: after you make the diamond cuts, make a syrup with sugar and water, boil it until sticky, put the diamond cuts into it, coat them nicely and take it out and let them dry.

Cherry Delight Cake

This is a cherry flavoured chocolate cake which I made sometime back, just came across the picture now. So thought of posting it.

Its the same recipe as the strawberry delight cake which i have posted earlier. Substitute cherry for this cake where ever it was strawberry in that.

You can find that recipe here.

So use cherry Jello for flavouring and chopped cherries in between. I used the bottled maraschino cherries.

No much decoration here. I just slathered it with whipped cream and drizzled little melted chocolate and a few cherries for decoration. You can dress it up or down. This cake can even be looked up as a version of the all favourite black forest!

Vegetable Fried Rice

Vegetable fried rice is an easy way to sneak peak the vegetables in my house and can be easily made to go with any vegetarian or non vegetarian curry. Below one is just carrot and spring onions. Add any vegetables of your choice.

Basmati rice - 2 cups

Carrot - 2 medium

spring onion - 1 or 2 bunches.

vegetable stock or chicken stock - 2 cups

water - 2 cups

garam masala - 1/2 tsp

salt to taste

oil or ghee.

Make your own stock or use store bought. To make your own boil water with chopped onion,carrot and celery with salt and whole garam masala for about 45 minutes. Strain and use.

You can make a large batch and freeze it.

Soak the basmati rice for 15 minutes. Strain.

Thinly slice the vegetables.

To cook the rice add a couple of tsp of oil or ghee and fry the rice lightly.

Add 2 cups of stock and 2 cups of water. Check for salt.

Keep in high. When it boils reduce flame to medium.

When you see the water is almost gone and there will be holes on top of rice, mix it once and sim the flame. Switch off and keep it closed for some time.

In a wide pan, heat some oil, fry the sliced vegetables until well done.

Add salt necessary for the vegetables.

Add garam masala powder and saute.

Add the cooked rice and saute a couple of minutes with light hand.

Done.

Upperi or Banana Chips

Banana is rich in potassium. But beware banana chips has plenty of calories.

Raw Plantain - 5 [any number u wish to]

Turmeric powder

salt

oil for frying

Prepare the plantain by removing the peel of it. Make a long slit on the skin and push it gently with the knife to peel off the skin and wash in salt water.

Take a bowl with water and add a quarter teaspoon of turmeric powder.

Slice banana into thin rounds and drop them in the turmeric water for a few minutes.

Heat the oil for frying.

Mix a tablespoon of salt with a couple of tbsp of water and keep.

Pat the slices dry and deep fry in oil.

When its almost done sprinkle a few drops of salt water.

Once its fully crispy drain to a paper towel.

When it cools transfer to air tight container.Enjoy!

Inji Curry

Inji curry has a lot of variations in different parts of kerala and a must part of onasadhya.

Below is one of it. Its a savoury dish with different flavours of salt,sour,sweet and the star, pungent ginger in it.

Ginger - about 100 gms

Green chilli - 1

tamarind - a gooseberry size

chilli powder -1/2 to 1 tsp

turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

jaggery - 1 tbsp(powdered)

salt to taste

fenugreek seeds - 1tsp

rice - 1 tsp

oil to fry

mustard - 1/2 tsp

curry leaves - a sprig

dry red chilli - 1

Chop ginger and green chilli into fine pieces.

Soak tamarind and extract the pulp.

Dry fry fenugreek seeds and rice and grind it into a fine powder and keep.

Heat about 2 to 3 tbsp of oil. Splutter mustard, followed by curry leaves and dry red chilli.

Add the chopped ginger and green chilli and fry well until browned.

Keep sauteing it and be with it, because it will get burned easily.

When its nicely fried add chilli powder and turmeric powder and fry.

Add tamarind juice and salt. Let it boil for about 5 minutes.

Add jaggery and mix.

Finally add fenugreek and rice powder and keep stirring until slightly thickened.

Done.

Erisseri

As the Onam is so near, thought of sharing some onam recipes.

Onam falls in Chingam; the first month of malayalam Calendar.

It marks the annual visit of King Mahabali and since it is in the harvesting season, there is abundance of all produce.

It is said; "Attam 10,onam".Starting from attam day 10 days are onam and the 10th day is Thiruonam.

The beauty is all keralities celebrate onam.

Memories of onam brings into mind the sumptuous vegetarian feast(onasadhya),floral designs(attapovu),boatraces(vallamkali),plays and games(onakkalikal),new dresses(onakkodi) and a lot associated with it.

Onasadhya consists of a variety of dishes including upperi,sarkarapuratti,erisseri,pulisseri,olan,kalan,inji curry,pachadi,thoran,avial,kootu curry,pradhaman, the list goes on.....

Below is the recipe for erisseri. This is usually done with a combination of vegetables.

Pumpkin and red beans or Yam and raw banana or even using one of these. The procedure is same for all.

Since I didn't have red beans in hand i used black eyed beans. It gives the same taste, but red bean will give a more good colour appeal.

Pumpkin - 2 cups(cut in cubes)

Red beans or black eyed beans - 1/2 cup

turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

coconut - 1/2 cup grated

cumin seeds -1 tsp

dry red chilli - 3 or 4

salt to taste

for seasoning:

oil - 2tsp

mustard seeds - 1 tsp

dry red chilli - 1 or 2

coconut grated - 2 tbsp

Soak the beans and cook them with salt .

Cook the pumpkin too with salt and turmeric powder.

Add to the beans.

Grind together coconut, cumin seeds and dry red chilli and add the the pumpkin and beans.

Mash them lightly or finely depending on the consistency you like.

Check for salt.

For seasoning, heat oil , splutter mustard, add dry red chilli and coconut and fry until coconut is brown.

Pour over the pumpkin bean mixture. Done.

Rava Idli

Below recipe will give 10 to 12 rava idlies. Easy to make and healthy as well.

Rava - 1 cup

yogurt - 1/2 cup

water - around 2 and 1/2 cups

carrot grated - 1/2 cup

cilantro leaves chopped - about 2 tbsp

baking soda - a pinch

salt to taste.

Beat 1/2 cup yogurt with 1/2 cup water and add to rava.

Add salt and mix.

Let it rest for 1/2 to 1 hour.

Now add grated carrot,cliantro,1 cup of water,baking soda and mix.

Check for consistency of batter. It should be like idli batter.

Pour into greased Idli moulds and steam for 10 minutes.

Oven fried Chicken Legs

Chicken leg pieces - 5 (i left the skin on)

oil - 2 tsp

for marinating:

turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

chilli powder -1/2 tsp

salt to taste

for coating:

breadcrumbs - 1/2 to 1 cup

some dry parsely leaves

chilli powder -1/4 tsp

cumin powder -1/4 tsp

salt to taste

First make a brine bath for the chicken. This will make the chicken tender and helps the salt to get inside the meat.

In a bowl take enough cold water to cover the chicken. Add a little turmeric powder,chilli powder and more than enough salt.

Immerse the chicken legs in this water and keep in refrigerator for 1 or 2 hours.

After that take it and drain.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Take 2tsp of oil and massage it on the legs.

In a bowl mix all the ingredients for coating.

Coat the chicken legs well in the breadcrumbs mixture.

Keep it apart in an oven safe tray.

Bake for 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350F. Let is bake another 15 minutes.

Done.

Beef Ularthiyathu or Beef fry kerala style

beef - 2 lbs

onions - 3 or 4

ginger - 2 tbsp minced

garlic - 2 tbsp minced

turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

chilli powder - 1 to 1&1/2 tsp[according to the heat]

coriander powder - 3 tsp

garam masala - 1/2 to 1 tsp

pepper powder - 1 tsp

curry leaves - 2 sprigs

salt to taste

mustard - 1tsp

oil

Cut beef into bite size pieces.

Marinate with ginger,garlic,turmeric, chilli and coriander powder and salt. Let it rest for 1 hour.

Cook the marinated meat with 1/2 a cup of water in a pressure cooker until done.

In a pan add 2 or 3 tbsp of oil, splutter mustard and add curry leaves.

Now add the onion and saute until light brown.

Add the cooked meat, followed by garam masala and pepper powder.

Keep sauteing until its dry.Done.

Veggie delight Rotini Pasta (Low fat)

This recipe can be used with any type of pasta with your choice of vegetables.

This is my pairing.

Rotini Pasta - 2 cups or any pasta of your choice

spinach - a bunch chopped [or any dark leafy vegetable]

carrot - 2 or 3 sliced

onion - 1 small finely chopped

tomato - 1 finely chopped

green chilli - 1 finely chopped

Yoghurt - 1 cup

mayonnaise - 2 tbsp

pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

some fresh or dried parsley leaves and oregano

garam masala - 1 tsp

salt to taste

Cook pasta in boiling water with salt. Drain and keep. Reserve some cooked pasta water.

In a pan saute carrot with a tsp of oil until cooked. Take it out.

To the same pan add chopped spinach and saute . Add little turmeric powder and salt. When done remove from heat.

Now mix together yoghurt,mayo,pepper powder, parsley,oregano,garam masala and salt. Add a little more salt than what u think is needed for that much sauce.

Now add the cooked vegetables to the pasta, followed by freshly chopped onion,tomato and greenchilli.

Then add the sauce mixture. Mix everything well and warm it through.

Done.

Meatballs

Meat balls are a very versatile dish, This can be used in different ways. I prefer baking them because that retains the moisture and softness more.

Any ground meat - 1lb [i prefer 80% lean beef]

eggs - 1

breadcrumbs - 1/2 cup

milk - 1/2 cup

onion - 1 medium

garlic - 4 cloves

cheese [romano or parmesan or monterey jack] - 1/2 cup

some dry or fresh parsely and basil leaves.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cooking oil on a baking sheet or dish.

Finely chop onion, garlic and leaves if using fresh(For a finer texture grate onion n garlic).

Saute them in a tsp of oil.

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.

Make small balls and place on the baking dish.

If the mixture feels too loose to hold balls, add a little more bread crumbs.

Bake in oven for 30 to 35 minutes.

Enjoy as such as an appetizer or add it to pasta sauce and pour over spaghetti or any of your favourite pasta.

Or make a meat ball curry. You can use my Chicken Curry recipe, substitute chicken with meat balls. Viola!! Enjoy!

[if you dont have an oven, pan fry them in medium heat with a couple of teaspoons of oil]

Low fat Rotini Pasta

For this recipe I have used rotini pasta, you can use what ever you have in your pantry.

Trying to make it more healthy, included spinach and low fat cheese. You can add more vegetables of your choice.

Rotini pasta - 2 cups

onion - 1

80% lean beef - 1 lb

spinach - 1 bunch

garlic - 3 or 4 cloves

1% low fat cottage cheese - 1 cup

yoghurt - 1/2 cup

chilli powder - 1/4 tsp

garam masala -1 tsp

some dried or fresh parsely and oregano.

Any low fat italian cheese - 1/2 cup grated.

salt to taste.

Boil water, add salt and cook pasta or 10 to 12 minutes.

Wash and chop spinach and onions.

In a pan, add a little oil, saute onion, garlic followed by spinach.

Add the meat, chilli powder, garam masala, salt and dry leaves.

Let it cook for 10 minutes.

Blend cottage cheese smooth.

Add it and the yoghurt.

Add drained pasta and grated cheese and heat it through and serve.

Eggless Pound cake -Dressed Up

This is an egg-less pound cake with whipped topping and a pineapple filling in between.

For Egg-less pound cake:

---------------------------------

all purpose flour - 2 1/4 cups

butter - 1 1/2 sticks or 3/4 cup

condensed milk - 1 1/2 cup

baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp

baking soda - 1/2 tsp

vanilla essence - 1 tsp

plain soda water- 1 1/2 cup

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease the baking tray with butter.

Take the flour, baking powder and baking soda and sieve then together.

In a wide mixing bowl, whisk together softened butter and condensed milk until smooth.

Add some flour, some soda and whisk it well, repeat until all flour and soda are done. Do not add them all at once .Add them in 3 or 4 additions.

Whisk in vanilla essence.

Pour into the prepared dish and bake it for 35 to 40 minutes.

For whipped cream

--------------------------

heavy whipping cream - 2 to 3 cups

vanilla extract - 1 tsp

sugar - 2 tbsp

Take whipping cream into a bowl.

Start whipping slowly until soft peak forms.

Now add sugar and continue whipping until thick peak forms.

Once done keep covered with a plastic wrap in refrigerator unit ready to frost.

For pineapple filling

----------------------- -

1/2 of a pineapple chopped small

sugar - 1 cup

Cook the pineapple over medium heat.

Keep in low flame,add sugar and keep stirring until dissolved.

Let it cool.

Assemble and decorate

**************************

Bake the cake and let it cool.

Cut into 2 layers. Spread pineapple filling in between.

Frost outside with whipped cream.

For a simple decoration I have made a flower out of jelly bean rolled out and some chocolate dress ups.

Vazhakka Moru Curry or Moru Kalan

This is a dish from Kerala. The thicker version of this is called Kurukku Kalan which is one item for sadhya[a vegetarian feast]. For that its the same recipe except that u may double the coconut grated and add less water. Thinner version is what I'm giving below.

Ingredients:

Raw banana - 1

turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

curd - 1 cup

curry leaves - a sprig

mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp

dry red chilli - 1 or 2

oil- 2 tsp

salt to taste

for grinding:

grated coconut - 1/2 cup

cumin seeds - 1 tsp

green chilli - 1 or 2[add more if u want it more spicy]

Method:

Peel the skin of the banana and chop into small pieces.

Cook it with a little turmeric powder and salt and some water.

Beat the curd and mix in a cup of water and keep.

Grind together grated coconut,cumin seeds and green chilli.

When the banana is cooked add the coconut mixture and curd in very low flame.

Add some water if desired and keep stirring until heated. Do not let it boil.

Check for salt.

In a small pan heat oil, splutter mustard followed by fenugreek seeds, dry red chilli and curry leaves.

Pour this over the prepared curry.

Done.

Chembu mezhukkuperatti or Taro root stir fry

Taro or Arbi or Colocassia or chembu(in malayalam) root is a root vegetable which is a good source of dietary fiber, vitamin E, potassium and manganese.

This is a simple recipe with it.

Chembu or taro root - 1/2 lb

onion - 1/2

turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

chilli powder or crushed chilli - 1/2 tsp

salt to taste

curry leaves - 1 sprig

mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp

oil - 2 tsp

Remove the skin and slice taro root into desired size pieces.

Heat oil in a pan. Splutter mustard and curry leaves.

Add onions chopped followed by taro root slices.

Fry for a minute. Now add turmeric powder and crushed chilli and salt.

Sprinkle some water and cover and put it in medium low flame.

Check for doneness, if not sprinkle a little more water and let it cook.

Open the pan and stir fry for 5 minutes.

Grandma's Chicken Samosa

This is one of my childhood favourite. This was my Grandma's version of chicken samosa.

When I came out of India, I found almost similar snack,the Empanada in Latin American restaurants.

Ingredients:

dough:

wheat flour/atta - 1 cup

water -about 1/2 cup

salt

filling:

Chicken - 1/2 lb or any ground meat as well

onion - 1 small

tomato-1 small

ginger and garlic minced - 1/2 tsp

turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

chilli powder-1/4 tsp

garam masala powder-1/2 tsp

salt

And oil for frying

Method:

Make dough as for poori and keep.

Cook chicken with a little salt,turmeric powder and chilli powder.

Then cut them into small cubes and chop onion and tomato.

Saute onion, ginger garlic paste followed by tomato.

Add garam masala powder and salt.

Now add the chicken pieces and saute for a minute.

Filling is ready.

Take the dough and make small balls.

Roll it out and keep about 2 tbsp of filling in one half side

Brush water at the side of the rolled out dough and fold over the other half and press gently.

Take a fork and press along the joined side.

Repeat with all dough balls.

Heat oil and fry them golden brown.

Crab Cake

Crab cake is an American dish with crab meat.

I came across this from my trips to my friend's house in Baltimore,Maryland state where it is famous for.

Later in other states I found it in the restaurant menu as the Maryland crab cakes.

Below is my version of it.

Ingredients:

crab meat/imitation crab meat - 1/2 lb

celery - 2 stalks

red jalapeno pepper - 1 or 2

small onion - 3 or 4

mayonnaise - 2 tbsp

egg - 1

bread crumbs - 1/2 to 1 cup

chilli powder -1/2 tsp

turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

salt to taste

Method:

Flake up the crab meat. If you are using imitation crab meat put in blender or food processor and chop it up.

Real crab meat will obviously taste more good.

Cook the crab meat with turmeric powder and salt and may be a little water.It should be dried when cooked.

Remove seeds from jalapeno and finely chop it and onion and celery.

Mix crab meat and all other ingredients and make patties.

It will be little tender type. If patty is not forming well mix in more bread crumbs.

Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Then shallow fry them and enjoy.

Use it in burger or as accompaniment to any dish.

Naan - No Egg, No Yeast

There are many recipes which I have come across for the north Indian Naan bread.

Here I'm giving a very simple recipe.

This will give you of course soft naan, but if you look for the restaurant type puffiness its different recipe.

I will post that later. But this one is good to start with.

Ingredients:

Bread Flour or All Purpose flour - 3 cups[I used bread flour]

Baking powder - 1 tsp

salt - 1 tsp

sugar - 1 tsp

Milk - 1 and 1/2 cup warm

oil - 3 tbsp

Method:

Combine flour,baking powder,salt,sugar and mix well.

Make a well in the middle and pour milk and oil.

Slowly mix together and make a soft dough.

Knead for a while. It will be a sticky dough.

Cover and let it rest for 1/2 an hour.

Put you oven to broil.

If you have a pizza stone its the best, other wise a baking sheet or even the broiler pan upside down will work.

Place it in the oven where the broiler is[check where the red hot iron bars are, it will be either in the bottom or top]

We need a very high temperature for naan, so need to keep it near that.

Mine is a gas oven and its in the bottom. So I keep the pan on the oven floor inside.

Now make balls like the size of 2 chappathi balls.

Roll it out nice and thin, or stretch it with hand.

Now put it in the sheet or pan inside the oven.

After 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Brown spots will appear.

Turn it over for another 1 minute.

You should keep an eye on them.

Take it out and brush with butter.

Enjoy with your favourite side dish.

You can add garlic or chopped cilantro if you wish to the rolled out naans.

Fish Cutlet

Ingredients:

Fish -1/2 lb

potato - 2 medium

onion - 1/2

ginger & garlic -1/4 tsp each

turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

chilli powder -1/4 tsp

cumin powder -1/4 tsp

egg -1

bread crumbs-around 1 cup

salt to taste

oil

Method:

Cook fish with a little turmeric and salt.

Remove bones if any and crumble lightly.

Boil potatoes with a little turmeric and salt.

Mash them and keep.

Heat 1 tsp oil, add onion,ginger, garlic and saute.

Add turmeric,chilli and cumin powder.

Add fish and potatoes and mix well.

check for salt.

Beat and egg in a dish. In another dish place the bread crumbs.

Now take spoonful of the fish mixture and make a ball applying light pressure.

Make it into which ever shape you like to.

Dip in egg and then roll in bread crumbs.

Repeat until all mixture is used up.

You can keep this in refrigerator and fry and serve it hot later.

For frying; heat a pan and add some oil.

You need oil only to shallow fry them. Everything is cooked inside, we just need to crisp the outer layer.

Drain the oil and serve.

Asparagus Thoran

Asparagus is a vegetable which is a good source of protein,fiber, Vitamin A,C,E,K, folate and a lot more. South Indian version of thoran or poriyal does work for this vegetable.

Ingredients:

asparagus - 1 bunch

onion - 1/2

garlic - 2 cloves

green chilli - 1

turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

coconut grated - 1/4 cup

oil

mustard -1/2 tsp

jeera - 1/2 tsp

salt to taste

Method:

Take a stem of asparagus and bent it , it will break in one point. Take the part towards the end.

Discard the other part which is towards the stem. This is tougher if u cook it. Repeat for all.

And chop into small rounds.chop onion,garlic and green chilli also into small pieces.

Heat oil, splutter mustard and jeera.

Add green chilli,onion and garlic and saute for a minute.

Add asparagus, turmeric powder and salt.

Add 1/2 to 1 cup of water.

When its cooked and water has dried add coconut grated and mix for a minute.

Done.