Fried and steamed fish/Meen polichathu.

Fried and steamed fish/Meen polichathu. a photo by {deepapraveen very busy with work..back soon on Flickr.

Fish fillet= Big one (around 100gm)

Mango chutney/Raw Mango chutney/Manga chamanthi/Pacha manga chamanthi.

Dears,

How u all? Enjoying your days? My advance happy week-end. It is Friday noon and I think I am already in a week end mood. I am very lazy blogger. But today I decided to post one of my" nostalgic food" recipes.

That is manga chamanthi/mango chutney.  Summer holidays are about to begin back at home in Kerala.

My childhood summer vacation memories is always attached to the taste of mango recipes. Mom prepares one  or another form of mango curry all those two months. Now staying away from mom and thinking about her mouthwatering recipes is adding more tears to my days. But what can we do? Life is like that.  Alright I am going to stop my monologues and coming to the recipe. What do we need? of-course the regular chutney ingredients. Shallot,coconut,salt,chilli,ginger and mango. (plus the additions of your choice :P). Many of you may be already a fan of this chutney, if you are one among those nostalgic malalayali kutti this is my provokation to tell your mom you prepared mango chutney today and convey my regards to her.

Ingredients:

1. Grated coconut= 1 cup.

2. Chopped mango=1/2 cup.(Raw and sour)

3.Green chilli=2. 

4.Red chilli=2( or you can use any one of them ).

5.Ginger= A small piece.

6.Shallot = 3.

7.Salt= To taste.

8.Curry leaves= Few.

9.Lemon juice=Few drops(optional if the mango's are not raw).

Method:

1.Grind coconut,chillis and mango together first.

2.Add the other ingredients to the mixture and grind again. Normally I don"t add extra water at all, because most often it is going as a combination with Kanji (Indian rice soup/rice porridge :P) but if I am making this as a side dish for dosa then I add one /two spoons of water.

P.S.Here comes my mom"s tip: First she fry shallot, chili and coconut in a pan for few seconds just to get rid of its raw smell. Then grind all the ingredients together and make a thick paste as shown in the picture.

21

Avil nanachathu/ Easy Sweetened Rice flake poha (no cooking)/ Nalumani palaharam.

If I had a bad day my therapy is to go for a comfort snack with a black coffee. I often go with my childhood favorite snacks. Which, of course, is typical Kerala snacks AKA nalumani palapharam like

suhiyan or sweet north Indian dish like carrot halwa. So today I had a bad day with so many stuff going wrong, I thought about treating myself with something yummy and I couldn't think about anything else other than this grandmom's favourite Avil nanachathu. Few years back, before all these food chain restaurants and Europe influenced snacks if you go to a Kerala home, you used to be treated by avil nanachathu and pazham. It was there in every household. Our mothers and grandmothers were an expert in making this quick snack. Before Maggi, it was our quick comfort food. Why can't we go back to the basics? Cook with more transparent ingredients? Just a thought. Do you have a quick and easy snack in mind? Please do share.

Serves: 2

Preparation time: 10 minutes.

Cooking time: 5 minutes.

Ingredients:

1. Rice flake / Avil – 250 gram
2. Jaggery (grated) – 100 gram
3. Coconut grated – 50 gram/ ¼ cup
4. Cardamom- few (crushed).
5. Water or boiled milk– 1 or two table spoon.

Pazham pullissery

Pazham pullissery
 Ripe banana sliced - 1 cup
Plain yougurt - 1 cup  
Red chilli - 1/4 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
For Grinding.
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Green chilli - 4
Turmeric powder  - 1/4 teaspoon
cumin seed(jeera) - 1/2 teaspoon
Fenugreek seed(uluva) - 1/2 teaspoon
Sugar or jaggery - 1/2 teaspoon
Curry leaves
Dry red chili
Mustard seeds.
Sliced Shallots - one or two.
Method:

1. Cook the banana (plantain/ nethrapazham) with 1/4 cup water, red-chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt, till the bananas are soft.
2.Grind coconut, green chilly, cumin seeds and turmeric powder along with 1/4 cup water to form a fine paste and keep this to one side.
3. Blend yogurt with 1/2 cup water.
4.Add the coconut mixture to the cooked banana and cook in medium flame for five minutes
5. Low the flame and add yogurt mixture and stir well.
6.Heat oil in a pan and allow mustard seeds to pop up. Saute shallots, dry red chillies and curry leaves.
7. Add a pinch of chilli powder and fenugreek to this mixture. Pour this over pullisery. Check salt.
Serve hot..

Beetroot stir fry

Beetroot stir fry a photo by {deepapraveen very busy with work..back soon on Flickr.

Beetroot mezhukkupuratti - Beetroot stir fry


Beetroot (cut this lengthwise) - 2 big ones
Onion - sliced - 1
Green chilly sliced - 2
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Pepper powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Ginger and garlic crushed - 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves
Salt
Dry red chilli - 1
Mustard seeds.

Heat oil in a kadai and add mustard seeds, followed by dry red chilly, curry leaves,green chilli and ginger garlic. Fry this.

Add onion to this mixture and cook for 5 minutes.

Add powders and fry this for 2, 3minutes.

Add beetroot and stir well and cover cook this in low flame for 10 minutes. If necessary add one or two spoons of water.

After some time remove the cover and cook this in medium till the stir fry is dry. Serve warm

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Paneer curry

Paneer curry a photo by {deepapraveen very busy with work..back soon on Flickr.

Paneer potato masala Curry
1.Grated Paneer - 1 cup
Boiled and mashed potato - 1 cup
2.Onion chopped - 1
Tomato chopped - 1
Green chilli - slit - two
Ginger sliced - 1 teaspoon
Garlic sliced - 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves - few
Cumin seed- 1/4 teaspoon
Oil - 1 1/2 tablespoon
Salt

Powders - Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon, Chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon, coriander powder - 3/4 teaspoon,mango powder or chat masala (if available ) 1/2 teaspoon- or if you are from kerala go for meat masala)

Peanut butter - 1/2 teaspoon (optional- but believe me this gives a very rich flour ).

Cream or coconut milk - 1/4 cup (but often I use hot water ).

Method:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan and fry paneer in low heat for few minutes and remove from heat.
2. Add the remaining oil to that pan and fry curry leaves, ginger, garlic green chilli for a minute or so.
3. Add onion and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook in medium heat for 5 minutes.
4. Mix all the powders with 1/2 teaspoon water and make a paste. Add this to the onion mix and fry for 2 minutes
5. Add chopped tomato and cook this till the oil starts separating from the edges.
6. Take 4/3 portions of this masala and allow this to cool and grind well.(optional I often omit this step if I am cooking for myself )
7. Add peanut butter to the hot onion masala and fry for one minute. Now add mashed pottato to this mixture and stir well & the prepared paneer to this mixture and cook for one or two minutes
8. Mix the grind masala with the curry and let this all boil once. Now you can reduce the heat and add cream or coconut milk. Don't boil the curry again. Stir well.

Serve this with chappati, pasta or rice.

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Easy Beef Piralan

Easy Beef Piralan a photo by {deepapraveen very busy with work..back soon on Flickr.

Beef Piralan @ Beef in a coconut base spicy masala mixture.

Beef cubed: 1/2 K.G
Kashmiri chilly powder - 1 tablespoon or Ordinary chilly powder- 4/3 tablespoon
Coriander powder - 1 tablespoon
Crushed black pepper - 1/2 teaspoon
Ginger and garlic sliced - 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tablespoon
Spices- Cinnamon a small pz , cardamon(3), clove(1)
Vinegar - 1/4 teaspoon

Leaves - For me it is curry leaves and I use 10 - 12 leaves.

Salt.

1. Heat pan in medium flame and fry ginger and garlic for one or two
minutes(maximum with out oil), add the spices and fry for another
minute or two. Turn the heat to low; add chilly powder, coriander
powder,black pepper fry for another one or two minute, stir well
(Don't burn this) add turmeric powder and mix well.
2.Crush all this together with vinegar and salt and marinate with beef
and keep aside for half an hour.

Preparing meat:

1. Pressure cooker :Add 1 tablespoon oil to the Pressure cooker and
brown the meat for 2-3 minutes. Pressure cook this meat with curry
leaves for 3-4 whistles with 1/2 cup hot water.
2.Slow cooking: Following the pressure cooker method, you can slow
cook this meat for 45 minutes.
3.Oven : Preheated oven in gas mark 4 or 180c : for 45 minutes. Check
the meat after 30 minutes.

Beef Piralan.

Prepared Beef.
Finely sliced onion (red) - 1
Shallots crushed - 1/2 cup
Ginger crushed- 1 teaspoon
Garlic crushed - 1 teaspoon
Tomato sliced - 1
Whole red chilly - 2
Mustard seeds- 1/4 teaspoon
Cumin seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
Fennel seed - 1/4 teaspon
Meat masala (you will get this from any asain super market, I use
eastern) / Garam masala - 1/2 teaspoon
Pepper powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Coconut milk - 2-3 tablespoon
Coconut slices - few
Oil
Salt
Curry leaves

Method:

Heat oil in a kadai and allow mustard seeds to pop up, then add curry
leaves, dry red chilly and fry for 2 minutes in medium flame.
Add cumin seeds and fennel seeds and fry for another minute.
Add crushed ginger and garlic and fry.
Add onion slices and cook it covered in medium flame for another 8 minutes.
Keep the flame to low and add powders and fry.
Add sliced tomatoes and fry till oil separate from the edges,may take
3- 5 minutes in medium flame.
Add cooked meat and mix well, cover and cook this in low flame for
anther 10-20 minutes.
Add coconut milk and mix well. Transfer this to a serving bowl and
garnish. Beef piralan is ready for you

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Thattukada Beef Curry and Kappa Veyvichathu

Thattukada is a nostalgic feeling for many pravasi mallus(Malayalis). It is an evening/night time roadside fast food shops/ eatery in Kerala, India. If have you have never tried this fast foods before, I recommend you should try those foods ones (I won’t recommend this as a regular eating outlet though: P). Many thattukada cuisines are so famous and dishes like thattudosa (pancake), paratha & chicken fry etc., has so many fan followers all over the world.  My mom never allowed me to have this dishes from there as she is so “over” concerned about the hygiene aspect and she always say “what is so special about it, if you want something I will cook here for you?”  But I heard this “yummy stories” from my friends and cousins about this thattukada food so I requested my moms shopping helper/ personal gossip suppler person called Labo to buy some thattukada food for me. Without my moms knowledge he bought me thattukada beef curry and paratha.. Drool…I can still feel that taste. My father doesn’t eat beef but once in a while he bought this for me from that tattukada.  Because I am a very picky eater my father used to wonder what is so special in this food. That too red meat? Every time my father says, this is the last time I going to buy this for you. But there is always a next time. Now I am away from home, so can’t have that thattukada beef curry again. So last time I asked my father another favour will you get that beef recipe for me from that tattukada. The chef was so happy to share the recipe, my father said, he wrote that in a paper and came home and handed over to ‘guess who’ my mom. Any way my mom shared the recipe over the phone. Tell you the truth; something is missing this is not exactly that thattukada beef, may the personal touch of that chef and his expertise. But it is yummy and one of the beef curries I ever made. So I want you to try this, if you are a red meat lover; you won’t regret. Happy cooking.

Warning : This is an extremely spicy dish, so adjust the masala to suit your tolerance level.

Total cooking Time : 9 hours.

Ingredients

1. Fresh Beef, cut into small cubes  – ½ kg

2. Masala:

Ginger crushed – 1 table spoon.

Garlic crushed – 1 table spoon

Shallots crushed - 2

Black pepper crushed – 1 table spoon

Fennel powder – ½ table spoon

Star anise one, cinnamon one or two, cloves one –powdered

Chilli powder – ½ table spoon

Coriander powder – 1 table spoon

Turmeric powder – ¼ table spoon.

Vinegar – 1 table spoon

Marinate the beef in all this ingredients and keep aside for at least 8 hours that is the most important part of this beef curry.

Curry :

Ingredients

1.       Marinated beef

2.       Onion sliced – 2

3.       Ginger sliced – 1 table spoon

4.       Coconut pieces- 1 table spoon

5.       Green chilli – 2

6.       Curry leaves – few

7.       Coconut oil – 1 ½ table spoon

8.       Curry leaves

1.       Heat oil in a pressure cooker and fry onion, ginger, pinch of salt, coconut, green chilli and curry leaves for 6- 8 minutes in low flame or till it is transparent.

2.       Add the marinated beef and fry in medium flame for another 2- 4 minutes.

3.       Add 1 cup hot water and cook, till the beef is tender. Serve warm.

Chembu curry/ Taro curry

Chembu curry/ Taro curry a photo by {deepapraveen very busy with work..back soon on Flickr.

Taro curry - Chembu curry

Chembu ( Taro) skin removed and cleaned cut into small pieces- (it is better to wash this more than two times ) - 1 cup.
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp.
Coconut powder mixed in 1/4 cup of water.
Green chilli - 2
cumin - 1/4 tsp.
Tamarind pulp - 1 tsp
Shallots - 3
Garlic and ginger - 1/4 tsp sliced
Curry leaves - few
Mustard seed - few.
Oil

Method.
1. Cook taro with turmeric and salt in 1 1/2 cup of water for aroung 20 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, green chilies, followed by shallots, ginger and garlic. Fry this in low flame for 3-4 mnts.
3. Allow this to cool and grind this to get a thick paste.
4. Once taro is cooked add the grind mixture to that along with tamarind pulp and cook in low flame for further few minutes.
5. Add coconut milk and stir well, and cook for one or two minutes.
6. Serve warm.

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Beef Pickle Kerala style

Beef Pickle Kerala style a photo by {deepapraveen very busy with work..back soon on Flickr.

Diced Beef - 1/2 kg

Turmeric - 1/2 teaspoon

Black pepper powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Crushed ginger and garlic - 1/2 teaspoon

Vinegar- 1/2 teaspoon

Meat masala- 1/2 teaspoon

Sesame oil - 1 teaspoon

Salt

Marinate the beef overnight and pressure cook for 10 minutes with 1/4 cup water. You can grill this or even make it sun-dried. For sun-dried it takes 1- 2 weeks. If you are not that healthy conscious you can fry the beef. 

Idea: Take the water content away from the meat :)

Pickle:

Prepared Beef

Sesame oil - 2 teaspoon

Mustard- 1/2 teaspoon

Fenugreek- 1/2 teaspoon

Curry leaves- few

Greenchilli - 2 slit

Garlic sliced - 2 tablespoon

Ginger sliced - 2 tablespoon

Crushed pepper - 1 tablespoon

Powders:

Garam masala - pinch

Hing/kayam- pinch

Redchillipowder/ piriyan mulaku podi - 1 tablespoon

Pickle powder - 1/2 tablespoon.

Vinegar - 2 tablespoon

Oil

Method:

1. Heat oil in a kadai and add mustard seeds, once it pop up add fenugreek seed, followed by curry leaves, green chilli, garlic, ginger and crushed pepper. Fry for 2-4 minutes in medium flame.

2. If you pressure cooked the meat, squeeze the meat well enough to remove all those water. Keep the stock separate.

3.Make a paste using vinegar, meat stock and other powders.

4.Add this masala paste to the oil mixture and stir well for another 3 minutes ( till the oil starts separating from the edges).

5.Fry meat in this masala for another 5 minutes.

6. Add the remaining stock bring this to boil and reduce the flame to low and let the beef absorb that maslas. Once you are satisfied with the consistency you can transfer this pickle to a clean air tight jar and place a sesame wet cloth on top of the jar and close the lid tight. That is it..your pickle Jar is ready for you

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Chicken fry with beetroot

Chicken fry with beetroot a photo by {deepapraveen very busy with work..back soon on Flickr.

Boneless chicken- 250 gm
Kashmiri chilli powder - 1/2 tsp.
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Black pepper powder - 1/2 tsp.
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp.
Coriander powder - 1/4 tsp.
Soya sauce - few drops ( optional)
Boiled beetroot - half - grated.
Lime juice - few drops.
Salt
Crushed ginger and garlic - 1/2 tsp.
Marinate all these and keep aside for half an hour or more.

For the gravy

Onion big -sliced - one.
Other half of the beetroot - sliced
Cumin seed - few
Mustard seeds - few
Green chilli - 2 (optional)
Curry leaves few.
Oil.

Method.
Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds when it pop up add cumin seed.
Add the prepared chicken and stir well in medium flame for 2- 3 mins
we are sealing the chicken and you can see the outer layer if the
chicken is turning it is color.
Remove the chicken pieces (dry them in a paper towel) and curry leaves
followed by onion with a pinch of salt. Cover the pan let this cook in
low flame for around 5 mins.
Add sliced beetroot and green chilli stir well for another one or two min.
Put all the fried chicken back to the pan. Stir well for another one min.
Mix this gravy with 1/2 cup of hot water.
Place a flat plate on top of this pan and cover the pan. Fill another
bowl with enough water and place it on top of the flat plate. We are
using this method to steam cook the chicken. Cook the chicken in low
flame, till it is done (may take 20 mins but it depends on the meat)
My trick is when the water on that large bowl is pretty hot with bit
bubbles I assume the chicken is done but to make sure I check the
curry one or two times and stir well).
If the curry is still wet and not dry cook this in high flame with out
lid for one or two mins.
So that is it. Chicken fry with beetroot.

If you have a steamer steam this once the gravy is done..
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Prawns in coconut gravy/Chemeen theeyal

Prawns in coconut gravy/ chemmeen theeyal .

Method :

1.       Prawns : 250 gm

2.       Shallots : 10 (this taste best)

OR Onion medium = 1

3.       Turmeric powder- ¼ tsp.

4.       Fenugreek powder – ½ tsp.

5.       Kashmiri chilli powder –  ½ tsp.

6.       Tamarind – a small lemon ball sized.

7.       Mustard seeds .

8.       Curry leaves.

9.       Dried Red chilli – 1 small.

10.   Oil- 2 tsp

Marinate the Prawn with turmeric, fenugreek powder, chilli powder,salt and keep this aside for 15 mins

For the roast:

11.   Grated coconut – ¼ cup

12.   Coriander powder – 1 tsp.

13.   Kashmiri chilli powder – 1 tsp.

14.   Pepper powder – 1 tsp.

15.   Cumin powder – ¼ tsp.

16.   Garam masala – a pinch.

Method :

1.       Soak the Tamarind ball in little more than ¼ cup of hot water for 10- 15 mins and extract the pulp from it.

2.       Dry roast the grated coconut in a non-stick pan and stir well for 3 – 5 mins or till it turn to drak brown from golden brown stir well in medium flame . When the colour is changing to dark brown, reduce the flame to low and add all other ingredients and mix well for 2 or 3 mins then remove from heat and continue stirring for or two mins. ( This mixture should be dark brown).

3.       Once it is cool, grind to a very smooth paste consistency (use only few drops of water) this may take some time.

4.       Heat oil in a pan then add mustard seeds followed by red chilli and curry leaves.

5.       Add shallots or onion, add a pinch of salt, cover it with a lid and cook in low flame for 6 mins.

6.       Add the masala paste roast this for further 2 mins in medium flame.

7.       Add marinated shrip roast for another 1 or 2 mins then add little water cover and cook for 5 mins in low flame.

8.       Add the tamarind pulp, bring this to boil and remove from heat.

Tips:

·         Don’t overcook prawns then it will be chewy.

·         Few drops of fresh coconut oil on top of the curry will give you the traditional taste.

·         You can sprinkle gram masala at the end if you are looking for a raw taste, in that case don’t add that to the grinding mixture.

Dears, how are you all? Enjoying life? How is your moving? Hope you all are fine. To be honest I had no intention on updating the recipe section this week and I promised someone I won’t do it. Late last week I had a chat with someone and of course we started sharing our passion for Prawns curries. I was bit surprised, because of the particular caste she belongs to I never expected her to be a Prawns fan. Yes expectations are meant to be broken right? Then she shared that secret. Her hostel mate was a Christian girl from my place, so no wonder why her taste buds turned as non-veg ambassador. She asked me is it possible for me to share the recipe of this particular dish…and she tried to explain how it taste and she was not sure about the ingredients. I asked her couple of open and closed questions. At the end of it I took a wild guess and prepared the dish and sent her the recipe. Today she pinged me and said she prepared the dish last night in her friend’s house. It is exactly the same one. So dear, Ms G I am glad you liked it.

Kerala Beef Curry

Kerala Beef Curry:

Preparation time : 10 mins. Cook: 20mins( using a pressure cooker). Slow cooking 30 mins.

Serve : 4

Beef with marinating ingredients.

1.       Beef cut into cubes – 1 K.g

2.       Black pepper crushed – 1 tsp.

3.       Ginger and garlic crushed – 1 tsp.

4.       Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp.

5.       Sea salt

6.       Kashmiri chilli powder- ½ tsp or chilli powder- ¼ tsp.

7.       Vinegar or lime juice – ½ tsp.

8.       Garam Masala – ½ tsp

Marinate and keep aside for 10 mins. Taste better if you can keep this for few hours.

Gravy

1.       Red onion – 2 medium finely chopped

2.       Shallots – 4nos finely chopped.

3.       Garlic cloves chopped – 2

4.       Cardamom pod – 2

5.       Clove – 1

6.       Fennel seed – ½ tsp

7.       Cinnamon – 1 small stick.

8.       Bay leaf (fresh or dry ) - 1

9.       Fresh ginger root chopped – 1 tsp

10.   Coconut flesh chopped – 2 tsp.

11.   Tomato chopped – 1

12.   Green chilli chopped – 3 ( remove the seeds if you don’t want too much heat)

13.   Garam masala – 1 ½ tsp.

14.   Pepper powder – ½ tsp

15.   Oil – 2-3 tsp.

16.   Curry leaves  few

17.   Beef stock – 1 cup (optional)

18.   Coconut milk thick (onnam pal) – ¼ to half cup or more according to your taste.

Preparation :

1.       Heat oil in a large flat pan (if you are using pressure cooker use that) once it is hot reduce the flame to low and add Cardamom pod, Clove , Fennel seed, Cinnamon, Bay leaf, coconut pieces for one to 2 mins till you get that nice aroma. (At this stage you have an option to remove this from the oil and grind it but I don’t do it. The lazy me :P)

2.       Add ginger, garlic, and green chillies with curry leaves fry this for another 2- 3 mins.

3.       Add sliced onion and shallots with ¼ salt mix well and cover with a lid let this cook for further 6-8 mins till the onion is soft and transparent. (If you add a pinch of sugar you will get caramelized onion)

4.       Add garam masala and pepper powder stir well for another 1- 2mins.

5.       Add chopped tomato mix well and let this cook for another 2-3 mins (till the oil started separating from the gravy).

6.        If you have grind that masalas earlier add them now.

7.       Add the prepared meat and mix well, let the heat be medium let this fry to 2- 3 mins we are sealing the meat stir well.

8.       Add 1 cup of hot water or beef stock and pressure cook. If you are slow cooking cover your pan with a lid and simmer it for 30mins or until the beef is tender.

9.       Once the curry is ready you can add the coconut milk and reduce the heat as per your taste buds.

Please note:

·          As the meat will give of its own juice you can prepare this without adding water but I use pressure cooker so on a safer side I add water.

·         The original recipe is a dry one with tooooooooo spicy flavours. So just to avoid running nose and eyes I prepare a milder version with gravy and coconut milk. But if you are going for yummy spicy version @ stage 8 put this curry in high flame and reduce all the water. Plus you can give an additional tempering with 1 spoon oil, mustard seeds, dry chillies -2, few curry leaves.

Enjoy your spicy week end.

Banana pudding/ Nenthra pazham payasam.

Banana pudding/ Nenthra pazham payasam. a photo by {deepapraveen very busy with work..back soon on Flickr.

Nenthra pazha payasam/Plantain Dessert

1.Medium sized ripe plantain- 2
2. Ghee or cleared butter- 4 tspn.
3.Crushed Jagerrey or sharkkara- 1/2 cup.
4.Thick coconut milk- 1 Cup.
5. Cashews, raisins and coconut pieces- 1/2 cup.
6.Crushed cardamom pods- 1 or two.


Method:

1. Cut the plantains into one or two pieces and steam till it is soft. I Microwaved them in high for 10mnts.

2. Remove the steams and black layer inside and mash well with your hand.

3.Heat ghee in a pan and fry this banana mixture for 5 mnts. I microwave them for 5 mnts in high uncovered. Stir in-between.

4. Add crushed jagerrey fry for another 10- 15 mnts or microwave for another 15 mnts.

5. Mix half cup of coconut milk with half cup of water and pour to the mixture let this boil in low flame, or microwave for another 2 mnts.

6. Remove from heat and mix this with the remaining thick coconut milk and add crushed cardomom pods. Garnish this with fried nuts,raisins and coconut pieces.


P.S:
You can use milk made if you want.

I was running out of cashew nuts, so I used almonds.

You can add small pieces of fried plantain.

A few drops of vanilla essence will give you a different taste.
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Kerala Fish Curry in Roasted coconut gravy/ Varutharacha meen curry

Kerala Fish Curry in Roasted coconut gravy/ Varutharacha meen curry a photo by {deepapraveen very busy with work..back soon on Flickr.

Kerala fish curry in roasted coconut gravy/ Varutharacha meen curry.



1. Any fish (I used Salmon fillets)- 1/2 k.g.

2.Onion chopped- one.

3.Small onion- 3 nos.

4.Ginger crushed- 1 tsp.

5.Garlic crushed - 1 tsp.

6.Pepper corns- 1/2 tsp

7.Kashmiri chilli powder- 1 1/2 tsp.

8.Coriander Powder- 1 tsp

9.Grated coconut- 1 cup

10.Green chillies chopped- 3.

11.Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp.

12.Fish Tamarind- 2 (If that is not available you can use raw mango).
13.Salt
14. Mustard seeds-1/4 tsp
15.Fennel seeds- 1/4 tsp
16.Curry leaves.
17.Lemon juice or vinegar - few drops
Oil


Method.

1.Soak fish Tamarind in one cup of hot water.

2. Marinate the fish with bit salt, lemon juice, bit turmeric, 1/2 tsp chilli powder, bit crushed ginger and garlic. Keep it aside for 15- 20mnts.

3. Heat one tsp oil in a pan and add grated coconut, shallots,pepper corns, fennel seeds and roast them in medium flame, stir well in-between, may take 15-20mnts. This mixture should turn a golden brown colour.

4. Once this reached that golden colour add chillipowder and coriander powder and roast for another one mnt.

5.Remove from heat and stir again for another one mnt or so. Now let this cool. Then grind this to fine paste with 1/2 tsp water.

6.Heat oil in a pan and fry the fish for 2, 3mnts( optional).

7.Remove fish from the oil and add mustard seeds. If you are not frying fish, heat 2 tsp oil in a pan and add mustard seeds.

8. When they pop up add curry leaves,green chilli, ginger, garlic and toss them well.

9. Add chopped onion and cook for 8mnts with pinch of salt.

10.Add turmeric powder and fry for another mnt.

11. Add fish and fish tamarind water along with that tamarind and salt.

15.Add more warm water if you need more gravy.

16.Cover this with a lid and Let this cook in low flame for 10- 20mnts.

17.Uncover the pan and add the roasted gravy paste and cook for further 10 mnts.

Remove from heat and serve warm...Let me know if you like it.

Love
Deepa
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Sambar (Split pigeon pea with vegetables in a spicy sauce)

Sambar (Split pigeon pea with vegetables in a spicy sauce) a photo by {deepapraveen very busy with work..back soon on Flickr.

1. Toor Dal or Split pigeon pea= 1 cup and one potato cut in to 4 portions.
2. Onion chopped = 2 medium ones.
3. Mixed Vegetables = 2 cup.
4. Green chilli = 2 slit
5. Tamarind Pulp = 1 1/2 tsp
6. Turmeric a pinch.
7.Asafoetida =1/2 tsp
8.Chilli powder - 1 tsp
9.Sambar powder - 2 tsp
10.Tomato= 2 small ones chopped.

Seasoning:

1.Oil =1 tbs
2.Mustard, urad dal and fenugreek =1 tsp
3. Dried whole red chilli=1
4.Curry leaves= few.

Method.

1.Cook potato long with the dal,asafoetida and turmeric along with 2 cups of water and pressure cook till about 3 whistles. Then remove and mash well and keep aside.

2. Pour the oil and when it is hot add the mustard and urad dal and fenugreek,curry leaves and after 2 minutes add the sambar onions and cook for 5 minutes then add the vegetables then cook this in low flame for another 5 minutes.

3. Add sambar masala,chilli powder and cook for further 2 mnts.

(if u are using microwave add one spoon of oil to the veg and cook in high speed for 6 mnts then add red chilly powder – 1 tsp,coriander POwder – 2 tsp,turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp,fenugreek powder – a pinch and cook for further 2mnts-no need of sambar masala all this will serve the purpose of masala)

4. Now add this to dal mixture. Also add tomato pieces and tamarind pulp. Cook till the consistency you want.

Then remove from heat and enjoy this.
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Rice noodles /Idiappam mutta curry : Easter special Breakfast

Rice noodles /Idiappam mutta curry : Easter special Breakfast a photo by {deepapraveen very busy with work..back soon on Flickr.


Another Holi week is here again.
Easter for me means yummy food..that starts with very first break fast..on a cold easter Sunday what else we need other than hot idiappam and yummy egg curry in coconut milk?

My most favrt  breakfast combination is Idiappam and egg curry.

What we need?

Raw rice flour = 1 Cup
Warm Water = 1 Cup
Grated coconut = 1/ 2Cup
Ghee = 1 tsp
Salt = 1 tsp.

Method : Add raw rice, ghee and salt together and mix well.
Add warm water little at a time and knead into smooth dough.
Make sure it is not too watery.
Cover the dough with a paper towel and allow it to rest for half an hour.
Make lemon size balls out of this dough.
Add little oil on top of this balls.
Fill this in an idiyappam presser/cooking press and press this into idali molds greased with oil.( You can use a steamer also.)
Sprinkle grated coconut in-between while pressing the dough. Make 3-5 appams like this in one go.

Steam this appam for 10 mnts.

Egg Curry with coconut milk:
Egg (boiled shelled and cut into halves)= 4
Large onion(thin long sliced) = 2
Coconut milk= 1/2 Cup.( make it to two 1/4 cups and add water to one portion and make it one cup)
Tomato ( thin long sliced)= 1
Ginger garlic paste= 1 tablespoon.
Red chili powder= 4/3 tsp.
Green chili =1 sliced.
Coriander powder= 1 tsp.
Pepper powder = 1/4 tsp.
Turmeric powder= 1/4 tsp.
Garam masala = 1 tsp.
Salt = to taste.

To tamper.

Mustard seeds. = 1/4 tsp.
Jeera = 1/4 tsp.
Coconut oil = 2 tsp.
Red chilli = 1
Curry leaves = Few.

Method:

Mix together all the powder in little water and make a fine paste. keep aside.
Heat oil in a pan and add thinly sliced onion. Fry over medium flame for few mnts.
Add ginger, garlic and slit green chillies along with the curry leaves for few more mnts.
Add the powder paste and fry for another mnt.
Add tomottos close it with a lid and fry for another two mnts.
Now add the coconut milk portion with water and keep the flame low and bring it to boil stir well.
Add the thick coconut milk with the eggs keep it in low flame for another mnt. (Dont boil it)
Add salt. Remove from heat.
Heat oil in another pan and add mustartd seeds. When it pop add jeera and fry this for few seconds followed by chilli and curry leaves and fry for a mnt, switch off flame and pour this over the curry. Serve hot with appam.

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kerala Lemon pickle/naranga achar

Lemon pickle..naranga achar a photo by {deepapraveen very busy with work..back soon on Flickr.

Lemon pickle and kanji. 
Once in my life I hate this..
Yes during my childhood flue days my amma tortured me with her Lemon pickles and Kanji... may be 20 days in a row on all most every month..see I was a very healthy child..But later I developed a strong passion for Lemon pickles, those were the times when those biriyani"s and fried rice dishes entered into my life, sharing lunch box season begN and my taste-buds started experiencing the culinary expertise of my friends mom"s..yes I rediscovered my passion for lemon pickles.

Few rains back I bought a bottle of lemon pickle(not from India) and it tasted like....and for that I paid sum. So I decided to prepare pickles myself after that not a hard job.

Ingredients. 

Good ripe lemon=10.
Asafoetida(Kayam) powder - 1/4 tsp
Fenugreek seeds(Uluva) - 1/2 tsp
Sugar=1/4 tspoon
Salt = 3 tablespoon.
Green chillies(medium) - 10 nos
Ginger(sliced) - 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Garlic pods slit - 8
Chilly powder - `1 1/2 table spoon. (I used only one)
Vinegar - 1 tbsp.
Curry leaves=1 steam.
Sesame oil=1/4 cup.

Method:
1.Wash the lemon properly. Brush some sesame oil on top and steam this for 5 mnts allow it to cool and dry them using a dry cloth.

2.Then cut it to 8 pieces. If it is small lemon make 4 piece out of a single one.

3.Add salt,sugar to the lemon pieces and keep this away for few hours. (It is best if you can keep this mixture for few days on an air tight container. Add one or two lemon leaves and one green chilli silt to this mixture if you plan to keep this for few days and when you are ready to prepare your pickle remove the excess water and lemon leaves from this mixture).

4.Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds followed by fenugreek seeds,curry leaves, turmeric powder,ginger, garlic and green chillies followed by one by one and stir well.

5.Now you can add chilly powder and asafetida and mix well and add 1/4 cup of hot water to this mixture and bring to boil.

6.Reduce heat to low and gently add our lemon slices mixture. Mix well check the salt and remove from heat.

7. Add vinegar and mix it gently. Allow it to cool. Then transfer it to an air tight jar.

8. Pour one tspoon hot oil on top of this pickle and now u can close the jar with tight lid.

Enjoy your pickle.
would u like to have a look at my website: www.deepapraveen.com.All my images are copy righted so write to me first (madhudee@gmail.com) if you want to use them.

Puttum pazhavum/kerala steam cake/puttu

Dears,


How are you? Finished your breakfast/lunch/ dinner? Me..not yet..missing my mom a  lot now a days..and I lost my phone. what to do..need something to cheer me up.  So I thought I will post a recipe and browse your wonderful blogs.
From my archive I got this puttu picture I prepared few days back.


Puttu, is it a dish which is filled with mom"s love??? I always wonder.
There is a reason for that.
One of my favorite movies in malayalam is called Soorya manasam.  It tells us about the strong relationship of a mom and her mentally challenged son, "putturumees." The central character played by mamootty (for that he won an award) has only two passions in life one is his mom and the other thing is Puttu. There were quite few emotional scenes the movie which connects this white cylindrical shape break-fast item and a mom"s love, care and concern. Well dears, coming to business. 

What do we need?

Raw rice = 2 Cup.

Grated coconut = 1/2 cup.

Water/milk= To sprinkle.

Coconut powder= 2 table spoon.

Salt = 1/4 spoon.

Jeera powder= 1/2 tspoon (optional) .

Method:
1.Sock the rice for 3 hours. Leave it to drain. Spread it in a cloth or kitchen tissue and drain it well. Then grind it to make a fine powder.

2. Cook the rice powder for 5 minutes,keep on stirring. Then remove from heat. (You can avoid this two steps, by using ready made puttu powder, which is available in Asian shops).

4. Mix coconut powder, 1 t.spoon grated coconut and salt to the rice powder.

5. Sprinkle water/ milk to this mixture and make the powder wet. (It should look like a bread crumbs sort of mixture). If the bread crumbs sort of powder is wet and moist enough. We can transfer that to a puttukutti/ Puttu maker.

6. Put two table spoons of grated coconut + jeera in the puttu maker then add the prepared rice mixture and put two table spoons of grated coconut on top of it.
( You can put grated coconut in the middle of the layer if you want, since Mr.P is not a huge fan of this coconut mixture I avoid that middle portion filling).

7.Close the lid and steam to 4-5 minutes. (or you can see steam coming out of the puttu kutti after that an extra 2 mnt is enough).

P.S If you don"t have a puttu maker you can use a vegetable steamer layered with cloth.
You can also you an idali maker.

Best combinations for puttu:

1. Puttu+ meat stir fry( Irachi ularthiyathu)+ pappadam.

2.Puttu+pappadam+Banana/Steamed plantain.

3.Puttu+pappadam+ Ghee( Cleared butter).

4. Puttu + Kadala Curry : channa curry (all time fvrt of a mallu).

5. My recent Invention. Puttu + chocolate sauce+ Banana.

would u like to have a look at my website: www.deepapraveen.com.All my images are copy righted so write to me first (madhudee@gmail.com) if you want to use them.