Malabar Spices...

Grilled/Baked Chicken Legs..

2011-11-10T11:39:00.003-05:00

It's Fall outside my window, yellowed leaves falling constantly, spreading a golden carpet in the woods behind, denuding the trees one leaf at a time. A burst of color everywhere, but this time the hues tempered down by the unseasonable onset of snow. So the brilliance is low and slowly the grey is pervading everywhere. The malls are fighting back with their slew of bright colored winter sweaters and jackets, as if that will ward off the quietness and stillness already around. There is a playground outside my house, which lights up when it sees kids but that's only when the sun is shining bright on it.. the rest of the time, it looks so forlorn and empty... as if the kids vaporized instantly. Maybe I should do a chicken sacrifice to appease the Fall gods into extending the glorious Fall season.

Chicken Legs were a favorite growing up, with a fight ensuing for them over the dinner table with my siblings, since the chicken in those days had only two legs.:) Nowadays the chicken (at least here) can have as many legs as they want, since its just a matter of ordering more of them at the Halal shop. You can buy just the thighs, just leg quarters, just the white meat, just wings.. if u pause to think of it, (which the kids don't,) they would wonder why the chicken has so many legs! It used to be that meat was a luxury, with every part of the whole chicken being used fully to ensure that it was worthwhile. The good meaty parts went into frying and the bony parts went into a curry or stock. And indeed, a curry tastes way better if its made with a mix of dark and light meat, bony part et all than just white meat or dark meat. So for curries, I still get the whole chiken cut up, but for grilling and baking , this is better with even sized pieces which evens out the cooking time. Now it's a convenience, with chicken being cheaper than vegetables, with us buying whatever suits our needs more.

You Will Need:
Chicken Drumsticks-5
Garlic Powder-1tbsp
Onion Powder-1tsp
Salt-1 tsp
Thyme- 1tbsp
Paprika-2 tbsp
Black pepper-1/2 tsp
All Spice Powder-1tsp
Optionally, Biryani Masala-1tsp

Mix all the dry rub ingredients together and keep aside. Wash and dry the chicken pieces, with or without the skin on. I grilled it with the skin on and the skin just crisps to a crisp crunchy layer, which you can discard later if you want. The chicken should be dry and then score it twice and rub the dry rub generously all over the chicken. Let it marinate in the dry rub for an hour or so and then grill.
Place a thin layer of oil on the foil lined tray before placing the chicken on it and place it in a preheated 400 F oven for 20 minutes. Then cover the chicken with the foil and let it bake for another 10 minutes to let the inside get cooked. Increase the heat to broil setting and open the foil and let the chicken crisp up to the broiler for about 5 minutes and you are done.
Some chicken may take less time if they are smaller.. check for doneness after 20-25 minutes.

Serve with flat breads and humus.

A Bowl of Noodles...

2011-11-04T12:13:00.001-04:00

Left to myself, I would never have learnt cooking beyond variations of Ramen noodles or as it is called in India..Maggi. A scrambled egg, some spinach, some kimchi, a lot of veggies...customize it any way you like and its is a quick meal. Like it or hate it, it is a comfort food for many and noodles in any form is an easy meal to get to the table.. of course.. ramen is the easiest and if I thought selecting from the flavors of maggi was getting complicated, you just have to walk down the instant noodle aisle in the Asian food stores.. it ranges from the cheapest 4 for a dollar packets to the "pricier" gourmet packets of even two dollars. Plus recently I got introduced to the Nongshim varieties of ramen...more junk food for me. Since the rest of the family did not (and still does not) share this passion for over spiced, salty noodles, I had to learn cooking and could not take the easy way out.
So on other days, there is the stir fried noodles made with the endless varieties of noodles that you get here.. dried or fresh cooked ones too..a quick meal with veggies and chicken and egg all thrown as desired!! Spice up the noodles as you like but we like to have the spice on the side.

Boil noodles as per instructions on the package and drain. Heat 2-3 tbsp oil in a wok and saute the 1 tsp each of minced ginger garlic lightly. For 4 cup noodles, add about 1/4 cup each of mushrooms, Snow peas, sliced peppers, cabbage, julienne carrots, white parts of the scallions, thinly sliced beans, etc and saute for 3-4 minutes. Then add 2-4 tsp of soy sauce , 2-3 tbsp chicken stock if you have it, 2 tsp sesame oil and 1/2 tsp pepper. Add the noodles, toss well on high heat, add 1 tsp white vinegar and taste for salt. Finally add the green parts of the scallions. Toss with some sesame seeds, crushed peanuts, chili oil, optionally add sriracha sauce, green chili sauce, black pepper sauce etc for an added spice level. I really don't have a recipe.. I start with this and taste and modify as I go along depending on the taste.sometimes heavy on spices and sometimes its light with a side of the ubiquitous chili chicken. You are welcome to leave you modifications in the comments.

Varutharacha Kozhi Curry/ Chicken with Roasted Spices..

2011-09-23T11:01:00.020-04:00

Some curries are traditional... plenty of coriander, plenty of coconut milk, a whiff of spices, an amalgamation of masalas...They taste the best with the salty coastal air, the rush and the sound of rain...
But if its raining outside, making them at home and a taste of it with pathiri or puttu.... can transport you in a second to somewhere else, melding with the pumpkins, the September rush and the fall weather and the nip in the air....

Back home, where spices are plenty...... for some curries, coriander, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cardamon, (all the stuff our spice coast is famous for), are roasted tossing and turning in a cast iron skillet over a wood burning flame till the spices get fragrant and turn into varying shades of brown. Most of the time, (since it's a Kerala curry), some coconut is also roasted, the shade acquired varying from light brown in Northern parts of Kerala to a dark brown in the Southern recipes.... then the spices and the coconut are hand ground to a fine paste (or blend in a blender now) to create what is called a "varutha"(roasted)" aracha"(ground) curry.

Anyone nostalgic? As one friend sitting in Calicut said, it's the taste you can't beat... freshly ground chilli powder, fragrant coconut oil fresh from the mills...etc makes a substantial difference, not to

mention little cooking secrets that our mums and aunts are reluctant to part with..

or are you heading to get some pre-roasted imported coriander powder, some coconut milk , some chicken to try and simulate the curry here in a fraction of the time?

Anyway, this curry can be made as dry as you like or as "neetiyathu"( stretched )as you like.. meaning with lots of gravy. By doubling the quantity of the spices and onions etc, but keeping the same chicken, you can make it a curry with lots of gravy for appam or puttu. Or keep it on the flame to make it a dry curry.

My mom used to relate incidents of the old days in the "tharavadu" where the curry starts out with lots of chicken pieces but if there are unexpected guests, it keeps getting stretched till its more of a chicken flavored curry with barely any pieces. Contrast that with our plentiful eating habits now!!

Anyway, thought I would just update the blog just to keep it alive and kicking for anyone who is interested in following my recipes.:) This is not a full version or an authentic varutha aracha curry, but this is one of the ways how I make it.

You will need:
Chicken-1 ½ lb, (700gm) cleaned and cut into small pieces.
Onions-2 medium sized ones sliced finely
Tomatoes-2 plum tomatoes
Hot Green chilies - 4-6 as per taste
Ginger- 1 inch ginger, grind or grate.
Garlic 6-7 cloves.. grind or crush to a paste.
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Red hot chili powder- 2 tsp (more or less as per taste)

Coriander, curry leaves- each a small handful, chopped
Salt - to taste
Oil-4 tbsp

Whole spices- 1 small piece of cinnamon, 1 bay leaf, 2 cloves

To Roast:
Grated Coconut-3 tbsp
Coriander seeds-2 tsp
Black Pepper-1/2 tsp

To Garnish:
Shallots-2
Curry leaves-7-8

Preparation:
Wash the chicken and lightly toss it with lemon juice and rinse again. Drain well onto a slotted drainer. Marinate with the turmeric, the red chili powder, ginger -garlic paste, salt and keep aside for about 1 hour or so. Roast the ingredients for roasting in 1 tsp oil in a skillet till nicely browned and then grind to a paste. If you are using powders, remember not to roast for too long as it will get burnt fast and you could even use coconut milk instead of grated coconut.

Heat the 2tbsp oil in a large pan and add the chicken and shallow fry them on all sides. Remove and keep aside. Add a bit more oil to the pan..add the whole spices. Then add the onions and green chilies. When the onions start turning brown, add the tomatoes. Let them cook till they break down and then add the previously sauted chicken, the ground paste and saute well till the spices are mixed well and the chicken is coated with the spices. Add 1 cup water. Cover and cook on medium heat for about 10-15 minutes till the chicken is cooked. Smaller pieces cook faster so depending on the size of the pieces, cooking time will vary. Open, adjust the taste and add more water or coconut milk if it looks too dry.

To garnish.. Slice the shallots finely and fry in coconut oil till brown and then throw in some curry leaves and pour over the curry.
Let it rest covered for five minutes to let the flavors blend.

Iftar Recipes..

2011-08-07T08:45:00.004-04:00

Ramazan has already started ... It's a time to focus, to exercise self-discipline, fast, along with being religious and praying and contemplate. Ramazan is not about the food.. lets not make it about the food but as a food blogger, the mind wanders to the traditional Malabar fare more often than the usual. There is a community feeling in the fasting back home with the routines all turned upside down, the usual weddings, occasions and activities suspended and time is measured as fasting days.

So while I haven't had time to cook and blog new iftar recipes, here is a collection of iftar recipes in blogs that I refer to when I run out of ideas.
Life Today
Sugar n Spice
You tube videos
Lebanese Recipes
Zaiqa's Ramadan Round up
Shabs Cuisine
Salkaram

If there are other good sites, do leave a comment with a link and I will add it here.

Ishtoo/ Mushroom and Potato White Stew...

2011-06-26T16:51:00.006-04:00

Idiappam or rice noodles with a potato stew is the perfect light breakfast for a summer weekend, especially if the idiappam is already made. This white stew or ishtoo as we call it, is made with potatoes cooked in coconut milk, flavored with just whole spices, onions and green chilies...no heavy hand with the colored spices. Here I added some sauted mushrooms, and there was no adverse change in taste... the mushroom blended in well.

Another version of this curry is the Kurma where all the spices are added generously and there too mushrooms can be added, though it has to sauteed first separately. A lot of curries can be made with mushrooms, but simple is best.. sometimes, a bit of butter and garlic is all it needs. If you are making a mix veg dish, It needs to be sauteed separately before mixing with other veggies as it gives out its liquid and makes everything else soggy.

You will need: For 4 servings

Onions- 1 small one

Green chilies – 4-6 (use with discretion)

Mushrooms(White)- 2 cups

White/Idaho Potato-2 cups

Whole Black Pepper (or Powder)- 1/2 tsp

Whole spices: 1 inch long Cinnamon stick, 3 cloves, 2 cardamom

Thick Coconut milk- 1 cup

Thin Coconut milk - 2 cups

Curry leaves- a small sprig

Salt to taste

Oil-2 tbsp

Preparation

1. Wash and cut the potatoes and mushrooms into slices. Slice the onions and green chilies.

Grind the coconut and extract the second and first milk or use the coconut milk powder and prepare 1 ½ cup of coconut milk.

2. Boil the potatoes in a salted water till they are half cooked. Drain and keep aside. Heat the oil in a large shallow pan, add the whole spices and curry leaves. Saute till the fragrance fills the air and then add onions, whole peppercorns and chilies.

3. Saute till onions turn slightly transparent and the add the mushrooms. Saute till it gives out all the water. It should start browning at the edges. Add the half boiled potatoes and 2 cups of second milk of coconut( or a diluted coconut milk) and salt. Simmer covered for about 5-8 minutes till the potato is fully cooked.

4. Add the thick coconut milk. Allow it to simmer (but not boil) just for a couple more minutes and then switch of the flame. Adjust salt and seasoning.

The curry changes in taste the next day for the worse as the mushroom ages.. Better to make this in small quantities.

Serve hot with pathiri, idiappam, appam, puttu or just paratha.

A quick ode to mushrooms

In a damp room it looms,

Ew!! my son says, its gross to eat fungi!

But it may very well be everyone's "fun guy"

Takes well to all soups and stews

On its own, its a perfect muse.

Absorbing all flavors and spices amply

Blending in as a meat in a meatless curry.

Grill it stuff it , top with cheese

If u like it, say more please.:)

Broccoli Stir Fry..

2011-06-18T14:14:00.004-04:00

Fastest recipe ever..
Broccoli is a vegetable I started enjoying after coming here..but now have it in the fridge almost always. It doesn't take well to being over cooked or being smothered in spices and gravy so most of the Indian veg recipes make it limp and tasteless.
But stir fry it or steam it with nothing more than some garlic and red chili flakes and it tastes crunchy and juicy at the same time.
There is no recipe for this... just heat a wok/cheenachatti/ or pan with some olive oil(or sesame oil) and add 2-3 cloves of garlic sliced finely. When the garlic starts to brown, add the chili flakes, broccoli florets, 2-3 tbsp of water and some salt. Cover and cook for 3-5 minutes on medium high heat. It cooks further after you remove it from the flame, so under cook it for crunch. Do not leave it covered, else it gets brownish and loses its glorious green.

Variations:

Add some butter in the end.
Add a squeeze of lemon juice and pepper.
Steam it plain and toss with creamy salad dressing.
Steam it and along with cucumbers, carrots, red peppers,toss with olive oil, lemon juice, salt,pepper and sumac.

Kozhi Ada.../ Savory Meat pockets.

2011-06-15T15:05:00.014-04:00

Posting here after a while since I couldn't think anything to write about and didn't feel like cooking too. My stories of our culture and home food fueled this blog and when my mind was preoccupied with other things, thinking about food seemed a luxury. Rhapsodizing about it and posting glory photos of food that is so elaborate that cooking it in itself is a vacation now, seemed even worse!

So I was job hunting instead. All my creativity went to creating cover letters and my photo skills into creating portfolios and resumes...blog hopping shifted to job site hopping...Instead of luscious food posted by friends, all I could see was insipid requirements and disheartening emails. All part of the striving force that we call life.:) That still goes on along with the myriad other demands in a day..:)

But yesterday I had a dream.(yeah,..in the middle of all this.. ) of these crisp delicacies and even the words that I should use to describe them..so here I am, taking a break from my full time occupation to blog. Before you make a beeline for my house, no, I didn't make these.. just remnants of the last visit home.

Kozhi Ada means a savory crisp pocket filled with spiced chicken..but its not an ada filled with Kozhi/chicken....the only ones I have eaten are filled with Beef. I guess its made with chicken too nowadays. The name is a misnomer like the American Chicken Fried Steak , which is not chicken either..

Ada is the Kerala Dumpling.. steamed or fried crescent shaped dough filled with sweet or savory filling.

The sweet filling is mostly coconut and sugar flavored with cardamom powder. And the savory ones range from fish filling to chicken to egg.
They look like samosas but are super crunchy versions of it.. the wrapper is similar to chips or tortilla chips.. and the filling also is very dry and crunchy. They are made so small that you can pop a whole ada in your mouth at one go... bite into one and the dry spicy fillings just spills out..

Now these.. my mom never made .. too much effort , she says...but my mother in law is an expert and so are all members of her family, who are from North of Calicut in Kerala. So if you know anybody from that part of Kerala, ask them for a taste of the best Kozhi adas ever. We are always lucky to have my MIL or her sister getting us a a big batch of these adas waiting for us when we reach home, which we all fight over. And trying to get it back here without turning into a powdery mess is an adventure in packing.. discovered a new use for Bubble wrap.:)

So if anyone wants to bring some over for me from home, I will give you my address.:)))
Anyway, do try this and try it with patience, as getting the wrappers crispy is the key to a good Kozhi Ada.

You Will Need:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
Salt to taste
Water sparingly
2 Tbsp Dalda/Ghee/ Veg Shortening.

For the Filling:
1 cup Cooked chicken or beef (or raw meat)
1 cup Onions chopped finely
4-5 Green spicy chilies chopped
1 tsp red chili powder (use less for less spicy)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander powder
Fennel seeds- 1/2 tsp
1 tsp Garam Masala
Salt to taste.

Preparation:

Mix the ghee(clarified butter) or veg shortening into the flour along with salt and work it in to resemble crumbles. Add just enough cold water little by little to make a hard dough . Keep aside.

Cook the meat or chicken with the turmeric, red chili powder, coriander and salt. Shred the cooked meat or chicken with your fingers into strands.
Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped onions, curry leaves, fennel seeds and green chilies. When the onions start getting golden brown, add the meat/chicken and saute on low heat till the meat mixture is full dry and powdery, It is not the like the samosa filling which is a semi-wet onion mix. Add garam masala and adjust salt.

To Assemble:

Roll out small discs of the dough..about 3 inch in diameter. The dough should be thin but not too thin. Add 2 tsp of filling on one side, cover with the other side of dough and pinch the edges together in a pattern to make a crescent shape. Keep aside and continue making till all the filling is exhausted.

Heat oil in a cast iron skillet, and when it is hot, add the adas one by one (not more than 4-5 at a time depending on the size of your pan.. do not over crowd) and fry on medium low heat till golden brown.. It takes patience, as if the heat is too high, the outside will get cooked but not the inside, and if its too low heat, the whole ada will be a soggy oily mess. You need it to get crispy and super crunchy all the way through. If fried well, it stays outside for days.

Malabar Porotta... A Pictorial

2011-04-30T06:57:00.001-04:00

The dough has to soak in the oil for at least 3-4 hours to loosen the dough.

The dough is stretched to become paper thin ..

should be almost see thru like a tissue.

Gather up the sheet, length wise,

folding it like a paper fan and then roll it up.

Some may get bubbles with air trapped inside..its fine.

Flatten the roll with hand or with a pastry roller,

allowing the porotta to rest for a few minutes in between if it offers resistance.

Cook on medium high heat on a griddle with very little oil. When one side turns opaque, flip and cook the other side. Apply a little oil so it stays soft longer. As soon as its removed from the griddle, fluff it up with both hands to loosen the layers. It's like hitting the sides of the porotta to dislodge the layers.

The Dough Recipe:
King Arthur Bread Flour or Maida – 2 cups
Water – 1 cup or a bit more.
1 Beaten egg (optional.. it just makes it softer)
Oil – 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Make a smooth though loose dough with the ingredients.. use water to your judgement. Keep it aside covered in an oiled bowl for about 1 hour. Take it out and make small 2 inch size rolls and place on a wide oiled plate. Pour 2-4 tbsp oil or even more, so that the balls soak in the oil. Cover with a thin cloth or plastic wrap and keep in a warm space for 3-4 hours. Then stretch each ball to paper tissue thickness and then gather it and roll it up. Flatten with the palm of your hand or roller and cook on a griddle on both sides till golden brown.

Kerala Mela....

2011-03-27T22:32:00.001-04:00

Do you have those days when you suddenly crave an ada or a pacha aracha sambhar or a kallumakai nirachathu, a particular payasam..... you haven't made it in a while and you can't remember exactly how to make it, or whether there is coriander in it or not.. if you are like me, it's probably tough remembering too many things and you keep a note or two around, post-its with recipes, a stash of printouts, a ton of bookmarks in the computer and still wonder!! If you are memory genius then you don't need any bookmarks..lucky you!! You can blog hop to the next blog then..

How many of you know about the site, Kerala Mela initiated some time ago? There were not so many blogs and bookmarking a fav blog recipe was the only to remember all the recipes going through the blogosphere. Then when I wanted to search for a particular Kerala recipe, if it was not bookmarked, it was almost impossible to find it. So this site was meant to be a portal for all the varied Kerala based recipes blogged in detail by our very own bloggers..mostly for traditional style, since that is the basis for all cooking and then each person varies it to her tastes..hence fusion happens. But here I wanted to just capture the essence of Kerala Cuisine, which is the varied collection of recipes from every region.

I haven't been able to update the site too many times as I can barely keep track of all the Kerala recipes posted now...so I was thinking..
If this site is not used by anyone, I would like to shut it down. If you do think its useful, leave a comment. And bloggers, if you think its useful and would like to update your latest recipes there, the best way might be to make it open to all of you who can join it as co-admin and then update as needed. If you blog something traditional or something special, which you think is not a common recipe, then add that to the list on the site, Kerala Mela.
So if there is no feedback, I would probably close that site soon, so do respond.

Egg less Whole Wheat Almond Cookies..

2011-03-18T08:56:00.024-04:00

How do you like your cup of tea or coffee.. with sugar or without?....and what do you like with it? something sweet or something spicy? Do you have it watching TV or with a book ? Or in the balcony looking at the clouds or in the verandah, listening to the rain. Do you like it alone, catching a moment of peace or with everyone talking at once? Which is one time you can't do without it..morning , mid morning or evening? Any way you prefer it, we need something with the tea or coffee. When we were new here, we used to wonder how the stickily sweet donut pairs with coffee. I figure the sweetness of the donut cuts the bitterness of the coffee and viceversa!
Then we liked our tea sweet and our snack spicy.. now its the reverse.. our tea is mostly unsweetened but then we need a sweet to go with it.. also similar to the Turkish who drink tea unsweetened but then place a sugar cube in the mouth to sweeten it!!

Whole wheat cookies filled with almond and flavored with cardamom...sounds too healthy for you? Well, these don't have eggs but do have some butter to enhance the nutty flavor of the whole wheat. No, they don't taste like digestive biscuits...They don't taste like rusk or whole wheat crackers....
The taste is best described as the taste of Whole wheat laddoos or atta laddoos for those familiar with it. Those laddoos are made by toasting the whole wheat flour and then binding them with nuts, sugar and ghee while they are hot. For these cookies, the flour , butter instead of ghee and sugar and nuts are all bound together in raw form and then toasted/baked in the oven.. the taste is almost the same.
So if you like whole wheat and like cookies, give this a try. It's very easy and this link to Manjula's kitchen has a video too which definitely makes it self explanatory.

This month’s Sweet Punch challenge was to make Whole Wheat Almond Eggless Cookies from Manjula's Kitchen.

EGGLESS WHOLEWHEAT ALMOND COOKIES
Recipe source: Manjula's Kitchen
You Will Need:
Wholewheat flour- 1cup
Granulated sugar - a little less than 1/2 cup sugar
Salt-1/4 tsp
Cardamom powder-1/2 tsp
Almonds- 1/4 c chopped finely or cut into slivers.
Butter- 1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted, at room temperature.
Milk- 2 tbsp or less.

Preparation:
Pre-heat the oven to 360F .
Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make sure the butter is soft and melted and then work it into the dry mix with your finger.
Knead well as you would mix a dough. If the butter is really soft, then without adding any milk, you should get a pliable dough. Don't add the milk in that case.
Add the milk teaspoon by teaspoon only if the dough feel hard. Knead well and divide the dough into equal sized balls.. you should get about 22- 26.
Roll each one in your palm till they get a smooth texture and then flatten them to the final size you want them to be. They don't spread much while baking.
Line a Cookie tray/baking tray with parchment paper and place the cookies an inch apart. Bake them in the middle of the oven for anywhere between 15 to 18 minutes, depending on your oven's heat. They should be soft and be slightly golden color when you remove them.
They may look undone but they harden after cooling on a wire rack. Store in airtight containers.

Pan Fried Shrimps..

2011-03-14T09:39:00.007-04:00

A whole lot of prayers and wishes going towards Japan and its catastrophe. As heartrending the earthquake's visuals are, the radiation's aftermath will be worse. Hope they control the reactors from releasing radiation and creating unspeakable tragedies. Brought back memories of the Bhopal Gas tragedy an era ago. Makes you wonder why they do have nuclear power plants in the first place. Let's hope everything gets resolved soon.

On a more positive note, slowly, the snow has melted away and the chill around me has also thawed. I have also started coming out of my hibernation and started smelling the spring in the air. There is less of the ice in the air and more of a cool nip.. even the birds have decided to stop by and say hello on their way to warmer weather.. swooping down in hordes, settling on the trees and grass, searching the ground for some leftover seeds and leaving en-masse in a flash.. the original flash mob.

Shrimps are something ready to cook in a flash, defrost and cook in under 10 minutes. BUT.. maybe its the masala gene in me, I prefer it marinated and spiced up well enough to compliment the sweetness of the shrimps. Usually, the shrimps back home (best ones in my opinion, though they are miniscule) are made into moliyar/molaku chaar, (a super spicy red shrimp curry) or deep fried into extinction. Or shrimp varatiyathu, or shrimp biryani... i could go on but then I would have to book tickets to go home.

But over here, that deep frying just ends up smelling up the winter insulated sealed house and is not "supposed" to be "good for you" so now we have started pan frying the shrimps with very little oil, just enough to cook the spice paste and leave the shrimp juicy inside. Grilling works well too but in that case 1 tsp of oil has to added to the marinade.
This is usually made without any chili powder( or only paprika) for the kids and with the whole spice cartel for the grown ups. Adjust the spice and salt to taste.
The ready to buy chili paste, sambal olek works wonders with getting flavor into the shrimp so you can marinate the shrimps in just that for as much time as you like and pan fry too. Fry only when everybody is at the table and you are ready to serve.:)

You Will Need:
Shrimps-about 25 (1/2 pound) medium sized ones
Red chili powder- 1 tsp
Paprika/Kashmiri Chili powder- 1 tsp
Turmeric-1/2 tsp
Vinegar- 1 tbsp
Salt- about 1 tsp.
Ginger Garlic Paste-1 tbsp.

Preparation:
Shell, devein and wash the shrimps well and drain excess water. Marinate with all the ingredients for about 1 hour (at room temperature ) or upto overnight in the refrigerator.

Heat a cast iron skillet or a frying pan with 1-2 tbsp oil. Coconut oil tastes good but use any oil preferred. Add the shrimps in one layer around the pan (don't crowd them) and cook on medium high heat for 2 minutes on each side. Cover the pan and cook on medium heat for another 3 minutes and then raise the heat and let the shrimps sear on each side on a minute. Toss in couple of curry leaves and saute. Serve hot with rice or chapathi.

Butter Chicken/ Chicken Makhani ...

2011-03-02T17:12:00.003-05:00

It's funny how our family dinners now are getting dictated by my kids more and more. Growing up here, they are more attuned to the western recipes and prefer that to most of the recipes I long for. They can't handle the spice and the mouth tingling masala combinations. So most days the recipes are simplified and lightened up to handle their spice level, resulting in my spouse and I reaching for the spicy pickles.

I bet my folks are sitting and laughing now remembering how picky I was and how my mom used to ask "enthu kazhikannulla vishappanu?" meaning "what are you hungry for?' instead of just telling me what is there to eat.

Our food is spicy and our traditional curries are rich with onions and chilies, all pieces to be fished out and kept aside. Not many of our gravy recipes are pureed into a silken ubiquitous green / yellow/ rainbow hued sauces used as a drizzle all around a white plate. It's rough textured and it's meant to be mixed into rice, mopped up with a naan or roti and dipped into with a puri. When I tell my not so little ones about some of the recipes I showcase here in this blog, they look at me as if I am from another country.

And one week of the kids being home (mid winter recess) meant a lot of kid friendly food... Now that I feel is the toughest thing to write about in a blog. What works once for the kids may or may not work the next time so I really wing it each day and hope that some of what they eat stays in their memory and one day they will ask for it by name. (Or maybe all that will remain will be relegated to "butter chicken, erachi curry, dal, beans, naan and biryani.)

Anyway, growing up , I can't remember eating butter chicken at all. Its such a restaurant item that its only now its become mainstream in households. Wonder why? Its so easy to make!! Or maybe its a dish more popular outside India!! Butter chicken or Chicken Makhani is grilled pieces of chicken in a tomatoey creamy sauce. It can made with boneless chicken or with bone in chicken, marinated in a tandoori spice and lightly fried or grilled.

Well, amongst our friends's families and our house too, it is a popular item with the kids, so gets made at every get together, ensuring the kids will eat naan and butter chicken without any fuss! What's not to like.. it has a smooth velvety sauce with simple flavors, not too spicy(though I can't resist spicing it up!!) and the grilled chicken adds a smoky twang to it. The main flavors are the garam masala and the kasoori methi, which is the dried fenugreek leaves, without which it just won't taste the same. I add Amul butter if I have it.. does it taste better? I believe so but any butter is fine. I use more milk than cream for the family but guests get the richer creamier experience. The grilling is avoidable and instead just dry cook it on a hot cast iron skillet with very little oil..not frying though.

You will need: Serves 4

Chicken-1 lb cut up into pieces (without bone or bone in)

Marinade:

1/2 pack tandoori masala(National or shaan)

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste(fresh)

1 cup regular unflavored yogurt

1 tbsp oil

Sauce:

1 can (425 gm) tomato puree without any added flavors

Onion-1

Garam masala- 1 1/2 tsp

Red chili powder- 1 tsp (add more as needed)

Turmeric-1/2 tsp

Kasoori methi- 1 tsp

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

Amul butter-1 tbsp

Cream+Milk -2-3 cup altogether, any amount of each

1/2 cup water

Preparation:

Marinate the chicken(washed and drained) with all the ingredients of the marinade and keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 hrs or overnight. Preheat the oven to 450 f and then place the chicken on a foil line tray and grill for 8-10 minutes. Raise heat to broil and broil the pieces for 2-3 minutes till the outside just starts to crisp. Remove(it will be undercooked, but will finish cooking in the gravy) and keep aside.

Heat a pan with 1 tbsp of oil and saute the onions. The onions have to be chopped really fine so it melts away. After a 2-3 minutes, add the ginger garlic paste and saute well for a minute. Add the tomato puree and the red chili powder, turmeric and saute on medium heat till the tomato comes together and moves as a mass.

Add the salt, butter, the water, the milk and cream combination(if you add just milk, it will curdle, so add a bit of cream or butter and then add the milk.)and let it simmer. Add the grilled chicken pieces and cover and cook for about 10-15 minutes on very low heat..barely a simmer. Add the kasoori methi and the garam masala and adjust taste. You may need a bit more of salt or even some butter or sugar or cream to cut the tartness. Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve with hot butter naan.

Chocolate Chip Cookies..

2011-02-01T14:06:00.020-05:00

Another snow day, another winter storm warning for travelers... snow, freezing rain, sleet, ice, in any combination you like.. its a winter chaat buffet. The snow days are great, beautiful in their pristine whiteness, the calm, and the bright sunshine that follows, snow forts, snowballs, frolicking in the snow,.. but sleet ..snow that melts as it falls is a damper. Not advised to be on the roads, so a perfect day to curl up at home. The equivalent of a rainy monsoon day back home.

And since its cold, hunger pangs abound... after all what's better than a warm oven wafting the aroma of a chocolate chip cookies? Cookies are what are called the biscuits back in India, but biscuits here are a entirely different thing.. a kind of bread.:)) Biscuits with tea..somehow cookies can't be dunked in tea, only in milk. So I am not a fan of the store bought cookies that kids consume instead of lunch and dinner if given a chance. But a home made cookie is a little bit irresistible, more so if u truly like chocolate chip cookies. So once in a while, I try my hand at cookies with varied success. I am definitely not a pro at it, but its fun to try on a otherwise dull day.
What is it about flour, butter and sugar that creates such a varied collection of goodies that are no good for you? These cookies are crunchy at the edges and turn gooey and soft in the middle. They have to taken out when they turn creamy and just a bit golden at the edges as they really turn crisp at the cooling. Try these if you have kids at home.

As for the chocolate chip cookie..No great personal recipe..I just follow Dorie Greenspan's recipe for chocolate chip cookies and it turns out kid pleasing any day. Just follow the link and there is a word for word description of the recipe. I make it with the half the quantity to start out.

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My cookies became a little too thin and spread out as my little one switched off the oven thinking its the light switch, to peep inside so the dough got melted before it got cooked. But no change in taste. I also omitted the nuts as the kids don't like it.
So grab a cookie, a hot cup of tea, and watch a movie.:)

Coconut Macaroons...

2011-01-13T07:40:00.004-05:00

My coconut macaroons fetish is set in all things coconut.. coconut burfi, ada filled with coconut, plantains filled with coconut, flattened rice or aval mixed with coconut, ari undas, coconut based chocolates, upma crunchied up with a dash of coconut....or just fresh coconut (harvest fresh)with a piece of jaggery is soooo good. How can you not like coconut? Especially if you have a tropical gene in you? No offense, but you must be a mutant if you are from the coast and don't like coconut. But seriously, I know a lot of people who prefer chocolate everything to coconut.

I used to volunteer to grate coconut for my mom (now my cherava/ grater is gathering dust while I rely on the frozen grated coconut.:)) only to stop after the first few seconds of grating to scoop up the first soft bits of moist shredded coconut and chew on it. Sadly, you can't do that with the frozen coconut.
Along with the hazaar coconut based curries that only a malayalee can dream of, Mom makes yummy coconut burfi, a kind of chewy candy with fresh coconut which I don't even bother trying to make. I just wait to go home and then ask her to make a big batch.
But these macaroons are much easier and fill the need for a coconut candy. The internet abounds in macaroon recipes so why add another of mine? Only for my own reference, as after two months when I decide to make it again, I won't remember how I did it!!

So what is a macaroon?
As per the wiki, the original macaroon was a "small sweet cake consisting largely of ground almonds" similar to Italian or Moroccan amaretti. Most recipes call for egg whites (usually whipped to stiff peaks), with ground or powdered nuts, generally almond or coconut. There was an abundance of macaroon fever going around the blogosphere some time back with macaroons of every color and flavor being made. Those gorgeous looking ones in pastel colors with fillings are the French macaroons. The Italian ones are the almond macaroons which are a chewy crunchy cookies, pretty easy to make for a non baker like me,( though the first time I made it, I soaked almonds and peeled it one by one instead of blanching it.)
But when I decided to go in for coconut macaroons, it got ugly..It is so confusing to sift through the recipes..should i add whole egg or flour or just egg whites..?some overkill it by adding condensed milk, almonds and egg whites..and then dipping the whole thing in chocolate!

This recipe originated in Nigella Lawson's book but I didn't add the cream of tartar. The cream of tartar helps stabilize the egg whites, but its not super important. I followed the instructions as is, but added a teaspoon of flour to make it hold its shape. The more the almond meal in the recipe, or less the coconut, the better is the shape.

Here is the link for those who want to try it and here is a wonderful site to see the step by step directions. The other recipe I trust is the one from the Joy of Baking site.

It came out really crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside but after a day, it turned soft.. any body knows why? or is it supposed to do that?

Then my sis suggested making the macaroons with condensed milk to be egg free and the next batch of the cookies, I tried out this recipe, but again had to omit something. So I omitted the semolina and nuts but added the cardamom. This recipe had the really chewy burfi like taste to it so I tended to like this better. The condensed milk and the cardamom added a depth and maybe Indianised it to an extend. I used store bought sweetened shredded coconut that is so easily available here, but I am sure this can be tried with fresh coconut too. So here is my version of the recipe:

Eggless Coconut Macaroons
Sweetened condensed milk – 7 ounce or 1/2 can
All purpose flour – 1/4 cup
Sweetened shredded coconut – 2.5 cups( 7 ounce package)
Cardamom powder – 1 teaspoon

Preparation:
Preheat oven 325 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, flour, coconut and cardamom powder and stir well to combine. If the mix is too hard, add 1 tbsp of milk.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets in slight mounds, 2 inches apart. You will get about 20- 24 mounds depending on size.

Bake 15 to 17 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. Let the macaroons cool on a wire rack as they will turn slightly moist if allowed to cool down on the parchment. Only after it has completely cooled down, store loosely covered at room temperature.
I like mine really crisp outside so I baked it for a minute or two more to get this extra brown look.

Palada Payasam...and a Happy Rest of the Year.

2011-01-06T10:54:00.002-05:00

Ah! A new year is already here.. where did the year go?
In the Malayalam new year, which begins with Vishu, the big deal is Vishu kani... the auspicious first thing that you see when you wake up which sets the tone for the rest of the year... a prosperous year, a healthy year, a happy year.. all the usual trappings we yearn for. For those who want to know more, there is a link above to the vishu custom. The concept creates quite a treasury of material for jokes in the layman's language and the malayalam movie industry. Anybody remember Meesha Madhavan? If your day doesn't go well, the common question is, " Who did you see as kani in the morning?"

Alas, for the New years day, there is no such symbolism.. just a late awakening, still recovering from whatever late night party you happened to be at...legs aching if u were at a dance, head abuzz with a medley of sounds and voices, a hangover for many.... quite a somber beginning to a new year!!

For me the first post of the year is always a dilemma. I want it to be short, sweet, crisp.. it should be inspiring, joyful and poetic, like one of the verses on New Year's cards. (Does anybody send cards to anyone now? Does anyone collect them still?)

But the search for the perfect words will instead mean that I won't write at all for the month of January and that propelled me to just get started! Here's to wishing a very productive and prosperous year to all my readers and friends. May this be the year of change.:)) May this be the year where we resolve to be resolute to our resolutions.

As for me, I decided to start my blog year with a sweet recipe. All those on a diet can move on to the next blogs where you will find yummy healthy food....just not here today. Well, we all need sugar after a gruelling workout, don't we?:))
The last few weeks were great with a air of festivities all around and a lot of visiting families to complete the festive feeling. The expectations for the holidays start half a year early and just keeps building up but the holidays itself go so fast!! Even a blizzard, two feet of snow and multiple bouts of flu and cold couldn't keep the spirits down.
Cleaning the house, refrigerator and pantry after all my guests left, I got stuck with a quart of milk nearing expiration date, a sweet craving, some unused sweetened coconut la languishing in my freezer , a bit of palada, (not enough for a party)and one too many cans of condensed milk. My better half recently asked if I really know the contents of my pantry and I bravely said yes, despite finding endless packs of the same stuff.
So, half the can of the evidence or a bit less went for the payasam and the remaining contributed to the sticky consistency of coconut macaroons. I have two recipes for the macaroons.. one with just coconut flakes and egg whites and almonds which is what is common. But my sis-in-law put me onto the eggless version which has just coconut flakes and condensed milk which is much better in taste, reminding of coconut burfi back home, with a fraction of the work!! Flavoring it with cardamom instead of vanilla and aniseed, Indianized it instantly.
For the payasam, the only ingredient you need is a thick bottom pan, as milk burns instantly and doesn't withstand long cooking. I use an uruli, a traditional thick bottom pan made usually of bronze but now available in aluminium too, which is fool proof for making payasams. It's great for doing any kind of milk based cooking as it never burns!! Get one if you are a fan of payasams. A copper bottom pan available locally may suffice but I am not sure.
By the way, see this link for a multitude of payasam cook off in California. Did any of you attend it?

There is no recipe.. just follow the instructions at the back of the packet!But for those who need it, here it is..
Palada Payasam
A really thick bottom wide pan or an uruli.
Double Horse Palada-1/3 pack
Milk- about 1/3 gallon (which is 4-5 cups)
Condensed Milk-1/2 tin or a little less.
Salt- a tiny pinch
Cardamom powder- crush 5 cardamom into powder.

Preparation:
Boil 2 cups water and steep/soak the palada in the hot water( off the flame) for 15 minutes. Drain the water and then add the palada to the milk and cook for 15 minutes or till the palada is soft and cooked. Then add the condensed milk, cardamom powder and salt and cook further for 10 minutes. If it looks too thick, add 1/2 cup milk. The consistency and sweetness is to each one's taste so use your judgement. I like my payasams not too thick and a bit less sweet than headache inducing sweet. These proportions may end up too loose and not too sweet for you so change as you need.
Garnish with ready bought roasted cashews(or you could fry a handful of cashews and raisins in ghee) and raisins. Serve hot or lukewarm or cold.

The rest of the can of the condensed milk went into the Eggless coconut macaroons which I will post next.:)

Chicken Curry with Green Peppers..

2010-12-15T11:11:00.001-05:00

The weather outside is frightful, but i feel so delightful....:))
Ah... one of the comforts of the winter is the warm kitchen.. the same kitchen that used to swelter me in the summer is now a warm hearth, making me find reasons to be there and cook even if there is food in the fridge. (Its 23F outside.. a scant -5 Celsius and I am so glad to be at home and not working outside.)

As Nigella Lawson said in her book, "How to be a Domestic Goddess"(A must flip through for all you aspiring goddesses)" I've always thought that bad weather has its compensations, most of them culinary." The book has pretty simple recipes for a starting off baker and more than that it is jolly wonderful to read her take on each recipe.

So I don't need another cookie or another cake, but that's what I feel like making.. if they don't have bread, let them eat cake.. but to stay practical, I opt for a chicken item instead...curry today..with peppers..and lots of onions..though not a gravy based curry..more a cry.

Yet another spicy chicken curry. It's your regular chicken curry but with bell peppers added to it to change the taste. Green peppers have the best taste, but yellow and red peppers are good too, they add a sweetness to the dish if you like that.

You will need:
Chicken-1 ½ lb, (700gm) cleaned and cut into small pieces.
Onions-2 or 3 medium sized ones sliced finely
Bell Peppers-2 green ones sliced thinly in strips( or use a mix of red, green and yellow)
Tomatoes-1 chopped into dices.
Hot Green chilies - 6 slit
Ginger–Garlic coarsely ground – 2-3 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Lemon juice-1 tsp
Red hot chili powder- 1 1/2 tsp (more or less as per taste)
Coriander powder-2 tsp
Garam Masala-1/2 tsp
Black Pepper powder- 1/4 tsp
Coriander, curry leaves- each a small handful, chopped
Salt - to taste
Oil-4 tbsp

Preparation:
Wash the chicken and lightly toss it with lemon juice and rinse again. Drain well onto a slotted drainer. Marinate with the turmeric,half the red chili powder, salt and lemon juice.
Heat the 2tbsp oil in a large shallow pan and add onions. When they are slightly transparent, add the peppers and continue sauteing. Add the slit chilies and curry leaves and stir. When the peppers wilt, remove most of the onions, all the peppers and keep aside.

Add ginger and garlic to the remaining onions, and saute. Add more oil if the mix looks dry. When the raw smell goes, add the tomatoes, remaining chili powder, coriander and saute till the tomatoes soften. Then add the chicken and cook uncovered on medium heat for 3-4 minutes till water comes out. Do not add any water: it will prevent the spice powders from getting cooked. Then cover and cook 10-15 minutes. The amount of time depends on the size of the chicken pieces. Smaller pieces cook faster.

Add more salt if needed and then add the pepper and garam masala. Check to see if the chicken is cooked. Now add back the onions and peppers sauteed earlier to the chicken and stir well. If there is no water, add 1/4 cup water and cook it covered for five minutes to let the flavors blend. Add the coriander leaves last, after switching off the flame. Let it rest covered for a while before serving.

Kerala Njandu Fry/ Crab Stir Fried with spices..

2010-11-30T14:31:00.005-05:00

Calicut Crabs washed and ready to go.

Crabs simmering in the spices.

The Final Product..A mass of legs and hands..

Back after a hiatus, and as usual there is a writer's block, staring into a empty post, wondering where to start. Where did I go? Well, took on a job and then went for a roller coaster ride for 3 months juggling home, family and work. I just couldn't surf all the wonderful blogs after getting home and now I have tons to catch up on..
Now the job is over, the weather has turned gloomy, the sun slinks away at 4.30 itself and you don't see your neighbors for days at end and there seems a general feeling of crabbiness. But its the festive season here(read shopping season) and though you would think who shops in this weather.. every body escapes to the mall where its brightly lit, filled with people and colors and sounds and whether you shop or not, the mood gets festive.

And furthermore, its the crab season on the West coast, so we will at least get some good crabs once in a while. If you like crabs, this is the season to try it.
The recipe and the fotos below are of the Calicut Crabs, from my last holiday, recipe courtesy of my Aunt. She makes the best nadan dishes..:) Calicut crabs are a medium sized ones so you don't have to cut it up. But I have been making this with the Dungeness Crabs and it is good! Just one crab is enough to feed two people lavishly. As to how to clean crabs, just google it and you will get tons of websites and even videos on it. If you buy the crabs live from the docks, like my siblings do, bring them in a tight bag, put a pot of water for boiling at home and dump them into that and cover and steam cook for 5 minutes. Then drain and cut up and clean.
I usually get the crabs from Costco when they have the seafood stand and its previously cooked (blanched) and so I just cut into smaller pieces and clean it before preparing it.
The cooking with spices gets the spicy flavor into the crabs instead of just being on the surface of the shell and then stir frying just caramelizes the shallots and spices. So the result is lickable spicy shells and then a sweet slightly flavorful meat inside.

You will need:
For the cooking:
10 medium sized crabs.
Red hot chili powder- 1 1/2 tsp
Turmeric- 1/2 tsp
Ginger- 1 inch piece
Garlic -4-5 cloves
Salt & pepper, to taste.

To fry:
10-15 small shallots, sliced well.(about 2 cups)
Curry leaves- 2 sprigs
Coconut oil- 1/4 to 1/2 cup
Green chilies-2 slit vertically.

Preparation:
Mix the spices, ginger garlic paste, add salt and 1/2 cup water in a clay pot.Add the cleaned crab and mix. Cover the pot and let it cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Open and increase the heat and let the liquid evaporate. There should be no liquid remaining. Keep aside.
Heat oil in a wok/cheenachatti or pan and add the curry leaves and shallots. When the shallots wilt and start browing, add the green chilies and the cooked crab and all the thick gravy around it. Stir fry on medium high heat for about 6-10 minutes till all the shallots and the gravy darken and stick to the crab pieces.
Serve hot with rice or roti. (just crab is fine too.)

-----------------------------------------------
Cooking Method:
Clean crabs and divide each into 4 pieces. Place
into large pan, add all ingredients except coconut
milk, mustard powder, lime juice and salt.

Bring to a boil, add coconut milk and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Add lime
juice, mustard powder and salt. Stir for a few minutes until flavours are married. Remove from heat and serve hot.

Eid Mubarak!

2010-09-10T07:36:00.002-04:00

The Story of Aleesa and Haleem..

2010-08-18T11:10:00.002-04:00

This is a story I have angling to tell for a long time. The main characters are Aleesa and Haleem..kind of like Heer Ranjha, right? It could also be delusions brought on by the heightened state of the mind when it wanders while fasting.The one on the right is Aleesa and the one on the left is Haleem.

Aleesa is a winner in looks and has good taste. She has a gentle sweet personality evident in her creamy complexion and mild nature. Happy to take a shy side seating in a crowd, you notice her only when you take the first step in the conversation. Sugary, buttery, creamy..that's the first set of words that pop into your vocabulary. Then the mid tones of spice..cinnamon, cloves, cardamon hit the back of your throat and you take a second look at the unassuming Aleesa. She is not a fool, you decide, she's different..is she an appetizer or a dessert... and as she walks away, there is a lingering memory that you just can't place.(Not my place to tell you what that is.:))

Haleem, on the other hand, is a commanding presence. Happy to be in the center of attraction, he is popular with outstanding people skills. Though he is a bright yellow in complexion, with an assortment of colorful accessories, he manages to win over anybody willing to talk to him for a second. Spicy, tangy and hot run the chit chat initially till you get into the meaty part of the conversation and then everything gets serious. Frivolities aside, this is a serious person and needs to treated with respect.
They both come from the same ancestors and maybe centuries earlier, there was a love story between them which was forcibly broken apart by warring families and send to different parts of the world.
Now they no longer recognize their common traits and have forgotten their similarities. If they were to meet their Pakistani cousin, Hareesa( not the condiment), Mumbai cousin Kichra, or Turkish cousin keshkek,they would both know they once belonged to the same royal family in the Arab states. See this wonderful post on Turkish weddings if you still doubt the similarities.

If you wondering what am I blabbering about, its about two dishes, Aleesa and Haleem popular in the Muslim Communities in North India and Malabar. Haleem is found only in Hyderabad and Lucknow and Aleesa is a North Kerala dish popular in Muslim salkarams.

According to this site, Haleem is a soup-like Indian and Pakistani dish, brought to India from Persia. In Anatolia, Iran, the Caucasus region and northern Iraq, it is known by the names Keshkek or Harisa. Although the dish varies in other regions, it always includes wheat and meat. It is a tasty soup that is made from wheat ,barley and oats. Meat or Chicken can be added for different variations. It is generally made during Ramadan and in cold weather and can be eaten with naan(indian bread) and a dash of lemon juice.

Well, its definitely not soup like (though I don't mind it like a soup too) and a measure of its quality is the thickness. The density( yeah, getting technical.. this was told to me by my butcher)should be such that a spoon placed vertically in it should stand as is without any support. It's eaten as a thick porridge(worst word to describe a delicious recipe)and it has a stick to your bones kind of richness that is good in cold weather and also after a hard long fast. So its popular as an Iftar food everywhere. Both are very thick goopy food only as good as the flavorings and the ghee in it, so most people either love it or detest it.

Now Aleesa on the other hand, however the recipe reached Northern Kerala's Malabar region, is a sweet version of this Haleem. I wouldn't have thought it was till I cam across the a post on sweet wheat porridge(that word again.) called Haleem. Again there was this wheat and meat Persian breakfast also adding ghee and sugar instead of spices. No lentils in aleesa though but still I am assuming there is a connection between these recipes..one sweet and one savory version of the same meat and wheat stew.
As for the recipe , see below.

Aleesa Recipe
You will need
Skinned whole wheat(Haleem Wheat)-1/2 cup
Cloves-2
Cinnamon-1 small half inch long thin piece
Onion- 1 small one quartered
Cardamom-1 whole pieces
Chicken or Mutton- 1/2 cup cubes

Preparation:
Soak the wheat in warm water for 15-20 minutes. Add all the ingredients in a pressure cooker or thick bottom stock pot. Add 3 cups of water and pressure cook ( or slow cook with lots of water on medium low heat) till the first whistle comes and then cook on very low heat for 10-15 minutes. After the cooker cools, open, and blend to a coarse consistency. Not fully smooth and not fully granular. You could mash it by hand too using a potato masher. Add 1/2 tsp of salt and mix well. If its too thick, add some water and cook well. If its too thin, let it thicken over low heat. Transfer to a serving shallow bowl.
Now season it by frying 3 shallots sliced in 3-4 tablespoon( use more if u like it) of ghee till it browns well. Add some cashews and raisins and fry that too. Pour the seasoned ghee over the whole cooked aleesa. Serve with lots of sugar sprinkled on top or on the side.

Traditionally, the haleem is made over 7-8 hours in a slow cooking method that ensures the flavors meld together and there are traditionalists who only prefer that. With pressure cookers and food mills, it has a faster cooking time now. If I had a slow cooker, I would use that, but I make it in a pressure cooker for ease. There are videos on you tube which show how the real deal is made in Hyderabad. From the look of it, they don't use turmeric and their haleem looks different. Any feedback on that will be welcome.

As for the Haleem recipe, since that's something I have tasted only after coming here, and hence my recipe for that may not be accurate. There are lots of Haleem recipes blogged by able bloggers now, namely Zaiqa and health nut, but the one below is what I usually use and here it as it was blogged by Nabeela, whose blog I can't find now. Shaan masalas also has a haleem mix which comes out pretty good too, except that I feel the garam masala and salt in that is overpowering. Try it either way or follow the directions on the back of the Shaan masala.

Haleem Recipe

You will Need:

2 BIG onions, sliced thin and deep fried to golden brown, then crushed
Bulghur wheat(about 2/3 cup), Masoor dal(1 handful) & Chana Dal(1 handful) - together 8 ounce
3 cups water
1 tbsp oil
1.5 lbs chicken/beef/goat, boneless
1 cup water
1.5 cups yogurt
1.5 tsp salt
4-5 green chilies
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
3 tbsp minced fresh ginger
2 tbsp minced fresh garlic
8 cloves + 1/2 tsp cumin - ground
1/2  tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground pepper
1 1/3 cup water
Juice from 2 limes
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1/2 cup chopped mint leaves
Lime wedges to serve

Procedure:
Cook bulghur wheat with masoor and chana dal in 3 cups water in a pressure cooker for 15 minutes. Set aisde and clean pressure cooker. Marinate chicken, water, yogurt, red chili, turmeric, garlic, ginger and salt for some time and then add them along with oil in same pressure cooker and cook for 30 minutes till the meat has fallen apart totally. Using a food mill or a food processor, puree the wheat mixture and meat mixture into a 5 quart pot. Add 1/2 of the crushed deep fried onions, ground cloves and cumin, 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ground pepper, water and lime juice. Cook it on medium heat, stirring constantly. Taste and see if it needs more cinnamon and pepper. Adjust to your taste. Cook for 10-15 minutes till its thick and goopy. Add chopped cilantro and mint. Cook for a minute further. Serve hot with lime wedges, fresh cilantro and the rest of the fried onions sprinkled on top.

Ramazan Mubarak and Tire Pathiri/ Thick Rice Pan Cooked Bread...

2010-08-12T18:01:00.006-04:00

Back from a trip to my hometown, a short and hectic but immensely memorable trip. Got stuffed with a lot of good food, all home made and yummy, just in time to make the Ramazan fast a necessary ritual to get back into my old clothes. The trip had a lot of highlights, so much so that a stray idle day seemed to be lacking something, as I couldn't unwind and just go with it.
Meeting friends, old and new, meeting family has all left a series of pleasant thoughts to dwell on, on slow days. Initially I was photographing everything trying to capture the moments but then gave up and now all that remains is the distilled essence of the days there. There was just too much to take in at once and the photos don't do justice to the vibrancy and pace there.

Seeing the change in my hometown is always eye opening. Each time I blink, there seems to be a new apartment building sprouting amongst the old tharavadus there. The skyline there, once a lush green of just coconut trees, is now more concrete than green. There is even a 4 storied apartment coming next door to my parent's house. Easy for me to visit infrequently and feel a pang but looks like the residents there just need more housing and land is expensive so maximizing the use seems to be the norm.

There is so much to blog about the food there, but laziness prevails.. Well, its summer here so anyway, I am not in a blogging frame of mind now but thought of posting this before I forget how its made. This post is about tire pathiri, a term you would have read only here. Pathiri , as I have explained earlier is a generic term for "rotis" or flatbreads. This is a thick flatbread made with ground rice paste and it called "tire or tyre" as it is very thick, almost an inch thick, reminding you of the truck tyres.
It is called Katti Pathiri elsewhere, meaning "thick flat bread" as opposed to the more common, "neriya pathiri"/ thin flatbreads. This heavy duty bread is a meal in itself. If you get taken in by the cute looks and make the mistake of plopping one on your plate, early on,at a salkaram/party, good luck..... you will be stuck between having to finish it and hence not being able to eat another bite of rice or end up wasting good food.

It is made by soaking rice in warm water and then grinding it to a thick paste and then cooking it on a slow flame. Traditionally cooked in an clay pan over a wood burning stove, it is not so easy, ( not too difficult either) to make on a gas stove. This one chronicled below was made on a gas stove by my MIL's patient hands.. will I make it here to the same quality is yet to be seen. (I will update you all on it.)
You will Need:
1cup rice(ponni parboiled) soaked in hot water (boiling hot initially) for 5-6 hours.

Grind this to a smooth paste (some add shallots and fennel seeds to this grinding, we don't) with very little water. Traditionally done on a stone grinder by hand, it can done in a dosa grinder or in a powerful Indian style food processor with very little water.

Place it in a refrigerator, covered with a muslin (thin cotton) cloth overnight. This allows the excess water to evaporate and what remains is the perfect consistency to make the pathiri.

Take a lump of the dough, flatten it between two plantain leaves or parchment paper or oiled foil to the size of your palm. It should be about 1/4 inch thick.

Heat a cast iron skillet and place the plantain leaf or foil with the flattened dough in it on the skillet.

Cover and cook on medium low heat for about 5-6 minutes on each side, undisturbed.
Open, remove the pathiri and place it directly on the skillet. As it crisps up on each side, flip it over.

Then place the bread on its side, (balance with a wooden spoon) and roll and cook along the edge, pressing it gently as you cook. This allows the pathiri to puff up like a ball. That's when you know its cooked fully.
Serve with any meat curry with lots of gravy or with muringa ela curry.

Winner of The GIveway...

2010-06-28T22:10:00.002-04:00

The winner is here .. someone has a hit a lottery.. well.. not the mega one but still $100 is worth smiling about.
Now that the winner is being announced, I know most of you are going to go back into the shadows.:))

The winner was drawn from the 78 entrants who left a comment using Random.org.
The random winner of the The great CSN giveaway is...

Comment # 27:

Nanditha Pamal.

Congratulations Nandita and you will be receiving your $100 gift certificate from CSN Stores soon.

Winners have 48 hours to respond to the winning notification. If the winner(s) have not responded within the 48 hours, a new winner(s) will be chosen.

Thanks to everyone who participated and played along. I really enjoyed reading each comment and found some really good new recipes to try out too.

Last Two Days of the Giveaway..

2010-06-24T09:59:00.003-04:00

Update:
Wonderful response so far..
We are onto the last two days and there is still time to participate. If nothing, just leave a valid email id in the comment section without anything else and you can enter the raffle.
c'mon... don't lose out on $100 worth freebies.

Has anyone caught the football/soccer fever yet? I am not so into the whole game, but it is hard to ignore it when the DH follows it so intensely. Since our great nation doesn't qualify in it, every body has to adopt a European or South American country and get excited about their countries for the Copa Mundial/World Cup being held in South Africa. Though how can you watch all the games with the sound of vuvuzela is beyond me.
My interest doesn't usually go beyond my fledgling qualifications of a soccer mom cheering at the kid's Saturday games. Since I don't play the game, I can never understand why the kids can't just morph into a Ronaldo or a Messi and just kick instead of hovering indecisively around the ball...I told you, I am just a soccer mom who thinks its easy..

Some time back CSN Stores contacted me to do a giveaway of a git certificate to one lucky winner at my blog. Over time, I have made friends with a lot of bloggers who are obviously food obsessed but also met a lot of like minded foodies...my readers who try out the recipes here and take time to leave their valuable comments. For all the effort you all invested, this is an opportunity for me to say Thanks and give you all a chance at winning a gift certificate.

CSN stores is a series of stores under one company. They have a huge online inventory where they sell everything from Housewares, Home Decor, Bathroom vanities to Furniture. Its like an amazon for just Home products.

The winner of the giveaway gets a $100 gift certificate which can be used at any of the CSN Stores online.

Here are some of the things I found interesting on the site with a cursory look through. Go through the site to decide what you would like to buy if you get the $100 certificate.

Hand Stand Mixers...
This is one I wouldn't mind getting!!

Circulon Round Grill Pan..
Doubles as an excellent Dosa and crepe pan.

Pressure Cookers...
No more lugging it from India..think what you can fill in that space in the suitcase instead.:)

How about some cool mandoline chopper for the Kitchen...

Cuisinart Pure Indulgence 2 Qt. Frozen Yogurt-Sorbet & Ice Cream Maker - ICE-30BC

Or even Le Creuset Stoneware.

So what do you have to do to participate in the giveaway?
Not much , just spend a minute on my blog, typing in a comment and leaving your email id..that's not too bad for a $100 gift certificate, right?

And just to spice things up, I want to know either of the two things:

1. What was the best dish you cooked/baked in the past year – leave a link if you have one.
OR
2. Visit the CSN Stores, and for your entry comment, tell me what you would want to get from there. all products at any store including the cookware or home decor store.
OR
3. Name your favorite Malabar recipe from my site or any blog site as your comment. ( Hi, hi...Promoting Malabar cuisine, not necessarily from my blog.. there are so many wonderful bloggers there now.)

4. Still shy?..Just leave an email id.
To win this awesome giveaway of $100 gift certificate just do the following:

Leave a comment with your answer to the question above and e-mail id. If you enter, you MUST leave a way for me to get a hold of you so I can notify you if you win.

I will let the Random Number Generator choose the winner.

This giveaway is open until June 25th, 2010, midnight EST. Unfortunately CSN stores ship only to US & Canada and thus the giveaway is limited to these addresses. Please note that I do not get any compensation monetary or otherwise from this giveaway. My blog is just the host site for it.

Dal Makhani / Black Lentils in a creamy sauce..

2010-06-09T11:10:00.008-04:00

The best part about blogging instead of writing for a magazine is that you can miss deadlines...deadlines are set by me but as always , there are 10 deadlines set by me and blogging is the last priority..way way below getting my resume done, looking for a job, keeping the house in a semblance of order and feeding the kids and spouse. So ever since I wanted to post all my grill recipes, I haven't grilled.. the weather turned hot and the unventilated, closed room kitchen started slowly roasting me as I tried grilling in the oven. So I will keep adding to that when I grill outside.
Meanwhile, all the blog events keep happening around me and I gleefully check out the round up, not very guilty about reading without contributing my two cents .
But this time I had a Dal Makhani lying around in my photos so am posting this classic yet staple lentil/dal recipe. This is my entry to the ever popular "My Legume Love Affair" , started by Susan and this month hosted byA Little Bit of Spain - My Legume Love Affair 24

Dal Makhani is literally "lentils in a buttery sauce" and is also called Maa Ki Daal, meaning "mom's lentils. This is one recipe I don't associate with my mom. so definitely not my ma/mom ki dal.
This dish conjures up images of all the wonderful meals from the dhabhas/street cafes (for want of better term,) of Delhi, especially any kebab/tandoori place such Karims. Bombay's Delhi Durbar, Shalimar kind of restaurants too have a wonderful dal makhani.
Ideal combination..tandoori chicken or tikka kebab and pickled onions and tandoori naan to dip into the creamy buttery dal makhani. Veg lovers will take offense, so let me add that it tastes equally awesome with some jeera rice.:))

Sometimes, this dal is a dull brownish grey in color and at times, I have seen a rich reddish colored makhani. I keep trying out the recipes from everywhere to recreate the perfect taste.(which of course since its from different memories of eating out, can never be matched). It all started with a recipe from the Prestige Pressure cooker book for Dal Makhani!! For a long time, I followed that recipe, whcih didn't have an ounce of tomatoes in it , till I started tasting tomatoes at all the restaurants. (and of course, at my friend S's house, who makes a really awesome Ma ki Dal.)

This is a mish mash of all the recipes that I have tried out over time. I stopped at this recipe for the last few times, but who knows, in some years, it may change again. Over time, I have moved onto the reddish dal makhani and that's the recipe outlined here. Depending on whether you use fresh tomatoes or paste and the type of the red chili powder(hot, paprika or Kashmiri chili powder) the color will vary.

You Will Need:
To pressure cook:
Whole Black Gram - 1 Cup
Chana Dal/ Bengal Gram -2 tbsp(optional)
Red Kidney Beans (Rajma)- 1/4 Cup
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tablespoon
Ghee/oil- 1 tsp

For the Seasoning:
Green Chillies -3
Garlic -1 1/2 tbsp chopped
Onions - 1 1/2 cup chopped
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tablespoon
Tomatoes-(300 gms) 3 small ones or 2/3 can of 300 gm of crushed tomatoes(no flavorings added)
Toamato Puree -2 tbsp
Red Chilli Powder -1tbsp
Garam Masala Powder -2 tsp
Kasuri Methi Powder -1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil : 2-3 tsp

For garnish
Butter : 2 tbsp
Fresh Cream -1/2 cup

Chopped Coriander - a handful

Preparation:

Soak the black gram, kidney beans and the Bengal gram overnight in lots of water. Rinse and wash off the water as this is said to contain the gases. Place the beans in the pressure cooker with 4 cups of water. Then add 1 tsp. of ginger garlic paste and the teaspoon of ghee to this mix and pressure cook till the first whistle. Then lower the heat and further cook for 10-15 minutes. If they are not cooked, cook for some more time. Then using the back of a wooden spoon, mash the lentils to a chunky state.
Heat oil and 1 tbsp of the butter in a saute pan and fry the chopped onions, garlic and green chillies till the onions are translucent. Add the remaining ginger garlic, saute and after a minute add the chopped tomatoes and a pinch of salt and saute till the tomatoes are completely cooked they start moving together as a mass. Add the canned tomatoes judiciously as the flavors can dominate easily. Add the tomato puree and the red chili and garam masala powders and saute. Then add the lentils, more water and bring it all to a liquidy form. Add salt to taste and simmer for ab20 minutes on low heat with constant stirring. When the flavors seem melded in, crush the kasuri methi in the palm of your hand and add it in. Drop in the remaining 1(or even 2 tbsp) of butter and cream. Do not let it boil on high heat after cream in added. Sprinkle with chopped coriander.

For a weeknight, you could make a lighter version of the dal avoiding all the high fat butter and cream. Follow the procedure, but instead of butter and ghee, use olive oil. Add just one tablespoon of butter all together, just in the end and add 1/2 cup of milk instead of cream. You could fold in 1/4 cup of hung yogurt(or Greek Yogurt) in the end to give it the creaminess. Take care to remove from flame before adding yogurt as it tends to split on heat.

Punjabi Garam Masala is best made at home. It stores well for a month and then you can remake it. I use Anita's recipe sometimes and my mom's recipe sometimes which goes lighter on the moti elaichi and uses regular elaichi instead.

This is Anita's recipe.
Punjabi Garam Masala

4 parts moti elaichi /Black Cardamom(100 gm)
1 part zeera (cumin)
1/2 part cinnamon (or cassia bark, if cinnamon is not available)
1/2 part black peppercorns
1/2 part cloves
5-6 tejpatta (not bay leaves!)

Measure out the spices and dry roast in a medium hot skillet till it slowly starts smoking. Or in a hurry , use the microwave for roasting.. roast in a microwave safe plate for 2 minutes. Cool and then grind to a powder (as fine as possible) and store in a dry jar.

Tips for Grilling Salmon ..

2010-06-01T16:33:00.006-04:00

Salmon is not my fish of choice if I had a wide selection, but kids like it and it is available freely...so we end up grilling salmon.:) I am sure all the Kerala fishes will taste really good on the grill. Especially wrapped in banana leaves and places on the embers.. but that's another post. The banana leaves help in holding the fish together and imparts its unique flavor to it too.

So try to eat more of the wild caught salmon than the more common fresh water varieties. The tastes takes getting used to since we started out with fattier fresh water salmon over here. Choose salmon filets about half inch to one inch thick. Remove skin if desired. Most of the time the skins peels off after grilling, so I leave it on but then I need to sear that side again to get the crispiness. Remove the skin is an art that I haven't perfected so I get around it.
Any seasoning mixed with olive oil tastes good with salmon. Try a simple assortment of dry sea salt and pepper crusted heavily as a ry rub and then grilled. Or mix together crushed fresh garlic, salt, coarse pepper and a bit of lemon juice. Sometimes I add crushed red pepper flakes to this to spice it up. At other times, I use the "nadan" recipe of red chili powder, turmeric, salt and lemon juice and oil to really have a grilled "fried" fish. Adding the oil to the marinade helps in cooking the spices and developing a crust as the fish is being grilled.
Do not marinate the salmon for too long or it will turn soft and mushy.

Where can you go wrong?

The biggest problem I face is flipping the fish over. I haven't perfected it but having a really wide metal spatula helps in holding the fish up. Something like this or this for the outdoor grill is good. Placing the fish on an oiled foil helps to avoid sticking.
Timing: Fillets cook almost instantly...2 or 3 minutes and you should see them turning opaque and the fish comes off the pan or grill. If they are sticking, let it cook.
Slices need more time.. about 5-8 minutes on each side. If they are really thick , it needs to be covered and cooked on the grill to allow the heat to permeate.

Grill: Clean the grill thoroughly. Scrub the grates with a wire brush and wipe it down so there are no residues which will stick to the fish. Prepare the grill, to medium high heat. If placing directly on the grill, oil the grate with a brush or with a half onion dipped in oil and place the fish perpendicular to the grill. Grill on medium heat for 5 to 8 minutes on each side. Brush with oil as you turn it over once and let it sear. There are fish baskets and slotted grill sheet also that you can use for grilling fish which makes it easier to handle and flip the fish.

Oven: Preheat to 450 F.
Skillet method:
A cast iron skillet is invaluable for this. Work well with fat slices, not so much with thin fillets. Oil the skillet and let it become hot on the stove top. Place the fish fillets on it and let it sear for about 3-4 minutes without moving it. Flip over and sear the other side. You will see it turning opaque as it cooks through. Just to finish it off, cover the skillet with foil and place the skillet in the oven for another 5 minutes. The fish is done and ready, but if you prefer really well done and crispy, brush with oil and let it bake uncovered for another 5 minutes.

Oven Baking Method: Line a baking tray with foil , brush with butter (kids love it) or oil and place the fish in it spaced apart an bake for 6-12 minutes, flipping it over once in between. Broil in the last two minutes to get a crust.
The timings are all approximate and you have to try it out and figure out what works best for you. If you are grilling flat fishes such as pompano/pomfret slices, the oven is really not needed.A cast iron skillet works very well to give it a semi fry/semi grilled taste on the stove top itself.

Most big fish steaks are good on the grill. Salmon, Mackerel, Porgies, Butter fish, Striped bass, shrimps, king Mackarel etc.
Related Recipes: Grilled Halibut with Indian rub
Green Spicy Grilled Tilapia
Meen Pollichathu

Grilling Vegetables..

2010-05-28T10:14:00.013-04:00

Most recipes on grilling vegetables don't go beyond washing, trimming and placing them on the grill.. is it that simple? errr.. yes!!! but maybe no.

Though grilling gives vegetables a smoky flavor, the spice lover in me feels it can be tastier. So what I like to do is marinate most veggies in a light marinade. Earlier, we used to just marinate veggies in the Italian dressing....which really works beautifully but now I just throw together some spices and olive oil and that's it. The proportions keep changing.. more garlic sometimes, some paprika sometimes, some cumin...play with it.

Most veggies do well on the grill, but some really stand out--asparagus, corn, eggplant, mushrooms, peppers (bell or hot), onions, cauliflower. Most vegetables cook better and are less likely to stick if marinated first or brushed lightly with cooking oil just before grilling. For added flavor, sprinkle grilled vegetables with fresh herbs.

To avoid scorching or overcooking, you want the grill fire to be medium-hot.(Test the temperature by

holding your hand 5 inches above the grill grate; if you can hold your hand there for only three to four seconds, the fire is medium-hot.)To grill, place vegetables on a piece of heavy foil or on the grill rack directly over the preheated coals. If putting them directly on the grill rack, oil the rack and lay them perpendicular to the wires of the rack so they won't fall into the grill. Grill, uncovered, for time in chart or till tender, turning occasionally. Watch closely to prevent charring. Direct heat works best so I alternate between placing them on the foil and then on direct heat.

Grilled Potatoes: You can also grill baby potatoes by threading them on to a kabob skewer although boiling them first cuts down the grilling time. Big potatoes grill slowly but nicely and you can wrap them in foil to stop the skin from burning while the inside cooks. Use the red skinned small potatoes and cut them into halves or quarters. Boil water with a pinch of salt and drop the potatoes in and cook for 4-5 minutes. Not fully cooked, just to aid the cooking. Drain and dry and toss with olive oil, some herbs of choice, salt, pepper etc and place in a tray or foil or on skewers and grill till the outside is crispy(12-15 minutes). The potatoes sometimes are better controlled and crispy roasted in a pan in an oven.

Grilled Asparagus:

Preheat grill for high heat. Lightly coat the asparagus spears with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.(Add more spices if you like). Grill over high heat for 2 to 3 minutes, or to desired softness.

Grilled Eggplant:
The long slender light Purple eggplants are best for grilling as cook really fast, but you could use regular eggplant too. Marinate the eggplants in a mix of sumac( a sour spice from the Middle East, substitute with lemon juice if you can't find it. It adds a tanginess with too much sourness.), olive oil, crushed garlic, salt, red pepper flakes and cilantro or parsley leaves. Marinate for 2-3 hours. Adjust taste to preference.
Preheat the grill for high heat. I grill the eggplant on a oiled foil or on a oiled slotted grill tray. Place the eggplants and cook for 4-5 minutes on each sides. It will start looking limp and translucent as it gets cooked. If you are using the fat eggplants, cut them into 1/4 inch thick slices and cook for about 8 -10 minutes on medium heat.

Mushrooms:
Marinate and then grill for 8 to 12 minutes, turning every 3 minutes
It is important to skewer small button and cremini mushrooms to keep them from falling through the grate during grilling.

Corn on the Cob/Bhutta
Grill corn in the husk for 8 to 10 minutes, turning every 11⁄2 to 2 minutes. Or grill corn directly on the grills, turning every minute or so to evenly roast it. Sprinkle with butter for kids, and red chili powder and salt for the adults.. I still like my corn with the street taste of chaat masala.

Bell Peppers:
Cut into 1-inch-thick slices and after marinating, thread onto metal skewers.Grill for 7 to 9 minutes, turning once. You can cut them into wide slices and thread each piece twice to keep it intact.
A quick grilling can bring out the natural sweetness of peppers and soften their tough flesh, but overcooking results in bitter skins that may become partially detached.

Red or Yellow Onions:
Easily done. Cut into thick slices or square dices(big quarters), just brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and grill for 8-10 minutes. When they are done, they turn transparent and start browning, so check your timing with the oven.

Zucchini or Yellow Squash:

Cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices, or into rounds and marinate with olive oil, salt, lemon juice and grill for just 4-6 minutes each side.If you like it softer, grill on lower heat for another 5 minutes.

Sometimes, precooking helps soften the veggies. This is what I found on one of grilling websites. It helps in grilling perfectly cooked vegetables if you are short on time.

Asparagus Snap off and discard tough bases of stems. Precook, then tie asparagus in bundles with strips of cooked green onion tops. Precooking Time:3 to 4 minutes Grilling Time:3 to 5 minutes

Fresh baby carrots Cut off carrot tops. Wash and peel. Precooking Time:3 to 5 minutes Grilling Time:3 to 5 minutes

Eggplant Cut off top and blossom ends. Cut eggplant crosswise into 1-inch-thick slices. Precooking time:Do not precook. Grilling Time:8 minutes

Fennel Snip off feathery leaves. Cut off stems. Precooking Time:Precook whole bulbs for 10 minutes. Cut bulbs into 6 to 8 wedges. Grilling Time:8 minutes

Sweet peppers Remove stem. Quarter peppers. Remove seeds and membranes. Cut peppers into 1-inch-wide strips. Precooking Time:Do not precook. Grilling Time:8 to 10 minutes

Leeks Cut off green tops; trim bulb roots and remove 1 or 2 layers of white skin Precooking Time:10 minutes or till tender. Halve lengthwise. Grilling Time:5 minutes

New potatoes Halve potatoes. Precooking Time:10 minutes or till almost tender Grilling Time:10 to 12 minutes

Zucchini Wash; cut off ends. Quarter lengthwise into long strips. Precooking Time:Do not precook. Grilling Time:5 to 6 minutes

Crookneck squash Rinse, trim, and slice 1 inch thick. Precooking Time:Do not precook. Grilling Time:5 to 6 minutes

I will add photos as and when I take them.. Else this post will not get done before summer is over.This should be enough to get you all started.

Here is an interesting looking roasted vegetable recipe that I came across for those who want to start out roasting in the oven.

A Prelude to A Giveaway.. Grilling Ideas, Tandoori Paneer

2010-05-24T13:04:00.004-04:00

You probably have seen it on every blog in the last two months.. You probably left a comment here, left a comment there , left a comment everywhere in the hope of being the happy winner...You probably buy lottery tickets every Friday and join in the office pool..

So what 's the best chance of winning something..I would say try, try and try again...and again..

Last week, I was contacted by the team from CSN Stores to see if I was interested in doing a giveaway at my blog too. Should I do it? Of course I said yes..since someone somewhere (actually only in US and Canada) is cut out just for this gift.

This giveaway is open to all, anyone of you can enter to try and win a $100 gift certificate from CSN stores which you can use to buy anything from their 200+ stores.

The actual giveaway will follow soon, so stay tuned and don’t forget to check back here.

I am still gathering my BBQ ideas, which nobody except my 3 loyal readers wanted to enrich me on...Every year, when BBQ seasons rolls around, I start combing the net for recipes..recipes that are spicy to our Indian palate yet grillable.. so this time I am making a list of what we usually make and hoping others can add to it so if there are grillers out there looking for ideas, they can start with this.
So I decided to start the conversation describing all previous BBQ ideas with my friends and see if anyone liked it.

Our typical BBQ are held outdoors as a fun group effort with a whole lot of planning...all centered on food!! We use the public grills at the State Parks and we take everything from the charcoal to the food. Nowadays we get another metal tray to place over the grills just to make sure that its hygienic. And we use foil to grill veggies instead of placing it over the grills directly. More later.
Here are two links to get facts about BBQ what-to-do and what-not-to-do. Food network also has some tips for foolproof grilling.

So what have we grilled?

Eggplant, Zucchini, Bell peppers, Onions, Broccoli,Mushrooms, Asparagus.. pretty much anything tastes good after a slight grilling but some veggies like being grilled, especially potatoes. They turn into something really different under the heat..crispy on the outside and soft in the inside. The method and time for grilling each one is slightly different.

Then comes Paneer.. ever tried grilled paneer? We start out making these for the vegetarians but always make extra paneer coz even the non-vegetarians can't resist the spiced up texture of this cheese. Here it's done with two marinades.. the red one is tandoori paneer and the green one is hara bara chutney paneer. Grilled Tofu still hasn't taken off in my group but I am working on them.

Of course we grill meat..chicken tandoori is a staple and any BBQ is incomplete without it. There is also chicken kebabs, tangdi kebabs, chicken tikkas, chicken tikkas in green marinade, and any other form of chicken that u can think of. Our diverse circle has experimented with everything with good and bad results.

Beef is not so popular and gets limited to the burgers and hot dogs, though beef in Bihari Kebab masala is really good. Else throw on a good steak, or grilled gyros, fajitas and salsa would have been great choices.
Ground Beef and Mutton lends itself to good burger-like spicy kebabs too. Home made though..

Once in a while there is also fish.. salmon, tilapia, shrimp all of which taste good right off the grill but are delicate to carry and cook. They get cooked first and in the first pangs of hunger, disappear fast..

This is all for now.. I should continue later with the sides and dessert. If you want recipes for any of the items, leave a comment.

Hara Bara Paneer, with Chutney Marinade:

Make pudina chutney as usual following any green chutney recipe that you usually use. Here is one that I use.

Fresh pudina/mint leaves – a big bunch
Coriander/Cilantro – a handful just the leaves and top stems
Onions –1/2 of a small one or three shallots
Garlic – 3 cloves
Cumin Seeds-1/4 tsp
Ginger – 1/2 -inch piece
Green Chillies – 5-6 nos (alter to suit your taste)
Sugar – 1/4 tsp
Salt – to taste
Lemon Juice- juice of a lemon
Procedure:

Wash the leaves, coriander well. Blend all the ingredients except lemon juice together to a smooth paste in a food processor with very little water(2-3 tbsp). Try doing it in batches if the blender/food processor can't do it at one go. The lesser the water, the less runny your chutney, and longer the life.
Add the lemon juice and salt and adjust taste. Pudina/Mint chutney ready.. Some people make this chutney with more Dhania/cilantro and very little Mint to get a different flavor.
Now to make the marinade for the paneer, make this chutney a little tangier and spicier by adding more green chili , kala namak/black salt, more cumin powder.. or just add a spoon of the all purpose concoction..Chaat Masala. The Paneer barely absorbs the spices so the marinade should be spicier and tangier than the final taste that you want.

(Chaat Masala is made of amchoor (dried mango powder),cumin,ground black salt, ground coriander, ground ginger, black pepper, sometimes red chili powder.)
So marinate the paneer cubes in this marinade for overnight or at least 2-3 hrs. Before grilling, cover a tray with foil and brush the foil with oil liberally. Place the paneer and grill for 3-4 minute son each side. You could do this in the oven too. Preheat oven to 350 F and grill for 6-8 minutes or till you get a nice crust on each side. If you forget to spray or brush the foil with oil, the paneer will stick to it and you will lose your marinade sides.
Just before serving , sprinkle with some salt and lemon juice.

Tandoori Paneer

Use store bought Tandoori Masala of your choice or make it as per the recipe. If you are using the Shaan or National brands, they are all high in salt so don't add any more salt . Sometimes we take some of that spice and dilute it with more garam masala, paprika, ginger-garlic paste. Cut the paneer as you prefer but remember too thin and too small will crumble on cooking.
This method is for laying the paneer straight on baking tray . Alternately, you could thread it onto metal skewers and also alternate the paneer pieces with onions an tomatoes.

Paneer(cottage cheese)-400gm cut into 2" cubes of paneer
Tandoori Masala (see recipe below)-4-5 tbsps
Yogurt-3-4 tbsp
Cooking oil/ Olive oil/sunflower oil-2 tbsp
Chaat Masala -for garnish
Lemon wedges to garnish

Tandoori Masala:

2 tbsp. of Cumin Seeds

2 tsp. of Coriander Seeds (Saabut Dhania)

1 Cinnamon Sticks (Dal Cheeni)

1 tsp. of Cloves

1 tsp. of Red Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp paprika/kashmiri chili powder

1 tsp. of Ginger Powder

1/2 tsp. of Turmeric Powder (Haldi)

1 tsp. of Garlic Powder

1 tsp. of Mace Powder

Dry roast all the whole spices until they smoke. Cool and dry grind in a grinder. Store and use for a month.
Preparation:

Mix the Tandoori Masala with the yogurt, the oil and salt to taste and make a marinade. Taste it and adjust the spice level as needed.
Marinate the paneer with this paste taking care not to break the paneer pieces. Place in the refrigerator overnight or at least 4 hrs.
Preheat your grill to medium. If you are placing the foil directly on the outdoor grill, the embers have to burn first and then be on low..no high heat as it will burn thru the foil. We use a slotted tray similar to this over over the grill to act as a buffer. Line the slotted tray with foil and brush liberally with cooking oil. Place the paneer separately without crowding on the foil and brush or spray each paneer with some oil. Grill for 4-5 minutes on each side or till paneer is browned on each side Do not overcook or the paneer will become rubbery.
This can be done in the oven too. Preheat oven to 350 and lien a baking tray with foil and spray with oil. Place the paneer pieces on it ,then place the baking tray in the oven and bake for 3-4 minutes on each side. Brush each paneer piece with a bit of oil to get a crunchy crust.
Remove onto a plate and sprinkle with lemon juice and Chaat Masala if you like the flavor of the masala.

An Indian BBQ..

2010-05-14T11:51:00.003-04:00

The weekend is approaching... praying that the weather doesn't do the "let's dampen the weekend" game and stays sunny. It's not hot enough to run for shade and we are still basking in all the sun we can get.... have to get my naturally glorious Indian tan back! But maybe perfect weather to be out.
In the all American tradition, weekends are meant to be outdoors, enjoying the sun, the breeze and hanging out with the friends. Then the thought turns to "let's do a BBQ" and the first reaction is burgers and hotdogs..nah....
That won't tickle the palate tuned to the spicy, tangy, sweet palate..So then what are the options?
This is not an event, but I would love it if there are any interested participants who want to join in. Probably will be just me and my ideas so..:)

What would be the menu for an Indian Style BBQ?
Veg and Non veg items welcome. Keep in mind that food can't stay out for too long and should involve minimal on site mixing and preparation.
What do all of you make/take for a spiced up style BBQ? What was the last picnic/bbq item that you had, that you made or took....

Beef Varattiyathu/ Erachi Varattiyathu/ Beef Sauted with Spices.

2010-05-12T07:21:00.007-04:00

Beef Varattiyathu is a recipe I started my spare kitchen with and I started my blog with it too! It was my one reliable recipe in the disastrous milieu of new cooking. Something I like to eat and something which turns out edible without too much effort.
But over time, there are versions of the same recipe that I make, depending on the mood. It can become a dry fry, it can be an almost curry and it can be a cry.. a cross of a curry and fry. This is one recipe that changes in taste each time I make it, thanks to the cut of beef, the proportion of spices I add, whether I use shallots or onions, whether I use coconut oil or olive oil, whether I fry first and then cook or cook and then fry the meat. I try to pin it down but can't; But it is so instinctive in my recipe collection, that once I decide to make it, the hands just take over and its all auto pilot and lo its done.
My mom makes this as a curry, frying the onions first and then adding the beef with all the spices and sauteing it till all the water is gone and then pressure cooking it.

Try it any way and let me know which way works the best for you. Slow cooking this would be wonderful but needs a constant eye on it. Try with different cuts of the meat till you like a particular one. This recipe made with the Indian meat (more muscle, less marbling) is much better..flavorful and chewy but now that is stuff of vacations.

You'll need:
For cooking:
Beef Chuck Roast Cubes -1 kg/2lbs
Onion-1/2 of a medium sized one sliced
Small green chillies -6-10
Ginger -2 inch long piece
Garlic -10 cloves
Tomato - 1 small one chopped
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Roasted Coriander powder - 2 tbsp
Red chili powder -1 1/2 tsp( use less if u want it less spicy)
Kashmiri Red Chili Powder-1 tsp
Black pepper powder - 1 tsp
Fennel powder -3/4 tsp
Curry leaves, coriander leaves - A handful of each, washed and chopped
Salt to taste
For Tempering:
Any oil - 3 tbsp (coconut oil tastes the best)
Onions - 1 medium one, thinly sliced
Shallots -20 peeled and sliced
Green Chilies- 2-3 slit vertically
Curry Leaves- as much as u like

Preparation:
Clean and cut the beef into small pieces. Grind ginger, green chillies and garlic into a coarse paste (or mince it very fine, as my grandmother does) and mix it with the beef. Keep the beef marinated aside for a while, at least half hour.

Slow cooking:Add the marinated beef, tomato, spices and the rest of the ingredients including the leaves in a thick bottom pan. If you have a lot of time and have work in the Kitchen for an hour, cover and slow cook the meat on low heat for an hour, stirring it once in a while to prevent it from sticking to the pan. You will need to add water( 1/2 to 1 cup, as needed) to the pot to keep liquid in for cooking.

Pressure cooker: Alternately, if you are like me, working in the kitchen in between other errands, pressure cook the meat. Place the marinated meat, the half onion, tomato, ginger-green chili paste and the rest of the ingredients including the leaves in the cooker on high heat for 5 minutes and then place the lid and allow it come to the first whistle. Lower the heat to minimum and cook for five minutes. Cool down, open the cooker and check and cook again if its not done. If you are using a pressure cooker, no need to add water at any stage. There will be excess water in the meat to cook itself.

Heat the coconut oil ( best in taste, but maybe too strong for non-Keralites) or any oil (olive, peanut, sunflower) in a non-stick pan and add the curry leaves. Then add the slit green chilies and sliced onions and shallots. Add coconut cut pieces and fresh garlic slices too if you like. The coconut cuts really add to the taste. Saute the shallots and onions till wilted. Add the meat with the remaining gravy. Saute on medium heat till semi-dry and still moist. Not fully dried.

Dry Fry: Omit tomatoes while pressure cooking the meat. If you like it as a dry dish, let the liquid in the cooker evaporate on high heat. Reduce the amount of the shallots or completely omit onions and shallots. Fry the curry leaves, green chilies in a wok or non stick pan in 3-4 tbsp oil and then add the dry pieces without any gravy to the pan. Stir fry (more oil, more taste...so use ur judgment, add more oil if needed) till it is crisp and brown on the outside.

Okra Crispies/Crispy Fried Okra

2010-05-03T09:20:00.011-04:00

So you think okra is a slimy gooey vegetable. Try this recipe and you will change your impression about Okras. They are crunchy, spicy and tangy ....slivers of okra dipped in a very light powdery batter and fried.
Called Ladies Fingers in India, its popular in summer when the tropical heat really brings out the flavors and the markets abound in it. Here too, Okra is more popular in the South, where the heat produces better quality okras. I grew Okras in my garden till last year and any cold spell or heavy rain in the summer used to wreck havoc on the plant. This year, no veggie garden....I have been good at container planting but with so many success stories on the blogs, I should try it.

Now aplenty in my local Indian grocery, there was a funny sign next to it."$1.30/lb but $1.99/lb if ends are broken". Breaking the tips is the old fashioned way to determine freshness, but now I don't think that's necessary. One look at the color and you would know. I guess, the shopkeepers were tired of the zealous shoppers leaving behind a trail of broken okras!
Came across this recipe from my friend when she mentioned eating it like this a banquet and just tried it out. Goes great as an appetizer too if you don't need a side dish.

On another note, have you been watching the Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? The premise that interests me most in that show is the confidence that Jamie has that "anyone' can cook a decent meal instead of resorting to a frozen or packaged meal. In processed America, that is certainly a revolution as well as a revelation!!
According to him, "If you know how to cook - pass on your skills and keep them alive for future generations. If your kids and their families don't learn, their only option will be a diet of processed and fast food. If you don't know how to cook - start now, it could change your life and improve your health prospects!"
It struck a chord coz isn't that what at least some of us started the blogs with? Documenting our traditional recipes to spread it to those who are far away from home in case they felt like making it?

He is out to get everybody to eat more fruits and veggies, less processed, less sugary and less frozen meals. Anything from fresh produce, anything cooked from scratch is better. That's a thumbs up for all bloggers.
For the others, Learn to make an omlette at the least for those busy weeknights, Jamie says!! You would think anyone knows how to make an omlette, right? But apparently not!!
Most Cooking is not hard though I know a lot of people will disagree with me. Support the food revolution even you think you eat healthy. (Psst..Do you eat healthy enough?) The intentions are good and the message simple.

You Will Need:
Okra-1 pound
Rice Flour-1 tbsp
Dried Mango powder (Substitute with 2 tsp lemon juice)-3/4 tsp approx.
Grounded Roasted Cumin -1/2 tsp.
Turmeric-1/4 tsp
Red Chili Powder-1 tsp (use less if you like)
Salt to taste.
Oil for frying-1/2 cup, more or less.

Preparation:
1. Wash the okra well and dry each one with a paper towel or kitchen towel. Cut them into long thin strips. Mix all the powders and taste it. This is your only chance to taste the seasoning and adjust spice and salt level. Add the okra strands and toss well with a gentle hand to get the coating on each strand. Add a tsp of water if its not sticking at all. If you add too much water, it will become a pakoda/fritters batter. You could substitute the spices with a ready chaat masala spice powder if you like it tangier.
2. Heat the oil (not to smoking point) in a non-stick pan/kadai/wok and fry a handful of the strands of okra on medium heat without over crowding them in the pan. If there are too many, they don't crisp up well. If you try to fry them in less oil, they drink more oil and you will have to keep pouring more for each batch.They are done in less than a minute for each batch, when they turn light brown in color. Drain onto paper towels. Serve hot or warm. To crisp them up later, just warm in a very low setting in a preheated toaster oven for 5 minutes or so.
Check out this crispy okra salad recipe.
Print this recipe

Erachi Pathiri/ Paratha Stuffed with Minced Meat/ Fried Meat Pie...

2010-04-18T07:36:00.006-04:00

A blog on Malabar Food will be incomplete without the palharams or snacks popular in our houses. I should have blogged this a while ago but I don't make these snacks often enough. Ramazan of course will see all of them make their rounds in my kitchen, but unlike my reader's imagination, my house is more likely t o have simple, light, un-interesting food on a regular basis than these delicacies.

Most of the delicious Malabar dishes are meat based and spiced and fried to get its rich texture and taste.Comfort food in its raw form.... I love making them every now and then just to fill my kitchen with the ghost chatter and sounds of another time back home where it was made by more than one person interspered with a lot of conversation to take the tedium away.
Though why these dishes are called "palaharam", meaning a "light repast", or snacks is beyond me. They are delicious but in no way are they a "light" snack, unless u treat it as a pie and take just a slice. They are a meal in itself and should get their time in the limelight on their own..not with a hazaar other co-stars. It's literally a crime to eat anything after eating one of these, except fruits or a sulaimani.

Erachi pathiri is a Ramazan delicacy in the Malabar regions, mostly in Calicut and north of there. Any salkaram/celebration there is not complete without this delicious and elaborate item on the table.Though a standard item in most houses, it is still not commonly available on the menu in restaurants. Wait for a Malabar Food festival to get a taste of the real deal or wangle an invitation to a house there. Zain's restaurant in Calicut is one of the only places that has it on the menu for those who want to try it.

Just like the name suggests, it is a chapathi/flatbread stuffed with minced and spiced meat.
It is made with beef mostly but you could make it with chicken or mutton too. Not to be made with ground meat, it has to be meat cooked with the spiced and then chopped up and shredded by hand.
Kind of similar to the beef samosa but the pastry casing is fried after stuffing, and then dipped in a egg custard and shallow fried again. So the tastes vary from the sweet french toast like outer bites to the spicy meat-onion filling inside. I like it more than the uni dimensional samosa but my family goes for the spicy samosas more so that gets more show time.

Finding out the exact recipe for this item, I have come to realize that there is nothing called "authentic" any more. Just like I modify recipes to my family's taste, each family back home also has modifications to its recipe. So what I consider "authentic" may not be your "authentic". If all the recipes of a particular kind have 75%of the method and materials in common then , that should be called an "authentic style" of a particular recipe. Every house would have a go-to recipe for meat filling and though slightly different house to house, that's what gets used for the samosas, erachi pathiri and chattipathiri (with meat). Some use fennel in the filling , some don't. Some use more onions than meat, and some vice versa. So here is a recipe to get you started and then add your modifications as you need.
For meat filling (makes about 4-5)
Boneless Beef/Mutton -1/2 lbs
Ginger -1/2 inch long piece
Garlic -3 cloves
Green chilies- 3
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Roasted Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
Red chili powder -1/2 tsp
Fennel powder -1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
For Sautéing:
Onions – 1 lb(3 medium ones)
Small green chilies -4
Curry leaves- A handful
Oil- 2-3 tbsp
Preparation:
1. Clean and cut the meat into small pieces. Grind ginger, green chilies and garlic into a paste. Mix everything with the meat, including the spice powders and leaves.
2. In a thick bottom pressure cooker, add the marinated meat and let it cook uncovered for 5 minutes. No need to add any oil at this stage. When the meat starts releasing its excess water, place the lid and let it cook on full flame till the first whistling sound and then lower the heat to the lowest and cook for another 5 minutes. (Some meat may need more time so open, check and redo the process.) Take it off the flame and open after the steam is fully released. If there is excess gravy, simmer uncovered for 5-10 minutes to evaporate it.
Slow cook the meat covered on low heat for almost 1hr if you do not have a pressure cooker.
3. Meanwhile, chop the onions, green chilies and curry leaves into very fine pieces.
When the meat cools down, chop that also. You could use a chopper for this.
4. Heat the oil, and sauté the cut onions, chilies and meat on medium high heat till it looks dry and slightly separated. The onions just need to be translucent, not brown.Add chopped curry leaves.
Keep stirring to avoid the mix from sticking to the base. Adjust the salt and spice level. When the mix cools down, the filling is ready. the filling should be semi-dry and not too moist.
P.S.If onions were cut by the chopper, it becomes a bit moister so the frying time increases.
For the Custard:
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
sugar- 2-3 tbsp
Cardamom Powder- a pinch
Mix everything and keep aside. Make more custard in the same proportion if this is not enough.

For the wrapper dough:
3/4 cup wheat flour
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour/maida
½ tsp salt and 2 tsp oil.
warm water -approx. equal quantity of flour.

Make the dough the same way as for you would make for puri. Add warm water slowly. The dough should be hard but pliable, else it would be difficult to roll it out. Spread a drop of oil and cover with plastic wrap and keep aside for at least 15 minutes. Divide into even sized balls...about the size of a small lemon.

Roll it out evenly till about 6 inch in diameter .Keep aside and roll out another chapathi of the same size. If they are nowhere near the same size, pile them up together and trim with a sharp circular lid. Now place one chapathi on the rolling board and place 2-3 tbsp of filling in the middle leaving a good 1 inch or more from the edges. Place the second chapathi over the this and press the ends together. The ends are crimped and pinched and rolled together to form a pattern.

Heat about 1 cup of oil in a saute pan. When it is medium hot, slide the stuffed chapathi into it and deep fry on each side for about 2-3 minutes. It should be brown and puff up. Drain onto paper towels.
Dip each stuffed chapathi into the egg custard and turn over once. Now shallow fry the dipped chapathi in a non stick pan( uses less oil and the egg doesn't stick) with just enough oil to cook the egg on the outside.(Not deep fry). Drain and serve hot. Cut into slices if the pie is too big.

My measurements may be not be fully accurate for the dough-filling, so just bear with me. I will update with more details soon. If there are any queries they will be answered promptly.

Indian Coffee House..going, going, gone?

2010-04-04T12:52:00.068-04:00

I read an article on ICH and got surrounded by the wonderful aroma of the south Indian coffee. Coffee connoisseurs may argue to the contrary but I still think Indian coffee has the best taste.
The India Coffee House chain was started by the Coffee Board in early 1940s, during British rule. In the mid 1950s the Board closed down the Coffee Houses, due to a policy change. They were restarted in the 1950s as a workers' co-operative that supports south India's small coffee farmers. When I googled it, came across info on it that I never had bothered with all the while I ate there.for eg.I didn't know that Kerala has the maximum number of ICH, 51!!With nearly 400 of them across India, aren't they the first chain of coffee shops?

ICH-Indian Coffee House.. its's economical(I don't want to say "cheap") , its fast food and it serves home grown excellent strong coffee. Low on ambiance though, these are one of the remnants of the olden times, now slowly giving away to the new hip "starbucks" style coffee shops in all the big cities.

Never a fan of the over priced bitter coffee here itself, even though the ambiance is deceptively inviting and charming; I do feel a twinge of regret that the youngsters there now think it's okay to get charged 150 (how much exactly?)Rupees for a coffee ( that probably grows locally and hence shouldn't cost as high) at the new coffee shops.... that's coffee for you at Western prices. It's a welcome change to have comfortable places to meet friends though the bill shouldn't set you back so much! I can't begrudge the change for the youngsters.. .I don't know how to say this without sounding hypocritical, but does getting a coffee shop like that up and running really cost that much? Not really! Couldn't the ICH's themselves shape up with the times?

See this writer supporting Indian Coffee Houses. According to him,"After having sampled the delights of coffee around the globe, I have come to conclude that there is only one place to drink it: India. And there is only one establishment to drink it in – the Indian Coffee House. There are around 160 branches throughout the country. I’ve visited branches in Shimla, Allahabad, Pondicherry, Calcutta, Trivandrum and many places beside and have never been disappointed. Whenever I visit a new place, one of the first things I do is find out whether there is an ICH in town."

Photo Courtesy: World is round

I still love the spiralling turret shaped ICH in Trivandrum, strategically located outside the Railway Station, where we used to go for a quick bite before boarding the train heading home, or after getting off the train, before heading out. Good food, quick and easy..all the staples of local cuisine, but especially the veg cutlets.:)

The building was designed by the great Ar. Laurie Baker, well known for designing beautiful structures with masonry construction, creating privacy with brick jali walls, a perforated brick screen which invites a natural air flow to cool the buildings' interior, while creating intricate patterns of light and shadow inside. The coffee house has a walk that spirals upwards internally as you enter, and the seating is along the ramp, with the service core in the center....similar to the ramp in the Guggenhein Museum ...you walk viewing the exhibits without realizing that you are walking up a ramp and lo.. you are at the top looking down below.

After some more time, I guess the only people left frequenting these bastions will be the foodies, the foreigners, the expatriates and the travelers! If only these places re-marketed themselves as the bright, open, ethnic, sustainable, locavore places, they would realize how unique they are. Then as a western concept, the idea would take off and everybody would swarm there.

Read this article in the Guardian, which sparked off my thoughts and see the video of a ICH.
Related Posts- ICH in Bangalore to close
Indian Coffee House

Kappa Erachi/ Mashed Tapioca with Beef

2010-03-23T15:41:00.005-04:00

Some of the food we enjoy the most are the most basic ones, with no frills..comfort food at its best, probably devised by some tired mother as a leftover special, whipping some of the contents of the fridge together. Kappa is Tapioca or Yuca and I grew up calling it "poolla". Getting good kappa was not easy (we were outside Kerala) and when we did get it, we used to love it.. in all the myriad forms of kappa.. ..sometimes served with fish curry, sometimes made into "puzhukku", cooked together with sardines; sometimes cooked with sweet potatoes, plantain peels, and yams and served with spicy red fish curry. As an escape from the routine rice-roti meals, I enjoyed it a lot and had a soft corner for any kappa item. It was much later that I found out that Kappa is considered a "poor man's food" in Kerala, a thattu kada food.

A thattukada is like a"dhaba" or a street food joint, or a NY food truck, but housed in a small restaurant. The restaurant may not be something to write home about (in fact, if you are in college, better not to let your folks know where u are eating.), but most likely the food there was special. My classmates(guys) used always rave about a thattukada behind our college which served fresh meals while we cribbed about our hostel food. It was a boys only place most of the time, so they refused to take us there. In our final year of college, we finally got them to agree to take us there to have a "rice meal". Needless to say, we were the only girls there but the food was good.

There is a dhaba or a thattukada on the fringes of everyone's memories.... the dhaba where we went for the midnight egg dipped fried alu parantha, the place where you got ur thattu dosa fix, the anda burji place, the puttu-mutton curry shoe hole, the appam stew place, the kuthu porotta joint. Some are liquor joints, the local place to get the nadan kallu, i.e. the country liquor, but a lot of them just cater to a hungry working/student population with fast cheap eats, at all times of the day and night, when even the "decent" restaurants are closed off. Which one was your favorite thattukada? Anybody want to comment?

Now, far away from the crowd, this food is also a food group we miss, as much for the taste as for the fond memories of the time and place. Kappa Erachi, now known as a glorified "Kappa Biryani, used to be known simply as "erachiyum poollayum" in our houses, is a mashed concoction of spiced beef and tapioca, held together by a ground coconut paste. There are versions of this everywhere now, with more spices, more garam masala, with roasted coconut, but back home, its made very simply with some beef varatiyathu mixed into the kappa. My mom was amused to see our humble food being marketed as a ethnic gourmet delight in the TV and the resorts of Kerala. Well, I guess, as long as there are expatriate Keralites around, these resorts will do well and I definitely won't mind going and eating there.:)

Ingredients for 4-6 servings
Tapioca/ Yuca – 2 lbs
Beef – 1 lbs

For Cooking Beef
Shallots – 10
Fresh Ginger - Garlic Paste– 2 tbsp
Hot Green Chillies – 7
South Indian Garam Masala Powder – 1 tsp
Red Chili Powder – 1 tsp
Roasted Coriander Powder – 2 tbsp
Turmeric Powder – 1 tsp
Pepper Powder – 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek Seeds- 1.2 tsp
Curry Leaves – A handful
Salt – to taste

For Coconut paste
Shallots-2
Grated Coconut – 1 cup
Fennel seeds – 1 tbsp
Curry leaves-1 sprigs

Preparation:
1.Clean and cut the beef into small cubic pieces. Peel the tapioca and cut into medium sized chunks. Do not use any portion that is discolored, has blue lines or looks too soft.
2.Mix the spice powders and salt and keep aside. Chop the green chillies finely and add to the beef, along with the ginger garlic paste and spice powders under the beef heading. Keep aside for about half hour.
3. Add the marinated beef, 4 sliced shallots, ginger-green chili paste and the rest of the ingredients including the leaves. Add half cup water and slow cook the meat on low heat and covered for 1hr, and stirred once in a while to prevent it from sticking to the pan. The cooking time will vary with the quality of the beef. Usually beef back in Kerala used to take forever to cook and here it gets over cooked too easily. So keep an eye on it. Alternately, pressure cook the meat without adding any water, for 2-5 minutes after the first whistle and then open the cooker and let the extra liquid dry up on medium low heat in the cooker itself.
4. Meanwhile, boil the tapioca pieces along with salt and 1/2 tsp turmeric until tender. You would need to add water for boiling....about double the quantity of tapioca. I usually pressure cook that too in just enough water to cover it, for just one whistle. If there is too much water after the tapioca is cooked, drain the water (reserve it)and keep the tapioca pieces aside. The tapioca should be soft.
5. Grind the coconut with the fennel, shallots and curry leaves. Optionally, dry roasting the coconut for about 5minutes gives it nice flavor.
6. Mix the tapioca pieces with the beef, its gravy and the coconut. Adjust salt as needed. Cover and let it simmer on very low heat for about 5 minutes till the flavors blend in. Leave it covered for some more time. The texture should not be watery, it should be semi- thick and chunky with pieces of beef and tapioca.
Heat 1 tbsp coconut oil and fry the remaining 6 shallots (sliced finely) till brown and then add the curry leaves. Pour this mix over the kappa erachi and serve.

Creamy Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup...

2010-03-08T09:43:00.005-05:00

I am just a week behind in posting!! Now that sunny weather is visiting us for this week,(please stay!!), this post seems out of place. We went to the park yesterday and the whole town seemed to be there! The swings and slides were teeming with kids as if they all crawled out of the woodwork! It was the first time after we moved that we saw so many of our neighbors. This winter everyone around just seems to be hibernating.
I was reading a book on snow to my little one and it was a story about a kid who can't wait for it to snow. she says....the ground is hard and cold..why doesn't it snow?..she lays out everything for a snowman and keeps going to the window every day to see its snowing...and when the snowstorms gets delayed she pulls a long face.. and finally the excitement when it does snow!!!It was the exact opposite of my sentiments! To see it from a child's eyes, the whole snow has a different kind of magic..reminds me of the anticipation and the unbearable heat in Kerala before the monsoons relent.
:)
I have a long list of posts to catch up but got my hands full with other activities and they are just lying around....So I am going to post them one after the other to finish them off.

When there is just snow all around, there is no better season for soups. This Season's soup had a new guest, wild rice and mushroom soup. Sounds weird? nah! It's a deliciously creamy soup, which can double up as a meal with some garlicky olive oil toast on the side.
I used white button mushroom, supposedly the least flavorful mushroom in comparison with all the shitake and cremini mushrooms around, but I was happy with the taste. You could try with any mushroom you like.
The wild rice is a chewy rice, well not exactly a rice..its a grass.. but I used the wild rice blend from supermarket, which is a blend of long grain brown rice, sweet brown rice, Wehani, Black Japonica and select wild rice pieces. It takes a little more time to cook than regular rice and tastes best if cooked with lots of water and then drained. I used it in the soup but it makes a pretty good fried rice too.

You will Need: For 4 servings
Mushrooms:any kind:1 lb or 2 cups of diced mushrooms
Green onions -1/2 cup sliced
White Onion-1 chopped
4 cups chicken/vegetable broth or 1 chicken/veg stock bullion
Black pepper -1 tsp
Dried thyme leaves/oregano leaves-3/4 tsp
Olive oil/Butter-1 or 2 tbsp
Heavy Cream -1/4 cup
Milk- 1 cup (use cream instead if you want it richer)
All purpose flour-1tbsp
Wild rice-brown rice blend-1 1/2 cups cooked
Save the green parts of the scallions/green onions for garnish and use the white parts with the onions.
Preparation:
Cook the chopped mushrooms and onion in the oil in a pan over medium-high heat until tender crisp. When the mushrooms leave their water and look well sauteed, add the flour and stir fry it well. (as you would for a white sauce). Add the vegetable broth ( or the buillion with water.. this just adds more flavor as the mushrooms are kind of bland) and whisk it well to break up the lumps. Remove half the mushrooms and onions and blend it to a paste. Add it back to the soup and add milk and pepper and oregano. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in rice and adjust taste. Add the cream only in the end and add the garnish. Make it as thick or as thin as you like in a soup.

Ghee Rice II

2010-02-18T12:30:00.001-05:00

If mutton stew is around, can ghee rice be far behind?
Ghee rice is pretty common in most houses now.. If it's a party ..well, then, lets make ghee rice and a plethora of dishes to go with it, veg or nonveg based. Sunday lunches in my mom's house tended towards biryani during my days there but lazy me, opts for ghee rice and a curry to celebrate the weekend. The winter doesn't help.. we almost stop eating rice as plain rice in the cold weather and only the pulavs and fried rice seems to satisfy. So here is another version of the typical Malabar style ghee rice.

Back home, I don't really recall that the ghee rice is decorated with fried onions as we decorate the biryani but it does add to the taste, so sometimes I do it. Have any of you tried the golden fried onions that you get at Indian stores? They are a pretty good substitute for the curries and for haleem etc, but for ghee rice, I prefer fresh fried ones.

You will need:
Basmati rice - 2 cups or 500 gm
Onions - 1 sliced
Cloves -2
Cardamom -2 pods
Cinnamon -2 inch long thin piece
Ginger-garlic paste- 1 tbsp (use fresh paste)
Ghee/Clarified Butter - 2 tbsp
Olive oil or vegetable oil-3 tbsp
Water- double the quantity of rice-4 cups. Heat to a boiling point separately.
Salt- 1 tsp (approx.)

For Garnish:
Roast Cashews- 2 tbsp,(use roasted or fry white ones)
Golden Raisin- 1-2 tbsp
Cilantro-fresh only- 1/2 cup chopped
Garam masala- 1/2 tsp
Onion- 1/2 cup, sliced very finely

Preparation:
Prepare garnish and keep aside. Fry the thinly sliced onions in a mix of ghee-oil(not the same used for the rice)on medium heat till browned evenly. Fry the cashews till they turn light brown..remove and then fry the raisins till they plump up and remove and reserve. The fried onions are optional.

1. Clean, wash and drain the rice. Let the rice soak for 5- 10 minutes before draining.
2. Heat the ghee and oil together in a saute pan and add the onion, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom.
3. Fry only till the onion turns transparent.
Add the wet rice without water and fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring all the time till the rice turns opaque. Add the ginger garlic paste and stir well for another minute.
4. Add hot water and salt. Let the liquid come to a good boil .Then cover and lower the heat to a simmer.
5. Cook for 10 minutes on medium to low heat and check if all the water is absorbed from the surface. Turn off the heat but keep the pan covered for another 5-10 mins.
6. Fluff the rice gently and garnish with the cilantro, fried cashews and raisins and a sprinkling of garam masala and fried onions.

Mutton Stew My Style

2010-02-12T09:42:00.005-05:00

Its Feb already and there is hardly any signs of the great winter letting up.. The schools closed in preparation for the great storm that assailed the East coast and now will open only mid next week... now at least I can sleep in on these cold cold days without gearing up to confront the icy winds seeping in from the windows. I guess I am going into hibernation, putting on more padding to keep warm as well as turning indoors to avoid battling the cold. Though once we are dressed in clothes, well, layers and layers of them, the cold is not so bad, but the body is just stiff and unbending.

Just kidding.. I love the snow and the white beauty all around..it is so picturesque and calm..They say its a "storm"..to me storm means lightning and thunder, floods of water and general mayhem.. the Kerala Monsoons. Well, the mayhem and floods of snow are there on the roads as is evident in the news, but the glamorous sound and light show is missing and the "storm" is a day filled with an eerie unnatural silence with a steady stream of cotton candy floating down covering the roof and trees with "frosting".

I even love trudging in the snow, something thats's right outside my balcony now..its so icy when it melts into the shoes..deceptively soft...and I still marvel at all the hindi movies shot in the snow slopes, with the hero dressed warmly in heavy jackets and the poor heroine singing in a sheer chiffon sari.. Brrr..was she cold blooded?
Anyway, my DH is accusing me of being a book junkie now.can you blame me.. don't you want to be curled up in a blanket with a book? I do it any free time I get... if my little ones let me..... so I thought I should post something to regain my sanity.:) I have a ton of posts to catch up on but am too lazy.

This is a light stew that that goes well with any rice based item such as idiappam, puttu, appam or pathiri.

You Will Need:
Mutton/Goat- 1kg or 2 pound
Shallots-10-12 sliced plus 1 small onion sliced
Tomato-2 chopped into cubes
Tiny Hot Green Chilies-5-6 slit vertically
Ginger-1 inch piece
Garlic-6 US garlic(read giant ones)
Fenugreek seeds-1/2 tsp
Fennel- 1/2 tsp
Pepper- 1 tsp

Coconut milk- 2 cup thick first milk and 1-cup second milk
Curry Leaves-One sprig
Whole Spices-2 cardamon, 2 cloves, 1 piece of cinnamon bark

Preparation:
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in pressure cooker and add the whole spices and sliced onions and shallots. Reserve 4 shallots for tempering. Saute for just 2-3 minutes till the onions are transparent.

Crush the ginger and garlic into a paste. Add the ginger garlic paste and saute on medium heat. Add the tomatoes, green chilies and fry it for a minute till it starts breaking down and then add the mutton. Saute that for a minute too and then add 1 cup of the second milk. Add the fenugreek seeds and mutton. Let it come to a boil and pressure cook it for about 6-7 minutes after the first whistle.
Open and cook more if needed. The time depends on the mutton's quality. Or cook on slow heat till the mutton is tender. Let the cooker cool and then open and add the thick coconut milk and salt. You could reduce the pressure cooking time for 2 minutes and open and add 1 or 2 white potatoes cut into big cubes into the curry. Pressure cook for only 2 minutes after the whistle after you add the potatoes..else it will break down too much. Open and adjust taste and add more milk if needed.

Tempering: Heat 2 tsp coconut oil in a pan and add the fennel seeds and curry leaves and the remaining shallots. Fry on low heat till the shallots turn brownish and then pour over the curry. Since it has coconut milk, the curry tastes best fresh and does not have too much shelf or refrigerator life.

Masoor Dal/ Whole Pink Lentils

2010-02-01T07:05:00.003-05:00

The other day NY Times came out with a series of dal/lentil recipes, in an effort to entice the common man to eat more of the Indian common man's food..dal...they added curry powder, apples, coconut milk and a myriad other assortments to dress up our humble staple. I am sure the whole family of lentils and beans felt like Cinderalla in America even if it was for just one day. Makes you think..apples in dal? maybe not a bad idea. Well, we do use pumpkin, cashews, poppy seeds and tamarind in our recipes....all kinds of sweet and sour pairings...can apples be far behind? The problem with knowing how to make a dal one way is that you make it every day in auto-pilot mode before you think of something new. Still it was soothing to see the words "dal" and "tarka" used so casually, like old friends, in the article.

A not so long time ago, I was living in Bombay where you could call up the grocery store and everything gets delivered to the house. Only one problem, you had to know the names of the ingredients correctly. Forget cooking, I had to first learn the names of different powders and the hazaar varieties of dals/lentils..masoor dal, arhar dal, urad dal, chana dal, akka masoor....how many varieties of dal are there? I used to order one dal (with the wrong name)and then argue with the shopkeeper wondering why another one got delivered.
Dals are at least localized in states of India, so you need to learn only 4-5 names. Here, an Indian grocery store caters to people from all regions of India and is like an encyclopedia of lentils and beans. My mom visited the stores here and had never seen such a variety of lentils back in India. Add to that the Spanish list of beans.. now we have so many dals/lentils/beans to explore.

There is the ever popular Legume Affair going on every month for the beanophiles and I wanted to participate too. It was started by the Well Seasoned Cook and this months its hosted by Simple Indian Food. Check it out for the global variety of the legume and bean recipes every month.
And yet, here I am with my staple dal....not the party happy ma ki dal ( which is in the sidelines) or the tadka dal or the southern sirens parippu curry and sambhar.... this one is an introverted quiet dal which never is seen outside of the family dinner table...doesn't even get offered to house guests so much. Its a distant cousin of the Egyptian flat sturdier lentils which get used up in salads and soups. This dal though whole, doesn't need any soaking and gets cooked and smashed pretty quickly. Goes well with jeera/cumin flavored rice, plain rice and rotis. Customize it any way you like, with ghee tadka, with cream, more spices, less spicy etc for a easy dose of protein. But this is the starting point of the dal.

You Will Need:

Masoor Dal – 1 1/2 cup, washed and drained
Onion -1 small one chopped
Tomato- 1 chopped
Green chilies-2 chopped up
Garlic-2 cloves
Ginger-1/2 inch piece
Turmeric-1/4 tsp
Coriander powder-3/4 tsp
Whole cumin seeds-1/2 tsp

Red chili powder -3/4 tsp (use more or less as per taste)
Oil 2 tbsp and Salt to taste.

Preparation:

Crush the ginger garlic to a paste. Heat oil in a non stick pan and add the cumin seeds. When they sizzle, add the onions, and saute on medium heat till they turn brownish.
Add the ginger garlic paste and red chili powder, coriander powder and turmeric. Stir and then add the tomatoes and cook for another 5-8 minutes till the tomatoes break down.
When they are pulpy and move together as a mass, add the washed dal. Mix well and transfer to a pressure cooker and add 3 cups of water and salt.
Pressure cook for one whistle and then lower the heat to a bare minimum for another 10 minutes. Turn off the flame and allow it to cool down before opening. Adjust the taste and then add chopped fresh cilantro.

Meen Pathiri/ Steamed Fish Pancakes

2010-01-15T10:05:00.045-05:00

One of my favorites from Malabar cuisine is meen pathiri i.e. rice pancakes stuffed with fish and steamed..is that an accurate description of such a balances of flavors? or is fish pie a better title? Trying to explain traditional cuisine to those who haven't tasted needs a stretch of imagination in terms of the language and ingredients.
This is another of those traditional Malabar recipes that is getting endangered and should be on a protected list..They were (and maybe still) are so commonplace in our houses but you might be more familiar with it through the travel cookery shows in Kerala where they are deemed exotic and laborious.

Pathiri is a term used loosely in Malabar region of Kerala to mean roti/chappathi/ or flatbread. The prefix of the word" pathiri" decides what kind it is..godumbu pathiri is made of godambu,i.e.wheat, ari pathiri is made of rice flour, erachi pathiri, has erachi /meat stuffed in it, meen pathiri has meen,/fish stuffed in it and so on.
This fish pathiri is made with Kng fish/Aikora or with Mackarel/ Aila or even with Sardines/ Mathi. When pressed for time, I have made this with canned tuna, canned sardines and it tastes passably good.

Traditionally, the fish steaks are marinated lightly in a paste of red chili powder, turmeric and salt. They are then shallow fried and removed before they turn too crisp. Then the fish is deboned and cut into small pieces and made into a stuffing along with onions, chillies, curry leaves and toasted coconut. The filling is laid between two pathiri/flatbread or rotis made of rice flour, wrapped in the plantain leaves so easily available from the backyard garden and then steamed.
Some people add tomatoes to the mixture but my mom doesn't and so I got used to the taste without it. I make it either way and like both tastes. It is entirely optional and you could try it either way too. The mix should be semi dry.... too dry makes the filling spill out and too wet make the rice cover soggy. This time, my filling turned out to be a bit drier than expected as I was on the phone chatting with my folks while making it.:) We make it as pies and for ease of eating as small half moon shaped ones too, similar to the sweet ada.

But they are not hard to make and for those who like fish, it is a a very healthy dinner or snack filled with protein, and steamed not fried! This is one of the items on the Iftar menu but I didn't get around to posting it earlier. Even now the photos don't do justice to the spicy taste of it

You will need: this makes about 3-4 pies or 10 adas

For the filling:

Onion- 3 medium sized ones( use some shallots for more flavor)
Tomato-1 small sized one( optional)
Green chilies- 4-5
Ginger Garlic Paste- 1 tsp
Red chili powder-3/4 to 1 tsp as per taste
Coriander powder- 1 tsp
Turmeric- 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves- 3 sprigs
Salt to taste
Oil- 2-3 tbsp

For dry roast:
Coconut grated-1/2 cup
Shallots-4 small ones chopped
Fennel seeds/Saunf-1 tsp

To Marinate The Fish:-
King Fish/ Mackerel or Pomfret-6-7 pieces
Red chili powder 2 tsp
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Salt as required
Oil to fry

Preparation:

Wash the fish , toss with lemon juice and wash again. Marinate in the red chili powder, turmeric powder and salt for an hour at least and then shallow fry it in vegetable oil. Don't let it get too brown and crispy..... the idea is to just cook the fish, not deep fry it. Drain, and remove the bones and skin and shred the fish.

Fish Filling:
In a cast iron skillet or a heavy bottom pan, dry roast the ingredients specified above, all together on very low heat till the coconut gives out its aroma and starts turning brown at the edges. Take it off the flame and pulse in a dry grinder to powder it coarsely. No water is to be added.

Heat oil and saute onion and green chillies. When the onion becomes transparent, add ginger-garlic paste and then the coriander powder, chili powder, garam masala and turmeric powder.( If you are adding tomatoes, add them at this point and cover and cook for 5 minutes or till the tomatoes look pulpy and add salt. Stir and sauté till the whole mixture gives out oil and moves as one mass in the pan.) Add the fish to the onion mix and stir together on medium heat. When there is just enough moisture in the fish masala as needed for the filling, add the coarsely ground coconut, finely shredded curry leaves, salt and mix well. Taste and adjust as needed. Remove from flame and keep aside.

The rice paste:
Rice flour- 2 cup
Water- 2 cup
Salt- 3/4 tsp
Fennel seed powder- ½ tsp
Coconut milk powder - 2- 3 tsp (or use ¼ cup coconut ground with little water)
Traditionally, parboiled rice is soaked in hot boiling water for 4 hours and then washed with cold water and ground along with coconut and fennel seeds using very little water to a semi-wet paste. Instead, I use rice flour and coconut milk powder.

Spread the flour along with the fennel powder and coconut milk powder in a wide bowl. Heat 1 1/2 cup water with salt till it boils and pour into the rice flour. Stir once with a fork and cover for 5 minutes. Pour 1/2 cold water to cool it down. Knead it into a soft sticky dough.

Steaming:
This is traditionally steamed in banana leaves, but since I didn't have any handy, I used parchment paper. You might find banana leaves in Asian stores frozen section..defrost and soak it in boiling water to soften it and then use it for wrapping.

Cut parchment paper into suitable size squares. Place a big orange size ball on the paper and flatten it with the heel of the hand (like doing karate chops) to avoid sticking to the hand. If that is difficult, place another parchment paper over it and roll it with a rolling pin to a pathiri circle..how wide is upto you.. the thickness should not be too much.. Remove the top paper carefully. Leave the pathiri on the banana leaf/parchment. Make another similar sized flat pathiri. Place the filling on the first pathiri leaving a half inch trim along the edges. Place the second pathiri on it and then press down on the edges with your fingers to seal the pie. Cover the whole pie with parchment paper tightly or with banana leaf and then steam in your steamer for about 10-15 minutes. Remove them from the steamer and peel off the parchment paper.

Check out Priya's kitchen for a wonderful description of the ada with emphasis on steaming and parchment paper.
For steaming, use a steamer or rice cooker or any large vessel half filled with water. Place a colander or a steamer basket over the water when the water boils and reduce heat to medium. Place the adas in the basket, cover it and cook for 7-10 minutes. Let it cool down before serving.

This one was made at another time and has tomatoes in it.. the textures is also a little moister.

Related Links:
Shab's Meen Pathiri

Broccoli Rabe and Spinach w/ Garlic Chips

2010-01-11T08:08:00.018-05:00

A Very Happy New Year to Everyone Here.

The vacation days disappeared into a jumble of photos and memories with multiple sets of family members visiting us and we visiting some of them. Lots of fun trips, talking, catching up, adjusting our mental images of how old the kids have grown and eating and more eating.....no wonder all the diets start in January along with fresh resolutions.
New year is a time you stop to see what you really achieved in the previous year and then just like the year, we reset the demands on ourselves.check out .this timely article ..it really hits it on the nail.

While the other personal resolutions are already up and running as am I, my food resolutions are not so anchored. At the most , I can resolve to eat more veggies and fruits and less sugar, and less of white foods. Not that this is going to deter me from eating anything but it may help in forcing me to check the worthiness of each junk food consumed.

Broccoli Rabe is better known as Saag Leaves in India and is the base of the famous Sarson Ka Saag, a staple of Punjabi cuisine. Sarson ka saag is mashed greens cooked with spices and its bitterness is smothered with ghee. A really acquired taste, it can create strong emotions of like and dislikes in most Indians.

For the longest time, I didn't know it was one and the same and used to trek to the Subzi Mandi groceries in search of the elusive leaves. It was only thanks to some Italian friends and cuisine, that we got introduced to the Broccoli Rabe, freely available in all Supermarkets. I guess some Italians are as ga-ga over these leaves as most Indians. Long story short, now I have endless supply of the rabe and I make half the bunch into saag for the kids and myself while I go for this stirfry recipe for DH. I mix it with spinach to tame its bitterness but its optional. I had spinach on hand to make the saag this time.

Broccoli Rabe is a relative of the turnip family, and loaded with many healthy benefits. The taste is a little ( ok, a whole lot ) bitter, and I promise this is the last of my bitter loving recipes. Blanching it in water for a couple minutes takes some of that bitterness away. Toss this sauted greens with some fresh boiled pasta ( similar to this recipe or this recipe) ....it makes for an instant meal too. Kids need the taste tempered with cream or cheese sauce and some grilled chicken or sausage too.

You Will Need:
Spinach- 1/2 pound or half a bunch
Broccoli rabe- 1/2 pound or half a bunch
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 clove garlic
salt to taste
1/2 tsp lemon juice

Preparation:
Soak the leaves in a pot of water and then wash the broccoli rabe and spinach in water till there is no sand left and keep separate. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut off the bottom one inch of thick stem of the broccoli rabe and place the leaves as is in the boiling water. Cook until tender but still firm, about 3 minutes. Drain and run cold water on it in a colander. Chop the leaves coarsely or leave it as is. Leave the spinach raw and chop them too.

Slice the garlic into very very fine slices. In a large heavy skillet over medium heat, heat olive oil and fry the garlic till it crisps up but doesn't get burnt. Remove onto a paper towel and reserve.

In the remaining oil, add some crushed red pepper flakes, saute and then stir in the broccoli rabe, spinach and saute on high heat for 5 to 10 minutes or until all the moisture evaporates. Some like it barely cooked and some like it well done. If you like it crunchier, saute for less time. Add salt and lemon juice and adjust taste. Garnish with the garlic chips and serve. If you plan to serve it later, add the chips only just before serving.

Sukhi Methi Dal..

2009-12-15T21:55:00.004-05:00

Finally, I discovered the library here and my little one and I have been haunting it ever since. Nupur of One Hot Stove had a list of books that I had been eying curiously for some time but never found them (most of them) in my old library. There is one hitherto unknown avenue of reading that food blogging opened up for me. My reading list never included food related books and now a book (not recipes and cook book though,) containing foodie ventures, memoirs packed with food memories, and information about different cuisines, cultures, not about the recipes per se but more about the methods, is fascinating to me. Obsessive, eh?

A lot of our traditional fare is dying out locally as people get enamored by McDs and fast food, but at the same time, other people are taking up preserving some part of these undocumented culinary traditions through TV shows, writing books and best of all by cooking it. So these food books.. what genre can you call these books? They are non fiction yet so deliciously filled with details that seem unbelievable that they could pass off as fiction.

One of the books on that reading list was Madhur Jaffery's food memoir, "Climbing The Mango Trees". (Maybe I am late in reading it in Blogosphere!!) It's a story of a child growing up in Pre and Post Independence Delhi, interlaced with the kind of childish memories we all have..eating chaats( spicy fruit salads, snacks), raw mangoes with salt and chili powder, ice creams etc, cramming for exams at school, holiday celebrations etc and a lot of memories that most of us are really unfamiliar with. It's a bygone era in a city that has since sped towards modernization but still the book holds a lot of insight into Delhi.

Most of you know Madhur Jaffery for her acting prowess (some of them were British-Indian productions)and for her numerous(13) cookbooks( by the way, none of which I have read.:)) The book covers the first nineteen years of her life, up to the point when she leaves India for drama school in London. She grew up in a highly privileged family in Delhi, influenced by the Muslim and British set around them in the changing times. Reading the book is like standing on a stool and peeking into the window of a large, fun filled joint family, with cousins, siblings, uncles and aunts and their myriad traditions.

One thing that struck a chord was a description of a picnic trip where 30 people were accommodated in 2 cars..15 piled into a car...mothers/ladies in the back seat, on whose laps went the 10-12 yr olds and on top of them the smaller kids.
I have a distinct memory on one such trip undertaken in my grandfather's Standard car, to Ooty to see a flower show. Counting the kids, there were easily 15 in that car.. not kidding..ask any of my cousins..The car was a hatch back and had a spacious boot, so four of us were in there.. or was it five? The three aunts went in the back seat along with one kid squished against the door. There were 3-4 kids on their laps, the youngest ones, I think. My grandfather drove while my uncle and two cousins sat in the connected front row( not two seats ). The flower show was a washout and there were incidents of motion sickness but it was one fun trip. And now I have family visiting next week and I can barely fit 5 in my car !!!

So give this book a try if you like reading about such small incidents that stay far back in your consciousness only to surface eons later. Maybe I am familiar with Delhi and so liked the book and maybe a lot of you will scratch your head as to what the charm is.:))

On the same note, here is another methi recipe. I buy methi every time if its fresh and beckons to me at the Indian store and then am wondering what to do with it. This time, one of my friends suggested cooking it with moong dal to make a dry subzi. This is a side dish for rotis that I like and makes a good filling for paranthas on day two. Now methi is a unknown leaf in Kerala and we are only familiar with its seeds(fenugreek seeds) and the slightly bitter taste needs getting used to. This is a pure non-mallu tasting dish which is sure to be disliked by most mallus.:) So try, but with hesitation if you are true blue mallu.
But in the spirit of all things Delhi, which is my frame of mind after reading this book, this is what I felt like making. :)) so take it with a pinch of salt (or garam masala).

You Will Need:
Split moong dal - 1/2 cup soaked for one hour and drained well.
Onion - 1
Ginger - 1/2 inch piece grated
Hot Green chili - 4-5 finely chopped
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 t sp
Fresh Fenugreek/ Methi Leaves - 1 cup.
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 1 tb sp
Water - 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup
Cilantro- 3 tbsp chopped
Lemon juice- 1 tsp

Preparation:

Heat the oil , add the cumin seeds and then add the ginger first, then the finely chopped onion and green chili.

Saute till the onion becomes translucent , then add the moong dal ( without water). Add the methi leaves, salt and turmeric and toss. Add 1/2 cup of water, lower the flame and cover and cook for 8 minutes. Check the dal and leaves, and add 2-3 tsp of water and cover if you need it to be cooked more. It should be soft but stand apart as grains, rather like cooked rice. Once the dal looks soft, open and stir fry for a minute to blend the flavors. Add the lemon juice, cilantro and serve.

Print This Recipe

Beans Carrot Mezhukkuparatti or Stirfry

2009-12-02T10:13:00.004-05:00

How many kinds of vegetables do you buy? All kinds indiscriminately or do u end up getting the same set week after week? Do you get excited by new veggies in other households? Do the experimentally bought veggies get relegated to the back of the drawer and only resurface during fridge clean up? Do you stereotype veggies as mallu, gujju, punjabi, marathi etc? Do you feel that certain vegetables taste like a particular cuisine no matter what you make with it? I am as guilty as you are and the only reason I can think of is environment. We tend to attach foods to a weather, a place, a cuisine that we first ate it in, a way of cooking...and to break out of that mold is difficult.

Some vegetables though are universal.. carrots and beans.. if I did an blog event with just carrot and beans as the theme, we would get flooded with entries from every corner of the world...Can you imagine if the theme was banana flower/Koombh or vazhakkatholi/ banana peels instead? Almost every cuisine uses these two veggies, alone or in combination.

This is just another recipe from my family kitchen, with the modification of more garlic and blanching the beans. Back in Kerala, I don't think they add as much garlic but I like the flavor and started adding it to the beans. It's a safe staple with the kids and on the table every week. Blogging and reading blogs has made other veggies more familiar and introduced us to many new ones but these two still hold a special place. This preparation is one way to spice up the sweetness of the carrots and beans, if you are bored with the thorans.
It goes well with the rice and yogurt based curries and even with rotis. Reduce the red pepper flakes for the kids or just add one broken long dried red chili.

You could also make this with the baby green beans which cook instantly ..add just lots of garlic and red chili flakes with them . No need to blanch these beans.

You will need:

Carrots-2 long ones

Fresh Green Beans- about 3 handfuls

Turmeric-A pinch

Shallots- 4-5 peeled

Garlic-3 or 4 cloves

Dried Red Chili Flakes -1/2 tsp

Curry leaves- 1 sprig

Oil-1 or 2 tbsp (coconut oil is yum in this recipe)

Salt to taste

Preparation:

Wash and cut the beans into inch long pieces. Peel, wash and cut the carrots into a similiar sized pieces.

Boil a cup of water in a saute pan and add the cut veggies to it. Let it cook for 4-5 minutes just to get the raw bite out of it. Do not add too much water for the blanching. Drain the veggies and keep aside. Rinse in cold water just once to retain the sharp colors.

Crush the garlic, shallots and the red chilies( whole chilies or flakes, spicy or mild as per taste') in a mortar and pestle.

Heat the oil in a small wok/pan and as it heats up, add the curry leaves and then add the crushed mixture. Saute till the raw smell disappears and then add the drained vegetables. Add the turmeric and salt and stir fry for about 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how cooked, fried and wilted you like it. The oil is what makes it cook further without burning so if it is browning unevenly , it needs more oil. Customise to your salt and spice level. Serve with rice.

Kadala Kari/ Parippu Paysaam with Pidis/ Chana Dal Kheer

2009-11-25T10:57:00.007-05:00

It's been a long month and am just glad to be sitting here nearly at the end of it, sighing in relief! Some days dragged their feet, some days got stretched taut like a rubber band only to have to let go and let it snap back with a sting. If I start to tell you what all happened in the last month, I will be here all evening, so suffices to say that our house has finally changed hands and we have moved out into an apartment. Even though I am writing it here now, it's still a bit hard to believe and sink in.
Since this is the country where you can return anything ( well, anything you buy and sometimes what you don't buy) I still get nightmares where our buyer wants to return the house for some weird reason or the other. I guess it will take a while, to settle in.

When you start out a life after college, there are milestones in the journey that mark stages or turning points, which influence our future decisions. First job, getting married, first place where you set up house on your own, having kid/kids, moving out of the country, maybe first car, buying a house etc.. and many many more big and small milestones in whatever order ...which our parents have gone through and makes them wiser and "experienced". Now I feel I should add selling a house to that list, even though earlier I never thought it was a big deal. :)

Anyway, to move on, its a whole new adventure now, getting used to a new town and school, finding out the local halal and Indian grocery shops, scouting the local supermarkets and retailers. Can't do without them and we got really spoiled by our previous location where every retailer and every kind of grocery store..Indian, Malayalee, Asian, Farmers Market, Supermarkets.....were all just a turn and hop away. Though there are boxes yet to be unpacked all around the house, its exhilarating to look up maps and figure out new roads and parks. It will wane, I know but for now there is tons to do.

So what were my first ventures in the kitchen? Unlike my mom who would have the kitchen running first, I was reluctant to set the kitchen and studiously avoided unpacking the boxes blocking the way around the kitchen; instead merrily unpacking all unnecessary items. When it became too tough to walk without scraping my knee on the boxes, the boxes got opened and then everything got laid out on the kitchen counter instead. I still didn't want to assign spaces. The kitchen is my lab and was still wary having to get used to the different configuration of the working triangle here and different stove top, flame....i can find all kinds of excuses.

I finally made a simple meal of kachiya moru curry, long beans thoran, omelette and rice to break the ice. After that we are slowly getting acquainted and moving onto parippu curry, beef varatiyathu, eggplant fry and other staples. I just have to make a payasam now to seal the deal. Then it will feel like home.:)

So till then, here is a payasam that I had made some time earlier. This is a traditional Malabar recipe and most of you probably have never tasted it. It is called Kadala Kari meaning Lentil Curry, which is a big misnomer. It is a payasam made with Bengal Gram/Chana dal / Kadala parippu and Ari Pidi. Ari pidi is a very small dumpling; its made of parboiled rice flour dough which are then rolled into small pidis or balls and then steamed. Very labor intensive and back home its made on occasions with the pidi rollling being done a group of ladies together. Thus payasam is sweetened with sugar and is a very light dessert, more like an evening tea snack, heavy with the pidis and the dal.
I am a big fan of this kari ( though its not popular with the rest of the family)and love it as snack or dessert since it reminds me of my grandmother's house..its one of the few spoonable desserts that she likes to make. I add nuts and raisins sauteed in ghee but my mom reminds me that those things were not common in their houses and it mostly was not garnished with anything.

Another version of this kari that I like is made with chana dal, cooked with rice ada and coconut milk, sweetened with jaggery. That feels more like a payasam/kheer to me.

You will need:
Bengal Gram:3/4 cup
Rice Flour:3/4 cup( Use parboiled rice flour if you can find it) or Par boiled Rice-1 cup
Cardamom powder: A good pinch
Sugar: 3/4cup or to taste
Coconut Milk-1 cup heavy milk plus 2 cups light second milk.

Preparation:
Soak the parboiled rice in water for 5 hours. Drain and grind it along without water to a smooth paste as you would do for Uzhunnu Vada. Add 1/4 tsp of salt and if its too soft, add some rice powder and mix well using hands until you get a slightly pliable dough.
If you can get hold of "Anees" parboiled rice flour, then skip the soaking and grinding part. Mix the powder with equal quantity of warm water and then make it into a wet but not loose dough. Oil your hands and taking a little rice paste, roll into a tiny button sized oval or round pellet. Repeat till all the pidis are done.
Spread the pidis in an oiled steamer and steam the pidi in a steamer till cooked. Steam cook for 8-10 minutes until done. The pasty rice balls will harden once fully cooked. If its not getting hard, most of the time, its the fault of the rice powder.
Alternatively, boil lots of water in a shallow sauce pan and drop the pidis in batches, taking care not to overcrowd them. When they rise up to the top, remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel or clean kitchen towel. Sprinkle a little cold water and seperate them.

Wash and soak the dal for half hour. Cook the dal in 1 1/2 cups water till half cooked. Add the 2 cups second milk, and cook further. When it is almost cooked, add the pidis and sugar. Cook till the dal is fully cooked, adding more liquid only if you need it. If the kari is too dilute, add 1 teapoon of rice flour mixed into a paste with 1 tablespoon water and add to the kari. Allow it to boil well and then add the cardamom powder and a very tiny pinch of salt. Serve hot or cold.

This is my entry to the well known My Legume Love Affair hosted by Sra of When My soup Came Alive. As many of you know, this is a bean-centric event, created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook.

Alu Methi/ Potatoes with Fenugreek Leaves

2009-10-26T09:40:00.012-04:00

I started to change my blog and simultaneously things started moving on the house sale, I got some design to do, a birthday party to organize and so on....Sorry for the delay in opening up the blog again. Once it got closed it felt awkward to open it up again incomplete and what seemed like a day's work took more than a few stolen hours from here and there. It still has glitches so do let me know but my better half asked me to open it up without spending more time fine tuning it , so bear with me.

In the meanwhile, the leaves outside changed colors, and its all halloweeny everywhere with pumpkins, scary ghost decorations and rust colored leaves covering the roads. The winter jackets came out and except for a short spell of the glorious weather (when I obviously ended up being outside the whole day with my little one and not doing anything else), the cold toes and chilly breezes are here to stay. All the birds are busy deserting us and I wish I too could migrate to a warmer weather for the winter. In the summer, all our friends also have parents and family visiting (not us this year) and my friend's apartment complex where I hang out, is bustling with kids, and parents of all ages warmly strolling around enjoying time with kids. Makes the whole place feel alive and like any place back in India. Come fall, they all too start boarding the earliest flight available and the same apartment complex looks forlorn and cold and dead with everybody cosseted inside.

When the mind is preoccupied with all kinds of worries but no action is required as yet from you, what do you do? I do my grocery shopping and start planning the next meal as an escapism from the worries, as a form of stability and as something that is creative and anyway needs to be done. Accomplishing a meal with out a takeout menu gives a sense of balance in a lost day. But then these meals are not blog worthy.. they are not elaborate, they are not exotic, they are not exceptional or have any memories attached to the recipe..they are just meals that everybody is making on any given day amidst schedules busier than mine. So then I lost the thread of "what to blog"!
A lot of my friends are much better cooks and make better use of their time juggling all the things along with a full time job and they don't blog. If I could blog their days, you would appreciate each of them who make a wonderful meal at any given day in the blink of an eye after a long day doing a job/ looking after the kids and driving them around for their multiple activities. (As my friend's toddler recently asked her, " Are you my cooker and driver?") Out of a child's mouth...:)

So while I do showcase Malabar Specialties, I have no time for that right now and wish I had a place nearby that I could pick up some Porotta and curry, while I make Alu methi instead which takes a fraction of the time. So to cut a long story short, Potatoes with any kind of leaf..Fenugreek leaf, Spinach Leaf, etc is a good way to get veggies in and the leftoers make good stuffings for paranthas.

I use more leaves and less potatoes to get more nutrition but you could do change the proportion to your liking. Methi leaves have a bitterness to them which is mitigated by the potatoes and taste good while spinach is a limp companion. Another leaf I haven't tried in this but would like to is Broccoli rabe which also has a bitterness. If the bitterness is too much for you, you could reduce it by adding a tablespoon of cream in the end.

You Will Need:

2 -3 cup fresh methi (fenugreek) leaves (cleaned, washed and finely chopped)
Potatoes-1 medium peeled and cut into small pieces

Onion- 1small one chopped
Garlic-1-2 flakes of garlic crushed
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Red chili powder-1/2 tsp or more

Cumin seeds (jeera) -1/2 tsp

lemon juice-1/2 tsp
Vegetable oil-3 tbsp

Salt To Taste

Preparation:

Soak the methi or spinach leaves in lots of water and wash repeatedly to get rid of the dirt. Drain for some time and then chop them finely.

Cube the potatoes and place in a glass bowl with 1/2 cup water. Boil the potatoes in the microwave for about 2-3 minutes. or boil them as you usually do till they are almost cooked.

Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds and crushed garlic and stir well. Add the onions and saute for 2 minutes.Add the potatoes and fry well on all sides till the potatoes start turning slightly brown. Add salt, turmeric, chili powder all over and keep stirring till the spices coat the potatoes. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to tartness. Add methi and cook on a medium flame till done and till water is fully absorbed. Add oil if the vegetables are sticking to the pan. Serve with roti.

P.S. The water from the methi changes the texture of the potatoes slightly.
If you like a fried potato taste, you could saute the methi separately in a pinch of salt and 1 tsp of oil till it gives out all the water and then add it to the semi fried boiled potatoes. If the potatoes are too cooked , they will need more oil to get fried so try not to cook them fully.

Filling: Just dry the leftover subzi completely in a pan, smash with a fork to an even consistency and use as filling for parantha instead of pototoes. Make sure the filling is dry else rolling out the paranthas are not fun.

Late for Everything! and Oikos Greek Yogurt....

2009-09-30T10:03:00.010-04:00

A belated Eid Mubarak to all my friends and readers. This year Eid was on a Sunday which in this country means, everybody had a holiday and could really celebrate it. Unlike India, only common holidays are the public commemorative ones and the religious holidays are limited to only some factions. Hope you all had a wonderful time with your families and friends.

I am still catching up on my old posts and this was one I started a couple of months back. One of the funny things about being a food blogger is that I keep getting offers to advertise or showcase different food products. That's not what this blog is for so I mostly turn them down... but when I got an offer for coupons for something I always buy anyway, I couldn't resist it. If you have been following this space, you would know the importance of yogurt in my house and the versatility of it in my recipes.

Home Made Yogurt cream: Just a substitute for sour cream. Hang yogurt in a muslin cloth or line a handled sieve/colander with a paper towel or muslin cloth and hang over a deep bowl. Keep this in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours or even over night and you will get thick creamy yogurt. Add 1 crushed garlic, a bit of salt and 1/2 tsp olive oil for a yummy spread. But this Greek yogurt is a thick ready to use product available in all supermarkets......which has a better texture than the homemade version..its thick, ultra creamy and seems fattening but its not!!

Oikos offered to send me coupons for free containers of the new Oikos Nonfat Greek yogurt to try. I used to always buy the Fage 2% greek yogurt so decided to give this new one a try. The plain version of Oikos has a great thick texture, but is a little tart on its own. Its perfect for cooking and baking but to use as dessert, needs to be sweetened. Mix it with honey, or any jam for an instant dessert.

Fage had a slightly less tart taste, probably due to the fat content in it. Maybe Oikos should have a 2% or full fat variety too; all their products are 0% fat. Its completely organic and its from StonyField farms, the company which introduced the creamy organic plain yogurt for toddlers and babies when all the tiny yogurts were festooned with cartoon characters and horrible colored flavored yogurts.

Oikos Organic offers Plain and Vanilla flavors in handy 4-ounce four-packs as well as in 5.3 oz. cup, 16 oz. tub. The single serves also come in blueberry and strawberry flavors. I preferred the plain which I could modify to my taste... savory or sweet.

Beyond the hyperbole, these are the final uses of the Oikos yogurt in my house:
1. Sweetened with Honey and topped with cereal, they make an excellent snack. Sweetened with sugar, saffron and cardamon.. instant srikhand without the hassle of hanging the yogurt.

2. I used it in our regular Chocolate cake for a luscious texture.
I added it to the chicken instead of yogurt for the Chicken Malai tikka. I also added it to my Butter chicken instead of cream to give richness. Added a teaspoon to the fish marinade too for grilling along with the regular red chili powder, ginger garlic and lemon juice.

3. I did make a mango pudding and a cheesecake with the yogurt but no photos so will post it when maybe next week!

4. A no-brainer use of the Oikos Yogurt is to make the delicious Taziki sauce. Costco retails a nice taziki sauce but its made with sour cream which makes you look at it twice before devouring. Taziki sauce made with this greek yogurt is just as good, or even better and much more healthier. Works as a dip with chips or as a white sauce with the pitas, tortillas or any sandwich.

Tzatziki (Greek Yogurt and Cucumber Sauce)

1 cups Greek Yogurt

Lemon Juice- 1 tsp
Garlic- 2 clove, minced fine

Cucumber- 1 medium sized one- center seeded and diced, salted with 1 tsp salt and then rinsed.
Fresh Dill or Fresh Mint- 1-2 tsp finely chopped

Good Quality EV Olive Oil- 1 to 2 tsp
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Preparation:

Chop up the cucumbers, sprinkle on a bit of salt, and let stand for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain well, rinse and wipe dry with paper towel.
Add the cucumbers, garlic, lemon juice, dill or mint( use either one but not both) and a few grinds of black pepper. to the yogurt. Add salt if needed. Place in refrigerator for at least two hours before serving so flavors can blend.The sauce tastes better the next day or even later. Stays in the refrigerator for up to a week.

The photo shows the sauce to be a bit liquid but that happened as I didn't drain the cucumber and it gave out water as it settled into the sauce. So the salting and draining of the cucumbers is important to maintain the consistency.

Chicken Samosas..

2009-09-15T13:00:00.032-04:00

This is one of the Ramazan specialities, samosas filled with meat. It is made completely by hand but feel free to replace with ready made wrappers such as spring roll wrappers, samosa wrappers or puff pastry sheets (Bake it as per the instructions on the box if you use puff pastry to make chicken puff). Ground meat(chicken or beef) is not recommended for samosas as it changes the texture. Chicken can be made either by pressure cooking, or by just cooking the boneless pieces in the spices and mash it up for a shredded texture. Also, the quantity of onions to meat is a personal preference. Increase or decrease as you like.
If you have any leftover grilled or fried chicken or chicken dry curry , u could add onions and chilies and make the filling masala. The filling should be dry for the samosa to hold together.

For meat filling (makes about 24 samosas)
Chicken Boneless -1 lbs (use thigh pieces if u get it)
Ginger -1/2 inch long piece
Garlic -3 cloves
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Roasted Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
Red chili powder -1 tsp(more or less as needed)
Black pepper powder – 1/2 tsp
Fennel powder -1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
For Sautéing:
Onions –4 medium ones
Small green chilies 6-8
Curry leaves- A handful chopped fine
Oil- 2 tbsp
Preparation:
1. Clean and cut the chicken into small pieces. Grind ginger, green chilies and garlic into a paste. Mix everything with the chicken, including the spice powders and leaves.
2. In a pressure cooker, add the marinated meat and let it cook uncovered for 5 minutes. No need to add any oil at this stage. When the meat starts releasing its excess water, place the lid and let it cook for just enough time for one whistle.
Take it off the flame and open after the steam is fully released. If there is excess gravy, simmer uncovered on high heat for 5-10 minutes to evaporate it. Since chicken cooks fast, you could even cook it in a pan, on medium heat for 10-12 minutes. Cover the pan initially for about 4 minutes to ensure even cooking inside.

When the chicken cools down, shred it into small pieces. If you are using bone-in chicken, remove from bone and shred it. Mostly the chicken would fall apart while stirring after the pressure cooking.
3. Meanwhile, chop the onions, green chilies and curry leaves into very fine pieces.
4. Heat the oil, and sauté the cut onions, shreddded curry leaves, chilies and shredded chicken (no liquid) on medium high heat till it looks dry and slightly separated. This should take about 10 minutes depending on the quantity. Keep stirring to avoid the mix from sticking to the base. When the mix cools down, the filling is ready.
P.S.If onions were cut by the chopper, it becomes a bit moister so the frying time increases.

The wrapper for the Malabar Samosas are traditionally handmade and are not as crisp/flaky as those of the North Indian potato samosas. Still, the same filling can be used with store bought samosa wrappers too. The traditional style is explained below.

The steps for making the wrapper are the same as that for meat samosas..reprinting this as I had blogged it earlier.
For the wrapper dough:
1 1/2 cup wheat flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt and 2 tsp oil.

5. Make the dough the same way as for Triangular paratha. The dough should be hard but pliable else it would be difficult to roll it out. Cover with plastic wrap and keep aside for at least 15 minutes. Divide into even sized balls...about the size of a medium lemon.
6. Roll it out evenly till about 7-8 inch in diameter (Ah yes; now we need a measuring tape while cooking). Cut it into four quarters as shown.

Disclaimer: The following steps are for the truly uninitiated and are prone to misinterpretation. Still I will try and explain as well as I can. If you already know how to do it, just go ahead and make the samosas.

7. Take one quarter and revolve it along the curved edge till the two ends meet. Spread a drop of water along the edge and seal it to make a cone as shown. Now fill with 2 tsp of filling (or less). Wet the remaining flap and turn it over and seal over the cone. Now repeat and make more till you get tired. The filling can be kept in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

8. Heat about 1 ½ cups of oil in a wok or deep frying pan. When it is quite hot, reduce the heat to medium. Slide 4-5 samosas one by one, taking care not to plop it in. Turn over once immediately, and fry for 2 minutes on each side. Fry it like a puri. Turn over and fry the other side till golden flecks appear. It takes about 3 -5 minutes to fry one batch. Drain and serve hot.

This is my entry for the ongoing Ramazan event..fasting to feasting hosted by Kitchen Flavors.

Fasting or Feasting?

2009-09-09T20:50:00.002-04:00

It's always nice when your mind can get off a rut and think afresh. Last few weeks whenever I opened my blog and looked at the keyboard, all my mind was filled with, was the status quo. Now, with the advent of Ramadan, there is a relief in the line of thought. With fasting and fast breaking, the conversation has shifted to food, religion, and consciousness.

Everybody knows the goodness of fasting..every body fasts in different ways..on Tuesdays, Fridays, without grains, without meat, without dairy products..or follow lent.. Every religion has some kind of fasting embedded in it. Definitely healthy to get rid of toxins and change your food habits once in a while. Besides the religious aspect, fasting is a great way to discipline the mind and control cravings.

I am a constant snacker and if anybody talks about any interesting food, I immediately crave it. Fasting actually works for me to get a control on my thoughts of food, and I don't feel hungry all the time......but somehow towards the end of the day, the stomach takes over the mind and even a bunch of broccoli looks so good that you'd think it was chocolate! A food magazine starts looking like forbidden stuff.. and don't ever send me to the supermarket while fasting.

Ramadan more than anything else transports me back home to a table laden with Iftar fried goodies....cutlets, pazham nirachathu, pazham porichathu, unnakaye, kilikude, chattipathiri just for starters. It's interesting to see how we want our comfort food more when we are really hungry and not anything new or healthy to our taste buds. Only the familiar food will do and the tastier, the better.
The early morning meal called "Atthayam" eaten before sunrise is another item all together. Some people cook an entire meal for that and some eat the yummy leftovers that you couldn't eat in the short time after fast breaking and before falling asleep. So much to taste and so little time and only one stomach.:) Some eat bread or even oatmeal or cereal..just making it a real early breakfast.

One of my earliest memories of the early morning meal is at my grandmother's house when it was still a joint family and the whole household used to get up in the wee hours of the morning and a full meal was laid out, rice, cheera, curry, godambu pathiri, complete with shrimp fry, fried at that time. Since every body was up, it didn't feel weird to be sitting down and eating a meal when it was still dark outside. The conversation flowed smoothly and food was eaten leisurely, topped off with a khali chaya/ sweetened black tea.

With the plethora of blogs now, we can see how other Muslims break their fast. I wonder what others eat for the early morning meal. I know a lot of my readers are fasting and it piques the curiosity.. What do you eat in the morning and evening? Can you eat rice and meat in the morning?

I still don't have time to elaborate on my posts so this time I will just start out by listing all Iftar worthy dishes on the blog for ease of use. I know there are a lot more items to be posted and maybe time permitting, I will post some this weekend.

Malabar Chicken Biryani
Malabar Fish Biryani
Calicut Mutton Biryani
Ghee Rice
Triangular Paratha
Malabar Madikki Pathiri/Roti
Fish Molee
Malabar Chicken Fry

Thari Kanchi/Rava Payasam
ShrimpAda/Shrimp Pancakes
Meat Samosa
Paliayakka/ Tapioca Payasam
Arikadukka/Kadukka Nirachathu
Spring Rolls
Idli Vadas In Yogurt
Chicken Kebabs
Pazham Pori/Plantain Fritters
Meat Cutlet
Malabar Vegetable Samosa
Fish Cutlets
Godumbu Payasam
Jeera Kanji
Sweet Kichdi

Kheema Mutter/Ground Beef with Green Peas...

2009-08-21T12:24:00.001-04:00

Every two three days there is a house showing a.k.a."pennukanal" and my cooking is a mad rush now or there is no cooking on those days coz I don't want to mess up my super clean kitchen and clean again. The market is not the right time to sell a house but it's the best time to buy so whenever we take a price cut, we get consoled that wherever we buy, there is a price cut there too. So the loss-gain factor is moot in our case.

Whereas I used to make a variety of food earlier, now its down to the least common denominator. One main item, whatever works with minimal splatter, minimal cleanup, minimal pots to clean. I think of most of our Malabar dishes and they are so labor intensive that they get relegated to the sidelines in the current situation. With Ramzan approaching though, I will have to think of easier items to make.

Sometimes our family dinners get dictated by my kids demands. Growing up here, they are more attuned to the western recipes and prefer that to most of the recipes I long for. When I tell my little one about some of the recipes I showcase here in this blog, I get a look as though I am from another country... well, that I am..:) So can't blame them. Given a choice, they would convert my house to a trattoria or a steakhouse.

I bet my folks are sitting and laughing now remembering how picky I was and how my mom used to ask "enthu kazhikannulla vishappanu?" meaning "what are you hungry for?' instead of just telling me what is there to eat. So now I am onto spoiling the next generation.:)

Most of the time though, all our food is common and gets eaten without any issue. Our food is spicy and our traditional curries are rich with onions and chilies, all pieces to be fished out and kept aside. Trying to woo a kid's appetite is the toughest thing to write about in a blog.

What works once may or may not work the next time so I really wing it each day and hope that some of what they eat stays in their memory and one day they will ask for it by name. Or maybe all that remains will be relegated to "butter chicken, erachi curry, dal, yellow curry(pulissery), fish fry, naan and biryani.

Added to that tiny list of preferences is Kheema Mutter, a ground beef preparation with fresh peas. I sometimes add tiny cut up bell peppers to but that changes the taste, so mostly stick with the recipe. This was a fav in my mom's house too but I think my preparation varies a bit now.

You will Need:
Lean Organic Ground Beef-1 lb
Oil-2 tbsp
Red onion- 1-2 medium size, thinly sliced
Fresh tiny green Thai, cayenne or Serrano chile peppers -2 or 3
Garlic-4 large cloves,paste
Ginger- 1 inch, paste
Lemon juice-1 tablespoon
Tomato-1 or 2 diced finely

Whole Spices:
Cinnamon stick-1 small one inch piece
Dried bay leaves-1
Cardamom-1
Clove-2

Spices:
Red Chili Powder- 1 1/2 tsp( use more or less as per taste or mix with half paprika/kashmiri chili powder to even out the color and taste)
Coriander Powder-1 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds,roasted and powdered-1/2 tsp
Turmeric-1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Frozen or fresh peas-1 cup
Cilantro- 2 Tsp chopped finely

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add the cinnamon sticks, clove and cardamom and bay leaves and saute until they sizzle. Then add the onion and stir fry until transparent and slightly golden, 5-10 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic, chili peppers,and stir well till the raw smell of the garlic is gone. Add the ground beef to the pan and break up the pieces with a wooden spatula. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the beef is browned. Add the spices...coriander, ground cumin, red chili powder, salt and turmeric and stir to coat the meat evenly. Saute for a couple of minutes and then add the tomatoes and mix well on high heat. Sprinkle in the lemon juice and keep stir frying for 5 minutes till all the meat is brown and the spices are cooked. Stir in 1/2 cup of water and add the peas. Transfer the meat to a pressure cooker and cook it for just 2-3 minutes after the first whistle. Alternately, you could cover the pan on low heat and let the meat simmer for 20 minutes. If the peas are cooked, you could add them in the last 5 minutes. Garnish with a whole lot of chopped cilantro.

Central Kerala Red Fish Curry...

2009-08-03T07:01:00.006-04:00

For this post, I don't want to dwell on the house sale.. the status quo on that is still the same. It's been hot and humid here the whole of last two weeks.. hey wait, isn't that the weather in Kerala? Maybe the weather allocation got switched.. upside, I don't have to water my flowers, they are blooming like never before. Beautiful!! Downside.. my veggie garden is neglected and is attacked by weeds which are growing faster than the veggies. I didn't put down a weed fabric when I set the garden out and regretting it now. We did get some red delicious tomatoes and a gigantic cabbage was harvested this week.. the plant came from my kid's school as a competition to see who will grow the biggest cabbage. We just planted it and fed it and it grew big..

I have a bunch of posts to get thru but can't seem to find the time. This one is a post I started a year ago..:)it's only now that I got thru to it. The photo was taken awhile ago and it's just coincidence that I am on fishy posts. Every body around us is either on vacation or has family visiting and last year this time, we were in B'lore visiting our old friends.

That started off a train of reminiscence ...reaching B'lore in the early morning after a long but fun train journey from Calicut,(any train ride is fun for me as here in US, all journeys are by long back breaking, gas guzzling car rides or by flights as pointed out by another friend) we got picked up by our close friend Peedus and there started a non-stop session of jabbering and stories. SR, Peedus's better half was waiting at home to continue the stories. I could tell you a lot about them but I don't want to go into any personal details here. SR has a lot of varied interests ..flower arrangements, interior design, arch, photo blogging...she keeps up with her friends and classmates relentlessly thru wonderful photos and its stories ..........and to our delight, we found out that she is an ardent cook too. Not just cooking, which a lot of people may like, but we could obsess about the food and its merits among other things.

A clay pot simmering with ample shallots redolent in ample coconut oil.. That's the one image that is there still in my mind after one year...ah..(the luxury of having a ton of shallots all cleaned and chopped and ready.) I didn't know which curry the claypot was headed to, but was happy just to see the shallots.

It was a pleasure to see SR catching up on news with me...being in B'lore they are in touch with a lot of our college friends and at any time, it would take days just to get updates on all of them. She was cooking alongside, all the while adding some chili powder, manning another flame with erissery on it, requesting her girl Friday for the next chopped items...doing ten things at the same time.

I am always surprised when I see someone of our generation who loves to cook and feed. Especially considering that she had just fed us a full breakfast, she was just getting down to the lunch prep pronto. Old Soul SR.:)And absolutely yummy food. DH just sat and ate till he couldn't move. It's a wonder how much we can eat while on vacation. I bet a lot of her classmates and common friends who have stopped by her house on summer days will agree with me.

Anyway, to get back to the fish curry, it's the central Kerala kodampuli kind which is my favorite curry with King Fish. The recipe is from her friend, who is from Kottayam and is really amazing. My mom never used to make this curry but my M-I-L does and we just grew into it over time. King Fish being the big fat meaty fish, doesn't absorb flavors easily and resists most simple preparations. It does well with deep flavors, spices and marinades. The Kodam Puli is the best and strongest adversary it has faced. During their time together, the fish absorbs all of the puli's smoky flavor and power and thereby gets its tangy, spicy taste.

You will need:
Fish pieces-5
Kodum Puli-2 piece
Shallots-about 20, sliced finely
Ginger Garlic Paste-1 1/2 tbsp(fresh paste)
Red Hot Chili Powder- 2 tsp( this is spicy)
Kashmir Red chili powder- 1 tsp
Turmeric-1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves- 2-3 sprigs.
Oil (coconut oil is preferred)

Soak the souring agent, kudam puli in half cup warm water. Blend half the raw shallots and 1/2 tsp of the ginger garlic paste along with the red chili powder and turmeric to a fine paste. Don't add water while blending or add just a tablespoon of water. Just enough to get it to a paste. In the olden days, I am sure this was done on the ammi/mortar and pestle, so water was added drop by drop.

Heat oil (about 3 tbsp)in a meen chatti or pan and add half the shallots and curry leaves to the pan. When the shallots wilt, add the ginger garlic paste and saute on medium heat. Add the blended paste to the pan and cook it on medium heat or low heat (depending on your stove) till all the water is evaporated and the paste gives out oil..about 10 minutes.

This step should be done with care without burning the paste. If there is not enough oil for the paste to cook, add a bit more. If the paste doesn't get cooked, the fish curry will taste too spicy with raw red chili taste..

When the paste is moving as one mass, add 1 cup water and just the kudam puli. Reserve the water it was soaked in to be added if you need more sourness. Add salt and taste. When the paste and the water dissolve and come to a boil, add the fish pieces one by one. Cover the fish with the liquid and let it cook covered for about 15 minutes. I just let it simmer on low heat after the first boil, on the back burner.
As you open, the oil should have risen to the top and the color should be a deep red. Taste the curry and adjust as needed. Take out the souring agent if you don't like it too sour later.
Serve with puttu, idaippam, appam or porotta. The curry definitely taste better after a couple of hours and even better the next day with Puttu. The more the fish sits in it, the better the flavors meld and get imbibed.

Kolhapuri Chicken...

2009-07-21T07:28:00.001-04:00

Another weekend gone and no change in status quo.. Another whole week and weekend spent on cleaning and showing the house...A spate of incidents where we had to spent our time outside the house while the realtor and their clients were seeing the house. Our house is so small that my little one keeps asking.,. what are they looking at so much...but still no response so keeping the fingers, toes and arms and legs crossed.

The only highlight of last week was a package from Nupur of "One Hot Stove" which arrived with aromatic messages. She sent me a sampler of the famous Kolhapuri masala, that too a homemade version. She was having a contest for it on her blog and she sweetly offered me a sample even though I didn't win the contest.

Searching for a chicken Kolhapuri recipe, I saw this interesting writeup on the Ten most popular Maharashtrian dishes and Kolhapuri curries was one of them.

The word "Kolhapuri" brings to mind the weirdest combination of items.. Padmini Kolhapuri of the 80s movies( brought back to mind by B4U music), Kolhapuri chappals of which I always had a pair of thru my college days and the stomach unsettling super spiced dhabha Kolhapuri food eaten on college tours.
My better experience with Kolhapuri cooking is limited to eating K. Chicken and veg Kolhapuri in Mumbai and once in Matheran and that too a long time ago. I remember its spine tingling spiciness after a long day walking and documenting Matheran, its spice just highlighting the heat around.( Some people like to eat spicy food and then drink hot tea, but that is a sure fire way of setting my head ablaze in the summer.) Now I just used to associate it with spice, the way Thai food is associated with spice now.

I deliberated over mutton or chicken Kolhapuri and settled on making Chicken Kolhapuri with it. The misal was also very tempting but I had no sprouted beans so went for the chicken. That's next on the agenda.

It turned out to be a very well spiced, ferociously red and fiery looking curry.... took the blandness out of the usual chicken curry. But it was not all heat.. there was a myriad other flavors in it now which I probably was unaware of years back. I didn't even know at that time it had coconut in it.

The combination of the dried coconut, fresh coconut and all the different spices gives it a taste very slightly similar to the varutha aracha chicken curry. I had run out of dried coconut, so I added only fresh coconut.. I am sure its tastes even better with dried coconut.

So I got one more chicken curry to my list of curries. Thanks a lot Nupur, we enjoyed the masala. Now I just need to learn to make it. :) For the Chicken Kolhapuri, I just followed Meera's recipe fully. So here is the recipe for those who want to try it out.

Mathi Mulakittathu / Moliyar/ Sardines in Spicy Curry...

2009-07-09T14:14:00.001-04:00

The house sale has become just another factor in the list of daily chores and activities. Even my kids are pitching in the daily clean up now.:)
"The blushing bride" as one of my blogger friends called the house, is wilting under all the attention or the lack of it. We had one open house last week and nearly went a little berserk getting it ready. Still not much response. The house prices are falling so much that bigger houses than ours are encroaching on our price zone, while the buyers are just shopping around still. The daily headlines of unemployment and housing market in a down spin doesn't help either. But let's see, we still have to wait and bide our time.

We are also on the other end, like most of my blogger friends, looking for a house and I know how difficult it is to like a house. When we were living in an apartment, it was easy to go around seeing houses and visualize ourselves in it, since they were almost always bigger than the apartment. The second home is not so easy. Now when we do our round of house viewing, can't visualize it as where we want to live in and at the end of the day, just want to come back "home". We get back home, stretch our feet in the backyard patio, peruse the endless grass and hear the twitters (the original bird sounds, not the internet chatter) around, wave to the rabbit, sip a cup of tea and think aloud, "why again are we moving?"

Makes you wonder what is it that we call "home". It's bricks and mortar, alright, but there must be something primeval about it that we get so attached to it. I have lived in a lot of houses over the years yet when I dream, there is only house from my childhood that comes regularly in my dreams as Representative of "my home". As children, we probably get fixated on the house that we lived in the longest with our family. Now as adults with our own families, each house that we live in represents a phase of life..newly married, FOB, pre-kid, post kid...

Anyway, in a rebel state of mind, I didn't buy an induction stove, but started cooking some fish curries to "perfume" the house..just kidding...couldn't stay away from some spicy curry for too long..... just have to do a thorough airing and cleaning after each cooking though. Vinegar and a wet towel help a lot.

So here is a really easy Mathi Curry. When I went to my regular fish market this time, I had to regretfully decline the King Fish head..pheeeuu!!Couldn't afford to cook that as that smell will linger on like a bad memory. But they had these Sardines, so good looking that I couldn't resist it. Thinking of the heaped plates full of fried sardines, from last summer back in Calicut, I chose 3 sardines and came home smug to find my DH laughing at me..u bought just 3 sardines? Well, one for me and two for you... And I decided to make the curry as the leftover fry smell is another torture.
The recipe is the way my mom makes it but she couldn't give me numbers. Ummi Abdullah's book had a similar recipe so I used that to come up with the final recipe. There are only slight differences in the recipes such as we don't really use mustard and my mom almost never fries the shallots. But I like it this way.

You Will Need:
Sardines-3 or 4
Shallots-6 sliced finely
Green Chilies-2 slit vertically
Garlic- 3 big cloves crushed well.
Tomato-1 small one
Red Chili Powder- 2 tsp(substitute with Kashmiri chili powder if you don't like the spice level.)
Turmeric-1/2 tsp
Tamarind Extract- 1tbsp(Laxmi Natural Tamarind Concentrate.)
Mustard-1/2 tsp(optional)
Fenugreek-1 tsp
Coconut oil-2 tbsp
Curry leaves
salt to taste

Preparation:
Use a pan or clay pot. Some say the high heat damages the clay pot so you could do the spluttering of mustard in a pan and add to the clay pot.

Heat the oil in a pan/ meen chatti( clay pot) and add the mustard seeds.
Cover and reduce heat and let them splutter. Open and add the fenugreek, onions,green chilies and garlic. Fry till the onions are transparent and starting to brown at the edges. Add the tomatoes and saute for just a minute. Mix the chili powder, turmeric powder with 1 tbsp water and add to the pan.

Fry for a minute or so and then add the tamarind extract. This extract that I use has the natural taste and the light brown color of real tamarind. If you are using whole tamarind, soak a small ball in half cup warm water and extract the juice by squishing the tamarind into the water and straining it.

Add 1/2 cup to 1 cup water if there is no liquid left in the pan and let it come to a boil. Adjust the sourness and salt and then add the fish and the curry leaves. Cover, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 7 to 10minutes. Keep it covered for some more time. The fish will take time to imbibe the flavors and tastes better definitely the next day or later in the evening.

A Summer delayed and Wasted....

2009-06-23T06:10:00.001-04:00

What happened to the summer? Who waylaid it and delayed it? It's June end and we are still venturing out with trepidation, wondering if we need a jacket or not. My veggie garden never really took off this year and its still lying low. So any day with slightly warm temperatures is like heaven sent.

The kitchen is kind of operating on low battery and will do so for the coming days. Why? well, we put our house up for sale and as per the cultural demands of the real estate "sale" business, the house has to be spotless, uncluttered, fully organized, and immaculate.

That means the closet should not over stuffed with clothes, the clothes should hang neatly, all ironed to be worn at a moment's notice, beds made all the time with the bed spreads tucked in and topped with an ornamental pillow that you toss to the floor before you go to sleep and the side tables removed of all your books and newspapers.

No pencil drawings on the wall and no chocolate toddler hand prints on the the wall, however cute they look, no juice marks on the floor...no shoes, sandals and chappals near the door, no toys, no ride on trucks lying around and no board books piled up on the sofa. And last but not the least, in the kitchen... no summet mixie, no dish rack, no dishes piled up, clean or dirty and definitely no smell of Indian cooking. Oh no..what is that stink?....eeww..smells like a gas chamber..(meanwhile..another one is thinking"hmm..what's that? mutton curry? or sambar?) One man's stink is another man's yumilicious food. We ourselves have got put off by the smell of bacon, animal's smells and fish sauce in other houses when house hunting, so can't really blame anyone for that instinctive reaction.:)

So either I cook and spent all the time stripping the kitchen of the mess (I am a messy cook and have to cook 4 things at the same time to save on labor)thereafter or scour the net for grilling options and takeouts. Anyway, this has taken the joy out of cooking ...makes me feel like I am in an episode of Iron Chef..cooking with speed. So I can only post recipes I cooked and photo-ed earlier or post w/o photos now.

While discussing the house, My Dh and I agreed on one thing....showing the house is akin to "pennu kanal" or "ladki ko dekhne aa rahe hai" (the custom of the guy's family coming to see the girl in an arranged marriage.). Anybody from India will immediately identify with the whole scene. We being the ladkiwalle or the girl's side, are supposed to be humbler and get everything just right while the prospective buyers(the guy's side or the groom) just waltz thru the house nonchalantly criticizing everything.(or so I think)...she is too small, she is too dark, too short, too tall, too thin, too fat... the lines blur and for us, I forget that its just a house ..not really ur daughter! Wish there was a love story for houses...now I am just talking nonsense so I should stop.

Anyway, so I will keep you guys updated on whether or not we are able to make the sale. The last two weeks were the worst where we were getting everything organized and very anxious about each showing, but now when a day passes with no appointments for viewing the house, I feel anxious. A friend who recently sold her house had to go thru this for six months and now I really admire her for the patience. Even as I write this, I am keeping my fingers crossed that I won't be writing on this topic six months later. So instead of BBQs ,picnics and outings, this summer seems to be dedicated to a move if possible.

Hot n Sour Soup

2009-06-07T10:08:00.004-04:00

Too much happening and not too much happening..does that make sense? Well, too much to be done around the house and about, with some big decisions being taken, about which I will elaborate later. And we are all down, well, now half the family is up, but the rest of us are still wallowing in tastelessness. Blogging aside, can't even think of any food as appetizing! So here is my life savior...the amusing and entertaining Vahrevah chef with his fool proof hot n sour soup which I never knew was so easy! I added some boiled soba noodles (any noodles will do) and instant meal. Lunch and entertainment!
I don't think anyone would need a recipe after watching the video but if you do, leave a comment. SO see you later when I fully recover.

Potato Samosas..

2009-05-27T10:38:00.002-04:00

It's a nice morning, its sunny and warm and I am planning to make a cake, maybe an elaborate meal, maybe go out and get the flowers I bought last week planted , maybe weed a bit......but all end up castles in the air, as finally my little one decides what I should do and should not do and zaps my energy.

My friend calls up and asks me if I am going to buy potatoes.. I hedge and say I don't feel like going out, thinking she is asking me to leave the comfort of my home on such a busy day..but she was just saying..don't buy potatoes, she just bought a sack of giant oversized baking potatoes and was sending some over.

So how big can they be? Well, they turn out to be a pound each, about the size of my palm and fat. What is the first thing that would come to your mind with potatoes?
Puri Bhaji? Aloo subji? Baked potatoes? Mashed potatoes?
Guess where my mind wandered to? Samosas..Giant crisp hot, mouth burning hot samosas!

I don't usually bother making these Potato samosas... the Delhi style.. love those monstrous sized flaky pastry filled with spiced potatoes, not like the petite Malabar meat samosas and not like the cocktail itsy bitsy samosas made in spring roll wrappers. We usually drive down to buy these samosas from a restaurant nearby or just use the freezer ones.

In my days in Delhi, there was a wonderful samosa shop in our shopping area...walking distance, no need for a car!!
Some evenings,(when mom didn't make something yummy) I used to run down to that halwai and order a fresh batch of samosas and garam garam jalebis.
You can't enter the shop..its a dirty mess of cooking..more like a kitchen in action..people hustling about, kneading, pouring, mixing..all labor intensive actions, while the halwai, a jovial fat guy in a dhoti sat near a couple of large cast iron woks, stirring and frying jalebis in one and samosas in the other.
Visions were flashing... waiting for the fresh samosas to be dunked into the oil..they sink deep down into the wat of oil as they are slid in and then surface up for air as they get fried and puff up. ...and the rush to get home before it cools down and then munching them with pudina/Mint chutney and tamarind chutney..and hot dripping jalebis!!

For me, samosas and jalebis always go together...now though they are both in a different country and divorced and living separately. The crust of those samosas were like eating Matri, a flaky crunchy fried circle of maida that's eaten with tea/coffee as a snack.

Anyway, I had to make them and I did have a recipe that I used to use in my torn old book. My crust is not as flaky as the store bought one but then that's due to the water I mix the dough. For flakier crust, use more oil and very little water. It's almost like making pastry dough. And though the size of these samosas turned out to be small( i can only make the Malabar sized ones!!) and the taste is nowhere near the ones from my memories, the exercise in making these samosas was fun.

You Will Need:
Potatoes: 250 gm, or two giant baking potatoes
Onion- 1 medium sized one
Green Chilies-3-4
Ginger Grated-1 tsp
Green Peas- 1 cup cooked
Coriander(whole) -1 tsp, crushed coarsely
Cumin seeds-1 tsp
Aamchoor/Dry Mango Powder-1 tsp
Red Chili Powder-1 tsp
Garam Masala powder- a pinch.
Salt
Cilantro leaves- 3 tbsp chopped

Preparation:
Boil the potatoes (as a whole in the pressure cooker or cut up and boiled in lots of water and drained.)Peel the potatoes and smash them into small pieces. There should be some tiny lumps, not big chinks.

Chop the onions finely and fry them in very little oil till they turn transparent and then add the chilies, ginger, boiled peas, crushed coriander, and all other spices. Add the potatoes too and mix well. Taste and add salt as needed. Add more or less of spices. It should be spicy and tangy. Add the cilantro leaves in the end.

Prepare the dough: Mix 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour with 1/2 cup whole wheat and 1/2 tsp salt. Add 3 tbsp heated ghee or oil and mix well into crumbles. Add water little by little( you will need about 1 cup of water) till it forms into a tight but pliable dough. Use more oil and less water if you prefer. Let it rest for at least 20 minutes before rolling out. The crust doesn't puff up like puris, just stays as layers and layers of crispiness. Piercing the rolled dough before filling it helps. If the dough feels too springy, let it rest for a minute in between rolling out.

I make the samosas by rolling out the dough into a big thick circle and then cutting it into 4. See the photorial here. But this is another method I saw online and maybe easier for most people. For me, the quarter method is much faster, though the samosas are smaller..maybe better for our waists.:)

Divide the dough into equal balls. Apply a little dry flour to each ball when rolling into a circle of 4″ diameter. Cut each circle into two and lightly dampen the edges of each semicircle with water. Shape each semicircle onto a cone by pressing the cut edges together. Place a spoonful of the potato-pea filling into the cone and seal the edges well (apply some water on the edges if they do not seal well). Repeat this procedure with the rest of the balls.

Deep fry in medium-hot peanut oil in batches on medium flame till crisp and golden brown. Remove onto a paper towel. Serve with pudina and tamarind chutney.

Pazham Pori or is it Appam? /Smushy Plantain Fritters

2009-05-13T07:37:00.002-04:00

If I stay away from the computer for too long then I feel hesitant to come back and blog..it's like entering a party late and hoping you haven't missed out on the happenings.
I had another exam to cover last week and I had a blogging ban by my better half so resisted spending all my online time surfing aimlessly. So I wrote anyway but put all my thoughts into draft, saving it with the intention of blogging everyday! This week, kept wondering which one to start with and hesitated...finally got tired of seeing the same post and decided to change it before people unsubscribe to my feed burner!

The weather is changing for the better and the days are getting longer, meaning I am out of the house longer... taking the kids to their myriad activities and then to the park etc..Dinner seems to come in the way of savoring the sunlight. It's so beautiful all around now... with all the dry dead brushes and bare branches all covered with flowers and leaves.

When there is so much greenery sprouting around, it's hard to sit down and put it into words. The lushness of the new leaves, the soft carpets of the lawns, the feathery leaves on the trees....the light green reminds me of the diminishing paddy fields but only just so.. the green in Kerala is a vivid green, contrasting so deeply with the red laterite soil that it stays in the mind long after the image has faded.

Laterite is quarried and cut into blocks and used as brickstones for house-building. They are used for rough walls between properties and for lining wells and ponds. The laterite is a soft stone with surface texture and it allows the roots of the plants to penetrate it, becoming a planting bed if the surface is not closed with plaster. When the walls are broken down, the blocks are crumbled and worked back into the earth

The rambling vines and undergrowth cover every inch of the laterite walls to create a symphony of varying shades of green and red. The undergrowth is always renewing itself and the color is always lush. Truly an organic and sustainable building material!!!

Here in two more weeks, the lushness will give away to a dull green, as if the leaves were forever there and the greenery will fade into the background. The lawns will slowly reveal what they really are.. just dry wild grass forced into submission by weekly (expensive) mowing and endless watering...the trappings of suburbia.

But let's enjoy the intermittent spring showers and new growth it brings. What's the best way to celebrate this cool weather? Maybe fry up some fritters and a cup of tea...hmm...maybe masala tea. These plantain fritters can be made with regular bananas too. I end up making this whenever I buy plantains and they get too ripe too soon.

You will need:
Fully ripe blackish colored plantains-2
All Purpose Unbleached Flour (Maida)-1 cup
Rice flour (optional)- 1 tbsp
Sugar -1tbsp
Kalonji/Onion Seeds - a pinch
Water - 1/4 cup
Salt -a very small pinch.
Oil - for frying

Preparation Method:

1. Peel and cut the ripe banana into 2 sections. (Wash your hands well if you are using hands.) Then smash the banana with your hands into a mushy mess. It should have some lumps left for texture and should not be a puree. This is fun.... you could even get your kids to do it. They enjoy the messiness of the banana squirting thru the fingers.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together and then add water slowly while stirring to make a smooth paste. It should be lump free and not too watery. If it does become watery, add a little more flour. Add the banana and mix it well.
3. Heat oil in a skillet. You could fry this in a Unniappam chatti/Aebleskiver Pan too.
4. Slowly slide one spoonful/dollop of the banana mix into the oil.You could fry 4 or 5 at a time based on the size of your pan. Deep fry on medium heat till it turns a golden brown. Make sure the oil is hot before adding the batter. (It's hot if you put a drop of the batter and it rises to the top in a second.)If the oil is not hot enough, the fritters will absorb too much oil. Once it heats up, you could reduce it to medium heat. Drain onto paper towels and serve.

Vegetable Pulav/ Pilaf/ Pulao...

2009-04-19T07:45:00.004-04:00

A very Belated Happy Vishu to all my readers and blogger friends. I just got back from spending some days with family in CA and I am still stuck between time zones. The West Coast is only 3 hrs behind the East Coast but for the biological clock, it seems like much more. Plus coming to an empty house with all the chatter still ringing in my ears, didn't feel like blogging.

It was no fun to get back to the blow hot blow cold weather we have been having all week long but the wonderfully warm weather yesterday was heaven sent. We went to a park nearby and it was studded with so many families that it looked like we stumbled on a convention. All winter long the parks and lakes lie dormant, empty, cold and uninviting and now the trees there are laden with flowers, there's lush green grass and humans crawling out of the woodwork.

To get back to the west coast stories, it was nicer weather there though it did get cold along the waterfront. We inland people couldn't resist being along the shore at the slightest pretext and so there were all of us at the beach shivering away while the kids were playing in the cold wet sand!! The skies and beaches there are so clear and blue that the photos don't do justice to the beauty.

Got to eat some good stuff from my mom's pantry and also some "healthy" west coast food. The highlight of the trip other than meeting family, having kids of different ages underfoot and pandemonium everywhere was getting live Dungeness Crabs from a fishing boat,(2 1/2 pounds each), getting home in time to cook it, and then eating it 15 minutes before leaving for the airport to come back home. My siblings had warned me that this is not the crab season so don't expect it, and when we got it from the boats, we were skeptical. We were all pleasantly surprised by the quantity and quality of it. Yummiest crab ever..I even considered moving to CA for the availability of these crustaceans.

We also got to try a new crab in my food vocabulary..Box Crab. We were talking to the fisherman after packing our crabs and he picked up a piece of coral like rock. I thought it was a crab shell and was listening to his description about the other crabs swimming in the tank when the rock suddenly moved and out popped the legs!! It was a live crab so expertly camoflagued as a coral piece!!The thin, spindly legs of box crabs can be withdrawn close to the body, giving them a box-like appearance. I didn't have my camera with me!!If I get any photos from the locals there, I will add to this post. The taste..more like lobster, richer creamier than regular crab. There were mixed reaction to this crab in the house. Some liked it but some didn't.

Vegetable Pulav is an odd item to combine with the crab stories but this is what my mind stopped on. This is my mom' style of veg pulav...quite light and it goes well with almost any curry. It tastes like a cross between veg fried rice and ghee rice.

Note: The combination of vegetables will change the taste of the rice. Red peppers, soft vegetables like zuccini, etc are strong flavorings and personally, I don't think go well in the rice. The green peppers and scallions are the ones which give it the Chinese flavor. You could use this rice as a base and change the flavor to your liking.. add more spice, add some biryani masala to it to make it more pronounced South Indian pulav or add chili garlic sauce to it to change the orientation to a South East Asian rice. I use a frozen bag of diced mixed veggies and add scallions and peppers for a quick pulav.

You Will Need:
Basmati Rice: 2 cup
Onion- 1/2 medium sized one. sliced finely.
Green Chilies -2-3
Ginger- Garlic Paste-1 1/2 tbsp
Vegetables- 2 cup chopped(peas, beans, carrots, green peppers, scallions, cauliflower)
Ghee/Butter- 4 tbsp
Cilantro- 2 tbsp chopped
Garam Masala-1/2 tsp
Ground Black Pepper-1/4 tsp
salt to taste

Wash and soak the rice for at least 10 minutes. Drain and keep aside. Chop the vegetables into small even sized dices. Boil the vegetables in very little water for just 3-5 minutes. Drain and keep aside.

Heat 2 tbsp of the ghee and saute the onion. When they are slightly brown, add them to the rice cooker along with the rice and 3 1/2 cup water(water to rice ratio is mostly 2:1 for most kinds of Basmati rice but some just need 1 1/2 :1 so check the cooking instructions) Add 1 tsp salt to it and let the rice cooker do its work.

If you are using a frying pan, just add the rice to the pan after the onions are sauteed and then mix them. Add the water and salt. When the water boils, cover the rice and cook on low heat for 10-12 minutes. Fluff it and let it rest covered for 5 minutes. Open and fluff it and let it cool slightly.

When the rice is cooked, open the rice cooker and cool the rice.

Heat the ghee/butter in a pan and saute the ginger garlic paste and green chilies. When they are fragrant, add the vegetables and saute just for 4-5 minutes. They should still have a bite left in them. Add the cooked and cooled rice to the pan and mix well. This is done on medium flame so that the rice is not getting fried again.

If you mix the veggies with the hot rice, the hot rice grains will break up, so wait for it to cool a bit.The veggies are not cooked with the rice to avoid them getting mushy.)

Garnish with cilantro, garam masala and pepper if you like the flavor and mix it in.

Note: You could combine all the steps into one pot method for a weekday. Don't boil the veggies. Just mix the oil and ghee( use less ghee), saute onions, and add veggies. Then add the ginger garlic paste and stir well. Add the washed rice and stir fry for a minute till the rice turns opaque. Add salt and water and cover and cook for 10-12 minutes on medium heat. Open and fluff the rice and add garam masala and pepper.

Baigan Ka Bartha/ Roasted and Mashed Eggplant...

2009-04-01T17:19:00.004-04:00

I would love to know where baigan ka bhartha originated.. was it in India or in the Arab and Mediteranean lands? It has a very unappetizing name, meaning "mashed eggplant", but more colloquially the term "bartha" is used to connote "a mess" or a "mishmash".."or everything mixed in together".

It's the similarity in the eggplant preparation that made me curious. Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines have similar recipes of eggplant that is roasted and then mashed and seasoned. They have the baba ganoush, roasted eggplant salads, roasted eggplant dip, Greek Eggplant Dip , another dip from Romania and so on.
Our humble badly named bhartha is eaten with chapathi...is it used as a dip? Well, if you notice, we scoop up the bhartha with the chapathis similar to the pita with the dip.. So are they long lost cousins from a Persian invasion?
We like eggplants in any form...fried as a pakoda, baked in layers with other stuff, pureed, or sliced, marinated with red chili powder and turmeric and deep fried, and sometimes even as a side dish. In that case, this is my first go to recipe.

Season this any way you like, but this is the basic recipe that I follow. The eggplant is bland with just a smokey flavor so is open to any kind of interpretation. You can make it more tomotoey, more tangy with more spices if you want to. My Bombayite friend just roasts it and adds fresh raw chopped cilantro, green chilies and onions and gives it a seasoning of cumin in Ghee. That tastes good too. But then I like eggplant in any form.:)

You Will Need:
The Big 2 pound Sized Eggplant -1
Red Onion - 1 finely diced
Medium sized Tomato -1 finely diced
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp( use fresh paste or finely chopped)
Hot Green chilies - 4 chopped
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Red Chili Powder -1/4 tsp (adjust with the spice of the green chilies)
Coriander Powder -1/2 tsp
Garam Masala Powder -1/8 tsp
Jeera Seeds -1/2 tsp
Chopped Coriander/Cilantro leaves - 2-3 tbsp for garnish
Lemon Juice - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 tbsp approx.

Preparation:
1. Preheat the oven to the broiler setting. Wash the eggplant, wipe it dry and place it on a foil lined baking tray right under the broiler in your oven. Bake it for 10-12 minutes, turning it over once so that the outer skin gets burnt all around evenly. The roasting can be done over a gas flame too, turning continuously..but it gets quite messy. Or you could even cook it by microwaving for 5 mts but then you don't get the smokey flavor.
2. Wrap the eggplant in the foil and allow it to cool. Then remove the outer skin. Mash the eggplant well and keep it aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan and toss in the cumin seeds. Add the onions,green chillies and saute well till the onions start tuning brown only at the edges. Add the ginger garlic paste. Mix and saute and then add the red chili powders, turmeric and coriander powder. Fry it well. Add the chopped tomatoes, salt and the mashed eggplant. Cook on medium low heat for 5-10 minutes, taking care not to let it stick to the pan. Stir once in a while. The color slowly changes from the greyish brown to a deeper brown. If the onions were fried too much then the gravy would start turning a darker brown. Add the lemon juice in the end just to balance the flavors. If the tomatoes are sour, you may not need lemon juice at all. Add the garam masala and cilantro leaves and check for salt.

Fish Head Thoran.../Fish Head Stirfry.

2009-03-20T17:00:00.001-04:00

Once every two months, I go thru a barbaric ritual. I go to the fish market and buy a whole King Fish, better known as King Mackeral here.
Earlier, I would get the fish cleaned and cut into steak slices. In the brief English that the fish monger knew, he would lift up the fish head and ask, "No head?" and I would make a disgusted face and shake my head signaling no. The guys there would look at each other and one would say something in Spanish, causing incredulous smiles from the others. They probably consider it a delicacy.
Did I mention the fish head and tail curry that was so relished by every one else during my last visit home? I just sat and stared in shock and awe.
Visions of parents and in-laws disapproving the wastage of good fish would clamor for attention but I would refuse to give in. Unless family was visiting, there was no one to eat the fish head, so why tag home with it only to stink up my waste bin?

Then my friend's mom visited and showed her a simple way to use up the fish head. My friend started taking the fish head home and making thoran with it. She suggested the same to me and I had a mixed reaction of curiosity and yuckiness. I got reminded of the Food TV's Next Food Network Star show, where the sole Indian contestant was shown the door when she couldn't handle raw fish.
Finally curiosity took over and I decided to try it. The first time I did take it home and followed her instructions and made the thoran....BUT I didn't eat it. DH ate it unsuspectingly and liked it. Of course he hadn't seen how it was made.

The next time, I made it and kept it in the fridge. Two days later, after the memory of the whole process had slightly faded from my mind, I tasted it and could appreciate why so many of my family loved fish head. It had a buttery rich taste to it, kind of like fish and crab mixed together. This is not a real thoran as I did not add coconut but you could add that too if you want.

Now the fish monger happily packs the whole fish in ice and I make a face thinking of the work after I get home. Why do I do this exercise in primitive cooking?
I like it but I have decided not to eat it the same day I make it. I wait for it to age in the fridge before setting it on the dinner table!!

Making the thoran, dealing with the fish's head, teeth and eyes.... is an experience in grossing out itself!! I am sure hardly any of my readers will try this out but still had to post it just for the fear factor value!!
You could even make this with any big fish pieces, doesn't have to be the head.

You Will Need:
Serves 2-3
King Fish Head or any large fish head-1
Ginger_garlic paste-1 to 2 tablespoon

Red Onion or shallots- sliced- 1 cup
Green Chilies- 3-4 slit length wise.
Turmeric-1/8 tsp
Red Chili Powder-1/2 tsp or more as per taste
Coriander Powder-1/2 to 3/4 tsp depending on taste
Black Pepper powder- 1/2 tsp
Kudam Puli or Regular tamarind- 1 tiny dry piece
Salt-to taste
Oil-2 tablespoon
Curry leaves-1 sprig

Preparation:
Wash the fish head pieces (add tail or any other ugly looking pieces) and put it in a non-stick or steel saute pan with the ginger garlic paste and salt. Take care not to heat the pan before adding fish. If the pan is hot, the fish will stick to it. Cover and cook for 5 minutes on medium heat. Open and if there is water let out by the fish, cook uncovered for 5 minute or more so that the water gets evaporated. After the fish cools down, take a deep breath and start removing only the meat from the fish. There will be eyes and teeth and all that but keep at it. Remove all the meat possible from all the nooks and corners. Keep aside and make sure you get rid of the waste immediately.
Heat oil in a pan( cast iron or non stick works best. Fish sticks to steel)and drop in the curry leaves. Then add the onions and green chilies. Saute till the onions start turning a little brown at the edges and add the red chili powder, turmeric and coriander powder. Stir a couple of times and then add the fish, one tiny piece of either dry kudam puli /tamarind and stir well. Continue sauteing on medium or low heat till the fish gets a little dry and crisp and then add the pepper powder. Add oil if you feel its too dry. Adjust salt as needed. At this stage, you could add a pinch of fennel powder, a tablespoon of coconut grated etc but I prefer it without it. Don't let the fish dry out too much. Serve with rice or chapathis.

Beef Tacos...

2009-03-13T12:00:00.002-04:00

A couple of weeks just ran by. I stopped to look but it was too fast for me, running as I was to get all the crazy things that only moms think need to be done. My Hindi music craze has just come to an end, thanks to a virus that rode on my browser and hijacked into my computer. No more downloads. Karma, some people would say.:)
Anyway, I just could not get this virus out of my computer and finally had to reformat it. Lost some info and got setback momentarily but now I have a clean "new" computer.:)
Phew!Surfing is as dangerous as living in a war stricken zone. You don't know where and when you are going to get hit.

In another twist,a family friend lost all their belongings in an apartment fire that started in their neighbor's apartment.They escaped unhurt due to another neighbor's timely warning. Cause as yet unknown. What escaped the fire got damaged by the fire fighter's water. They had time to just grab their kids,documents and jackets. So all the past few years of weekend shopping and parties and birthday gifts etc all got reduced to what you can hold in your hands and leave. The only thing my friend really worried about was the kids photo albums and videos.:)I agree with her...memories are hard to find and rebuilt.

If you had to leave everything and go, other than yourself and the kids, what would be the one thing you would really want to take? Needless to say, we first organized our documents into a grab-and-go bag over the weekend. My little one chose the DS as the indispensable treasure (The game cube needs the TV to work, so DS is more portable.)

Our friends are slowly getting rehabilitated in another apartment. The insurance will cover most of the stuff but how can you put a value on certain things? Makes you get a reality check in this recession period. There was a time after we came here and started earning that every weekend was an exercise in consumerism..and now that we reduced shopping due to myriad reasons, the Govt is saying "economic stimulus, go spend some money...":))

well, anyway, this is my foolproof dinner to appease all kinds of appetites at home..Spicy, has NV, has veggies and is wholesome. A taco is the Mexican equivalent of Chapathi/roti. We eat the chapathi with our hands, breaking a piece and scooping up the curry and vegetable. The taco is eaten simply as a roll or folded in half and stuffed with the fillings. The fillings can be grilled chicken, ground beef, or anything you can think of. Here I used ground beef, cheese, avocados, yogurt cream and shredded lettuce. You could substitute the avocados with guacamole and the cheese with shredded carrot too.

You Will Need:
Lean Organic Ground beef-1 pound
onion -1 chopped finely
Garlic -3 cloves, minced
Jalapeno peppers/Hot Green chili -3, chopped
Chili powder( Paprika/Kashmiri Red Chili Powder)-1 teaspoon
Roasted and Powdered Cumin-1 tablespoon
Oregano(Fresh/frozen)-1 tablespoon(Use less if using dried oregano)
Fresh cilantro-2 tablespoons
Cayenne pepper/Paprika-1/2 teaspoon
Your choice Salsa-1 cup
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup of oil
Lime juice-1 tablespoon

Preparation:
Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat. Add the onions, garlic and peppers, and saute for about 5-8 minutes. Add the meat and let it brown evenly, taking care to keep breaking up the lumps. Add all the other ingredients including the salsa except the lime juice and cilantro, stirring occasionally until meat is browned.
Cover the pan/skillet, turn heat down to low, and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The whole mix should be semi-dry with not too much of the liquid left. Add the lime juice and the cilantro and mix well. Adjust salt to taste.

Note:No salsa? Substitute with the following mix: 2 chopped tomatoes, one green bell pepper chopped finely, 1 teaspoon of vinegar and one bunch of scallions chopped finely.

To serve: Heat a tortilla on a skillet till it puffs up. Spread either the guacamole or yogurt cream, place some of the beef, and fold in half and top with cheese and lettuce.

Yogurt cream: Just a substitute for sour cream. Hang yogurt in a muslin cloth or line a handled sieve with a paper towel and hang over a deep bowl. Keep this in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours or even over night and you will get thick creamy yogurt. Add 1 crushed garlic, a bit of salt and 1/2 tsp olive oil for a yummy spread.

Guacamole:
One ripe avocado, mashed
1 tbsp Lime juice
3-4 green chilies or 1 jalapeno
1 small Red onion, finely chopped
1 Tomato, chopped
1/2 cup Fresh cilantro, washed and coarsely chopped
Sea salt
The avocado is ripe when it is dark and soft to press. Mash the whole avocado into a bowl with a fork . Take 3-4 green chilies or jalapeno peppers, 1/2 tsp of salt and 2 cloves of garlic. In a mortar, crush this with a pestle or heavy stone till it is all mixed in. The sea salt helps in crushing it finely. Scrape this mix into a bowl, and add the rest of the ingredients and taste. You may want to add more lime juice or salt or adjust the amount of tomato, onion, etc.
Once you do this once, you will be able to change the taste to your liking.. less spicy, more sour, no onions, ..whatever.
If you add some of the yogurt cream to this, it becomes a dip for the tortilla chips.

The Great White Bread...

2009-02-25T07:29:00.012-05:00

I always get enticed by stories where the main protagonists live right next to the best bakery in the neighborhood and take a daily walk... hear the birds chirping and see the early morning rays pierce thru the sleepy trees, smell the dew on the grass, feel the misty light swirling around.. to reach the bakery and exchange a few words with the baker while choosing the bread of the day.. It's the grown up equivalent of the old Enid Blyton charm of tea sandwiches and lemonade.

After coming here, I was bread heaven.. I would go to the supermarket and stand stupefied in the bread aisle..yes, there is an entire aisle dedicated to bread!!! trying to decide which bread to be carried back home..but finally over time, I realised they were all prepacked mass manufactured ones which I got bored soon of.

In between I tried my hand at the home baked bread too....There is something irresistible about the smell of baking bread..the slightly yeasty, toasty smell that envelops the whole house...they were good but not that good to write about. My folks visited us for the first time in US and my mom and I spent our time making all kinds of bread. Then for a while, my job and kid took over and I stopped experimenting.

By then, Paneras set up shop and that started the love affair with the Artisan breads, the whole wheat baguettes, sourdough bread, the cinnamon raisin bread, the roasted garlic, the olive bread, sun dried tomato bread...needless to say I spent a lot of time and money there for some time. That's how my family got hooked on paninis (a fancy grilled cheese sandwich with lots of stuffing) and french toast with leftover bread.

Then came the no-knead bread revolution, where you could artisan breads (the kind of bread with the crusty exterior and the spongy yummy interior), without getting your hands dirty nor using up too much effort. That bread demystified the whole bread shop and made the stuffy, snobbish sounding "artisan" bread to just a loaf of bread which gets a special treatment to generate the chewy crust. So that bread, along with the five minute bread, all of which I shall write about later, became staples...

BUT.. there was still something wrong.. as anyone with kids knows, unless the kids like it, there is no point in making something again and again...and the Artisan breads were too hard for my kids, so again I was searching..for a simple loaf this time.
Also, my mom is again visiting (though on the other coast of US)and she asked for a white bread recipe to use up the extra yeast. Now the Internet is filled with artisan and fancy breads of all kinds but I couldn't find a simple white bread.
Going back to my old copy of "Bread", a book that was neglected in all this hi-fi baking, I got a white bread recipe..and it was so easy!! Knead once, let it rise, punch down and shape into baking pan, let it rise and then bake.

Anyway, to stop my rambling, here is my first white bread.. It may not perfect and the shape is a little flat as I didn't have the correct loaf pan..(but as my DH says, this can be the reason to buy the loaf pan now.) Is it economical to make your bread? I don't know about that.. but it sure tastes good. I just need to figure out how to store it without the moisture coming in it. Any suggestions for that?
I am not an expert in this, but this recipe seems to be fool proof as I saw it in two different books. Also the temperature distribution in electric and gas ovens will be a little different so the first time may not be perfect. Will keep you updated with my adventures. Do try and if I can I will resolve issues with your results.

You Will Need:
This dough makes 2 loafs so either half the ingredients accordingly or freeze the dough and use it later for the second loaf.
Warm water-1/4 cup (2 fl oz)
Warm Whole Milk- 2cups(16 fl oz)
Active Dry Yeast-4 teaspoons
Sugar-2 tablespoons or honey plus one pinch of sugar.
Unsalted Butter-2 tablespoon, melted
Bread Flour- 6 to 6 1/4 cup plus extra as needed
Canola oil for greasing

Preparation:
In a bowl, combine the water and the 1/4 of the milk. Sprinkle the yeast and the pinch of sugar over the liquid and stir to dissolve. Let it stand till foamy, about 10 minutes.

...Most bread recipes call for two risings. Although a time frame is given, it cannot be precise and depends on the temperature of the room and other factors....

In a food processor or in a bowl, combine the remaining milk, sugar, salt and 1/3 of the flour. Whisk or beat till creamy and then add the yeast mix and slowly add the remaining flour one cup at a time so that it all mixes well without any lumps. Keep mixing till the dough pulls away form the bowl side in the food processor.

...To test if the dough has risen enough, press 2 fingers into it. If the indentations remain, the dough is ready to be shaped and left to rise a second time....

Mix with the back of a spoon and knead by hand if you are not using the food processor. The dough should be smooth and elastic. Just like you make a chapathi/puri or batura dough, except that this will be slightly softer. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and turn the dough to coat it lightly with the oil in the bowl.Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a lid and let it rise at room temperature for 1 1/2 hrs.

Lightly grease a 9X5 inch loaf pan. Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly floured board/mixing plate and divide in half. Pat it into a rectangle and fold it like an envelope. Roll up the dough tightly into a thick log and roll it back and forth with your hands till it is the same length as the loaf pan.

... To test its readiness after a second rising, press against it with a finger tip.If the imprint remains and the dough holds its shapes, its ready to be baked.....

Pinch the ends and the long seam to seal and place the loaf in the pan , with the seam side down..All this is done just to get a neat rectangular shape so do it any way you like it. Cover loosely again and let it rise for another hour, till the dough has risen one inch over the rim of the loaf pan.Preheat the oven to 375 F(190 C). Bake on the middle rack till the loaf is golden brown and pulls away from the sides, about 40 minutes. Turn out onto a wired rack and let it cook completely. Store in a cool, dark place.

Guess The Indian Name...

2009-02-18T19:05:00.008-05:00

Does anyone need to be told that whole grains are better for you?
Growing up, rice was mostly par boiled or rose matta rice, both of which are highly nutritious and chapathis/rotis were made with whole grain wheat.(The wheat was bought, washed, dried in the sun and taken to the mill to be converted to the Whole wheat flour!!) There was hardly any bread and pasta and noodles and cereal etc.

But now it's not so easy to make every choice whole grain and healthy. I kind of(yeah, let me see if I can do it) resolved to increase the whole grain intake in my family this year. Not very easy coz all the Kerala Breakfast items, puttu, vellappam, pathiri,etc( which are mostly made of white rice) show up as dinner in my house. So every meal, whether it's breakfast, lunch or dinner should try to inject whole grains in it if it can be done.
So got curious by this article in NY Times.NY Times Dining section is a good time pass on Wednesdays mornings with tea. This week's issue is out to promote whole grains for breakfast.. in rebellion to the sugar laden cereal and donuts as options. Read this article, Whole Grain Breakfasts. You might recognize a couple of options that you are already familiar with. But can you guess what this recipe for Coconut Oat Pilaf closely resembles and if you had to give it an Indian name, what would you call it?

Update 2/20/09
Most of you guessed it correctly..Oats Upma!! When I first saw it, the recipe looked glamorous and exotic but reading into it, realized that it's just UPMA!! Our staple is going mainstream.

Soy Cutlets...

2009-02-12T12:21:00.003-05:00

Last week, I opened my pantry and it seemed to have a taken a life of its own, growing and reproducing more than I actually stored in it. For every box that I take out, two more fall out from behind it. However organized the pantry is, after the kids ransack through it and I shove stuff into it, during instant clean ups, it gets messy soon enough.
Every 2-3 months, I have to reorganize and take stock of the endless grocery outings. I am sure all of you have had this experience at least once. So I set out to clean it and guess what I found? Amongst all the spice jars and sauces and powders, there was a packet of Nutrela Soy Chunks that I had bought in the hope and dream of feeding my family healthy food. Once I followed a Sanjeev Kapoor recipe of soaking the soy in milk and making a subji with it, but that turned out to be too sweet. Unfortunately, soy was a failure as a stir fry, as a subji, as a curry and now it lay neglected and unwanted in the corner.

Soy is the poor man's meat..it looks like meat( vegetarians will disagree!!)though it doesn't taste anywhere near meat!!So I minced it and treated it exactly the way I cook with minced meat..sauteed with onions and spices and then mixed with potatoes..viola.. there you have it..soy cutlets...other than the slight taste of soy, the cutlet sensation took over and the chewy granules makes it taste just like meat cutlets.

Vegetarians may wonder why the emphasis on meat cutlets, given that they may like the taste of soy as is, but meat lovers will understand the point. If I made it into a tikki, it just tastes weird and chewy. Getting a meat loving household to try anything remotely soy and healthy is a challenge and when they like it, it is worth blogging. Try it and let me know if it passed in your house or not.

You will need: To make 10-12 cutlets

Nutrela Soy chunks- 1 cup
White Potato-3 medium sized
Onions- 2 medium sized ones
Green chilies- 8
Roasted Coriander Powder- 1 tsp
Turmeric- A pinch
Ginger-garlic paste-1 1/2 tsp
Black pepper- 2 tsp
Biryani Masala/Garam masala- ½ tsp (optional)
Lemon juice- 2 tsp.
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves- 1 cup chopped finely
Canola Oil- ½ cup
Egg –1
Bread crumbs- 1 cup
Preparation:
1. Soak the soy chunks in warm water for half hour and then squeeze out every ounce of water from it. Mince the soy chunks in a mixer/food processor without water.
Chop the onions, garlic and chilies finely and put in a shallow pan, with 1 or 2 tbsp oil. Let it saute for 5 minutes and then add the minced granules, turmeric,and coriander powder. Keep stirring to prevent any particles from sticking to the pan. 2. After 10 minutes, take the mixture off the flame and add the lemon juice, garam masala and pepper.
3. Meanwhile, wash each of the potatoes, wipe them dry and cover with plastic wrap. Place them in the microwave and adjust the setting for the baked potatoes. All the potatoes can be cooked at the same time. Alternatively, the washed potatoes can be pressure cooked with ½ cup water for a single whistle.
4. Peel the potatoes and mash them with your hands/potato masher or the back of a spoon. There should be no lumps.
5. Add the soy mixture to the potato, and add the chopped coriander leaves and salt. Mix and taste and add more salt or lemon juice if needed.
6. Make lemon sized balls of the mixture and shape it into an oval or round shape.
Beat the egg (Use just the egg whites) with a pinch of salt. Keep a plate with bread crumbs also ready.
7. Dip each oval ball into the egg and then into the bread crumbs. Give it a final shaping.
8. Heat little oil (should cover the cutlets only half way) in a pan and shallow fry the cutlets till brown on either side. Serve with ketchup/chutney.

Chicken Soup and Frozen Herbs...

2009-02-08T14:14:00.007-05:00

Herbs are the most expensive item as per the quantity, in my grocery list at least and I can only keep them alive for 10 days (maximum!!) before they lose their flavor. So I end up buying the cilantro-mint-curry leaves weekly while the other non-desi herbs are relegated to be the dried variety. Then last summer I had a small container herb garden and just loved the flavor of the fresh herbs...all became my best friends.....with such pretty names, how can you ask them not to... for anything, I would just hop out and get a sprig or two...oregano in kebabs(yeah, they taste great) and fresh basil in pasta sauce, thyme in grilled meats and potatoes...Rosemary and I don't get along so well so didn't invite her to my container party.

Then the winter set in and my herbs were freezing so I brought them in..I don't have a sunroom or a really sunny ledge so had to place them in the side tables in the living room next to the window...The next day there was dirt and a worm crawling out ..eeek.. squeamish me, banished them to the cold, apologizing and promising to revive them in the summer.

Then a month back, Matt of Daregal Gourmet offered to send me samples of a new product they were marketing...frozen herbs. The idea was so quirky that I had to try it out.
Usually during my supermarket stroll, something new finds it way into my cart..some end up in the cabinet, only to be thrown out, still unused after months, some become the new staple. But this one was interesting as they claimed that the herbs are cut at their peak, chopped, and quickly frozen.

They arrived packed in a box so huge that I forgot all about the go -ahead I had given to the herb people and opened it quickly...much too quickly to read the "Danger-Dry Ice- Do not touch with bare hands"...argh!!

Eight containers of herbs ..was a pleasant surprise. I had expected just one or two...Oregano, Cilantro, Parsley, Original Blend, Dill, Italian Blend, Basil, Grilling blend... each box had a particular herb or herb blend, chopped fine. On opening, they looked a funny shade of green, like someone had gathered the grass with the frost off my front lawn. But they smelled good, just like the herbs, so I hesitatingly tried them in some of my cooking. It took me a week before I gathered the courage to use it. All you do is keep them frozen until you're ready to use a particular herb, give the container a quick shake to loosen, and shake out on any dish you are making.

My uses:
I used the herbs to season and marinate chicken for grilling. The chicken marinated in a blend of the oregano along with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika came out very nice and the leftovers can be used for other chicken stirfries or wraps.
The grilling blend works very well with fish to get a good combination of herbs in a hurry. I grill salmon and flounder often for the kids and the light parsley-butter-garlic-pepper is what they prefer so this is easy to use for that.

The Italian blend, Parsley and Basil, I used in pastas and pasta sauce and tasted good.
The Dill was particularly good in soups as shown below.

In general, the herbs work well in cooking uses and it smells really nice. They dissolve very fast but I didn't like the wet feel and taste when used directly on salads as garnish. The cilantro was the weakest herb as cilantro by itself is so delicate that I feel freezing damages its crisp taste. So, for our curries garnish, I still prefer the fresh cilantro.

They are expensive but not too much.. almost the same as the dried herbs. Compared to the amount I buy and have to discard, it's cheaper in the long run. If you do a lot of non-Indian cooking, grilling etc, then these herbs are a handy tool to have. You don't have to buy a lot for the tiny bit that you need for each dish and throw the rest away. They fit well in the freezer door too, so storing space is not a problem. All in all, I feel these frozen herbs are an improvement over the dried ones, though I do have to use them more to conclude fully.

All American Chicken Soup
This is a light soup that really is a kid favorite...they like the soup from restaurants and cans(disgusting over salty things!!urgh!!)so this is one soup that I resist adding my touch and make it as it is. You probably see this recipe everywhere in books and shows. The ingredients when bought are too much in quantity, so sometimes I chop it up and store it in the freezer in soup combination.

You Will Need:for 4 servings
Chicken pieces with bones-1 pound
Garlic-6 cloves
Onion-1 1/2 medium sized ones cut into 1/6ths.
Carrots-3 long ones, peeled and cut into big chunks
Parsnips-1/2 (optional)
Celery- 2-3 stalks ends trimmed and cut into 1" lengths.
Water-4 cups water
Dill- 1 tsp
Whole Peppercorns-1/2 tsp
Salt- 1/4 tsp or as per taste.
Preparation:
Remove any fat from the chicken and wash it well. It's better to keep it as big pieces for ease of removing the bones later.
Put the chicken and all the ingredients except for salt in a large heavy stock pot( open pressure cooker will do) and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for 30-40 minutes. If there is any impurities, skimming the broth will remove it. Add salt as per taste and adjust the seasoning with fresh parsley, dill and/or black pepper. Remove the chicken meat from the bones and return to the soup. Serve hot with a spot of butter or cream.

Note:
The parsnip and celery together add a sweetness to the soup that didn't appeal to me much, but the kids loved it, so try it either way and modify accordingly.
If you are making a large quantity, there will be fat in it. Skim off the fat by refrigerating the soup and removing the solidified fat.
You could add any kind of noodles (boiled separately) to this soup, but the ones that go best are the egg noodles. We like the wide twisted noodles.

Spicy Modifications:

Add scallions chopped up with ginger for a different twist.
Add 1/2 tsp paprika for a slight spice kick
Shorba style: Omit the dill and parsnip. Add 1/2 tsp garam masala before cooking. Remove the chicken. debone and reserve. Smash up the rest of the veggies and pass the soup thru a strainer to get a semi- clear liquid. Do a seasoning of a pinch of cumin seeds and 1/2 chopped onion to the stock and add the reserved chicken. Add more pepper and indianized soup ready.

Thenga Aracha Meen Curry/ Fish curry with coconut

2009-01-31T10:38:00.010-05:00

A typical scene back home(now seen only during vacation): It's 10.30 am in my house in Kerala and we are chatting around in the kitchen after the breakfast is cleared. The stomach is protesting from the hogging but Mom is already cutting veggies, assigning work to her helper B and discussing what to make for lunch. I just hover around, pretending to help while trying to take furtive notes....mom sometimes adds the magic ingredients when I turn my back....the kids are running underfoot and with their bellies full are for now appeased.

With so many people at home on vacation, food dominates the day. Whether it's my house or my in-laws, it's almost the same scene. "What's for lunch?" "What's for dinner?" is as much a conversation piece as the latest news and movies. Plus the endless cravings will pepper the discussion resulting in a skewed menu, meeting every one's demands.

Once back in the parents house on vacation, isn't it great to take a break from menu planning? No, I am not on vacation now, but was conjuring up home for a write up that Sailaja asked me to do. Once I started, it was like a time machine transporting me back!!

Anyway, to continue, just as we speculate on the itinerary for the day, the fish of the day makes an entrance. Wrapped in a newspaper,(earth friendly packaging, anyone?)placed in a designated fish bag, it seems like it's still alive and flapping. My mom's trusty helper B takes over, gets comfortable in the work area of the kitchen and meticulously cleans the fish, attracting a slew of stray cats, mewing pitifully while patiently waiting for their share. The palm trees are swaying and there is a kind of peaceful swishing all around. The green itself is so soothing!

Meanwhile, mom is busy in the kitchen, extracting tamarind paste, grinding ginger garlic and tossing some onions, green chilies, and spice powders into the clay pot. There is a constant chatter going on, sprinkled with a generous dose of gossip.

The ingredients are all crushed together by hand instead of stirring with a spoon...it blends the flavors, she says. Soon the clay pots are bubbling away on the fire... and B has the fish washed and clean in the work area, ready for the curry. No sign of any yucky stuff now, and the fish/fishes are quickly separated into fry pieces, curry pieces and moliyar/molaku chaar pieces. All the curries are made simultaneously. Small quantities, daily cooking..is the mantra.

When the mix in one claypot boils, the fish is added to it and when the fish is cooked, a fresh ground paste of coconut is added to it. (And if the fish is bad, you will know it the moment the fish hits the bubbling cauldron. It will stink up your kitchen!!)Seasoning is just curry leaves and shallots. That's it. This is in direct contrast with the other fish curries which need slow frying of shallots or roasting the coconut etc.
The other claypot has its own set of ingredients which will become the molaku chaar. And the fish pieces are marinated with chili powder, turmeric, ginger garlic and salt.. sometimes crushed shallots and curry leaves too are added to it.

This coconut based curry is best with the middle pieces of the fish.. the most meaty ones... the yucky parts will hinder the delicate flavor of fresh coconut. The head and tail are more suited to the rustic molaku chaar/ red spicy fish curry. (Once only head and tails were bought from the fishmonger for a much relished Molaku chaar!!!) And every piece is suited for fry but mostly the meaty pieces are reserved for it.

Ah! It's the weekend here so maybe I will replicate the scene in my kitchen. I will imagine the palm fronds and the lush green and try not to see the white blanket outside all around.

You will need:
Any fresh fish-/Porgie/Perch/Red Snapper/Pomapano-6 pieces
Onion(optional)-a very small pieces, sliced
Green chilies- 4
Ginger-1/2 inch
Garlic- 3 clove
Turmeric- 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder-1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds-1 tsp
Coriander powder- 1 tsp
Grated Coconut– 1 cup
Tamarind extract- 2 tsp or as extracted from a lime (small) sized ball.
Salt-1/2 tsp or to taste

Seasoning:
Coconut oil or Canola oil- 2 tbsp
Shallots- 6
Curry leaves- 1 sprig

Preparation:
1. Preparing the Fish: Clean and slice the fish. Wash it and toss with lime juice.
2. Dry Grind the ginger and garlic to a coarse paste.
3. Grind the coconut with the 1/2 cup water till it is a very fine paste. If you are using frozen coconut, make sure it is at room temperature before grinding to avoid clumping. Add water only as needed and not all together. When you think it's done grinding, grind some more to make it superfine. You could use coconut milk as a substitute.
4. Put the sliced onions, green chilies, ginger garlic paste, fenugreek seeds, the red chili powder, turmeric, coriander powder and the tamarind extract into the cooking saute pan or clay pot. If using tamarind extract, add 1 cup water. Crush everything in the pot by hand and mix well.
5. Adjust the sourness and add salt as required. Place this pot with the mix in it on the stove and when it is boiling, slide the fish pieces gently into the pan. Let it cook for 5 minutes without stirring. Add the ground coconut. If the ground coconut is a thick paste, add 1 cup water to it, else omit additional water. The water content is a matter of experience so add water slowly.
Reduce heat to a simmer and cover and let it cook for about 5-8 minutes. Do not stir with a spoon. Just hold the pan on the sides by the mittens and shake the pan to mix well. Remove from flame and keep covered.
6. Seasoning: Heat the coconut oil in a pan and sauté sliced shallots and curry leaves till slightly brown. Pour over the prepared curry. Serve with rice or with triangular paratha.

Beetroot Thoran...

2009-01-22T07:08:00.009-05:00

There is change in the air and a new President here. The inauguration was everywhere...in schools, in offices., in libraries...they were showing it live everywhere and it was exciting to see such an occasion of history being played out in front of us. I watched the inauguration as I used to watch the Republic Day parades as a kid. The pageantry, the ceremonies, the commentary...it was a little too much but it is hard not to get swept into it. The sense of something big, something momentous happening was all around, so much so that I felt I should keep my fingers crossed so that the expectations doesn't end up tripping over itself and falling flat. Time will tell.:)

On another note, here's another thoran/Stirfry to add to the endless thoran list. By now everyone knows what a thoran is...a side dish of steamed/stirfried vegetables with coconut. This one is relatively new in my house. I am not a fan of beetroot..I always end up just tasting the earth/sand in it. Mom used to make very lightly, just steamed with a seasoning of mustard, curry leaves and green chilies, but that didn't work for me for this earthy vegetable. If you like that, great.. healthiest way to eat it. Skip to the comment section straight now.:)
But I adopted the other style of thoran...cooked with a crushed chutney like mix of coconut, chilies and shallots. You could add garlic to this mix too. These flavors dominate the blandness of the beets. The other trick I use is to cut the beets really tiny so they cook fast and the bites are smaller. And if you have the food processor or grater, the beetroot tastes best if it is grated and cooked. If you are using small beets with leaves attached, you could make add the leaves to the thoran as shown here.
Serve with rice . Leave the last spoonful of beets to be mixed in with rice and yogurt and watch as it slowly turns the rice pink in color!!Kids get a kick out of that..pink rice!!

You Will Need:
Beetroot-1 big one.
Green chilies-4
Shallots-1
Coconut-1/2 cup
Curry leaves-one sprig
Mustard-1/2 tsp
Oil-1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Preparation:
Chop the beetroot into very small cubes.. the smaller the better. You could even grate the beets. The one beetroot should yield about 2 cups of chopped beets. Pulse the grated coconut,curry leaves, shallot and green chilies to a coarse mixture without any water.
Heat the oil in a pan to high heat, add the mustard seeds, lower the heat and cover till the mustard stops popping. Add the crushed mixture and saute for a couple of minutes till the raw smell is gone. Add the beets and 2 tbsp of water. Maintain the heat at medium, cover and steam cook for 8-10 minutes. If the beets are grated, they don't require so much time to cook. Add salt to taste and turn off the flame but keep it covered for 2-3 minutes more. If there is still a bite left in the beets when you take it off the stove, don't worry..it will cook further while it is left covered. Serve hot with rice.