Happy New Year 2011 !!!

Wishing you all a very Happy and Yummy New Year 2011...

May this new year bring you lots of happiness and of course lots of newer, tastier dishes as well..:-)

Tomato Dal/Tomato Pappu

Today in the morning I just went into my garden (huh! Its still under debate whether such a small area can be called a gardenJ) and saw ripe tomatoes waiting to be plucked. So with these tomatoes I thought of making my favorite tomato dal. And yes, I was too excited about using my home-grown ingredient in a dish.

Tomato dal is an effortless and appetizing main course dish. This is a very common and basic preparation in Andhra cuisine. The combination of tomatoes and dal gives a wonderful flavor to the dish. When you are in a dilemma about making curries, this is an easy dish to fall back. This dish, with a dollop of ghee in hot rice along with avakkai pickle makes a lip smacking combination.

Ingredients:

1. Toor dal- 1cup
2. Tomatoes- 2nos
3. Onion- 1no
4. Green Chilies- 2nos
5. Turmeric powder- 2tsp
6. Red chilly powder- 1tsp
7. Oil- 1tbsp
8. Mustard seeds- 1tsp
9. Curry leaves- few
10. Salt- as per taste

Method:

1. Pressure cook the dal, tomatoes, onion and green chilies until the dal turns soft and mash slightly.
2. Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves. Remove from flame then add turmeric and red chilly powder.
3. Pour this to the dal mixture and add salt and stir well .
4. This can be served with rice and roti.

Sardines with crushed coconut/Meen pattichathu

This is yet another traditional Kerala delicacy, usually prepared using small backwater fishes (anchovy etc ). Traditionally these dishes are made in a clay pot (mannchatti) , to bring out the special taste which is inherent with anything cooked in clay pot and ideally in traditional choolah.

 In this recipe, I am using sardines since it is not easy to get real fresh backwater fish where I am living. Also, the ingredients are mixed with hand to get the optimum gelling of all flavors.

Ingredients:

1. Fish (Small Sardines)-  1/2kg
2. Coconut (grated)- 1cup
3. Ginger- 1” piece
4. Green Chilies- 3nos
5. Shallots- 6nos
6. Curry Leaves- few
7. Salt- as per taste
8. Oil-2tbsp
9. Mustard seeds- 1tsp
10. Turmeric powder- 1tsp
11. Kokum (Kudampuli)- 2nos(you can also use tamarind)

Method:

1. Mix grated coconut, green chilies, shallots, ginger, curry leaves and salt with hand.
2. Add kudampuli and fish to the above mixture.
3. Add a little water, just enough for the fish to get cooked.
4. Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds and add the above fish mixture into it and just mix it lightly.
5. Cover the pan. After 5-10 minutes, remove from flame.
6. There should not be any water left, by the time the fish is finally cooked and ready.

Congratulations Pankaj Bhadouria - India's First Master Chef

A very stiff competition and finally a very deserving result. Congratulations Pankaj and Jaya for making it to the grand finale and Pankaj for winning the final crown of India's first master chef.

Both of you are going to be a very inspiring story for anyone who is dreaming to make it big. You guys did it with so much of patience and perseverence. Hats off Pankaj and Jaya !!!

Chocó Banana Terrine

This recipe is very delicious and nutritious. This is another simple recipe made with chocolate and requires very few ingredients. Please bear with me for the look of the dessert in the photo. This one was taken out of the refrigerator a little too soon since we wanted to serve it for our guests.

Ingredients:

1. Small bananas – Ripe - 5nos
2. Cream – 1cup
3. Dark or milk chocolate(chopped)- 500gms

Method:

1. Place cling film inside a loaf pan (terrine)
2. Add the chopped bananas in the pan.
3. Boil the cream in a pan and add chocolate to the cream and stir until it melts and turns smooth.
4. Pour this mixture over the bananas. Cool this and refrigerate until set.
5. Lift the choco banana terrine from the loaf pan using the cling film.
6. Remove film and serve. Garnish with nuts.
7. This dessert tastes great when served with vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate Truffles

A big bar of Cadburys was lying in my fridge for a while and I thought of making something different with that. But WHAT? I was just flipping the pages of my diary and stumbled on this recipe. I always love recipes with chocolate due to my inherent craving for chocolates J

I had only heard about truffles and this is the first time I was attempting this recipe and was skeptical about how it is going to come out. But my effort didn’t go waste as these truffles came out perfectly well and tasted heavenly. This is so simple to make and that too with very minimal ingredients.

Chocolate truffles are said to be the queen of all French chocolates. They are delicate and melt in your mouth. I have coated these truffles with cocoa powder. You can also use icing sugar, coconut powder, nuts, etc.

Ingredients:

1. Dark chocolate- 1/2kg
2. Fresh cream-  250ml
3. Melted butter- 75gms
4. Cocoa powder- 250gms

Method:

1. Put the chocolate pieces into a bowl and place it in a tray of boiling water (double boiler). Stir continuously.
2. Boil the cream and pour it on the melted chocolate. Mix well and add melted butter. Stir till it is blended well.
3. This mix is called GANACHE.
4. Cover and place in refrigerator until it turns firm. It could take several hours or even overnight.
5. Remove the truffle mixture from fridge and with hands or with a small spoon, shape the chocolate mixture into any desired shape and keep it in fridge  for 20-25 minutes to harden and set in their shapes.
6. Roll the truffles in cocoa powder and place on a baking sheet.
7. These truffles can be stored in cool room temperature in an air tight container.

Onion Pakoda

It was one of the wintery evenings when the thought of these steaming pakodas hit my mind. I just jumped on it to prepare since the ingredients are all very simple.

This is served along with tea or coffee.I am sure you will really enjoy this crunchy crispy pakoda. This pakoda can be made with any thing like cauliflower, cabbage,....

Ingredients:

1. Onions(sliced)- 2nos
2. Besan flour/gram flour- 1cup
3. Ginger and garlic paste- 1tsp
4. Green chillies(chopped)- 2nos
5. Red chilli powder- 1tsp
6. Baking powder- 1/4tsp
7. Salt- as per taste
8. Water- as required
9. Oil- deep frying 

Method:

1. Take all the ingredients except oil in a bowl and mix well with hands to make a batter. Avoid using excess water.
2. In a deep skillet, pour oil for deep frying and drop small portions of the batter in oil and fry till the pakodas turn golden brown.
3. Can be served with the ketchup of your choice or just as is.

Simple Vanilla cake

Its Christmas Season !!! and I thought of baking this easy and simple cake. I tried this for the first time when I bought my new microwave oven and it came out reasonably well. I know plum cakes are the season's favorite, but this vanilla cake was really my baby step in cake making.

Vanilla cake is a very popular cake. Even though egg is not added this cake is soft and fluffy.

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour- 120gms
2. Vanilla essence- 1tsp
3. Butter- 40gms
4. Baking powder- 1tsp
5. Milkmaid- 130gms
6. Milk- 1/4cup
7. Baking soda- 1/4tsp

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C
2. Sieve the flour, baking powder and soda in a bowl.
3. Beat butter, vanilla essence and milkmaid well. Add the flour and beat well.
4. Add milk and mix.
5. Grease the baking bowl and pour the cake batter into it.Pat the bowl containing batter so that the batter settles well inside the bowl and becomes free of air particles inside the batter.
6. Bake the cake in pre heated oven for 30 minutes.The baking may take less or more time and hence be watchful.
7. Once the cooking is done, allow the cake to cool completely.
8. Decorate the cake as you wish. Garnishing with whipping cream, icing sugar etc. goes well with the texture of this cake.

Egg Curry

There are different styles of making egg curry. This doesnot take much time to prepare. This egg curry  is simplest egg dish and very easy to make. I make this dish for breakfast along with appam, chapathi, idiappam,...

Ingredients:

1. Eggs(hard boiled)- 2nos
2. Onions(chopped)- 1no
3. Ginger paste- 2tsp
4. Garlic paste- 2tsp
5. Red chilli powder- 2tsp
6. Coriander powder- 1tsp
7. Turmeric powder- 1/2tsp
8. Garam masala powder- 1/2tsp
9. Oil- 1tbsp
10. Curry leaves- few
11. Mustard seeds- 1/2tsp

Method:

1. Heat oil in a kadai and splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves. Now fry onions till slightly brown colour.
2. Add ginger garlic paste, add the powders and mix well till the oil begins to seperate from the masala.
3. Now add 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil on medium flame. Stir in between.
4. Half slit the boiled eggs vertically and add to the gravy.Cook for 10 minutes on low flame till the gravy is thickened and blended well.
5. Turn off the fire and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with desired breakfast.

Vazhakka thoran/Raw banana with grated coconut

Banana plant or plantain is found in large quantity in the backyard of most of the houses. Every part of the plant, the fruit, flower and the inner stem are edible and is consumed in a variety of recipes especially in south indian cuisine. The leaf is sometimes also used to wrap the food in to add flavour and are used as plates while serving south indian thali or during sadhya.

Raw banana thoran is a delectable vegetable preparation with chopped raw bananas and coconut. This is an easy to make side dish which takes only 10 minutes to prepare.

Ingredients:

1. Raw banana- 2nos
2. Water- as required
3. Coconut(grated)- 1cup
4. Green chillies- 3nos
5. Cumin seeds- 1/2tsp
6. Garlic- 2cloves
7. Turmeric powder- 1/2tsp
8. Oil- 1tbsp
9. Curry leaves- few
10. Mustard seeds- 1/2tsp
11. Salt- as per taste

Method:

1. Peel the bananas, cut into small pieces and wash them properly.
2. Take a pan and put the sliced bananas, turmeric powder, salt and water as required and cook it.
3. Grind coconut, green chillies, cumin seeds and garlic coarsely.
4. Add this to the cooked bananas and mix it properly and saute for 2 minutes on low flame.
5. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When it splutters add curry leaves and pour this to the cooked banana mixture and mix till it blends well.
6. Serve warm with rice.

Prawns fry

To me, this is by far the easiest and quickest way to prepare prawns.There are so many different ways to prepare prawns, no matter which method you use, the dish with prawns is always delicious. This goes well along with rice and can also be used as a starter. This is one of my favourite dish (as with any other prawns preparation) :-)

Ingredients:

1. Tiger Prawns- 10-12nos
2. Ginger garlic paste- 1tbsp
3. Chilli powder- 1tbsp
4. Pepper powder- 1tsp
5. Coriander powder- 1tsp
6. Turmeric powder- 1tsp
7. Salt- as per taste
8. Lemon juice- 2tsp
9. Oil- 2tsp and for frying.

Method:

1. Clean the prawns and set aside.
2. Mix all the ingredients and make a paste. Marinate prawns with this paste and keep aside for 1hr.
3. Heat oil in a kadai and deep fry the marinated prawns for 6-7 minutes.
4. Drain it on absorbent paper.

Rice Sev

There are so many names for this snack, but I call this as "rice sev".This is the first time I am trying this snack which is a crispy and easy to make snack on any occasion. My mom used to make this one when she gets free time or when my brothers come home for vacation. This can be made with besan(bengal gram dal powder) alone.

Ingredients:

1. Rice flour- 2cups
2. Besan/gram flour- 1/2cup
3. Asafoetida- 1/4tsp
4. Butter- 1tbsp
5. Salt- as per taste
6. Water- as needed
7. Oil- for deep frying

Method:

1. Mix rice flour, gram flour, asafoetida, butter and salt in a bowl.
2. Combine all the ingredients with enough water and mix to form a soft dough.
3. Heat oil in a kadai.
4. Place the dough in a sev mould, press and squeeze by hand through the sev into hot oil.
5. Repeat this process till all the dough is finished.
6. Deep fry rice sev on medium heat until it is light brown in colour.
7. Drain on absorbent paper.
8. Cool and store in an air tight container.

Van Payar Curry/Black Eyed Beans Curry

"Van payar", also known as black eyed beans, red cow beans and rose moong dal, is very rich in proteins. This can be prepared easily without adding any coconut, so its healthy without any compromise on the taste.This is yet another recipe from my MIL's cook books, but my Mom also makes in the same way. So whenever my MIL prepares some dish, it reminds me of my Mom.

Ingredients:

1. Vanpayar/black eyed beans- 1cup
2. Onions(chopped)- 2nos
3. Green chillies(slit)- 3nos
4. Water- 2cups
5. Red chilli powder(kashmiri)- 21/2tbsp
6. Coriander powder- 2tbsp
7. Turmeric powder- 1tsp
8. Tamarind juice-1/2cup
9. Mustard seeds-1tsp
10. Curry leaves- few
11. Oil- 2tbsp
12. Salt- as per taste

Method:

1. Soak vanpayar (beans) for 1hr and cook it in pressure cooker with enough water,till soft.
2. Heat oil in a kadai, splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves.
3. Add onions and green chillies and saute well till golden brown.
4. Now add red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well till the raw smell of the powders are gone. Now pour the tamarind juice and mix well.
5. At last add the cooked beans. Do not add water as the cooked water will be there and let it boil for some time till less water is remaining.
6. This can be served with rice.

Raw Mango Chutney/Pacha Manga Chammanthi

Chammanthi (chutney) is a very simple and common preparation in Kerala, especially used to complement the other main course curries. This chutney along with hot rice in itself is a great treat for my taste buds :-).
Chammanthi is the malayalam equivalent for chutney.
Chutney tends to be little liquid, whereas chammanthi is a dry coarse paste. This can always make for a different taste to accompany your other regular curries. To make a good mango chutney, the mangoes used must be raw and sour.The more the sour the best.
You must be wondering how I managed to get mangoes in winter. Well, we get it here in some super markets, though a touch expensive.

Ingredients:

1. Raw mango(peeled and chopped)- 1/2 cup
2. Shallots- 3nos
3. Green chillies- 3nos
4. Grated coconut- 1cup
5. Salt- as per taste

Method:

1. Grind all the ingredients in aspice grinder to form a thick and smooth paste.
2. Serve hot with rice.

Note:

1. Adjust the ratio of coconut according to the sourness of mangoes.
2. If the mangoes are not sour then add little lemon juice or little tamarind.

Mutton Curry

This is an excellent mutton curry recipe from my mother-in-law's kittie. This can be served with rice, chapathis, parathas, etc. My MIL uses perfect blend of spices and she is just a perfect cook. Whenever they visit us, she cooks perfect kerala style recipes. This is made in pressure cooker so that the mutton becomes really tender and juicy.

Ingredients:

1. Mutton- 1/2kg
2. Onions(sliced)-2nos
3. Shallots(sliced)- 9-10nos
4. Ginger paste- 2tbsp
5. garlic paste-2tbsp
6. Salt- As per taste
7. Red Chilli powder- 3tbsp
8. Coriander powder- 4tbsp
9. Turmeric powder- 1tsp
10. Garam masala powder-1tbsp
11. Water- 1/2cup
12. Oil- 3tbsp

Method:

1. Wash and drain mutton.
2. Heat oil in pressure cooker and saute onions and shallots till golden brown.
3. Now add ginger paste, garlic paste, curry leaves and salt and mix well.
4. When it is blended well add chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and garam masala powder.
5. Finally, add drained mutton pieces and add water. Half cup of water should be enough because while cooking mutton pieces, water would drain further from the meat.
6. Cook until the curry turns into a semi thick gravy.

Aloo Gobi Masala

As my Husband needs chappathis for dinner,  daily I have to think of making different curries. Since the curry made for rice is not suitable for chappathis,  I was searching one of my recipe diaries and I got this dish which I wanted to give a try. The main vegetable required in this gravy is cauliflower, which my Husband doesn't like at all ( btw, there are so many vegetables which he doesn't like and I love all the vegetables). So I thought of adding potatoes so that he can also enjoy the gravy. When I served this curry along with chappathi, he tasted the cauliflower and I ended up making extra chappathis for him:-). This one is quite easy to make.

Ingredients:

1. Cauliflower- 1/2kg
2. Potatoes(peeled and disced)- 2nos
3. Oil- 3tbsp
4. Mustard Seeds- 2tsp
5. Ginger(grated)- 2tbsp
6. Onions(chopped)- 2nos
7. Tomatoes- 2nos
8. Turmeric powder- 1/2tsp
9. Red Chilli powder- 1tbsp
10. Coriander powder- 1tbsp
11. Garam Masala- 1/2tsp
12. Asofoetida- 1/2tsp
13. Curd- 3tbsp
14. Green chillies(slit lengthwise)- 3nos
15. salt- as per tate
16. Water- 1cup

Method:

1. Cut the cauliflower into medium pieces and wash in warm turmeric water. Drain it and keep aside for 
2. sometime.
3. Grind the tomatoes to paste.
4. Heat 2tbsp oil in a kadai and fry drained cauliflower lightly and keep aside.
5. In the same kadai, pour 1tbsp oil add mustard seeds, when they splutter fry grated ginger along with chopped onions and salt till golden brown.
6. Now add tomato paste and green chillies and mix well.Add curd little by little.
7. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder and asofoetida then stir well.
8. At last add fried cauliflower, potatoes and water. Cook on mediun heat till it is well blended and all the 
9. water is dried up. Mix in between.
10. Now this is ready to serve along with chappathis.

Double Ka Meeta

Somewhere down my memory, I have a flash of this recipe. I always  wanted to try this out, but I was not sure how the final product will be. At last I took the decision of trying this dish with the help from my mom. And the final product was ....awesome.

Double ka meeta is a popular dessert in Hyderabad cuisine. It is similar to "shahi tukda" which is more rich and heavier kind of this dish. This dish is served in weddings and parties as dessert. I remember  as a kid, I used to finish my dessert first and then fight with my brothers for more..:-)

Ingredients:

1. Bread- 1loaf
2. Ghee- 250gms
3. Cardamom (powdered)- 5nos
4. Milk- 1/2ltr
5. Sugar- 1/2cup
6. water-1/2cup
7. Saffron threads- a pinch
8. Cashewnuts (chopped)- 100gms
9. Almonds (chopped)- 100gms
10. Pistachios (chopped)- 100gms

Method:

1. Fry cashews, pistachios and almonds in ghee.
2. Remove the edges of the bread and cut diagonally into two and leave it open for 2hrs and get rid of the moisture. Fry the slices in ghee till golden brown.
3. Make sugar syrup by adding water to sugar,  add cardamom  powder and saffron threads to this. Boil it for 15 minutes.
4. Boil 1/2 ltr milk and let it cook till it has reduced to half its original quantity.
5. Now arrange the fried bread pieces on a flat tray. Now gently pour the prepared sugar syrup and the reduced milk on to it.Garnish with fried nuts on top.
6. Keep the dish aside for 2-3 hours, until it has completly cooled down and the bread has almost absorbed all the milk. Refrigerate it for a while and serve it chilled.
7. It can be served warm or some prefer it chilled, it is up to ones own liking. 

Red Cabbage Thoran

Cabbage thoran is a dry dish,which is made of cabbage and grated coconut. It is an important ingredient of the kerala "sadhya"(feast). I have made this thoran many times, but first time with red cabbage.

This is a common vegetable which is generally found in the market. This time I thought of trying this and bought one. On cooking, red cabbage will normally turn blue. To retain the red colour, you should add vinegar or acidic fruit. Without knowing that, I prepared this thoran, but after some reading I came to know about the trick of adding vinegar.

Ingredients: 

1. Red Cabbage(shredded)-1/2
2. Onions- 1 nos
3. Green Chillies- 2-3 nos
4. salt- to taste
5. Oil- 2 tbsp
6. Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
7. Coconut (grated)- 1/2 cup
8. Curry leaves-few

Method:

1. Chop onions and greenchillies and mix it along with cabbage.
2. Heat oil in a non stick kadai. Add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the finely shredded cabbage mixture and curry leaves.
3. Add salt and mix well. Cover with a lid and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. Do not add water while cooking cabbage, otherwise it will become soggy.
4. Now add grated coconut. Mix well and cook again without lid for 6-8 minutes till dry. Serve with rice.

Karimeen Pollichathu / Baked Pearl Spot fish

Karimeen(Pearl spot) is a fish which is available in large quantities all over kerala especially in kerala backwaters. Kerala cuisine is diverse and this is a signature dish of Kerala.

In my childhood, we didnt get to eat this fish a lot, because in some places where we stayed this fish was not available. So my uncle who was having fish export business used to send us pearl spot and tiger prawns in bulk. My mom used to make varities of recipes with this. From then on we will be having a feast, until everything is finished.

It was a rainy sunday when I thought of making this dish, but to my dismay, I did not have "banana leaf" to bake the fish. And I owe this dish to my H who got me banana leaf  from a far off market amidst the drizzling. This dish goes well with any kind of Pulav/Fried rice or even as a side dish to a regular meal. So, lets get to the recipe now. We enjoyed this dish along with the colorful carrot pulav.

Ingredients:

1. Karimeen (pearl spot fish)- 2nos
2. Onions- 2nos
3. Red chilli flakes-1tbsp
4. Ginger (chopped)- 2tbsp
5. Garlic(chopped)- 2tbsp
6. Turmeric powder-1tsp
7. Kudampuli(Kokum)/ Tamarind- 1no
8. Pepper powder-1tsp
9. Salt- as per taste
10. Mustard seeds- 2tsp
11. Coconut Oil- 3tbsp
12. Banana leaves- 3nos. Cut into pieces large enough to wrap a whole fish

Method:

1. Wash and clean fish, then deep slits should be made on either side of the fish to ensure that the masala enters inside the fish while cooking.
2. Soak kudampuli in warm water for some time and extract the juice.
3. Heat 2tbsp of oil in a frying pan.
4. Add mustard seeds, when they splutter add onions and saute till they are transparent.
5. Now add chopped ginger and chopped garlic, mix well. 
6. In this add red chilli flakes, turmeric powder, pepper powder and salt.
7. At last add the juice of kudampuli and mix well.
8. Remove from flame and keep aside till it attains room temparature.
9. Apply this evenly on the slitted fish.
10. Run the banana leaves over the flame to make them pliable.
11. Apply a little oil on banana leaves with muslin cloth.
12. Wrap each fish individually in the banana leaves and tie with a thread, so that the masala doesn't come out.
13. Roast on a shallow pan or griddle for 2 to 5 minutes flipping over at equal intervals.
14. Alternatively you can steam the wrapped fish in a steamer for 6 to 8 minutes.
15. Transfer to a serving dish and enjoy.

Chicken Dum Biryani

Bakrid or Id-ul-Zuha is one of the most celebrated festivals among Muslims all over the world. It is a festival of great rejoice and of sacrifice, celebrated with traditional fervour and gaiety in India.

This year is the most happiest Bakrid for me, as my parents went for Hajj and my in-laws are with us to celebrate this festival.

Since I always cook my usual biryani recipe on all such occassions, I wanted to try out something different this time around. While I was searching for recipes, I bumped into this chicken biryani recipe in one of my cookery books called "Pachakam". This recipe is originally from Samvrutha Sunil, listed in the cookbook as one of her favorite biryani recipes.

Ingredients:

for Rice:

1. Basmathi rice- 4 cups
2. Ghee- 4 tbsp
3. Onions(sliced)- 2 nos
4. Water- 41/2 cups
5. Cashewnuts- 25 gms
6. Raisins- 25 gms
7. Cinnamon- 2 nos
8. Cloves- 4 nos
9. Cardamoms- 3 nos
10. Salt- as per taste

for Masala:

1. Chicken pieces- 1 kg
2. Ghee- 2 tbsp
3. Oil- 2 tbsp
4. Onions(sliced)- 3 nos
5. Tomatoes(sliced)- 3 nos
6. Green Chillies- 4/5 nos
7. Ginger(crushed)- 2 tbsp
8. Garlic(chopped)- 2 tbsp
9. Cinnamon- 2 nos
10. Cloves- 4 nos
11. Coriander Leaves(chopped)- 1/4 cup
12. Mint Leaves(chopped)- 1/4 cup
13. Coriander Powder- 1 tsp
14. Pepper Powder- 1tsp
15. Fennel Seeds-1/2 tsp
16. Salt- as per taste

Method for Rice:

1. Wash rice several times and drain it.
2. Now add little more ghee and fry onions until golden and keep them in a bowl.This is used at last.
3. Keep a pressure cooker and pour remaining ghee. when it is hot add cloves, cinnamon and cardamoms along with drained rice. 
4. Fry for 3 min.
5. Add water and pressure cook for upto 4 whistles.

Method for Seasoning:

1. In a non-stick pan, add little ghee and fry the cashews until golden colour.
2. Remove them and drain on kitchen towel.
3. In the same ghee, fry the raisins until they puff up and mix them along with cashews.

Method for Chicken Masala:

1. Wash chicken and place it in a colander to drain of all water.
2. Grind the masala ingredients (6-15 in the table above) to a paste.
3. Heat a large pan and add oil + ghee.
4. Saute onions. When the onion turns golden brown, add tomatoes and fry well.
5. At this point, add the ground paste (step 2 above) and mix well.
6. Now add the drained chicken pieces along with salt and mix futher. Place the lid and let it cook well.
7. Do not add water to chicken since there will be lots of water draining from the meat.
8. After the chicken is cooked, there will be a little bit of water left. Do not drain it.

Now for layering,

1. Divide the rice in three parts and masala into two parts.
2. Take a large heavy base vessel and rub it with oil or ghee. Layer the bottom of the vessel with first part of rice.
3. Spread the first part of chicken masala on top of the rice layer.
4. Repeat this layering for all portions of masala and rice.
5. Finally, pour the water ( which is left while cooking chicken) on top of the layered biryani.
6. At the end of layering, sprinkle the fried onions and dum it with a wet cloth or with dough and place the lid.
7. Place some sort of heavy object (i use my marble mortar) on top of the lid so that the steam and thus the aroma stays inside the vessel.
8. Heat a tawa and place this large vessel on the tawa and cook on low heat for 15-20 mins.
9. Now the biryani is ready to be served.

Bhindi/Vendakka/Okra/Ladies finger fry

On a lazy day, I was in no mood to cook. But had to prepare lunch, so I thought of making an easy dish and selected this one.

Ladies finger (Okra) is very rich in nutrional content and is said to help in weight loss.

And the most interesting part is that my husband doesn't like Okra. In fact, he doesn't like most of the vegetables, so I have to innovate new vegetable dishes. It is a very simple recipe and pairs well with rice.

  Ingredients:

1. Okra(ladies finger)- 1/4kg
2. Small Onions- 9nos
3. Curry Leaves- few
4. Salt- as per taste
5. Mustard Seeds- 1/2tsp
6. Red Chilly Powder- 2tsp
7. Oil- 2tsp

 Method:

1. Clean ladies finger, cut both ends and slice them into tiny rings.
2. Take a non-stick pan and pour the oil. Add mustard seeds and allow to splutter.
3. Add finely cut ladies finger, onions and curry leaves with salt.
4. Mix well. Cover the pan cook and stir in between.
5. When ladies finger turns tender,  remove the lid and saute until the ladies finger turns crispy.
6. Now it attains a dark brown colour.
7. Switch off the flame now, add the red chilly powder and mix well.
8. Serve with rice.

  Tip:

      Do not add water to okra.Do not stir often as this breaks the okra and it tends to get sticky

3 Min Mug Cake

After the hangover of festivals,am going to introduce my first recipe, which is simple and sweet. To mark the "shubh aaramb" of my blog, I made a sweet dish :-) , which is easy to make.This will be liked by all, mostly kids. My daughter just loves it.


I think many of you might know about this cake, but i just want to share my experience. I came to know about this from my younger brother and I was always been very fond of cakes. I did some googling and finally I got this mix. I have tried this recipe several times and it came out well.

So here is the recipe,

 Ingredients:

1. All purpose Flour/Maida- 4tbsp
2. Sugar- 4tbs
3. Milk- 3tbsp
4. Oil- 3tbsp
5. Cocoa pdr-2tbsp
6. Vanilla Essence- 1/2tsp
7. Egg- 1
8. Microwave Mug- 1

Method:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a cup.
2. Add egg and mix well without forming any lumps.
3. Now add oil, milk and vanilla essence.
4. Add chocolate chips if you like.
5. Place your mug in microwave and cook for 3min at 1000 watts.
6. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but dont be alarmed.
7. Let it cool a little and the cake is ready to be served.