Custard Apple Ice Cream

This is a perfect, scrumptious ice cream recipe which I made for the first time on my own.

Ice cream is a popular dessert which is loved by all irrespective of there age. We all are kids at heart. Ice cream at anytime of the day is a big YES to me :)  So I was really over joyed to see the ice cream post in Nitya’s blog, 4th sense cooking.
I was lucky to be following her blog as there are so many easy recipes and extremely perfect snaps. Each and every recipe in her blog is well explained and its very easy to make too. So when I saw this custard apple ice cream recipe in her blog, I felt happy and I left three custard apples only for this.

I love custard apples a lot, so as soon as I get it from market I usuallyfinish it off immedietly, no matter how many are there. But that day I was really tired of eating those and left the three for later and now it turned out into ice cream.

Here instead of Marie biscuits I have used Oreo biscuits.

Ingredients:

1. Custard apple- 3nos
2. Milk- 1cup
3. Amul Cream- ½ cup
4. Oreo Biscuits- 3nos
5. Peanuts (Roasted and crushed)- a handful
6. Sugar- as per taste

Method:

1. Wash, open and scoop out the flesh of custard apple in a vessel. Squeeze well with hands and then sieve with big holes or pick out the seeds manually. we will get thick pulp of custard apple.
2. Pour the pulp in a mixer jar along with milk, cream and sugar and blend it in smooth paste.
3. Crush the Oreo biscuits and add it in the above mixture.
4. Keep this in a freezer proof bowl allow it to freeze for about 4 - 6 hours.
5. Remove it from freezer and whip the mixture again in mixer jar for few minutes.
6. Keep this in freezer for about 1 hour and repeat the process for two more times in one hour interval each.
7. Place scoops of custard apple ice-cream in serving bowl and sprinkle with roasted peanuts and serve.

Soya chunks - bread fruit cutlets

The other day when I was searching for something in my kitchen, I got a packet of soya chunks which I bought long back and was abandoned in one of the containers.

My mom used to make so many different varieties of dishes with soya chunks but my Husband never liked this (he is more picky than my daughter :-)). So once when I saw this in super market I just picked this pack and there it was lying down in my kitchen as if no body wanted it.

So I thought of making a curry which will taste exactly like chicken when soya chunks are added, but I was not sure whether he will eat it or not after seeing the soya chunks in the curry. Then I got  an idea of making soya cutlets, so that he wont come to know that I have added soya chunks as soya is minced and added in this. I had some left over cooked bread fruit in my refrigerator with which I made breadfruit thoran the previous day. Instead of potatoes I thought of using this bread fruit for binding the cutlets. These came out very well and my Husband didn’t even realize that he was eating soya chunks. He thought that these are bread fruit cutlets and he enjoyed it till the last bite. He was really surprised when I told him the ingredients later. I believe he has now started liking soya :-)

Soya is very nutritious, healthy and rich in proteins, my kid didn’t have any problem in finishing this as she like any type of cutlets and samosas.

Ingredients:

1. Soya Chunks- 250gms
2. Bread fruit (Diced, boiled and mashed)- 1cup
3. Onions (chopped)- 1no
4. Green chillies- 3-4 nos
5. Ginger and garlic paste- 1tbsp
6. Red chilli powder- 1tsp
7. Coriander powder- 2tsp
8. Turmeric powder- ½ tsp
9. Pepper powder- 1tsp
10. Garam masala powder- 1tsp
11. Coriander leaves (chopped)- ½ cup
12. Salt- as required
13. Oil- 1tbsp
14. Bread crumbs- 1cup
15. Egg- 1no

Method:

1. Soak soya chunks in boiled water for 5 minutes and remove and immerse them in cold water. After sometime squeeze out excess water from soya chunks. Mince and keep it aside.
2. In a pan heat oil, add onions, green chillies and ginger and garlic paste. Stir fry them well.
3. Add red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder and salt. Mix well.
4. At last add pepper powder, coriander leaves and mix well. In this add the minced soya chunks and mix well till everything is well blended.
5. Add the boiled and mashed bread fruit to the above and keep it aside to cool.
6. Make them into small balls and flatten them in the shape of cutlets.
7. Dip this in beaten egg, roll in bread crumbs and shallow fry them in oil till golden brown in colour.
8. Serve hot with tomato sauce.

Ethakkaya (Banana) Payasam

Wishing you all belated Happy and Prosperous season of Onam !!!
Onam is a festival of prosperity and cultural unity and is celebrated across the globe. This season is also special for its variety of food which we all cherish for the rest of the year and eagerly wait for the next Onam :-) In Kerala, this season brings in the celebration which lasts for one full week. In spite of all the fast life and rushes, Keralites still make it a point to celebrate Onam wherever they are in the world.

I tasted this payasam for the first time when my Aunt brought this home for Eid and I liked it a lot. I thought of making this on my own for Onam and now I am sharing this recipe with you. This is going to be a treat for all my friends who has a sweet tooth.

For Onam, we had two  types of payasams made at home. My M-I-L made the Cheru Payar Payasam, whose recipe I had already shared with you in my Vishu post.

Ingredients:

1. Ethakkaya / Kerala Banana (cut into small pieces)- 1no
2. Coconut pieces- a handful
3. Coconut Milk (thick)- ½ cup
4. Coconut Milk (thin)- 1cup
5. Jaggery (grated)- ½ cup
6. Ghee / Clarified Butter- 1tbsp
7. Cashew nuts- few
8. Rice Flour- 2tbsp

Method:

1. Add some water to the grated jaggery and heat it on a low flame until it fully melts and then strain and keep it aside.
2. Heat ghee in an Urali or a non stick kadai and fry the coconut pieces and cashew nuts and keep it aside.
3. In the same ghee fry the banana pieces and when it turns light brown in colour add the melted jaggery  and mix well (adjust the sweetness according to your taste).
4. Let the banana pieces cook in this jaggery mixture for some time and add half of the thin coconut milk and let it cook.
5. In the other half thin coconut milk add the rice flour and mix well without any lumps. Add this in the above payasam mixture and put it on low flame till it thickens a little.
6. At this stage we can add little more melted jaggery if needed.
7. At last add the thick coconut milk, stir and switch off the flame.
8. In this sprinkle the fried coconut pieces and cashew nuts and serve hot.

Note:

1. Rice flour is added so as to thicken the payasam.
2. After adding the thick coconut milk do not boil. Just heat that and switch of, otherwise the payasam will curdle.

Thalassery Chicken dum Biryani

Thalassery is a town located in Kannur district on the malabar coast of Kerala. This town has a lot of specialities and is seen as a land of Cricket, Circus, Cakes and more.

Thalassery is very famous for its food cultures and is a paradise of culinary innovations. Thalassery biryani is famous for its distinguishing and delectable taste.

I have heard a lot about this biryani but never got a chance to taste it.The preparation of biryani varies from one place to another. In this Thalassery style, the chicken is fried before adding to the masala. It gets slowly cooked in the masala, blended well with the juices and spices.
This is an exotic dish prepared during special events in northern Kerala.

I saw many cookery shows in which they prepare this and once I was checking my dashboard and found this biryani recipe in Jay’s blog Tasty appetite, which has many wonderful collection of recipes and thought of giving it a try as my husband who is also a great admirer of malabar cuisine, insisted me into this attempt.

So for Eid I prepared this for the first time and now this biryani has become one of the hot favorites among my festival recipes :-)

Ingredients:
For rice:

1. Basmathi rice- 2cups
2. Water- 2 ½ cups
3. Cloves- 4nos
4. Cinnamon- 1 small stick
5. Cardamom- 3nos
6. Bay Leaf- 1no
7. Onions (sliced)- 1no
8. Ghee- 1tbsp
9. oil- 1tbsp

Method:

1. Heat oil and ghee in a heavy bottomed pan. Throw in the whole spices and sliced onions, fry till it turns into golden brown in colour.
2. In this add the washed and soaked rice. Fry for some time. Add water and cook closed till the rice is ¾ th done. Keep it aside.

For Masala:

1. Chicken -1kg
2. Turmeric powder- ½ tsp
3. Chilli powder- 1tsp
4. Lemon juice- 1no
5. Salt- as per required
6. Onions- 3nos
7. Green Chillies- 3nos
8. Ginger and Garlic paste- 1tbsp
9. Tomatoes- 2nos
10. Curd- 1cup
11. Coriander Leaves- ½ cup
12. Mint Leaves- ½ cup
13. Garam Masala powder- 1tsp
14. Salt- as per taste
15. Oil- 1tbsp

Method:

1. Marinate the washed chicken with turmeric powder, chilli powder, lemon juice and salt. Keep this in refrigerator for 3-4 hours.
2. Shallow fry the marinated chicken and keep it aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan. Fry sliced onions till it turns golden brown in colour. In this add the green chillies and ginger and garlic paste and stir well.
4. Grind tomatoes, coriander leaves and mint leaves. Add this to the above onion mixture and stir for some time.
5. Add the garam masala powder, curd and salt and mix well. In this add the fried chicken and mix till all the masala blends well.
6. Cover and cook the chicken for some time till a little gravy is left. At this moment we can add little water if needed (if you feel the masala is dry).

Ingredients for assembling:

1. Onions- 2nos
2. Coriander Leaves (chopped)- ½ cup
3. Saffron- few strands
4. Milk- 2tbsp

Method for assembling:

1. Fry the onions till golden brown and keep it aside.
2. Mix saffron in warm milk and keep it aside.
3. In a heavy bottomed vessel first spread a  little amount of chicken gravy, over that spread the cooked rice.
4. Sprinkle coriander leaves and small amount of saffron milk on top .
5. Repeat the process of layering till the top is covered with cooked rice.
6. Over that sprinkle some fried onions and saffron milk and dum it with wet cloth or with dough and close tightly. Place some sort of heavy object on top of the lid, so that the steam does not escape.
7. Heat a tawa and place the heavy bottomed vessel on the tawa and cook on low heat for 10-15 minutes.
8. Now the biryani is ready to be served with raita, pickle and papad.

I am sending this to Kerala Kitchen an event hosted by Divya Kudua of Easy cooking.

Rabdi / Thick sweet Milk Cream

Wishing you all Eid Mubarak and a very Happy Ganesh Chaturthi ...

This creamy, smooth, thick and chilled dessert is something I always loved. This is a very tasty dessert which can be made using very less ingredients. Just a little time consuming, but the result is definitely worth the effort. We can adjust the sweetness according to the taste.

Once I tried this in a restaurant called   “Mast Kalander”, after a hearty meal, we ordered “Malpua with Rabdi” for dessert. That was the first time I tasted this delicious dish and simply fell in love with this amazing combination.

In my earlier posts I posted the recipe of Malpua and this time I am posting this amazing sweet  to celebrate Eid. This is an amazing combination even with jilebi and gulab jamun. I tried both while the Rabdi was left in my refrigerator. Will post the jilebi recipe very soon.

Rabdi tastes even more wonderful when stored and served in earthern pots.

Ingredients:

1. Milk (Full cream milk)- 1ltr
2. Pistachios- a handful
3. Cardomom powder- 1tsp
4. Sugar (optional)- 2tbsp

Method:

1. In a wide mouthed heavy bottomed non stick pan boil the full cream milk on slow flame.
2. Keep stirring often, a thin layer of malai / cream will form on top surface, keep folding it in and boil till the milk becomes thick and is reduced to one- fourth of its original quantity.
3. Add sugar and cook till the sugar is completely dissolved. It is optional to use sugar. I liked this without sugar.
4. Mix in the cardamom powder and slivered pistachios. remove from heat and let it cool.
5. When it attains room temperature transfer into a small earthen pot (Matki) and refrigerate and serve chilled.