Ghee Rice and Kerala Style Mutton Curry ... Eid Mubarak

                                                          

The month long fasting has culminated in the celebration of Eid-ul-Fitr. It is a day which starts with prayer followed by meeting, greeting and gifting kith and kin. For us, it was a family get together along with i-ls :-)

For Eid, we usually will be making biryani, and this time it was my husband who asked me to try something different (no, he is not fed up of my biryanis yet :-) ). So we thought of making ghee rice and accompanied by mutton curry and chicken fry and of course the raita-papad-pickle.

My M-i-l is lead the kerala style mutton curry (she is an expert in this) preparation and I made the ghee rice.

Ghee rice is rice fried in clarified butter along with aromatic spices and then cooked. It is seasoned with fried onions and cashews which in turn makes this dish rich and festive. This is an authentic Malabar delicacy. This is usually served along with chicken curry or mutton curry.

Nadan mutton curry is our all time favorite. A curry which is simmered in the tempting aroma of spices. This is a simple mutton curry but yet very delicious. I hope you will enjoy this.

Ingredients:

1. Jeera Rice- 1Kg (4 Cups)
2. Onions- 1 no
3. Salt- as required
4. Cloves- 3 nos
5. Cinnamon- 2 sticks
6. Cardamom- 2 nos
7. Water- 4 Cups
8. Ghee- 2 tbsp
9. Cashew nuts- a handful

Method:

1. Heat ghee in a pressure cooker. Fry the cashews till light brown colour and keep it aside.
2. In the hot oil add cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and onions and fry till the onions turn translucent. In this add the washed and drained rice and stir for 2-3 minutes.
3. In this add 4 cups of water and pressure cook till the rice is cooked well. (I have pressure cooked for 1 whistle and lowered the flame for 3 minutes).
4. Steaming hot ghee rice is ready.

Nadan Mutton Curry:
Ingredients:

1. Mutton- 1 Kg
2. Red chilli powder- 1 tbsp
3. Garam masala powder- 2 tsp
4. Turmeric powder- 1tsp
5. Salt- as required
6. Button Onions- 250 gms
7. Green Chillies (chopped)- 3 nos
8. Ginger and Garlic paste- 1 tbsp
9. Curry Leaves- few
10. Coriander powder- 2 tbsp
11. Red Chilli powder- 1 tbsp
12. Turmeric powder- 1tsp
13. Garam masala powder- 1 tsp
14. Oil- 2 tbsp
15. salt- as required

Method:

1. Marinate the washed mutton with red chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder and salt. Keep this aside till we prepare the gravy.
2. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add the chopped button onions, Green chillies, ginger and garlic paste and curry leaves. Stir well till the onions become light brown in colour.
3. Meanwhile heat a separate pan and roast the turmeric powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder and chilli powder till the raw smell disappears.
4. Add this powder mix along with the above onion mix and stir well. Add the marinated mutton and required amount of salt and mix well.
5. Close the cooker and keep it in medium heat till the mutton cooks well.

Erachi Pathiri / Chicken Stuffed Rotis

These days I am a little busy with my personal stuff and I know I am not spending too much time at my little space. I really miss my friends, my fellow bloggers comments and their new recipes and so on. I will try my best to keep in touch with you folks.

Holy Ramadan is coming to an end and fasting and feasting for iftar is going in full swing. In between, I have tested and tried many different dishes. Some were tasty and repeated and some weren’t. Today I am going to take you through one of those recipes which worked well for me. I made this for the first time and was successful.

As fasting is going on, by evening I will be excited to prepare some new dish and so I will be searching on the net or calling my mom to help me out. One day I came across this pathiri and I felt this is perfect for Iftar.

There are different varieties of pathiris, which are steamed, pan fried or deep fried. This is a deep fried one. As many of you might be already aware, this dish comes from the Malabar cuisine and their dishes are usually quite rich and flamboyant. This erachi pathiri is a meat stuffed bread, that is deep fried and then roasted in an egg mixture. I didn’t do the roasting part i just finished it with deep frying. This is a very popular Ramadan dish and can also be made for special occasions.

Ingredients:

1. Wheat flour- 2 cups
2. Salt- as per taste
3. Oil- 2 tbsp
4. Water- required to knead

For the filling:

1. Boneless Chicken- 250gms
2. Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
3. Red chilli powder- 2 tsp
4. Salt- as required
5. Onions (chopped)- 2 cups
6. Ginger and garlic paste- 1tbsp
7. Green Chillies (chopped)- 2 nos
8. Red chilli powder- 1 tsp
9. Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
10. Coriander powder- 1 tsp
11. Garam masala powder- 1 tsp

Method:
For the dough:

1. Mix the wheat flour, salt, oil and water well, till it forms a perfect chapathi dough. Keep this aside till we prepare the filling.
2. Pressure cook the boneless chicken along with red chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and little water. Once it is cool, the cooked chicken is grinded in a hand mixer and keep it aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan and fry onions till translucent. Add the ginger and garlic paste, chopped green chillies. When the raw smell disappears, add all the powders, ground chicken and required amount of salt. Mix well till the chicken is coated well with masalas and switch off the flame.

For assembling:

1. Make small balls from the prepared chapathi dough and roll two lemon sized balls in the shape of chapatis.

1. Spread the filling on one rolled out chapathi and over that keep the other rolled chapathi and press the edges using your fingers and roll the edges with fingers to form a nice design and also that the filling won't come out when it is deep fried.

1. Heat some oil in a deep frying pan and fry the above made pathiri till golden brown on both sides. Repeat the process till all the pathiris are made. Serve the hot steaming pathiris as it is.

Stuffed Wheat pancakes / Gothambu Ada

Mom used to serve the hot steaming adas as we (me and my bros) get back home from school. This used to be one of our favorite breakfast/snack item. My Mom makes this often and now I miss this a lot. This is a traditional and popular snack of Kerala. This is usually made with dough made of rice flour, stuffed with coconut and jaggery mixture and steaming them in banana leaf, as it gives a special and unique flavor to the dish.

Being the lazy person I am, I think that making with rice flour is a long process so I made this with wheat flour and roasted them on tawa just like how we make chapatis. This is a perfect dish for iftar as we will be full after eating two adas.

The stuffings can be varied according to one's taste and preference. So, here is the recipe. I hope you will try this mouth watering, easy dish.

Ingredients:

1. Wheat flour- 1 cup
2. Salt- as required
3. water- as required to knead
4. Coconut (scraped)- ½ Cup
5. Jaggery (grated)- ½ cup

Method:

1. Mix the grated jaggery and coconut and keep it aside.
2. Mix wheat flour, salt and water and make a dough. Make lemon sized balls out of the dough.
3. Roll the lemon sized balls in the form of chapati and spread the coconut- jaggery mixture in this and fold the chapati ada into half and seal the edges by making design or with a fork.
4. Heat a dosa pan and add little oil. Place this ada in the pan and let it roast well on both sides.
5. Yummy and delicious ada is ready.