Mutton Peralan / Mutton in dry gravy

Mutton peralan is a dry side dish. Peralan is a famous Kerala preparation, which can be made easily without any hard work.  This is best served hot with practically everything including rice, appam, puttu, idiappam etc. It stays fresh forever and seems to get tastier as you heat it each time.

Ingredients:

1. Mutton- ½ kg
2. Onions (sliced)- 2nos
3. Green chillies (slitted)- 4nos
4. Ginger paste- 1tbsp
5. Garlic paste- 1tbsp
6. Curry leaves- few
7. Red chilli powder- 2tsp
8. Coriander powder- 1tsp
9. Turmeric powder- ½ tsp
10. Garam masala powder- 1tsp
11. Salt- as per taste
12. Oil- 2tbsp
13. Water- ½ cup

Method:

1. Pour oil in pressure cooker and saute onions, green chillies, curry leaves, ginger and garlic paste well.
2. Add the red chilli powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder. Mix well in between otherwise the powders will stick to the bottom of the cooker.
3. Add the cleaned and washed mutton pieces and salt. Stir fry for few minutes.
4. Add water and close the cooker and pressure cook the mutton till done. Remove from fire.
5. When it is cooled open the cooker and add the garam masala powder  and saute well till no water is left and till the gravy becomes dry.
6. Transfer to a serving dish.

I am sending this to Kerala Kitchen an event hosted by Ria.

Dondakaya pachadi / Ivy gourd / Tindora chutney

Ivy gourd in any form, I love it.This chutney I tasted when I was in school. My friends used to bring this for lunch and we used to share our food. I loved this a lot and told my mom to make this the next day. My mom who only makes Kerala dishes didnt know what I was talking about (that was the first time she heard about that). She called her Andhra-ite friend and made this for my lunch. Now also whenever I feel a bit lazy I make this chutney, as this is very easy to make. I love this chutney a lot.

Ingredients:

1. Ivy gourd / Tindora- 250gms
2. Tamarind- Small piece
3. Onions- 1no
4. Green chillies- 3nos
5. Salt- to taste
6. Oil- 1tbsp

Method:

1. Clean and cut tindora to small pieces.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Add the cut tindora pieces, roughly chopped onions, chopped green chillies, tamarind and salt.
3. Fry for some time till the tindora pieces become soft. Cool it and grind it coarsely.
4. Enjoy this with hot rice and ghee.

Orange and ginger Juice

You might have noticed that till now I haven’t posted any juice recipes in my blog. That's because we usually don't make juice at home. We use the canned fruit crush to prepare the juice. This time I thought of trying some new juice recipes, just for my blog :-)
I have bought lemon ginger concentrate several times and we all like it. So I thought of trying the same with slight modifications in house. Thats how I decided to make orange ginger combination and it tasted really good. But only thing we have to take care is that after squeezing the orange we must serve it immediately, otherwise the juice will become bitter. So its better to make it when you want it.

 

Ingredients:

1. Oranges- 4nos
2. Ginger (grated)- 1tbsp
3. Sugar- depends upon how sweet the orange is / you can add honey.

Method:

1. Grated ginger is mashed in a mortar and press with your fingers to extract juice. Keep it in a small bowl.
2. Cut the orange into half, remove the seeds and squeeze it by hand. It is best to use an electric juicer, as you will get more juice but make sure that the seeds are removed completely.
3. Pour this orange juice into a serving glass, add 1tsp of ginger extract and add sugar as required and serve.

I am sending this to Juice recipes hosted by Sameena.

Fish Cutlets

These cutlets can be prepared easily and it is very delicious. This can be served as an appetizer or as a tea time snack. Fish, as you all know is rich in nutrition, and these cutlets can be used as a nutrition carrier for the kids.
My mom used to make veg cutlets often, but once I insisted her to try making fish cutlets. She was not confident of how they will turn as she had never tried them before. I told her whatever she make we are there to eat, so she gave it a try and made small quantity of this cutlets.
Result : we fought for it till the last cutlet was eaten.
Usually I wont get time to make these dishes when my little one is around. So I made this when she slept in the afternoon one day and as usual she got up asking “Did you make samosa?”
For her, Samosa is the only snack in the world and every snack is a Samosa :-)

Ingredients:

1. Fish (Seer / King fish) - ½ kg
2. Onions (chopped)- 2nos
3. Garlic- 4-5cloves
4. Green chillies (chopped)- 3nos
5. Ginger (grated)- 1tbsp
6. Coriander leaves (chopped)- 2tbsp
7. Besan / Gram flour - 2 / 3 tbsp
8. Salt- to taste
9. Water- little, just to mix everything
10. Rava / Bread crumbs- 1cup (I used rava)
11. Oil- for frying

Method:

1. Steam the fish by keeping it on a pan of hot water. Remove the bones and gently mash it with hands and keep aside.
2. Take the ingredients from 2 to 9 in a bowl and mix well along with mashed fish in a bowl.
3. Make small round balls and flatten the ball slightly.
4. Take Rava in a pan and dip both sides of the cutlets in Rava.
5. Heat oil in pan and shallow fry these cutlets till done.
6. Serve hot along with tomato sauce.

I am sending this to Kerala Kitchen hosted by Ria,  Dish name starts with F event hosted by akila and Any one can cook series by Ayeesha

Mutta Theeyal / Egg in roasted coconut curry

There are so many varieties of theeyals made in kerala. Theeyal is a gravy made with roasted coconut and spices. This tastes heavenly, though a bit high in oil content. I made this theeyal with egg which is a preferred dish among us.
Theeyal can be prepared with shallots, brinjal, bitter gourd, ladies finger, prawns and so on. There are different versions made in different parts of Kerala. In this recipe, the egg is split, but not stirred till it is cooked.This is an excellent combination with hot rice. Here is how I prepared this dish.

Ingredients:

1. Eggs- 4nos
2. Coconut (grated) - 1cup
3. Kashmiri chilli powder- 2tbsp
4. Coriander powder- 2tbsp
5. Turmeric powder- 1tsp
6. Fennel seeds- 1tsp
7. Onions- 1no
8. Green chillies- 2nos
9. curry leaves- few
10. Mustard seeds- 1tsp
11. Oil- 1tbsp
12. Salt- as per taste

Method:

1. Roast the coconut along with fennel seeds and when it is brown in colour add the chilli powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder. Stir well till the raw smell disappears.
2. Cool the above coconut mixture and grind it to a fine paste with enough water.
3. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, curry leaves. When it splutters add the chopped onions and green chillies.
4. When it is light brown in colour add the coconut paste with required amount of water. When it boils, break and add the eggs slowly. Egg should be added very slowly so that the egg yolk does not break and mix with the gravy.
5. Let the curry cook for 10-15 mins without stirring. By this time, the eggs should be cooked.

I am sending this to Kerala kitchen hosted by Ria.

Chocos Cookie Biscuits

Its Valentines day and I decided to bake some cookies to bring in the V-day. I wanted to try my own version of baking and ended up with these yummy cookie biscuits. I am happy that it was an instant hit in my house. Valentines day is time to be passionate about chocolates and so I decided to make this choco based cookies.
I shaped the cookies with my newly bought cookie cutter and was able to get some cute shapes as well. This is the first “V” Day since I started this blog and I thought of celebrating it with a new recipe :-)
So, here you go ...

Heart shaped cookies before baking

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour / Maida- 150gms
2. Butter- 50gms
3. Milkmaid- ½ can
4. Kellogg's Chocos- 1cup (crushed coarsely)
5. Baking Powder- a pinch
6. Cocoa powder- 1tbsp
7. Drinking Chocolate powder- 2tbsp

Method:

1. Sift all purpose flour , baking powder, cocoa powder and drinking chocolate powder in a bowl.
2. Pour melted butter and milkmaid in a bowl and mix it with a hand blender smoothly till fluffy.
3. Add the crushed chocos to the butter mixture and mix well.
4. Into this, add the sifted flour mixture and mix with hand till it forms a smooth dough just like chapathi dough.
5. Divide the dough into 2 equal parts and roll it in the form of chapathis and cut desired shape with a cookie cutter.
6. Pre heat the oven to 180 deg C and bake the cookie biscuits for 10-12 minutes.
7. Cool these cookie biscuits and store it in an air tight container.

Cookie biscuits after baking

I decorated these with coloured vermicelli, jelly roses and chuckles.

Chili con Carne / Chili Pepper with Meat

Chili con Carne is a traditional meal of Latin America, with red beans and small pieces of meat. I have made it in Indian style as we wont get most of the ingredients in India.

I learnt this recipe from my bro who is a perfect cook in these type of dishes. He made this dish one day when we were at his house and it was during hot summer afternoon, the dish was really spicy that my husband was sweating all along while eating this. But the taste was yummy. This time I thought of preparing this recipe as I never made it and it came out perfect. But this time I made it less spicy for my Husband :-)

Ingredients:

1. Pasta(Spagetti)-  500gms
2. Minced Mutton / Kheema- 250gms
3. Kidney beans / Rajma- 1cup
4. Green chillies- 3-4nos (as per your spice level)
5. Tomatoes- 3nos
6. Potatoes- 1nos
7. Carrot- 1nos
8. Green peas- 1cup
9. Cumin powder- 1tsp
10. Salt- as per taste
11. Onions- 1no
12. Ginger- 1tbsp
13. Garlic- 1tbsp
14. Coriander powder- 1tbsp
15. Red chilly powder- 2tbsp
16. Turmeric powder- 1tsp
17. Garam masala powder- 2tsp
18. Olive oil- 1tbsp

Method:

1. Cook the pasta, drain it and keep it aside.
2. Take minced meat, chopped onions, ginger- garlic paste, chopped green chillies, Coriander powder, red chilly powder, turmeric powder and little salt in a pressure cooker and cook till the meat is cooked well.
3. Soak kidney beans for 3-4 hrs and then cook in cooker till soft.
4. Cook carrots, potatoes and green peas well.
5. Keep the tomatoes in boiled water for 5 minutes and close with lid. Take out the tomatoes peel the skin and remove the seeds and puree the tomatoes.
6. Now heat a pan add oil, when it is hot add the cooked meat mixture, kidney beans and vegetables and mix well.
7. Add the tomato puree,cumin powder and required amount of salt to the above mixture and stir well. Cook till all the water gets evaporated.The gravy must be thick.
8. Top the pasta with the above made chili con carne and serve.

Note:

1. It can be served with tacos, bread, tortilla chips and also rice.
2. We can also add sweet corn, capsicum along with vegetables.