Chef Pillai's Coconut Milk Prawns Fry (Venad Paal Konch)

Last week I was  going through my instagram feeds and I stumbled upon Chef Pillai's Prawns fry recipe. This is also called as "Venad Paal Knoch". I love all his recipes and the way he explains his recipes are so amazing and crisp and clear. As we all love prawns in our house, I thought of trying this dish as soon as he posted it. The next day I tried and it was a huge hit in my house.

I know that it’s been a month since I posted a recipe, am so sorry. I am becoming very lazy or it might be because of my busy schedule but I will make sure that I will try to post once in a week. But Please try this dish as it is a guaranteed delicious which any seafood lover will love. 

This is a perfect dish/ appetizer for gatherings. The prawns that is fried in coconut milk is an absolutely dish to try for. I never fried prawns in coconut milk, but I know that when coconut milk is reduced it tastes yumm.. 

Today I am here with the recipe which will be a super hit among friends and family. The ingredients for this recipe is easily available in your pantry. Any variety of prawns can be used for this recipe. This dish is filled with flavors with basic spices. Here in US we always get frozen prawns but once in a while we get the best fresh prawns and this tastes amazing with fresh prawns. Hope you will try and please let me know.

Ingredients:

1. Prawns- 15- 20 numbers
2. Red Chili Flakes- 2 tbsp
3. Pepper Powder- 1/2 tbsp
4. Turmeric Powder- 1 tsp
5. Salt- 1 tbsp
6. Crushed Garlic- 8-10 cloves
7. Crushed Ginger- 1 "
8. Green Chillies- 3 numbers
9. Coconut Milk- 1/2 Cup

Method:

1. Devein and clean the prawns and marinate with salt, pepper, red chili flakes and turmeric powder.
2. Heat a pan with 1 tbsp of oil and spread the marinated prawns and let it cook on both the sides for about 5 minutes. 
3. Pour the coconut milk little by little till it gets over and spread the  crushed garlic, ginger and green chillies.
4. Stir well till everything gets well mixed and the mixture becomes dry. Serve this prawns fry along with hot steaming rice.

One Pot Mushroom Stroganoff

Mushrooms are a staple in our house. I try different varieties of dishes using mushrooms and one day when I was going through some instagram posts, I came upon my favorite chef "Healthy Living James"page and he posted a new recipe using mushrooms. The name looked familiar, stroganoff. I had chicken stroganoff before, but this one using mushrooms was new to me. The ingredients are also so easily available in our pantry and so I tried making it the same day. It came out perfect and super delicious. We had it along with brown rice for lunch and along with quinoa for dinner.

This one pot dish will be liked by all. This dish only requires minimum ingredients and is not at all time consuming. The mushroom gives a meaty texture, coconut milk gives a creamy flavor to the dish.

Coming to my favorite chef, James, who is a qualified health coach, with a healthy living. His recipes are so easy, simple, quick and healthy dishes. I have tried many of his recipes, one of recipes from his blog that I have posted was Quinoa and Potato cakes. A beautiful blog with amazing recipes. Hope you all will try this mushroom stroganoff . If you tried, please let me know how it turned.

Inspired From Gluten Free Mushroom Stroganoff:
Ingredients:

1. Mushrooms- 10-15 ( roughly chopped)
2. Onions- 2 (chopped)
3. Garlic- 1 tbsp
4. CoconutMilk- 1 Cup
5. Dijon Mustard- 1tsp
6. Red Chili powder- 1 tbsp
7. Lemon Juice- 1 tbsp
8. Olive Oil- 2 tbsp
9. Salt- as required

Method:

1. Heat oil, add the minced garlic, onions. When they turn translucent add the chopped mushrooms and stir till they turn soft.
2. Add the coconut milk, mustard paste, red chili powder along with salt. Add the lemon juice and let it cook for almost 10 minutes.
3. When done garnish with some cilantro or parsley and enjoy.

Kerala Egg Roast using Coconut Milk/ Nadan Mutta Roast

Kerala egg roast is the popular and a delicious gravy which we can have with almost all the breakfast items. An easy and a tasty dish which can be prepared within no time.
Hard-boiled eggs simmered in the coconut milk along with onion- tomato gravy which is well blended with all the spices. A perfect side dish for appams, idiyappams, puttu and also with vegetable pulav and rotis.

In almost all the Kerala household, this dish is prepared in their own different ways. My mom and MIL make their own version, without adding coconut milk, which I posted long time back. I have added coconut milk to reduce the spice level of red chili powder. Coconut milk gives a unique taste and also enhances the flavors. Here in this recipe, I have used the coconut milk powder. If you don't want the eggs, just skip them and add your choice of vegetables and enjoy.

Ingredients:

1. Eggs- 5 nos
2. Onions (sliced)- 2 nos
3. Tomatoes( sliced)- 1 no
4. Green Chillies(slit)- 3 nos
5. Ginger and Garlic Paste- 1 tbsp
6. Red Chilli Powder- 2 tbsp
7. Coriander powder- 1 tbsp
8. Turmeric Powder- 1/2 tbsp
9. Garam Masala- 1tsp
10. Coconut Milk- 1 Cup
11. Oil- 1 Tsp
12. Mustard Seeds- 1 tsp
13. Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp
14. Curry Leaves- few
15. Salt- as required

Method:

1. Hard boil the eggs till done, de-shell them and keep this aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and curry leaves.
3. Saute the onions until translucent, add the sliced tomatoes, ginger- garlic paste, and green chilies. Stir till it turns mushy.
4. Once they turn soft, add all the powders, mix until the raw smell of the powders disappears.
5. Add the coconut milk to the above masala along with required amount of salt. Mix it well.
6. Add the prepared hard boiled eggs in the above-made gravy and let it cook for 5-8 minutes. Once the gravy thickens and has the desired consistency, switch off the flame and enjoy this delicacy along with idiyappams, chapatis or appams.

Kerala Style Chicken Vegetable Stew

My post of Kerala style chicken vegetable stew has been updated in Lubna’s blog kitchen flavors and this is the 10th year since I have become a member of Joy from Fasting to Feasting- X. I am really delighted to be a part of Ramadhan special, which she conducts every year without fail.

This time I have posted about my all time favorite side dish along with appam, idiyappam, puttu and so on. This we can prepare without vegetables also, but as my daughter likes vegetables along with chicken, I combined both. You can see the recipe in Lubna’s wonderful blog. Hope you all will like it.

Bittergourd in Coconut milk Gravy/ Pavakka Paal Curry

I know that many of us don’t like the bitter gourd in any form. But the dish which I am going to introduce you will make you love bitter gourd and will not say no to this any longer.

I like bitter gourd fry/ mezhukuparati as my mom make it very delicious. I like to have it along with rasam. There are 2 varieties of bitter gourds. Dark green color and white color bitter gourds. The white color bitter gourds, which is available in abundance in Kerala are not at all bitter. But the dark green coloured ones are more bitter and to reduce the bitterness different methods are used like adding salt to the chopped bitter gourd pieces and keep it for some time after that squeeze out the pieces, the other method is to add tamarind extract while cooking, then the last method which I know is by adding yogurt to the sliced bitter gourd pieces and after sometime squeeze out and use. This method is what I used here as we won’t get the white colored bitter gourds here. Through these techniques, we can reduce the bitterness and this healthy, nutritious, fiber-rich vegetable can be used.

In this recipe, the coconut milk is very well blended with the spices and the crispy fried bitter gourd gives an appetizing flavor. I got the recipe from here. From the time I started preparing this dish, it has become one of our favorites and so I made this ‘n’ number of times. Here is the recipe for mouthwatering, easy, simple and not so time-consuming dish. Hope you all like this.

Ingredients:

1. Bitter gourd- 2 nos
2. Yogurt- 1tbsp
3. Salt- as required
4. Red Chilli Powder- 1tsp
5. Oil- 2 tbsp
6. Mustard Seeds- 1 tsp
7. Onions (sliced)-1 no
8. Green chilies- 2 nos
9. Tomatoes (sliced)- 1 no
10. Curry Leaves- few
11. Turmeric Powder- 1tsp
12. Red Chilli Powder- 1tsp
13. Thin Coconut milk- 1 Cup
14. Thick Coconut Milk- ¼ Cup

Method:

1. Take out the milk by grinding the grated coconut along with 1/4 cup of warm water. This is first milk or thick milk. Again pour 1 cup of warm water and grind to take out second milk or thin milk. Keep this aside.
2. Cut the bitter gourd into thin slices. In a bowl, add yogurt, red chili powder, turmeric powder and salt along with the sliced bitter gourd pieces. Keep this for 10- 15 minutes. Heat oil and fry the marinated bitter gourd pieces till golden brown and crispy. Drain this on a kitchen towel.
3. In the same oil, splutter mustard seeds. Add the sliced onions along with curry leaves, slitted green chilies and required amount of salt.
4. When the onions turn translucent add the sliced tomatoes and stir. Add the turmeric powder and red chili powder. When they turn mushy and the oil separates add the thin coconut milk.
5. Mix well, adjust the salt and add the crispy fried bitter gourd slices. Close with a lid and let this boil for about 3 minutes.
6. Switch off the flame and add the thick coconut milk and give it a nice stir. Serve along with steaming hot rice.

Paalaada/ Soft Rice Crepes with Kerala Chicken Stew

Paalaada is one of the specialty dishes of Kerala. This is one of the softest crepes, which is as thin as a paper and just melts in your mouth. This is very simple and easy to make that requires no fermentation,  like dosa or appam.

My mom used to make these but instead of rice, she uses maida. In a WhatsApp group, one of my friend’s mentioned about this and so I got the recipe from her and here it is today in my blog. A perfect breakfast on a weekend, so that everyone can enjoy it with each bite. You can have these for dinner as well as when guests are at your place. You can have this paalaada along with any spicy curry/ stew. I made the chicken stew to go along with this paalaada, which is our all time favorite.

My mom’s chicken stew is to die for. Thin and thick coconut milk is added to chunks of chicken and potato pieces which is seasoned with spices. A perfect delicacy with appams, idiyappam and so on. Everybody has their own version of this stew. This is a very popular traditional breakfast dish and a much favored one. We can add our choice of veggies to this chicken stew.

Ingredients:

For Paalaada

1. Rice- 2 cups
2. Water- 1 cup
3. Eggs- 2 nos
4. Coconut Milk- 1 ½  cup (thick)
5. Salt- to taste

Method

1. Soak the rice for at least 3 hours.Grind the rice into a fine paste with water as needed. Do not exceed the total quantity of water mentioned in the recipe.
2. Add eggs and coconut milk to the mixer and blend everything together. Add any remaining water to the batter.
3. The consistency that you need is really very watery.Add Salt as needed. Your batter is now ready to be prepared.
4. Heat a  skillet at slightly higher than medium flame.When the skillet is hot, pour a ladleful of batter (a little less than 1/4 cup) into the skillet and immediately rotate the ladle to spread the batter.
5. Wait for 30-40 seconds until the sides of the paalaada start to come off the pan. Paalaada is now ready to be folded into any shape you need.

Chicken Stew:

Ingredients:

1. Chicken- 250 gms
2. Potatoes- 2 nos
3. Ginger (crushed)- 1 tbsp
4. Garlic (crushed)- 1 tbsp
5. Oil- 1 tbsp
6. Cinnamon, Cloves, Cardamom, Star Anise- 1 tsp
7. Curry Leaves- few
8. Whole black Peppers- 1 tbsp
9. Onions- 2 nos
10. Green Chillies (slitted)- 3 nos
11. Coconut Milk- 1 ½ Cups (thin milk)
12. Coconut Milk- ¾ Cup (thick)

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan and saute the cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and star anise for about a minute.
2. Add the whole black peppers, sliced onions, green chillies, and curry leaves. Stir well till it becomes translucent. Add the ginger and garlic, saute till the raw smell disappears.
3. Add the cubed potatoes and chicken. Mix well along with salt. Cook this by adding thin coconut milk on a low flame.
4. When the potatoes and chicken get cooked, add the thick coconut milk and switch off the flame, adjust the salt and enjoy hot, steaming chicken stew with paalada.

Ula’s Palak Paneer using Coconut Milk

Today I am sharing a palak paneer recipe which was prepared by my friend Ula. Ula is my workout buddy who hails from Poland. She told me about this dish she prepared and was curious to know how she would have prepared and here is the recipe she shared. It has all the perfect Indian ingredients except for a bit of improvisation with coconut milk and cayenne pepper instead of the regular chilli powder which I am used to. Way to go Ula !! :-)

Take sometime to marinate the paneer in advance, for the perfect texture and flavor. Serve this paneer gravy over steaming hot rice or naan as desired.

I have made palak tofu recipe before. In this Palak paneer recipe, the spinach is chopped and added not pureed like the regular palak paneer.

Paneer is a mild fresh cheese that’s made by curdling milk with an acid and then pressing the curds. This is rich, creamy and savoury with a hint of tartness.

In this recipe the paneer is well marinated with the spices and fried. The onions are caramelized along with the tomatoes and toasting of the spices, then goes the spinach, coconut milk to round off the edges and ends up by adding the fried paneer pieces, which are well blended together. The result is an intensely flavorful spinach paneer curry to go with roti or rice or pulav.

Ingredients:

1. Paneer (cubed)- 250 gms
2. Palak/ Spinach- a bunch
3. Onions (chopped)- 2 nos
4. Green Chillies- 3 nos
5. Ginger (julienned)- 1 tbsp
6. Garlic(chopped)- 1 tbsp
7. Salt- as required
8. Tomatoes- 3 nos
9. Coconut Milk- 1 cup
10. Garam Masala Powder- 1 tsp
11. Cayenne Pepper Powder/ kashmiri Chilli Powder- 1 tbsp
12. Turmeric Powder- ½ tbsp
13. Oil- 3 tbsp
14. Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp

Method:

1. Chop the onions, tomatoes, green chillies and spinach. Keep these seperately aside.
2. Heat 1 tbsp Of oil in a pan. Meanwhile take the cubed paneer in a bowl and sprinkle some salt, turmeric powder and cayenne pepper powder. Mix well and shallow fry the paneer in the heated oil till light brown in colour. Keep the fried paneer on a kitchen towel.
3. In the same pan heat remaining oil, splutter cumin seeds. Add the chopped onions, green chillies, ginger and garlic.
4. Saute for a while. Add the chopped tomatoes. Mix well.
5. Stir the coconut milk in the above mixture. Add the garam masala powder. Stir till the gravy thickens.
6. Atlast add the fried paneer pieces and switch off the flame. Serve this along with hot steaming rice/ rotis/ naan.

Goan Prawns Curry with Coconut Milk

I am sure that whoever loves seafood will definitely love prawns and you all might know from my previous posts that I am a big fan of prawns. I love to eat prawns in any form. Now my daughter has become a big prawns lover. She is very crazy about prawns. For her I will be trying different varieties of prawn dishes and this is one such which has become one of our favorite comfort meal.

From the regular prawn curry this is something different which will be loved by all and will be a hit among guests.

Instead of adding kokum we can also use tamarind paste or raw mango pieces that are sour. But we Keralites love any seafood dish using kokum, as it contains souring unique smoked flavour that goes along with any seafood dish.

Once I have prepared a Goan fish dish using reshad masala. I loved it and so as I got this recipe, I gave a try. In this the spices  are well blended with the coconut milk makes an excellent combination with prawns. Just try this out and let me know...

Adapted from Flavors of Mumbai:

Ingredients:

1. Onion- ½ no (chopped)
2. Prawns- 250 gms (deveined and cleaned)
3. Oil- 2 tbsp
4. Kokum/ Tamarind paste- 2 tbsp
5. Coconut Milk- 1 Cup
6. Curry Leaves- few
7. Salt- as required

For Paste:

1. Dried Kashmiri Red Chillies- 6- 7nos
2. Coriander Seeds- 1 tbsp
3. Garlic Cloves- 5 nos
4. Ginger- 1” Piece
5. Black Peppers- 2 tbsp
6. Grated Coconut- ¼ Cup
7. Onion- ½ no
8. Water- required to grind

Method:

1. Wash, drain and keep the prawns aside till the gravy is prepared.
2. Meanwhile grind all the ingredients to make a paste and keep this aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan. Add the chopped onions, curry leaves and when they turn translucent add the ground paste, kokum, slitted green chillies and little salt.
4. Mix and then add the drained prawns, cook for 3- 4 min. Add the coconut milk and simmer for 2 min and switch off the flame.
5. Do not boil the curry after adding the coconut milk or else it will curdle.
6. Serve this amazing prawns curry along with hot steaming rice.