Kilikood/ Birds Nest

Kilikood/ Birds nest is a classic traditional Malabar snack which is very popular and is liked by all. The shape of this kilikood makes it very unique from other snacks. 
A perfect blend of meat, potatoes, and spices, that are shaped and indented, which is later dipped in egg batter and pressed with roasted vermicelli to get the exact shape of birds nest. This requires a lot of patience and time. This is made on special occasions in Kerala.

This is my first attempt and it came out pretty well. I made this for a food fest here in the US, where a bunch of people was organizing a Kerala food fest for the Kerala flood relief. I want to contribute and so myself and my friend decided to make these birds nest, which was a super hit. For the food fest, lots of Malabar dishes were made by different members, which were sold out within minutes.

This birds nest is very different from other Kerala snacks is because of its unique shape. This is also called as Semiya cutlet. My family is big-time fans of this snack. Here we have to use thin vermicelli as the thick ones won't be good. I have made two eggs using rice flour just for the decorations. If making it for home, just omit the rice flour eggs. Hope you all will like and try this out.
Ingredients:

1. Mutton (minced)- 1.5 lbs
2. Red Chilli Powder- 1 tbsp
3. Turmeric Powder- 1 tsp
4. Garam Masala Powder- 1/2 tbsp
5. Ginger- Garlic Paste- 1 tbsp
6. Salt- as required

For the Masala:

1. Onions- 2 nos
2. Green Chillis- 3 nos
3. Ginger- Garlic Paste- 1tbsp
4. Red Chili powder- 1 tbsp
5. Turmeric Powder- 1 Tsp
6. Coriander Powder- 1 tbsp
7. Cumin Powder- 1/2 tbsp
8. Garam Masala Powder- 1 tbsp
9. Boiled Potatoes- 2 nos
10. Salt- as required
11. Egg- 2 nos
12. Roasted Vermicelli- 2 Cups
13. Oil- for frying

Method:

1. Pressure cook the mutton along with all the spices till done.
2. Heat oil in a pan, saute the chopped onions, green chilies till translucent. Add the ginger-garlic paste and fry till the raw smell disappears.
3. Add all the spice powders, mix well. Add the cooked spiced mutton. Stir till everything gets well blended. Switch off the flame. Adjust the salt accordingly.
4. When the masala cools down, add the boiled mashed potatoes. Mix well. Make small round shaped balls and press in the middle, shape it like a birds nest. You can make almost 20- 25 cutlets.
5. Prepare the egg batter by beating the eggs along with salt. Arrange the roasted vermicelli in another bowl.
6. Heat oil for shallow frying the bird's nest.
7. Dip each cutlet in the egg batter and then coat it with roasted vermicelli, drop them in hot oil ( keep the oil on low flame)and fry till done on both the sides. Repeat with all the bird's nest and drain on a kitchen towel. Enjoy them along with tomato sauce or just like that.

For decorating:

• Prepare the rice flour like the pathiri dough . Add cumin seeds in the dough. Make small round balls and place them on the bird's nest. It will look like a birds nest with eggs.

Chicken and Potato Bolani/ Afghan Flat breads along with Carrot Curd and Healthy Mango Milkshake

These days during fasting, I am so much into cooking that I will be searching each and every website or youtube video for a different variety of dishes during iftar. One such recipe is this afghan dish which can be prepared using chicken or with vegetables. But I used both chicken and potatoes to make the filling for bolani, which tasted yumm along with carrot raita.

Bolani is a traditional Afghani flatbread stuffed and baked. Bolani is low in carbohydrates, calories and rich in protein, fiber, and vitamins. We can have a choice of fillings like the chicken, potatoes, spinach and so on. Here I used chicken along with potatoes which were amazingly delectable.

In this the dough is stuffed with chicken- potato filling and then shallow fried to crispy golden brown. In these spring onions are used instead of onions, but I used regular onions. These can be shaped in semi-circle or triangle like I did. These taste good along with curd or any raita. I made carrot raita, which was appetizing.

These bolani, I tasted them for the first time in Costco, where they give samples of food on Saturdays and Sundays. These were so delicious that we ended up buying a couple of packets of bolani. Everybody will like them including the kids. A perfect for guests and during parties. Along with this, I made mango milkshake, in which I added honey instead of sugar which makes it healthy and for a small twist I added cardamom powder, which gave a different and unique taste. Try this out and let me know.

Ingredients:

For dough:

1. All Purpose Flour- 1 Cup
2. Wheat Flour- 1 Cup
3. Salt- as Required
4. Water- for kneading

For Filling:

1. Boneless Chicken- 1 Cup
2. Potatoes- 2 nos
3. Onions- 1 no
4. Garlic Cloves- 3 nos
5. Coriander powder- 1 tsp
6. Turmeric Powder- ½ tsp
7. Pepper Powder- 1 tsp
8. Salt- as required
9. Red Chilli flakes- 1 tsp
10. Coriander Leaves- a bunch

Method:

1. Knead the all-purpose flour, wheat flour and salt using water until the dough forms a ball. The dough should be neither sticky nor dry. Keep this covered with a damp cloth.
2. Boil potatoes and boil chicken. Shred the chicken into small pieces, keep this aside. Mash the boiled potatoes and add this along with the shredded chicken.
3. Add chopped onions, grated garlic, coriander powder, red chili flakes, turmeric powder, pepper powder, salt and chopped coriander leave.
4. Mix well using the hand. Add a little water to make it sticky.
5. Divide the dough into 8- 10 equal balls.
6. Roll the dough into a round disc, scoop 2 tbsp of the chicken- potato filling and spread it on the dough disc leaving the edges.
7. Fold the three sides in the form of a triangle and seal well. Pat well to remove any air pockets. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
8. Heat a pan, smear 1 tbsp of oil and shallow fry on both the sides and enjoy with carrot curd.

Carrot Curd:

1. Carrot- 2 nos
2. Pepper Powder- 1 tsp
3. Salt- as required
4. Beaten Curd- 2 Cups
5. Cumin Powder- 1 tsp
6. Red Chilli Powder- 1 tsp

Method:

• Grate the carrots, add these grated carrots along with cumin powder, red chili powder, pepper powder, salt. Mix these in the beaten curd and serve.

Healthy Mango milkshake:

1. Mangoes- 2 nos
2. Milk- 2 Cups
3. Cardamom Powder- ½ tsp
4. Honey- 4 tbsp

Method:

• Blend everything together in a blender and serve them in big glasses and enjoy.

Easy Potato and Peas Dry curry/ Easy Aloo Matar For Chapatis

This is one of the easiest side dish, which goes along with rotis or pulav. It is optional to add the pav bhaji masala, without that masala also this tastes great. If you have potatoes and green peas in your pantry, then within minutes a tasty dish would be ready.

In this, the cubed potatoes and green peas are cooked along with the spice powders and finished off by adding crushed dried fenugreek leaves which give an amazing flavor to the gravy.

This dish is pretty easy to make and adds a zing to any meal. When potatoes are paired with green peas, it gives an amazing combination, which is liked by all. Try this out and let me know.

Ingredients:

1. Potatoes (cubed)- 2 Cups
2. Peas- 1 Cup
3. Onions (chopped)- 1 cup
4. Green Chillies (slit)- 3 nos
5. Red Chilli Powder- 2 tsp
6. Coriander Powder- 1 tsp
7. Turmeric Powder- 1 tsp
8. Cumin Powder- 1 tsp
9. Pav Bhaji Masala- 1 tbsp (optional)
10. Dried Fenugreek Leaves/ Kasoori Methi- 2 tbsp
11. Oil- 1 tbsp
12. Cumin Seeds- 2 tsp
13. Salt- as required

Method:

1. Heat oil, splutter mustard and cumin seeds. Drop the chopped onions along with green chillies.
2. Saute till the onions turn translucent. Add the red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, salt and cumin powder.
3. Add the cubed potatoes and stir till everything gets well blended. Pour about ½ a cup of water and cook the potatoes by closing with a lid for about 10 minutes.
4. Add the green peas and let this cook for another 5 minutes. Saute well, add the pav bhaji masala, stir.
5. At last after 5 minutes add the dried fenugreek leaves, mix and switch off. Serve with hot chapatis or rotis.

Crispy Baked Garlic and Parmesan French Fries

Crispy fried french fries are everyone's favorite snack. Me and my kids are really big lovers of these french fries, but thinking about calories, not always we can have them.

One evening , when it was raining, I thought about these mouthwatering french fries which we used to have every other day in India and so I got an idea of trying to bake the french fries as oven baked fries are a bit healthier than deep- fried. The oven baked ones are super simple, which has crispy outside and soft inside, without oozing the grease. Instead of becoming soft and soggy, they stay nice and crunchy as they cool off.

To make the fries crispy, just cut them to thin slices, which helps them to cook faster and get that golden brown crisp. While spreading on the parchment paper, make sure that they are not crowded.

We can simply bake these without adding any seasoning, but as my kids like the taste of garlic and parmesan cheese, I have added them. We can also use crushed garlic instead of garlic powder.

This garlic and parmesan is a basic flavor combo. You can also add smoked paprika, pepper and so on. Play with your own flavors and seasoning, you will love it….

Ingredients:

1. Potatoes- 4- 5 nos
2. Garlic powder- 2 tbsp
3. Salt- as required
4. Oregano- 1 tbsp
5. Oil- 1 tbsp
6. Grated Parmesan Cheese- 3 tbsp

Method:

1. Peel, wash and cut the potatoes in the shape of french fries.
2. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
3. In a bowl toss the potato strips with oil, crushed garlic/ garlic powder, salt, oregano, grated parmesan cheese well.
4. Spread them on the lined parchment paper in one layer making sure they aren’t touching each other and bake for about 20- 25 minutes or until golden brown and slightly crisp on the edges. Rotate the pieces halfway through the baking time.
5. Top with some fresh chopped parsley and serve immediately.

Ragda Patties

Different varieties of chaats are available all over India.Chaat is a savory snack that contain four flavors like sour, sweet, spicy and tangy in one plate, which is loved by all.

In my family these chaats have a special place.In India, when we used to roam around, we used to have unlimited pani puri. I ended up having 20- 25 in one go and my daughter’s was the record. She likes these chaats a lot and will eat how much ever is possible.

Today I made ragda patties, which I tasted once and loved the flavors and texture that got blended well with each other.

In this ragda patties the potato patties are topped with dried green peas gravy along with sweet chutney, green chutney , curd, onions and sev. Here I didn’t use green chutney, as my husband is not a big fan of coriander leaves.

In Kerala, chaats are not so famous. They have their own delicacies. Now a days this chaat business is growing up slowly. As I grew up in Andhra, I love all different varieties of food and so chaat is one of them.

After coming here I have started preparing these different variety of chaats at home and enjoying a flavorful, healthy savory. The process of preparing this ragda patties look time consuming, but if you have all the ingredients handy then it is very simple and easy to make.Just try this out and you will come to know how easy it is to prepare them at home.

Ingredients for the Patties:

1. Boiled Potatoes- 3 nos
2. Corn Flour- 3- 4 tbsp
3. Salt- as required
4. Red Chilli Powder- 1 tbsp
5. Oil- for frying

Method for Potato patties:

1. Mash the boiled potatoes, add the corn flour and salt. Mix well. If the mixture looks loose, add little more corn flour and mix.
2. Make medium sized balls, flatten them into round patties. Keep aside.
3. Heat oil in a skillet for shallow frying and fry the above made potato patties till it becomes golden brown in colour and crisp. Remove on a kitchen towel.

Ingredients for Ragda:

1. Dried green Peas- 1 cup
2. Salt- as required
3. Red Chilli Powder- 1 tbsp
4. Turmeric Powder- 1 tsp
5. Asafoetida- a pinch

Method for Ragda:

1. Soak the dried green peas overnight, drain and cook  this dried peas along with turmeric powder, red chilli powder and required amount of salt in a pressure cooker along with water.
2. After about 10- 15 minutes switch off the cooker and open the lid when the pressure falls.
3. The ragda should not be very thick or too watery. Keep this aside.

Sweet Chaat Chutney/ Tamarind Date Chutney:

1. Tamarind- 2 big lemon size
2. Dates- ¼ Cup
3. Jaggery- ¼ Cup
4. Water- 1 Cup
5. Cumin Powder- ½ tsp
6. Coriander Powder- ½ tsp
7. Salt- a pinch
8. Red Chilli Powder- ½ Cup

Method:

1. Boil tamarind and dates in 1 cup water for about 10 min.
2. Add jaggery, mix and let it thicken a bit.
3. Add all the spice powders and cook for about 2-3 min. Switch off the flame.
4. When it gets cooled grind this mixture to a fine paste and store this tamarind- date chutney in an airtight bowl and store this in refrigerator. Use this when required.

Remaining Ingredients for garnishing Ragda Patties:

1. Onions( finely chopped)- 2 nos
2. Tomatoes( chopped)- 1 no
3. Coriander Leaves( chopped)- ¼ Cup( optional)
4. Curd- 1 Cup (with a little sugar mixed)
5. Sev/ Mixture- 1 Cup
6. Cumin Powder- 1 tbsp
7. Chaat Masala- 1 tbsp
8. Lemon Juice- as required

Method for assembling:

1. In a small bowl place two potato patties. Top it with 2 -3 tbsps of ragdas.

1. Over this add the tamarind- date chutney.

1. Top this with sweet curd then with chopped onions, chopped tomatoes.

1. Sprinkle with cumin powder, chaat masala and a few drops of lemon.
2. Sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves and end this amazing chaat by sprinkling the sev/ mixture.