Curd Rice

Curd rice is the best comfort food i know, and it actually works! In my college i was the only fraud mallu girl in my group of which majority were Tamilians. Courtesy to my lovely friends i learnt a beautiful language -Tamil. Gradually i started watching Tamil movies and also conversing in Tamil with them , which i knew was a laughter session for them. Nonetheless, i also got introduced to a lot of mouth watering veg dishes like curd rice, podi n many more :)

We used to hardly eat in our hostel mess and by lunch time you would find us at a nearby hotel which was second home to us for food! To all those good times and to all my friends .. this recipe is for you guys and the lovely moments we had together!

Curd Rice

Ingredients:

• 2 green chillies
• handfull of coriander leaves
• 1 cup boiled rice
• 2 cup curd
• handfull pomegranate seeds

For tempering:

• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 pinch hing / Asafoetida
• 1/2 tbsp mustard oil
• 1/2 cumins seeds
• 2 tbsp urad dal
• Curry leaves - handfull
• cashew nuts - 3 - 4

Method:

• Boil rice and cool it
• To this add curd , green chillies, salt and coriander leaves and mix well
• Now for tempering, take a pan heat oil and then add mustard seeds, when they splutter and hing, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and curry leaves.
• At this stage remove the pan from gas and add this tempering to the rice and curd mixture prepared earlier.
• Now add cashew nuts and pomegranate seeds and mix well
• Serve with pickle.

Enjoy!

Lemon Rice

Fancy a makeover for plain boring rice?? then this is the right recipe!!Another south Indian dish and one of my favorites! Back in my childhood when ever we go for any picnics where the kind of food available is uncertain mummy used to prepare this and carry it along for the journey ahead. It goes well with both veg and non veg side dishes.

Ingredients:

• Lemon juice
• 1 cup basmati rice - boiled
• 2 Green chillies
• 1 tbsp mustard seeeds
• 1 tbsp turmeric powder
• 3 tbsp chana dal
• 3 tbsp urad dal
• 1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
• handfull of nuts - peanuts or cashewnuts
• handfull of curry leaves
• 3 tbsp oil
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Boil the rice and keep aside to cool
• Heat oil in a pan to this add mustard seeds and when they spultter add the chana dal, urad dal, green chilli , finely chopped ginger , curry leaves , nuts and saute well for 3-4 mins on medium flame
• To this add turmeric powder and salt required
• At this stage mix in the rice and lemon juice and stir gently, without breaking the rice
• Adjust the lemon flavour according to the tanginess you need.

Lemon rice ready !

Enjoy !

Gatte ki subji

Gatte ki subji is an authentic Rajasthani dish, which is nothing but gram flour dumplings in think gravy.The very first time i had this was at my friends home and this is her mom’s recepie. When aunty serves this with hot ghee rotis it just melts in my mouth. But the reason that i tried it out is something else.. I was out of vegetable stock so thought and came up with this idea.. :) called up my friend and prepared it.I am trying this dish after years now and my hubby who is a hard core carnivore loved it too :)

Ingredients:

• 2cups besan
• 2 tsp Coriander powder
• 2 tsp Red chilli powder
• 1 tbsp haldi
• 1 onion - finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes - finely chopped
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds
• 1/2 tbsp Ajwain seeds
• 1/2 tbsp jeera
• 1 tbsp fenugreek leaves
• 4 tsp Oil
• 1 cup curd
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Add red chilli powder, salt to besan and mix well to form a stiff dough.Make rolls like sausages and put them into boling hot water and boil for around 5-10minutes.Once boiled cut them into bite size portions and keep aside
• For the gravy -Take a pan and add oil to this add the mustard and when it splutters add onion, jeera and ajwain
• When the onions become transluscent add the tomatoes and cook for another 2- 3 mins
• To this add red chilly powder , haldi , and coriander powder and cook well
• Now take curd and beat it well with no lumps and then add it to the gravy
• To this add the curd mixture and the besan pieces
• Cook it over medium flame for 5 minutes and garnish with coriander leaves.
• Gatte ki Sabzi is ready.

Enjoy with hot roti's !

Meen Polichathu

Meen polichathu

Meen polichathu as the name is a famous dish from kerala, and for all those who don’t understand malalyalam it means roasted fish in Plantain leaf (banana leaf) .You cook this dish such that all the flavours are locked in making it yummy!

Back in kerala at my home we get Fresh fish with all fresh local ingredients grown in our garden... a chef’s heaven ! and at my place no one can match this when my uncle prepares this dish. I still remember, as a kid during my vacations me and my cousins used to drool over his food, but there is a catch he used cook very rarely so we had to wait patiently! And to my good luck he prepared this delicacy during my last visit also :)

Fish is a staple food in mallu cuisine and this is undoubtedly one of the finest delicacies. When i made this i could not find banana leaf here in uk so i used foil.. I managed to prepare it well minus the banana leaf factor!

Like i mentioned earlier food brings people together and it surely did in our home and i miss all those good times we used to have..to all ma folks out there in different corners of the world... love you all....

Ingredients:

• 1 kg pomfret, or fish fillets

For the marinade

• 1 tsp pepper powder
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• Salt to taste

For the masala paste and gravy

• 1 tbsp mustard seeds
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• ½ tsp pepper powder
• 1-2 green chillies
• 1 cup button onion (shallots)
• 1 strand curry leaves
• 3- 4 tsp oil
• 1 cup coconut milk ( i used maggi coconut powder -1/2 cup diluted in 1 cup water)

Method:

• Clean fish and make gashes/ slits on both sides.
• Rub the fish well with pepper powder, turmeric powder and salt and keep for marination for an hour.
• Meanwhile mix the coriander, chilli, turmeric and pepper powders with a little water to make masala paste.
• Now heat 2 tsp oil ( take a non stick pan coz you need very less oil for such pans) and saute button onions, garlic, green chillies and curry leaves. Remove from the pan and keep aside.
• Fry the fish lightly in the same oil and keep aside.
• Take a pan and add 1 tbsp oil and add mustard seeds , when they splutter add the masala paste and saute for a 2-3 minutes.
• To this add the marinated fish and coconut milk. also add the
• sauted button onions, garlic, green chillies and curry leaves. Simmer on low heat until fish is coated with gravy.
• Wrap each fish in a piece of plantain leaf or greased foil and bake at 350ºF for 20 minutes. Serve hot.

Enjoy !

Green moong Dal Curry

This recipe is a simple dish but there is a story behind this dish!

Before my marriage some things never used to matter at all. For example: what to cook for breakfast, lunch n dinner!! And trust me i am tired of this task of planning n planning .. Just to create a variation in food and our taste buds!

So when ever I’m tried of exercising my brains, which i don’t do often.. :) , my husband will enter the scene...This is one of his favourite dishes which is simple and also high in protein.

But i should mention this.. he is the reason why im writing this blog... becoz for a girl like me for whom the world of cooking was restricted to maggi n chai till i got married and my progress in the past few months along with my failures and some success (all of them which i will post here).. I owe all this to my hubby, for being my punching bag, for being my taster, my being my photographer, my being my true critic , for being my so many things!!

So here is the receipe..enjoy ppl.

Receipe:

Ingredients:

• Whole Green Moong dal : 1 cup(You can use sprouted Moong dal too)
• Onions : 1
• Tomato : 1
• Green chilies : 4
• Turmeric Powder : 1/4 tsp
• Ginger and Garlic paste : 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves : 3 to 4
• Oil : 1 tbsp
• Cumin seeds : 1/2 tsp

Method:

• Pressure cook the moong dal for three whistle( you can also soak it overnight)
• Heat oil in a pan add cumin seeds when they splutter add the curry leaves and sauté on a low flame for a minute.
• Then Onion and green chilies fry them till it becomes golden brown .
• Add the ginger garlic paste and fry them till the raw smells goes.
• Add the tomato and sauté well
• Now add the cooked moong dal in to it with little turmeric powder and salt.
• Mix it well and add 1 1/2 cups of water and let it cook for a minute

Serve with chapattis n enjoy!

Kerala Fish fry

A typical kerala diet is rice and fish ofcourz!! For all the fish lovers this is the simplest marinade for a typical kerala fish fry. You can also grill this with the same marinade and its an amazing combination with hot steaming rice and sambar! I have used mackeral ( aila ) fish for this recepie.

Ingredients:

• 3 Fish fillets / full fish cleaned
• 1 tbsp chilli powder
• 1/2 tbsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tbsp pepper powder
• 2 -3 cloves crushed garlic
• 4 -5 curry leaves
• salt to taste
• 3tbsp oil
• 2-3 tbsp water for paste

Method:

• Clean the fish and make slits on both the sides
• Take a bowl and mix together all the above ingredients and keep for marination for an hour
• In a non stick frying pan take 3 tbsp oil and fry them on medium heat till both sides are done well , alternatively if you can also grill it without oil.

Enjoy!

Bread Cutlet

Ever wondered what magic you can do with leftover foods.One, you will save money and second its a small step towards stopping wastage of food.Imagine throwing away food, its like throwing away cash into the trash! .. hmmm that rhymes... :)

It also reminds me of an episode in ' Everybody Loves Raymond' ... well a small amount of humour does no harm right? Anyways i think we should get back to our reciepe , or else ill keep on talking. Back in India, my mom used to make Bread cutlets whenever we had bread loaf remaining. So here it is bread cutlets in my version.

Ingredients :

• Bread 6 slices
• Boiled and peeled potato - 1
• Sweet Corn - 1/2 cup
• Onion - 1
• Ginger-Garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp
• Chilly Powder - 1/2 tbsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tbsp
• Coriander powder - 1/2 tbsp
• Garam Masala powder - 1/2 tbsp
• Chopped coriander leaves
• Salt to taste
• Oil for shallow fry

Method :

• Heat 1tbsp oil in a pan. To this add finely chopped onions and ginger garlic paste.
• Once the onion is softened add the chilly powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder to the pan. Stir well and then add the boiled and peeled potato to this. ( make sure the potato is mashed well before adding to the pan)
• To this add the sweet corn and cook for 3- 4 mins with lid closed.
• Open and the add garam masala and coriander leaves and salt to taste.
• Take all this contents into a mixing bowl and allow to cool for half an hour.
• Take bread slices one at a time and dip it in water - room temperature (Some prefer to remove the dark brown edges from the bread , but i prefer to keep it, also no wastage) Squeeze the water from it. Follow the same procedure for all the slices.
• Now in the mixing bowl mix together all the contents with the squeezed bread and knead well.
• Shape them into cutlets and shallow fry them.

Serve them with sauce or just like that! Enjoy