ആക്രാന്തം | Aakraantham

Mussels and Potato curry - കല്ലുമ്മക്കായ ഉരുളക്കിഴങ്ങ് കറി

2013-12-22T21:53:00.000-08:00

Here is the next recipe from my mother-in-law’s kitchen. It is said to be mouth-wateringly delicious by Aysha. As I didn't get a chance to have this dish, I don’t have any idea. However, you can have a try and see the results. I know getting mussels is gonna be one of the toughest tasks in places other than Kerala. Whoever gets a chance to buy this yummy seafood with shells, don’t miss it. Lots of other recipes with mussels (കല്ലുമ്മക്കായ) are on its way. So have a look at the recipe and do try without fail, okay?

Ingredients:

Mussels – Whole - 25-30 no. s
Potato – 2 medium sized – peeled and cut into medium sizes
Ginger –finger sized piece – peeled and mashed
Onion – ½ - chopped
Green chillies – 2 no. s – sliced
Tomato – 1 big – chopped
Red chilli powder – 1 Tb sp
Roasted coriander powder – 3 Tb sp
Coconut grated – 1 ½ cups
Shallots – 4 no. s
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Water – as needed
Salt – as needed
Oil – as needed
Fenugreek seeds – 8-10 seeds
Curry leaves – 1 sprig

How to:

1. Clean the exterior of the whole mussel shells and keep it in a big aluminum vessel and heat it for 5-7 minutes in full flame. Turn upside down once or twice in between. Water will come out of the shells and it’ll slowly open. Switch off the flame and keep it aside for cooling down.

2. Now take the cooled down and boiled mussels. Take off the shells and separate the flush. Don’t wash the flushy part, but remove messy parts like hair or so. Keep the water came from the shells separate after sieving out any solid parts.

3. In a small bowl, put chopped onion, green chillies, cut potatoes, mashed ginger and the water which came out of mussels shell. Close the bowl and keep it aside for some time.

4. Cook the above mixture (step 3) in a pressure cooker until potatoes are cooked properly. Switch off the flame and open the cooker. Add the mussels flush, chilli powder, chopped tomatoes, coriander powder, salt (use lesser salt than usual as mussels itself will have some salty taste) and boil for 2-3 minutes in medium flame.

5. Meanwhile grind the grated coconut, turmeric powder and 2 shallots in a mixer with ½ cup of water. Once the above mixture has been boiled, pour this coconut mixture to it and cook for 3 minutes in low flame. Switch off the stove and keep the curry aside.

6. In a non-stick pan, pour oil. On heating add fenugreek seeds. Once it has completed sputtering, add remaining chopped shallots and sauté for a while it turns brown. Now add the curry leaves and pour this to the curry which has been kept ready.

This curry goes well with Kerala boiled rice with some spicy side dish like Mango side-dish Calicut style - കോഴിക്കോടൻ കടു മാങ്ങ

Mango side-dish Calicut style - കോഴിക്കോടൻ കടു മാങ്ങ

2013-12-17T04:28:00.001-08:00

While giving permission to Aysha to go home last week, I’d kept a condition. If only she is sure that she can come back with few recipes with photographs, her permission is granted. Else she’ll have to face me. Poor girl…!! Got frightened I think. She came back with few of her mom’s kitchen delicacies, though I had to wait again for another week to get the recipe in written form. So first we are rolling out the simple and easy recipe of a mango dish so called “Kadu Manga” (കടു മാങ്ങ). Don’t get this name confused with the “kadumanga pickle”. It’s different, of course! This particular dish can be made with green mango, ripening one or even with a ripe mango.

Ingredients:

Green mango -1 (cut into medium sized pieces)

Fenugreek – 6-7 seeds

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Coconut oil – 1-2 Tb sp

Onion – ½ chopped

Green chilly – 2 no.s sliced

Tomato – 1 medium sized chopped

Garlic – 4 cloves mashed

Red chilly powder – 1 ½ Tb sp

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Water – 1 cup

Salt – as needed

Sugar – 1 Tb sp (optional)

How to:

1. In an earthen pot, pour coconut oil and on heating put the fenugreek seeds. Once it has fully sputtered, put mustard seeds and allow it to sputter completely.

2. To this, add chopped onion, green chilly, tomato, red chili powder, turmeric powder, mashed garlic, water and salt. Allow it to boil in full flame for about 3-5 minutes.

3. Once the gravy gets thicker, switch of the flame and keep it closed with a lid for 5 minutes. Now check the taste and if the mango taste is too sour, add sugar (it’s optional. Add sugar only if you like sweetness with sour taste).

Do try this easy side dish which will go well with Kerala meals and ghee rice. You’ll let us know the feedback for sure, right?

KARIMEEN CURRY ( Pearl Spot Curry )

2013-12-01T23:22:00.001-08:00

The situation is awful and the expectation of our fans is towering . I'm too lazy and too busy to cook anything in my kitchen and Aysha doesn't have a stage to perform. She's been provided food by her house owner. We are left with no clue how to respond to the queries! Coincidentally Susan Abraham made her appearance with a recipe of the most wanted and the most delicious Karimeen Curry (Pearl Spot) We've ever had in our lifetime. I've to use this occasion to comment on her skill not only on cooking varieties of innovative dishes but also on her typical way of serving. She decorates her small four-seated dining table in such a simple yet beautiful way; that guests will be too much tempted to click the snap rather than touching the dishes...!!

Ingredients:

Karimeen/pearl spot – Whole -2 no. s

Fenugreek seeds-1/4 tsp

Curry leaves- 1 sprig or more

Ginger-chopped- 1" piece

Garlic-chopped- 2 large cloves

Green chilies-sliced-2 no. s

Shallots sliced- 10 no. s

Onion -sliced- 2 medium sized

Kashmiri chili powder-2 to 3 tsp

Coriander powder- 1 Tbsp

Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp

Black pepper powder-1/2 tsp

Water-1/8 cup + more as required

Kokum/fish tamarind/kudampuli-2 small pieces

Thin coconut milk-1 cups

Thick coconut milk-1/2 cup

Salt- to taste

For marination:

Kashmiri chili powder- 1 tsp

Black pepper powder-1/2 tsp

Coriander powder- 1 tsp

Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp

Water -as required

Salt-to taste

How to:

1. Marinate fish with the ingredients listed under 'for marination'.Keep aside for about 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry the fish until 3/4 th done, turning once in between. Transfer it onto a kitchen towel.

3. In the same pan ( add more oil if required) add fenugreek seeds, sauté for a few seconds. Add curry leaves, ginger and garlic, sauté till raw smell leaves.

4. Now add green chilies, shallots and onion. Sauté till onion turns golden brown. Next add kashmiri chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, black pepper powder and 1/8 cup water. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring well in between. Cook until it the masala turns mushy.( you can transfer this masala to clay pot/manchatti or continue cooking in the same pan).

5. Next add thin coconut milk, about 1/4 cup water ,salt and kokum pieces. Bring it to a boil and add the fish. Cook for about 4 to 5 minutes. Add thick coconut milk, gently swirl the pan and bring it to just under a boil.

6. Add more curry leaves ,if desired.

Serve the Karimeen Curry with rice, preferable Kerala matta rice. I guarantee you that the taste is gonna stick on to your taste buds for life time. Have a try and let us know.

Roasted Broccoli

2013-11-26T11:48:00.000-08:00

I got an FB message from one of our page fans asking why there are no new recipes posted in "aakrantham". She badly wanted a vegetable recipe it seems. Then I assigned a task to her by simply asking her to try something with Broccoli and take snaps to post on this blog on her behalf. Though I told her without much expectation, the very next day she turned up with a beautifully written recipe and a tempting snap. Thanks to Simi Seethy. So here we post our next recipe after a long gap. Hope you guys enjoy reading, trying and eating this special Broccoli recipe.

Ingredients:

Shallots - 10 no.s

Pepper powder - 1 tsp

Green chillies -2 no. s

Salt - as needed

Mustard seeds - 2 tsp

Oil - for frying

How to:

Sauté mustard in oil till it sputter. Add chopped onion and stir for a while. When the onion gets fried, add washed broccoli, pepper powder, green chillies and salt. Make sure that you don't add water. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes in a high flame by closing the lid. The spicy fried broccoli is ready.

Do have a try and let us know the feedback. Cheers..!!

Note: Broccoli has been called a miracle food. It contains high levels of fiber (both soluble and insoluble) and is a rich source of vitamin-C. In fact, just a 100 gram serving of broccoli will provide you with more than 150% of your recommended daily intake of vitamin C,There is an enzyme in broccoli called myrosinase which can reduce the risk of developing cancer.You can also eat broccoli raw to gain maximum benefit

Cabbage ‘n’ Carrot Thoran

2013-02-25T02:26:00.000-08:00

Today, when I opened my lunch box, I found it’s my favorite fish curry and carrot ‘n’ cabbage Thoran / Upperi, along with unakka chemmeen chammanthi (ഉണക്ക ചെമ്മീന്‍ ചമ്മന്തി) for lunch. Having the nostalgic meals I thought about my bachelor friends, for whom we actually started our Aakrantham page. And the idea of putting a simple thoran recipe struck my mind. Soon after completing the food, I called Aysha and asked her to make the recipe along with the snaps ready for today’s post. And here we dedicate this simple and tasty recipe for our page fans…

Ingredients:
Chopped Carrot – 1 cup
Chopped Cabbage – 1 cup
Ginger – thumb sized piece
Onion – ½ - chopped
Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon
Fenugreek seeds – ¼ teaspoon
Dried red chilli – 2 no.s
Curry leaves – 1 stem
Grated coconut – 2 Tb spoon
Oil – 1 Tb spoon
Salt as needed

How to:
1. Heat a non-stick pan and add oil to it. Put Fenugreek seeds and on sputtering, add mustard seeds. On sputtering, add cut red chilli and then curry leaves. To this add finely chopped ginger and onion. Sauté gently for a minute. Now add the washed and chopped Carrot and cabbage. Add salt too. Sauté for 3 minutes. Now add the freshly grated coconut and sauté for another 3 minutes. The Cabbage and carrot thoran is ready to be served as a side dish with Kerala rice or any similar meals.

Mutton Roast (ആട്ടിറച്ചി വരട്ടിയത്) – Malabar Edition

2013-02-22T01:09:00.000-08:00

I love the way she cooks Mutton(Goat Meat) in her traditional Malabar style and badly wanted to post the recipe here in the blog for our fans. But after my last health checkup, mutton moved into the ‘banned food products’ list! What to do?! But somehow I could convince that this mutton is only for our Aakrantham|ആക്രാന്തം page lovers, and I won’t eat more than 2 pieces from it. Believing my words, she compromised to cook and take the photo. This might be my last mutton curry until my cholesterol level reduces to a normal value. And you know what? once I got the recipe and the photos, I changed my word. Of course it was delicious and I had more than enough of this mutton curry. To add spice to her anger, I made palak (Spinach) mutton myself by taking a portion out of this curry. And the best part is; she can’t have palak dishes as her stomach is sensitive to such leaves and I had to finish this palak mutton also. Wait for the Palak mutton recipe!!

Ingredients

For cooking mutton
Mutton – 1 kgPepper – 2 Tb spoon
Coriander powder – 2 Tb spoon
Garam masala – ¼ teaspoon
Green chilli – 2 no.s
Curry leaves – 1 stem
Ginger – 1 thumb sized piece
Garlic – 6 cloves
Corriander & pudina leaves – 2 stems each
Salt - to taste

For gravy
Oil – 1 Tb spoon
Shallots – peeled and chopped - 200 g
Tomato – cut into small pieces - 1 big size
Coriander powder – 1 Tbspoon
Pepper powder – 1 Tb spoon
Green chilli – sliced – 2 no.s
Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

How to:

1. Wash and drain the water well from the mutton pieces. In a dry grinder jar, put pepper corns, coriander powder, garam masala, green chillies, curry leaves, ginger, garlic cloves, coriander and pudina leaves. Grind all these together. In a pressure cooker, mix the dried mutton pieces well with the above mixture using hand. Add salt too. Pour ¼ cup of water and pressure cook. Number of whistles can be decided based on the nature of mutton. (You may keep the mutton pieces mixed with 2-3 table spoons of vinegar for 10-15 minutes before washing so that the typical mutton smell will be washed away. I used to cook till 8 pressure cooker whistles. It varies depends on nature and type of mutton)

2. In a non-stick pan, pour oil and on heating add the peeled and chopped shallots. Sauté till the shallots turn translucent. Add the sliced green chillies and sauté well. Add the tomatoes and sauté for few minutes. Put coriander powder, pepper powder and turmeric powder and sauté well. Once the mixture turns soft and like a paste, open the pressure cooker and add the mutton along with the liquid part into this pan. (if you are too lazy to peel off the shallots, you may use Onions, make sure you sauté it well so that it can blend well in the gravy).

3. In low flame, keep the pan closed for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, the excess water in the gravy should be drained off. Make sure that thick gravy is formed. If needed, add few coriander/pudina leaves and switch off the flame. Serve with ghee rice/pathiri/any kind of rotis after 30 minutes.

Split Bengal-gram cake / Parippu-cake (കടലപരിപ്പ് കേക്ക്)

2013-02-09T00:25:00.000-08:00

We were invited for a lunch on Friday at Shameerka’s (my friend and my wife’s cousin) home and my wife badly wanted to cook something for his kids - Aysha, Millu and Hayan! She was brainstorming on her own and it was then I remembered about something which her sister Shermitha used to make. I did not remember exactly what it is, as it was one of the typical Kozhikodan snack. I hinted her about it and she was so excited. But soon I realized that I dug my own grave!!
She asked me to buy milk and I was too lazy to go out in that chilly climate, that too just for a bottle of milk. I ordered in my typical commanding voice "prepare it only if you can do it without buying any extra ingredients", heeheeheee,,,. Poor girl, out of the fear (I love to believe so :P), compromised to go ahead with milk powder. She confirmed the recipe with her sister through whatsapp I guess. After ‘the making of the so called parippu-cake’, she asked in a low and humble voice “would you mind taking a photograph of the dish?” I rushed to take the snaps from all the angles of the cake. The looks were yummy. But I was not allowed to taste it as it was supposed to be taken in full shape to their home. Luckily Shameerka’s wife gave few pieces for the evening tea, and it tasted delicious as well!!

Aysha, Millu and Hayan loved it very much and in no time the plate was empty!

Here is the recipe for you to try out!

Ingredients:
Split Bengal-gram – 1 cup
Milk – 1 cup
Egg – 8 no.s
Butter – 2 teaspoon
Sugar – ¾ cup
Cardamom powder – 1 generous pinch
Nuts and raisins – to garnish

How to:
1. In a pressure cooker, cook the washed split Bengal gram adding a cup of water up to 3 whistles.
2. Put the cooked Bengal gram into a mixer jar. Pour milk and grind well to make a paste.
3. In an open vessel, beat the eggs with sugar and cardamom well, using a heavy spoon. Pour the Bengal gram paste from the jar to this vessel. Mix these well using hand so that no grains remain. adjust the amount of sugar based on your taste.)
4. In a round shaped non-stick pan add the butter and heat in full flame. Tilt the pan to all the sides so that butter is spread along the sides of the pan. Onto the pan pour the above mixture.
5. Lower the flame to the least possible and close the pan with a tight lid. After 5 minutes, take off the lid and keep the nuts and raisins on the top carefully without letting it to sink inside the cake mix.
6. Leave the pan for 20 more minutes in lowest flame and switch off.
7. After 10-15 minutes, turn the cake upside down to a plate and shift to the serving tray.

Easy Fish Curry (Paal Meen Curry/പാല്‍ മീന്‍ കറി) Adapted from Srilankan style

2013-02-08T00:38:00.000-08:00

During my forced bachelor-life in Doha, I used to buy my dinner from one of the Srilankan restaurants, mostly ‘idiyappam and palmeen curry’ (ഇടിയപ്പവും പാല്‍ മീന്‍ കറിയും). Hearing the dish name daily from me, my wife thought that ‘palmeen’ is a kind of fish available here (to be frank, I too thought in the same lines, till I found a different variety of fish in the curry) and she asked me once “can’t you try some other fish?” which made me laugh out loudly! On that day I decided to take her to the restaurant and make her eat this favorite dish of mine, once she reaches Doha. Recently we’d been to the place and she tasted this wonderful Srilankan curry. And out of the idea sprout from her taste buds on having the palmeen curry, she tried to make it at home in her own style. As I’m a person who loves to eat less spicy and light colored curries with breakfast items, this became a grand success, adding one more feather to our cooking experiments. I trust this will help you too and you will love its flavor!!

Ingredients:
Fish* – 6 pieces
Coconut milk – 1 ½ cups OR coconut powder – 5 Tb spoon
Green chilli – 1
Tomato – ½
Curry leaves – 12 no. s
Ginger – a small piece
Shallot – 6 cloves
Turmeric powder – ¼ tspoon
Fenugreek – 6 seeds
Oil – 1 Tbspoon
Salt – as needed

How to:

1. In a mixer jar, take coconut milk (or the coconut powder with 1 ½ cup of water). Put Green chilly, chopped tomato, few curry leaves, ginger, turmeric powder, salt, and 3 cloves shallot. Grind well. (if you like more sour taste in your curry, add tamarind juice or more tomatoes)

2. Pour the above mixture to an earthen pot or a nonstick pan and leave to boil. Once boiled well, put the washed fish pieces and keep the stove in low flame. Cook for 2-3 minutes and switch off.3. In another pan, heat oil and add the fenugreek seeds to spatter. Add the remaining shallots after chopping and sauté till it changes colour. Add the remaining curry leaves and sauté for few seconds. Pour this on top of the above curry.

*Note: We used Cobia fish (മോത). I guess any kind of fishes can be used for this.
Have a try with the fish in your freezer and let us know!

Amara payar Thoran / Upperi - Lima Beans

2013-01-28T08:37:00.000-08:00

Unlike the usual Lunch timing, that day I could come home early for lunch and as expected, food wasn’t ready. Seeing me at an odd time, she got wondered and rushed into kitchen to finish off cooking. I noticed the washed and drained Lima beans on the cutting board. With her assistance, I cut the beans recollecting my cutting skills earned during my PG period and taught her how to cut vegetables without cutting fingers or nails! But after cutting she turned out to be my teacher, as I did not know how to prepare a beans thoran (upperi). As it was a new learning for me, I guess it might help many of my bachelor friends too. Moreover, it’s a simple recipe for any beginners to try and tasty too.

Ingredients:
Lima Beans (അമരപ്പയര്‍) – sliced n chopped – 1 cup
Oil – 1 ½ Tb spoon
Mustard seeds – 1 tea spoon
Curry leaves - 8 no. s
Dried red chilly – 2 no. s
Coconut – grated – 1 handful
Salt – as needed

How to:
1. Heat oil in a nonstick pan. Put mustard seeds and leave to sputter. Put the cut red chillies followed by curry leaves.
2. Add the cut lima beans to the pan turning to low flame. Sauté for a minute. Add the required amount of salt and sauté to mix well.
3. Cook the beans in low flame, sautéing occasionally. After 5 minutes, add the freshly grated coconut and mix well.
4. Leave the beans for cooking well. Remember to keep the flame lowest possible. Stir occasionally.

Have a try and let us know!

Kannur Chicken Biriyani

2013-01-24T04:04:00.000-08:00

Though I’m supposed to post Kozhikodan Biriyani recipe for Aakrantham fans, I’m not yet ready with fine photos for it. So thought of posting a Kannur Biriyani’s recipe, for which some snaps were clicked few days back by my hubby, when we made it at home.

This recipe is a dedication to my friend Ammu and there’s an interesting story behind this dedication. We used to have a year-end gift exchanging, amongst a group of my Cognizant friends called ‘Roofians’, similar to the Christmas friend activity done in school days. As we are spread across different locations, the friend selection is done by an online tool developed by few of us and the gifts are ordered online. Moreover, from a common mailbox we use to assign different funny tasks to our friend anonymously. And this year, Ammu got a task to prepare Hyderabadi Biriyani and post the recipe as well as the photos. Poor girl! How can she do this if she doesn’t even know how to make an ordinary Biriyani? But she was clever enough to post the pictures in the Face book group along with the recipe copied and customized from a blog. But the cleverer group members made it out from her attire, hairstyle, serving dishes and the suspicious ‘scissors’ found in the photo, that the Biriyani was bought from some hotels on her way back from office and she mixed it in a steel vessel to serve. Also the scissors were used to cut the pickle’s and raitha’s packet. And what more?! In the photo, she eats the self made Biriyani at her dining table, with the neatly tied hairstyle and beautifully pinned salwar kameez and shawl!! Finally since the truth shined through the lie, she had to admit the fraud.

So for her, I’m posting a Biriyani recipe here…

Ingredients:

For frying Chicken

Chicken – 1 kg

Chilli powder – 1 Tb spoon

Kashmiri chilli powder – 1 Tb spoon

Lemon juice – 1 Tbspoon

Turmeric powder – ¼ teaspoon

Ginger-garlic paste – 1 teaspoon

Salt – as needed

Ghee – 2 Tb spoon

Oil – 1 Tb spoon

For Masala:

Onion – chopped - 8 medium sized

Tomato – cut into small pieces - 2 big sized

Green chilli – 7 no.s

Ginger – 2 thumb sized pieces

Garlic – 15 big cloves

Corriander, Pudina and curry leaves – chopped – a handful

Garam masala – 1 ½ teaspoon

Curd – 3 Tb spoon

Pepper powder – as needed

Salt – as needed

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Ghee – 2 Tbspoon

For Rice:

Kayama rice – 4 cups

Ghee – 3 Tb spoon

Oil – 1 Tb spoon

Cinnamon – 3 small pieces

Cloves – 3 no.s

Bay leaves – 2 no.s - cut into pieces

Water – 5 ½ cups

Salt – as needed

For layering:

Onion – ½ chopped

Cashew nuts – 10 no.s

Raisins – 15 no.s

Garam masala – 1 teaspoon

Lemon juice – 1 Tbspoon

Corriander leaves chopped – 3 stems

Ghee – 1 Tbspoon

How to:

1. Drain water from washed and cut chicken pieces. Marinate chicken using chilli powder, kashmiri chilli powder, lemon juice, turmeric powder, ginger-garlic paste, salt and keep for 30 minutes. Heat ghee and oil in a fry pan. Shallow fry the chicken.

2. Heat ghee in a non-stick vessel. Add chopped onions and sauté well till the onions turn translucent. Crush ginger, garlic and green chillies in a grinder and add this to the onion. Sauté for a minute. Add coriander, curry and pudina leaves to this and fry well. Once the raw smell of this mixture is changed, add tomato and mix well. Sauté all these together for two more minutes. Add gharam masala, salt and turmeric powder, sauté and add curd to it. If needed, add pepper powder also.

3. Adding the remaining ghee from the chicken fry to the masala and sauté well. To this, add the fried chicken. Mix the masala and chicken well and cover the dish. Keep the flame to low and leave it to cook for 10- 15 minutes.

4. Drain water from the washed Kayama rice. (do not soak the rice). Add ghee and oil to a pressure cooker and on heating, add cinnamon, cloves and bay leaves. Sauté well. Add the drained rice and fry in low flames for about 5-8 minutes. Make sure that the rice grains are not sticking to the bottom. Now pour water to the fried rice and add needed salt. Close the pressure cooker and wait for one whistle. Switch off the flame and pull the vent weight (pressure regulator) upwards to blow off the steam (or place under flowing water). Now open the Pressure cooker and sauté the rice with a flat spoon making sure that the rice grains are not broken.

Note: I’m using Kayama rice here which actually needs 6 cups of water for 4 cups of rice for proper cooking. But since the rice will again be cooked during layering, I’ve poured only 5 ½ cups. Similarly you can use water depending on the type of rice (Basmati/Kayama/Jeerakasala) you are using.

5. In a small frying pan, add some ghee. Fry the chopped onion till golden brown. Fry the nuts and raisins as well. Take off from the pan and keep this aside.

6. In a big vessel, put an even layer of the cooked rice. On top of it spread a pinch of gharam masala, pudina leaves and sprinkle a little of ghee and lemon juice. Above this put a layer of masala along with chicken pieces. Again a layer of rice and masala similarly and on top of it, rice layer. (depending on the vessel’s size, decide the layer count. Anyhow bottom and top layer should be rice). On top of this rice spread pudina, fried onions, nuts and raisins. Close the vessel tightly with a lid. On top of the lid, place a vessel with hot water in it. Switch on the stove and keep in the lowest possible flame, for 30 minutes. Switch off and don’t open the vessel for 20 minutes.

7. Serve hot, with raitha, pickle and pappadam.

Kunjippidi (കുഞ്ഞിപ്പിടി )

2013-01-21T03:24:00.000-08:00

As any other day, we were having our lunch with routine ‘matta rice’, fish curry, some vegetable ‘thoran’ and pappadam. I thought about a change that was badly in need from the same style food. I kept this thought in mind though! But I don’t know, if some telepathy worked between me and my wife. The next day when I was at dining table for Lunch, it was not the usual meals or biriyani or ghee rice, but the so called ‘Kunjippidi’ (it’s Malabari name). Many of you might have already known and tasted this dish with different names like – kozhippidi (കോഴിപ്പിടി ), arippidi (അരിപ്പിടി ), kakka orotti (കക്ക ഒറോട്ടി ), irachi pathiri (ഇറച്ചി പത്തിരി ). The dish was yummy in taste and tempting in its look. We took a portion of this to our friend Ashiq’s home for a small get-together there, that night. No doubt, it was finished and bowl came back empty within minutes. On their request, I’m posting the recipe here….
This can be made with chicken or meat or fish. We made with beef on that day.
Ingredients:
Beef – 1 kg
Rice flour (flour used for pathiri and idiyappam) – 3 cups
Onion – chopped - 1 medium sized
Tomato – cut into small pieces - 1 medium sized
Greenchilli, ginger and garlic – Ground together – 2 Tb spoon
Meat masala – 2 Tbspoon
Corriander, pudina and curry leaves – chopped – a handful
Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder – ½ tspoon
Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon
Coconut – grated – 1 coconut
Cinnamon – 2 small pieces
Cardamom – 2 cloves
Clove – 3no.s
Shallots – 4 cloves
Garlic – 3 cloves
Salt – as needed

How to:
1. Set aside the washed and cut beef for draining.
2. Mix Onion, tomato, green chilli-ginger-garlic mix, meet masala, leaves, coriander powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder, and salt well with hand in a pressure cooker. Mix the beef too with this mixture and pour half a cup of water. Cook beef up to the required number of whistles depending on the nature of beef.
3. Keep 3 ½ cups of water in an open vessel on stove. Add needed amount of salt and on boiling mix the rice flour well with the handle of a wooden spoon or stick. Saute few times so that the flour is well mixed with the boiling water. Switch of the stove. Close the vessel for 2 minutes.
4. Kneed the rice flour well with both the hands and make the dough using less water. Once the dough with the required consistency is made, take small balls from it and press softly with the index finger. Thus make tiny round shaped ‘pidi’ as seen in the picture. You can spread raw rice flour so that the ‘pidi’s are not stuck together.
5. Now cook the above ‘pidi’s in steam using a steam cooker/pressure cooker/ puttu kudam as per your convenience.
6. Put the grated coconut, cinnamon, cardamom, shallots and garlic in a mixer, add one cup of water and grind well.
7. Once the beef is cooked, pour the above coconut mixture into the beef and cook for five minutes. Saute well.
8. Now mix the cooked ‘pidi’s into the above mixture. Saute well. Make sure that the pidi’s are not broken, but remain in shape. Cook for five minutes. Switch off the flame. Close the vessel and leave it for 30 minutes so that the spicy taste of the beef mixture is absorbed by ‘pidi’s well.

Thus the delicious and spicy Kunjippidi is ready. No need of any side dishesas it’s self sufficient with spicy-ricey flavor!! But a hot ‘Sulaimani’ (black tea) would be a great combination with this typical malabari dish.

Fish Stew - മീന്‍ ഇസ്റ്റു

2013-01-10T00:18:00.000-08:00

While in LuLu for this month’s grocery purchase, we noticed that lots of fresh Indian Mackerel (അയല ) are there in fresh fish section. As we were dying to eat Mackerel fry (അയല പൊരിച്ചത്), remembering an old Malayalam hit song "Ayala porichathundu karimeen varuthathundu….", we couldn’t hold back from buying it. And of course, the very next day, my wife fried the fish for lunch. But to be frank, we were desperate that the fish fry wasn't up to the expectation. The fish seemed to be not as tasty as we get in our hometown. It was then she suggested about making Fish stew for next day’s breakfast as it’s one of those breakfast combinations (നേരിയ പത്തിരിയും മീന്‍ ഇസ്റ്റും) which she cherishes out of her mom’s kitchen. I too thought; okay! let me have a try..!!
No doubt, the dish and the combination was one if it’s kind – super delicious and how can I hide its recipe from my cookery fans? Here it’s for you….

Ingredients:
Ayala – Small sized – 6 No.s – washed and cut into pieces
Fenugreek – 8 seeds
Onion (medium sized) – ½
Green Chilli (sliced) – 20-25 no.s
Ginger, garlic paste – 2 tsp
Corriander, mint & curry leaves – chopped – 1 handful
Tamarind juice – ½ cup
Grated coconut – 1 ½
Salt – to taste
Fennel seeds – ½ tsp
Shallots – 3 no.s

For garnishing - വറവിടല്‍, താളിക്കല്‍)).)) :
Coconut oil – 1 Tbspoon
Curry leaves – 1 stem
Shallots chopped – 4 no.s

How to:

1. Put one grated coconut into a mixer jar, pour water just enough to dip the coconut and mix well. Squeeze this mixture to take thick coconut milk.

2. Take the remaining half coconut along with fennel seeds and shallots and grind well with ¼ cup of water.

3. Mix fenugreek, Onion, green chillies, ginger-garlic paste, coriander, mint and curry leaves, tamarind juice and salt well with hand and add ¼ cup of water in a pressure cooker. Pressure-cook this mixture for 2 whistles.

4. Open the pressure cooker and put the cut fish into it and boil for 3 minutes in low flame. Add the grinded coconut mixture as in step 2 and heat for two minutes (in low flame).

5. Add the coconut milk as in step one and heat for another 3 minutes in low flame.

6. Heat 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil in a pan and sauté chopped shallots till it turns brown and add curry leaves to it. Pour this on top of the gravy to garnish it.

Note: depending on the piquancy of the green chillies, the count can be increased or decreased.

The fish stew can be prepared with other Indian fishes like Pomfret (ആവോലി ), King fish (അയകോര , നെയ്മീന്‍ ) or sardine (ചാള , മത്തി ).

My dad’s ‘Diesel Water’

2012-12-31T06:26:00.001-08:00

Here’s a dietary and herbal daily drink for those who suffers from health problems like high blood pressure, cholesterol, acidity, diabetics e.t.c. because of its diesel like color, my dad used to call it ‘The Diesel water’. I trust this will help at least few of you.

Ingredients:
Water – 2 litres
Gooseberry – mashed without seed – 1 no.s
Fenugreek seeds – 2 tsp
Pudina leaves – 1 stem
Curry leaves – 3-4 stems
Garlic mashed with skin – 6 cloves
Fennel seeds – 2 tsp (Optional)

How to:
1.Heat water in a saucepan and add the ingredients gooseberry, fenugreek seeds, pudina leaves and curry leaves to the water and leave it to boil for few minutes. Fennel seeds can also be added to the boiling water if you have flatulence problems too.

2.Separate the water from the ingredients using a sieve. Dispose the solid contents and leave the water to cool down. Have this medicinal drink at least 2 glasses daily. This will surely control your Cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar from increasing and protect your stomach from any inflammatory or indigestive diseases.

Medicinal values:

Garlic is claimed to help prevent heart disease (including atherosclerosis, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure) and cancer.
Fennel is widely employed as a carminative, both in humans and in veterinary medicine (e.g., dogs), to treat flatulence by encouraging the expulsion of intestinal gas.
The anti-diabetic effects of Fenugreek seeds ameliorate most metabolic symptoms associated with type-1 and type-2 diabetes by reducing serum glucose and improving glucose tolerance.
Gooseberry seems to work by reducing total cholesterol levels, including the fatty acids called triglycerides, without affecting the “good cholesterol” called high-density lipoprotein (HDL).
Curry Leaves are much valued as an anti-diabetic, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, anti-hypercholesterolemic etc.
Mint leaf is an excellent remedy for reducing symptoms related to digestion.

Banana and Egg Roast (പഴവും മുട്ടയും ഉലര്‍ത്തിയത് )

2012-12-31T05:57:00.000-08:00

Aysha has the habit of eating some snacks (self- made or ready made for the evening tea. As I’m rich in cholesterol related statistics in my health chart, I seldom show interest to such fried and baked snacks. But still, at times the yummy looks and piercing aroma used to tempt me to taste a bit from those. Last week’s Saturday evening it was this ‘Banana and Egg Roast’ which took my eyes from the TV screen to her snack plate. I asked her to take a snap of the dish before she eats it up fully. Many of you might already know about this dish. Yet, I’m sharing this recipe here for those who haven’t tried it out yet on her behalf. It’ll be handy for mothers as an easy and nutritious evening snack for their kids, though not for grown-ups as it might be over-nutritious for them..!!

Ingredients:

Ripe bananas – 3 no.s
Egg -1
Sugar – 2 Tb spoon
Cardamom – 2 cloves
Ghee (RKG) – 1 Tb spoon
Cashew nuts and raisins – for garnishing.

How to:
1. Peel off and cut bananas into small triangular pieces. Heat ghee in a non-stick pan and add this banana pieces to it. Sauté till the outer side turns light brown adjusting the flame.

2. Mix egg, sugar and cardamom well in a bowl and pour this mixture to the above roasted bananas. Mix continuously well with a wooden thin spoon so that egg is scrambled well.

3. Serve it hot garnishing with cashew nuts and raisins. (nuts and raisins too can be roasted with egg & banana, depending on your taste preferences.)

Now give the Banana and Egg Roast to your little ones with a cup of Horlicks or Boost..!! Let them enjoy...

Chicken Lollipop

2012-12-16T09:13:00.000-08:00

It was while going through the menu in the Lifestyle Restaurant at Barwa Village, that my wife mentioned about her friend Vinjusha’s love for Chicken lollipop and how they used to find new restaurants in their office premises to have better chicken lollipops. Hearing this, I told her about my expertise in making this delicious starter dish, though she did not take it seriously as I used to blabber such 'self praising lies’ now and then.

But to mine and her astonishment, my chicken lollipop proved out to be really yummy, in looks and taste. Let me share the recipe and snaps here for you too. Have a try and let us know the comments.

Ingredients:

Chicken wings – ½ kg

Oil – for frying

For marinating:

Ingredients:

Courn Flour – 3 tsp

Chilli powder – 1 ½ tsp

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Vinegar – 1 tsp

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp

Salt – as needed

Water – as needed

For batter:

Ingredients:

Maida – 3 Table spoon

Courn flour – 2 Table spoon

Red food color – 1 ½ tsp

Chilli powder – 2 tsp

Corriander – 1 tsp

Soya sauce – 1 ½ tsp

Celery – 1 tsp

Vinegar – 2 tsp

Ginger garlic paste – ½ tsp each

Salt as needed

Water as needed

How to:
1. The video below shows how to make lollipops out of chicken wings. You may (or may not) peel off the skin from the chicken wings as you like it. Cut the chicken wings at the centre separating the smaller and bigger bone. Wipe off the flesh towards the ball-shaped end on the bigger bone, which makes a lollipop. Also wipe off the flesh from the smaller bone towards the bigger bone side. Your Lollipops are now ready for marinating.

2. Mix the ingredients for marinating and spread on the fleshy side of the chicken. Keep it aside for half an hour.

3. Prepare the batter with a thicker consistency. Now dip each of the lollipop pieces fully in the batter and deep fry in the hot oil.

4. Serve the dish hot by covering the stick side of the lollipop with a piece of foil paper, garnishing with chopped onion/carrot along with pudina/tomato/mayo sauce.

This so called Chicken lollipops (Drums of Heaven) can be served as a starter for any of the Indian/Chinese/ Continental Main courses

Arabic Chicken Rice - Customised Version

2012-02-16T05:03:00.000-08:00

Recently I’ve got a query from one of my blog readers asking why I’m not giving any recipes for Main dishes like Rices/Rotis/Pathiris e.t.c. It was actually an eye opener for me in fact. A lot of yummy rice recipes passed through my mind in fraction of a second. Amongst those, I prepared the one I love the most, a customized version of Arabian chicken rice/Majboos. I believe the below formula of mine will help you...

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice – 2 cups

Chopped Onion – ½ medium sized

Tomato -2 (1 tomato as whole and one tomato chopped)

Cloves – 3-4 no.s

Cinnamon – 2 pieces

Cardamom – 3-4 no.s

Pepper – 10-12 no.s

Green chilli – 2 no.s

Oil – for frying

Chicken with skin – ½ Kg (Preferably 4 Chicken legs without cutting into pieces)

Salt - to taste

Turmeric powder – ½ tea spoon

Saffron essence – 1 teaspoon or Saffron -1 pinch

For Frying chicken (optional)

Chilli powder – 2 Tb spoon

Turmeric powder – ¼ teaspoon

Curd – 1 Tb spoon

Ginger & garlic paste – ½ teaspoon

Salt – to taste

How to:

1. Wash the rice and soak in water for 30 minutes.

2. In the rice cooking vessel, add oil. On heating, put chopped tomatoes, onion and sliced green chillies. Sauté for few minutes and mix the spices – cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. Crush pepper with a grinding stone using hand and add to the mixture. Add turmeric powder, salt and saffron/saffron essence and sauté for two minutes.

3. Put the washed and drained skinned chicken leg pieces into the above mixture and mix well. Pour 3 cups of water and leave it to boil. Put the whole tomato too into the mix. Let the chicken boil for about 15-20 minutes in high flame. Make sure that chicken flesh should not start to get separated from bones.

4. Take off the chicken pieces and whole tomato from the boiling water and keep it aside. Confirm that remaining water is enough to cook 2 cups of rice (as per the quantity of water you use to cook Basmati rice). Add the washed and drained rice to the boiling water and leave it to get cooked. Switch of the flame once the rice gets properly cooked and water is drained.

5. The Chicken should be grilled until its skin turns brown. If you would like chicken to be spicier, you can spread the paste made by mixing red chilli powder, turmeric powder, curd, ginger garlic paste and salt before grilling chicken. This chicken can be deep fried in oil too.

6. While serving, you can garnish the rice with Grilled chicken pieces and boiled full tomato on top along with some fried nuts and raisins.

For Tomato gravy:-

Ingredients:

Tomato – 3-4 big sized

Garlic – 10-15 cloves

Red chilli powder – 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder – ¼ teaspoon

Salt – to taste

How to:

1. Cut the tomatoes and put into a mixer jar add 1/2 cup of water and make tomato juice.

2. Pour the tomato juice into a cooking vessel and add red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt and leave it to boil for 5 minutes.

Slice the peeled garlic cloves into long pieces an put this into the boiling tomato gravy and boil for another 5 minutes.

Onion Chutney ( ഉള്ളി ചമ്മന്തി )

2011-12-07T03:52:00.000-08:00

Teena chechi who is one of the fans of ‘aakrantham’ and my Face book friend, once asked me for my recipe of ഉള്ളി ചമ്മന്തി ( Onion Chutney ) just to know if it’s different from what she used to make.

To be frank, it was something which I’ve never tried but tasted. I remembered that special taste of onion chutney with ‘kallu dosa ( കല്ലു ദോശ )’ which Rekha used to bring to college specially wrapped in ‘vazhayila (വാഴയില) / Plantain Leaf ’. The thoughtof that chutney itself was mouthwatering. Rushed to send her an e-mail requesting for that recipe and within minutes she sent a reply with her method of making ഉള്ളി ചമ്മന്തി ( Onion Chutney ).

I forwarded the same e-mail to Teena chechi and she made it. My special thanks to Teena chechi for these yummy pictures and to Rekha for the delicious recipe.

Ingredients:
Shallots – big sized- 3-4 no’s
Tomato -2 (cut into small pieces)
Curry leaves – 1 stem
Oil – 3 tea sp
Mustard seeds – 1 tea sp
Chilli powder – (optional) – 1 tea sp

How to:
1. Grind the peeled shallots.
2. Add oil in pan and while heated, add the mustard seeds and leave it to spatter. Add tomato** to the pan and sauté until it’s half cooked. Add onion paste to this and then curry leaves.

3. Add salt and chilli powder if needed and stir till cooked.

** Tomatoes can even be grinded with the onion.

Tender Coconut Pudding

2011-12-06T07:41:00.000-08:00

As a continuation to the request which I mentioned in my Vanilla Pudding and Pineapple Custard recipe, here is the next dessert recipe and one of the easiest and most delicious puddings.

Ingredients:
Tender coconut – 1 (with coconut water and inside scrapings)
Sugar – 200 g
China grass – 5 g

How to:
1. Pour tender coconut water into a vessel and add sugar to it and mix well. Boil china grass in a separate vessel with a ¼ cup of water and mix this well to coconut water mixture.
2. Cut the inside coconut scrapings into longer pieces avoiding all the non-white parts and put these into the above coconut water mixture and pour these to an open glass bowl and keep to cool down. On cooling down keep the bowl in refrigerator to cool.

If a colorful coconut pudding is needed, before pouring the coconut mixture into the bowl, another layer of color full mix can be added into the bowl. This can be made with Orange/Mango/Carrot or any other mix as per availability. I’m adding an example with carrot here.

For color (optional):
Carrot – 100 g
Milk – ½ ltr
Sugar – 100 g
Vanilla Essence – ½ tea sp

How to:
1. Peel of carrot skin and cut it into medium pieces and boil in steam either in puttu kudam or in pressure cooker.
2. Mix the cooked carrot, milk, vanilla essence and sugar in a blender.
3. Pour this mixture as first layer in the bowl and on top of it add the coconut mixture and keep for cooling.

Chicken Noodle Balls

2011-12-05T04:24:00.000-08:00

I’ve got an invite from one of my Tamilian friends for Eid (Bakrid) day lunch. But as I’ve already committed to Aneesh that I’ll be at his home for lunch I could not go there. I made it up by going for an evening tea at their home. There were so many delicious snacks made by his wife. Chicken noodle ball was one amongst those, the taste of which still lingers to my tongue. I took the recipe from her and tried it by myself. Here I’m posting for you.

Ingredients:

Boneless chicken – 200g
Noodles – 2 small packets
Ginger garlic paste – 2 teaspoon
Pepper powder – 1 teaspoon
Salt – to taste
Grated cheese – 50 g
Egg white – 3 eggs or Maida - 3 Tb spoon
Bread crumbs – (quantity enough to cover the balls)
Oil – for frying

How to:

1. Boil chicken with ginger garlic paste, pepper powder and salt in a cup of water until chicken is properly cooked and the taste is fully absorbed by chicken. Mince the chicken pieces to smaller pieces by hand.
2. Cook the noodles in a separate vessel, but with 2 cups of extra water. Make sure that the noodle does not stick to the bottom of the vessel and cook till all the water contents are evaporated. Mix this Noodle well by pressing it with hand. Make sure that it’s not made to a fine paste.
3. To the noodle mix in step 2, add the minced chicken as in step 1 and mix both well with hand.
4. Take small parts of the above mixture in hand and press it. In the centre, put few grains of grated cheese and make it to a ball. Finish off the mixture by making such small balls.
5. Roll the balls lightly in egg white so that a thin outer layer is made and roll in the bread crumbs so as to cover the roll with it.
(Mix maida with a half cup water to make a thin paste. This can be used instead of egg white.)
6. In a non-stick pan, pour enough oil to deep fry the balls.

The fried chicken noodle balls can be served with tomato ketchup or mayonnaise. The cheese at the centre of the ball will be melted on deep frying and will give a delightful taste.

Pineapple Custard

2011-11-29T08:54:00.000-08:00

As a continuation to the request which I mentioned in my Vanilla Pudding recipe, here I dedicate Pineapple Custard too for my Blog fan.

Ingredients:
Milk – 1 litre
Sugar – 300 g
Custard Powder – 4 Tb spoon
Pineapple – 1
Pineapple Essence – 1 tea spoon

How to:
1. Peel off the Pineapple skin and cut it into small pieces leaving the central portion. Mix a 100 g of sugar well with this cut pineapple and leave for 30 minutes. Put this pineapple-sugar mixture in a non stick pan and stir slowly in medium flame. Once the pineapple is partially cooked, keep this aside.

2. Boil milk in a vessel and add the remaining sugar to it. In a separate cup, take ¼ cup of plain water and mix the custard powder well with it. Lower the flame into medium and add this custard powder and pineapple essence into the boiled milk and stir continuously so that the custard powder does not stick on to the bottom of the vessel. Stir till the mix is thickened. Pour the liquid mixture into a bowl and leave to cool down.

3. Into an open glass bowl, put a layer of pineapple-sugar mix as made in step 1, keeping a part for the mix for the top layer. On top of this bottom layer, pour the Custard mixture as made in step 2 and keep the bowl in refrigerator (not in freezer). On cooling the custard for one hour, take the bowl out and put the pineapple-sugar mixture on the top of the custard. If needed, the same can be decorated lightly with some nuts.

Mushroom in hot pepper gravy

2011-11-28T05:23:00.000-08:00

It’s Thursday night and I was called up by Anu to prepare something different in his home. Only after reaching there I came to know that Anil Hameed is on strict vegetarian diet as instructed from his Gym trainer. Though we compelled him a lot to have the special chicken curry with Kubboos, he was so particular about his diet...!! Finally I’d to experiment on the mushrooms, which I found in their refrigerator. The Mushroom in spicy gravy came out very well and all of them appreciated me for it. I’m posting it here for you...

Ingredients:
Mushroom – 200 g
Corn flour – 2 Tb spoon
Soya sauce – 1 teaspoon
Pepper powder – 2 tea spoon
Vegetable taste cube – ½
Onion – 1
Tomato – 1
Capsicum – ½
Milk – ½ cup
Salt – to taste
Oil – as needed

How to:
1. Mix Corn flour, soya sauce, 1 tea spoon pepper powder and salt well with washed and cut mushroom and keep it aside for 15 minutes
2. Deep fry the mushroom in oil and keep the fried mushrooms separate.
3. In a pan, add 1 Tb spoon of oil and add onion to it and sauté till softened. Add tomato and capsicum to this and stir softly.
4. Add 1 tea spoon pepper powder, salt and the vegetable taste cube into this and sauté well. To this pour milk and leave to boil for around 5 minutes in medium flame.

5. Add the fried mushroom into the above gravy and mix well. Leave the dish to boil for another 5-10 minutes in low flame.

Vanilla Pudding

2011-11-25T02:30:00.000-08:00

I happened to receive a private message in Face book from a person who is a regular reader of this blog. She told that she has tried Apple mayo salad for a party at her home and got applause from many. She asked for some desserts’ recipe for her to try on a family get together gonna happen at her home next week. As per her request to post, I’m adding some pudding recipes here.

Ingredients:
Milk – 1 litre
Sugar – 250 g
Milkmaid – 1 tin (400g)
Vanilla Essence – 1 tea spoon
China grass – 10 gram

How to:

1. Heat china grass cut into small pieces in a separate dish with half cup of water. Keep on stirring until boiled and keep it aside.
2. Boil milk in a vessel (nonstick) and add sugar into it. Once milk is boiled, add Vanilla essence to it and add milkmaid (1 full tin or ½ tin). Depending on the quantity of added milkmaid, sugar should be adjusted as milkmaid is sweet **. To this mixture, add the boiled China grass mix and switch off the flame. Stir well.
3. Pour the above liquid into an open glass bowl and leave to cool down.
4. Keep the bowl in refrigerator (not in freezer) and you can consume it after one hour on decorating it with nuts/Chocó bits/cherries according to your imagination.

Note: ** Sugar quantity should be a little more than what is needed, as on freezing the pudding might become a bit less sweeter.

Fish Curry in Coconut Milk

2011-11-11T05:10:00.000-08:00

It was a surprise to see Megha’s message in Facebook after a long time. The summary of the message read like this: ‘I’ve gone through many of your cookery blogs and I feel those to be appealing. Today I’ve bought a kilo of Snapper fish. Do you have any special recipe to suggest for the same? I’m fed up of the usual way of Fish curry making. Awaiting your response...’ I was happy to suggest her new recipe idea on a condition that she should send me photos of the dish after preparing. Here is my reply to her.

Ingredients:
Fish – 1 kg
Coconut milk – 2 cups (non-sweetened)
Tomato -3
Ginger - small piece
Garlic – 1 clove
Curry leaves - 2 twigs
Gambooge (Kudampuli) - ½ pieces
Fennel seeds - 1 pinch
Shallot – 4 cloves
Turmeric powder - ½ tea spoon
Chilli powder - 3 Tb spoon
Green chilli - 3 no. s
Mustard seeds – 2 tea spoon
Oil – as needed
Salt – to taste

How to:
1. Marinate washed and cut fish with 1 Tb spoon of chilli powder, ¼ tea spoon of turmeric powder and salt.

2. In 2 cups of coconut milk, add fennel seeds, 2 shallots, one tomato cut into small pieces, garlic, ginger, turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt and mix these well in a blender.

3. In a cooking vessel, pour the above mixture and add 2 tomatoes which is cut into medium sizes, sliced green chillies, 1 stem of curry leaves and gambooge and boil the same.

4. Put the marinated fish into the boiling gravy and lower the flame into medium and boil for 5 minutes. Close the dish with a lid and switch off the stove.

5. In a pan, add 3-4 teaspoon of coconut oil and put mustard seeds to it. While the mustard seeds sputter, add remaining shallots which is cut into small pieces and while it’s fried to light brown color, add a stem of curry leaves into this. Pour the same to the above fish gravy and keep the vessel closed for 10 minutes without stirring.

Within an hour I got next message from Megha and was happy to see that her fish curry came out well. She forwarded me the snaps and with her permission I’m posting this recipe here.

Mathi Mulakittathu (Sardine in hot chilly Gravy)

2011-10-22T08:06:00.001-07:00

Mathi mulakittathum Kappa Puzhungiyathum (Sardine in hot chilly Gravy and Boiled Cassava/Tapioca).. What to say about this? It’s one of the combinations which give a nostalgic feel and really hard to resist the temptation even by just hearing it’s name. And thanks to our new cook that he chose ‘kappa and mathi’ as dinner menu. I know to many of my readers, this recipe won’t be a news, but to those minority who doesn’t what this luscious dish is all about, please have a try....
The Best combination of this dish is here - Kappa Puzhungiyathu (Boiled Cassava/Tapioca)

Ingredients:

Sardines – 8-10 no’s

Red chilli powder – 1 Tb spoon

Sliced Onion – 1 no. Big

Green chilli – sliced 2 no.s

Tomato – 1 no. Cut into pieces

Cut green leaves – 1 generous pinch

Mashed ginger and garlic – ½ Tb spoon

Thick tamarind juice – ¼ cup

Salt – to taste

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Fenugreek – 6-8 seeds

Oil – 2 Tb spoon

How to:

1. Pour oil in a pan and on heating put fenugreek seeds, on spattering, add onion, green chillies, green leaves, ginger and garlic and sauté till softened. Add tomato to this mixture and fry for 2 minutes. Put chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt and mix well. Add tamarind juice (squeezed in water with hands) to this and add ½ cup of water to this. If more piquant gravy is needed ¼ spoon of ground pepper can also be added. Leave this mixture to boil for 5-10 minutes in medium flame.

2. Clean and cut the sardines. It’s better to put 3 to 4 horizontal lines on both surfaces of the fish with knife so that the fish fully absorbs the spicy taste of the gravy. Put the sardines gently into the above gravy and leave it to cook for 2 minutes in high flame. Take care to stir the mixture very gently. Lower the flame and leave the gravy to be thickened keeping the vessel closed for 5 minutes.

Now enjoy the supremacy of Kerala’s unique taste – particularly the ‘toddy shop’ special dish. Sluurrrpppp.....!!! I bet, it’s mouth-watering.

Kappa Puzhungiyathu (Boiled Cassava/Tapioca)

2011-10-22T08:06:00.000-07:00

Kappa Puzhungiyathum Mathi mulakittathum (Boiled Cassava/Tapioca and Sardine in hot chilly Gravy).. What to say about this? It’s one of the combinations which give a nostalgic feel and really hard to resist the temptation even by just hearing it’s name. And thanks to our new cook that he chose ‘kappa and mathi’ as yesterday’s dinner menu. I know to many of my readers, this recipe won’t be a news, but to those minority who doesn’t what this luscious dish is all about, please have a try....
The Best combination of this dish is here - Mathy Mulakittathu ( Sardine in hot chilly Gravy )

Ingredients:

Tapioca/Casava – 1 kg

Red chilli (dried) – 4-5 no’s

Mustart seed – 2 tea spoons

Curry leaves – 2 twigs

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Oil – 1 Tb spoon

Salt – to taste

How to:

1. Peel off the skin of tapioca with a knife and cut it into small pieces. Put the washed tapioca pieces into a pressure cooker and pour water enough to immerse the pieces completely. Add turmeric powder and salt. Close the cooker and pressure cook up to 3-4 whistles. After removing the pressure completely, drain the excess water from the cooked tapioca using a sieve.

2. To a pan, add oil and to the heated oil add mustard seeds and leave it to spatter. To this put the red chilli and curry leaves and sauté for 1 minute. Add drained tapioca into this and mix it together.

Now enjoy the supremacy of Kerala’s unique taste – particularly the ‘toddy shop’ special dish. Sluurrrpppp.....!!! I bet, it’s mouth-watering.