After Ramadan its back to normal life. We all miss the fasting, waking up for sehri, the iftaari… Eid was on Sunday in Singapore ans the next 2 days we had lot of gettogethers and lots of friends visiting us..  So only today everything turned to normal. Another thing is we started with Extra Virgin Olive oil for cooking. Im still looking out for whether its compatible with Indian cooking.. so far no taste difference and i’m loving it!

i wanted to cook something very simple today so this came up in my mind..  a very simple recipe which will go well with roti and rice.

3-4 large potatoes peeled and cut and boiled. But should not be soft and mushy.

1 tsp jeera / cmin seeds

1 medium size onion chopped finely

1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste

1 tsp red chili pwder

1/2 tsp turmeric pwdr

1/2 coriander pwdr

1/2 tsp roasted cumin pwdr

salt to taste

olive oil fr frying

Heat oil in a heavy bottom vessel. Add jeera and onions together. When the onions are brown add the ginger garlic paste. Keep on stirring and add red chilli pwdr and turmeric pwdr and mix well. After this add potatoes, coriander, cumin pwders and salt and mix well.

Close and cook for another few mts.

Rawrice – 2cups

coconut – 1 cup

shallots – 3-4

fennel seeds – 1 tbsp

cooked rice – 1/2 cup

Soak the raw rice for 3-4 hrs. And grind all the rest of ingredients finely. The mix should be watery. But not so running. Pour into a nonstick cookware and close it. These pancakes cook really quickly. I make them a bit thick so that i have to make only 4-5 of them!!

Accompany them with chicken or any other non veg curry.. yummmm..

Biriyani is one of the most famous and lovable dishes in malabar.. name any occation u can find any type of biriyani in the main course. Chicken, mutton,fish,prawn,beef.. every malabari will start drooling seeing it!! LOL!!!

here is my biriyani recipe i made yesterday for my BIL! he gave me a 9/10 for it and when i asked him where did my 1 point go he said he needed more salt in rice! LOL!

here goes my recipe!

onions – 800grms
ginger garlic paste – 5 tbsps
small green chilli – 17 nons (to be made into a paste without adding water)
tomatoes – 250 grms
lime juice – 5 tbsps
yogurt – 2 tbsp
coriander leaves – 1 cup finely chopped
mint leaves – 1/2 cup finely chopped
curry leaves – 2 springs finely chopped
coriander pwdr – 1 1/4 tbsp
garam masala pwder (home made) – 1 tbsp
Chicken – 900 grms
rice – 7 cups (basmati or kola/kaima that u get in kerala)
ghee and dalda – as required
water – 10 cups

Take a large non-stick vessal (see my non stick vessal in pic! )and heat about 2-3 tbsp of dalda. If u dont use dalda u can use ghee i use both for biriyani. Add finely chopped onions

When the onions are brown add ginger garlic paste to it. mix well and when its nicely done add green chilli paste to it. After 2 mts add tomatoes and mix well. Let all the ingredients cook well.

now add the lime juice and yogurt to it. and mix well. Then add chicken, coiander,mint,curry leaver to it and cook for 15-20 mts. Be sure u have got enough ghee or dalda in it so that it wont get burned.

Meanwhile in another vessel heat 2 tbsp of ghee or dalda and add cashewnuts and raisin and fry then till brown. Add one at a time not together. After frying keep them in a seperate plate

Add water to the ghee. When the water boils add salt and rice to it. Make sure that the water is salty enough for the rice (by tasting it) and there is sufficent ghee (insert a spoon in the water and touch and see wthether it oily. (If its not oily u can add more ghee to it).

Close the vessel and cook till all the water drains away. When the water drains it will be more that 3/4th cooked.

Now by this time the chicken will also be cooked. Check whether its cooked if it is lets moove on to the dum part!!

in the chicken vessel add 1/2 tbsp of ghee or dalda in the center and all the for sides. After that put rice on top of it.

Evenly spread the rice and add a pinch of turmeric pwder, garam masala pwdr, the fried raisin and cashew nuts and lil bit of ghee. Like this make 3 layes of rice. And now cook again till the steam comes up. This will take another 15-20 mts. Please note that the chicken will be on the bottom of the vessel and the 3 layers of rice will be on top of it. ie, one layer of chicken and 3 layers of rice.

When the steam comes up turn off the stove and let it cool for 15 mts. After that open up and seperate the rice. Dont sepeate all the rice from the chicken there should be lil rice in the chicken mix.

Now its ready to eat!!! Serve hot with green chutney, raita, pickel!!! yummmmm

this is my second entry for the rice mela!

This is one of the express subzi i make when im running out of time. It needs very few ingredients that you’ll always have at home and very less preparation time and cooking time.

2 cups Brinjal cut into cubes
3 tbsps onions
2 tbsps tomatoes
11/2 tsp red chili pwdr
1/2 tsp turmeric pwdr
coriander leaver for garnish
oil for frying
salt to taste

• Mix the Brinjal cubes with 1 tsp chili pwdr and 1/4 tsp turmeric pwdr and salt.
• Fry in oil till its half soft
• Add the onions and mix till the onions are soft and well mixed with the Brinjal
• Add tomatoes and the rest of the chilli and turmeric pwdr
• Mix well till everything is soft. Add salt again to ur taste
• Garnish with coriander leaves
• You can add more chili pwdr according to ur taste.

Its done!

Soya beans, soy milk, bean curd, soya nuggets etc are one of the most protein rich foods i have came across.. i didnt try any of these things till i reached here. But since then i have been experimenting a lot on these things.. here goes my recipe for the Protein Rich Contest.

1 medium sized onion finely chopped
1 tsp roasted cumin powder
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 medium sized tomato
11/2 tsp coriander pwdr
1 tsp red chili powder
2 cups soya nuggets
salt to taste
oil to fry

• In a pan fry the onions in a low flame and when it is brown add cumin powder.
• Fry for 2-3 mts and then add ginger garlic paste and mix well for 2 mts
• Add tomatoes and the spices to it and mix for another 2-3 mts
• When the mix is soft add the soya nuggets and salt ans some water and close the lid.
• let it cook for some time… Garnish with coriander leaves.

I have been wanting to make this dish for a long time.. sometimes some ingredients might be missing sometimes i’ll be lazy to to make something new.. but today i decided i’ll just make this… it came out really yummy and its so easy..

Ingredients: 1 kg chicken-skinned and cut into 8 pieces (but i removed the skin)
1/4 cup ghee
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 bay leaf
4 whole peppercorns
4 cloves
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds-roasted and powdered
1 tsp fennel seeds- roasted and powdered
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
1 cup grated onions
1/2 cup yoghurt
1 tsp garam masala
salt to taste
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp chilli powder
2-3 green chillies-slit
2 cups onions-sliced a little thick
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves-to garnish

Method: Heat the ghee in a heavy-based saucepan, and add the cumin seeds, bay leaf, peppercorns, cloves, powdered fenugreek and fennel seeds. When the seeds begin to splutter, add the garlic and ginger paste and the onions. Saute over high heat till brown.

Add the yoghurt, stir-frying vigorously so that it blends well and does not curdle.

Cook till fat separates. Add the garam masala, salt, turmeric, coriander and chilli powder.

Keeping the heat high, add the chicken pieces and stir till they look a little opaque and are coated with the masala. Lower the heat, uncover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the green chillies and sliced onions. Continue cooking over low heat, till the chicken is cooked through and fat separates. Takes 10-15 minutes. The onions should be crunchy.

Serve hot, garnished with chopped coriander leaves

Hubbster today wanted something very spicy… i cook non spicy food now a days because i dont want to make 2 dishes every day one spicy for him and non spicy for the kiddos.. Today as i was making something with paneer i thought th ekiddos might love it.. And yup….. even with the spicy taste my kiddos loved this one!

Ingredients: 4 tbsp oil
1 tbsp ginger & garlic paste
1-2 chopped green chillies
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 diced onions
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tomatoes diced
400 gm crumbled paneer
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 diced capsicum
1 tbsp chopped coriander
1/2 tsp chat masala
salt

Method: Heat oil in large pan. Add ginger & garlic paste and chillies.

After 20 seconds stir in cumin and onions. Cook onions until soft, stir in turmeric and chilli powder over a fast flame.

Add tomatoes and allow juices to evaporate. Lower heat, add paneer and heat through. Add garam masala.

Season well. Add capsicum and coriander.

Sprinkle with chat masala before serving.

Today i was in a mood to cook something different.. so i was browsing through some chicken recipes and i came across this. I found it very interesting when i read the recipe but i didnt add the ingredients as much as the recipe owner wrote down coz i thought if its less spicy then i dont have to make another dish for my kiddos! LOL! Here goes the recipe :

Ingredients
5tbsp oil

For the Spice Paste:
1½tbsp cumin seeds ( i used 1tbsp)
8-10 dried hot red chillies, broken into halves ( i used 6)
3 tbsp coriander seeds ( i used 2tbsp)
1½ tsp fennel seeds ( i used 1tsp)
1½ tsp black peppercorns
1½ tsp white poppy seeds ( i didnt use this coz i didnt have it!)
5 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
4cm/1½in piece of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
½ tsp ground turmeric
1½-2tsp salt

You also need:
3 bay leaves
5 cardamom pods
2.5cm/1in cinnamon stick, broken
1 tsp fennel seeds
3 cloves
1½ tsp urad dal
15-20 fresh curry leaves, if avaliable
2 meduim-sized onions (175g/6oz), peeled and finely chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
one 1kg/2¼lb chicken, skinned and cut into smallish serving pieces (breast halves into 3 and legs into drumsticks and thighs)

Method
1. Make the spice paste: In a small frying-pan, heat 1 tbsp of the oil over a medium-high heat. When hot add the cumin seeds, chillies, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, black peppercorns and poppy seeds. Stir and fry briefly until lightly roasted. Now put these into a clean coffee grinder and grind to a powder. Empty into the container of an electric blender. Put the garlic, ginger, turmeric and salt into the blender as well, along with 6-8tbsp water. Process until you have a fine paste, pushing down with a rubber spatula if needed. Set aside.
2. Heat the remaining 4tbsp oil in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat. When hot, add the bay leaves, cardamom pods, cinnamon, fennel seeds, cloves and urad dal. Stir and fry briefly until the urad dal turns red, then add the curry leaves if using. Stir once or twice and add the onions. Fry the onions until they are soft and just lightly coloured. Now add the spice paste. Continue to stir and fry for about 4-6 minutes, adding a little water to prevent sticking. Add the tomato. Stir and fry for a further 3-4 minutes.
3. Add the chicken pieces to the onion and spice mixture. Stir until they are well coated, then add 600ml/1pt/2½ cups water, just enough to cover. Bring to the boil. Turn the heat to low, cover and simmer until the chicken is almost cooked, about 20-25 minutes.
4. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chicken pieces. Turn the heat up to medium-high, and reduce the sauce until very thick. This should take about 6-8 minutes. Replace the chicken, fold gently into the sauce and cook for a further 5 minutes before serving.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/chettinadpepperchick_5134.shtml

It really came out good and it was really spicy!!! i ended up making another dish for my kiddos!! Hope u guys like it!