Spicy Indian Cuisine

10 Things I Miss Most From my Mom’s cuisine

2006-06-19T01:58:00.000-07:00

I started this blog by writing on my mom's culinary skills and the magic touch she adds to her recipes. But then missed out on mentioning the favorite dishes my mom prepares.

I would like to thank Aparna, as it was so nice of her to tag me to this meme world.

Even now, when I plan to go home, the first thing would be to call up my mom and give her the list of recipes I covet to eat. And as always she ends up preparing all those mouth-watering dishes for me and serves it with more love. Its just not her recipes that i miss...its her that i miss the most :(.

There is a long list of recipes that I crave for, prepared by my mom. But then the meme is about 10 dishes. So here they go

Palada Prathaman - Its one of my favorite payasam. I would call it Divine Nectar. For this payasam, pieces of flour paste (ada) are boiled in milk and sweetened with sugar. No ghee or spices are added except some cardamoms.
Appam & Ishtu - They just make a great combination. I have never tasted appam, as soft in the center and crisp on the sides like my mom makes.
Pathiri & Eirachi curry –Breakfast cant get better when my mom prepares pathiri with eirachi curry.
Crab Curry – Crab cooked in coconut milk.
kalumae kai (Mussles) Fry – Though we don’t get to eat them regularly, it tastes fabulous.
Fish Fry & curry – Just can’t stop eating all the varieties of fish fry and fish curry that mom prepares.
Mutton Liver Fry – Wow! Real lip smacking recipe, where she fries mutton liver marinated in pepper.
Chicken Biriyani – Cooked in pressure cooker, the taste is incredible.
Kesari – A sweet dish made from suji, milk and sugar.
Pickles – Wow! just cant wait to get the highly spiced Mangoes, Ginger Mango, Garlic pickles bottled to take it back with me.

I have tried to prepare all the above recipes, but seldom does the taste come closer to that of my mom’s.

I would like Indianadoc and Kirthika to write a few words about thier mom's cooking.

Kaachiya Mooru

2006-06-17T00:53:00.000-07:00

Just by adding some spice to Buttermilk you prepare this dish “Kaachiya Mooru”. It definitely taste good with rice.

Ingredients

2 cups of buttermilk / curd
Salt

To Grind

2 / 3 Green Chillies
1 inch of ginger
2 cloves Garlic
¼ tsp Fenugreek
3 Shallots
1 tsp Cumin seeds
½ tsp of turmeric powder

For seasoning

Curry Leaves
1 onion (medium size) sliced
1 dry Red Chilli
I tsp Oil
Mustard seeds

Preparation

Grind the whole onions, green chillis, ginger, garlic, fenugreek, cumin seeds, and turmeric powder, with little water, to make a smooth paste.

Add this mix, and salt into buttermilk /curd, and heat the whole mixture, at a medium heat. Keep on stirring to avoid curdling. When the curry is boiled remove from heat.

In a small pan heat a tablespoon of oil, put some mustard seeds, when they start sputtering, add the sliced onion, red chilli, and the curry leaves, fry them, and them pour over the curry.

Serve hot with rice.

Mutter Paneer

2006-06-17T00:31:00.000-07:00

Dishes in paneer taste good, especially when they are complemented with other vegetables like capsicum, potato, spinach etc., but Peas (Mutter) makes the best combination.

I have a friend from Bihar, who is a specialist in making mutter paneer and she prepares it very scrumptious. It’s a north Indian dish, which goes well with Roti.

Ingredients:

1 cup of fresh peas
200 gm of paneer (cheese cubes)
¼ cup yogurt
Coriander Leaves
Salt to taste

For Seasoning

3 tsp Ghee (can also use refined oil)
2 medium sized onions
1 tsp Ginger & Garlic paste 2 medium sized tomatoes
½ tsp Turmeric powder
½ tsp Chilli powder
1 tsp Coriander powder
1 tsp Garam masala / Kitchen king masala
2 Bay Leaves
1 medium size Cinnamon stick

Preparation:

Fresh peas taste best, but if not available can use dry peas by soaking it overnight. Pressure cook peas until they are soft. Be careful not to overcook it.

Cut the onions into four and boil them in sufficient water for about 5 minutes. Grind it in a mixie.

Heat 1tsp of ghee/oil in a frying pan, add the paneer (cheese cubes) and fry for 4-5 minutes, until they gently turn to golden brown on all sides. Remove the paneer and dip it in cold water, squeeze the water and keep it aside.

Now pour 2 tsp of ghee in pan, add bay leaves, cinnamon stick, sauté and add ground onion, fry it until light golden brown, now add ginger garlic paste and sauté well. Add Chilli powder and coriander powder, stir it and add chopped tomatoes, cook until the tomatoes juices ooze out and oil leaves masala.

Pour in ¼ cup yogurt add turmeric, garam masala, mix it well and cook it for 2 minutes. Now add the cooked peas, cheese cubes and one cup of water. Reduce the heat to low and simmer covered for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the chopped coriander leaves and mutter paneer is ready to be served.

Tip : you can use tomato puree instead of chopped tomatoes, both tastes good.

Potato Bhujiya

2006-06-04T04:59:00.000-07:00

This is an Oriya dish that I learnt from my neighboring aunty who is a great cook. The usage of mustard is unique to Orissa, Andhra and Bengal cuisine. The masala that they prepare for this is used to fry drumstick too.

Ingredients

2 big potatoes

To grind

1 tsp mustard
1 ½ tsp of cumin seeds
2 dry red chilles
¼ turmeric
salt
Oil

Preparation

Peel the potato and slice into medium sized round pieces. Now half cook them in hot water by adding a pinch of salt.

Soak mustard, cuminseeds, chilles, turmeric and salt in water for ½ hour and grind them to a fine paste by adding sufficient water.

Heat a pan or a tava, heat oil, dip the potatoes in the ground paste and shallow fry the potatoes on both sides until light brown.

Serve hot.

Carrot Halwa

2006-06-04T04:42:00.000-07:00

I have watched a number of Hindi movies were the hero craves for maa ke hath se bana “gajar ka halwa”. It always looked tempting to me on the screen. I have never tasted it before, until recently cooked and served by a friend of mine here. She had made it very tasty, I learnt it from her and tried my hand on preparing it and fortunately turned out to be tasty…

Come winter and we get fresh veggies in Bhubaneswar, especially carrots. Now I have an extra reason to prepare gajar halwa.

Ingredients

1 kg juicy orange carrots
1 1/2 litre milk
350 gm sugar
½ tsp Cardamom powder
Saffron few flakes
Few drops orange colour (optional)
2 tbsp ghee

To garnish

1 tsp Cashew nuts
1 tsp Raisins

Preparation Peel and grate carrots. Heat a pan and pour milk and let it boil. On boiling add grated carrot and cook it for 15 minutes in low flame. Once its starts thickening, stir it continuously so that they don’t form lumps.

Once all the milk is dissolved add sugar and cook it until the sugar melts and thickens. Now add ghee, cardamom and saffron.

Garnish with Cashew nuts and Raisins and serve hot.

Fish Molly

2006-06-03T03:38:00.001-07:00

Fish molly is one of the favorite fish curries in kerala. The style of preparation differs from place to place. This is usually had with appam, rice or kappa (Tapioca). I love it the way my mom cooks.

Ingredients

500 grams Pomfret fish (Any variety can be used)
½ tsp Red Chilli Powder
½ tsp Turmeric Powder
2 tsp Coriander Powder
½ tsp garam masala
¼ tsp feenu greek powder
1 Tomato sliced
1 cup Coconut Milk
1 tsp White Vinegar
Salt

For seasoning:

Oil
3 Onions finely sliced
5/ 6 Green Chillies split
1 ½ inch Ginger julienne
3 cloves Garlic crushed
1 stalk Curry Leaves

Preparation

Heat oil in a pan and fry onions, green chillies, ginger, garlic, fenugreek and curry leaves. Fry till onions turn golden brown.

Now add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala, and sauté well.

Add Vinegar, sliced tomatoes, water and let it boil. Now add the cleaned fish pieces and salt and cover it with a lid and cook for 10 – 15 minutes on a medium flame until the fish is cooked.

Pour the coconut milk over and cook it for 2 minutes in low flame. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with rice or appam.

Tip : You can add tamarind instead of Vinegar

Cabbage Kofta Curry

2006-05-28T23:12:00.000-07:00

This is a mughalian dish, but with less of fat as we dont use ghee or butter here.

Ingredients For Koftas

1/2 medium size Cabbage Shredded
2 tbsp all Purpose flour (Maida)
Oil for frying

To Grind

1 medium size onion
2 medium size Tomatoes
1-inch ginger
1 Cardamom
1 Cinnamon stick
1 Clove
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp Coriander powder
1 tsp chilli powder

For Seasoning

Oil
Bay leaf
¼ tsp Soya sauce
1 tsp cashew nut paste

Preparation Take the shredded Cabbage in a bowl, add flour & make small round Ball by squeezing them need not add water, as the cabbage will have enough moisture to bind the flour. Heat pan pour oil, once the oil is hot, deep fry the balls and keep them aside. In a separate pan heat 1 tsp of oil and add bay leaves, Soya sauce, cashew nut paste and the ground paste, salt and stir it well. Let the paste cook till the oil separates. Can add little water if the paste is too thick. Switch off the flame add the Koftas & Cover till Serving.

Garnish with Coriander leaves and its ready to serve.

Egg & Potato Salad

2006-05-24T05:40:00.000-07:00

This is an easy to make egg salad that nutritious too. Ingredients

6 eggs
2 boiled Potatoes
1 Capsicum
1 onion (thinly sliced into rings)
1 Tomato (thinly sliced into rings)
2 tsp. lemon juice
Salt & black pepper according to taste
Finely Chopped coriander leaves

Preparation

Boil the eggs and cut eggs into halves. Take out the yolk and mash with boiled potatoes. Prepare mixture of egg yolk, boiled potatoes, salt, pepper, lemon juice and chopped coriander.

Fill eggs whites with the mixture.

Serve in a plate garnished with onion, tomatoes, chopped capsicum & coriander.

Drumstick leaves with eggs

2006-05-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

I still remember the days when my brothers and me were very fussy about eating greens (Cheera). We had exhausted all the excuses we could use on the world to avoid eating them, until my mother came up with this recipe of Muringya Cheera with mutta, with a magic touch of hers. From then, we prefer to eat most of the cheera variety with eggs.

Drumstick leaves has various medicinal properties and are cure to many ailments. They are rich in Vitamin A & C, Protiens and Calcium. Consumption of drumstick leaves increase your heamoglobin count and is good for anemic patients.

Ingredients

1 cup Drumstick leaves (leaves separeted from the stems and stalks)
2 finely chopped Onions
4 finely chopped Green chillies
½ tsp pepper powder
2 tsp Oil
¼ tsp Turmeric powder
2 eggs
Salt to taste

Preparation

Heat a frying pan, pour in the oil, add chopped onions, green chilles and saute until they turn light golden brown. Add the drumstick leaves. Sprinke a handful of water and add ½ tsp of salt and mix it well, cover it and cook for over 5 minutes over moderate heat, until the water runs out.

Beat the eggs with turmeric powder and salt. Now pour the egg batter and stir the drumstick slowely by spreading the egg batter evenly. Add ½ tsp of Pepper powder and stir it well until the egg takes the form of flakes. Drumstick leaves with eggs is ready to be served.

Plantain stem (Vazhanthandu) raita

2006-05-20T03:14:00.000-07:00

I happened to taste this recipe prepared by a friend of mine, who told me eating this, would reduce fat content in the body as the plantain stem is consumed raw. Though I am not sure about this property of plantain stem, liked the raita that she made.

This is a good accomplishment for pulao, biriyani and even steamed rice.

Ingredients

200 gms Plantain stem
2 cup curd
3-4 finely chopped Green chillies
Coriander leaves
Salt

For seasoning

1 tsp oil
½ tsp Cumin seeds
20 Curry leaves
½ tsp Mustard seeds
½ Split black gram
1 finely chopped Onion

Preparation

Remove thread like fibre from Plantain stem. Finely chop them and place in a bowl of water containing 1 tbs of buttermilk.

Add the finely chopped plantain stem, green chilles in 2 cups of curd and add salt to it.
Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, cumin, split black gram, curry leaves, and chopped onion and sauté it until the onion turns light golden brown.

Pour the curd with plantain stem and green chilles. Mix it well and remove it from fire immediately.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Tip : Placing the cut plantain stem in buttermilk-laced water prevents it from changing colour. Add a little milk if the curd is too sour.

Plantain Stem ( Vazhanthandu )Upperi

2006-05-20T02:50:00.000-07:00

My father always insisted us on eating Plantain stem (vazhathandu) as it is a good source of Dietary Fibre. We use to relish them when my mom cooksit this way.
Ingredients

Plantain - 200 gms ¼ tsp Turmeric powder
Coriander leaves
Salt

To dry grind

¼ Cup Rice

For seasoning

1 ½ tsp pepper powder
¼ tsp mustard seeds
¼ tsp split black gram
20 curry leaves
2 tsp oil

Procedure

Remove fibre from plantain stem. Cut into small cubes and place in a bowl of water.

Fry the rice in a pan until it turns light golden brown and dry grind it.

Boil the plantain in 2 cups of water with turmeric powder and salt. Once it’s cooked, remove it and drain the water.

Heat oil in a pan add mustard seeds, on spluttering add black gram, curry leaves, pepper powder and the ground rice powder. Sauté it for 2 minutes, finally add the cooked plantain stem and mix them well.

Garnish with coriander leaves. Vazhathandu upperi is ready to be served.

Puttu (Rice & Raagi)

2006-05-20T01:48:00.000-07:00

Puttu is a very common breakfast in Kerala. It is also called as steam cake. There are many combinations for puttu like kadala curry, cherupayaru curry, stew, pappadam , ripe banana, egg curry, fish or meat curry and some even have it with jaggery. Whatever may be its accompaniment puttu just tastes great.

You can make putt with rice / wheat / Raagi flour, the process to make them remains the same. It is cylindrical in shape, is made with the help of a Puttu maker.If you don’t have a puttu maker you can use a idili mould to cook it. Its also made using coconut shells. But I prefer to cook it in puttu maker. Nowadays ready made puttu mix is available, wherein your time to grind and fry the rice powder is saved. You can check out Chef K.N. Vinod site to view the pictorial description to prepare puttu.

Rice Puttu

Ingredients

2 cups of raw rice
1 cup of grated coconut
salt to taste

Preparation

Soak the rice for 2- 3 hours and drain the water. Spread the rice in a paper and allow it to dry for 3-4 minutes see that it is a little wet and not fully dry. Grind the dried raw rice to a fine powder in a mixie.

Fry the rice flour in a pan, stir it continuously until you get the aroma of the rice, remove the flour, bring down to cool. Mix salt in water and sprinke water little by little to the rice flour and mix it throughly. The rice flour should be wet enough, keep stirring it with your fingers as it should remain in a powdered form and do not mould it in to a dough.

If you are using a puttu maker, then add 1 ½ cup of water in the puttu pot and bring it to boil. Now take the cylindrical vessel and add a handful of coconut, then 3- 4 handfuls of rice flour, repeat it until you fill the puttu vessel. Now fit the cylilndrical vessel on the pot. Steam cook it for 4-5 minutes.

Remove the cylinder, use a spatula to push out the puttu to a plate.

Tip : To prepare Wheat puttu the same procedure is followed, use wheat flour instead of rice.

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Raagi Puttu

I relish anything made with raagi especially raggi puttu. My mother prepares raagi puttu in idili mould and I too have followed the same, have never tried to do one in puttu maker.

You can have raagi puttu with chicken, egg or mutton curry. But I prefer to have it with sugar and ghee.

Ingredients

2 cups of raagi flour
I cup of grated coconut
Salt to taste
2 tsp ghee
5 tsp sugar
2 powdered cardamom

Preparation

Fry the raagi flour in a pan, stir it continuously until there is a slight change in colour, remove the flour, bring down to cool. Mix salt in water and sprinkle water little by little to the raagi flour and mix it throughly. The raagi flour should be wet enough, keep stirring it with your fingers and do not mould it in to a dough.

Add the cocounut to the raagi flour and mix it. Boil water in the idili cooker, spread the raagi flour on the idili mould such that it does not take the shape of the idili. Close the lid, steam cook it for 4-5 minutes.

Remove it from the idili mould and add sugar , powdered cardamom and ghee, mix it well and raagi puttu is ready to be served.

Spicy mutton korma

2006-05-18T01:05:00.000-07:00

Mutton kormas are usually less spicy, but this one is an exception. My mom prepares this to be had with chappathi, porota, appam and steamed rice.

½ kg Mutton
1 cinnamon
4 Onions diced
1 Inch Ginger julienne
10 Chopped garlic pods
3 Green chillies split
10-15 Curry leaves
1 Tomato diced
1 Capsicum diced
2 ½ tbsp Chilli powder
2 tbsp Coriander powder
½ tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Garam masala
4 tsp Oil
Salt to taste
coriander leaves

To Grind

6 Shallots
2 cup Grated coconut

Preparation Heat cooker and pour 4 tsp oil, add cinnamon, diced onions, ginger, garlic, chillies, curry leaves and sauté until golden brown. Now add tomatoes and sauté it well until the tomato cooks well, add chilli powder, turmeric powder and garam masala and mix it well.

Add capsicum, salt and ground coconut with shallots and sauté well for 3-4 minutes. Pour required water to cook the meat, close the cooker. Pressure cook the mutton for 5-6 whistles. If there is excess water, sauté it in a pan until the water evaporates. Now the dish is ready to be served, garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves. Tip: You can add a small piece of papaya while cooking mutton, as this enables the mutton to be finely cooked.

Dry spicy chicken

2006-05-18T00:41:00.000-07:00

I happened to try this recipe from a malayalam magazine, and it worked out fine. This is a dry chicken recipe and can be had with chilli sauce or tomato sauce.

Ingredients

½ kg Chicken
2 eggs
50 gm maida
100 gms bread crumbs
Oil (to deep fry)
1 lemon
Coriander leaves

To grind

¼ tsp Cumin
½ tsp fennel
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp pepper powder
½ sp vinegar

Preparation Clean the chicken and take 8- 10 fleshy pieces.

Beat the eggs until fluffy and keep it aside. Grind cumin, fennel, turmeric powder, pepper powder and vinegar into a fine paste. Marinate the chicken for 30 mins with the ground paste. Heat oil in a pan, take the chicken piece, dip it in maida first, then in the beaten egg and finally in breadcrumbs and fry in the oil. Fry it until the chicken is cooked well.

Garnish the fried spicy chicken with coriander leaves and lemon juice.

Matthi vattichathu

2006-05-17T22:55:00.000-07:00

This is a typical kerala fish recipe. I learnt this from my mother-in-law, this is one of her speciality.

Ingredients

500 gms Matthi (Sardines)
½ medium size raw mango (cut into small pieces)
2-3 dry red chillies
2 tsp Oil
Salt

To Grind

10 shallots
5-6 green chillies
4-5 Garlic pods
½ inch ginger
20 curry leaves
½ tsp turmeric
1 cup grated coconut

Preparation Clean the fish and keep it aside. First grind the coconut into a coarse paste and then mix rest of the ingredients to grind and run the mixer for 10 seconds, need not grind to a fine paste.

Heat a pan and pour 2 tsp of oil, add the red chilli by splitting into two, sauté it until the colour changes. Now add the cut mango pieces, add salt and the ground paste. Stir it well and cook for 5 mins. Now add the fish and mix the masala well with the fish. Just add 2-3 spoons of water. Close with a lid and cook for another 10-15 minutes, until the fish is fully cooked. See that the fish does not overcook and break into pieces.

Matthi Vattichathu is ready to be served. Tip : You can use kokkam as an alternative for mango. Both tend to give the sour taste to the recipe. But kokkam gives an extra flavour especially for fish recipes. Any small fish variety can be used to make this recipe.

Chicken Chettinad

2006-05-15T22:42:00.001-07:00

This spicy Chicken chettinad is a special tamil dish and it definitely tasty. This tastes good with roti, appam and steamed rice.

Ingredients

500 gm Chicken Dices (boneless I inch)
5 tsp refined oil
20 no. Curry leaves
½ tsp mustard seeds
2 onions chopped
1 tomato chopped
2tsp ginger garlic paste
¾ turmeric powder
Salt to taste
5 tsp Chettinad masala
1tsp lemon juice
300 ml water

For chettinad masala (5 tsp)

5 nos. Dry red chilies
1 tsp Coriander seeds
20 nos. curry leaves
¾ tsp Cumin seeds
¾ tsp fennel seeds
2-½ pepper corn
1 no. Star anise
½ poppy seeds
2sp cashew nut
2 nos. cardamom
3 cloves
1 stick cinnamon
1 cup grated coconut
2tsp-refined oil
Water

Preparation Heat oil in a pan, first add all the spices mentioned in the chettinad masala and roast it over slow fire for two minutes. Then add the grated coconut and stir it for another 3 mins. Remove it from fire, cool and grind into a smooth paste by adding water. This is the chettinad masala. Heat 5 tsp of oil in a large sauce pan, add curry leaves and mustard seeds when the mustard splutters, add onion and stir fry over medium heat for 5 minutes until golden brown. Add ginger garlic paste, finely chopped tomato, turmeric powder and cook for 2- 3 minutes. Now add chettinad masala with 50 ml of water and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add chicken and salt, mix it well with the masala, and keep stirring for 5 minutes. Add some more water allow it to cook in low flame until the chicken is fully cooked. Now add lemon juice and remove it from fire. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Pathiri and Naadan eirachi curry

2006-05-13T02:46:00.000-07:00

Pathiri and eirachi curry, you cannot ask for more to be made for a wholesome malayalee meal. There cannot be any function at a malayalee muslim’s place without pathiri and eirachi curry, it really tastes great when made by them.

Its more or less similar to the north indian roti, but made of rice. There are many types of pathiris, I have tasted two varities that my mom cooks.

Aripathiri – Roti prepared by spreading the batter with your fingers.

Kolluma Pathiri - Roti prepared by rolling it by rolling pin on a plate.

Aripathiri

Ingredients

2 cup raw rice
1 cup water
5-6 shallots finely chopped
½ tsp coarsely powdered cumin
salt

Preparation

Once the powder is cool add shallots, powdered cumin and salt. Boil 1 cup of water and pour it into this mixture. Wait until the rice powder absorbs the water and cools down. Mix well to get a smooth dough.

Take a small plantain leaf or a plastic paper and apply oil on the surface. Now take small balls of this dough and spread it with your finger tips into a round shape on the plantain leaf or paper.

Heat a tava on medium flame, take the pathiri from the leaf and put it on the tava. Cook both sides of pathiri for 2-3 mins. Remove it and aripathiri is ready. You can have it with nadan eirachi curry.

Tip : To put the pathiri on to the tava without breaking into pieces, take the spread pathiri with the plantain leaf in your left hand, turn it to your right hand and remove the plantain leaf carefully.

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Kolluma Pathiri

Ingredients

2 cup raw rice
1 cup water
salt

Preparation

Soak the rice for 2-3 hours and drain the water. Grind the rice into a fine powder. Fry the rice powder in a pan, stir it continuously until you get the aroma of the rice, remove the powder, bring down to cool. Add salt to the powder, boil 1 cup of water and pour it into this mixture. Wait until the rice powder absorbs the water and cools down. Mix well to get a smooth dough.

Now make small pieces of this dough and roll them into round rotis, with the help of a rolling pin and plate, the thiner the finer.

Heat a tava on medium flame, put the pathiri on the tava. Cook both sides of pathiri for 2-3 mins. Remove it and kolluma pathiri is ready.

It goes along with mutton/chicken/ egg curry.

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Naadan Eirachi Curry

Its typical kerala meat curry (chicken / mutton), which uses the very common spieces, but really tastes spicy.

Ingredients

½ kg meat (mutton / chicken)
½ cup coconut milk
1 tbsp vinegar (can use 1 tbsp lemon juice alternatively)
Coriander leaves
Curry leaves
salt

For masala

3 tsp coriander powder
3 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp pepper powder
1 tsp turmeric powder

For seasoning

1 finely chopped Onion
1 fienly chopped tomato
2 split green chilles
1 inch ginger julienned
¼ tsp mustard
2 tsp oil

Clean the meat and marinate it with salt and vinegar/ lemon juice and keep it aside for 30 mins. Mix the masala ingredients in 2 tbsp of water.

Heat a pan and pour oil, add mustard, when the mustard splutters, add the chopped onion and saute well, when the onion turn light brown, add curry leaves and saute, add chopped tomatoes and saute until they are cooked. Add the masala and cook it on low heat until the oil floats on top. Now the masala is done, add the marinated meat pieces and stir it for 5 minutes so that the masala mixes well with the meat pieces. Now add a cup of water cover the pan and cook for another 20 minutes. Once the meat is cooked add the cocounut milk and stir it well.

Naadan eirachi curry is reayd garnish with chopped coriander leaves, serve it hot with pathiri.

Tip : If you are calorie consious, this recipe can be done without coconut milk too, but then reduce the quantity of chilles used.

Maida Roll

2006-05-12T00:25:00.000-07:00

It is an easy to cook recipe and requires very little time to prepare. Its a recipe that my mom prepares and i love this.

Serving for 2 Ingredients

2-cup maida
Salt to taste
Oil

For filling

1-cup grated coconut
4 tsp sugar
2 cardamoms (powdered)

Preparation Mix maida and salt well with one cup of water to form a smooth batter. For the filling take a cup of grated coconut, add 4-5 tsp of sugar and cardamom powder and mix them well and keep aside. Heat a nonstick pan or a griddle, take a spoon of maida batter and pour it over the griddle and spread the batter evenly making a big circle. It would take 2 minutes to cook on medium flame. Turn the cooked maida dosa, and cook the other side for 1 minute. Pour a little oil if you are using a griddle. Spread the coconut filling in the center of maida dosa and fold it towards the center such that the coconut filling is fully covered and form a roll. Press the ends of the dosa with spatula so that the fillings do not come out. Remove it from the pan and is ready to serve. Sweet Maida roll is easy to make and tasty to eat. It can be had as an evening snack, or breakfast if you prefer to have something sweet in the morning.

Potato stew (ishtu)

2006-05-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

A kerala dish, that goes well with appam and dosa. Very simple and easy to make. Ingredients

2 big potatoes cut into medium size chunks
1 onion finely chopped
4-5 green chilles
I cup of coconut milk or coconut paste
Curry leaves
2 inch of Ginger julienne
Salt to taste

Preparation Pressure-cook the potato chunks and chopped onions for 2-3 whistles. Heat a pan and add ½ tsp of oil and fry the ginger and add salt to it. Now pour the coconut milk or the coconut paste and add the cooked potatoes and onions. In case of Coconut milk cook it for 2-3 minutes and for coconut paste around 4-5 minutes and turn off the heat.

Garnish it with curry leaves, to add flavor can add ½ of coconut oil.

Tip : Do not mash the potato as you should bite those cooked soft potato pieces, while tasting this recipe.

Kadala Curry (Black Channa Curry)

2006-05-11T10:42:00.000-07:00

Kadala curry is a kerala dish that goes well with puttu, appam and rice

1 cup of Black channa dhal
¼ spoon of turmeric powder
2 Green chillies slit into half
Coriander leaves
Salt to taste
Oil

To Grind

½ cup grated coconut
1 ½ tsp coriander powder
½ tsp chili powder
10 pepper corns
½ tsp cumin

For seasoning

1 onion cut into small pieces
1 tomato cut into small pieces
2 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
A small piece of ginger julienne
2 pods of garlic cut into small pieces
Curry leaves

Preparation Pressure-cook the back channa dhal until it cooks well. Sauté the grated coconut with ½ tsp of oil, once the coconut turns crispy, add rest of the fry ingredients (Coriander powder, chili powder, pepper corns and cumin) and fry them for another one minute. Remove the pan and allow it to cool on cooling grind it into a fine paste. Add 2 tsp of oil in the pan, and sauté cloves and cinnamon sticks, add ginger and garlic fry for few seconds, now add onions and fry until they are golden brown, add tomato pieces and fry them until the tomatoes cook well, add curry leaves. To this add the ground masala, turmeric, salt and the split green chillies and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the cooked black channa along with ¾ cup of water and cook it for 5 minutes. Garnish it with cut coriander leaves and serve it hot with appam, puttu or even plain rice. Tip: Do not add salt to pressure cook any dhal as it will not cook properly. Add salt in the sautéing stage.

Appam

2006-05-11T10:28:00.000-07:00

Appam is a dish that I love to eat with Kadala curry, potato stew or egg curry. There are many methods to prepare this dish. I will share the method that i learnt from my amma. Ingredients:

3 cups of raw rice (Pachha arisi / urva chaaval)
½ cup cooked rice
3 tsp of Urad dhal (ulundu parapu)
A pinch of baking soda
Coconut water
Salt to taste

Preparation Soak the rice, and urad dhal for about 4-5 hours. Extract water from a coconut and add sugar to it and keep it over night for fermentation. Drain the soaked rice and grind it to form a thick paste. When this paste is ready, add the cooked rice and grind it until it turns to a smooth batter. Keep the batter for 8 hours or over night for fermentation. On fermentation, add a pinch of baking soda, salt and the fermented coconut water ( add it in a way that it does not affect the consistency of the batter) to the batter and mix it well. Heat a shallow non-stick pan (apa chatti). Do not over heat the pan, keep it always just above sim. Take a spoon of batter, pour it gently to the non stick pan. Take the pan in your hand and swirl the pan around so that it spreads evenly on the sides and a thick layer is formed in the center. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for a minute, till the edges become crispy and soft at the center. Remove it from the pan and appam is ready to be served. Tips: Cooked rice and coconut water is used here to make the appam soft. In kerala they use 'kallu' as an alternative as it makes the appam very soft but then you will have that tingling taste in you mouth.

India “Land of Spicy Cuisine”

2006-05-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

India is a country of social contrasts and enormous ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity. For some tourists, India may be a land of snake charmers and Sadhus. This land is renowned for its colors, the warmth, the hospitality of a culture and tradition. Dance and music are essential ingredients. India is a place where the celebrations never end. What is unfailingly common and the joyous reason to celebrate is the various gastronomic and aesthetic delights that mark all such celebrations. Most Indian cuisines are related by similar usage of spices. Often, Indian cooking is distinguished by the use of a larger variety of vegetables than many other well-known cuisines. Within these recognisable similarities, there are an enormous variety of local styles.

I would be posting recipes mostly from my native state kerala (A beautiful scenic state, known as god’s own country) ponnani, its where my parents grew up. I simply cannot resist eating almost all recipes from this part of the world. The name kerala comes from the word ‘kera’ which means coconut, a land full of coconut trees, and that is the reason why coconut is a very important ingredient in all kerala recipes. The preferred medium of cooking is coconut oil. Fish is considered as sea vegetable here. Also is the land of spices, one can get the best of spices here. Puttu, appam, pathiri are some of the famous items here.

Tamil nadu (The state of temples), Coimbatore, that’s where I grew up with my brothers, my husband also belong to this place. Coimbatore is a city where I would love to be, at any time of the day. I have very pleasant memories related to this place. It’s a beautiful place with friendly people, good climate, good drinking water, shopping places and education institutes; you name it and will find it in this place. Tamil nadu is famous for its Idlis, dosas, sambhar and rasam. You have a number of hotels in Coimbatore where you can unleash your crave to eat good food. Among the Tamil cuisine chettinad style holds a special place in the taste buds of food lovers.

Bengal(monsoon-drenched east coast of India), Kolkota, called the city of joy is a very busy city. My husband was working there and I got a chance to stay there for a small stint. Maach(Fish) and bath(rice) forms the important part of the menu. I still remember waking up from bed by the whiff of frying fish from my neighborhood. They just can have it at any time of the day. Also famous in kolkota is Puchka, don’t miss them if you happen to visit kolkota. Another specialty of Bengal are the sweets, you cannot ask for a better place to cherish those Roshogollas and sandeshs .

Orissa(land of temples),is a land with rich social and cultural history, well known for its exquisite temples, enchanting natural resources, beautiful handicrafts and charming Sambalpuri Sarees. Bhubaneswar, its where we live now. The medium of cooking here is mustard oil. People over here need an excuse to be on the road, and nothing savours them the most than the roadside food stalls that are crowded with people who relish those puchkas, maida rolls, chowmen and vadas. These are the places I have been and have tasted various recipes, will add recipes from other regions in India also.

My Mom "The Best Cook"

2006-05-11T02:43:00.000-07:00

Hi this is Bindu VijayaKumar and I am starting this blog to utilize my spare time instead of sitting in front of TV as couch potato, and end up putting that extra flab. This blog will cover all the aspects in kitchen. Like cooking (Mostly Indian Recipes), tips and tricks, Glossary, Cooking Terminology everything related to cooking.

I have always enjoyed cooking and am a great foodie, though many of my friends may not agree to this fact. Believe me, its cutting vegetables that I enjoy the most and can do it for hours at a stretch. Coming from a family where each and every member tries a hand at cooking, it’s more a joy of teamwork that goes in to cooking a recipe. My dad cooks some special recipes but only when mom is not around. My elder brother Siva is an innovative person and looks for something creative in his cooking, he can make even omelets taste great. My younger brother Biju helps my mom with grinding those masalas, cutting veggies and of late, has started to cook on his own, and he rocks. Having said that, my husband Vijay doesn’t stay behind in the race, he is a specialist in non vegetarian recipes. But then no prizes for guessing whose recipe tastes the best…Obviously, my AMMA's!

‘Viji’ as she is fondly known in our family circle is a wonderful person, an adorable mother, a caring wife, great cook and the list goes on. She cooks the food with so much of love, which she claims is the most important ingredient in her recipes, that one cannot resist to relish those delicacies. She has always loved to cook and to be a good host, that she seldom allows anyone who visits her, to leave without tasting her recipes. It’s a fact that all my friends, my brother’s friends and my dad’s, don’t miss an opportunity to relish the tasty food that she prepares. She being my guru in cooking, I have learnt a lot from her on cooking though, I don’t end up cooking as good as she does. It’s more of native kerala and tamilnadu delicacies that she prepares. Amma I really miss those wonderful recipes of yours and waiting to come down to Coimbatore to enjoy those tasty foods that you prepare.

After my marriage, moved to Kolkota and later to Bhubaneswar with my husband. Its here that I got a chance to learn Bengali and oriya recipes. Coincidentally my husband is also fondly known as 'Viji' in his family circle. He prefers to eat more south Indian dishes, still likes to try other Indian recipes too. He cooks once in a blue moon but ends up surprising me with those tasty non-vegetarian and crispy, deep-fried snacks that he prepares. I have to accept a fact here, that he is never demanding and encourages me to try out different recipes, with a dream to savor his taste buds some day. Which remains a dream till date. He too loves all those non vegetarian recipes that my amma prepares.

I will be posting recipes from different part of this subcontinent, especially kerala, tamilnadu, Andhra, Bengal and orissa.

Happy cooking. !