Usually for appam I like chicken curry, this time for a change I made mutton stew and surprisingly this combination was excellent. Mutton is not much liked dish in our family compared to chicken and if I happen to cook mutton some day I end up eating most of the meat pieces, so fearing that I dont cook often. Same way in this dish the gravy got over pretty fast and only the meat pieces were remaining. This recipe is from my old recipe collection which I totally forgot that I had one such collection. I tried hard to recollect from whom I got this recipe but in vain my memory is totally lost on that as this is more than 10 yrs old collection and I feel really bad that I am not able to thank the person who gave me this awesome recipe. Here is the recipe...
For Appam
Ingredients
Raw rice and idli rice (par boiled rice) should be of equal ratio. I used raw rice 1and 1/2 cup and idli rice 1 and 1/2 cup
Urad dhal - 3 tsp
Salt as required
Coconut Milk - 1 cup
Baking Powder - 1tsp
Method
Soak the rice and urad dhal over night or for 6 hrs and grind to a fine thick batter and add salt and set to ferment for 8 hrs.
When you are ready to make appam , pour the coconut milk, baking powder and 1/2 tsp of sugar and set for 5 mins and consistency should be little watery than the dosa batter.
Using appam pan , make appams and serve with anything of your choice or with this mutton stew.
Mutton Stew
Ingredients
Mutton - 1/2 lb
Potatoes - 1 big cubed
Onion - 1 chopped
Green Chilies - 3 slit
Ginger - 1"
Cinnamon - 1", Cloves - 4, Cardamom- 2
Curry Leaves - 6
Coconut Shredded - 1/2 cup - extract the milk
Coconut oil - 1tsp
Salt as required
Method
Pressure-cook the mutton with salt till tender. Reserve the stock.
Heat oil in a pan and add the cinnamon, clove and cardamom and add onion, ginger and chilies and stir and add potatoes and add the mutton stock and cook until the potatoes are half cooked.
Add the cooked mutton and cook for 10 mins in low flame.
Add the coconut milk and bring to boil and remove from stove. Garnish with Cilantro and serve hot with appams.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Vegetable Kurma for Idiyappam
Kurma is the one great magic side dish goes very well is many dishes like chapathi, idiyappam, pulao. Whenever I think of idiappam only kurma comes in mind for the side dish, I dunno I love this combo very much. Though making kurma and idiyappam is very time consuming, the final taste and praises from the family members are worth the efforts. I made this special dish on the day of diwali and I am very glad as every one liked it. What gives us more joy than when every one in our family likes and eats well the dish we prepare, so this made me more happier on the special day. Almost every one knows to prepare this vegetable kurma but still I wanna share my way of doing this recipe.
Ingredients
Vegetable of your choice Chopped - 3 cups ( I used cauliflower, carrot, peas, beans)
Coconut shredded - 1/2 cup
Cashew - 2 tsp
Poppy Seeds - 1 tsp
Onion - 1 medium chopped
Cloves - 2 , Cinnamon - 1" , Cardamom - 2
Ginger Garlic Paste - 2tsp
Coriander Powder - 2 tsp
Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 3tsp
Salt as required
Method
Microwave poppy seeds and cashew with little water in small bowl for 30 secs and grind together with coconut to a fine paste and set aside.
Heat oil in a non-stick pan and add cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and you get a nice fragrance add onion and saute for few mins.
Add ginger garlic paste and stir well. Add all the dry powders and splash little water if required.
Add all the vegetable and some water and cook coved in a low flame until vegetables are cooked.
Add the grinded coconut paste and cook for 5 mins, garnish with cilantro and serve with idiyappam.
Ingredients
Vegetable of your choice Chopped - 3 cups ( I used cauliflower, carrot, peas, beans)
Coconut shredded - 1/2 cup
Cashew - 2 tsp
Poppy Seeds - 1 tsp
Onion - 1 medium chopped
Cloves - 2 , Cinnamon - 1" , Cardamom - 2
Ginger Garlic Paste - 2tsp
Coriander Powder - 2 tsp
Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 3tsp
Salt as required
Method
Microwave poppy seeds and cashew with little water in small bowl for 30 secs and grind together with coconut to a fine paste and set aside.
Heat oil in a non-stick pan and add cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and you get a nice fragrance add onion and saute for few mins.
Add ginger garlic paste and stir well. Add all the dry powders and splash little water if required.
Add all the vegetable and some water and cook coved in a low flame until vegetables are cooked.
Add the grinded coconut paste and cook for 5 mins, garnish with cilantro and serve with idiyappam.
Idiyappam /Rice Noodles
I love this idiyappam and kurma served at Saravana Bhavan restaurant,the tastes is really wonderful. This is a supposed to be a kerala dish, served usually with kadala curry, and trust me that is one of the best combination. If you live in coimbatore you get this ready made idiyappams made freshly every day morning and evening so whenever you feel like having you can have it avoiding all the hard part of soaking and grinding and more and sometimes you can also use the rice flour and reduce the job by skipping the grinding and mixing part, but the hard way gives you really very soft idiyappams compared to using the rice flour, harder way always yields a good result. My boy loves this dish and I did this after a long time and he almost started dancing after he took a first bite. This really gave me more joy but if I do again I doubt he would like it. This is the base for making the different variety of tasty sevai.
Method
Soak the 2 cups Idli Rice for 6 hours and grind to a thick paste of batter.
In a non-stick kadai add 2 tsp of oil and add the grinded batter and keep stirring until its turns soft dough and when touched the dough shouldn't stick to your hands.
You can also use the rice flour and skip the above step and directly mix with hot water. Take a small dough and put in a idiyappam maker and press in a greased idli plate and stream cook like idli for 5 to 10 mins or until done.
Serve with kurma or using this you can make lemon sevai, tomato sevai or plain onion sevai.
Method
Soak the 2 cups Idli Rice for 6 hours and grind to a thick paste of batter.
In a non-stick kadai add 2 tsp of oil and add the grinded batter and keep stirring until its turns soft dough and when touched the dough shouldn't stick to your hands.
You can also use the rice flour and skip the above step and directly mix with hot water. Take a small dough and put in a idiyappam maker and press in a greased idli plate and stream cook like idli for 5 to 10 mins or until done.
Serve with kurma or using this you can make lemon sevai, tomato sevai or plain onion sevai.
Hot Buffalo Wings
When I first heard the name it sounded very weird to me, then I learnt the it was named after the their city of origin Buffalo, New york. This is usually made with the chicken wings coated with a spicy hot pepper sauce but in some places they make it as boneless too. They usually have a heat index for this dish from very low to extreme heat, I havn't tasted the neither extreme nor the low heat ones, the medium ones really tastes good. Now Pizza hut is also serving this wings ..yet to taste. They are delicious, easy recipe and very tasty appetizer and are great when you get a hankering for something hot and unable to decide, try this Hot Buffalo Wings. This is usually served with celery so did I.
Ingredients
Chicken Wings - 10 to 12
Butter - 3 tsp
Paprika - 2 tsp
Cayenne pepper - 1tsp
Franks Red Hot Sauce - 4 tsp
Salt as required
Method
Cut off the wing tips and Cut wings at the joint.
Create a marinade by mixing together the melted butter and all other ingredients.
Take 2 tsp of this marinade and mix with the wings in a zip loc cover and keep refrigerated for 2 hrs.
Place the chicken in a oven safe plate and broil in medium temp in the oven for 15 mins on each side.
Remove from oven and baste with the remaining sauce. Serve with blue cheese or ranch and celery.
Ingredients
Chicken Wings - 10 to 12
Butter - 3 tsp
Paprika - 2 tsp
Cayenne pepper - 1tsp
Franks Red Hot Sauce - 4 tsp
Salt as required
Method
Cut off the wing tips and Cut wings at the joint.
Create a marinade by mixing together the melted butter and all other ingredients.
Take 2 tsp of this marinade and mix with the wings in a zip loc cover and keep refrigerated for 2 hrs.
Place the chicken in a oven safe plate and broil in medium temp in the oven for 15 mins on each side.
Remove from oven and baste with the remaining sauce. Serve with blue cheese or ranch and celery.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Chicken and Mushroom Curry
After the success of egg and mushroom curry, I made this another great dish using mushroom and chicken and undoubtedly even this was also great. In this dish mushroom didn't do any magic, there was not much of any difference in the taste by adding it other than getting the mushroom pieces in between the chicken in your each mouth, which I liked. Mushroom works very well with any combination, no complaints so far from my family. This dish can be prepared using only chicken. This goes well with rice and may be with chapathi too.
Ingredients
Chicken boneless thigh - 1/2 lb
Mushroom Chopped - 2 Cups
Onion - 1 chunks
Garlic - 6 cloves
Ginger - 1"
Clove - 4
Cinnamon - 1"
Tomato - 3 Chopped
Coriander Powder - 2tsp
Cumin Powder - 1tsp
Chili Powder - 1tsp
Tuemeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt as required
Oil - 3tsp
Method
Blend together onion, garlic, ginger, cloves and cinnamon to a fine paste.
Heat oil in a pan, add the onion paste and stir for few mins.
Add all the powders and mix well.
Add tomato and cook closed in a reduced flame for 10 mins.
Add the chicken and cook for 10 more mins and add the mushroom and cook for 30 mins in low flame and stir inbetween. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with rice. Enjoy!!
Ingredients
Chicken boneless thigh - 1/2 lb
Mushroom Chopped - 2 Cups
Onion - 1 chunks
Garlic - 6 cloves
Ginger - 1"
Clove - 4
Cinnamon - 1"
Tomato - 3 Chopped
Coriander Powder - 2tsp
Cumin Powder - 1tsp
Chili Powder - 1tsp
Tuemeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt as required
Oil - 3tsp
Method
Blend together onion, garlic, ginger, cloves and cinnamon to a fine paste.
Heat oil in a pan, add the onion paste and stir for few mins.
Add all the powders and mix well.
Add tomato and cook closed in a reduced flame for 10 mins.
Add the chicken and cook for 10 more mins and add the mushroom and cook for 30 mins in low flame and stir inbetween. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with rice. Enjoy!!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Egg N Mushroom Curry
This is a fabulous side dish. Though the combination sounds weird but it does work, the taste was excellent. Actually I tried this combination for fun as me and my hubby loves mushroom a lot and I had some few mushrooms left after making the mushroom stuffed omelette and used it for this dish and surprisingly this dish was delicious. This dish is so easy and quick to cook and can be served as a side dish for chapathi, or any flavored rice.
Ingredients
Boiled Egg - 4
Mushroom Chopped - 1 cup
Bell Pepper - 1 sliced
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1tsp
Onion - 1 chopped
Tomato - 2
Coriander Powder - 2 tsp
Chili Powder - 1tsp
Cumin Powder - 1tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2tsp
Salt to taste
Method
Heat oil in a non-stick pan and fry onions until brown.
Add ginger and garlic paste and stir well. Add tomato and cook for few mins.
Add all the spices and a splash of water to avoid burning of the spices. Cook for few mins.
Add pepper and mushroom and cook in low flame, stir in between.
Slice the eggs to 4 pieces each.
When mushroom and pepper starts cooking add the eggs and cook in low flame, keep turning the eggs to coat well with the gravy. Garnish with cilantro.
Enjoy this dish chapathi or even plain rice.
Ingredients
Boiled Egg - 4
Mushroom Chopped - 1 cup
Bell Pepper - 1 sliced
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1tsp
Onion - 1 chopped
Tomato - 2
Coriander Powder - 2 tsp
Chili Powder - 1tsp
Cumin Powder - 1tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2tsp
Salt to taste
Method
Heat oil in a non-stick pan and fry onions until brown.
Add ginger and garlic paste and stir well. Add tomato and cook for few mins.
Add all the spices and a splash of water to avoid burning of the spices. Cook for few mins.
Add pepper and mushroom and cook in low flame, stir in between.
Slice the eggs to 4 pieces each.
When mushroom and pepper starts cooking add the eggs and cook in low flame, keep turning the eggs to coat well with the gravy. Garnish with cilantro.
Enjoy this dish chapathi or even plain rice.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sunny's Shrimp Biryani
My hubby hates seafood, he is okay with fish but he can't tolerate the smell of shrimp and crab, unfortunately those two are my favorite, even my boy loves shrimp. Usually on friday my hubby has team lunch in office, no need to pack lunch for him, so all fridays has become shrimp day for me and my boy till he started going to kindergarten. When going to pre-school he comes home by 1' o clock and if its friday while going to school he would remind me to prepare shrimp for lunch. Now in kindergarten he comes only by 4'o clock so me not getting any chance to prepare shrimp for couple of months. He likes only gravies with shrimp or just fried shrimp and biryani is out of question. My hubby is ready to eat shrimp w'out the smell of shrimp. I don't know, what a shrimp dish would be w'out the smell of shrimp and best way is he not eat shrimp.
I was planning to prepare this shrimp biryani for a quite long time but due to my laziness of preparing just for me kept on delaying this, my choice was always simple either curd rice or maggi noodles for lunch on fridays. This time I dissipated my laziness and prepared this shrimp biryani and had great lunch all by myself. Each mouth made me wonder how can people not like shrimp!!! I saved some for my boy to eat after coming from school and to my surprise he really enjoyed it. Its always hard to say which food they like or dislike, its keeps changing. Already I made this dish 3 times within a week time, so I give the name sunny's shrimp biryani.
Ingredients
Basmati Rice- 1/2 cup
Shrimp - 1 cup
Cloves - 2
Bay leaf - 2
Cinnamon - 1/2" stick
Cardamom- 1
Fennel seeds / saunf - 1/2 tsp
Tomato - 1 medium chopped
Onion - 1/2 of 1, chopped
Green Chilies - 2 slit
Mint and cilantro chopped - 1 cup
Ginger Garlic paste - 1tsp
Coriander Powder - 1tsp
Chili Powder - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 2tsp
Salt to taste
Method
Soak rice for 1/2 an hour and boil the rice till its fully cooked. Clean and devein the shrimp. In a non-stck pan heat oil and add clove, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaf and fennel seed. Add onion and green chilies and saute for few mins and add ginger garlic paste and tomato and add all the dry powders and add the shrimp and cook until the shrimp is fully cooked and the gravy is dry. Add the chopped mint and cilantro. Now add the cooked rice and mix and eat with onion raita.
I was planning to prepare this shrimp biryani for a quite long time but due to my laziness of preparing just for me kept on delaying this, my choice was always simple either curd rice or maggi noodles for lunch on fridays. This time I dissipated my laziness and prepared this shrimp biryani and had great lunch all by myself. Each mouth made me wonder how can people not like shrimp!!! I saved some for my boy to eat after coming from school and to my surprise he really enjoyed it. Its always hard to say which food they like or dislike, its keeps changing. Already I made this dish 3 times within a week time, so I give the name sunny's shrimp biryani.
Ingredients
Basmati Rice- 1/2 cup
Shrimp - 1 cup
Cloves - 2
Bay leaf - 2
Cinnamon - 1/2" stick
Cardamom- 1
Fennel seeds / saunf - 1/2 tsp
Tomato - 1 medium chopped
Onion - 1/2 of 1, chopped
Green Chilies - 2 slit
Mint and cilantro chopped - 1 cup
Ginger Garlic paste - 1tsp
Coriander Powder - 1tsp
Chili Powder - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 2tsp
Salt to taste
Method
Soak rice for 1/2 an hour and boil the rice till its fully cooked. Clean and devein the shrimp. In a non-stck pan heat oil and add clove, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaf and fennel seed. Add onion and green chilies and saute for few mins and add ginger garlic paste and tomato and add all the dry powders and add the shrimp and cook until the shrimp is fully cooked and the gravy is dry. Add the chopped mint and cilantro. Now add the cooked rice and mix and eat with onion raita.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Rasmalai and Happy Diwali
Diwali greetings to Everyone !!!
In India, its festival time, everyone would be busy shopping for the diwali. A total celebration time and its the only time of the year you forget about the weighing scale, don't bother about calorie, after all its only once a year you can enjoy these religious food without guilt. Visiting relatives house, you would be greeted with a plate full of sweets and savories which you can't avoid, so this is the time you should almost delete the word "calorie" from your mind. The total atmosphere in India is full of joy and happiness as you see people wearing new clothes, distributing sweets, bursting firecrackers are always fun and you have to be in India to feel that. Unfortunately we could not visit India for diwali and this is fifth concecutive year we are missing diwali in India.
Here in US, even on diwali day some one has to remind us its diwali, no fireworks, no relatives, no different variety of sweets, no diwali special shopping, no new movies ....endless list. There could be fireworks at temple where you can only watch them. During these times I feel really guilty about my kids missing all these diwali funs.
I am not good at making sweets but to bring some diwali atmosphere at home I made the kaju katli- a one easy sweet recipe but that didn't come out the way it should, so I made my all time only favorite sweet Rasmalai. I made the easy way, bought the rasagulla tin from indian store and made the rasmalai from it.
Ingredients
Rasagulla - 1 tin
Milk - 3 cups
Sugar to taste
Saffron - 1tsp
Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tsp
Pistachio chopped - 3 tsp
Method
Bring the milk to boil in a non-stick pan and add sugar and half of saffron and reduce the flame and cook till the milk reduces to half. Squeeze all the syrub from the rasagullas and add to the milk and cook for few more mins. Remove from flame and add the remaining saffron and pistachio. Serve chilled.
In India, its festival time, everyone would be busy shopping for the diwali. A total celebration time and its the only time of the year you forget about the weighing scale, don't bother about calorie, after all its only once a year you can enjoy these religious food without guilt. Visiting relatives house, you would be greeted with a plate full of sweets and savories which you can't avoid, so this is the time you should almost delete the word "calorie" from your mind. The total atmosphere in India is full of joy and happiness as you see people wearing new clothes, distributing sweets, bursting firecrackers are always fun and you have to be in India to feel that. Unfortunately we could not visit India for diwali and this is fifth concecutive year we are missing diwali in India.
Here in US, even on diwali day some one has to remind us its diwali, no fireworks, no relatives, no different variety of sweets, no diwali special shopping, no new movies ....endless list. There could be fireworks at temple where you can only watch them. During these times I feel really guilty about my kids missing all these diwali funs.
I am not good at making sweets but to bring some diwali atmosphere at home I made the kaju katli- a one easy sweet recipe but that didn't come out the way it should, so I made my all time only favorite sweet Rasmalai. I made the easy way, bought the rasagulla tin from indian store and made the rasmalai from it.
Ingredients
Rasagulla - 1 tin
Milk - 3 cups
Sugar to taste
Saffron - 1tsp
Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tsp
Pistachio chopped - 3 tsp
Method
Bring the milk to boil in a non-stick pan and add sugar and half of saffron and reduce the flame and cook till the milk reduces to half. Squeeze all the syrub from the rasagullas and add to the milk and cook for few more mins. Remove from flame and add the remaining saffron and pistachio. Serve chilled.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
October - Breast cancer awareness month
October a pink month, if we visit grocery store, we are surrounder by all pink boxes from cereals to even baby diapers are pink. The pink ribbon means awareness and awareness is the key to survival. So I thought I write about the article I came across about this breast cancer and want to be a part in spreading the awareness.
Ten facts about breast cancer
1. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among Indian women.
2. Approximately one lakh new cases of breast cancer are detected every year in the sub-continent.
3. The risk of a breast cancer is one in 30 in urban India and one in 65 in rural India. These figures are due to failure in detection in early stages.
4. Early detection can increase chances of cure in 80% cases.
5. In the last decade, breast cancer has overtaken cervical cancer as the most common cancer among women in major metropolitan cities like Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi.
6. Approximately 90,000 breast cancer cases were detected in 2008 with over 48,000 deaths in the sub-continent. If this condition is not detected sooner, then it’s estimated that these figures could go up to 1,00,000 with over 55,000 deaths by 2010.
7. The number of new breast cancer patients annually at The Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai has risen from 1,800 to 3,200 in the past 10 years.
8. Goa has the highest number of breast cancer cases in the country.
9. According to the World Health Organisation, cancer is all set to outpace heart ailments as the biggest killer in the next two years. It also says that cancer diagnosis has been steadily rising and will soon touch the 12 million mark this year. By 2030, new cancer cases could rise to 27 million with up to 17 million deaths.
10. Breast cancer is on the rise largely due to changing lifestyle and dietary patterns among women in urban India. With fewer women opting for babies and lactating for lesser time than their mothers, they are at a higher risk of facing this condition.
(info Courtesy : iDiva.com and Women’s Cancer Initiative, Tata Memorial Hospital )
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, all women starting at age 40 should get a mammogram every one to two years, and if there is a history of breast cancer in your family, you may need to start getting mammograms earlier.
Most of the breast cancer cases are curable when detected earlier, thats why it is so important to get tested regularly – mammograms can find cancer early when it’s most treatable.
Although there is no guaranteed way to prevent breast cancer, keeping up with a healthy lifestyle that includes good diet and exercise habits can help your mind and body stay strong.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Stuffed Omelette
A simple healthy omelette stuffed with vegetables. Adding mushroom to this tastes really wonderful and you can even add meat to this and make it more yummy. We first tasted this at Denny's restaurant and then we became a regular eater.
During weekends we prefer eating this for breakfast than other south Indian food. My hubby loves to prepares this omlette and I get a chance to just stay away from kitchen for a while. This is the recipe of what he did.
Ingredients
Egg - 2
Milk - 2 tsp
For Stuffing
Mushroom Chopped - 1/4 cup
Bell Pepper Chopped - 1/4 cup
Onion Chopped - 1/4 cup
Pepper and salt to taste
Any shredded Cheese
Oil - 1 tsp
Method
Heat oil in a skillet and saute onion for few mins and add mushroom and bell pepper and add some fresh grinded pepper and salt and cook till its done and make it as dry as possible and set aside. Heat a little oil or use a non-stick spray in the egg pan, beat the egg with milk and little pepper and salt, pour the eggs to the centre of the heated pan, tilting the pan so that the eggs spread out evenly on the pan. When its done on one side, carefully flip to the other side and cook. Flip again and place the vegetables to one half side and top it with cheese and fold over with the other side and hold it till the cheese melts. Enjoy!!
During weekends we prefer eating this for breakfast than other south Indian food. My hubby loves to prepares this omlette and I get a chance to just stay away from kitchen for a while. This is the recipe of what he did.
Ingredients
Egg - 2
Milk - 2 tsp
For Stuffing
Mushroom Chopped - 1/4 cup
Bell Pepper Chopped - 1/4 cup
Onion Chopped - 1/4 cup
Pepper and salt to taste
Any shredded Cheese
Oil - 1 tsp
Method
Heat oil in a skillet and saute onion for few mins and add mushroom and bell pepper and add some fresh grinded pepper and salt and cook till its done and make it as dry as possible and set aside. Heat a little oil or use a non-stick spray in the egg pan, beat the egg with milk and little pepper and salt, pour the eggs to the centre of the heated pan, tilting the pan so that the eggs spread out evenly on the pan. When its done on one side, carefully flip to the other side and cook. Flip again and place the vegetables to one half side and top it with cheese and fold over with the other side and hold it till the cheese melts. Enjoy!!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Tomato Capsicum Uthappam
The first place I stayed in US is a small town called Peoria in Illinois and its at 3 hrs drive from Chicago. It is a very small place where there is only one Indian restaurant and couple of Indian stores. I have hardly visited that restaurant even though I stayed there for 3 yrs, the food there is not so tempting to visit again. Apart from that there is a beautiful Balaji temple in Aurora which is at 2 hours drive (1 hr from Chicago), the 2 hrs drive to the temple would be is so pleasant as we pass through lots of corn fields, much more smaller towns and whenever we get bored, we always love to visit this temple.
The temple is really very big and beautiful and to add more to its greatness it has an awesome cafetaria which serves all mouth watering south Indian dishes. To enter into the main temple premises you have to cross through the cafeteria dinning place and you can watch people splurging in the sambar, vadai, dosa and many more, I have to honestly accept that we can't pray peacefully as the sambar smell still lingers in our mind. One of the main reason we visit that place quite often is for the food and we are not the only ones. Though we eat the same dosa almost three to four times in a week at home, eating again dosa outside in any restaurant is so fascinating. Dosa is one such wonderful dish for me which I won't get bored even eating it 3 times a day.
After moving to North Carolina I really miss the Balaji temple as is, such a lovely place.
Well, coming to dosa, I prefer the plain dosa than this spiced up tomato dosa and in contrast my hubby likes with something on the dosa even he loves just sugar on it than just eating the plain one.
Ingredients
Dosa Batter
Tomato - 1 sliced to a round shape
Capsicum Chopped - 1/2 cup
Cilantro Chopped - 1 cup
Pepper powder to taste
oil
Method
Heat the dosa pan or griddle and pour 1/4th cup of dosa batter and spread to a small and thick circle, place the tomato and capsicum on the top of the dosa batter and spread the cilantro on top of tomato and sprinkle some pepper powder and pour 1 tsp of oil on top and cook till brown and flip over the dosa to cook the other side until the tomato and capsicum is cooked. Serve hot with coconut chutney.
The temple is really very big and beautiful and to add more to its greatness it has an awesome cafetaria which serves all mouth watering south Indian dishes. To enter into the main temple premises you have to cross through the cafeteria dinning place and you can watch people splurging in the sambar, vadai, dosa and many more, I have to honestly accept that we can't pray peacefully as the sambar smell still lingers in our mind. One of the main reason we visit that place quite often is for the food and we are not the only ones. Though we eat the same dosa almost three to four times in a week at home, eating again dosa outside in any restaurant is so fascinating. Dosa is one such wonderful dish for me which I won't get bored even eating it 3 times a day.
After moving to North Carolina I really miss the Balaji temple as is, such a lovely place.
Well, coming to dosa, I prefer the plain dosa than this spiced up tomato dosa and in contrast my hubby likes with something on the dosa even he loves just sugar on it than just eating the plain one.
Ingredients
Dosa Batter
Tomato - 1 sliced to a round shape
Capsicum Chopped - 1/2 cup
Cilantro Chopped - 1 cup
Pepper powder to taste
oil
Method
Heat the dosa pan or griddle and pour 1/4th cup of dosa batter and spread to a small and thick circle, place the tomato and capsicum on the top of the dosa batter and spread the cilantro on top of tomato and sprinkle some pepper powder and pour 1 tsp of oil on top and cook till brown and flip over the dosa to cook the other side until the tomato and capsicum is cooked. Serve hot with coconut chutney.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Crunchy Fish Fingers
Simple and very easy to prepare this chruncy, tasty fish fingers. My one year old girl grabbed one from the plate as soon it was ready and started munching and she soon took another one before the plate was empty and even my picky boy loved it. This crunchy fish finger is a big hit with my kids. I use tilapia fillets fearing cooking other fish like salmon would leaves a strong fishy odor lingering in the house even after couple of days which makes my boy really grossed, so I choose tilapia which is comparatively less odor but you can use any fish fillets of your choice.
Ingredients
Tilapia fillets - 2 Cut into 1 and 1/2 to 2 inch long strips
Bread Crumbs - 1/2 cup
All Purpose Flour - 1/4 cup
Ginger Garlic Paste - 3/4 tsp
Chili Powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
Pepper Powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil to fry
Method
In a medium bowl, combine flour, ginger garlic paste, chili powder, coriander powder, pepper powder, baking powder, salt with some water to a nice thick batter. Take the fish and dip in flour batter and dredge in the breadcrumbs and set aside for 5 mins and deep fry in the oil and serve with ketchup. Enjoy!!
Ingredients
Tilapia fillets - 2 Cut into 1 and 1/2 to 2 inch long strips
Bread Crumbs - 1/2 cup
All Purpose Flour - 1/4 cup
Ginger Garlic Paste - 3/4 tsp
Chili Powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
Pepper Powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil to fry
Method
In a medium bowl, combine flour, ginger garlic paste, chili powder, coriander powder, pepper powder, baking powder, salt with some water to a nice thick batter. Take the fish and dip in flour batter and dredge in the breadcrumbs and set aside for 5 mins and deep fry in the oil and serve with ketchup. Enjoy!!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Birthday Lunch Special - Chole Bhatura and Jalapeno Chicken
One great thing about my hubby is he never insists on what cook, and whatever and however I cook he appreciates it. Sometimes this makes me annoyed when I run out of ideas and I dont get any help on it from him. Its always easy for me to cook rather than deciding what to cook.
Unlike me he does not have too many favorites in food, and anything I cook he used to enjoy as if he is eating for the first time but whenever we go to vegetarian restaurant most of the time he orders chole bhatura and in non-veg buffet, I have seen him hogging a plate full of chicken 65 couple of times so I concluded those two should be his favorite and I decided to prepare chole bhatura and chicken 65 for lunch on his birthday. I thought to do some variation in these dishes and I added jalapeno to chicken guessing it would give a nice spicy kick to the chicken and for chole bhatura I retained the same, nothing to modify in it. I hope as usual he enjoyed this special dish I made for him with love. In my previous post he left few comments in the name VJ and I felt little encouraging and I hope he does same for this too and waiting for it.
Bhatura
All Purpose flour/maida - 2 cups
Sugar - 1tsp
Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Baking Powder - 1tsp
Oil to fry
Method
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and knead the dough with enogh water and make it to a soft dough(not too soft) and rest this dough coved for 2 to 3 hrs and this gonna make even more soft.
Onion - 1/2 of a onion chopped
Tomato - 1 chopped
Curry leaves - 10
Unlike me he does not have too many favorites in food, and anything I cook he used to enjoy as if he is eating for the first time but whenever we go to vegetarian restaurant most of the time he orders chole bhatura and in non-veg buffet, I have seen him hogging a plate full of chicken 65 couple of times so I concluded those two should be his favorite and I decided to prepare chole bhatura and chicken 65 for lunch on his birthday. I thought to do some variation in these dishes and I added jalapeno to chicken guessing it would give a nice spicy kick to the chicken and for chole bhatura I retained the same, nothing to modify in it. I hope as usual he enjoyed this special dish I made for him with love. In my previous post he left few comments in the name VJ and I felt little encouraging and I hope he does same for this too and waiting for it.
Bhatura
This tasted really good and loved it, only disappointment is it never came fully puffed up, mistake may be I kneaded the dough too soft and after resting for 3 hrs it became more soft, so make sure you dont do the same mistake.
IngredientsAll Purpose flour/maida - 2 cups
Sugar - 1tsp
Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Baking Powder - 1tsp
Salt to taste
Water as neededOil to fry
Method
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and knead the dough with enogh water and make it to a soft dough(not too soft) and rest this dough coved for 2 to 3 hrs and this gonna make even more soft.
After 2 to 3 hrs, take a small ball of dough and roll them. Heat oil in a pan and fry them in hot oil. Serve with chole.
Simple Chole
I call it as simple chole b'coz I never grinded any masalas and also did not use any store bought chole masala, I made it my own way and it tasted good.
Ingredients
Chole/chick peas - 2 cups Onion - 1/2 of a onion chopped
Tomato - 1 chopped
Ginger chopped - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1tspCoriander Powder - 2tsp
Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin Powder - 1 tsp
Amchur Powder - 1 tsp
Kasoori methi - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil - 2tsp
Method
Soak chick peas overnight and pressure cook them and set aside or simple use canned like I did.
In a skillet heat and when it heats up add the cumin seed and when it splutter add onion and ginger and saute for few mins and add tomato and cook till is fully cooked and juicy and start adding all the powders one by one and mix and if needed add water to avoid burning of the powders. Add the boiled or canned chickpeas and add some water and cook until it reaches a thick consistency. Garnish with cilantro. Serve with bhatura.
Jalapeno Chicken
This one stole the show, I saved some without adding the jalapenos for my kids and they really enjoyed it.
Ingredients
Boneless chicken - 1 lb cut into a bite size piece
Lemon juice - 1tsp
yogurt - 3 tsp
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Corn Flour - 2tsp
Red food color
Soy sauce - 1 tsp
Jalapeno - 3 chopped to small piecesCurry leaves - 10
Salt to taste
Oil to fry
Method
In a bowl marinate chicken with all ingredients expect jalapeno, curry leaves and soy sauce and let rest for 1 hr. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the curry leaves and keep aside and fry the marinated chicken in the same oil and transfer to a kitchen towel to drain the excess oil. In a other pan, heat 1tsp of oil and fry the jalapeno with salt and little lemon juice till pepper is soft and before removing from the stove add the soy sauce and mix chicken to it and transfer to a serving plate and put the fried curry leaves on the top and serve with some onions.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Cilantro Chicken
Although coimbatore is my home town, I adore Bangalore more, reason may be I started my Bangalore life in college and got a lot of chance to explore Bangalore more with friends which I consider a pleasant memories to cherish.
Intailly when we moved to Bangalore, my brother's office colleague Laksmi aunty's family helped us a lot. I would say I got introduced to everything in Bangalore through them. She was such a lovely person and I used to admire her a lot for what she was-a working woman, best cook and in free time she used to do lots of craft work and not to forget she had 2 small girls and a husband to care for and that makes me wonder how she could perfectly balance everything. She is my inspiration for lot of things . Her lovely girls, vanitha and anusha were my kannada tutors, they used to listern patiently to the worst kannada I speak and they have also corrected me which helped me to speak better. We had a wonderful time together with lots of family get togethers, trips and many more. All of a sudden there is been no contact between our two families for almost 10 yrs now, I have no idea what had happened in between and I feel that is an immature act. I never got a chance to tell her that how much I admired her and she is my first inspiration for cooking and I actually owe her family a lot.
Today post the cilantro chicken , is the only simple chicken recipe I learnt from her and still is one of the best chicken recipe for me. Unfortunately I did not get an opportunity to learn more of her mouth watering recipes.
Today post the cilantro chicken , is the only simple chicken recipe I learnt from her and still is one of the best chicken recipe for me. Unfortunately I did not get an opportunity to learn more of her mouth watering recipes.
I am writing this in my blog hopping one day accidentally she may read it.
Ingredients:
whole cut Chicken - 1 lb
Onion - 1 chopped
Garlic - 5 cloves
Ginger - 1"
Cinnamon - 3/4" stick
Cloves - 4
Cilantro - 1/2 bunch
Black Pepper - 1tsp
Green Chilies - 3
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder - 2 tsp
Oil - 3 tspSalt to taste
Method
In a pan heat oil and when it heats up add onion and saute for few mins and add chicken and add turmeric powder, coriander powder and cook for 10 mins. In the mean time grind together garlic, ginger, chilies, pepper, cloves, cinnamon and cilantro to a fine paste. Now add this grinded paste to the chicken and cook untill the raw fragrance is gone and you get a nice gravy consistency. Serve with jeera rice or any pulao or even plain rice it would taste good.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Creamy Dreamy Chicken Sauce on Angle Hair
This was a huge hit in my house, even my choosy boy liked it. He actually asked me to save some for next day so you can guess how hit was this dish. This is a calorie rich food so if you dont mind about calories then this is the great dish. Wonder why tasty foods are always not good for health?. I dont mind making this dish once in a while, more over I am gonna eat only little (dont ask me how much is that little). This creamy sauce is best served over any pasta shapes like spaghetti, fettuccine, cappellini or linguine pastas. I used angle hair b'coz no big secret that's what I had in my pantry. To make this dish more creamier I used heavy whip cream and if you feel its too much creamier you can go ahead and use only milk. This sauce can be made with any variation of your choice which contribute to your consistent and taste.
Ingredients
Chicken Breast - 2 halvesItalian flavoured breadcrumbs - 1/2 cup
Angle hair - 1/2 lb
Olive oil - 2tsp
Butter - 1 tbsp
Garlic - 5 cloves minced
Onion - 1 chopped
Chicken Bouillon cubes - 2 crumbled
Heavy whipped cream - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Dried parsley - 1/2 tsp
Parmesan cheese - 1/2 cup
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Cook the pasta according to the direction on package, drain. Mix breadcrumbs, 2tsp parmesan cheese, pepper powder in a wide bowl or plate. Coat the chicken breast with the breadcrumbs on both the side and set aside.
Heat oil in a pan and add 2 tsp of garlic and add the chicken and cook on a simmer flame until chicken is well cooked. Remove chicken from the pan and cool and slice diagonally into long strips.
Reheat the oil in the pan with butter and add remaining garlic and onion and saute until onion is soft. Add the chicken bouillon and add water and bring to a boil and cook in simmer for 10 mins. Add milk and cheese and cook for 5 more mins.
Place the cooked pasta on the plate, layer the chicken over the pasta and pour the sauce on top of the chicken. Garnish with fresh or dired parsley. Serve hot. I served with asian green beans salad - look for this recipe in my previous post.
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