Aapam

Just posted the Chicken stew... Now posting the Aapam recipe. I tried various different recipe and this one turned out superb. Some batter stick to the pan. This one came out so well.... Try it out...

 

Ingredients:

Raw rice - 2 Cups
Cooked Rice - 1 Cup
Coconut (grated) - 3/4 Cup
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Instant Yeast - 1/2 tsp
Warm water - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp

How to make :

1. Soak the rice for 3-4 hrs. Grind the soaked rice, cooked rice, coconut together smoothly to a thick batter.

2. To the warm water add the sugar and yeast. The sugar will help the yeast to ferment. Keep it aside for 10 mins.

3. Add this to the batter and leave it for 5-6 hrs for fermentation.

4. Now make hot aapam with this batter and serve it with hot stew...

Chicken Stew

I wanted to have aapam with stew for a long time. Whenever i order in some hotel, either the stew will not be nice or the aapam will not be nice. So i wanted to try at home. And my husband will not have it with veg stew... So i made aapam, veg stew and chicken stew... Now sharing the chicken stew recipe.. Will share the aapam and veg stew little later. The main ingredient in the stew is the coconut milk, coconut oil and the curry leaves.... The flavour of these just bring the mood of God's own country, Kerala....

 

 

Ingredients:

 

Chicken - 500 gms

Onion (sliced) - 1/2 cup

Potato (cut into cubes) - 1/2 cup

Carrot (cut into cubes) - 1/2 cup

Green chilli - 5-6 nos.

Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - 3 sprigs

Coconut milk (2nd milk) - 1 1/2 Cup

Coconut milk (1st milk) - 1 Cup

Salt - 3/4 tsp

Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon - 1 inch bark

Cloves - 3 nos.

Bay leaf - 1 no.

Star anise - 1 no.

Coconut oil - 2 tbsp

 

 

How to make:

 

1. Heat oil in a thick bottom pan, add the cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf, star anise and saute for 30 secs.

 

2. Add the onion, ginger garlic paste slit green chilli and saute for 2-3 mins. Once the onion turns transparent, add 2 sprigs of curry leaves, potato, carrot and saute for 30 secs.

 

3. Add salt, pepper powder according to your taste.  Add the chicken and saute for 2 mins.

 

4. Add the 2nd coconut milk and cover with lid. Let the chicken cook. This will take atleast 15-20 mins.

 

5. Once the chicken is cooked, add the 1st coconut milk, 1 sprig of curry leaves and 1 tsp of coconut oil. Don't let this boil as the coconut milk will curdle. Just keep in simmer for 2-3 mins for the coconut milk to blend well.

 

 

Gajjar ka Halwa (Carrot Halwa)

Yipee..... This is my 50th post and I'm so excited... Thanks to all my friends who have been encouraging me, which push me to do more... .... As a celebration I wanted to post something sweet and delicious. So presenting you the carrot halwa... Its one of the easiest recipe again, not much of strain other than grating the carrot. I used microwave because its takes much lesser time than cooking on gas.

Ingredients:

Carrot (grated) - 2 Cup

Milk - 1 Cup

Sugar - 3/4 Cup

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Cashewnut - 10-15 nos. (broken into small pieces)

Raisins - 15-20 nos.

How to make:

1. In a microwave bowl add the carrot and milk. Put this in microwave for10 mins...

Incase you are cooking on gas, pressure cook the grated carrot with milk in cooker for 20 mins.

2. Now add the sugar, stir well and keep for another 5 mins.

In a thick bottom pan, add the cooked carrot and sugar and cook till the sugar dissolves and is completely absorbed by the carrot.

3. In a small bowl, add 1 tbsp of ghee and cashewnuts and raisins, keep for about 1-1 1/2 mins...

4. Add this to the carrot hawa and the balance ghee. Keep for another 2 mins.

5. Hot hot gajjar ka halwa is ready... Serve it hot with vanilla ice cream.... !

Apple Fritters

Fritters are good for evening snack...  With a very few ingredients, its a quick snack to make if you have some sudden guest at home.... Its such simple one to make, crunchy outside & soft inside... Kids will love this...

Ingredients:

Apple - 1 no.
All purpose flour/Maida - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 tsp
Water 1/4 cup
Oil - for frying
Honey - for garnish

How to make:

1. De-seed the apple and  cut into thin slices.

2. Make a thick batter (similar to bajji batter) with flour, sugar and water.

3. Heat oil, dip the apple slices in the batter and fry till the top crust turns crunchy.

4. Arrange the fritters in the serving plate and garnish with honey.
 

Butter Cookies

Long time since I baked something.... So wanted to try cookies and it turned out so good.... Cookies without egg and baking powder.. I used gas oven and baked till the colour changed to golden brown. I never thought making cookies is so easy... Now I'm going to try many more variations in cookies...

 

 

Ingredients:

 

All purpose flour (Maida) - 1 Cup



Sugar - 3/4 Cup (If you like it little salty, lessen the sugar)

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Butter / Margarine - 1/2 Cup

 

 

How to make:

 

1. Mix the flour, salt and sugar well. Melt the butter and add to the flour to make a dough.

 

2. Roll the dough into thick sheet and with help of cookies cutter make your desired shapes.

 

3. Grease the baking tray and place the cookies. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 mins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rice Kheer

One of the delicious dessert for any festival. Simple to make and taste is just ecstasy... I will share the simple way to make super kheer without any condensed milk, but tastes like heaven.... ;-)

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 1 Cup
Milk - 4 Cups
Sugar - 1 Cup
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Cashewnut - 2 tbsp
Raisens - 1 tbsp
Water - 1/2 Cup

How to make:

1. Soak the basmati rice in water for 20-30 mins.

2. Crush the rice with your hands and put in pressure cooker. Add the milk, sugar and pressure cook until 1 whistle. After that cook in sim for another 10 mins.

3. In a small pan, heat ghee and add the cashew nut and raisens and fry till becomes golden brown.

4. Once the pressure is released, add the cardamom powder and fried nuts.

5. Serve it hot or cold as you prefer !

Kappa (Tapioca) Kari

Tapioca is very high in starch and not many like it. But trust me, anything which is cooked properly with their style of cooking, I'm sure it will be a hit in every one's kitchen. My mother-in law never use to eat tapioca before. But from the time she tasted my kappa kari, this has become one of her favorite now. When you buy tapioca, this is something u can check for. If you peel the skin little it should be pink in colour inside (only the inner skin and not the tapioca). This will cook faster and be tender as well.

 

Ingredients:

Tapioca - 500 gms
Coconut (grated)- 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Urad dhal - 1 tsp
Asafoedita - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Red chilli - 2 nos.
Oil - 2 tbsp

 

How to make :

 

1. Peel the skin of tapioca and cut into small cubes.

 

2. In a pan add 2 cups of water, bring to boil and add the tapioca. Add the turmeric powder. Let it cook for 15 mins. If you want to cook in pressure cooker, cook this for 2 whistles.

 

3. Once the tapioca is cooked drain the water, but keep 2 tbsp of this water aside.

 

4. In a thick pan, heat oil, add the mustard and urad dhal. Once the mustard crackles, add red chilli, curry leaves, asafoedita and finally the cooked tapioca.

 

5. Add 2 tbsp of the water kept aside and add salt. This will help to salt to absorb in the tapioca. Cook for 5 mins and add the grated coconut.

Masala Paneer Paratha

From a routine chappathi/ side dish wanted to have something different So made paneer stuffed paratha. It was awesome with pickle and boondhi raita. After this decided that every week we should have some stuffed paratha...

 

Ingredients:

For Stuffing

Grated Paneer - 1 Cup
Onion (Finely chopped) - 1/2 cup
Carrot (grated) - 1/2 cup
Tomato (Finely chopped) - 2 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Green Chilli (Finely chopped) - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Corriander leaves (chopped) - 2 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp

For the dough

Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Water - 3/4 cup
Oil - 2 tbsp

 

How to make :

 

1. Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion and ginger garlic paste. Saute for 5 mins.

 

2. Add carrot, tomato, green chilli and saute for 2 mins. Add salt, chilli powder and garam masala.

 

3. Add the grated paneer and corriander leaves and mix well and remove from stove. The stuffing will be like this.

 

How to make the paratha:

 

1. Make a dough with flour, salt and water. Then add oil to make it soft. Knead it for atleast 10-12 mins to get a soft dough. Leave it for 15-20 mins (If you make the dough first and prepare the stuffing, it will be enough).

 

2. Make small dumplings of the stuffing and stuff in the dough and make round paratha.

 

3. Make paratha with 2 tsp of oil/butter/ghee. Cook the paratha for 4 mins (2 mins on each side).

 

4. Serve it hot with pickle and raita.

 

Multi flour Dosa

Need a change from routine dosa what we eat, here is an option. This multi flour dosa is different in taste and very healthy too. Quick and easy to make. I made pudina chutney to serve along with. And i also had the tomato garlic thokku which also goes very well with this dosa. 

Ingredients:

Wheat Flour - 1 Cup
Ragi Flour - 1/2 Cup
Corn Flour - 1 tbsp
Rice Flour - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Water - 2 Cups

How to make:

1. Make a batter with all ingredients without any lumps. Leave it for 5 mins.

2. Make crispy dosa and serve it hot with your preferred chutney.

Tomato Garlic Thokku

This is multi purpose thokku which goes very well with Dosa/ Idli / Chappathi or you can even mix with rice.... Takes a little time to cook but worth the time....  If you store it in dry air tight container, it will stay upto a week in room temperature and upto a month while refrigerated.

 

 

 

Ingredients:

Ripe Tomato - 4 nos
Garlic pods - 2 nos (if pod is not available, atleast 20 cloves)
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
Salt - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 3 tsp (adjust according to your taste)
Oil - 4-5 tbsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Fenugreek - 1/2 tsp
Asafoedita - 1/2 tsp

How to make it:

 

1. Chop each tomato into 12-14 pieces. Crush the garlic cloves and keep aside.

 

2. In a thick pan heat oil, add the crushed garlic and saute. After 2 mins add the mustard and fenugreek seeds.

 

3. Once the mustard crackles, add the curry leaves and tomato. After 5 mins, add salt and chilli powder and mix well.

 

4. This has to cook for 20 mins atleast. Keep stirring it occasionally so that it doesn't stick to the pan.

 

5. Just before removing it from stove, add the asafoedita.

Fatafat Sidedish

Here is a quick side dish recipe when you are in hurry or some guest arrived unexpected... This is very simple to make and takes hardly 10 mins. This goes very well Chappathi / Phulka or Puri.

 

Ingredients:

Onion (Finely Chopped) - 1/2 cup
Tomato (Finely Chopped) - 1/2 cup
Green Chilli - 2-3 nos.
Corriander leaves - few
Curry leaves - few
Besan flour - 1 1/2 tbsp
Water - 1 1/2 Cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1 pinch
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Red Chilli - 1 no.

How to make:

 

1. In a pan heat oil, add mustard, jeera. Once it crackles, add the red chilli, curry leaves. Now add the green chilli, onion and saute for 3 mins. Add the tomato and saute for 2 mins.

 

2. Add salt, turmeric powder and saute for 2 mins. Mix the besan flour in water without any lumps and add it to the pan. Let it boil and keep stirring it.

 

3. The gravy will thicken and garnish with corriander leaves.

 

Keerai Kozhambu

Keerai Kozhambu with thakkali (tomato) gotsu is one of my favorite. Of course its very healthy too. Its easy to make and rich in iron, minerals and protein. Since this is little blunt, the tangy tomato gotsu is the super combination for this along with mavadu.

 

Ingredients:

Mulai Keerai (Amaranth Leaves) - 1/2 Bunch
Toor Dhal - 1 Cup
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Sambhar Powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 3/4 tsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Asafoedita - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 1  tbsp

How to make:

1. Pressure cook the dhal with turmeric powder and keep aside.

2. Clean the keerai and put it in big bowl with water. Even few fine sand particles stuck on the leaves will come off. You can use the tender stem also... Stem has more nutritional values. So don't just throw away.

3. Cook the keerai in a pan with 1/2 cup of water for 10 mins. Add the sambhar powder while cooking so that the raw smell disappears.  Put in mixer grinder and grinder it coarsely.

4. In a pan, add the ground keerai and cooked dhal. Add the salt and let it boil for 3-5 mins.

 

5. In a small pan, do the seasoning with oil, mustard, jeera and asafoedita. Add the seasoning to the Keerai kozhambu.

 

6. Serve it with hot rice and thakkali gotsu.

Malai Methi Chicken

Its been quite a long since i tried something with Chicken. When I made Malai Kofta, was thinking I should do something with malai and chicken. But wanted to give little variation. So I added methi and also used sauteed onion & tomato puree.

Ingredients:

Chicken - 500 gms
Onion (Chopped) - 1/2 Cup
Tomato (Chopped)- 1/2 Cup
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Cashewnut - 8-10 nos.
Khus Khus - 1 tsp
Water - 1/2 Cup
Chilli Powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala - 3/4 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Cream - 1/2 cup
Kasturi Methi - 1 tbsp
Ginger (julienne) - for garnish
Oil - 2 tbsp

How to make:

1. Soak the cashewnut and khus khus in warm water for 1 hr and grind it to paste.

2. In a pan heat 1 tsp of oil and saute the onion till onion it turns golden brown. Add the tomato and saute till the raw flavour disappears. Grind this to puree.

3. In a thick pan, heat 1 tbsp oil and saute the  chicken for 1 min. Add  the onion tomato puree, cashew paste. Stir for 2-3 mins.  Add Chilli powder, salt, garam masala.

 

4. Add 1/2 cup water and leave it in simmer until the chicken is cooked. Stir it occasionally so that the gravy doesn't stick to the pan.

 

5. Once the chicken is cooked, add the cream and crushed kasturi methi. Mix well and remove it from stove.

 

6. Garnish with little cream and ginger. Serve it hot with Roti / Phulka.

Corn Pakoda

I was thinking what to make for evening snacks... When i opened my freezer, saw the Corn kernel which i had bought last week. So decided to make something with corn... Then a thought came as why not a pakoda with corn.... Wanted to make a diff kind of pakoda, so altered the usual pakoda recipe.... And it turned out good... very good infact...

Ingredients:

 

Corn Kernel - 1 Cup

Besan Flour - 2 tbsp

Rice Flour - 1 tbsp

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

Corriander powder - 1 tsp

Green Chilli (Finely chopped) - 1 tsp (adjust as per your taste)

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Corriander leaves (Finely Chopped) - 2 tsbp

Oil - for frying

 

How to make:

 

1. Mix all the ingredients by sprinkling little water. Keep this aside for 15 mins.

.

2. Heat oil in a pan and drop the  mixture like pakodas and fry till golden brown.

 

3. Serve it hot with tomato ketchup