VENDAKKA PULINCURRY

This is one delicious preparation of Okra. Tangy, mild spicy  and something truly comforting.

Ingredients

1.    Vendakka (Okra)- 12 nos, cut into medium thick round pieces.

2.    Mustard seeds- less than ¼ tsp

3.    Fenugreek seeds-less than ¼ tsp

4.    Dry red chilly- 2 or 3

5.    Oil-2 tbsp.

6.    Tamarind- gooseberry sized ball, soaked in  1 cup of water

7.    salt

To grind and paste

8.    Onion- 1medium, chopped

9.    Tomato-2 small, chopped

110   Cumin seeds-1/2tsp

11.  Chilly powder-1 tsp

12.  Coriander powder-1tsp

13.     Sambar powder-1tsp

14. Turmeric powder-1/4tsp

15.   Grated coconut-1/4 cup

Method of preparation

1.    Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan. Splutter cumin seeds. Add onion and sauté until it turns soft. Add tomatoes, salt and all other ingredients given under grind and paste. Cook until tomatoes melts. Keep this mix aside to cool. Grind this into smooth paste by adding some water.

2.    Heat remaining oil in same pan or another pan. Splutter mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds. Add dry red chilly. Add in la

3.    dies finger. Cover and cook it. Stir in between. Once the ladies fingers are cooked, add in ground paste and tamarind water (1cup). Initially add only ½ cup. Check for tanginess. If you feel the curry needs to be more tangy add the remaining ½ cup.Because the degree of tanginess vary with the tamarind used. I did add the full 1 cup of pulp to get the right sourness. So add accordingly. If the curry is too thick, more water can be added. Check for saltiness. Let the curry boils for few minutes.

Switch off the flame. Serve with rice ..

MACARONI MASALA ROAST

This is usually served as a side dish in Kerala Sadhya. Sadhya comprises of huge numbers of vegetarian curries. These curries are mild spicy and are added with less or no masala. We keralites are hard core no vegetarians :). Of late this kinds of masala curries are introduced in Sadyas to satisfy the Carnivorous taste buds. It may vary with regions. Macaroni may be replaced with soya chunks or Bread. This curry is really spicy and tasty too !!

^Ingredients

1.    Macaroni (cooked)- 2 n ½ cup

2.    Onion- 2 medium nos, chopped

3.    Ginger and garlic-  1 tbsp each, chopped

4.    Tomato- 2 small, chopped

5.    Chilly powder- 2tsp

6.    Garam masala- 1tsp + ½ tsp

7.    Thenga kothu (coconut bits)- 4tbsp

8.    Coconut oil-1tbsp+ 1tbsp

9.    Water- less than ¼ cup

10.   Curry leaves –one handful

11.      Salt

Method of preaparation

1.    Heat 1 tbsp oil in pan. Add ginger and garlic. Sauté for a minute. Add in onions and sauté until onion turns slightly brown. Add tomatoes, chilly powder ,1 tsp garam masala and salt. Sprinkle little water and sauté again until tomato melts.

2.    Add the cooked macaroni. Mix well. Add water .Close the pan .Let the macaroni absorbs the flavor. Stir in between. Once the water dries up, increase the flame and roast the macaroni well by giving continuous stir. (just 3 or 4 minutes) switch off the flame.

3.    In another pan heat the remaining 1 tbsp oil. Add coconut bits and curry leaves. Fry till the coconut turns light brown. Switch off the flame. Add in the remaining ½ tsp garam masala. Pour this over the prepared macaroni. Mix well.(Do not omit this step as it gives special flavor and taste)

CHETTINADU VAZHAKKAI (PLANTAIN) KURUMA

          

The word Chettinadu itself is aromatic!! Chettinadu cuisine is distinct by the use of freshly ground spices. So does this curry. Though I like plantains we don’t buy it often . Whenever I buy this, I end up making a thoran or a stir fry. Of late I started experimenting with different vegetables. One day I happened to see this recipe in a cookery community on Facebook. Soon I tried it. This is such a flavorful curry, this along with some curd we can have a plateful of rice !!It goes well with almost anything from Rice to Dosa,Puttu or any flat breads.

Do try this flavorful curry..

Ingredients

1.    Vazhakkai(Raw Plantain)- 1big,peeled off and diced into small cubes.(immerse the cut plantain in water)

2.    Onion- 2 medium sized, chopped

3.    Garlic- 1 tbsp,chopped.

4.    Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp

5.    Mustard seeds-1/4 tsp

6.    Cumin seeds-1/2 tsp

7.    Asafoetida-  tad a bit

8.    Grated coconut-1/2 cup

9.    Salt

10   Oil- 2tbsp

11.  Water -1 cup

12.  Urad dal-2 tsp

13.  Whole coriander seeds- 2tbsp

14.  Dry red chilly- 10 nos

15   Fennel seeds- 1tsp

Method of preparation

1.    Grind grated coconut into fine paste by adding some water.

2.    Dry roast ingredients 12 to 15. If needed add some oil while roasting. Grind this also by adding little water. (coconut and this should not be mixed, both need to be grinded separately)

3.    Heat oil in pan. Add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add cumin and asafoetida. When the aroma comes add onion and garlic. Sauté until onion turns soft.

4.    Add in diced plantains, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well. Close than pan and let it cook for 4 or 5 minute.

5.    After the mentioned time add water and ground spice mix (not the coconut). Cook again until the plantain is fully cooked through.

6.    Lastly add coconut paste. Give a mix. Check for saltiness. Let the curry boils and thickens a bit. Once the curry has reached the semi thick consistency, switch off the flame.

MILK PEDA

Milk peda is one of the most famous Indian sweets. When I searched its recipe I could find many easy recipes using milk powder and condensed milk. Since I did not have condensed milk on hand I decided to try this version. The ingredients for this recipe is really simple and are easily available in every kitchen. The two essentials for this recipe are time and patience (many of us including me lacks those two J) but the end result totally worth of all the efforts. This is a foolproof recipe when you can put a little time and patience…hope everyone will give a try.

Ingredients

1.    Milk- 1litre

2.    Sugar-1/2 cup

3.    Curd- 4 tbsp

4.    Cardamom powder- ½ tsp

5.    Any nuts- a few(optional)

Method of preparation

1.    Take a thick bottomed vessel. Heat milk. Once it comes to boil, add sugar and cardamom powder.

2.    Reduce the flame to medium and keep stirring the milk. Once the milk reduced to half (it may take nearly 20 minutes) add curd.

3.    Now the milk starts to curdle. Keep on stirring until the entire water content evaporates and the mix thickened enough .Turn off the gas. Let this cool a bit.

4.    Grind this mix in a mixer grinder into smooth paste.

5.    Grease your hands. Shape the peda mix into balls or any desired shapes. If you want, you can keep few nuts on the top and serve.

ONION BONDA

Ullivada is my most favorite snack.It always brings some sweet childhood memories for me.When I was school kid ,my amma used to bring ullivada from her office canteen. But the sad thing is that we couldn’t get enough of that since they supply only limited numbers just for their employees. That was the best ullivada I ever had. Unlike ullivadas from other places, it was loaded with onions with less flour. Sadly the one which is available in Kerala with the name of ullivada is merely maida vada with very less or no onion at all! When I moved to Chennai I started getting onion bonda instead of ullivada.I totally fell in love with those. The main difference of onion bonda from ullivada is that the bonda is made with gramflour instead of maida also it is not flattened and sphere in shape.But all other ingredients are same. I always wanted to try it at home. On one evening when my husband requested to make some snack I prepared it.It turned out truly good. I had to struggle to get a few for photoshoot. It was vanished within minutes J.here goes the recipe

Ingredients

1.    Onion-4 medium sized, thinly sliced

2.    Ginger -2 tbsp,chopped

3.    Green chilly-4 nos,chopped

4.    Curry leaves-one handful, tear into small pieces

5.    Gram flour /kadalamavu-200gms

6.    Rice flour-2tbsp

7.    Oil- 1tbsp

8.    Salt –as required

9.    Water- around ¼ cup

10. Oil- for deep frying

Method of preparation

1.    Mix ingredients 1 to 8 in a wide mixing bowl. Rub everything well with the hands for few minutes. This process releases water from the onions.so we don’t need to add more water further. Add water little by little and stop adding it once the mix can be shaped in to balls.

2.    Heat oil.when the oil is really hot, wet the palms take small balls from  the mix. Put it into the oil and fry in medium flame for about 5 minutes or until it is cooked through.

Serve hot..

CHOCOLATE CAKE



Though this cake is not picture perfect. This is the best chocolate cake I ever make. Rich, moist and not overly sweet. Also the preparation is quite easy as no hard work required to make this cake. Please try your hands on it .I am sure all chocolate lovers will seriously fall in love with this dark rich chocolate cake J

Ingredients

1.    All purpose flour/maida-1/2 cup

2.    Cocoa powder-1/4 cup

3.    Butter -50gms

4.    Oil-30ml

5.    Baking soda-1/4 tsp

6.    Baking powder-3/4 tsp.

7.    Salt –a pinch

8.    Egg- lightly beaten,2 tbsp

9.    Sugar-1/2 cup

110     Milk-3/4 cup

11.    Vanilla essence-1tsp

Method of preparation

1.    Grease an 8” inch round cake tin. Keep it aside. Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes.

2.    Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt well using a whisk.

3.    Heat milk and butter together till the butter melts. Let it cool to room temperature. Add sugar, vanilla essence, oil and cocoa powder into this and mix well until sugar dissolves.

4.    Add flour and egg into this. Mix again to incorporate all the ingredients

5.    Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 to 30 minutes or until the inserted knife comes out clean.

UZHUNNUVADA-KEY TO MAKE CRISPY VADA !!!!

Making this Vada was purely an experiment. I never thought that I could ever make perfect uzhunnuvada.My husband is  a huge lover of this .Upon his compulsion once I tried make it but ended up with soggy ones. I always wanted to make crispy vada which we used to get in shops but I had no idea of the key to make it perfect. But atlast I got it!!! Don’t ask me how J.I made it in my own style .By god’s grace I got it as perfect as those in tea shops, crispy outside and spongy inside.It was a huge hit.Uzhunnavada fan was totally impressed and satisfied. This recipe is going to be a keeper. Let’s impress and surprise your family by this yummy vada J

Shaping Uzhunnuvada is bit difficult. Once we get the batter with right consistency, it would be easy. So here goes the recipe

Ingredients

Urad dal (uzhunnu) – 2cups

Rice flour- 1tbsp and 1 tsp

Onion- 1 small,chopped

Ginger- 1 small piece,chopped

Curry leaves- 2 or 3 sprigs,chopped

Whole black pepper-1 tbsp

Salt- as needed

Oil for deep frying

Method of preparation

1.    soak urad dal for 2 or 3 hours. Keep soaked urad dal in a serrated vessel to drain off the water for sometime

2.    Grind urad dal in small batches in a mixie (mixer grinder) till we get smooth and fluffy batter. While grinding sprinkle very less water ( 1 tbsp. ).Scrape the batter from the sides of the jar and grind again till it well grinded.(see the below pic to know the consistency of the batter)

3.    Once the grinding completed, transfer the batter in to a mixing bowl. Add all other ingredients except oil. Mix well.

4.    Heat oil in a deep bottom pan.

5.    Wet your palm. Take a small portion of the batter. Shape into vadas.Put a hole with your thumb. Gently slip shaped vadas in to hot oil.

6.    Once we put the vada, reduce the flame to medium and cook it for 5 min till it turns crispy and slightly brown in color

Serve hot with chutney or sambar.

Notes : Do not soak the urad dal for more than the mentioned time as it will absorb more water which in turn makes the batter loose.

Add as little water as possible while grinding.

Do not skip adding the rice flour as it is the key ingredient to make the vada crispy

While frying,the flame should be medium.