Easy Vegetable Curry

    Here is a simple, really easy and tasty vegetable curry recipe for all of you to try out. It is one of the easiest curries that I have ever prepared. The recipe has been shared by one of my friends Lekshmy. You can also add any other vegetables of your choice like beans, cauliflower etc.

Ingredients

1. Potato - 1 medium, diced
2. Carrot - 2 small  diced
3. Beet root - 1 medium diced
4. Green chilly - 1 -2 slit (De-seed them if you want a less spicy curry.)
5. Ginger - 1.5 - 2 tsp grated
6. Curry leaves - 1 sprig
7. Coconut oil - 1.5 - 2 tsp
8. Lemon juice - 1 tsp or to taste
9. Salt - To taste

Method

   1. Cook the diced potato, carrot, beet root, green chilly, ginger and curry leaves in a pressure cooker adding 1 - 1.5 cups water and enough salt. Cook for 4-5 whistles at medium heat. When the pressure is released open the cooker, you can simmer it a for a few more minutes until your desired gravy consistency is reached. Check for salt and  add a tsp or so of coconut oil. You will get a wonderful aroma when you add it. Just before serving, add a tsp or so of lemon juice and mix well. This curry goes well with chapatis and pooris.

 

Almond Cookies

 

Ingredients (Yield - 20 cookies)

1. All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
2. Almond flour - 1/2 cup
3. Baking powder - 1/8 tsp
4. butter - 1/4 cup, softened
5. Granulated sugar -  1/4 - 1/2 cup
6. Egg white -  1 egg ( I halved the recipe that I followed. The recipe called for half an egg white. I used the egg white of 1 egg, so I had to use extra almond flour (almost 3/4 cup) to adjust the dough consistency)
7. Almond extract - 1/4 tsp
8. Whole almonds - 20
9. Salt - To taste

 

Method

1. Stir the all purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

2. Cream butter and sugar at medium speed of hand mixer. Beat in the egg white and almond extract.

 

 

 

3. Add in the all purpose flour and almond flour to the creamed mixture. Cover and chill for 2 hrs.

 

 

4. Shape into 3/4 inch balls, flatten them slightly with your palms or with the bottom of a glass and place them at least 2 inches apart. Press an almond to the centre. Bake at 350 F for about 12 mts (mine took around 15 mts) or until lightly browned at the bottom. Cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

 

 

Recipe Courtesy : About.com

Mathi/Sardine Pattichathu

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

1. Sardine/Mathi - 10 - 12
2. Ilumban Puli - 10 - 15 (You can use kudam puli (3-4 pieces or to taste) or kokums instead)
3. Grated coconut - 1/2 - 3/ 4 cup
4. Pearl onions - 5 - 8 sliced
5. Green chillies - 6 - 7 sliced diagonally
6. Ginger - 1 inch finely chopped lengthwise
7. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
8. Chilli powder - 1 tsp
9. Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
10. Fenugreek powder - 1/4 tsp
11. Curry leaves - 1-2 sprigs
12. Salt - To taste
13. Coconut Oil - 2 tsp

Method

1. Clean the fish pieces and cut them in half.

 

 

 2.  Combine grated coconut, chilli powder, turmeric powder, green chillies, ginger, curry leaves and salt in a claypot/manchatti. Crush everything together with hands and add the sliced ilumban puli and fish pieces. Add around 1 cup water, cover with the lid and cook until all the water is evaporated, at medium heat and the fish is cooked. Finally add coconut oil. Mix well and switch off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mambazha Pulliseri and an award

 

 

Ingredients

 

1. Ripe Mango - 1 sliced (Naattu manga is preferred but I used the ones available here. You can either keep or peel off the skin. Peel the skin if its naattu manga)
2. Green chillies - 2 - 3 slit
3. Chilly powder - 1/2 - 1 tsp
4. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
5. Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
6. Cumin seeds - 1/4 - 1/2 tsp
7. Yoghurt - 2 cup
8. Curry leaves - 1 sprig
9. Mustard - 1/2 tsp
10. Dry red chillies - 1 - 2
11. Fenugreek powder - A pinch  
12. Salt - To taste

 

Method

 

1. Slice the mangoes. Cook the mango slices, slit green chillies, few curry leaves, chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt adding enough water and cook covered until the mangoes are done. It will take around 15 mts at medium heat.

2. Grind the coconut and cumin seeds to a very fine paste. After the mangoes are done, add the ground coconut paste. Cook for a few minutes at low heat. Now add the beaten yoghurt, again at low heat. Mix well and cook for a few more minutes at low heat stirring in between, until it is heated through.  

 

3.  In another pan add oil and splutter the mustard seeds.  Add dry red chillies and curry leaves. Pour this over the pulliseri and sprinkle 1/4 tsp fenugreek powder. Mix well and check for salt. Serve with rice.

 

 

 

 

 

Shama of Easy2Cook Recipes tagged us for this award. Thanks a lot for this award, Shama and really sorry for posting it late. We had been really busy with a couple of things lately.  As per the rules of this award, we have to post our most favorite pic and tag other blogger friends.  I am posting two of my most favorite pics which my hubby clicked. Lakshmi will post her favorite pic soon. 

 

 

 

  We would love to share this award with Kairali Sisters of Pazham Pappadam Payasam, Sanyukta of Creative Sanyukta, Ann of Happy and Healthy Cooking!!, Tina of Kaipunyam, Nithubala of Nithu’sKitchen, Sarah of Vazhayila,  Namitha and Sunitha of Collaborative Curry, Suja of Kitchen Corner - Try it, Nitha of Amateur Perceptions, Cool Lassi(e) of Pan Gravy Kadai Curry, MaryMoh of Keep Learning Keep Smiling, Pari of Foodelicious, Nithya of 4th Sense Cooking, Arthi, Nithu and Shriya of Spicy Tasty, Suhaina of My Singapore Kitchen, Jo of Panch Pakwan, Manju of Life is Beautiful, Ammu of Nature Kitchen, San of Sans Kitchen,  Preeti of Write Food, Simply.food, Sayali of Treat Your Tongue, Nisha of Nisha’s Kitchen, Ms. ChitChat of Chit Chat at CrossRoads, Fathima of Thattukada, Dolly of Curry and Beyond, Aps of Aps Kitchen, Faiza of Faiza Ali’s Kitchen, Divya of Divya’s Kitchen, Az of Desi Zayeka and Gayathri Raj of Heaven on Spoon.

Benne Wafers / Sesame Seed Cookies

 

 

 

      Benne wafer is a thin crispy cookie, made with toasted sesame seeds. There is a story behind the making of these simple and delicious benne wafers. One day I found this very simple recipe for making benne wafers and decided to give it a try, as I am always after easy to cook recipes. The preparation and everything was real easy, done without much time, but...but I cant explain the horror I felt when I peeped into the oven 2 mts after I placed them inside. It was a total mess. The wafers had spread out on the whole pan. They were really flat and stuck to the pan. I almost cried and had a tough time cleaning up the mess after trying out each batch of the real simple cookies(I had tried it with double the ingredients that I have mentioned below and I hadn’t used a parchment paper that day). To my surprise, the cookies turned out super yummy. Those who tasted it also felt the same way so I didn’t mind giving it a second try. I got a different recipe from here which used lesser flour and butter than the previous recipe I tried. I tried it out yesterday and it turned out great! The recipe is really simple that anybody can try it. Trust me, its really worth it. I halved the ingredients and toasted the sesame seeds to enhance its flavor. Other than that I almost followed the recipe exactly. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients (Yield - Around 3 dozen cookies)

1. Sesame seeds - 1/2 cup (toasted)
2. All purpose flour - 2 tbsp (I used almost 3-3.5 tbsp flour)
3. Unsalted butter - 2 tbsp, softened
4. Brown sugar - 1 cup
5. Egg - 1
6. Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
7. Salt - 1/8 tsp

 

Method

 

1. Toast the sesame seeds in a pan until light golden brown. It will take about 6 - 8 mts at medium heat.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Beat the butter and sugar with a hand mixer.

3. Now add the egg, flour and vanilla essence. Mix well and stir in the toasted sesame seeds. Add more flour if the mixture is very runny.

4. Drop by tsp onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 9 - 11 mts or until the edges are brown. Transfer the parchment paper with the cookies to a rack for cooling. The cookies will come off easily from the parchment paper when they are completely cooled. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tips: You can get sesame seeds really cheap at Asian stores.

 

Update (7/5/10) : I have tried this recipe a couple of times now and every time they turned out to be great, a big hit each time!!!

Gobi (Cauliflower) Manchurian

Ingredients

1. Cauliflower - 1 large
2. Green chillies - 3, sliced diagonally
3. Garlic - 2.5 tbsp, minced
4. Ginger - 1 tsp
5. Onion - 1 medium sized, diced
6. Green bell pepper - 1/4, diced
7. Red bell pepper - 1/4, diced
8. Pepper powder - 1/4 - 1/2  tsp
9. Tomato ketchup - 3.5 - 4 tbsp (Adjust the sauces according to your taste preferences)
10. Soy sauce - 2.5 tbsp
11. Green/red chilli sauce - 3 tbsp
12. Vinegar - 1 tsp
13. Corn flour - 2 tsp (Mix 2 tsp corn flour in 2 cups of water without lumps)
14. Sugar - A pinch (optional)
15. Spring onion - To garnish (Around 2 tbsp)
16. Cilantro - To garnish, 1 tbsp (optional)
17. Oil - For deep frying
18. Salt - To taste

For the batter

1. Maida/All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
2. Corn flour - 1/4 cup
3. Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
4. Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
5. Salt - To taste
6. Water - As required

Mix the above ingredients to make a thick batter.

Method

1) Wash and cut the cauliflower to florets. Dip them in the maida batter and deep fry in oil until golden brown. Keep aside.

 

2) In a deep pan, heat around 2 tsp oil and add the minced garlic and ginger. Now add the onion and saute until they turn transparent at medium heat. Do not brown them, they should retain their crunchiness. Now add the bell peppers and saute for 1-2 minutes at medium-high heat.

3) Stir in the soy sauce, ketchup, chilli sauce, vinegar and pepper powder. Mix well and add 2 cups corn flour in water. Check for salt and allow it to boil.

 

 

4) Add the fried cauliflower florets and mix well. Add the cilantro and spring onion, mix well. Switch off. Serve hot with fried rice/noodles.

Tips:

For the dry version of gobi manchurian omit the corn flour in water. Just stir in the fried cauliflower pieces and toss until they are well-coated with the sauces. Serve it along with fried rice/noodles or as an appetizer.

Beet Leaves/ Red / Swiss Chard Aviyal

Hello everyone! We were really excited when Nithubala of Nithus Kitchen invited us to do a guest post for her. Thanks a lot Nithu and thank you all for encouraging newcomers like us. Nithu posted it today, here is the link http://www.nithubala.com/2010/05/guest-post-11-todays-guests-maya.html  Check it out!!

Today we have an aviyal recipe with beet leaves / swiss / red chard to share with you all. I know that nothing can replace the taste of the cheera aviyal back home but this is a great alternative and is really delicious with rice.

Ingredients

1. Beet leaves / red chard - 1 bunch
2. Green chillies - 3 slit
3. Green mango - 2 slices or to taste (You can also use yoghurt instead of mango)
4. Grated coconut - 1/2 - 3/4 cup
5. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
6. Turmeric powder - A pinch
7. Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp (Optional)
8. Shallots - 2 (Optional)
9. Curry leaves - 1 sprig
10. Coconut oil - 2 tsp
11. Salt - To taste

Method

1. Grind the grated coconut with cumin seeds and shallots (optional) to a coarse paste.

2. Wash the beet leaves well. Slice the stems to about 1.5 - 2 inch pieces, you can slice the thick stems. Cover and cook the beet stems in a vessel adding a pinch of turmeric powder, chilli powder (opt), curry leaves, 1/2 cup water and slit green chillies.

3. When they are half-done, add the chopped beet leaves and chopped mango pieces.

4. When the beet stems and leaves are cooked well, bring down the heat and add the crushed coconut mixture in the middle and cover it up with the cooked vegetables. Again cover up with the lid and let it cook for a few minutes. Now open and mix the coconut mixture well. Cook for 2-3 minutes and add 2 tsp coconut oil. Mix well and switch off. Close with the lid and let it remain at least for 15 mts. Serve hot with rice.

 

 

 

Tips:

 

1. You can also add jackfruit seeds and drumsticks to this aviyal. Cook them along with the beet/chard stems.

 

Here is a red swiss chard aviyal:

 

Sukhiyan

 

 

 

Sukhiyan is a very delicious tea time snack in Kerala. It is really easy to prepare, here is the recipe:

Ingredients

1. Green gram /Moong Dal/ Cherrupayar - 1 cup
2. Grated coconut - 3/4 cup
3. Jaggery - 1/2 - 3/4 cup
4. Cardamom powder - 1 - 1.5 tsp
5. Turmeric powder - 1-2 pinches
6. All purpose flour / Maida - 1/2 - 1 cup
7. Coconut milk/Milk/Water - As required for making the batter
8. Rice flour - 1 - 2 tbsp (for making the sukhiyans a little crispy)
9. Salt - A pinch

 

Method

 

1) Cook the green gram in a pressure cooker(do not overcook it) and keep aside. Melt the jaggery in 1/4 cup water, sieve and boil it. Add the grated coconut and mix well. Now add the cooked green gram. Stir until it becomes somewhat dry ( for around 15 - 20 mts). Now add cardamom powder and mix well. Switch off.  2) Mix maida, turmeric powder, rice flour and a pinch of salt in water or coconut milk/milk (for an extra taste) to make a somewhat thick batter. When the green gram-jaggery- coconut mixture is cold enough for touch, make small balls out of it. Dip them in the maida batter and deep fry. Enjoy!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kottayam Style Fish Curry

  

 

This is my mother’s recipe for the spicy and extremely tasty Kottayam style fish curry. This fish curry can be left outside for 1-2 days and tastes better the next day. My fish curries were always a flop until I tried this recipe. Those of you who have never had success with a fish curry will find this recipe really useful. Do try it out sometime and tell me how you like it. It goes extremely well with rice/ kappa puzhukku/idli/dosa.

Ingredients

1. Fish - 3/4 kg (I used salmon fillets. Clean and cut the fish fillets to medium sized pieces)
2. Ginger - 3 tbsp thinly sliced
3. Garlic - 3 tbsp, slice if the garlic flakes are large
4. Shallots - 5-6 sliced(Optional)
5. Kudam puli - 3-4 or to taste (Wash and soak them in 1/2 cup warm water for at least 15 mts)
6. Curry leaves - 2 - 3 sprigs
7. Chilly powder - 2 - 2.5 tbsp (Adjust according to your spice tolerance. You can use kashmiri chilly powder to make it less spicy.)
8. Fenugreek powder/uluva podi - 1/2 tsp
9. Turmeric powder - 1/4 - 1/2 tsp
10. Mustard - 1/2 tsp
11. Coconut oil - 1 tbsp or as required
12. Salt - To taste
13. Water -  2 cups or as needed

 

Method

 

1. Make a paste of the chilly powder, turmeric powder and fenugreek powder in little water(around 1 - 1.5 tbsp) and keep aside.

 

2. Heat oil in a claypot/meen chatti or a deep pan and splutter the mustards. Now add the ginger, garlic, pearl onions and saute until they turn golden brown. Now add the curry leaves and the chilli-turmeric-fenugreek paste. Saute for a minute at medium heat(take care not to burn it) or until the oil starts appearing on the surface. Now add about 1.5 - 2 cups water, salt and the kudam puli pieces along with the water in which they were soaked. Bring it to a boil, check for salt and add the fish pieces. 

3. After adding the fish pieces swirl the clay pot to mix everything well.  Bring to a boil and cover with a lid. Cook at medium flame. Remember to rotate the meen chatti or pan every 6-8 mts. It generally takes less than 20 - 25 mts to cook the fish.

4. Cook until the fish gets done and adjust the gravy according to your consistency.  Taste-check the gravy, if it tastes very sour, remove one or two kudampuli pieces. Add some curry leaves and switch off. You can add a tsp of oil for an extra taste and aroma. If there is a lot of gravy, cook for a few more minutes at medium flame without covering it.

Tips:

1) You can also add shallots along with ginger and garlic but remember to brown them if you want to keep it for long.

2) You could also arrange the fish pieces on lots of curry leaves in a meen chatti and make the gravy in a separate pan. Once the gravy is prepared pour it over the fish pieces and cook.

3) We do not use coriander powder in fish curry in order to increase its shelf life. If you want to use it, you can add around 2 tsp coriander powder for this curry. You can add it along with turmeric, chilly powder and fenugreek powder while making paste with water.

4) You can try this fish curry with any fish you prefer. Here is a tilapia curry.