Tomato and Dry Red Chilly Chutney

  If you are in search for a spicy and tangy chutney, this fits the bill. This is my mom’s recipe. Her basic dry red chilly chammanthi, made using crushed, fried dry red chillies, pearl onions, salt and oil, was too spicy for us kids. So she used to grind tomatoes along with the other ingredients to make it favorable to us. That way the chutney tastes tangy too. Tomatoes can be substituted with tamarind. This chutney is at its best when paired with idlis/ dosa.

Ingredients

1. Dry red chillies - 6 - 7  (You can adjust it according to your spice tolerance)
2. Pearl onions - 8 - 10
3. Tomato - 1 , seeded and chopped
4. Curry leaves - 4 - 5
5. Salt - To taste
6. Oil - 1 tsp  + 2 tsp
   

Method

1. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan. Fry the dry red chillies until they turn crispy and brown. Leave aside to cool.

2. Crush the dry red chillies in a mixer. Add the pearl onions and crush them. Finally add the chopped tomatoes and grind everything together.

3. Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan. Add the above ground mixture and a few curry leaves to it. Stir the mixture at medium heat until the oil separates. It won’t take more than 6 - 8 minutes. Serve with idli/ dosa. It will keep for a few days in the refrigerator.

 

 

Tip:

 

You can temper this chutney with 1/4 tsp mustards, 1 dry red chilly and a few curry leaves. You can add more chopped tomatoes, pearl onions to make it less spicy.

Hari Bhari Biriyani (Vegetable Biriyani)

   We are back with yet another biriyani recipe....and trust me, the recipe is surely gonna find its way to your recipe collections, if you give it a try! This biriyani is simple to make, it’s nutritious and tastes yummy!!! I adapted this recipe from one of my borrowed cookbooks “Your rice cookbook”. The method is different from the usual biriyanis and has no time-consuming steps like layering or baking. Being an ardent lover of chicken biriyani and other non-veg biriyanis, I have never before tried the veggie version. But this simple recipe won my heart and am sure you guys will love it too!  

Ingredients (Serves - 4 - 5)

1. Basmati rice - 2 cups
2. Ginger - garlic paste -1 tsp
3. Tomato puree - 2 tbsp (You can seed and grind one small tomato)
4. Onion - 2 small, finely sliced
5. Paneer - 1/4 kg, cubed
6. Carrot - 2 small, cubed
7. Cauliflower - 3/4 - 1 cup, cut into small florets
8. Frozen green peas - 1/4 cup
9. Cilantro - 3 tbsp, chopped
10. Mint -3 tbsp, chopped
11. Whole spices - (Bay leaves - 2 - 3, Cinnamon stick - 2, Cloves - 6 - 7, Cardamom - 3 -4 , mace - 2 - 3, whole pepper - 5 - 6)
12. Garam masala  powder - 1 tsp
13. Cumin powder - 2 pinches
14. chilly powder - 1/ 4 tsp
15. Raisins - 3 tbsp
16. Cashews - 3 tbsp
17. Salt - To taste
18. Oil/ ghee - As required

Method

1. Wash the rice well and keep aside to drain.

2. Heat enough oil (around 1/4 - 1/2 cup) in a deep pan and fry the raisins, then cashews. Drain on to a paper towel. Add in the sliced onions and fry until brown.  Drain on to a paper towel. Now fry the paneer cubes until lightly browned. Drain on to a paper towel and keep aside.

3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a heavy-bottomed vessel and fry the whole garam masala for a few seconds. Now add the ginger-garlic paste. Fry for a minute and stir in the tomato puree. Saute until oil separates. Add the garam masala powder, cumin powder, chilli powder, little salt and the vegetables (cubed carrots and cauliflower pieces). Saute for 4 - 5 minutes and add the drained rice. Saute for 2 - 3 minutes.  Mix in some of the fried onion, chopped cilantro and mint.

 

4. Add around 4 cups of  water to the pan. Adjust the salt. The water should be slightly salty. When the water starts boiling add the frozen green peas. Cover and cook the rice until done. (I usually transfer the rice - veggie mixture to a pressure cooker after step 3 and add around 4 cups hot water (in which enough salt has been added). Add frozen green peas. Mix everything well and check for salt. The water should be slightly salty. Cover the pressure cooker with its lid. When steam starts coming out continuously, put on the pressure cooker weight and switch off the stove. Let it sit there for at least 15 minutes or until the pressure is released. Open the pressure cooker. The rice would be cooked to the right consistency). Transfer the rice to a serving bowl. Stir in the fried paneer cubes, remaining fried onions, cashews, raisins, chopped mint and cilantro. Mix well. Serve with raita, pickle, chutney or any spicy curry.

Tips:

1) You could also cook this biriyani in a rice cooker after step 3.

Recipe adapted from “ Your Rice Cookbook” by Sharmilla Chandra and Richa Bery

Beef Vindaloo

 

      Vindaloo or vindalu (Konkani) is a dish originally from Goa, India. The term vindaloo derives from the Portugese dish "Carne de Vinha d' Alhos", which is a dish of meat, usually pork, with wine and garlic. The dish evolved into the vindaloo curry dish when it received the Goan treatment of adding plentiful amounts of traditional spice and using malt vinegar instead of red wine. Alternate terms are vindalho or vindallo. Restaurants often serve this dish with chicken or lamb sometimes mixed with potatoes. Traditional vindaloos do not include potatoes, the discrepancy arising because the word "aloo" means "potato" in Hindi.

    Vindaloo is a popular dish in many parts of India. The dish has gained popularity in Britain, Germany, the Middle East, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, where it is almost universally featured on Indian restaurant menus. The Vindaloo served in western restaurants is really just a version of the standard "medium" restaurant curry with additional chilli and including potatoes. It is one of the hottest dishes available on the menu where it is served.

Source - Wikipedia

Ingredients

1. Lean stewing beef - 2 lb / 900 gm, cut into 1 inch cubes 
2. Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp / 15 ml
3. Dry red chillies - 4
4. Black pepper corns - 1 tsp
5. Seeds from 5 green cardamom pods
6. Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
7. Black mustard seeds - 1 tsp
8. Brown sugar - 1/2 tsp 
9. White wine vinegar - 4 tbsp
10. Oil - 2 tbsp
11. Onion - 1 large, finely chopped
12. Ginger - 1 inch piece
13. Garlic - 7 - 8 cloves
14. Coriander powder - 2 tsp
15. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
16. Pepper powder - 1 tsp
17. Salt - To taste

Method

1. Clean the beef stew pieces. Marinate them with 1 tsp pepper powder and enough salt.

2. Put the cumin seeds, dry red chillies, pepper corns, cardamom seeds and mustard seeds into a spice grinder (or a mortar and pestle) and grind to a fine powder.

 

3. Spoon into a bowl, add the sugar and white wine vinegar and mix to a thin paste. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large heavy pan and fry the chopped onion for about 10 - 15 minutes adding little salt.

4. Put the onions and spice mixture into a blender or food processor and grind to a coarse paste.

 

4. Heat the remaining oil in the frying pan and fry the meat cubes for about 10 minutes until lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon.

  

5. Add the ginger and garlic to the oil remaining in the pan(you can add a little more oil if you want, the pan will still have the meat juices that oozed out from the beef, that’s okay). Fry for 2 minutes. Stir in the coriander powder and turmeric powder. Fry for a further 2 minutes.

6. Add the spice and onion paste and fry for about 5 minutes.

7. Return the beef cubes to the pan with 1 1/4 cup / 300 ml water. Cover and simmer for about 1 - 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender.Remember to stir in between so that the gravy would not stick to the bottom of the pan. Serve with plain rice, jeera rice or chapatis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recipe : Best Ever Indian Cookbook

Fish Curry in Coconut Milk - Trissur style

 

 

  Today we have a Trissur style fish curry recipe to share with you all. The recipe was shared by one of my dear friends, Preetha Jayesh, who is an expert in cooking Trissur style nadan dishes. She makes the best sambar, chicken stew, dal preparations and fish curries. I will post all her yummy Trissur recipes over time hopefully. This recipe is not the authentic one, it is her adapted version. The authentic recipe calls for smoothly ground coconut and tamarind instead of kudam puli, I will share that recipe soon. I used tilapia but you can use any kind of fish for this recipe. You can even try out this recipe with prawns, it is equally delicious!! It is so easy to prepare and goes really well with rice. Try it out friends!

Ingredients

1. Fish - 3 fillets ( I used tilapia)
2. Ginger - 1.5 inch, chopped
3. Pearl onion / kochulli - 5 + 5, chopped
4. Green chillies - 2, slit
5. Curry leaves - 1-2 sprigs
6. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp + 1/4 tsp
7. Chilly powder - 1.5 tsp + 1 /2 tsp
8. Coriander powder - 1.5 tsp
9. Coconut milk (thick milk) - 1/2 - 3/4 cup
10. Kudam puli (gamboge) - 3 or to taste
11. Salt - To taste
12. Oil - 2 tsp

Method

1. Clean and cut the fish fillets to desired size. Marinate them with 1/2 tsp chilly powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder and enough salt for at least 20 minutes.

2. In a claypot or any deep pan, add the chopped ginger, 5 chopped pearl onions, two slit green chillies, few curry leaves, 1.5 tsp coriander powder, 1.5 tsp chilly powder and kudam puli pieces.  Pour around 1.5 cup water and boil this gravy until it reaches a thick consistency.

 

3. Now bring down the heat to medium-low and add half of the coconut milk. Mix well and add the marinated fish pieces. After adding the fish pieces, swirl the clay pot to mix everything well. Cover with a lid and cook the fish pieces at medium-low heat for around 15 mts gently swirling the pan in between. When the fish pieces are done, add the remaining coconut milk and a few curry leaves. Adjust the salt and switch off. Taste-check the gravy, if it tastes very sour, remove one or two kudampuli pieces.

4. Heat oil in a pan and add the  remaining chopped pearl onions. Brown them and add on top of the fish curry. Do not omit this step as it gives a nice aroma and flavor to the fish curry. Cover the pan with its lid and keep aside for at least 15 minutes for the flavors to set.

 

 

Tips:

 

1) In step 2 , you can crush the ginger, pearl onions and curry leaves (njeruduka) with your hands adding a tsp of coconut oil. This gives a wonderful aroma and extra taste to the gravy.

 

2) You can replace kudam puli with other souring agents such as tamarind or mango slices.

Pal Payasam / Kheer

 

 

 

Ingredients ( Makes about 6 - 8 servings)

1. Unnakkalari  / red rice - 1/2 cup
2. Sugar - 1 cup + 2 tbsp
3. Milk -  Around 5 cups (I used low fat milk (2%). If you are using whole milk - use 4 cups of milk and 1 cup water)
4. Cardamom powder - 2 pinches or 2 cardamom pods slightly crushed

Method

In a pressure cooker, add the washed unnakkalari, milk and sugar(You can also add  2 crushed cardamoms along with these ingredients). Close with the lid and cook at medium-low flame. When the steam starts coming out, put the pressure  cooker weight and cook for about 40 mts (without any whistles) at medium-low flame. Switch off. Keep it aside for a minimum  of 1.5 - 2 hrs, before opening. Open the pressure cooker, check the sugar and add 2 pinches cardamom powder (if you did not add crushed cardamoms before) and mix well. If the pal payasam is very thick, dilute it by adding milk. Serve warm or cold.

 

 

Tips : You can replace the red rice with basmati rice or sona masoori rice.

Tandoori Fish

 

 

Ingredients

1. Fish - 2 filllets (I used tilapia fillets)
2. Lemon juice - 1 tsp
3. Curd - 1 tbsp
4. Ginger - 1/2 inch
5. Garlic - 2-3 pods
6. Chilly powder - 2 tsp (You can use 3-4 dry red chillies instead of chilly powder. Adjust according to your spice tolerance. )
7. Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
8. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
9. Garam masala - 3/4 tsp
10. Salt - To taste
11. Oil - 2 tsp

Method

1. Grind all the ingredients above (except oil and fish) to make a paste. Clean the fish pieces and make slits on both sides. Marinate the fish with the paste for at least 1 hr. Preheat the oven to 450 F. Line a baking tray with aluminum foil, brush it with oil and place the fish fillets on it. Drizzle a little oil on top of the fillets.

2. Bake for about 10 - 15 mts. Take out the baking tray and flip the fish pieces to the other side, again coating with oil. Bake for 10 more minutes. You can put the oven in the broil mode for the last 1-2 minutes but take care not to burn it. Serve hot with plain rice or spicy green (coriander - mint) chutney. Here is the recipe for green chutney.

Green chutney

1. Cilantro - 1 small bunch
2. Mint leaves - 1/4 cup
3. Garlic - 1 pod
4. Ginger - 1/4 inch
5. Green chillies - 2 small , seeded
6. Yoghurt -  2 - 3 tbsp
7. Lemon juice - To taste
8. Salt - To taste

Wash the cilantro and mint leaves. Drain well. Blend everything together in a mixer until you get a smooth paste. Adjust the salt and lemon juice. Serve immediately.

 

Chicken Thoran and a Fashion Show :)

 

We had our Kerala association's (KAW) onam celebration on 18th and I (Maya) had participated in a fashion show. These are the videos of the show and the slide show of the event & off-stage pictures that my hubby took. I am the 6th one at 5 minutes 20 sec (wearing the black costume and a silver band on forehead) in the Western, Lady Gaga song. Hope you enjoy them :).

 

 

KAW Seattle Onam 2010 - Shanti by Anju Neilju

 

 

Kaw Onam 2010 fashion show photo slide show

 

 

Chicken Thoran Recipe

 

 

 

Ingredients

 

1. Chicken - 350 gm
2. Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
3. Red onion - 1 large, thinly sliced and chopped (Using pearl onions will be more tasty. You can use around 15 pearl onions)
4. Green chillies - 6 -7, chopped fine
5. Ginger - 1.5 tbsp, chopped fine
6. Garlic - 1 tbsp, chopped fine
7. Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
8. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
9. Chilly powder - 1 tsp
10. Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
11. Cumin powder - 1 pinch
12. Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
13. Garam masala - 1/4 tsp (Optional)
14. Mustards - 1/2 tsp
15. Coconut oil - 1 tbsp
16. Salt - To taste

Method

1. Clean and cut the chicken to small pieces.

 

2. Heat 1 tsp coconut oil in a pan and cook the chicken in enough salt until they are done stirring occasionally. It will take around 15 mts. There is no need to add water since water will ooze out from the chicken. Shred the chicken pieces with your hands when they cool down.

3. Heat some more oil in the same pan and splutter mustards. Then add the chopped ginger, garlic and green chillies. Saute for 2 minutes at medium heat. Then add the sliced onion. Stir-fry until they turn transparent. Add the grated coconut, turmeric powder, chilly powder , pepper powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and a few curry leaves. Stir for a few seconds and add the shredded chicken , garam masala and mix well. Stir fry for a few minutes. You can add a tsp of coconut oil for an extra taste. Switch off. Serve hot with rice.