Pazham Pori

I got to eat this when I went with Pras for Nisha's wedding. We stopped at one of the famous India Coffee House enroute Palakad, while heading back from Thrissur. It was delicious and melt in the mouth. A perfect accompaniment to tea but also makes for a good dessert when topped with a dusting of icing sugar.

Pras had bought some Nenthram Pazham yesterday and they are like huge. I'm sure they won't get over any time soon and to ensure that they don't end up in the dust bin, I decided to make Pazham Pori. These are from the banana family and have a bit of bite in them. Peeling off their skin requires a little effort and they are a Kerala speciality.

Now that this is a Kerala speciality, you do know that it is one of Pras's favorites too. So, I thought of sending this to The Valentine's Day event hosted by Pari of Foodelicious and Cuponation.

Ingredients (serves 2 as a snack):

1. 1 large nenthram pazham
2. 3/4 cup maida
3. 1 tsp sugar
4. A pinch of salt
5. 1/2 tsp of cinnamon/cardamom powder - using my mortar and pestle I crushed 2 cardamom and a thin stick of cinnamon
6. 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
7. water to make a paste
8. Coconut oil to fry

How I made it :

• Mix the maida, salt, sugar, turmeric powder, cardamom, cinnamon powder alongwith water to make a thickish batter - similar to bajji batter. It should be a bit thick so that it sticks to the banana and not easily slide off. That way you won't have any batter on the banana.

• Heat oil in a kadai.
• Slice the bananas. Don't slice them too thin. They should be about 0.5 cm thick.

• Dip the bananas in the batter and fry

• Let it fry on medium heat for 2 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towel.
• Serve hot with chai. Alternately, dust with icing sugar and serve with some ice cream as dessert.

4

Karavapillai Podi

Our present neighbour has a mature curry leaves tree in their garden. Today they decided to prune it and hence we got a lot of curry leaves. To put it to good use, I decided to make a powder which could be eaten with hot rice and ghee. I zeroed in on this recipe on Rak's Kitchen and later I also stumbled upon the "Tried and Tasted" event by Nivedhanam. Honestly, this is a very nice way to promote a blog while giving due credit to the person behind all the effort. This event is the brain child of Zlamushka, which was taken over by Lakshmi from Kitchen Chronicles.

Since it is my first time making a Podi, I followed the recipe as mentioned in the original.

Ingredients (makes 1 medium sized jar):

1. 1 cup of curry leaves - washed and patted dry on a towel
2. 1/2 cup urad dal
3. 10 whole red chillies
4. 3 tbsp coconut
5. 1/2 tsp hing/asafoetida
6. Salt to taste

How I made it :

1. In the microwave, spread the curry leaves.
2. Microwave on high for 3 minutes. Leave it alone there until ready to grind.
3. In a kadai, dry roast coconut, hing powder and red chillies until the coconut gets a brownish color. This takes lesser time if you use coconut which has been in the frige for some time. Fresh coconut takes a longer time to brown. 
4. Allow that to cool.
5. In another pan, dry roast urad dal.
6. Grind the coconut mix and curry leaves.
7. Add salt and urad dal and grind to a coarse powder.
8. Spread on a newspaper to cool.
9. Once cool, use the newspaper to fill up a airtight jar.
10. Goes well with freshly cooked hot rice and ghee.

3

Baked Cheddar CheeseCake recipe

Once in a year, I am treated to CheeseCakes from D&N Confectionary, Japan. Thanks to my lovely brother who does not forget to get me and solely me a separate pack. Here's a link to the confectionary in Japan that makes these delicacies. 

Last year I had tried to make a similar cheesecake by following Diana's Desserts but then I think I did something wrong. I had two packs of cheddar cheese in my pantry and I've got to finish it all within the next month and so I decided to try cheese cake one more time. This time I tried it following the recipe from here. It turned out quite nice, soft, fluffy and light, melts in the mouth. However, the next time I will add vanilla essence or vanilla extract as the cake tasted too eggy. 

It being Valentine's season, I tried cutting out a heart (bleh).

Ingredients :

1. 50g/1/2 cup all purpose flour
2. 50ml milk
3. 50g butter
4. 30g cheddar cheese grated finely
5. 3 eggs - separated
6. 50g sugar - about 3 and 1/4 tablespoons
7. Vanilla Extract/Vanilla Powder - 1 tsp

How I made it : 

1. Sift the flour and keep aside. 
2. In a microwave safe bowl, place the butter and cheese.
3. Microwave on low power - about 20-40 for 1 minute.
4. Mix and repeat step 2 until the cheese has completely melted into the butter. This is a replacement for double boiling. I'm too afraid of double boiling lest I crack the little crockery that I have and also lose my precious ingredients.
5. Add the milk and let this mixture cool.
6. In a bowl, add flour, egg yolks and the cooled mixture from 5. 
7. Beat with a hand blender until well incorporated. Don't panic if this is a bit sticky and stretchy. All will be well once we add the egg whites. NO, DON'T add the egg whites yet.
8. Mix in the vanilla powder.
9. Preheat oven at 150 degree C. The time taken to preheat will be the same as the time taken to beat the egg whites.
10. Prepare your tin. Line with baking paper. I do not have baking paper and hence lined with aluminium foil. I then greased the aluminium foil lightly.
11. In another bowl, beat the egg whites on high until soft peaks begin to form.
12. Slowly add the sugar, a tablespoon at a time.  Continue beating until the egg whites are quite firm and the peaks hold. 
13. Mix in half of this egg white mixture with that of step 7. Mix well so that it is well combined. 
14. Add in the remaining. Fold it in until well incorporated.
15. Pour into round 7 inch cake tin and bake for 70 minutes. Place this cake tin in a deep tray or plate filled with water. 
16. I had covered my cake completely with anothet layer of foil once I was happy with the coloring on the top. This ensures
1. No further coloring, hardening of the top happens
2. The heat is well retained and the cake is completely cooekd through.
17. Take out of the pan as soon as the timer is done. Allow it to cool completely.

Tips :

1. Use only a 7 inch cake tin and that too a round one. The last time I had taken a chance with a square one and it did not set. 
2. Mix the whites and yolk batter well. Do not beat but fold one into the other slowly and gently.
3. Do not microwave the cheese butter mixture on high. Do it on a low power and for not more than one minute at a time. This is a replacement for double boiling.
4. Ensure that the cheese is well incoporated in the butter else you will have it all settle at the bottom of your cake.

2

Mac Cheese n Egg

Baked vegetables with toasted bread used to be a dinner that my entire family used to like. My aunt , who did not have an oven for sometime, used to make it on the gas stove using two hot tawas. I've done that too, when there have been power cuts. I was reminded of my ma's baked veggies when I had the pleasure of tasting this yummy mac n cheese dish. In the following grocery shopping session I had picked up macaroni from the store. I forgot about it until I found this packet when trying to empty all the jars in my kitchen. So here's how I made it.

I am Sending to Know Your Dairy – Cheese and Jagruti’s Page. Thanks to Sowmya from Nivedhanam's for this opportunity.

Ingredients (Serves 4 with bread) :

1. 100 g macaroni shell/elbow
2. 100g +25g cheddar cheese
3. 1 cup milk
4. 1 1/2 tbsp butter
5. 1 tbsp maida
6. 2 tsp fresh ground pepper corns
7. Salt to taste
8. 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
9. Finely chopped carrot, zapped in the microwave on high for 2 minutes (optional)
10. 4 small brinjal/eggplant, sliced and pan fried with a little oil and salt.(optional)
11. Bread crumbs - optional
12. Egg - optional

How I made it :

1. Preheat oven at 180 degree C.
2. Boil the macaroni as per instructions on the pack.  Drain, rinse in cool water and keep aside. I added some finely chopped carrots and pan fried eggplant at the bottom.
3. Grate 100g cheese into milk and gently warm to melt the cheese in the milk.
4. In a pan, heat the butter.
5. Add the maida and fry. Don't let it burn or turn colour. Keep stirring.
6. Add the warm milk little by little, making sure that there are no lumps. 
7. Add salt and pepper. Let this bubble until it coats the back of the spoon as shown in the picture.
8. Pour this over the macaroni and veggies. 
9. Next top with the tomato ketchip.
10. Grate 25g cheese on top.
11. Sprinkle bread crumbs.
12. Break an egg over the top. I got this idea from another healthy recipe involving a bake made from potatoes and chickpeas.
13. Put into oven and bake for 30 minutes. 
14. Serve hot. Since this is a complete pasta type dish, you can skip the bread. 

It had a nice crust on the top because of the bread crumbs and the egg and veggies gave it a nice healthy twist.

3

Aloo Bathua - ready in a jiffy

My colleague often mentioned Bathua leaves to me. He is an excellent cook and a perfectionist in almost everything he takes up. When I found these at the local vendor, I picked them up. The vendor gave me some 5 different names for the same and bathua was the only one that got my ears pricked up.

In a recent article, The Hindu had a recipe based on Bathua leaves and I adapted the same. It was so delicious that it was gone in minutes and I could not take a photograph.

Ingredients(Serves 2 as a side dish) :

1. 1 large bunch of bathua leaves
2. 4 medium potatoes
3. 2 tsp oil
4. 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
5. 1 tsp red chilli powder
6. 1/2 tsp coriander powder
7. 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
8. A pinch of turmeric
9. Salt to taste

How I made it :

1. Boil the potatoes till 3/4 done. About 1 whistle on high and 3-4 minutes on sim in a pressure cooker.
2. Clean the bathua leaves. In a different pressure cooker, give 1 whistle on high for the leaves.
3. Cut boiled potatoes into small cubes
4. Roughly chop the boiled bathua leaves. Drain the water and reserve so that it can be used diluted for making rotis.
5. Heat oil in a pan.
6. Throw in the cumin seeds.
7. Once the cumin seeds crackle or change colour, put in the red chilli powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder.
8. Swirl it all around for 15 seconds.
9. Throw in the chopped potato cubes.
10. Fry on sim for about 5 minutes.
11. Add the chopped bathua leaves.
12. Adjust salt. Add the garam masala.
13. Serve hot with rotis.

0

Butter Tofu Masala - without onion and garlic

Well, I was stumped when I heard of this recipe. My sister-in-law's mother had made this for us when we visited her for lunch and I don't think we would've realized if it had not been for her telling us. This butter tofu/panneer masala uses bottle gourd in place of onion and garlic in the traditional recipe.

I did refer this recipe. That blog is worth bookmarking and following as it has really interesting, unique recipes.

Ingredients :

1. 200g tofu cut into cubes - you could use panneer
2. 1 small capsicum cut into cubes of similar size as panneer/tofu
3. 4 medium sized tomatoes
4. 1 tsp cumin seeds
5. 1 tsp oil
6. 1 tsp kasuri methi
7. 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
8. 1/2 tsp cumin powder
9. 1/2 tsp coriander powder
10. Salt to taste
11. 1/2 a bottle gourd grated
12. 1 inch piece of ginger
13. 1/4 cup cashew nuts
14. 1 tsp kasuri methi
15. 2 green chillies
16. 1tsp oil
17. 1 tsp powder made by dry roasting the following 
1. Cinnamon Stick 1 inch
2. Cloves 4
3. Cumin 1/2 tsp
4. Coriander seeds 1.5 tsp
5. Pepper Corn 2 tsp

How I made it :

1. Dry roast the ingredients under 17 and grind them into a fine powder
2. Blanch the tomatoes by immersing in water and bringing to a boil until the skin gets all wrinkled. Drain water and keep aside.
3. In a pan heat oil from step 16.
4. Add the ginger.
5. Add green chillies and kasuri methi. Fry for a minute.
6. Add the cashew nuts.
7. Fry for about 3-4 minutes till the cashews brown.
8. Add the grated bottle gourd. 
9. Fry for about 5 minutes on low. 
10. Cool this mix. Add the tomatoes.
11. Grind to a fine paste.
12. Heat 1 tsp oil from 5. 
13. Add cumin seeds and 1 tsp kasuri method. Fry for a minute.
14. Put in the capsicum
15. Fry till almost done and then put in the tofu cubes and toss till covered. The intention is to stiffen the cubes with little coloration.
16. Put in the ground paste.
17. Add the red chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and adjust salt.
18. Fry on low, covered, for 10 minutes. Mix in between.
19. Add garam masala, fry for 30 seconds and cover. 
20. Serve hot with rotis.

1

Triple M - Methi Malai Mattar

I had plans of making methi egg burji today but when I got home, Pras said he had eaten egg for lunch. I remembered the peas that I had bought and the pack of fresh cream that I had opened for the Butter Karela Masala. So, here goes the recipe for one of my favorite white curries - methi malai mattar.

I had made a similar recipe Methi Peas Panneer sometime back. It is similar except in this one I did not use cashews.

Ingredients (Serves 2 as a side dish):

1. 1 cup peas - I used safal frozen peas. 
2. 1 inch cinnamon stick
3. 3-4 cloves
4. 1 tsp cumin seeds
5. 1 tbsp oil
6. 1 bunch methi leaves
7. 1 small sized onion
8. 4-5 medium sized cloves of garlic
9. 1 inch size ginger
10. 4 green chillies
11. 150ml fresh cream
12. 1/4 cup milk
13. 1/4 cup water
14. Salt to taste
15. 1/2 tsp garam masala powder

How I made it :

1. In a mixie jar, blend together the onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies and fresh cream.
2. Put the peas in a microwave safe bowl and zap them for about a minute. 
3. In a kadai, heat oil.
4. Add cumin seeds, cinnamon stick and cloves.
5. Once the cumin seeds change colour, add the chopped methi leaves.
6. Fry for about 4-5 minutes till the bitter smell goes away.
7. Add the mixture from step 1.
8. Add the green peas.
9. Let it fry on slow for about 8 minutes. Stir in between to ensure no sticking. When inhaled, there should be no raw smell of onions nor ginger nor garlic.
10. Add water and milk to get desired consistency.
11. Add salt.
12. Fry for about 2 minutes.
13. Just before turning off the heat, add the garam masala. Fry for about 30 seconds and then close the lid.
14. Serve hot with rotis.

Tips :

1. You could use kasuri methi instead of fresh methi leaves. You may not need to fry them as much as in step 5 above. Use about 5tsp of kasuri methi.
2. To get more volume, use cashews as in the recipe Methi Peas Panneer

0

Butter Karela Masala - Republic Day Cooking

I came home thinking that I had to make something which reflected the colors of the Indian flag to honour Republic Day. I came home to see Karelas aka Bitter Gourd. So that was my green component. For saffron I immediately thought of butter panneer masala or the likes. For the white I thought of making some ghee rice. In the end, I decided to incorporate all the colors in one dish - butter karela masala. It was awesome and over in minutes. We had it with romali rotis - to add another white dimension.

Ingredients (Serves 2 as a side dish):

1. 2 medium karela/bitter gourd
2. 1 large onion
3. 6 cloves of garlic - biggish ones
4. 1 inch fresh ginger
5. 4 small to medium tomatoes
6. A small handful of cashews
7. 1 tsp khus khus/poppy seeds
8. 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
9. 3/4 tsp coriander powder
10. 1/4 tsp garam masala powder
11. 1/4 cup milk
12. 1-2 tbsp fresh cream/malai
13. salt to taste
14. Oil - 1/4 cup

How I made it :

1. Soak cashew and khus khus in little hot water for 15 minutes.
2. Clean and finely slice the karela into rounds. Salt and keep aside to let the bitterness out. I skip this part in order to get the most out of the karela as I believe that salting it takes out some of its goodness.
3. Grind the onion, ginger and garlic to a fine paste.
4. Grind the tomatoes separately along with cashew and khus khus.
5. Heat oil in a kadai.
6. Fry the karela pieces till cooked.
7. Take out and in same oil, add the onion paste.
8. Fry till raw smell goes away - about 3 to 4 minutes
9. Add the tomato paste.
10. Add the red chilli, coriander and garam masala powders.
11. Fry till fat separates - about 5-7 minutes
12. Add the milk and fry for a minute.
13. Add salt to taste along with the karela pieces.  Watch the salt if you had salted the karela pieces earlier.
14. After a minute or so, add the fresh cream. Mix well and turn off heat.
15. Serve hot with rotis.

1

Whole wheat pancakes with Strawberries and Whipped Cream

A classic breakfast. Thanks to the hubby for taking this scrumptuous picture.

Ingredients (Makes 4 pancakes) :

1. 1 cup whole wheat flour
2. 1 egg
3. 1 tsp baking powder
4. 1.5 tbsp sugar for the pancakes
5. 1/8 tsp salt
6. 1/2 cup milk
7. 1/2 tsp vanilla powder/essence
8. 1.5 tbsp melted butter

    For topping

1. 1 cup of strawberries, pitted and sliced
2. 200ml fresh cream
3. 3 tbsp sugar for whipped cream

How I made it :

1. In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, vanilla powder and salt.
2. Beat the egg and add to this mix.
3. Add milk, melted butter and mix well. DO NOT add the baking powder until you have the toppings ready and the tawa/griddle hot.
4. Make the whipped cream as described below.
5. Now, heat your tawa.
6. Add the baking powder to the batter and mix well.
7. Pour a ladel of batter onto the hot tawa. Keep heat on low. Cover the pancake.
8. After a minute or so take off cover and flip the pancake. 
9. Cook on low for another minute.
10. Serve hot with whipped cream and strawberries. 

Alternate serving suggestion - maple syrup, honey, milkmaid

To make the whipped cream topping :

1. Take two similar sized bowls.
2. Put ice cubes into one.
3. Place the other bowl on the top.
4. Pour in the fresh cream.
5. Beat with hand mixer/blender on high until soft peaks are formed.
6. Add sugar while continuing to beat.
7. Turn off once sugar is well incorporated
8. Do not over beat the cream, it will turn to butter.

Tips :

1. Add the baking powder only and only when your tawa/griddle is hot and the toppings are ready as well.
2. Do not over beat the cream. It will turn to butter.

0

Potato and cauliflower stew

Potato and Cauliflower aka Kaikari Stew

Recipe by Joey

A lightly spiced mild curry. One of my favorite breakfast items from the South of India. Reminds me of when my mom would serve cardamom flavoured coconut milk with appams.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Total time: 35 minutes


Ingredients

• 2 Potatoes cut into 1cm cubes
• 10 florets of cauliflower
• 100ml thick coconut milk
• 1 small sized onion finely chopped
• 2 green chillies slit
• 1tsp mustard seeds
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 1/8 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 cloves
• 1/4 tsp garam masala (optional)
• Water as required
• Salt to taste

Cooking Directions

1. In a biggish vessel, heat water with turmeric powder and put in the cauliflower florets. Boil for about 2 minutes and drain. Keep aside. This helps ensure that any worms float up.
2. Heat oil in a pressure cooker.
3. Add the mustard seeds and let them splutter. You could loosely place the lid over the cooker to prevent the mustard seeds from going into those hard to clean places in your kitchen.
4. Once the spluttering has stopped, put in the curry leaves and green chillies.
5. After a minute, put in the cloves.
6. When you get the aroma of the cloves, put the onions and fry till they turn translucent and pink.
7. Add the potatoes and fry for about 4-5 minutes on low.
8. Add the cauliflower florets. Mix well.
9. Add just enough water to cover the veggies.
10. Add salt.
11. Give one whistle on high.
12. When the pressure releases, turn on heat.
13. Pour in the coconut milk.
14. Adjust salt.
15. Add a little more water to get the consistency required. Stew should be a little viscous and not too watery. If you get too much water in, you could smash a few potatoes to thicken the stew.
16. Optionally you could add 1/4 tsp garam masala
17. Serve hot with appams. 

Tips : 

1. If the stew becomes watery, smash a few of the potatoes to thicken the stew
2. You could also use other vegetable like carrots,peas and beans
3.  

0

Upcycled - dal cutlet

Leftovers is something we face from time to time. This time I had leftover cabbage dal. I was torn between making dal parathas or trying something different. I am just back from home and keep thinking of mom's droolworthy cutlets which she sells at her cafe. So I thought of trying out a dal cutlet. Here's my upcycled dal cutlet recipe. Do try it and let me know how it turned out.

Ingredients :

1. 1 cup leftover dal - I had dal with cabbage but used it all the same
2. 1 boiled potato mashed
3. 1 tsp ginger garlic paste - optional, don't add if already present in your dal
4. 1 chopped green chilli
5. 1/4 tsp garam masala - optional
6. 1/4 tsp amchur powder
7. Maida/Corn flour - enough to make the mixture come together
8. Salt to taste
9. Oil for frying
10. Breadcrumbs - 1 cup

How I made it :

1. Mix all the ingredients from 1 to 8 together. 
2. Ensure that the mixture is not watery. I usually make my dal a bit thick and leftover dal does get thick. It should be like the same consistency of may be the aloo mixture for aloo paratha as in the picture shown.
3. Heat oil.
4. Make small balls out of the mixture. 
5. Cover with bread crumbs. 
6. Shape into any desired shape. I made small discs as tikkis.
7. Fry on medium heat till dark golden brown on both sides.
8. Serve hot with tomato sauce or pudina chutney

1

Watermelon lemon cooler

Ingredients (Makes 6 glasses) :

1. Watermelon - the dark green variety 1 and 1/2
2. juice from 2 lemons
3. 3 tbsp sugar
4. A pinch of salt
5. Pudina/mint leaves to garnish

How I made it :

1. Cut the watermelon. 
2. Chop the pulp into small pieces which helps expose the seeds. Take the seeds out.
3. Add lemon juice and sugar.
4. Juice the mixture in your juicer.
5. Pour into glasses.
6. Garnish with fresh pudina/mint leaves.

Tastes best chilled.

1