Shall we start this New year with something that is comforting and familiar?

I went through my drafts several times to decide, what should be the first post for 2015. It got me to a stage where I was so confused and started pulling out my hair. Since I cant afford to do any more damage to my already thinning hair, I zeroed in on this recipe.

Also these days most people I meet, are talking about how their weighing machines is having a mind of their own and showing some extra pounds… Well I believe, it’s got to do with their weighing machine and not the extra pounds contributed by the holiday eating ;) All the more reason to share a light and simple and comforting recipe.

This is a glorified “moru kachiyathu” recipe. The addition of vellarikka and ground coconut gives a different texture to the gravy. Also the slight coco-nutty taste is a welcome change from the usual moru kachiyathu.

Here you go with the recipe..

Grind together coconut and cumin with 1/4 cup water to a smooth paste. Add ground coconut to buttermilk or whisked yogurt and mix well…

Cook together vellarikka, green chilli, turmeric powder with salt and 1 cup water. Cook till the vellarikka becomes tender and water is almost dried…

Add coconut buttermilk / yogurt mixture to cooked vellarikka and mix well. Stir continuously until the steam comes through the spatula. Dont let it boil. It will take around 5-7 minutes…

In another pan, heat oil and crackle the mustard and fenugreek seeds, add dried red chilli, small onion and curry leaves. Fry till the onion turns golden brown. Add this to the vellarikka moru curry and mix well…

Here’s a simple recipe with leftover Puttu. Back home we used to have it as a “nalumani palaharam” (tea time snack). I’ve modified it a bit by adding Chicken and eggs. You can have it for breakfast, lunch, dinner or even as a snack. I didn’t need any sides for this, but if you want you can have it with Chicken Curry, Kadala Curry etc;

You can also make a veg version by skipping eggs and chicken and add some pre – cooked veggies of your choice. Honestly, there is no recipe as such for this recipe. It’s just putting together a bunch of ingredients that works well. I’ve eyeballed the quantities here, you can adjust it as per your liking.

Did I tell you we went to Kerala, for a short trip? Yep, we were there for 12 days. Though the trip was very hectic, we had a great time with family.

A few days away from the routine has it’s magical effects, now I feel refreshed! Weather in Bahrain also helps. It’s a good time to wrap your fingers around a hot bowl of soup and cozy up in your sofa.

This soup is the first thing I made after coming back. You know how it is when you go home, it’s always food, food and more food. So we wanted to give a rest to our tummy and eat something light.

I like my soup to be a bit creamy and not too watery. The flavour of the soup is also good, with a small hint of cardamom, the tanginess from tomato and a light sweetness from the carrot. The fried small onion gives a nice crunch to the soup.

Here is the recipe..

Have I told you about my Pressure Cooker phobia? Come to think of it, it’s better to tell you about the things for which I don’t have a phobia! Anyways, my relationship with pressure cooker was always a bit tense (pun intended). Before I started cooking, I would never step into the kitchen when the pressure cooker was on.

Once I had my own kitchen, I had to make it work somehow. I started using the pressure cooker only when Jose was home. Now, Jose can’t be home all the time, just so that I can cook using pressure cooker right? So, I had to come up with something else..

Jose started getting random calls during meetings, which used to go like these…

J: I’m in a meeting, anything urgent?

M: Yes, I’m going to use pressure cooker!!

J: So?????? What am I supposed to do?

M: (rolling eyes) If you don’t hear from me, after 20 mins, give me a call and check on me

J: Didn’t you hear me, I’m in a meeting!!

M: So what, don’t you care about your wife? I’m operating a pressure cooker, nothing less!

Let’s just say, we skip Jose’s reply and  stop the conversation here, for our mutual benefit ;)

The drama went on for sometime and then it kinda became ok. Still, when I hear any unusual sound from the cooker, I run to the front door, old habits die hard I guess. During one of my trips to India, last year, I saw a Futura pressure cooker in my parent’s utility room. I was a bit surprised to see it there. It’s not like Amma would buy a fancy pressure cooker. I was sure there must be a story behind it.

When I asked Amma about the pressure cooker, pat came the reply from Appa, who was in the living room, supposedly reading a newspaper “that’s just one more item to take up space here, you better take it with you and use it”. Long story short, the Futura pressure cooker is happily living in Bahrain now.

I was all happy and excited to inaugurate the new pressure cooker, but there was one teeny tiny problem. I wasn’t familiar with it’s working and I hate reading instruction manuals. So I did the next best thing: just hollered from the kitchen, asking Jose to read the manual online and show me how it’s done. I didn’t hear from him, so I thought he must be searching the manual. After 5 mins, my phone beeped on the kitchen counter. There was a whatsapp message with a link to Futura manual!!! Again, let’s just skip the rest of the scene…

Finally, I got my friend Sheena to help me out (I know you must be thinking, why can’t you just read the manual, woman!!) We got around to cooking some beef and as usual we ended up talking and forgot to keep a watch on the time or the whistles and ended up with slightly charred beef.

I wanted to do it right with the cooker and so decided to make this Vegetable biriyani.

Honestly, I’ve never had a Vegetable Biriyani before. Why should I when I dont have a problem with Mutton, Chicken, Prawns, Fish biriyani right ;)? Anyways, I’ve been getting a lot of requests for Veg biriyani and since it’s Lenten season, I thought I’ll give it a try.

I’ve checked out many veg biriyani recipes before for sharing it here, but never found something that called out to me. This one somehow worked out and I’m happy with the results.I like biriyani with a good masala, but not overpowering at the same time. The flavour was really good, if I say so myself. We both surprisingly enjoyed the Veg biriyani and I’m sure I’ll be making it again. The fact that you need to use only the cooker is a major attraction. I love the fact that the cooking and cleaning time is minimal.

Here is the recipe…
Heat oil /ghee in a pressure cooker and add the whole masala. Fry it for a min and add sliced onion.When onion turns golden brown, add ground paste. Fry it for 2-3 mins…

Add turmeric and fennel powder. Fry for 2 mins. Add sliced tomato and salt…

After 2 mins, add all the veggies and mix well. Add washed rice and mix…

Add coconut milk/water and 2 tsp ghee. Bring it to a boil and close the cooker. Put on the weight and lower the flame to the lowest. Cook for 8-10 mins and switch off the gas…

If you’ve seen the Malayalam movie, Thanmatra – one of Mohanlal’s hits – you might remember the particular scene where Nedumudi Venu (acting as Mohanlal’s father) and Mohanlal are in the kitchen, where he tries to recreate a dish which Mohanlal’s deceased mother character used to make.

In that scene, there’s a dialogue, that strikes a chord with me. When they talk about her cooking, Nedumudi says “ruchiyum manavum onnum aarum koode kondu pokunnilalo” (nobody takes along their tastes and smell when they leave this earth).

The above sentence is really true in the case of this recipe. This is Jose’s paternal grandmother’s recipe. Ammachi passed away when Jose was a kid. Though I’ve never met her, I feel like I know what she was like because every time, we have Ethakkappam, Jose says his Ammachi used to make the best ever Pazham Boli (that’s what he calls Ethakkappam) and that conversation leads to other stories of her and so on. From what I’ve heard she was a very active person, an amazing cook and she liked to chat a lot :) Even after so many years since she left this place, she is very much remembered through the wonderful tastes that she left behind.

For that matter, I’ve never met my paternal grandmother, she passed away even before I was born. I consider it as one of my life’s misfortunes. More than her food, I’ve heard from Appa about my resemblance to her! I still remember, Appa holding one of my wedding photos and kinda looking lost. I asked him what happened and he said that photo of mine reminded him so much of his mother!

Different things can remind us of our dear ones, it can be a song, a painting, a film, book etc; But I think the one that strikes the most emotion is food. I often receive mails, saying how the taste of a particular dish or a food pic brought back the memories of their loved ones. Food has the power to open up our carefully bottled emotions in a whiff, what do you think?

So here is the recipe for this absolutely delicious Roasted Cashew and Coconut Chammanthi of Jose’s Ammachi (God bless her soul). I’ve a soft corner for any kind of Thenga chammanthi and this one takes it to another level. Whether you are on lent or not, this Chammanthi is a good option for your lunch menu. Just try it with rice and some plain yoghurt. I also like it with Dosa and Idli.

Here you go with the recipe…

I feel a sense of accomplishment,  by posting this recipe. I’ve been getting requests for Pork recipes for so long, mostly during Christmas and Easter time. Every time, I replied to you with some excuse or the other.

The reason why I didnt post is… for starters I do NOT eat Pork. I’ve this habit, I dont want to attach any prefix to it like whether it’s a good or bad habit, let’s just say, I’ve a habit of shutting down my mind towards things which I don’t like or I don’t find interesting. Now that I’ve said it out loud here, it doesn’t sound like a good habit,hhmm… That reminds me, I should speak out my thoughts once in a while, to get a clear perspective on it. Most of the time all the ideas and thoughts sounds great and wonderful inside my head, but once I say it out loud, it sounds absurd at times. Does it happen to you also or am I just a weirdo?

Anyways, coming back to our recipe, I felt it was time for me to get over this thing with Pork and cook it. I got the recipe from my friend Priya. I’ve heard great reviews about her Pork recipe and she was very happy to share it with us.

I was kinda excited to cook it, the excitement to cook with something that’s completely new to me. Since I don’t eat it, I didnt do a taste test and I was anxiously waiting for feedback from Jose and some other friends. Well, the feedback was great! The pork was tender with right amount of masala and flavour. It seems the fat in the pork adds more flavour to the dish and that’s what differentiates it from Chicken and Beef.

Hope you get to try this for Easter and like it too. It’s good as a starter or also as a side dish for plain rice, ghee rice, Pulao etc;

Here is the recipe…

Marinate the cleaned pork pieces with salt, turmeric powder and 1.5 tsp chopped ginger for 10 mins. Add 1/2 cup water to this and pressure cook for 1 whistle on high flame…

Heat oil in a wide pan and add all the ingredients listed under “to roast and grind”. Fry it on low flame, till the coconut turns golden brown. Remove from fire and let it cool. Grind the roasted ingredients…

Heat oil in a deep and wide pan. Add sliced onion and cook. When onion becomes soft, add 1 tsp chopped ginger and curry leaves…

When onion becomes golden brown, add turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder. Mix well and fry for 2-3 mins. Add chopped tomatoes and salt…

When tomatoes become soft, add cooked pork along with the water. Mix well…

Add powdered coconut mixture to the pork and mix well. Cook for 5-7 mins on low flame or longer of required…

A few weeks ago, I decided I’ll post here twice a week, instead of once. Did that for a week or two and then my computer hard disk crashed! I thought universe was supposed to conspire for me to make my decision happen, looks like universe had something else in mind rather than conspiring for my blogging frequency.

Anyways, I managed to do the Easter posts from Jose’s computer. But it didn’t work out, our working styles are different. You see, my desktop is like a crowded day at the mall, full of pictures and folders and his desktop is like a Kerala road on a hartal day! So you can imagine how it ended, I thought it was time to take a short break.

Somehow I wasn’t too keen to get my computer fixed… With the excuse of a non working computer, I was a “serial-” serial & movie watcher on Netflix and made sure that all of our internet bandwidth was used up a week before the monthly reset. Finally my eyes started hurting and my sleep was all upside down. It was time to call it quits and get my computer fixed.

Got the computer up and running the day before yesterday and Jose was a bit over excited about the whole thing. I think it had more to do with a faster internet connection, now that my binge watching had come to an end.

Have you had one of those days, when nothing works Or when you binge on something to compensate, that you feel sick of it?

So, coming to this recipe, it’s a simple and easy Payasam recipe, that you can make quickly. Since it’s made in a pressure cooker, there is not much stirring and it gets cooked fast. Hope you get to make it for Vishu.

You can see the other Payasam recipes here

We wish you and your loved ones a Happy Vishu!!

You can see more Vishu recipes here

Here is the recipe:

Do you eat together as a family or does each member eat by themselves? I recently came across an ad that struck a chord with me. The theme of the ad was a grandmother selling off family dining table on an online site, since it was no longer being used!

Well, I still remember my sis-in-law Divya’s expression during her early days at our home when she found out that we rarely eat together as a family!! With both parents working, my brother Appu and myself having different class timings, coaching classes, tuition classes and what not… the family meal kinda became non existent. My parents are not the type who fuss over whether we’ve eaten or not, their policy is very simple “if you are hungry, you eat what’s there on the table”.

I can see a slight change in their attitude with the new additions to our family and them being more relaxed with their time (ok I sugar coated that part, I actually wanted to say; with them getting a bit older ;).

So once I got reacquainted with family meals, I decided that when I have a family of my own, I would make sure that we would have at least one meal together every day. You think it’s easy because there’s just two of us, but it doesn’t happen that way. I think we did it for the first few years and then it got derailed somehow. Since eating a meal together was getting kinda difficult, we make sure to have the evening coffee together. At least something to hold on to, right? :)

The reason why I was going on about this “eating together” thingy was, this recipe calls for a family meal and is a bit extravagant compared to the regular Chicken curry. Special food calls for special gatherings, right?

Coming to the recipe… The chicken is marinated in a rich blend of spices and cooked in a well balanced masala and coated with the flavoured coconut gravy in the end. I guess this description should get you to the kitchen right?

Btw, you can see more Chicken recipes here and here

You can serve it with:

Nei Choru (Ghee rice)

Veg Pulao

Tomato Rice

Idiyappam

Kallappam

Palappam

Pathiri

Here is the recipe…

Recipe adapted from “The Flavours of Spice Coast” by Mrs.K.M. Mathew

Grind together ingredients listed under “to grind” with 3 tbsp water to a smooth paste. Marinate the cleaned chicken pieces with the ground masala for half an hour…

Heat oil in a deep and wide pan. Add sliced small onion. Cook till it turns golden brown, add crushed ginger and garlic. Cook till the raw smell goes, around 3-4 mins…

Add chicken pieces and mix well. Add thin coconut milk, bring it to a boil. Reduce the flame to the lowest and cook till the chicken is done and the gravy is reduced…

Separate the chicken pieces from the gravy…

Shallow fry the cooked chicken pieces till it becomes rich brown colour…

Add gravy to the fried chicken pieces and cook till the gravy is dried and the chicken pieces are coated well with the masala…

Sometimes I get comments from you saying, that you saved a call back home, since you found the recipe here. Other day, I happened to make a call back home to ask about a recipe. Sample this:

Me: Helloo

Amma: (no hello, nothing…)  we were just saying you haven’t called for sometime, what news there, what are you upto these days, …

Me: huh? I just called you the other day… Amma, sorry, I’m in a hurry, I’m in the middle of making something and I want to take photos before the light goes, so tell me something, I was…

Amma: What time is it there for the sunlight to be out, is it dusty? Here it’s raining continuously and…

Me: Amma, I’m in a hurry, I’m in the middle of making something, I’m planning to make ada, so I…

Amma: Ha! Havent you made ada yet? It’s such a simple thing to make, the other day also we had Ada when…

Me: No no,  I didnt get a chance to make, anyways I wanted to know how…

Amma: But that ada had banana filling, so you wont like it, I was telling…

Me: I know, ok, now please LISTEN to me, I’m in a hurry, can you…

Amma: Ayyo #$@%^&&**

Me: Hello, hello… what’s happening there? Is everything alright, are you ok?

Amma: (no response, just some raised voices in the background)

Me: Hello, hello, are you both ok? what’s happening there…

Amma: Hello, hello, you still there? haa… so what were we saying? (as if nothing happened)

Me: eh? what just happened there, are you both ok, what happ…

Amma: Why, what happened… why you are asking we are ok, we both are fine!

Me: Ok, leave it, now tell me I wanted to know about Ada, it’s…

Amma: That reminds me just the other day, I went to your site and was checking out your recipes…

Me: Ok. But now tell me this, how long…

Amma: and I was telling Appa that you never cooked anything for us, why you never make…

Me: Hello, I tried cooking for you, but it’s different from what you like and…

Amma: No no, not curries, you can make cakes for us, why aren’t you making any ..?

Me: Is there an oven for me to make cake, how am I supposed to bake cake when there is…

Amma: Your Appa wants to speak to you…

Me: Hello Appa, yes, tell me, how are things?

Appa: When you are making Idiyappam, you need to roll out the dough really thin, so that you can see the green colour of the leaves through the dough and…

Me: But I’m planning to make Ada and why…

Appa: The “thattu” (base) for Idiyappam has to be really thin, that’s how they make it in Changanacherry (his hometown) and that’s the perfect way to make it. That’s how my…

Me: (on the verge of screaming) But I’m making Ada and not Idiyappam. Why are you talking about Idiyappam now????

Appa: Ok, you talk to Amma now…

Amma: di, when did your Appa learn about cooking, he is giving you instructions…

(Phew!!! Now I know, why it’s easier to ask Google to find something, rather than making a call home ;) When was the last time you called home to ask about a recipe? Does this happen to you also?

Ok, I might have exaggerated 10% of the above conversation, but the rest is exactly how my calls back home go on!  Anyways, after all that, I managed to get the details of Ada from them. Ada or Valsan as they call it, is a fav “Nalumani Palaharam” (teatime snack) of my parents. I also like it, but I only eat homemade Ada. I like to eat steamed dishes, while they’re still hot. Because once it cools down the the water residue of the steam kinda puts me off, I know it’s weird :)

Ada is another version of Kozhukatta, but the flavour from wilted banana leaves takes it to another level. You can make it two ways, by steaming or roasting on a tawa. I prefer the roasted version, the slightly charred taste from the banana leaves is another flavour altogether.

Recipe goes..

Add salt to rice flour and mix well. Add boiling water, gradually, to the rice powder and mix using a wooden spatula/spoon. Once the mixture cools down a bit, knead with your hands to make a soft and pliable dough…

Combine grated coconut and grated jaggery…

Grease the wilted leaves lightly with coconut oil or ghee. Place big lemon size balls of dough on the leaves and spread it thin using your finger tips. Make sure to dip your finger tips in water while doing this. Place some filling on one side of the rolled out dough and fold from the other side and press lightly…

Once the water starts boiling in the steamer,place the adas and cook on high flame for 8-10 mins. Open the steamer and see whether the ada is separated from the leaves, then it’s cooked…

Recipe goes..

Though it’s hard to imagine now, there was a time when I used to live with just one saucepan in the kitchen!!  Enter my Bangalore days. The life purpose of that saucepan was to create countless happy Maggi noodles memories for me and my friends. Sometimes we were so exhausted at the end of the day, even to decide which place to go and eat, we’d have some small chits of paper with names of nearby restaurants stored in a dhaba (container) ready to decide the fate of our tummies. I’m sure you’ve also had similar memories of your college days :)

Well, another reason for Maggi meals was that none of us had a clue about cooking, except for my friend Divya. She was our official masterchef! One day, we were invited to a friends place, with a special condition. We had to make a biriyani! They promised to get all the ingredients, but cooking was left to us. Since it was a break from our usual weekend hopping of Brigade road and Commercial street, we happily accepted the challenge. Our only confidence was our faith in Divya’s cooking!

As soon as we reached the place, we got into full cooking mode, Divya being the main cook and the rest of us rallied behind her with full support. We had so much of fun that day, it was more like on-the-job-training ;) I remember the experiment being successful and we actually enjoyed the homemade biriyani (… who wouldn’t after regular doses of Maggi noodles and other restaurant food!?).

So when I made this biriyani, the other day, all those memories came rushing to me. The reason is… this is more like a bachelor’s cooking recipe and not the traditional kind of biriyani. I was feeling a bit lazy and wanted to make something, that’s quick. That’s when I thought of a pressure cooker biriyani. These days whenever I’m feeling lazy to cook, I end up using pressure cooker to make some kind of biriyani, it’s easy to clean up and not much standing around stirring and mixing.

This is a an easy recipe as far as biriyani recipes goes. The flavour was nice and the highlight is you need to wash just the cooker ;) This is a good recipe if you want to entertain somebody on a short notice or without much effort (isn’t it like that every time?). Also you can make this in advance and store in fridge, so it’s good for a long weekend too. You can have homemade food, without slogging in the kitchen. I guess I’ve given you enough reasons to try this recipe, so what are you waiting for?

Here is the recipe…

Heat ghee in a pressure cooker and add crushed cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaves. Add finely sliced onion and cook till it turns golden brown. Add crushed ginger & garlic and chopped green chilli. Cook it for 3-4 mins…

Add masala powders. Cook for 2-3 mins, add a bit of ghee or hot water, if the masala sticks to the cooker. Add sliced tomato and salt. Mix well…

When tomato becomes soft, add cleaned beef, chopped coriander and mint leaves. Mix well. Add 1/2 cup water and close the cooker. Cook till the beef is 3/4 th cooked…

Add washed rice and gently mix. Add 2.5 cups of water and bring it to boil. Close the cooker and put on weight. Reduce the flame to lowest and cook for 10 mins. Keep it closed till pressure drops completely. Open the cooker and fluff the biriyani with a fork…

I’m not sure whether you noticed… we are meeting after a small gap. We were away for a week for a short trip, came back, Jose went back to work and I continued holidaying for one more week ;)

Now that I seemed to appreciate my daily dose of running errands, I think I’ve reached the diminishing margin of utility for holidaying, sigh!!

Anyways, coming to this recipe… by now you should be knowing my love for Chutney/Chammanthi recipes.This recipe was a welcome change from the regular chutney recipes. I loved the flavour of roasted garlic in this, it’s not very sharp or over the top, but you will not miss it. It goes well with Rice and also Idli / Dosa.

Thanks to my friend Sinsen for sharing this wonderful recipe with me :)

Here is the recipe..

Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped garlic pieces. When it starts changing colour, add pottukadala. When garlic and pottu kadala is golden brown, add dried red chilli and fry for a min. Remove from fire and let it cool. Grind the cooled roasted ingredients to a fine paste…

Add coconut, tamarind, salt and water to this and grind again, till everything is mixed well…

You can see the other Chutney / Chammanthi recipes below:

Thenga Chammanthi

Tomato Coconut Chutney

Pacha Manga ( Raw Mango) Chammanthi

Red Coconut Chutney

Roasted Cashew and Mango Chammanthi

Dried Prawns Chammanthi

It’s been sometime since I posted a fish recipe here, right? Though both of us like fish big time, we dont get to eat it as much as we like. So, every time we go to Kerala, we make sure we compensate for all the lost time by feasting on a fish centred menu.

I’m not sure whether I already told you this… During our last Kerala trip, Appa took us to a small village called Kadamakkudy. It’s an island near Ernakulam, Cochin. It’s a very beautiful place! I was quite surprised to see such a place very close to the city. Now, that reminds me another thing… I’ve always felt that you cannot find a typical village in Kerala, like rest of India. Most of the places are small towns and does not fit the description of a typical Indian village. Do you think so?

Next time you are in Cochin and you get frustrated with the traffic and Metro work, take a drive to this beautiful place and I’m sure you will love the change of scene! If you are lucky, you will end up with some fresh catch too, you never know!

When my parents have visitors, Appa makes a trip to Kadamakkudy to get fresh catch of the day and I should say the taste of that is something else altogether! When we were there Appa got fresh Karimeen, Lobster and Prawns. See, I told you we make sure to compensate for all the lost time ;)

Coming to this recipe, this is a Malabar style fish recipe. The main difference I felt is the addition of Tamarind instead of Kudampuli and also using tomato. Though I love Kudampuli Fish curries, I dont mind trying different style once in a while. It’s a very easy recipe and the end result is a flavourful dish.

Hope you too will like it.

Here is the recipe..

Heat oil and crackle mustard and fenugreek seeds. Add sliced small onion, crushed ginger and garlic and cook. Cook till it turns golden brown…

When it becomes golden brown add chilli and turmeric powder. Fry for a min or two. Add soaked tamarind pulp and ¼ cup water. Mix well…

Add tomato and salt. When tomato is slightly soft add fish pieces…

Add 1 cup water and bring it to boil and simmer and cook for 12-15 mins, till the fish is done and gravy has become thick…

Recipe adapted from Ummi Abdulla’s “Malabar PachakaVidhi”

Here is a traditional Kerala lunch side dish recipe. Chena and Kaya are two of my fav veggies. I guess, it both has a meaty texture and that’s why I like it so much ;)

Back home, this dish is made very often and even as kids me and my cousins used to enjoy this dish. What I like best about this dish is eating up the bits that’s stuck to the vessel. The taste of coconut combined with starch of raw banana with a hint of coconut oil, somehow makes it irresistible :)

Hope you will also enjoy this dish.

Here is the recipe…

Cook cleaned vazhakka with salt, turmeric and 2.5 cups water. Bring it to a boil and let it simmer, till the vazhakka is cooked and water is almost dried…

Crush together coconut, green chillies, cumin and small onion (3), using a mortar and pestle…

Once vazhakka is cooked and water is almost dried, make a well in the centre and add the coconut mixture to this. Cover the coconut mixture with vazhakka and cover and cook for 5-7 mins on low flame…

Heat oil in a pan and crackle the mustard seeds. Add curry leaves and small onion, when small onion begins to brown, add dry red chilli, fry for a min or two and add it to the vazhakka mixture…

I’ve been wanting to make something special during Ramadan time, so I went over to my dear friend Sheena’s place and asked her to suggest some recipes that they make during Ramadan. Do you remember the Erachi Pidi recipe I posted sometime ago? Well, that’s Sheena’s contribution.

So we started off our discussion about different Ramadan recipes and it went on for some time and as usual we got side tracked to something else.

By the time, we finished our chatting session, we were like “what were we talking about” and came back to our food discussion. We considered different options and decided to finalise later, when I was about to leave, she said… you know, Samosa is made very often during Ramadan time and she was going to make it for sure one of these days.

The decision was made on the spot! She agreed to come over to my place and we got cooking!

One thing led to another and we made something else also, something special. I thought I’d share that with you later, trust me – it’s worth the wait :) But not today…

For today, it’s Chicken Samosas… what should I say about it? Hmmm, if you haven’t tried Samosas (or Samboosa as some call it here in the Middle East) – then you’re missing out on one of life’s little pleasures. If you are new to this dish, it’s a pastry with a spicy chicken masala filling and deep fried!

Ok, let me try it this way; if you are a non vegetarian, you’ve no choice but to love it.Yes, that’s how it is. I’m yet to come across a person who has said “No” to a Chicken Samosa. If you’re a vegetarian… well, I have something about this recipe to share, but you’ll have to wait till next week :)

Enough said, I’ll go to the recipe now. Btw, I’ve posted the step by step pictures  for the shaping of Samosas.

You can also check out other Ramadan treats like Egg Chutney Kebab, Erachi Pathiri, Erachi Pidi, Malabar Pathiri, Ghee Rice, Unnakaya.

Here is the recipe…

Make small balls of gooseberry size from the dough…

Roll each ball into a circle. Cut the circle into 4 quarters. Take 1 quarter, at a time and join the curved edges by pressing together to form a corn shape…

Put 2 tsp of filling in the cone…

Cover the cone with the open edge. Seal together the edges nicely and you get a triangle shape…

Heat oil in a deep and wide pan on medium heat. Once the oil is really hot, but not smoking hot, reduce the flame to low-medium and start frying the samosas in batches. Fry till both sides turn golden brown…

So, do you remember me saying about a special recipe that we tried along with Samosas? This is it!!! It’s a meat lover’s treat! When I gave it to Jose the first time, he thought it was meat quiche :) Actually, it’s very similar to a crustless quiche.

Jose’s quiche reference got me thinking… The two recipes (this one and quiche) come from completely different cultures and use two different cooking styles, but somehow ends up having similar taste. Yet again, I’m amused at how food can bring together people by connecting them with familiar tastes!

Pola is a traditional Malabar dish, which is similar to cake, but made without an oven. It can be sweet or savoury. You can make a wide variety of Pola using eggs, bread, banana, apples, meat etc; I remember bookmarking a Kaipola (banana pola) recipe long time ago, but never got to try it.

This is a very simple recipe and absolutely easy to put together. If you have some left over meat dish, it’s even easier to make. We thoroughly enjoyed this dish and I’m sure I’ll be making it again and again and again…you got the point right? You can have it for brunch or as a snack or for lunch like we did ;)

If you are planning to make something special to celebrate Eid, please check out the following recipes:

Erachi Pathiri, Erachi Pidi, Mutta Kabab, Nei Choru, Mutton Pepper Fry, Mutton Biriyani, Chicken Biriyani, Beef Biriyani, Prawns Biriyani, Fish Biriyani, Egg Biriyani

Eid Mubarak to you and your loved ones!! 

Here is the recipe…

Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onion. When onion becomes soft, add green chilli, ginger and garlic. Cook for 2-3 mins. Add chilli and turmeric powder and cook for a min…

Add shredded beef and coriander leaves to this and mix well. Cook for 2-3 mins, till everything is well combined…

Blend together eggs, milk, plain flour, salt and pepper powder in a mixie or blender, till it’s smooth without any lumps…

Heat the pressure cooker or a saucepan and reduce the flame to the lowest. Pour the egg mixture to the cooker and add the cooked beef mixture to it. Close the cooker and put the weight on. Cook on the lowest flame for 10 mins. After 5-7 mins, you can open and see whether it’s done. Insert a toothpick in the centre and see whether it’s done…

Please read the notes before trying the recipe

I’m breaking one of my own rules here. That I’ll never publicly share any message or email that I get, even if it’s regarding MM. I’m sharing a message from one of my best friends. She messaged me…

“I dont know why.. but yesterday around 6 in the evening i really really missed u..it was like for a moment i was travelling back in time and the present made no sense to me…”

The thing is we were very thick friends and over the past few years after she left Bahrain, we lost touch. I know, these days the difficult part is to get disconnected rather than get connected, but somehow it happened.

The reason why I shared the message here is because sometimes the “present” makes no sense to me too. Does it happen to you? It’s not that I’m purposefully thinking about it, but a flash image of some past day comes to me without any notice. It can happen anytime, may be when I’m reading or cooking or resting. Sometimes it will be an image from my childhood, sometimes it may be from my Bangalore days, sometimes it may even be my early days in Bahrain, or an image from one of our trips, almost anything.

The thing is when I’m seeing that image, I also get the feel and smell, it’s like I’m transported back to the exact point in time, weird right? Recently I had one such “time travel” and I was back in Kerala. The feel was of a busy lunch time and the smell I got was of a fish curry. I know you must be thinking either I’m crazy or I’m making up all this. Trust me it happens! My initial days in Bahrain usually smell like KFC or Cinnabon! My very first meal in Bahrain was KFC (I know!!!) and Cinnabon for dessert! Blame Jose!

Sometimes I act upon these time travels, depending on my mood. That reminds me, I’ve a blow torch stacked somewhere, which I bought after my time travel to our US trip. I was taken back to the time where we had a creme brulee at midnight, sitting on a roadside cafe in the middle of New York. That weekend I went and bought the blow torch. No I haven’t used it, yet…

Anyways, this time, I was in the mood and I happened to have some fresh fish with me.However I was a bit confused about which fish curry to make and that’s when I remembered this one. I think, I first had Meen Manga Curry from Jose’s place. Meen manga curry is something that Mummy (Jose’s mom) makes very often. At my place, Kudampuli rules, so it’s always Meen Vevichathu.

I love the combination of the sourness from raw mango, sweetness from the coconut milk and the spiciness from chili powder. This is a deadly flavour base to cook the fish. The curry has to be rested for a while, so that the fish absorbs the wonderful flavours. Writing about it, makes me want to eat a plate of rice with that fish gravy and I’m literally drooling just thinking about the flavours!! Sorry.

I strongly recommend you try this recipe, it’s one of our fav ones now. I made a call to Mummy, specially to get the recipe and the tips (see the notes). I do hope you’ll also enjoy this recipe and be transported to a “happy place” ;)

Here is the recipe…

Heat oil in a manchatti (clay pot) or a deep and wide pan. Add fenugreek seeds and sliced onion and small onion. When it becomes soft (no need to brown), add crushed ginger and garlic. Cook for 2-3 mins…

Make a smooth paste with chilli powder, turmeric powder, 1 tsp coconut oil and 1 tbsp water. Add this paste and cook for 2-3 mins, till oil starts appearing. Add 1-2 tsp of hot water and mix well. Add sliced mango pieces, curry leaves, salt and stir…

Add medium thick coconut milk and bring it to boil…

Reduce the flame to the lowest and add fish pieces. Rotate the pan, to make sure that the fish pieces are covered in the gravy. Cover and cook for 8-10 mins…

Add thick coconut milk and rotate the pan again. Cover and cook for 4-5 mins, till the gravy is thick and fish is cooked…

We are meeting after a small gap, right? Well, it was an unintentional break. It all started when I began to read a book. I got carried away with it. I was on a mission to finish the book and got lost in the fictional world. At the time living in the “la-la” land (that’s what Jose calls my Utopian state) seemed more interesting and occasional peeks into the real world weren’t too promising either.

Anyways, back to reality and the first thing I did was to reply to your mails and comments. Next thing to do is post a recipe, so here it is. No fluff, just a good ol’ recipe…

Onam posts and pictures are slowly popping up everywhere. I thought I’ll also join the bandwagon and post a related recipe. Coming to this recipe, Theeyal is one of my fav veg side dishes. The making of Theeyal requires a fine balancing of flavours. When I think of Theeyal, the first thing that comes to my mind is the flavour of roasted coconut and tanginess from tamarind. Both flavours should go hand in hand and not overpowering the other.

There are different varieties of Theeyal like Pavakka Theeyal, Ulli Theeyal, even Prawns Theeyal. Though I tend to make Pavakka Theeyal more often, my fav one is Ulli Theeyal. I do hope you’ll also enjoy making this recipe.

Here is the recipe…

Fry the coconut till it turns a darker shade of brown. Make sure you stir it continuously. Remove it from fire and add all masala powders (chilli, coriander & turmeric). Bring back to fire and cook for a min. Remove from fire and let it cool completely. Grind the coconut without water to a smooth paste. The oil from coconut will be released while grinding and the paste will be liquidy…

Heat oil and add the sliced onion and curry leaves. Cook till the onion begins to brown…

Add coconut paste, soaked tamarind and salt. Mix well. Add half cup hot water. Bring it to boil. Reduce flame to lowest and cook for 4-5 mins. Remove from fire. Heat oil in a pan and crackle mustard seeds. Add this to theeyal…

Here is another Onam recipe. Erissery is one of my fav dishes in Sadya, be it Mathanga Erissery or this one. However, I’ve a soft corner towards this one. I feel that Chena (yam) has a meaty texture and may be that’s why it’s one of my fav veggies. I love it in any form. I love it so much that whenever am home, it’s made specially for me.

Though I like it in any form, my absolute fav one is, steamed Chena sprinkled with freshly grated coconut, with a drizzle of coconut oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. It’s one of my comfort foods. If you havent tried it yet, please do it give it a try, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

Make sure you get good quality Chena, sometimes if the water content is high in Chena, the flavour will not be there. Hope you get to try this dish as a part of your Onam celebration.

You can see more Onam recipes here

Here is the recipe…

Onam is almost here! So, how’s your Onam preps going? Planning to make a full fledged Sadya? Now, tell me… what’s your fav item on Sadya? Is it one of the curries or Payasam or you look forward to the whole experience of having a full fledged traditional sadya with your loved ones?

Whatever be your favourite, I’m sure each and every Malayali looks forward to Onam. It’s one festival that’s celebrated by every Malayali, whichever part of the world they are in. It’s also a good time to visit Kerala, since the vibrant colours of Kerala will be displayed in full and it’s difficult not to be enthralled, captured or even seized by the festive spirit. No wonder everyone wishes to be in Kerala during this time.

Coming to our recipe… for me Onam is all about Payasam. Well, there is one more thing, getting dressed up in Kerala saree ;) Ok, coming back to payasam, as I’ve told you many times before, my fav memory of Onam season is visiting Payasam stalls that pops up in every nook and corner during this season.

Even if I don’t make a full fledged sadya for Onam, I make Payasam every year without fail. This year, I wanted to try something new to share with you.

One thing I’ve noticed of late, is that people tend to make Payasam with almost anything, for the sake of making a different Payasam. Though I’d like to consider myself as a very open minded and progressive person, when it comes to food, I’m a bit of a traditionalist.

I like traditional tastes when it comes to Payasam. Pazham Pradhaman is a traditional one, but it’s “new” to me. Did I just say pazham as in fruit!? If you are a regular here, you should be knowing my aversion for fruits and that’s why I said this is new to me. (Please don’t laugh!)

I asked my friend Sheena for help, since she is familiar with this payasam (and fruits!). As usual we had a great time making this and relived our Onam memories. If you like the taste of plantains you will enjoy this payasam. After all, the combination of ripe plantains, jaggery, coconut milk and ghee cannot go wrong! It’s like four fabulous friends coming together and having a ball ;)

Hope you too will enjoy making and having this Payasam.

Wish you and your loved ones a very Happy Onam!!

Here is the recipe…

Melt jaggery with 1/2 cup water in a deep pan and keep aside…

Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a wide and deep pan. Add sliced banana pieces and fry on low -medium flame, till it begins to brown.Reduce flame to lowest and mash the banana pieces with a wooden spatula or a potato masher…

Strain the melted jaggery and add to mashed banana. Keep stirring in between. Cook on low flame, till the mixture becomes thick and starts leaving the side of the pan. Add 1 tbsp ghee to the mixture and mix well…

Add thin coconut milk and bring to boil. Reduce the flame to low-medium and cook till the mixture is reduced in quantity to a thicker consistency…

Add medium thick coconut milk, stir and bring it to boil. Keep cooking on low-medium flame till the mixture becomes thick…

Reduce flame to lowest and add thick coconut milk. Mix well. Continue to cook on low flame for 5-7 mins. Remove from fire…

In a small pan, add 1 tbsp ghee and brown the cashews first, drain it on paper towel. In the same pan, add more ghee, if required, add coconut bits and fry till it turns golden brown. Add crushed cardamom and fried cashew and coconut bits to payasam…

Please read notes section first

You can see all Onam recipes here and all Paysam recipes here

We were recently invited for dinner by one of our friends. Without doubt, I accepted the invitation immediately, but only after a while I realised that we were on lent that time! I messaged my friend about our lent and pat came her reply that we can meet the following week. Since we had something else planned for the next week, I replied saying that we didn’t mind a veg menu.

Let me correct that statement, it’s actually I didn’t mind veg menu, Jose definitely minds ;)

I was sure about one thing… even if we both didn’t bother much about the menu being veg, our host definitely bothered. Ask any non veg person to cook a complete veg menu and you know what I’m talking about! Some of my friends absolutely hate (I know, hate is a strong word to use, but that’s the truth) cooking a complete veg menu. The reason most of them say that is that they don’t know what to cook other than Paneer and Dal. Are you like that by any chance? (Vegetarians please excuse, it’s nothing personal ;)

Going by the increasing number of bans in India on non veg food, I guess it’s safe to say that non veg people better start enjoying or at least try to pretend enjoying veg food, you never know when your “acha din” is going to pop up ;)

Coming back to our friends dinner, I should say the food was just great! I didn’t even miss the non veg, even though there was my fav Beef Fry and Chicken Biriyani. I don’t mind whether the food is veg or non veg, as long it’s cooked completely and it has flavour!

Now, if you are wondering why I went on about the whole veg and non veg conversation, the thing is, it’s been sometime, I’ve been feeding you (virtually) only veg recipes. Yeah, I posted a fish recipe in between, but you know what, for hardcore non-vegetarians, “Meat” is the ultimate thing! So, I didn’t want to test your patience further by posting more veg or similar recipes.

You might have noticed my love for “Varutharacha Curries” (roasted coconut gravy). Honestly, I wasn’t very familiar with this flavour while growing up, except for Theeyal recipes. I guess I got hooked on to it, after coming to Bahrain. During my initial days in Bahrain, we used to order Puttu and Varutharacha Chicken Curry from one of the Kerala restaurants here. I loved that combo and that led to many recipes like Pork Roast, Njandu Roast, Varutharacha Meen Curry, Varutharacha Sambar and Varutharacha Chicken Curry. See, I told you I just love this style of cooking.

About this recipe, well, for me any Beef recipe is good ;) The roasted coconut masala gives a wonderful flavour and richness to the curry. that goes well Steamed Rice, Ghee Rice, Roti, Appam, Puttu, Idiyappam etc;

Here is the recipe…

Heat oil in a pan and fry coconut, small onion (8), fennel seeds and turmeric powder (1/4 tsp) till it becomes golden brown. Let it cool completely. Grind the mixture without water…

Marinate cleaned beef pieces with ingredients listed from onion to coriander powder and salt for 10-15 mins…

Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add cloves and cinnamon stick. Add marinated beef and curry leaves. Cook for 2-3 mins on low flame…

Add potato and water. Mix well. Bring it to boil and close the cooker and cook till the beef is done (refer notes)…

Add the ground coconut mixture to the cooked beef and cook on low flame for 5-7 mins. Do a taste test and add more salt or water if required…

Heat a little oil in a small pan and crackle mustard seeds. Add sliced small onion (5) and fry till it turns golden brown. Add this to the beef curry…

Recipe adapted from Ummi Abdulla’s “Malabar PachakaVidi”