Bitter Gourd cooked with Coconut / Pavakka pattichathe

Bitter gourd makes an appearance rarely in most households unless a doctor orders one to have it! But even this bitter but healthy vegetable has it's fans. Have never asked my mother whether she cooked this vegetable out of love or for it's healthiness. But I used to enjoy this simple thoran/pattichathu which she used to cook.

Bitter gourd cooked with coconut/ പാവയ്ക്കാ പറ്റിച്ചത്

Ingredients:

1.Bitter Gourd - 2 thinly sliced (roughly 2 cups depending on the size)
2. Small onions/cheriya ulli - 5 or 6 nos sliced thin (you can also use one big onion)
4. Green chilly - 3 sliced lengthwise
5. Kokum - 1 nos
6. Shredded Coconut - 1/2 cup 
7. Coconut oil - 1 or 2 tspn
8. Curry leaves - a few
9. Salt - 1/2 tspn

Method

Wash the bitter gourd well and cut it lengthwise to remove the seeds (don't wash it again since it will retain water).  Slice thinly and place it in the vessel along with ingredients 2 - 6. Let it get cooked covered, in low heat. Stir it occasionally ensuring that it does not burn. You can add salt in between. The moisture from the vegetable is enough to cook, so there is no need to add any water. Once it is cooked,  switch off the heat and add the coconut oil and the curry leaves. Stir it well to let the aroma and taste seep in. Cover it and leave it for a while. Enjoy!

Chicken Pickle

Seems like I have been neglecting my blogs! It is not as though I have stopped cooking but posting the recipes is just not happening. But today I have a pickle that turned our very tasty; the only issue is that it may not last long! Anything pickled is tastier if it ages a bit but the subject being chicken, even the children have shed their fear of pickle. 

Chicken Pickle

Ingredients

1. Chicken - 500 gms (breast pieces cut into small cubes and well drained)

2. Ginger  - 1 tablespoon - cut into small pieces

3. Garlic - 1 tablespoon - each cut lengthwise 

4. Coconut - 2 tablespoon cut into small pieces (optional)

5. Green Chilly - 5 nos. - cut into small pieces

6. Chilly powder - 3 tablespoon

7. Vinegar - 1/2 cup

8. Boiled water - 1/3 cup

9. Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

10. Salt - 1/2 teaspoon

11. Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup chopped

12. Oil - 2-4 tablespoon

Method

Rub the salt and turmeric powder into the chicken and keep it aside for minimum 15 minutes.Fry the chicken until the chicken is dry but not crisp. Set aside. Fry ingredients 2-5 separately until the color changes. The frying is basically to drain the moisture so that the pickle stays for a longer period. 

Now switch off the fire and add the chilly powder and the coriander leaves that have been warmed for a while. I warmed them for 40 seconds in the microwave. Add the water, vinegar and the earlier fried ingredients except chicken and bring it to a boil. Once it starts boiling, add the chicken and switch off the fire.

Once it is cooled, transfer the pickle to a washed, dried and warmed bottle. You can use the microwave to warm the bottle or immerse the bottle in boiling water until sterilized.

Enjoy until the pickle lasts!

A Quick Vegetable/Egg Curry

As mentioned earlier, I do not like to spend too much time in the kitchen and always prefer recipes that are not time consuming. Most of my recipes are thus but last Saturday I needed an extra easy one since my daughter had extra classes in the morning and being a holiday, I overslept. Having frozen vegetables and egg is a plus point during such times. A pressure cooker also comes handy and it ensures that you lose less nutrients.

And being an egg family, most vegetable curries end up with a few eggs! I have a microwaveable appliance which lets me boil eggs while the curry is cooking.

This is where the eggs get cooked while inside the Microwave Oven

Quick Vegetable/Egg Curry

Ingredients

1. Frozen vegetable mix - 1 and 1/2 cup
2. Potato - one medium (cut into big cubes)
3. Tomato - one medium sliced
4. Crushed Garlic and Ginger - 1 tbspn
5. Chilly powder - 1 tspn
6. Coriander powder - 1 tbspn
7. Garam Masala powder - 1 tspn
8. Pepper powder - 1/2 tspn
9. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
11. Coconut powder - 2 to 3 tbspn
12. Green Chilly - 2 sliced
13. Small onions - 4 sliced 
14. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tspn
15. Curry Leaves - a few

Method

Take a pressure cooker and add a tablespoon of oil. Saute the crushed garlic/ginger until the raw smell leaves. Add the rest of the ingredients except 14&15 with one and half cup of water and enough salt. Close the cooker and turn the heat on high until the first whistle. Leave it on simmer for 5 minutes and switch off the flame. 

Heat a tablespoon of oil and let the mustard crackle. Add the sliced onions and curry leaves and fry until brown. Open the pressure cooker (make sure it has cooled down or cool it by holding the bottom of the cooker under the tap water) and add the seasoned oil. The curry is ready in less than 15 minutes! Now enjoy with chapatti or bread.

Garlicky Chilly Chicken

It is a recipe born out of availability. I had some garlic powder sitting idly and thought why not? I also had some piriyan chilly which I now substitute for the Kashmiri chilly. Though the color is not as good as that of the Kashmiri chilly, a good amount does bring out a fair color, while the heat is minimum.

Garlicky Chilly Chicken

Ingredients

1. Chicken - 500 gms (I used chicken breast, cubed)
2. Garlic powder - 1 tbspn
3. Corn flour - 2 + 1 Tbspn
4. Onion - 2 medium, chopped into cubes
5. Capsicum - 2 medium, chopped into cubes
6. Soya Sauce - 1 + 1 Tbspn
7. Hot Sauce - 1 Tbspn
8. Tomato Sauce - 4 Tbspn
9. Coriander leaves - a small bunch
10. Kashmiri chilly powder - 2 Tbspn
11. Garlic and Ginger- 1 Tbspn - finely chopped

Method

Mix the garlic powder, 2 tablespoon of corn flower, 1 tablespoon of Soya Sauce and marinate the chicken in this as long as you can. I did it for less than 30 minutes. Once marinated, fry the chicken until light brown. I did not deep fry it but used only a tablespoon of oil. Set it aside.

Fry the ginger and garlic until light brown in color. Saute the onion and capsicum in high flame for 2-3 minutes. You can saute the capsicum separately to retain the color and add it towards the end. 

Add the sauces (Soya Sauce, Hot Sauce and Tomato Sauce). Stir it well and add the fried chicken. Saute for a few minutes if you have't deep fried it. Now mix 1 tablespoon of corn flower to one and half cup of water and add it to the sauteed mix.Let it boil until the sauce has thickened to your liking. Add the coriander leaves and enjoy!

Eureka Chicken Curry

This chicken curry is from the Facebook Group Ammachiyude Adukkala. The author claims that he invented it due to lack of time. And if lack of time is your problem, then this is a very easy recipe.

Eureka Chicken Curry

Ingredients

1. Chicken - 1 Kg (Cut into medium pieces and drained well)
2. Kashmiri Chilly Powder - 2 Tbspn
3.Coriander Powder - 2 Tbspn
4. Pepper Powder - 1 Tspn
5. Garam Masala - 1 Tspn
6. Onions - 2 cut into cubes
7. Tomato - 3 cut into cubes

8. Capsicum - 2 cut into cubes
9. Green Chilly - 4 sliced
10. Garlic - 8 cloves minced
12. Curry leaves - a bunch
13 Coriander leaves - a bunch

Method

Mix the chicken along with 2-10 ingredients and place it in a pressure cooker along with 1/2 cup of water. Put the flame on high until first whistle. Lower the flame and let it cook for 5 minutes. Take a pan and put 2 tablespoon of oil. (I used my favourite coconut oil). Fry the curry leaves until the beautiful aroma pokes your nose! Open the cooker if it has cooled down and pour the contents into the pan. Fry in high flame until the curry is dry enough. Add the chopped coriander leaves and enjoy!

Prawn Curry

It is the season for prawns here in Kuwait. This means that the prawns are in abundance and they are cheaper. We bought a few kilos from the Sharq fish market and yesterday I made a curry which came out very tasty. Instead of chilly powder that the recipe asked for, I used whole chilies and the less hot variant called the piriyan chilly in Kerala. Now I am back to using home made spices since I feel it would be safer. The piriyan chilly gives a rich red color while it is not at all spicy. 

I soaked them in warm water and grounded them to paste. Look at the rich color it gave to the curry! This was before I added the coconut paste.

Prawn Curry

Ingredients

1. Prawns, de-veined and washed - 1/2 Kg
2. Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tspn
3. Whole chilly - 6 nos or chilly powder 3 tspn
4. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
5. Ginger/Garlic paste - 2 tspn
6. Small onions sliced finely - 10 nos.
7. Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
8. Coriander powder - 3 tspn
9. Kokum - 2 pieces
10. Salt to taste
11. Curry leaves - a sprig

Method

Fry the fenugreek seeds in 2 table spoon of oil until lightly browned. Add the curry leaves and ginger/garlic paste. Fry it until the raw smell leaves. Add the sliced onions and fry until browned. Add the chilly paste and saute until oil separates or if you are adding powders, add chilly and turmeric powders. Now add the prawns and fry on high until a little dry. Add a cup of water and the kokum. Let it cook for a while. Meanwhile, grind the coconut along with the coriander powder. Add this to the boiling curry and check if there is enough water. Else add some water and let this cook until the prawns are well done. Just before you switch off the fire, you can add a few curry leaves to get that extra taste. 

Enjoy with rice or roti!

Mumbai Street Sandwich

Since I am yet to taste the same from Mumbai, thought I shall try and make it myself. It is a very healthy sandwich and one can make it even more healthier by substituting brown bread for white. Since ours is an "egg loving" family, I could not avoid it! But what is a healthy breakfast without an egg? Wink! Actually eggs were not a daily affair while growing up. It only became an everyday affair after I got married to an egg crazy individual. Initially I tried to cut down on it but then I realized that it is not an easy job. But those having cholesterol might as well restrict the intake of eggs. For the time being both me and hubby have kept this fiend at the border. 

Eggs can also satiate your hunger. Recently I cut down on eggs to reduce my weight and realized that I was hungrier and always managed to find something to quell it. The result was that I gained weight. Now I am back to eating eggs. Hubby always cites the example of his grandfather who lived (in Kuttanadu) to a ripe age and for whom one or more duck's egg was a must. Guess the duck's egg is healthier than the hen's since it is able to find a whole range of healthy food either in the rice fields or in the backwaters of Kerala. Unlike earlier, the eggs that we get now is that of the broiler chicken fed in captivity.

I adapted the recipe from Spicy Cookery. 

Mumbai Street Sandwich

Ingredients:

• Bread slices – 4nos
• Tomato – 1no (cut into rings)
• Onion – 1no (cut into rings)
• Potato – 1no (cooked & cut into rings)
• Coriander chutney – 4tbsp
• Eggs - 2 cut into rounds (optional)

Coriander Chutney

Ingredients:

• Coriander/ Dhaniya leaves – 1/4 cup

• Grated coconut – 1/2 cup

• Green Chilies – 1 nos

• Ginger – small piece 

• Small onion/ shallots/ cheruulli – 2 nos

• Curd - 1 Tbs  (optional, I used this instead of water to grind)

• Salt – as per taste.

Method:

• Wash the coriander leaves thoroughly. Don’t remove the stems.

• In a mixer, grind all the above ingredients except coriander leaves to fine paste.

• Then add coriander leaves to it & grind properly. 

• Coriander chutney is ready to serve. Preserve the chutney in refrigerator in an air tight container.

 Method:

• Cut sides of the bread slices (4slices). Spread coriander chutney 1tbsp on inner side of 1 bread slice.
• Place 2pieces of onion rings, 2pieces of tomato rings and 2pieces of cooked potato rings and egg pieces over spread coriander chutney.
• Take the 2nd bread slice. Spread coriander chutney 1tbsp on one side of bread slice.
• Place the spread coriander chutney part of bread slice over the vegetables.
• Place it in a toaster & toast bread till both sides of the bread slice turns slightly brown in color or on a pan until both sides are slightly browned.

Indian-Style Grilled Chicken Breasts

Yesterday our daughter took over cooking from me and surprised us with a very tasty dinner. Am proud of my girl! She does have a knack for cooking and is going to enjoy the same over the years. Since I was at work, she could only phone me to identify the various spices that were needed for the marination. But she managed the over-the-phone tips.

Indian-Style Grilled Chicken Breasts

Adapted from Food.com

The accompaniments too were made by daughter and was tasty. Mashed potato, boiled beans and scrambled eggs.

Ingredients:

1. Curd - 1/2 cup 
2. Tomato paste - 1 tablespoon 
3. Garlic cloves, quartered - 2
4. 1 piece peeled ginger, coarsely chopped or 1 teaspoon ground ginger
5. Cumin powder - 1/2 teaspoon
6. Coriander powder - 1/2 teaspoon
7. Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
8. Cayenne pepper - 1/4 teaspoon
9. Chicken breasts (bone-in or boneless) - 4
10. 2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander or 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley



Method

In a food processor, combine yogurt, tomato paste, green onions, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, salt and cayenne pepper; purée until smooth. Arrange chicken in a shallow dish; coat with yogurt mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 1 day ahead. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking. Place chicken skin-side down on greased grill over medium-high heat; cook for 15 minutes. Brush with marinade; turn and cook for 10 to 15 minutes longer or until golden and juices run clear (or place chicken on rack set on baking sheet; roast at 350°F, basting after 30 minutes with marinade, for 50 to 55 minutes or until juices run clear).

Serve garnished with chopped coriander or chopped parsley.

Malabar Chicken Curry

Having grown up in Calicut, my Hubby often talks about Malabar food. He swears that the Chaps that is served in Calicut hotels cannot be had anywhere else. So it is with great expectations that I cooked this Malabar Chicken yesterday to find out if it would turn out anything like the chaps. Hubby never minces words :). He said the curry is good but it is nothing like the chaps. The chaps it seems has a distinct aroma that enters your taste buds even before the food! But the children who has never eaten chaps loved the curry and made it up for me! They told me that it tasted like a hotel curry that they liked. As for me, I have no idea how chaps tastes and I cannot find a distinctive recipe too for the same. 

Malabar Chicken Curry
Adapted from Marias Menu

Ingredients

1. Chicken - 1 Kg (measured after cleaning)
2. Sliced small onion - 1/2 cup
3. Chopped ginger and garlic - 3 tsp, each
4. Whole dried red chilli - 6
5. Whole coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
6. Fennel seeds (perumjeerakam) - 1/2 tsp
7. Coconut - 1/4 cup
8. Onion - 2 medium, sliced
9. Green chilli - 4  chopped
10. Turmeric powder -  1/2 tsp
11. Tomato - 2 big, sliced
12. Small onion - 3 sliced
13 Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Salt
Curry leaves
Oil - I used coconut oil
Hot water - 1.5 cups

Method

1. Heat oil in a pan and saute curry leaves & sliced small onion. After a few minutes add dried red chilli, whole coriander, fennel seeds,ginger and garlic. When it is fried well, add grated coconut, mix well. Fry it till the coconut becomes golden brown. Let it cool for sometime. Add enough water to the cooled coconut mixture and grind to a smooth paste.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add thinly sliced onion and green chili. When onion is fried well (golden brown colour), add turmeric powder and salt & stir for a few minutes. Add tomato and cook. When tomato becomes soft add the ground paste to this and mix well. Add 2-3 tbsp of water and mix well. Add cleaned chicken pieces to this, combine well and
add hot water for the chicken to cook. Cover and cook in low flame and stir in between and cook till the chicken is done.
3. Meanwhile heat oil in another pan and add thinly sliced small onion(4) and curry leaves. Add chili powder to this and fry well. Add this to the cooked chicken and mix well. Serve hot with ghee rice, plain rice or roti.

Black Eyed Beans Curry

Finally I bought a packet of Black Eyed Beans to try the recipe where I used Fava beans. It turned out good.

Black Eyed Beans Curry

Ingredients

1- Black Eyed Beans - 2 cups
2- Small onions - 10
3- Coriander Powder - 1 tbspn
4- Turmeric Powder - 3/4 tspn
5- Chilly Powder - 2 tbspn (adjust as per your tolerance level)
6- Cumin and Saunf seeds - 1 tspn each
7- Asafoetida - 1 tspn
8- Big onion - 2 medium
9- Tomato - 2
10- Shredded coconut - 1/2 cup or 3 tbsnpn coconut powder
11- Cury leaves - enough
12 - Tamarind paste - 1 tbspn
13. Cream - 1 or 1 Tbspn

Method

Soak the beans in water for 4-5 hours and pressure cook it for 10-15 minutes. Grind tomato, Onion and Saunf seeds and set aside. If you are using shredded coconut, grind the same and set aside. Heat enough oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds. Fry the cumin seeds along with the asafoetida. Add chopped onions and fry until browned. Fry the ground mixture of tomato/onion/saunf until oil leaves the side. Add the beans and salt and fry for a minute. Now add the powders and fry for a while. Add the turmeric paste with enough water and once it boils, add the ground coconut or coconut powder and boil until the curry has thickened to your taste. Garnish with the cream and coriander leaves.

Enjoy with rice or chappathi.

Tapioca Cutlets

Whenever Hubby feels like eating tapioca, he picks the frozen ones from the local store forgetting that I have more such ones sitting in the freezer! Since I always wanted to try the cutlets I thought it would be the best way to exhaust the same. It turned out pretty good and we had a visitor who took the recipe from me to bug his wife :)

Tapioca cutlets

Ingredients

1. Tapioca - 900 gm
2. Onions - 2 nos.
3. Ginger  - 2 inch piece
4. Green Chilly - 4 ones
5. Garam Masala - 1 tsp
6. Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
7. Salt to taste
9. Coriander leaves - a small bunch

Method

Boil and drain the tapioca. Mash it well. Saute the onion, ginger and green chilly until well softened. Add the powders and then the tapioca. Mix it well. Make cutlets by rubbing some oil on your palms and making small patties which is dipped first in egg and then bread crumbs. Fry them in oil and enjoy with ketchup!

Prawns in roasted Coconut gravy / Thenga Varutharacha Chemmeen Curry

It is time to empty the fridge since our vacation days are not far away. Starting with the freezer there are a couple of items that have been begging my attention. Guess I would need to double my cooking and halve the purchases. Had some frozen prawns left over from my last cooking which I wanted to finish. That is when I realized that I had some roasted coconut too. When I return from a vacation, I usually bring coconut in 3 forms. One is shredded and fresh, as chunks and a good part half roasted. The roasted one saves me much time while cooking.

So here is a super recipe for a prawn curry. It is guaranteed to make you eat more rice or chapathi than you intended to :)

Prawns in roasted Coconut gravy / Thenga Varutharacha Chemmeen Curry

Ingredients

1. Prawns, deveined and cleaned - 500 gms
2. Button onions - 3 or 4
3. Ginger - a big piece
4. Garlic - 4-5 cloves

This is the amount I used

Once sauted

6. Chilly powder - 3 tsp
7. Coriander powder - 2 tsp
8. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
9. Fenugreek powder - 1/2 tp
10. Kokum (Kudampuli) - 1 or 2 depending on the size
11. Salt to taste
12. Coconut slices - 1 tbs (optional)
13. Roasted coconut - 1/2 to 1 cup (depending on it's availability)
14. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tspn
15. Curry leaves  - a few

Method

Crush the ginger/garlic/small onions. Heat a tablespoon or two of coconut oil and splutter some mustard seeds. Saute the crushed items until slightly brown. Pour 1/4 cup of water and add the powders. Stir it until the oil leave the sides. Don't let it burn. Pour a cup of water and add the kokum and curry leaves. Since my frozen prawns may let out water, I reduced the amount. Adjust accordingly. Once it starts boiling, add the sliced coconut and prawns. Close and let it boil. Meanwhile grind the roasted coconut to a paste and add it to the boiling prawns. Let it simmer until the prawns are cooked and the gravy has thickened.

Enjoy! It was very tasty and the whole stuff disappeared in a short while!

Hyderabad Chicken

This is another Mughlai style chicken which turned out good.

Hyderabad Chicken

Ingredients

1. Chicken - 1 kg - chicken
2. Sesame seeds 1 Tbspn
3. Almonds / Peanuts / Cashewnuts - 10 or 12 numbers

4. Onion - 1 sliced fine
5. Crushed Ginger - 1 tbsp

6. Crushed Garlic - 1 tbsp

7. Crushed Green Chilli - 1 tbsp
8. Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
9. Curd - 1 ½ cups 

10. Garam masala - 1 tsp 

11. Black cumin seeds - ¼ tsp 

12. Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

13. Milk - 1 tbsp

14. Tomato puree or paste - 2 tbsp

15. Coriander leaves - a bunch

Method

Cut the chicken into large cubes.Fry the sesame seeds and nuts until slightly brown and then pound once cooled.  Mix the paste with a little milk. Fry the onions until browned with salt. Place the ground paste, ginger, garlic, chilli, turmeric, yoghurt, garam masala, cumin seeds and a pinch of salt in a large bowl and mix together. Stir in the fried onion and then the chicken. Leave to marinate for 10 minutes but not for long. 

Place the marinated chicken in a pan and cook it over medium heat until the chicken is cooked. Stir it occasionally so that it does not stick to the bottom.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and add lemon juice before you serve.

 

Braided Bread

I ventured into bread making only recently since I thought it was time consuming, but soon I realized that it was easier than making chapatis! Braided bread lets you have some great fillings and you can get away with some salads to accompany it. The shapes are yet evolve but the taste was fine :)

Braided Bread

Ingredients

1. Flour - 3 cups ( I used 2 cups of all purpose flour and 1 cup wheat flour)
2. Yeast - 2 tspns
3. Milk - 1/2 cup
4- Butter - 2 Tbspn
5. Egg - 2 nos. (optional for vegetarians)
6. Brown sugar - 1 Tbspn
7. Salt - 1/2 tspn


For the filling

1- Onion - 1 sliced finely
2. Garlic - 5 cloves, sliced finely
3. Cheese - any kind ( I used Cream cheese)
4. Mix of herbs - 1/4 tspn each ( I used Oregon, Dill, Methi, Rosemary etc)
5. Tomato paste - 2 tbsn

Method

Warm the milk with butter and dissolve the yeast and sugar in it Leave it until yeast froths. Whisk the eggs into the milk mixture and pour the milk and eggs into the flour and stir with a large spoon, dough whisk, or spatula. If you are using a stand mixer, knead on low for a few minutes, adding flour as needed.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl and make sure to coat the dough with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled in size, about 60 minutes.

Meanwhile stir the onion and garlic in butter or olive oil until brown. Add the herbs and the tomato paste. Leave it aside.

Punch down dough and divide into 4 parts. On a lightly floured mat roll each part as thin as you can and spread the mix. You can either spread the cheese before spreading the filling or mix the cheese with the filling.Now roll each third into a 15-inch rope. Optionally one can cut each rope through the centre but not right through.  Line a baking sheet with parchment and lay 3 ropes on parchment. Braid loosely, pinch ends and tucker under to seal. Cover and let rise in a warm place until very puffy, about 30-45 minutes. Mix 1 tsp water with the tablespoon of reserved egg and brush over braid. Bake at 400F for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely before cutting.

The fourth roll can be made thus:

Roll the dough to half inch thickness and cut the sides. After spreading the filling, you can braid it. It is very easy!

Chilly Prawns

This recipe is from a dear friend and is an easy but a very delicious one! 

Chilly Prawns

Ingrdients

1. Prawns - 450 gm

2. Chilly pdr - 3 tspn

3. Turmeric Pdr - 1/2 tspn

4. Ginger/Garlic paste - 1 tspn

5. Lemon juice - 2 tspn

6. Salt to taste
7. Onions - 2 medium sized sliced finely

8. Chopped ginger , garlic and green chillies - 2 tspn
9. Chilly flakes - 1 tspn
10. Paprika powder - 1 tspn
11. Balsamic vinegar - 2 tspn

Method

Marinate the prawns with ingredients 2-5 and leave it for one hour. Heat 1 tablespoon oil and sauté the prawn and cover and cook till done. Take out the cover and fry till brown. Fry the onion with  chopped garlic, ginger and green chillies. When the onion turns brown add chilly flakes, paprika and 2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar. Add the fried prawns to this mixture and stir fry it for 2 to 3 minutes. Check the salt and add if necessary. Garnish with spring onions or curry leaves.

Stir Fried Red Cow Peas / Vanpayar Ularthiyathe

This side dish goes well with Kanji or rice gruel. It is also fine with your rice meal. It is full of proteins.

Stir Fried Red Cow Peas / Vanpayar Ularthiyathe

Ingredients

1. Stir Fried Red Cow Peas / Vanpayar Ularthiyathe - 2 cups soaked in water for 1 hour
2. Small onions - 8
3. Garlic - 4 cloves
5. Red Chilly - 3
6. Curry leaves - a few
7. Mustard seeds - 1 tspn

Method

Either pressure cook the peas (with 2 cups of water)  for 2 whistles or boil until it is cooked. Crush ingredients 2-6 and set aside. Heat oil and splutter mustard seeds. Add the crushed ingredients and fry until brown. Now add the cooked peas with enough salt and fry until it is dry.

Enjoy!

Fava Beans Curry

The original recipe called for Black Eyed Beans or the White Beans but since I had only Fava Beans I used it. It turned out good except that it can be a slightly bitter but anything bitter is always good for your health! :)

Fava Beans / Black Eyed Beans Curry

Ingredients

1- Fava Beans or Black Eyed Beans - 2 cups
2- Small onions - 10
3- Coriander Powder - 1 tbspn
4- Turmeric Powder - 3/4 tspn
5- Chilly Powder - 2 tbspn (adjust as per your tolerance level)
6- Cumin and Saunf seeds - 1 tspn each
7- Asafoetida - 1 tspn
8- Big onion - 2 medium
9- Tomato - 2
10- Shredded coconut - 1/2 cup or 3 tbsnpn coconut powder
11- Cury leaves - enough
12 - Tamarind paste - 1 tbspn

Method

Soak the beans in water for 4-5 hours and pressure cook it for 10-15 minutes. Grind tomato, Onion and Saunf seeds and set aside. If you are using shredded coconut, grind the same and set aside. Heat enough oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds. Fry the cumin seeds along with the asafoetida. Add chopped onions and fry until browned. Fry the ground mixture of tomato/onion/saunf until oil leaves the side. Add the beans and salt and fry for a minute. Now add the powders and fry for a while. Add the turmeric paste with enough water and once it boils, add the ground coconut or coconut powder and boil until the curry has thickened to your taste.

Enjoy with rice or chappathi.

Healthy and quick breakfast with steamed Plantain

I normally make a lavish breakfast on holidays since I have enough time to do so. But last Friday since we wanted to go out for some shopping, I settled for a quick but healthy breakfast.

Plantain as you may know is a very healthy fruit and is prepared in many ways while raw and ripe. While raw it is used in stir fries and curries and when ripe it is eaten thus or made into fritters. 

Plantain is rich in carbohydrate, Potassium and Vitamin A. Eating a medium plantain provides your body with 2,017 international units of vitamin A, corresponding to 86 percent of the recommended intake for women and 67 percent of the intake for men, according to the Linus Pauling Institute. 

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/nutrients-plantains-have-3250.html

Nutritional Value of Plantain

According to the USDA nutrient database, 100g of raw* plantain contains the following values:

116kcal

31.2g Carbohydrate

2.3g Fiber (9% RDI)

.2g Fat (neg)

.8g Protein (2% RDI)

909 IU Vitamin A (18% RDI)

10.9mg Vitamin C (18% RDI)

Thiamin (3% RDI)

.1mg Riboflavin (3% RDI)

.8mg Niacin (4% RDI)

.2mg Vitamin B6 (12% RDI)

26mcg Folate (6% RDI)

.2mg Pantothenic Acid (2% RDI)

.6mg Iron (3% RDI)

37mg Magnesium (9% RDI)

34mg Phosphoous (3% RDI)

499mg Potassium (14% RDI)

.1mg Copper (4% RDI)

1.5mcg Selenium (2% RDI)

http://theindianvegan.blogspot.com/2013/03/all-about-plantain-in-india.html

I have also heard that one plantain equals 2 eggs and is a good substitute for vegetarians.

Anyway this is a simple recipe with plantain.

Healthy and quick breakfast with steamed Plantain

Ingredients:

1. Plantains - as many as you have on hand

2. Shredded coconut   - 1 Tbspn for each plantain

3. Ghee/Butter - enough to drizzle

4. Sugar - optional

Method

Cut the ends of the plantains and also make a cut at the centre of each plantain: just enough and not entirely through. Steam them with skin on until the skin bursts through. This ensures that it is cooked right. Split the plantains and drizzle ghee or apply butter (optional). Spread the shredded coconuts and serve!