Green Gram Dosa/ Pesarattu

Have no idea if this is an authentic recipe(found different versions online) since I have tasted this dosa only from my own kitchen. But it is an easy one and nutritious too and also while the normal/sadha dosa needs overnight fermentation, this one needs no such long term planning. The other day I returned from work and only then remembered this recipe. Since most recipes ask for 6-8 hours of soaking I used water that was slightly hot. (The tap water is hot enough out here currently). I left it thus for more than an hour and then grinded it. Since it is just two of us right now, the batter was enough for dinner and for breakfast the next day.

Ingredients

1. Green Gram Dal - 1 cup
2. Raw Rice - 2 Tbsp. (I have used both rice and rice powder)
3. Ginger - 2 inch piece
4. Green Chilly - 3 nos.
5. Cumin - 2 tsp.
6. Onion - 3 nos. (you can either grind it or cut it into small pieces)
7. Salt - to taste

Method

Wash and soak the rice and dal either overnight or for minimum 2 hours. Grind it smoothly along with ginger, green chilly and onions. Add enough water while grinding to reach the right consistency of dosa. Add enough salt and the batter is ready to be made into dosas. It comes out as thin and crispy like normal dosas and can be had with chutney/sambar. One can also add finely cut coriander leaves for extra flavor.

 

Puttu Upuma

This is what my mother did with leftover puttu, she made it into upuma. Since puttu is dry in itself, it needs to be consumed with a curry or banana. Making an upuma out of it makes it less dry and it can be eaten without any curry. It is tasty too. I normally make enough puttu so that the remaining can be made into puttu which is normally eaten with a fried egg in my household.

Puttu Upuma

Ingredients

1. Left over puttu - 2 cups
2. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp.
3. Broken red chilly - 1 nos.
4. Small onion sliced finely - 3 or more
5. Curry leaves - few
6. Oil - 1 or 2 tbsp.
7- Water - 5 tbsp. or more

Method

Crackle the mustard seeds in oil and fry items 2-5 until well browned. Lower the flame. Add the puttu after it has been broken down well and keep sprinkling water while you stir it. Switch off the flame once it has been heated through and is soft enough.

Any pickle is enough but a fried egg is a good combination.

Or like me, if you do not mind a combination of sweet, sour and hot, add some sugar too and enjoy!
 

Beef Stir Fry

Realized that I do not have a single beef recipe in my blog. I do not cook beef often and when I do, it is mostly the beef ulerthiyethe and sometimes beef steak. Recently I discovered an easier one: the Chinese stir fry. I modified the recipe to suit as per available ingredients.


Beef Stir fry

Ingredients

1. Beef sliced lengthwise - 500 gm

2. Soya sauce - 1 + 1 tbsp.

3. Oyster Sauce - 1+ 1 tbsp. (optional)

4. Pepper powder - 1 tsp.

5. Garlic powder - 1 tsp. (optional)

6. Onions sliced lengthwise - 2nos.

7. Garlic sliced lengthwise  - 6 cloves

8. Capsicum cut into cubes - 1 no (if available)

9. Green Chilly sliced - 1 number (optional)

10. - Corn Flour - 1 tsp. (mix in half cup of water)

10. Butter - 1 tbsp.

Method

Marinate the beef  with a tablespoon each of the sauce and pepper powder for 1 hour or less. Pressure cook this for 15 minutes on low flame. Leave the gravy and fry the beef in butter until it is slightly brown. Now add the onion and garlic along with the gravy. Let it cook until the onion turns soft. Once the water runs dry, add the capsicum. Saute for a while and add the corn flour mixed in water. Let it boil until a gravy is formed. At this point you can add the green chilly if you need that extra punch(heat).

Enjoy!

Tinned Tuna Fish curry

Sometimes when I crave for fish curry, there would be no fish and that is when I use tinned tuna. The taste may slightly differ but it is still good enough..


Tinned Tuna Fish Curry


Ingredients

1- Tinned Tuna - 2 tins (165 gm)

2. Minced ginger - 1 tspn

3. Sliced Garlic - 6 cloves

4. Sliced small onions - 3 nos.

5. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tspn

6. Curry leaves - a bunch

7. Chilly powder - 2 or 3 tspn (adjust as per your taste, I add even more)

8. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn

9. Fenugreek powder - 1/4 tspn

10. Kudampuly (Gambooge) - 1 nos

Method

Heat a tablespoon of oil and sputter the mustard seeds. Add the sliced onion and saute until almost brown and then add ginger and garlic. Let is cook for a while until the raw smell leaves. Now add the powders along with a little water. Fry it until oil separates. Add a cup of water along with the kudumpully, curry leaves and salt. When the water boils add the tinned tuna. Don't bother if it breaks. You can remove the curry from the fire until it runs dry or with enough water.

Vegetable Stew

For Appam and Chappathi, I normally make a vegetable curry (with boiled eggs). It can be the stew which is white in color since there is no chilly/turmeric/coriander powders or the one where all these powders are added. The one below is the white one or the stew. One can also add whole cashew nuts or grind the cashew nuts to make a richer stew. Tomato can be added for an extra taste.

Ingredients

1. Mixed vegetables (beans, potato, carrot, peas) - 2 cups

 

2. Onion sliced lengthwise - 1 number

3. Finely sliced ginger and garlic  - 1 tblspn each

 

4. Green chillies, slit lengthwise - 5 or more as per your taste

 

5. Coconut powder - 3 + 1 Tbspn or 1 cup grated coconut

 

6. Cloves - 2 number

 

7. Cinnamon - 1 inch stick

 

8. Cardamom - 2 pods

 

9. Curry leaves - 2 sprigs

 

10. Oil (Coconut preferable) - 2 Tbspn

 

11. Tomato cut into small cubes - 1 number (optional)

 

12. Cashew nuts - 6 or more (optional)

 

13. Pepper powder - 1/2 tspn

 

14. Garam Masala - 1/2 tspn

 

15. Salt to taste

 

 

Method

 

Clean and cut the vegetable into medium, equal-sized pieces. If using coconut, extract the milk and keep the first extraction separate. Heat the oil and add the whole spices, once the smell is released, add the sliced onion and curry leaves. Sauté it until transparent. Now add the vegetables along with the coconut extract or 3 tbspn of coconut powder along with 2 cups of water. Once the vegetables are almost cooked, one can add the tomato and cashew paste. The cashew paste will thicken the stew so one should adjust the water accordingly. Add the remaining coconut powder mixed in water or the first extract of coconut milk along with the pepper and garam masala. Heat it briefly without boiling over and remove from fire.

 

Enjoy! 

 

 

Tips that work : preserving Curry leaves/Coriander leaves

Upon returning from vacation, along with various other stuff, I bring a lot of curry leaves, mostly plucked from our backyard (free from pesticides) and in case of shortage, MIL ensures it comes over from a neighbor. As per my MIL, it is good for the tree if you break it off once in a while so that fresh shoots come a little faster. Last month when our son came visiting, even he brought a big bunch of them. Preserving it was always a challenge and initially most of it used to be wasted even after I share it with my neighbor. It is then I started freezing the washed and dried leaves. It was good enough as long as you ensure you don't keep it out of the freezer more than a few seconds. Recently I came upon a video where it was preserved in the vegetable tray itself, long enough. As everyone knows, curry leaves and any such leafy stuff needs to be bought as a bunch and unless you are going to finish it fast, most of it will rot away.

This time I froze a portion, even dried (for making hair oil) and tried the new tip that worked. The curry leaves are fresh for over a month now!

All you need to do is wash them well, dry them by spreading it on a newspaper/paper towel/cloth towel and then wrap it in a paper towel and stuff it inside a re-sealable plastic bag. While sealing the bag, take out as much air as you can and each time you open the bag, you can replace the tissue/paper towel, if it has become wet.

Still looks good after more than a month




Still fresh after 2 weeks

 

Illimban Puli Recipe

While in Kerala for the first time I had a new kind of Rasam; made out of the illimban puli. I later found the English equivalent: Averrhoa bilimbi.. and the rasam was very tasty. This fruit has much health benefits and it is also used to make tasty pickles. The tree is found in almost all homes having a backyard and since it gives abundantly, it is also the most neglected too.


Multiple Cucumber Tree (Averrhoa bilimbi) for health benefits

Cope with whooping cough. 10 pieces of cucumber tree is washed, crushed and add two tablespoons of salt water. Strain and drink twice a day.

Overcoming the pain of cavities. 5 pieces of Cucumber Tree chewed with a little salt, then stuffed in a hollow tooth.

To cure rheumatism. One ounce of Cucumber Tree leaves, 15 peppercorns, cloves 10 seeds, finely ground. Add white vinegar to taste until it resembles porridge and dab on a sore spot.

Overcoming Acne. Take the fruit and Cucumber Tree taste finely ground. Potions squeezed with salt to taste and used to rub the face with acne.

Averrhoa Bilimbi Health Benefit

Treat mumps. Ten twigs and leaves Cucumber Tree plus four grains of red onion until finely ground. Then the concoction smeared on a sore spot.

Eliminates cough, mixed a handful of Cucumber Tree flowers and pegaga juice that has been crushed, red onions 2 seeds and 1 stick of cinnamon bark of the little finger. Then boiled and filtered water was boiled. Then drink by mixing a little honey three times a day.

Lower High blood pressure. For those who suffer from diseases like high blood pressure, pick three Cucumber Tree fruit seeds. Cut into small pieces and boiled. Drinking boiled water after breakfast every day.

Let me jot down the recipe.

Ilimban Puli Rasam

Ingredients
1. 2 Tbsp of Chilly Powder
2.  1 tspn of Fenugreek Powder
3.  1 tspn of turmeric powder
4. A pinch of Asofetida

Method
Mix the above in 3 glasses of water along with the chopped Puli. Heat it until it just begins to boil. Remove from fire. In another pan, splutter mustard seeds, brown small onions and curry leaves in coconut oil. Add this to the rasam. Leave the rasam for a while for the sourness to seep in. Enjoy!

Mint Pulav with Potatoes

This is another easy but a very mild rice recipe. Maybe it is the cumin but it settles on your stomach pretty well.

Ingredients

 

1. Dry roasted cumin seeds coarsely crushed - 2 teaspoons (or more if you don't mind the taste)

2. Onion thinly sliced - 1 small
3. Potato, peeled and cubed - 1
4. Minced/grated ginger - 1 Tbspn
5. Green chilly minced/cut finely - 1 or more as per your taste
6. Uncooked Basmati rice soaked in water for minimum 15 minutes- 1 1/4 cups
7. Water - 2 1/4 cups

Method

Dry roast the cumin and crush it coarsely. Heat oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion until brown. Saute ginger and green chilly for a few minutes and then add potato and half the mint along with a teaspoon of cumin. Saute for a while. Add the drained rice and fry it for a minute before adding water. Add enough salt (1 teaspoon) and close the lid when water boils. Leave it thus in low fire for 10-15 minutes. Do not stir the rice after adding water to avoid breaking the rice. Sprinkle the remaining cumin and mint on top before you serve.

Enjoy!

 

 

Meen Pollichethe

Have been meaning to try meen pollichethe since some time but always thought it was an arduous recipe. But since I had some frozen fish fillets, thought it was the best time to experiment. These fillets come very clean and without any odor. Meen pollichethe ideally needs banana leaves but I had to be satisfied with aluminium foil. Next time I see banana leaves in the market, I am going to grab one only to try this recipe. The popular choice of fish for this recipe is Pearl Fish (Karimeen).

Ingredients

1. Fish - 1/2 kg one can either cut it into small piece or leave the fillets as thus

Lightly coat the fish with 1/2 tspn each of powdered red chilly plus black pepper and 1/4 tspn of turmeric powder along with salt and leave it in the fridge for minimum 30 minutes. Fry this lightly in coconut oil.

For the masala

2. Onion - 1 or shallots 1/2 cup (thinly sliced) I prefer shallots
3. Ginger - 1 tbspn sliced
4. Garlic - 1 tnspn sliced
5. Green chilly - 2 or 3 number sliced
6. Chilly powder - 1 tspn
7. Coriander powder - 1 tspn
8. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
9. Lemon juice - 1/2 lemon
10. Curry leaves - a few
12. Tomato - 1 number cut into small piece
11. Coconut powder - 1 or 2 tbspn (or thick coconut milk 1/4 cup)

Method

Saute Ginger, garlic and green chilly in coconut oil until the raw smell leaves and add the onions. Fry it until the onion becomes soft. Add the powders and then add the tomato. Saute it until tomato becomes soft. Now add the coconut powder. It should be a semi solid masala. Spread half of the masala on the leaf or foil and place the fish above it. Cover the fish with the rest of the masala. Close it well and bake it for 20 minutes. I used my air fryer this time. (160 degrees). After I took it out I also placed it on a pan and let it sizzle for sometime while I placed a heavier pan on top.
The result was good. Had it with boiled tapioca.

I modified the recipe from here.

 

Fish Molly(Molee)

Realized that I am yet to write down the recipe of fish molly. This is my mother's recipe. I am sure another home has another version but this one is easy and is tasty too. Getting a recipe from my mother is not easy since she has not written anything down. It is all in her mind and her hand. The best way would be to see her in action but that is difficult these days since she seldom cooks and moreover her health does not permit too :(

These days when I ask her for a recipe, I would need to prompt her with the ingredients too and hence am not sure if she has left out any ingredients in this recipe. But it tastes as good as hers, so I think not.

I think Fish Molly is Fish Mappas in other places but definitely not this Mappas from BBC food :)
This one from NDTV would be more like it.

Pearl Spot (Karimeen) is the best choice for this curry but any other firm fish will do. I had some Kingfish (Neymeen) and used it this time.


Ingredients

1. Fish - 1/2 Kg (washed well with lemon juice or vinegar)

One can either put this into the gravy directly or lightly fry the fish before putting into the gravy. For frying, coat the fish with a mixture of red chilly powder, turmeric and salt. I used the fish that I had already coated for frying and it turned out fine but it is better if the fish is not coated as thickly as we do it for frying.

2. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tspn crushed
3. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tspn crushed
4. Chopped Ginger - 1 tbspn
5. Sliced Garlic - 1 tbspn
6. Sliced green chillies - as much as your taste allows since this is what will give the heat
7. Curry Leaves - a bunch
8. Onions sliced diagonally - 2 nos
9. Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tspn
10. Coconut milk - 2 cup(light) plus 1/2 cup(thick) adjust water accordingly if too thick
11. Vinegar - 1 tbspn

Method

Saute the onion in oil (preferably coconut oil) along with mustard, cumin and turmeric powder. Once the onion is soft, add the rest of the ingredients except coconut milk. Saute it until the raw smell goes. Add the thin coconut milk and once it boils, add the fish. Cover it until the fish is cooked. (10 minutes) Now add the thick coconut milk and vinegar, give the vessel a gentle swish ensuring you don't break the fish and switch off the flame.

Fish molly is ready!