Prawns Masala

Ingredients
Prawns – 500g, shelled and de-veined
Turmeric powder-1 teaspoon 
Chilli powder-1 tablespoon
Coriander powder-1 tablespoon
Onion-1 big, thinly sliced
Tomato-1, diced
Green chillies-2
Ginger-1/2 inch piece, thinly sliced
Garlic-3 cloves, thinly sliced
Curry leaves-a few
Kudam Puli(pot tamarind)-1 small piece
Coconut milk-3 tablespoons
Coconut oil-as required
Salt-to taste

Method
Boil some water and add ½ teaspoon turmeric powder. Add the cleaned prawns to the boiling water. Cover and cook in medium flame for 10 minutes. Drain and keep aside. 

Heat coconut oil in a pan and add ginger and garlic pieces. Add sliced onions, green chillies and curry leaves and saute for 5 minutes. Add all the powders and roast in low flame for a minute. Now add salt, soaked kodum puli and tomatoes and mix well. Cover and cook in medium flame until tomatoes are soft. Pour coconut milk and mix well. Add cooked prawns and mix gently. Cover the pan for 2-3 minutes so that masala gets coated well in the prawns. Switch off the flame and sprinkle a teaspoon coconut oil and garnish with curry leaves. Serve hot with rice or appam.

An easy Tomato chutney

We always prepare coconut chutney for idly/dosai. Sometimes if you want to try a variety chutney, just go for a simple tomato chutney. I know it’s not that convenient to cut and saute onions and other ingredients and grind it early in the morning especially if it is a weekday. No problem, let’s try it on a weekend. I’m sure that you will like it.

Ingredients
Onion-1, thinly sliced
Tomato-2, diced
Dry chilli-3
Fenugreek seeds-1/4 teaspoon
Salt-to taste
Oil-as required

Method
Heat oil in a pan and fry fenugreek seeds. Add onion and saute till it becomes transparent. Add dry chillies and mix well. Now add tomatoes and salt and cover till tomatoes are cooked. Allow the mixture to cool down and grind to make a smooth paste. Serve with idly/dosai/oothappam.

Note:You may also fry mustard seeds, dry chilli and curry leaves into the tomato chutney.

Kerala Chicken Fry

Ingredients
Chicken-500gms
Onion-2, thinly sliced
Curry leaves-a few
Coconut oil-for frying

For Marination
Chilli powder-1 ½ tablespoons
Turmeric powder- ½ teaspoon
Coriander seeds-1 tablespoon
Pepper seeds-1 tablespoon
Cumin seeds-1/2 teaspoon
Fennel seeds-1 teaspoon
Cardamom-1
Cinnamon-1 small stick
Cloves-4
Star Anise-1
Curry leaves-a few
Ginger- 1 inch piece
Garlic-4
Poppy seeds- ¼ teaspoon
Lime Juice-2 tablespoons
Salt-to taste

Method
Cut chicken into small pieces. Clean thoroughly and keep aside. Grind all ingredients for marination to a smooth paste. Marinate the mixture in chicken pieces and refrigerate overnight. Heat coconut oil in a pan and fry the chicken pieces.Keep required amount of oil in the same pan to saute onions.Saute sliced onions and curry leaves until onions turn golden brown. Add fried chicken pieces to it and mix well. Garnish with a few curry leaves and serve hot.

A simple vegetable kurma

Vegetable kurma goes well with chapatis or puris. I love this dish because of the aroma of the spices. There are many different versions of kurma and here I'm with a very simple and delicious recipe.

Ingredients

Potato-3, diced

Onion-1, sliced

Carrot-1, diced

Tomato-1, diced

Green mattar-1/4 cup

Thin coconut milk-1 cup

Thick coconut milk-1/2 cup

Coriander leaves-a few, chopped

Turmeric powder-1/2 teaspoon

Salt-to taste

To grind

Green chilli-2

Ginger-1/2 inch piece

Garlic-2

Cardamom-2

Cinnamon-1/2 inch piece

Coriander powder-1 tablespoon

Fennel seeds-1/2 teaspoon

Pepper corns-1/4 teaspoon

Method

Boil some water and cook all vegetables except tomato and mattar. Grind the ingredients listed under ‘to grind’ to a fine paste. Add turmeric powder, salt, tomato and mattar to the cooked vegetables and stir well. Now add the ground paste and let it boil. Add thin coconut milk and simmer the fire and allow the mixture to boil. Add thick coconut milk and mix well. Remove from the fire and garnish with coriander leaves. This is a very simple and easy dish which goes well with puri/chapati.

Notes:-You may add more veggies like cauliflower, French beans etc. Add water to adjust the consistency as required.

Sesame Chicken

A few of you might have tried this dish from local food courts in Singapore. It's a non spicy item that everyone enjoy as a side dish. Here I'm with a very simple recipe that anyone can prepare within minutes.

Ingredients
Boneless Chicken-1kg, cut into thin slices

Ginger garlic paste-2 teaspoons

Pepper powder-1 teaspoon

Soy sauce-2 table spoons

Honey-5 tablespoons

Vinegar-2 tablespoons

Sesame seeds-2 tablespoons

Sesame Oil-3 tablespoons

Spring Onions-2 tablespoons, chopped

Salt-to taste

Method

Heat 2 tablespoons sesame oil in a wok and add chicken pieces. No need to add water as there will be water coming from chicken. Saute until the chicken is cooked and ¾th water gets drained off. Remove the chicken pieces to a bowl and keep aside. To the remaining chicken stock in the wok, add ginger garlic paste, soy sauce, honey, vinegar and salt. Stir well until you get a creamy sauce. Now add the cooked chicken pieces and sesame seeds and mix until the sauce coats well on the chicken. Add pepper powder. Remove from the fire and add remaining sesame oil. Garnish with sesame seeds and spring onions.

Mathanga Payasam (Pumpkin Dessert)

As I always make palada, parippu or semiya payasam, thought of trying a different payasam for this Onam which I have never tried before. A few options came up in my mind like carrot, pineapple or pumpkin payasam. Pumpkin payasam is something which I haven't tasted before and was not confident enough to try. Finally I decided to give it a try and to my surprise it turned up a very yummy dessert. It's different from our usual payasams and easy to prepare too. I would recommend this recipe for all my friends who love to try something different. Please do try and let me know your feedback.

Ingredients
Pumpkin-2 cups, cubed
Almonds-10nos
Sago-5 tablespoons
Jaggery-1 ½ cups, grated
Cardamom-5, crushed
Thin Coconut Milk-2 cups
Thick Coconut Milk-1 cup
Ghee-1 ½ tablespoons
Cashew nuts-a few
Raisins-a few

Method

Pressure cook pumpkin cubes upto 3 whistles and low the fire for 5 minutes. Soak almonds in hot water for 20 minutes and remove the skin. Grind pumpkin and almonds until smooth. Boil some water and add grated jaggery to it. Mix until jaggery is completely dissolved. Allow it to cool and strain. Cook sago in boiling water and wash in cold water and keep aside.

Heat ghee in a pan and saute the pumpkin-almond mixture for 5 minutes. Add jaggery syrup and mix well. Add crushed cardamom and cooked sago. Add thin coconut milk and let it boil for a few minutes. Add thick coconut milk and simmer the fire. Let it boil for 2 minutes and turn off the fire. Fry cashew nuts and raisins in ghee and garnish the payasam.

Gobi Manchurian

Ingredients

Cauliflower – 1

Ginger – ½ inch piece, thinly sliced

Garlic - 3 nos, thinly sliced

Green Chillies - 2, sliced

Onion – 1 large, diced

Capsicum – 1, diced

Soy sauce - 1 ½ tablespoon

Tomato ketchup - 3 table spoons

Spring Onions – 3 tablespoons, chopped

Oil – as required

Water – as required

For batter

Corn flour - 3 tablespoons

Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon

Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 teaspoon

Salt-to taste

Water – as required

Method

Boil some water with turmeric powder and a little salt and keep aside. Cut the cauliflower into small sized florets and wash in cold water. Add the florets into the boiled water and cover it for a few minutes. Drain and pat dry the cauliflower florets.

Mix the ingredients listed for batter and make a smooth batter. Heat some oil in a pan and dip the florets in the batter and fry until it turns golden brown.

Heat oil in a pan and saute onions, ginger and garlic for a few minutes. Add green chillies, soy sauce, tomato ketchup and salt. Add capsicums and a little water and mix well. When it turns a thick consistency, add fried cauliflower florets and mix well. Cover and let it cook in low fire for 2 minutes.

Remove from the fire and garnish with chopped spring onion. A great dish which goes well with vegetable pulav, fried rice or chapati.

Paneer Butter Masala

Ingredients

Paneer – 300 gm

Onion – 2, peel off the skin

Tomato – 2

Ginger – ½ inch piece

Garlic – 3 no

Green chillies – 2

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Garam Masala – 1 teaspoon

Kashmiri chilli powder – 1 teaspoon

Kasuri Methi – ½ teaspoon

Cashew nuts – 6 nos

Sugar – 1 teaspoon

Salt – to taste

Butter – 2 teaspoons

Fresh cream – 3 tablespoons

Method 

Soak cashew nuts in warm water for 30 minutes and grind to paste. Add onions and tomatoes to boiled water to make it soft. Cover and keep for 30 minutes. Peel off the tomato skin. Grind onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and green chillies in a blender.

Heat butter in a pan and add garam masala powder and saute for a second. Add in the ground onion mixture, turmeric powder and kashmiri chilli powder. Mix well. Add ground cashew paste mix with some water. Reduce the fire and add sugar and salt. Add in the fresh cream and stir well. Now add the paneer cubes to the mixture. Crush kasuri methi (use hands to crush it) and add to the boiling mixture. Boil until paneer cubes are soft. Garnish with coriander leaves and cream. Serve hot with roti or naan.

Notes : You can also shallow fry the paneer pieces.

Mushroom Thoran (No oil mushroom thoran)

Ingredients

White Button Mushrooms – 300 gm, sliced

Salt – as required

To grind

Coconut – 4 tablespoons

Cumin seeds – ¼ teaspoon

Green Chillies – 1

Shallots – 2 nos

Garlic – 1 clove

Curry leaves – a few

   Wash and clean the mushrooms. Heat a pan and add the mushrooms. (No need to add water as it will be coming from mushrooms) Add salt and cover the pan and cook for a minute. Uncover the pan and cook until all the water gets evaporated. Grind the ingredients under ‘To grind’ without adding water. Add the ground mixture to the cooked mushroom and stir well. Cover the mixture for a minute. Mix well. Remove from the fire and garnish with some curry leaves.

Chicken Fry

Ingredients

Chicken – 500 g

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon

Black pepper powder – 1 teaspoon

Fennel seeds powder – ½ teaspoon

Lemon Juice – 1 tablespoon

Salt – to taste

To Grind

Ginger – ½ inch piece

Garlic – 4 cloves

Green Chilli – 1

Mint leaves – a few

Curry leaves – a few

Curd – 3 tablespoons

Cut the chicken into small pieces. Clean and wash the chicken pieces. Drain the water and keep aside. Grind all the ingredients listed under ‘To Grind’ to a smooth paste. Marinate the chicken pieces with the ground paste and other ingredients. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Heat oil in a pan and add the marinated chicken pieces. Fry the chicken pieces on medium flame until they turn brown in colour. Drain onto paper towels. Fry some curry leaves in the same oil to garnish.

Kappa Puttu (Steamed Tapioca)

Ingredients

Tapioca – 1.5 cups, grated

Rice powder– 2.5 tablespoons

Coconut – ¾ cup, grated

Cumin seeds – ½ teaspoon

Salt – to taste

Method

Wash the grated tapioca in cold water at least twice and squeeze out the water completely. Mix it with salt and rice powder. Add cumin seeds and half of grated coconut and mix well. Then put 1 tablespoon of coconut in the puttu vessel, then grated tapioca and again a little coconut. (Follow the normal procedure of making puttu). Steam it for 8-10 minutes. Serve kappa puttu with Kadala curry or with any non vegetarian dish.

Note – You can use wheat powder instead of rice powder. I used Wheat puttu flour.

Gooseberry (Nellikka) Chammanti

There are a lot of benefits for Indian gooseberry. It is rich in Vitamin C and its widely used in Ayurvedic treatments. 
I got this recipe from my mother in law. When she visited us, she made it and its super tasty. I'm sharing the recipe for my dear friends!
Ingredients

Gooseberries – 4 nos

Dry Chillies – 2 nos

Green Chilli – 1 no

Coconut – ½ cup

Ginger – ½ teaspoon

Shallots – 2 nos, sliced

Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Salt – to taste

Method

• Wash gooseberries, remove the seeds and cut into pieces.
• Roast dry chillies in a hot pan or place it directly on low flame without burning it.
• Grind all ingredients except shallots without adding water.
• Finally add shallots and blend for a few seconds so that shallots will not grind too much.
• Serve with Kerala matta rice.

Chikoo Banana Milk Shake

Ingredients

Chikoo (Sapota) – 1

Banana – 1

Milk – 1 cup, chilled

Golden Raisins – 5 nos

Sugar – ½ teaspoon (optional)

Method

Blend all the ingredients in a blender until smooth. Top with sliced bananas and serve chilled.

Stir Fried Baby Kailan

Ingredients

Baby Kailan – 220 gm, washed and cleaned

Garlic – 3, chopped

Ginger – ½ teaspoon, chopped

Pepper powder – a pinch

Salt – to taste

Sugar – a pinch

Soy sauce – ½ teaspoon

Water – a little

Olive Oil – 1 tablespoon

Method

Heat olive oil in a pan and add chopped ginger-garlic. Fry until ginger-garlic turn brown in colour. Add kailan leaves and sugar. Add a little water and cover the pan for a minute. Add soy sauce, salt and pepper powder. Mix well and remove from the fire. This dish is very easy to prepare and healthy too.

Egg Curry

Ingredients

Eggs – 4, boiled

Onions – 2

Tomato - 1

Ginger – ½ inch piece

Garlic – 3 nos

Green chillies – 3

Mustard seeds – ½ teaspoon

Dry Chillies – 2

Curry leaves – a few

Thin coconut milk – 1.5 cups

Thick coconut milk – 1 cup

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Garam masala powder – ½ teaspoon

Coriander powder – 2 tablespoons

Meat masala powder – 1 teaspoon

Pepper powder – ½ teaspoon

Chilli powder – ½ teaspoon (optional)

Salt – to taste

Oil – as required

Method

Heat oil in a pan and fry mustard seeds, dry chillies and curry leaves. Add sliced onions, chopped ginger, garlic and chillies and saute well until the onions are brown. Add all the powders and mix well. Now add thin coconut milk and salt. Cover the pan and let it boil in low flame. Blend the tomato slices with a little water. Pour the tomato puree to the boiling mixture, also add boiled eggs. Add thick coconut milk and switch off the fire before it starts to boil. Garnish with some chopped coriander leaves. This dish goes well with appam.

Chocolate-Oats Balls

Ingredients

Oats – 1 cup

Milk – 80 ml

Sugar – ½ cup + 1 table spoon

Hershey’s Cocoa Powder – 2 tablespoons, heaped

Corn flour – ¼ teaspoon, mix in a little water

Method

Heat a pan and toast oats for 2 minutes in low flame. Blend the toasted oats together with 1 tablespoon of sugar to a coarse mix.  Take a bowl and combine milk, sugar and cocoa powder. Boil this mixture in low flame. If the chocolate sauce is too thin, add corn flour mix to thicken it. Once the chocolate sauce is cool, pour it to the blended oats and mix well. Take small portion of the mix and shape into balls.

Notes – I used Lowan Original Harvest Natural Muesli which is a mix of dried sultanas, almonds etc. If you use plain oats, add crushed walnuts or almonds for better taste.

Spicy Chilli Crab - Kerala style

I'm so happy to share this recipe. First thing, my son (Sonu) hugged me and said "Thank you Amma, the crab was super tasty". Secondly I tried crab recipe for the first time. We seldom eat crab as its quite a tedious job.
When I told my son I'm gonna try crab at home, he was not happy at first and said, "I won't eat it". The reason was, we went to a nearby seafood restaurant and ordered chilli crab. It was not up to the standard and it tasted slightly bitter. When I served the crab curry for lunch, he really enjoyed and commented. That was such a wonderful moment!!
Ingredients

Crabs – 4, cut and cleaned with shell

Onion – 2, sliced

Tomato – 1, chopped

Ginger-Garlic paste – 1 tablespoon

Chillies – 3, slitted

Curry leaves - a few

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Chilli powder – 1 tablespoon

Coriander powder – 1 tablespoon

Pepper powder – ½ teaspoon

Salt – to taste

Vinegar – 1 teaspoon

Oil – 3 tablespoons

Water

Method

Heat oil in a pan and add sliced onions, ginger-garlic paste, green chillies and curry leaves. Saute until onion turns light brown. Add all the powders and mix well. Add tomatoes, salt and a little water. Cover the pan and cook until tomatoes are soft. Add vinegar and mix well. Now add cleaned crab pieces and more water if required. Cover and cook in a medium flame for 6 minutes. Uncover and stir gently so that the gravy coats well in the crab pieces. Cover and cook for a few more minutes. Serve with rice or appam.

Vodka Ortachiso (Cocktail)

Ingredients

Belvedere Vodka – 30ml

Tang Orange – 2 teaspoons

Soda – 80ml

Sugar – 1 teaspoon

Salt – a pinch

Chilli – ½ slit

Ice cubes, crushed

Steps

1. Mix Tang, sugar and salt in a little soda.

2. Put crushed ice cubes & chilli in cocktail glass.

3. Pour vodka into the glass, then the tang mix.

4. Add soda slowly to the mix.

5. Enjoy the drink!!

Dal curry for Chapati

Ingredients

Dal – 1.5 cups

Onion – 2, sliced

Ginger – ½ inch piece, sliced

Garlic – 2 cloves, sliced

Green chillies – 2, slitted

Curry leaves – a few

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Chilli powder – a pinch (optional)

Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon

Ghee – 1 teaspoon

Oil – 1 teaspoon

Salt – to taste

Method

Pressure cook dal with required amount of water, 1 sliced onion, ginger, garlic, turmeric powder and salt up to 3 whistles and in low flame for 2-3 minutes. Heat oil and ghee in a pan and fry cumin seeds, curry leaves and sliced onion. Add a pinch of chilli powder (I haven’t added chilli powder). Saute until onions are brown in colour. Open the pressure cooker lid and pour some more water if the dal is too thick. Boil dal for a couple of minutes. Add the fried mix to the cooked dal and mix well. This is a very tasty dish for chapati. Enjoy!

Kadala Curry/Black Chickpeas Curry (Easy and tasty kadala curry without coconut)

Ingredients

Black Chickpeas – 1 cup

Onion – 1 big, sliced

Ginger – ½ inch piece, chopped

Garlic - 3 cloves, chopped

Green chillies – 2, slitted

Curry leaves – a few

Mustard seeds – ½ teaspoon

Dry chillies - 2

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Coriander powder – 1.5 tablespoons

Meat masala powder – 2 tablespoons

Salt – to taste

Oil – 3 tablespoons

Method

Wash and soak kadala overnight. Pressure cook kadala for 6 whistles and cook in low flame for 5 minutes. Heat oil in a pan and fry mustard seeds, dry chilly and curry leaves. Add sliced onion, chopped ginger and garlic. Saute for 2 minutes and add all the powders and fry for a minute. Now add the cooked kadala and salt. Let it boil for 2-3 minutes. Garnish with some coriander leaves and enjoy with Kerala’s most popular breakfast item puttu.

Atta Dosa (Gothambu/Wheat Dosa)

All of us are familiar with dosa. Most common dosas are masala dosa, ghee dosa etc. Here I'm gonna introduce you wheat dosa. I know many of you know this dosa. Sometimes when I post some recipes, I'm aware that all of you know the recipe. Why I'm still posting is because sometimes we might not have tried those recipes recently and will have the cravings especially when we see the recipes or the pictures, then we feel like trying it soon.

Here's the recipe of atta dosa. Its very simple and delicious. Please try it out! Enjoy!!

Ingredients

Wheat flour – 2 cups

Onion – 1, chopped

Green chillies – 2 nos, chopped

Curry leaves – a few

Salt – to taste

Water – as required

Method

Mix together wheat flour and salt. Add water little by little to make a thin batter and there should not be any lumps. Add chopped onions, green chillies and curry leaves and mix well. Now the batter for atta dosa is ready.

Heat a dosa pan and grease with the oil lightly. Pour a ladle full of batter to the pan and spread the batter in a circular shape. You can sprinkle some oil on the dosa at this stage if necessary. (I haven’t used oil as I don’t like oily items) Once the edges of dosa starts lifting up, you can flip the dosa. Wait until the bottom part turns into brown. Have the hot atta dosa with chutney or sambar.

Bean Sprout-Soya Bean Cake Fry

When I first came to Singapore, I didn't like sprouts at all. It might be because we don't get this vegetable in India those days and not used to it. I started preparing this dish for my husband. I tried to taste it slowly and started liking. Now I cook this dish weekly once or twice. Another thing which makes me to cook this dish is my kids. Both of them love it a lot.

This is a very easy recipe and its health contents are high. Sprouts contains a lot of vitamins and minerals and soya bean cake is an excellent source of iron and calcium and a very good source of protein. 
Ingredients

Bean Sprouts – 300gm

Soya Bean Cake (Unicurd Tau Kwa) – 400gm

Shallots – 3 nos, sliced

Chillies – 2 nos, slitted

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Salt – to taste
Oil – 3 tablespoons

Steps

1. Wash and clean the sprouts well.
2. Cut soya bean cake into square pieces and fry in oil. (No need to deep fry)
3. Heat oil in a pan and saute shallots and green chilli.
4. Add cleaned sprouts to it and mix well.
5. Add turmeric powder and salt and saute for 2 minutes.
6. Now add the fried bean cake pieces. Mix well and remove from the fire.
7. This is a very tasty and healthy side dish for rice.

Fish Molly

Ingredients

King Fish – 500 gm, cut into pieces

Onion – 1 big, sliced

Tomato – 1 big

Garlic – 2 nos, chopped

Ginger – 1 tablespoon, chopped

Green chillies – 3

Turmeric powder – a pinch

Pepper powder – ½ teaspoon

Vinegar – ½ teaspoon

Cinnamon stick – 1

Cloves – 3

Cardamom – 3

Cashew nuts – 8, make a smooth paste

Raisins – a few

Thin Coconut milk – 1 ½ cup

Thick coconut milk – 1 cup

Coconut oil – as required

Salt – to taste

Coriander leaves – for garnishing

Method

Wash and clean the fish pieces and keep aside. Heat oil in a pan and splutter cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. Add onions, ginger, garlic & chillies and saute until onions are soft. Add tomatoes & turmeric powder and saute well. Pour thin coconut milk, vinegar & salt and let it boil. Once it boils, add fish pieces. Mix gently and cover the pan until the fish pieces are cooked. Add cashew paste and mix well. Pour thick coconut milk and simmer the fire for 2 minutes. Add pepper powder and raisins. Switch off the fire. Garnish with coriander leaves. Fish molly goes well with appam or pathiri.

Notes: You can also shallow fry the fish pieces before you add.