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!!