Wednesday 17 August 2011

Onion Bhaji

Tea time snack is a thing that we cannot resist making. Usually I go for sweet snacks but the idea of savory snack came from my husband as usual.


Ingredients
  • 4 onions thinly sliced by cutting into halves
  • 1 beaten egg
  • 1 1/2 cup chickpea flour or besan
  • 2 Tbsp rice flour
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • a pinch of cumin seeds
  • some chopped coriander leaves
  • oil for frying
Method
  1. Mix all ingredients except onions and coriander leaves. 
  2. Pour water into the ingredients to make a thick paste and then add coriander leaves followed by onions.
  3. Heat about 1 inch oil in a skillet on high heat.
  4. Pour a tablespoon of the onion batter into the oil and fry until it turns brown.
  5. Turn over the other side and fry

Happy Cooking!


Monday 4 July 2011

Stuffed Chicken / Kozhi Nirachathu


When I first saw this recipe in couple of blogs, thought its too complicated. It is but you won't regret for it. Now this is one of my favorite recipe.

Ingredients
  • Whole Chicken around 2kg (you can use a small one)

For marinating
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
  • 3 Tbsp olive oil ( any cooking oil will do)
  • salt to taste
For stuffing
  • 1 or 2 eggs 
  • 3 big onions
  • 1/2 tsp garlic paste
  • 1/4 tsp ginger paste
  • 1 sprig curry leaves
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
  • oil 
  • salt to taste
  • kitchen twine for tying the chicken's legs and wings
Veggies used (optional) I recommend 
  • potato - 1 or 2 cut into big chunks
  • carrot - 1 cut into big chunks
  • sweet potato - 1 cut into chunks
For gravy
  • 4 big onions
  • 1/2 tsp ginger and garlic paste
  • 2 tomatoes
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1 1/2 tsp corainder powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp chilli powder
  • curry leaves
  • oil as needed
  • salt to taste
Method

  1. Marinating
Remove the skin of the chicken and clean it thoroughly with some lemon juice. Make small slits on the chicken. Prepare the marinade and apply it all over the chicken. Keep it aside for 2 hours or overnight in fridge.

  2. Prepare stuffing

Boil the eggs till it is cooked fully. Peel it and keep it aside. Heat oil in a  frying pan and saute onion, ginger garlic paste and curry leaves until the it is brown in color. Mix all the spices and saute for couple of minutes. Mix the eggs to this mixture and put some salt. Keep it aside.

  3. Stuff the egg mixture into the cavity of chicken. Don't over stuff it.Tie both its hands and legs together with kitchen twine.

  4. Preheat the oven to 150 degree.

  5. Heat a big pan and pour enough oil to fit the whole chicken. Once it oil is heated, carefully place the chicken into the oil and just fry for 5 to 10 minutes on each side depending upon the size of the chicken.

  6. Drain the chicken and arrange in an oven proof dish with veggies on all sides. Pour half of the oil used for frying on the chicken and veggies. Season with pepper and salt if you want.

  7. Bake for 40 minutes, 20 minutes on each side.

  8. Prepare the gravy

     Take the same pan with oil that we used to fry the chicken, saute onion, curry leaves, ginger and garlic paste till it turns brown. Mix all the spice powders and saute until its raw smell is gone.Add salt and taste it.

  9. After the initial baking, take out the chicken and pour the gravy over it. Mix all veggies well.

  10. Bake for 30 more minutes. Don't forget to pour the oil on chicken that is coming out of the chicken in between.

  11. Remove once the onion is caramelized in dark color. Remove the twine and carve!



Berry Birthday Cake


This was the cake I made for my husband's birthday. Thanks to JoyTheBaker for this wonderful recipe. I really wanted to use fresh berries, but as it is winter here, I couldn't get it , have to be satisfied with the thawed frozen berries.

Vanilla cake batter..


Batter is ready to go in the oven..


Think I put a little bit more batter, cake got burnt at the edges..


Frosting for cake, at this point I was over the moon as it tasted really yumm...



Forgot some shots of layering the cake...



This recipe makes a 2 layer ,8-inch cake and some cupcakes..

Ingredients
  • 225gm unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
  • 2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
Method
  1. Preheat oven to 150C. Cream butter and sugar in a hand mixer on medium speed for 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula in between.
  2. Add eggs one by one, beating for one minute after each addition.
  3. Whisk flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. In another bowl, combine milk with vanilla paste and vanilla extract.
  4. Whisk in flour and milk mixture into the butter and sugar mixture in 3 batches.
  5. Once it is combined ,stop mixing.
  6. Pour into the greased cake tins about less than half of the pan.
  7. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the cake is pale golden color or a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  8. Let it cool down in the pan for 5-10 minutes and take it out.
  9. Frost the cake only when it is cooled completely.
Vanilla Whipped Buttercream Frosting recipe..

Ingredients

  • 225gm unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup All-purpose flour
  • 1/2 Tbsp vanilla bean paste
Method
  1. Take 1/4 cup of the milk in a saucepan and combine flour and vanilla paste. Whisk until no lumps are there. Add the remaining milk and cook in medium heat, whisking in between.
  2. Reduce the heat once it starts boiling. Keep whisking until it thickens.
  3. Remove from heat but keep whisking for couple of minutes. Allow the mixture to cool down completely. You can pop it in the freezer for sometime.
  4. Cream the butter with hand mixture for one minute. Then add sugar and beat for around 10 minutes until it turns light and fluffy and the sugar is dissolved. Don't forget to scrape the sides of the bowl in between.
  5. Add the flour milk mixture into butter and sugar mixture. Increase the speed to medium until the frosting is light and fluffy.
This is a perfect cake for a special occasion. Though it is time consuming, the end result is as sweet as butter cream frosting.



Saturday 25 June 2011

Crepes with Sweet Yogurt


In our place this sweet is called as 'muttachurul', and we had this at our home with shredded coconut fillings. As I didn't have the freshly grated coconut, I found out another healthy filling with less sugar :) , sweet yogurt..

Though I made this, I wanted coconut filling desperately. So I took out some frozen shredded coconut and microwaved it, added some sugar and crushed cardamom. 


This will do to taste my memories...

Recipe makes 10-12 crepes..

Ingredients
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup All Purpose flour
  • 1 cup milk
  • a pinch of salt
  • 2 Tbsp melted butter
  • 1 cup sweet yogurt ( or put some sugar in plain yogurt)
  • 1 can strawberries or mixed fruits of your choice
Method
  1. In a bowl, whisk the eggs with some milk until blended. Whisk in the flour until the batter is smooth.
  2. Pour the remaining milk, salt and the melted butter.
  3. Let the batter rest for 30 minutes.
  4. Heat a pan and brush the pan with some butter.
  5. Pour in enough batter to form a thin layer ,tilt the pan to spread it evenly.
  6. Cook for couple of minutes until the bottom is golden brown.
  7. Flip it ,cook for one more minute.
  8. Place on a plate. Repeat this with the rest of the batter.
  9. Stuff the crepes with sweet yogurt and strawberries.

Enjoy!


Saturday 11 June 2011

Prawns / Shrimp Olathiyathu Kerala Style


Two dishes I like, sorry love :) with prawns are prawns olathiyathu and prawns with chakkakuru (jackfruit seed) in coconut milk yumm...


Whatever we make, we always crave food that our mom makes. After having this dish, I became proud as it tastes exactly the same as my mom's, thanks to maria's recipe


I am including one more photo simply because it looks good.



The recipe ..


Ingredients

  • 750gm Prawns peeled
  • 4 medium onion thinely sliced
  • 1 tsp ginger crushed
  • 1 tsp garlic crushed
  • 1 1/2 tsp chilli powder
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
  • 3 pieces kokum (kudampuli) washed and soaked in water
  • salt to taste
  • 2 stalks curry leaves 
  • oil
Method
  1. Clean and wash the prawns. Mix half of the turmeric powder, half of ginger, half of garlic, kokum, curry leaves and salt with the prawns. Add 1/4 cup of water and cook. Be careful not to over cook it. It took only 10 minutes for me.
  2. Fry sliced onion in a frying pan with oil until it becomes brown. Add the remaining chopped ginger and garlic. Saute for couple of minutes more then add chilli powder and turmeric powder. Saute until the oil starts coming out.
  3. Add the cooked prawns discarding the water. Put salt to taste.Mix well and keep in reduced flame for 5 more minutes, stirring in between .

Happy cooking!

Friday 10 June 2011

Tuna Pasta Bake

Though I have made pasta several times, I haven't tried pasta with tuna. So I was little confused to make tuna with tomato sauce as I don't want to use the thick tomato sauce that I use for the bolognese. Luckily I did't have the sauce too. This time I made the tomato sauce of my own for this recipe.



The recipes serves 5 - 6 people.

Ingredients
  • 500gm pack of pasta of any kind
  • 2 , 175gm tinned tuna in oil
  • 3 big tomatoes
  • 1/2 tsp garlic paste
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste
  • shredded cheese for topping
  • 3 Tbsp Olive oil
Method
  1. Cook pasta in water with some salt until tender, then drain the water and keep aside.
  2. Making tomato sauce :  Heat olive oil in a pan, put the garlic paste, saute it until it starts brown in colour. Then put chopped tomatoes. Fry until it becomes soft. Season it with crushed pepper and salt. Then sieve tomatoes pressing down with wooden spoon. Keep the tomato sauce aside.
  3. In another pan, put tuna along with the oil. If  you are using tuna in water, drain the water. Stir for 5 minutes then add the tomato sauce. Mix together and stir for 5 more minutes. Season it if you want more.
  4. Put the cooked pasta into the tuna mixture and mix well. After couple of minutes transfer the pasta tuna mixture into oven proof dish and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Bake in preheated oven for 5-10 minutes until the cheese melted nicely. You can have this without baking too, if you want.

I liked this recipe very much and this is one of my new favorite.


Happy cooking!

Thursday 2 June 2011

Banana Balls Recipe

The credit of this recipe goes to my husband. One day we both bought bananas without knowing the other one already had it.So the bananas started to ripe a bit too much for our liking.Then he suggested trying out some recipe with banana and flour..


This is the best recipe for over riped bananas..

Ingredients
  • 5 bananas, mashed
  • 1 cup All purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp sugar (optional)
  • Oil for frying
Method
  1. Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar together. Mix well this with mashed bananas into a soft batter.
  2. Heat oil in a wok until hot and drop a tablespoon of batter into it.
  3. Remove when both sides turn golden brown.
  4. Drain on absorbent paper.

Perfect snack!