Shakshouka | Eggs in spicy Tomato Sauce

Habits are quite situational! I hate waking up early mornings although I know that's the best part of the day and would love to inculcate the habit of waking up early. Having said that, do not mistake me to be a person who wakes up at 9 am! I am up before 7!Ain't that good enough :P However, I surprise myself on trips, I become an early riser. I love those early morning walks and that peace it gives! The part of Dubai I stay in has a serious dearth of such good and peaceful places for a morning walk which makes me think would the presence of such a place in the neighborhood make me an early riser (**thinking**)

The next best thing that could happen in the morning is an amazing breakfast. Eggs form an integral component of the breakfast table. When you can have a wholesome egg dish with just a slice of bread to wipe away the final gravy - yumm! Mornings are made!

That is Shakshouka to me - it makes an amazing dinner too! Its a dish popular in the Middle east and African region - debate is still on for the country of origin.
Here is the recipe -

Ingredients

1. Eggs - 3
2. Onions ( purple or white) - 1 large finely chopped
3. Garlic - 2 tbsp finely chopped
4. Tomato - 4 large
5. Cumin powder - 1 tsp
6. Chilly powder - 1 and 1/2 tsp
7. Pickled jalapeno - 1 to 2 tbsp chopped ( optional)
8. Capsicum - 1/4 cup chopped
9. Tomato sauce - 2 tbsp
10. Coriander leaf - 1/4 cup chopped loosely packed
11. Bread crumbs - 2 tbsp ( optional)
12. Salt to taste
13. Olive oil

Method

• Roughly chop the tomatoes and blend them.
• Heat 2 tbsp oil in a frying pan. Add the chopped onions and garlic. Cook until it wilts.
• Add cumin powder and chilly powder. Cook them well.
• Add the tomato puree along with salt. Cook it covered until the tomato is well cooked and begins to reduce slightly. This may take about 10 minutes on low flame.
• Pour in tomato sauce and add the capsicum and jalapeno. Cook for another minute or two before adding the chopped coriander leaf, save some for garnish.
• Break open eggs into bowls and slowly drop them into the tomato sauce spacing them well.  Sprinkle the bread crumbs over this and cook it covered till a white layer forms over the egg yolk. The egg yolk needs to remain slightly runny.
• Garnish with corriander leaf.
• Serve immediately with toasted bread!

You may also note - 

• In case you do not intend to serve immediately. Make only the gravy and add the eggs just 5 minutes before serving.
• The egg tends to cook and harden in the heat if left for too long before serving

Whole Wheat Honey Oats Bread

Shibin's office shifted about a year back. Earlier, he had to invariably walk through a supermarket twice a day. ( shortcut, instead of having to walk two more blocks and go all the way around the building). Twice a day includes one crawling and the other running - crawling to the office ( everyone crawls in the morning especially during the beginning of the week) and running out of it in the evenings (It is my belief that he ran to meet me :P).

In the process, it is hard to ignore those items that stare at you from the shelves beckoning you to pick them or those that scream out offers  or the ones that flatter you with the lighting .  So atleast once a week, he came home with a treat to my delight. I am still a kid at heart, such treats fascinate me .

Anyways with the shifting of his office to a core business area , there were no more supermarkets to pass through and there went my treats. He comes home empty handed these days!

If you are wondering why I chose to tell this story today, I will not hold you on for long. I have precisely two reasons .

First reason is that, today is Thursday and beginning of the weekend. He is going to be the first person to read my blog !! ( Shibin - this post is a shout out to you that I still love these treats :P)

The second reason is that, it is because of his treats from the supermarket that I tasted honey oats bread for the first time. And ever since then, we have been wanting to make it. We finally did and a whole wheat one too:)

There you go -

Adapted from Bakingdom

Ingredients

1. Wheat flour - 2 and 1/2 cup
2. Oats - 1 cup
3. Warm Milk - 1  cup
4. Honey - 1/2 cup
5. Egg - 1
6. Olive oil - 3 tbsp
7. Instant yeast - 2 tsp
8. Luke warm water - 1/4 cup
9. Salt - 1/4 tsp

Method

• Break open the egg and whisk it well.
• To this, add olive oil, milk and honey. Stir well to combine.  ( Keep aside 2 tbsp of honey)
• Mix together the flour, yeast, oats and salt. ( Keep aside 2 tbsp of oats)
• Add this in batches to the wet ingredients until well combined.
• Either using a dough hook or hands bring together the dough. If it is too sticky, add 1 tbsp of flour at a time and knead for 5 minutes.
• Let the dough rest in an oiled and well covered bowl for 2 hours.
• Knead again, dust the work surface with a little flour while doing this in order to prevent this from sticking.
• Shape it up into a rectangle, roll it over and place in a loaf pan ( 9 inch). Cover and allow it to raise again for an hour.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven at 180 degree centigrade. Keep a pan filled with water at the bottom rack for steaming.
• Once the dough has doubled, brush the top with honey and sprinkle oats.
• Bake at 180 degree centigrade for 50 minutes to an hour.
• Remove and transfer to a cooling rack.
• Slice and serve with butter or an extra dose of honey.

Caramelised Banana| Banana Ghee Roast|Ethekka Nei Roast

If you are a malayalee, then you must be quite familiar with the Kerala Banana which is an integral part of a malayalee household. Breakfast, lunch or even snacks, if you love them, you always have a way incorporate it into your food. Raw banana is thinly sliced and fried to make the popular Kerala banana chips( yes, the very same chips you ask your malayalee friend to get when they come back from their vacation). The ripe banana is good eaten as is or if you do not like the taste there are always ways to modify it. Crisp it up by battered deep frying it, make payasam for your sadya, halwa, kaipola, pullisery, unnakkaya and a healthier option of simply boiling it or jazz it up with a little butter and sugar. If you are looking for something quick with minimal ingredients, then this is the recipe for you - a frequent dish at our place be it breakfast or evening snacks.

Here you go -

Ingredients

1. Banana - 2
2. Ghee - 2 - 4 tbsp
3. Sugar - 1 tbsp

Method

• Slice the bananas into three equal parts and slice them into three or four slices along the length.
• Heat ghee in a pan and place these slices in the pan. Once the color of the banana turns a darker yellow and begins to brown slightly, flip them over and cook until done.
• Transfer to a plate and sprinkle sugar. Serve warm with a cup of coffee.

You may also note - 

• Use a properly ripened banana. Overripe bananas are not suitable to be used as it will not hold together and will be hard to flip over.

Other banana recipes on the blog - 

Bread Kai Pola

Nenthra Pazham Ari Pradhaman

Ela Appam/ Ela Ada - with banana

Peanut Butter Sandwich with fried banana and honey

Crepes

Herbed Focaccia with caramelised shallots

I am relatively a beginner in bread baking and this is probably the only bread I have baked more than the fingers on my hand! I tasted focaccia only when I came to Dubai and that was the first time I even heard of it. Back in India, I knew 4 types of bread - white bread, brown bread, multigrain bread and fruit bread - that was my extent of bread knowledge.  I would not label bread baking as difficult - it is only time consuming - so if you have the time in hand - Foccacia is definitely worth a try.

Focaccia is an Italian bread with a generous amount of olive oil - topped with herbs, olives, onions, sun-dried tomatoes or any other vegetables that goes along. Focaccia, I realised recntly makes a good sandwich bread too! I have tried topping with olives , tomato and onions but the best for me was the shallots. It is easier to chop them into cute little rounds - it caramelizes well and the looks quite pretty on the bread too. I read an article today by Nandita Iyer from the Saffron Trail in the Hindu where she outlines the need to eat with your senses and we did just that with focaccia!

Ingredients

1. All Purpose Flour - 1½ cup + extra for dusting
2. Water - ½ cup warm
3. Instant yeast - 11 gm sachet
4. Olive oil - ½ cup (¼ +¼ divided)
5. Shallots - ¼ cup
6. Sugar - 3 tbsp
7. Garlic and Herb seasoning - 1½ tsp
8. Semolina - 2 tsp

Method

• Dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water. Let it rest for 5 minutes.
• Sieve together the flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well at the center of the bowl and slowly add the warm water mixing it together using a fork.
• Now add olive oil - ¼ cup in small batches till the dough holds itself together. The dough is going to be sticky at this point.
• Dust your work surface with a little flour and tip the dough over. Knead for roughly 5 to 10 minutes. The dough should not be very hard to knead, it should be smooth and easy to stretch.
• Grease a bowl with a little olive oil - cover with a cling film and let it rest for 45 minutes to 1 hour in a warm place to double itself.
• Meanwhile, chop the shallots into rounds and add a tsp of olive oil to this and give it a good mix.
• Take a baking tray and sprinkle semolina at the base of the tray. 
• The dough in one hour would double itself and would have a very smooth texture. Punch it down and tip it over into the tray and firmly press down with your hand to attain the shape of the tray uniformly. Poke into the dough using your finger tips to create random patterns as you can see on the bread .( Trust me it is superb fun to do that!!)
• Sprinkle the seasoning and spread the shallots over the surface. Give it a light press so that it holds itself to the dough but doesn't insert itself.
• Sprinkle a little bit of salt all over and be generous with you olive oil on the surface.
• Cover it with a cling film and let it stand for 45 minutes.
• Pre-heat your oven to 220 degree centigrade  and place in the tray. Bake for 30 minutes till the top of the bread begins to brown.
• Remove it from the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes before you dig in you knife:)
• Focaccia is a breakfast or snack in itself that goes well along with your coffee or tea. The herbs and the olive oil gets infused into the bread and the caramelized shallots give the focaccia a lovely aroma.
• You could also try this with a chilli chutney which I thought was a lovely combo!

You may also note -

• It is necessary to knead the dough well and leave it for proofing. Ensure that the dough has risen - approximately an hour should do but colder areas may require more time.
• Usual recipes call for 20 minutes bake time - I got mine done in 30 minutes so keep checking yours to ensure the lovely brown color on top.
• Avoid opening the oven too many times to check - check at the 20 minute mark first.

Chilli Chutney

Karnataka has been my home until I moved to Dubai two years back. Brought up in a small town called Brahmavar in Udupi district and then completed my post graduation and experienced my first feel of corporate life in Bangalore. These are two unique places with its own charm. Karnataka has it all - from the coastal stretch of Mangalore - Gokarna to the mountainous charms of Coorg and Sakleshpur, not to forget the temple towns of Belur, Halebidu , Hampi and Bangalore - the silicon city of India. I have not yet traveled all these places but one day, I do wish to strike off all these from my bucket list.

Chikmaglur is one such beautiful hill station nestled at the foothills of the Mullayanagiri range with beautiful climate and coffee estates that adorn the hills. This makes it a popular tourist destination and we got to be one of them in February. No denying the gorgeous climate of the place, the wonderful coffee estates, greenery all around and you could relax the whole day almost doing nothing. A write up will soon follow on our Chikmaglur trip but before that let me bring your attention to this recipe which my mother learned from one of the chef's at the home stay.

Chilly Chutney - goes with almost anything be it rice, idli or dosa and co-incidentally we tried it with foccacia and it was undeniably the best combination (Italy meets Malnadu) which is why we have included it in the photograph. 

So here we go - 

Ingredients

1. Kashmiri red chilli - 15 to18 
2. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
3. Garlic - 3 to 4 cloves
4. Jeera/ cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
5. Tamarind - 1 lemon size ball 
6. Jaggery - 2 tbsp grated
7. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
8. Salt to taste
9. Oil

Method

• Soak tamarind in half a cup of warm water and extract the juice.
• Soak the red chilly in water for ten minutes and drain off the water.
• Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and add the fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds,garlic along with red chilli. Fry this until the raw smell of garlic goes away.
• Take it off the flame and let it cool. Pulse this into a paste.
• Transfer this back to the pan and add the tamarind extract along with grated jaggery and adjust the salt. Let the water run a little dry to get the desired chutney consistency.
• Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Temper the chutney with mustard seeds.

You may also note -

• De-seed the chilli before frying if you do not like the seeds in the chutney.

Chutney Cheese Sandwich

Every vacation has three phases - 

• The waiting phase - You have planned your vacation, arrangements have been made, you are on a shopping spree, you are texting your relatives and friends on your upcoming vacation plans, you are clearing your fridge and finally packing your bags. To add on - I do an additional cleaning of the house because I love to see the house clean and neat on my return! This is an exciting phase and the feeling that you have something bright to look forward to makes even the most daunting task enjoyable.
• The actual vacation - this is the fun part. Your waiting is over and here it is finally - the execution of all that you planned. Meeting family, friends and relatives - lots of nostalgic moments, being pampered by family until the day it is time to pack your bags and return.
• The vacation hangover - the most annoying phase that comes after your vacation. The feeling of emptiness, a vague sense of nothing to look forward to, a weariness to get back to track, a derisive resolution to lose the holiday weight , yada - yada! Here even the most simple task seems a truckload.

It is phase three for me now - vacation hangover mode. While I was happy to enter into a clean and neat house - the happiness did not last long. I am bemused on how a house closed for 2 weeks can gather so much of dust!!

It has been 24 hours since my return to Dubai and I have only entered kitchen to make a coffee for myself this morning! I have 2 unpacked suitcases in front of me as I write this ( removed only the food items to be refrigerated - can't lose that, Can I ?), a dirty balcony to clean up, nothing to eat for lunch except thoughts on what I should cook and a whole lot of laziness that stops me from getting up from this couch and doing something!

So while I figure out how to get over the vacation hangover phase - Why don't you guys take a look at the new recipe made and clicked during the waiting phase while clearing the refrigerator!!

Ingredients

(makes 4 sandwiches)

1. Mint Leaves/ Pudina - a fistful
2. Coconut - 1/2 cup freshly grated
3. Ginger - 1/2 tsp chopped
4. Salt to taste
5. White Bread/ Sandwich bread - 8 slices
6. Cheese slices - 4

Method

• Pulse together the mint leaves, coconut and ginger along with salt. Add 2-3 tablespoon of water to attain the consistency required for easily spreading it on the bread slice.
• Slather about a tablespoon of chutney on the bread and top it with the cheese. Seal it off by placing another bread slice on top.
• Toast the sandwich on your tawa or a sandwich maker. Serve this hot!

Check out other sandwich recipe on the blog.

Vermicelli Upma/ Semiya Upma

It is vacation time and for the first time blogging from a place other than home in Dubai. It feels good to be home and lot of changes have happened in a year - our family of doggies grew from 2 to 3, trees have been replaced by roads and places are beyond recognition, the bakery with my favorite egg samosa seems to have closed down, swipe machines have appeared even at the smallest of stores - demonetisation effect and yet the Gudbud ice cream tastes heavenly except for the increasing price and the decreasing glass size!!

While I feast on my mom's food and savor every moment - why don't you guys virtually feast on the recipe from my archives - Vermicelli Upma. I love the sweetness of this and for me it goes well even without a chutney. Ghee enhances the flavor and peanuts adds the crunch. So here we go - 

Ingredients

(Serves - 2)

1. Vermicelli - 1 cup
2. Water - 1 cup
3. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
4. Urad dal - 1 tsp
5. Chana dal - 1 tsp
6. Curry leaf - 1 sprig
7. Onion - 1 small chopped
8. Green Chilly - 1
9. Ginger - 1/4 tsp chopped
10. Carrot - 4 tbsp chopped
11. Peanuts - 2 tbsp
12. Cashewnut - 1 tbsp
13. Raisins - 1 tbsp
14. Sugar - 1 tbsp heaped
15. Salt
16. Ghee

Method

• Heat a skillet and add 2 tbsp of ghee. Fry the peanuts, cashew nuts and raisins separately and set aside on kitchen towel to drain excess ghee.
• In the same skillet, add the mustard seeds and let it splutter.
• Add the urad dal and chana dal. Once this browns add the curry leaf as well.
• Now, add the chopped onion along with the ginger and green chilly and cook until the onions are done.
• Add the chopped carrots along with the vermicelli and cook it for about a minute and half before adding water.
• Adjust salt at this stage and a tablespoon of sugar for the sweetness.
• Cook until done. Add the nuts and raisins at this stage and give it a good mix.
• Serve along with coconut chutney.

You may also note

• Cooking time of vermicelli depends largely on the type that you buy. I used the thin one which got cooked quite fast uncovered.
• You may use coriander leaf for the final garnish.

Coriander Chutney

There is nothing like a hearty breakfast!

I would not say that breakfast is the best meal of the day for me - I am always partial towards dinner. Yet having a good breakfast keeps you going for most part of the day.  As a part of my first job in India, we were part of the HR panel for Campus recruitment of freshers. This demanded of us to travel to different cities and were often put up in hotels approved by the company. No compromise on safety and security! Goes without saying that we had the luxury of staying in a couple of prominent 5 star hotels - royal bedrooms and hearty meals. Breakfast is complementary in these hotels and we would definitely not miss that! It was always a combo of Indian and English - from idli, vada, sambar to the croissants, muffins and sausages - name it and you had it there.  So even now when I hear of breakfast buffets I jump at the idea. The widespread buffet is such a visual treat and leaves you with a happy tummy.

So over to my recipe today. Since I have talked about breakfast - my recipe also has got something to do with breakfast. Coriander chutney is our bowl of happiness with idli or dosa. Do try it and enjoy!

Ingredients

1. Coconut - 1 cup grated
2. Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup chopped including stems
3. Green Chilly - 1 or 2 depending on the spice quotient
4. Ginger - 1 tsp chopped
5. Salt to taste
6. Water - 1/2 cup
7. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
8. Urad dal - 1/4 tsp
9. Oil

Method

• Pulse together the coconut, coriander leaves, green chilly, ginger and salt. Add the water to attain the desired consistency.
• Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add urad dal and once the color begins to change lightly add the chutney. Add more water if required and switch off the flame when it heats up. Do not let it boil.
• A great breakfast companion with idli, dosa or vada.

You may also note - 

• You could also add curry leaves and red chilies for tempering
• The fresher the coriander and grated coconut the better the flavor

Udupi Bread masala

New Year started on a pretty low note. Climate is amazing here in Dubai and so very apt for all sorts of infections! So after two weeks of medicines and rest, we are slowly getting back on track. 

Phew! finally food tastes like food! 

Two weeks almost made us forget what it was like to be foodies with our tongues absolutely losing its sense for taste. The beginning of a New Year went by and our third wedding anniversary too confined within blankets and cup after cup of ginger tea! Since it did not exactly feel like a New Year - we decided to postpone all our celebrations till we were fine and we are on the verge of recovery now. Now, I do wish we could have posted about a dinner date or romantic outing on our anniversary but never mind we did something special too! We took care of each other:) It is not easy having two sick people taking care of each other but we did tide through proving true the marriage vows we took three years back - 'In sickness and in health'! 

So while we are just beginning our new year celebration - why don't you guys quickly skim through the recipe we have for you. It has been a while since I have been to Udupi and in less than 3 weeks I am going to be there! So here is a Udupi recipe - made popular by the famous Diana Hotel.

Ingredients

(Serves - 3)

1. White Bread - 8 slices
2. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
3. Onion - 2 medium sized finely chopped
4. Tomato - 1 big
5. Ginger - 1 tsp chopped
6. Garlic - 1 tsp chopped
7. Green Chilly - 1
8. Kashmiri chilly powder - 1 tsp
9. Cloves - 2
10. Cardamom - 2
11. Cashew nuts - 8-10 pieces
12. Milk - 1 cup
13. Coriander leaves 
14. Salt to taste
15. Ghee

Method

• Grind the ingredients listed from 4 to 11 into a fine paste.
• Chop the bread slices into smaller squares or any random sizes.
• Heat a tbsp of ghee in a skillet and add the mustard seeds. Once this pops, add the onions and saute until cooked.
• To this, add the ground paste and cook until the raw smell of the masala goes away.
• Adjust the salt at this stage and add milk. Bring it to a boil and simmer for a minute before switching off the flame.
• Add the bread pieces in batches and combine well. Sprinkle corriander leaves and drizzle a tablespoon of ghee before serving it.

You may also note - 

• Ideal for breakfast or evening snacks. You could make the gravy ahead of time and store it. Mix the bread pieces only before your serve else it may become too soggy and melt into the gravy.
• Alternatively, you could also toast the bread with a little butter before adding it to the gravy for the crunch.
• While serving it as snack you could garnish with finely chopped onion as well or even spring onions.

Sindhi Koki / Paratha

I am fond of accumulating things and Shibin even more so. I fancy good looking plastic covers, jam/ pickle bottles, yogurt containers, inner cardboard of used tissue rolls,carton boxes and hoard them up. Shibin on the other hand tend to retain old clothes, id cards, travel itineraries, tickets etc. I preserve them to use it up inventively somewhere if possible and he does it because he gets nostalgic seeing all those. Either way, we sometimes end up cluttering and accumulating stuff which we may not ever have a look at again or use ever again. It is recently I came across the concept of de-cluttering and how it helps not just the physical space around the house but our mindset as well. I have slowly begun vanquishing all those unwanted elements.

It seems to be helping me infinitely -

• I have found more space to store what I actually want.
• I found things I would want to put to good use.
• The cleaner the house the merrier the mind.

The same applies to cooking as well. Shibin often tells me - ' Don't try to cook something special always - keep it simple'. My definition of going simple on certain week day night is making Koki. It is a simple sindhi paratha  using the basic ingredients found in almost all Indian household and leaves me with a less messier kitchen. We pair it up with Yogurt, so no extra effort on that side.

I am lucky to have two Sindhi friends and this is the recipe I picked up from one of them who is a wonderful cook  - Shweta thank you for the recipe.

Ingredients

(makes 6 parathas)

1. Wheat Flour - 1 and 1/2 cup
2. Onion - 1 medium finely chopped
3. Tomato - 1 small de-seeded and finely chopped
4. Green Chilly - 1 finely chopped
5. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
6. Caraway seeds/ ajwain - 1/4 tsp
7. Pomegranate seeds - 1/2 tsp crushed
8. Coriander leaves - a handful chopped
9. Luke warm water - 1/3 cup
10. Oil - 1 tbsp
11. Ghee
12. Salt to taste

Method

• Combine together the chopped onion, tomato, coriander leaves, green chilly, cumin seeds, ajwain and crushed pomegranate seeds in a bowl
• Add wheat flour and salt to the same bowl
• Combine this with your hand to let the moisture from the mix soak into the flour
• Add luke warm water and fork it together and let it rest for 5 minutes before you knead it to form a dough
• Store in an air tight container for 15 minutes before you begin rolling it out. This helps the dough  to be firmer and well combined.
• Make 6 smaller balls and roll it in the flour. Flatten it with your hands and using a roller gently roll out adding more flour if the need be.
• Dust off excess flour and transfer this to a heated tawa.
• Flip it over twice on each of the sides till it begins to brown lightly on the sides.
• Grease both the sides with ghee or oil.
• Serve it with yogurt and pickle.

Peanut Chutney

Last week I came across this article on my favorite self-help blog - Tiny Buddha on how as adults we get so engrossed in the race of life that things that once sounded beautiful to us no longer evokes us in the same feelings. So, I guess it is time to step back unlearn this way of life and bring in a change that makes life more beautiful. I keep saying I am a person who finds happiness in every small thing in life. But do I really? May be not! Yet, it is never too late. So I have pulled up my socks and have begun viewing life differently and enjoying the tidbits that comprises life.

And you know what! Life does seem more beautiful since the past three days incorporating just the below - 

1. Letting bygones be bygones.
2. Every single thing in your life has a reason! So live it up to brim.
3. Tomorrow has to come anyway, so quit worrying about it now!

Having said this - here is my recipe for the week Peanut Chutney straight out of my aunt's recipes! She always has this chutney bottled up and needless to say I always love eating spoonfuls right out of the bottle. It is perfect for week day breakfasts. Idli/Dosa and peanut chutney just perfect for tiffin boxes!

Here is the recipe - 

Ingredients

1. Peanuts - 1 kg
2. Garlic - 200 gm
3. Curry Leaf - 1 sprig
4. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
5. Asafoetida powder - 1/4 tsp
6. Chilly powder - 1 tbsp heaped
7. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
8. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
9. Oil - 1 tbsp
10. salt - to taste

Method

• Dry roast the peanuts until cooked and set aside. You could peel the peanuts if you want to or it works well if you did not peel it as well.
• Heat oil in a Kadai, add the mustard seeds and let it splutter.
• Add the fenugreek seeds, chopped garlic and the curry leaves. Saute till the raw smell goes.
• Sprinkle the asafoetida, chilly and turmeric powder and cook the masala. Toss in the groundnut and mix well.
• Let this cool and add the required salt.
• Grind the contents together till it coarsely done. I love to bite into bits of peanuts hence the coarse texture. You may grind it to fine powder as well.
• Can be stored in a dry container for more than a month.

You may also note - 

• DO NOT grind it for a long time as you may end up having peanut butter chutney:)
• Increase the spice level to your taste.

Bread Kai Pola - Malabar Iftar recipe

It is simply amazing how simple ingredients come together to form a perfect cuisine. This Pola recipe combines egg with bread and plantain to form a delectable snack. It was only recently that I was introduced to Malabar cuisines and I am loving them. I definitely intend to try more of the Malabar flavors.

Quite co-incidentally, during my recent visit to India, my aunt, in order to save overripe plantains from rotting away introduced me to this recipe. I liked the combination and ventured to add bread also into the recipe to make it a wholesome dish.

Here is the recipe - a simple quick win snack.

Ingredients

1. Eggs - 5 no.s
2. Plantain - 4 medium size
3. Bread - 6 slices
4. Sugar - 2 tbsp
5. Milk - 1/4 cup
6. Salt - 1 pinch
7. Cinnamon powder - 1/4 tsp
8. Ghee - 2 - 3 tbsp
9. Cashewnuts - 2 tbsp chopped
10. Raisins - 2 tbsp

Method

Cut the plantain into cubes and shallow fry them in ghee until the yellow color of the plantain begins to turn brown. Fry the cashew nuts and raisins in the same ghee and keep aside.

Chop the bread into small squares. I used brown bread as the healthier option, you could substitute with white bread as well.

Break open the eggs and beat it well along with the milk, salt, sugar and cinnamon powder.

Add the fried plantains and the bread squares into the beaten eggs.

Meanwhile, heat a skillet and grease it with ghee. Pour in the mixture to the pan, top it with raisins and cashew and heat on low flame covered for 5 minutes. 

Pre-heat the oven for ten minutes at 180 degree centigrade and transfer the skillet to the oven at the same temperature.

Bake it uncovered until a knife inserted comes out clean.

Remove it from the oven and keep it covered with a aluminium foil for ten minutes before slicing and serving it.

You may also note - 

1. The riper the plantains you use, the better the taste
2. You could try a combination of fried and fresh plantains for better flavors
3. Once you add the bread squares, transfer to skillet immediately in order to prevent the bread from absorbing the entire mixture.

Creamy Peanut Butter

It is hard to find anyone who wouldn't love gorging a toast slathered with peanut butter - be it creamy or chunky! A cup of coffee and peanut butter toast forms my ideal breakfast on a weekday.

I had my first taste of peanut butter during my hostel days when a friend's father got it from Dubai. Back then peanut butter had not gained the current popularity in India. Peanut butter slathered on Marie biscuit was a hot favorite snack in college. And on those nostalgic days we still do it. 

For those of you who love peanut butter and never gave a thought of making it at home - here is how you make it. It doesn't take you more than 30 minutes and even lesser if you already have roasted peanuts handy. Give it a thought. It is any day better than the store bought peanut butter which we inadvertently put into our shopping cart at the supermarket. It can be easily stored for almost a month in an airtight container.

For the ones who would love to lick on peanut butter, here is the recipe - 

Ingredients

Peanuts- 1/2 kg

Honey - 2 tbsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Method

Dry roast the peanuts in a pan for around 10 minutes on medium flame.

Let it cool and remove the skin of the peanuts, alternatively you also get to buy skinned roasted peanuts which saves you the job of roasting and peeling.

In a blender, process together the peanuts and salt for a minute. Scrape the edges of the blender and drizzle in the oil and honey. Process for 2 minutes until smooth. The oil helps in getting the desired creamy consistency. I added honey for the sweetness, you may replace honey with sugar if you like your peanut butter sweet.

Transfer to an air tight container and store for up to a month without refrigerating. Even more refrigerating.

Dates Vattayappam

Vattayappam is a popular Kerala delicacy, which traditionally was made in households with left-over appam batter. However now, most of the bakeries in Kerala sell packaged Vattayappam. This can never beat the freshly prepared homemade ones.  

Vattayappams are steamed soft rice cakes with a perfect blend of coconut and fermented by yeast to make it fluffy. This is definitely on my Easter Menu.You guy's better rethink yours:)

Vattayapam usually has cashew nuts and raisins for richness along with a tinge of cardamom. My recipe has a whole lot of dates which gives it the sweetness and of course you may do away with the sugar that you add. 

I picked this recipe from my mother-in-law :)

Ingredients

1. Dosa Rice/White Rice -1 cup
2. Dates - 40 to 50 - you may reduce or increase as per your choice.
3. Coconut - 3/4 cup grated
4. Cardamom powder -1/4 tsp
5. Boiled rice - 1/4 cup
6. Cashew nuts and raisins -a handful
7. Salt to taste
8. Yeast -1tbsp
9. Water -1 cup

Method

Soak the rice and de-seeded dates over night in water separately. Wash the rice and strain the water.

Blend together the rice, dates, water, boiled rice, grated coconut in batches and pour into a deep vessel since the batter rises after adding yeast. Add cardamom powder to this and mix well.

Soak yeast in 4 to 5 tbsps of warm water for about 20 minutes till it becomes foamy and is fermented.

Mix the yeast with the batter and keep the vessel closed and in a warm place to let it ferment for at least 6 hours or till it rises.

Add salt once the batter has risen and stir it just enough for the salt to mix.

I have used cake pans in idli cooker to steam the cake. You may alternatively use a deep steel plate. Just grease the plate with a little ghee. Pour the batter into the dish and top it with nuts and raisins. Kerala bananas also make a good topping.

Steam this for 20 minutes. Remove from the flame and set aside for cooling. Wedge it out of the dish once cool and cut into shapes of your choice.

Mangalore Buns/ Banana Poori

A small tea shop in front of our college campus was the favorite hangout place during our free hours in college at Brahmavar. This is where we have feasted on the Mangalore Buns as it is popularly called. Do not go by the name Buns! It is nowhere similar to the normal buns baked out of the oven. It is deep fried in oil and usually served as tea time snack along with chutney. It is sweet, hence can be eaten without a chutney also. That is precisely what I did roaming around with a piece in my hand and preparing for our trip to Al Ain Zoo. That is a long awaited trip and we finally did it this weekend Yay!

Guess what we were lucky too! Got to see the majestic White Tiger and White Lion in all its glory and majesty. I had packed a few buns for our evening snack time which we gorged on after the visit to the Zoo. I hope you guys too try out this recipe, you could make it a tiffin box recipe for your kid too:) A simple way to use the overripe bananas which you do not feel like eating! 

So here is my version of the recipe. Though generally made with Maida/ All Purpose Flour, I chose the healthier Wheat Flour.  Hence ate it guiltless:)

Ingredients

1. Wheat Flour - 2 cups + 3 tbsp for rolling the dough
2. Banana - 5 ( I used elaichi bananas)
3. Sugar - 5 tbsps
4. Jeera - 1/2 tsp
5. Yogurt/Curd - 3 tbsp
6. Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
7. Ghee - 2 tbsp
8. Salt - 1 pinch
9. Water as required

Method

Mash the bananas along with the sugar in a bowl. Riper the bananas, the easier to mash. You could user a blender or a spoon would also suffice. To this add the wheat flour, salt, baking soda, jeera(lightly crushed) and mix it well using a fork. Add the yogurt and roll it into a dough. Generously rub ghee on both your hands and fold in the dough once again. Keep it covered for atleast two hours or refrigerate it overnight. In case you refrigerate, make sure that you keep it out for atleast two hours before you make it.

Make balls out of the dough. Roll it out using a rolling pin using the flour when required so that it doesn't stick. Avoid overusing the flour as it leads formation of residue in the oil.

In a skillet heat the oil. Once the oil is hot, slowly slip in the rolled out sheet one at a time.  Using a spoon, keep splashing oil onto the top as it raises. Ensure that the flame is on medium. Flip over to the other side once it is uniformly brown in colour. Once both the sides are done. Transfer this to a tissue paper so that the excess oil seeps onto it.  

Buns do not absorb much oil and hence you can be judicious while pouring the oil into the skillet.

Serve it hot with chutney of your choice.

Peanut Butter Sandwich with fried banana and honey

Deck the halls with boughs of holly,

fa la la la la, la la la la

Tis the season to be jolly,

fa la la la la, la la la la

Christmas is here and so is the holiday season. While we  prep up our lunch and dinner menus, lets not forget the breakfast! Quick and simple recipe which the young and the old will love alike - peanut butter sandwich with honey and fried banana.

This time round we made the sandwich with homemade peanut butter!That is quick and easy too, if you have not yet tried.

Before I move onto the recipe, let me remind you to make the festive season fun filled and all the more christmasy, do not forget to watch some Christmas movies. We have already begun ours with The Holiday and Polar Express! Just so Perfect!

So here is the recipe - 

Ingredients

1. Bread slices - 3
2. Banana  - 1
3. Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp
4. Butter - 5 tbsp
5. Peanut butter
6. Honey

Method

Heat a pan and add butter to this. Once the butter melts, place the banana that has been sliced lengthwise onto the pan. Sprinkle cinnamon powder over this. Turn over the slices when it begins to change color. Once done, place it aside.

Slather peanut butter generously onto a toasted bread slice. Then layer the slice with the fried bananas. Pour a spoonful of honey over the slices. Repeat the same on another slice of bread and place it over the first one. Finally, place the last slice on the top, cut it diagonally and serve with a hot cup of coffee.

Crepes - Brunch the English way

The English version of our very own Indian Dosa is what I would want to call it -Crepes.

A good way to begin your day, an easy brunch for those lazy days, an evening snack or even a relishing dinner - the way you like with the filling of your choice. 

We chose to have it as our Saturday Brunch!

The first time I heard of crepes..hmm..Of course from my husband!!

Heard, may the wrong word. He 'made' it for me on our second Valentines day together!!

What fascinates me about crepes is the choice of filling you possibly can have. While we chose Jam, you may opt for anything from Honey to Nutella if you want it sweet. As a savory dish, you can choose any fillings of veggies or meat and roll it up. Also, this could turn into a perfect snack for your kids tiffin box:) Get innovative with crepes - roll it up and slice it or stack it and serve with fresh fruits and glimmer of honey. I am sure kids and adults will enjoy every bite of it.

So here we go - 

Ingredients

1. Self raising flour/maida - 1 cup
2. Salt - 1 tsp
3. Sugar - 3 tsp ( you can increase the quantity if you want it sweeter)
4. Eggs - 2
5. Vanilla essence - 3 drops
6. Milk - 1 1/2 cups
7. Butter - 2 tbsp - melted

Method

Sift the flour to prevent formation of lumps. Add sugar and salt and keep aside.

Break the eggs into a cup and whisk it well using a hand blender. To this, add vanilla essence and milk. Make sure your eggs and milk are at room temperature before the preparation. Whisk the wet ingredients together.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients slowly, whisking it constantly. Make sure that no lumps are formed. To be on safer side , you can strain the batter once you are done whisking..

Finally add the melted butter and mix the batter well.

Meanwhile heat a pan and brush it with butter. Take the pan off the heat, pour a ladle full of batter onto the center of the pan and rotate the pan for the batter to spread and create perfect circle. The crepes have to be thin and uniformly spread. Let it cook on medium flame for about a minute and a half and then flip it over. Once flipped over just cook it for half a minute and transfer it to a plate.

We had a lovely brunch of crepes with jam and a serving of pan fried plantains.
Fresh home made jam goes best - here is the recipe - http://kitchenspells.blogspot.ae/2015/05/strawberry-apple-jam.html.

Go truly the English way with a serving of scrambled eggs or sausages and coffee.

This is definitely a must try recipe! Coz it is simple and yummy!

Poha - a lesser known breakfast delicacy

Poha is a simple and quick breakfast dish which you can whip up in under 15 minutes. That is why it is one of the most favored breakfast recipe in my kitchen.

I always considered Poha to be a South Indian dish since a room mate of mine from Shimoga, a place in Karnataka often made it for breakfast. This notion changed on a short trip to Indore for a recruitment event. We were served Poha in the hotel for breakfast, as a snack in the college between the interviews and we even saw people relishing Poha at Chappan - a popular food bazaar  during the evening.  The Poha, I tasted at Indore was sweeter than the version I had down south which is why I try to bring in a little sweetness to the version from my kitchen.

It is a lesser known dish to the Keralites. My husband had never even heard of it, till I cooked it for him the first time. This dish is a miracle breakfast recipe as far as I am concerned and  a lot better than the normal bread - jam/peanut butter or upma routine on working day mornings. My husband loves this dish and it is his suggestion that I put this recipe down here for more of you to experiment.

Ingredients

Beaten rice/ Flattened rice - 2 cups

Onion - 1 medium sized chopped

Potato - 1 medium sized chopped

Green Chilly - 2 to 3 slit

Peanuts - a handful ( you can increase or reduce as per your taste, I love peanuts hence love more of it in my food)

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaf - 1 sprig

Lemon juice - 3 tsp

Sugar - 1 tsp

Coriander leaf to garnish

Salt as per taste

Oil

Method

Heat oil in a skillet. Fry the peanuts and keep aside. Then fry the chopped potato (chop finely) for about 2 minutes ( just begins to change color) and drain off excess oil.

Toss in the chopped onions and saute it till translucent. Add the green chilly and curry leaf, saute it for a while. Add the desired amount of salt and 1 tsp sugar mix it well and toss in the  potato at this stage. Add turmeric powder and saute for another 2 minutes on low flame.

Pour water into the beaten rice just for it to get wet and drain off immediately.  Toss this into the skillet and fold it together till the beaten rice gets the color of the turmeric.

Keep this covered for 4 minutes on low flame. Add the lemon juice and the fried peanuts. Mix it well and serve with garnish of fresh finely chopped coriander leaves.

I do hope that you all try this simple recipe and trust me you will love it!

You may also note -

1. Once you pour water into the beaten rice, drain off immediately. Else your poha would turn out to be extremely soggy.
2. Once cooked, serve it hot or keep it covered so that the steam keeps it warm. Leaving the poha open could cause it be dry and sometimes a little too chewy.
3. In case, you have excess poha and you store it for later. Make sure that you heat it with a little water sprinkled on it when you take it out of the fridge.

Rava Uthappam

Quite a few friends have requested for some vegetarian recipes to be posted in my blog else they say they would  " unlike" the page on facebook :)

I have been trying to recollect the vegan recipe that I love the most and that is when Rava Uthappam clicked! A quick uthappam recipe that does not require the batter to stand over night.

So here goes the history.

This recipe dates to those days when I had just moved out of college into corporate life. A few of us classmates moved in together after college beginning to bask in the glory of the newly found financial independence. After a hectic day at work, we would gather in the kitchen to cook ourselves a decent dinner. All we had was three or four utensils, an over packed small refrigerator shared by nine maybe ten of us, a double burner stove(one burner which hardly worked) and our inadequate cooking skills. We were always on the lookout for simple and quick recipes. None of us had the time or the energy for elaborate ones. That is when one of my friends decided to make sooji ka chilla (her mother's recipe) which I fondly call as rava uthappam. Sooji ka chilla was a delight to our tummies at the end of a long and tiring day.

I have tried this recipe on several friends and family. They have all loved it equally. Hope you like it too. This recipe is dedicated to my friend, her mother and also the wonderful roomies with whom I have enjoyed this.

Here it is -

Ingredients

Roasted rava/semolina/sooji - 1 cup
Yogurt - 1 and 1/4 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 medium sized finely chopped
Tomato - 1 medium sized finely chopped
Green chilly - 1-2 finally chopped
Coriander leaves - a handful chopped
Carrot - 1 grated
salt to taste
Ghee


Method

Beat the yogurt along with water and salt. Add rava to the yogurt, a spoonful at a time stirring well to avoid the formation of lumps. Once the entire rava has been added, let the batter soak for half an hour.

Meanwhile chop the vegetables.
Add the chopped onion, tomato and green chilly to batter and mix it well. Also add in half of the coriander leaves, the rest can be used as a garnish

Heat the dosa tawa and grease the tawa with ghee. Pour in two ladles of the batter and spread it slowly. The consistency of this batter would be different from the normal dosa you make and will not spread easily giving you a perfect round shape. Using the ladle, gently spread it across ensuring uniform thickness as far as possible. Spread across the coriander leaves and grated carrots on top.

Keep it covered on medium flame for around 5 minutes till the bottom changes color and is lightly crisp. Tip it over to cook the other side for around 2 minutes. Do not overcook this side as you may burn the carrots on top.

Serve it hot with fresh coconut chutney.

Do not forget to try this latest dish from my kitchen and impress your family and friends!!

You may also note -

1. Try to stick to the measurements else you may not get your uthappam in one piece. It would crumble while trying to tip over.
2. You could try adding capsicum or any other vegetable of your choice.
3. Cook immediately after you add the veggies to prevent it being mushy.

Strawberry Apple Jam

It was during our honeymoon that we first tasted strawberry apple jam. A lovely breakfast on the houseboat in Dal lake, Srinagar with Tea, Poha, Bread toast and Strawberry Apple Jam.  The jam just tasted heavenly with small chunks of apple and strawberry in it. On inquiry, we were told that it was locally procured but we were not fortunate enough to get a bottle of the jam from any of the shops we went.

Post that, I have tried making pineapple jam and mango jam but never strawberry apple jam. Recently, we celebrated one year of our trip to Kashmir reminiscing the trip and the enjoyable moments. That is when I recollected the refreshing jam we had in Srinagar giving a real feel of fresh strawberries and apples.

Bread and jam with coffee has been an easy breakfast option for us ever since we were married. What can be more fresh than home made jam with chunks of fruits to go with bread! When you make at home, you can be sure of exactly what goes into the jam with no fear of unknown and may be unhealthy ingredients. I have used no preservatives and no artificial colours. The colour of the jam was rendered by the strawberries.

Here it is - the recipe of the jam.

Ingredients

Strawberry - 500 gms

Apple - 500 gms

Lemon juice - 2 tbsp

Sugar - 1 1/4 cup 

Preparation

Hull the strawberries. Clean the strawberries and the apples well and pat them dry. Quarter the strawberries and cut the apples into small pieces once skinned. Grind the strawberries coarsely and set aside.

Heat a thick bottomed pan and pour in the ground strawberries and the chunks of apple. Add the sugar and bring the mixture to boil on high flame. Bring the flame to medium and keep stirring.

Keep stirring it to avoid the mixture from sticking to the bottom and burning. Stir for around 10-15 minutes, add the lime juice and keep stirring till you achieve the desired consistency.   In case, you find huge chunks of fruits, mash it using a fork.

You can add in more sugar if you want it more sweeter once you taste.  Try using a deep pan as the jam tends to splutter and you may have a tough time cleaning. Be careful it might even splutter on your face.

Meanwhile clean a glass jar and keep it closed and inserted in hot water.  Once the desired consistency is reached you can transfer the jam into the still warm jar and let it cool.  Using a fork or toothpick press the jam down in the jar to avoid formation of air bubbles.  You can store the jam in fridge for about a month.

Enjoy with your favorite bread, chapati or even biscuits (like we did in hostel).

While you start your preparations for the jam, let me relish the jam with home made bread. 

Aah!! how ravishing:)