Minced Chicken Pulav

When the rest of the world battles with Monday morning blues, we over here in the gulf battle the very same blues but on a Sunday instead ( Yeah, well our weekends are Friday and Saturday). I took quite a while to get used to this fact when we moved here from India. Even now I end up mixing the days - Friday for a Saturday and Saturday for a Sunday! Nevertheless The beginning of the week is hard and energy peaks as you move towards the next weekend. Alas, we are humans ! We know work is worship but nothing can take away those lazy weekends idling on a couch with family or those fun get together, shopping and more that can happen only on weekends.

The theory that would apply to most of us for the beginning of the week is the one propagated by Newton - A body at rest tends to stay at rest unless and until acted upon by an external force which is why I had to drag myself out of bed this morning to Yoga class and post the class sit down to publish this post. Looks like I need a lot of external forces to accomplish every bit of work listed out for today in my diary ! Oh, I do that almost on a daily basis! But never do I even tick of 50% of the list as DONE! I hope that a day will soon arrive when I accomplish all that I have listed. Sometimes I do think that I only list things - simply cz I love writing and carrying a diary around makes me feel like a pro!

While I tick off the blog post from my To - Do list and tend to the other To-Dos, why don't you guys take a look at my new post - Minced Chicken Pulav.

Ingredients

1. Minced chicken - 400gms
2. Onion - 2 large chopped
3. Ginger - 1 tbsp chopped
4. Garlic - 1 tbsp chopped
5. Green Chilly - 1 tbsp chopped
6. Garam masala - 1 tsp
7. Pepper powder - 1 tsp
8. Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp
9. Coriander leaves - handful
10. Salt
11. Oil

For Rice

1. Basmati rice - 2 cups
2. Cinnamon - 1 inch 
3. Cardamom - 3
4. Cloves - 4
5. Bay Leaves - 2
6. Water - 7 cups
7. Ghee - 2 tbsp
8. Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp
9. Mint Leaves - 3 tbsp chopped

Method

• Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes. Wash till the water runs clear. Drain and keep aside.
• Boil 7 cups of water adding salt to this.
• Heat ghee in a deep bottomed pan and add cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves and cardamom. Let it sizzle for a minute before adding basmati rice. Let it splutter. Pour boiling water into this. Squeeze in a tablespoon of lemon juice. Keep it covered until cooked. Drain off the excess water using a colander and run it through cold water. At this point you may separate the whole spices, if you wish to.
• Crush together green chilly, ginger and garlic using a mortar and pestle.
• Heat oil in a separate pan, fry the onions for 7 to 8 minutes till translucent. Add the crushed chilly, ginger and garlic paste. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes. 
• Add minced chicken , salt and let it cook covered.Add pepper powder and garam masala. Squeeze in a tablespoon of lemon juice.Let this cook.
• Add corriander leaves.
• Mix the rice with the minced chicken mix and garnish with corriander leaves and mint.

Ulli Vada/ Onion Vada

Wishing you all a very Blessed New Year!

It is the 14th of the month and I hope you are still sticking to your resolutions that have a tendency to lose momentum as the month goes along! I have not made myself any strict resolutions but I hope to be better and do good more than I could in 2017. I have had a happy 2018 so far and I hope and pray that all of you did too:)

Having said that, certain things do not seem to be changing in 2018! It took me 14 days to get a post out for new year and a long pending post which was shot last March along with the Crispy Sweet Corn and was idling away in the drafts. It took a weekend get together were I made the ulli vada again that I got reminded of my pending post. So here we go with the post.  Its called Ulli Vada down south of India - it could be roughly translated as onion pakoda, onion fritter or onion bajji - depends on which part of the globe you are from! Some recipes call for the use of all purpose flour - I have used gram flour and added a bit of rice flour and baking soda to crisp it up. Baking soda is completely avoidable if you intend to stay clear of it.  

It is easy, quick and perfect for the weather Dubai has now!

Ingredients

1. Onions - 3 medium size ( thinly sliced)
2. Gram Flour - 1/4 cup
3. Rice Flour - 1 tsp
4. Chilly powder - 1 tsp
5. Coriander leaf - 2 tbsp finely chopped
6. Curry leaf - 1 tbsp finely chopped
7. Baking soda - 2 pinches
8. Water - as required.
9. Salt to taste
10. Oil for deep frying

Method

• Take the sliced onions, corriander leaves, curry leaves and salt in a bowl. Mix them well squishing the onions as you go to separate the strands and also release water.
• Add gram flour, rice flour, baking soda and chilly powder to this. Mix them well using your hand, the water released from the onions helps in binding the dry ingredients together. Add 3 to 5 tbsp of water as needed in the batter. The batter needs to be thick and not runny.
• Heat oil in a pan. Scoop out a small ball of the batter and flatten it on your palms before dropping it into the oil. Fry on both the sides till evenly browned.
• Transfer onto a tissue to drain off excess oil. Serve with hot tea.

You may also note

• When deep frying, it helps to keep flame on medium to medium high - absorbs lesser oil. 
• Always drop in the batter only when the oil has heated up. Test by dropping in a tiny drop of the batter.

Apple French Toast

This Christmas season has been a busy one. Lots of baking , mall hopping to see the Christmas decor, karaoke singing of Christmas carols to watching Christmas movies - we have done it all. With my sister in town to celebrate Christmas with us we have had quite a spike in our December activities.So while I sit down to relax before beginning the Christmas eve preparations, thought of sharing a quick recipe for your Christmas breakfast table.

Apple french toast is simply the addition of Green apples to your normal french toast and getting it baked. Scroll below to the recipe!!

Meanwhile, Have a holly jolly Christmas this year!!

A Joyous Christmas to all!

Ingredients

1. Green Apple – 1 big finely sliced
2. Butter – 2 to 3 tbsp
3. White bread – 10 pieces
4. Milk – 400 ml
5. Egg – 2 large
6. Sugar – 2 to 3 tbsp
7. Salt – ¼ tsp
8. Cinnamon  powder – ¼ tsp

Method

• Pre-heat the oven at 180 degree centigrade for 15 minutes
• Heat butter in a pan. Layer apples in the pan and cook until tender.
• Cut the bread into smaller pieces.
• Break open the eggs into a bowl. Whisk well and add milk, sugar, cinnamon powder and salt. Combine well.
• Layer the bottom of a baking pan with the cooked apple.
• Dip the bread pieces in the egg mix and layer this on top of the apples. Alternatively, layer the top with bread slices and pour the egg mix  on the top till the bread is soaked in the milk.
• Bake at 180 degree centigrade for 30 minutes to 40 minutes or until done.

Cranberry Cobbler Dump Cake

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, 

and behold, 

everything is softer and more beautiful. 

                        

                                     -Norman Vincent Peale

Dump it all together - there you have a dessert on your table!

Cranberry sauce, topped with cake mix and butter drizzled on top - that is the name of the dish deconstructed for you!

This is my first guest post and I am happy I got to do it with thebigsweettooth . Rafeeda of The Big Sweet Tooth is one of first bloggers I got introduced to through blogging. Her blog is a repository of recipes - a go to website for all your recipe needs. I am so glad I could add to her repository. Head over to her blog to check out my recipe for Cranberry Cobbler Dump Cake.

Kerala Mutton Stew

Christmas is a time that brings back so many memories. Some are funny as can be!

Good food comes with any celebration and Good food comes after so many failed attempts too! Christmas is no less.

Our first Christmas together was within a month of moving to Dubai. The cooking range oven and the griller were totally new to me. All that Shibin wanted for Christmas was 'Karangunna Chicken' - loosely translated rotating chicken. Don't whack your brains! He only meant to have those rotisserie grilled chicken :) I had my chicken marinated and for reason best known to no one I decided to place the marinated chicken in the freezer! We went out shopping got back a little late - just in time for dinner which was till in the freezer. I had no time to defrost. I placed it in the oven to melt the stubborn ice. After a while onto the rotisserie. The chicken was big and the marinade was all dripping down which is when I realised that I needed a dripping pan too. After all the trials , we still had an uncooked chicken two hours later and a messy oven. Then we did what we could do best. Cut the chicken and pan fried them. That is how we ended up eating our Christmas dinner at 12 am! Boy, I am glad we did not have any guests.

Moving onto the recipe. Whenever I hear mutton stew I cannot help but suppress a smile. Tell the same to my mother - she will have her volley of justifications. You will know why soon:) We were never very fond of mutton, so mutton was almost never bought at home. Once I happened to taste mutton stew with appam at a friends place for a wedding. I came home with a demand that it be mutton stew for Christmas morning instead of the usual chicken stew. Pappa bought mutton and Mamma set out to make it. The stew turned out fine but it tasted a wee bit different and had a sour taste. We went on to eat a stomach full. On her hunt for the curd she kept in glass mug to marinate the chicken for biriyani  (our Christmas lunch) did my mom realise that she had poured the curd into the stew instead of coconut milk that was in a similar cup! Nevertheless she says the stew turned out good and this how new things are discovered:) She is not going to spare me for this!

Here we go - 

Ingredients

1. Mutton  – 500 gms
2. Potato – 2 medium sliced
3. Onion – 1 big thickly cut lengthwise 
4. Green Chilly – 3-4 slit
5. Ginger – 1 tbsp finely chopped
6. Cardamom – 3 to 4
7. Cinnamon sticks – 2 sticks of 1 inch
8. Cloves – 3 to 4
9. Thin coconut milk – 2 cups
10. Thick coconut milk – ½ cup
11. Salt as needed
12. Water as needed
13. Coconut oil

For Tempering

1. Coconut oil – 2 tbsp
2. Curry leaf – 2 sprigs
3. Onion – 1 small sliced in cubes
4. Peppercorns – 3 to 4

Method

• Heat oil in a thick bottom pan. Add the whole spices and fry until aromatic.
• Next, add onions, ginger and green chilly. Saute until the ginger is cooked.
• Add mutton pieces and cook until the mutton is almost done. Pressure cook if need be.
• Add the potatoes and adjust salt.
• Add thin coconut milk and cook it covered until the mutton is done.
• Add thick milk and switch off the flame as soon as the stew begins to boil.
• For tempering, crush onion and pepper in a mortar and pestle.
• Heat oil in a pan, add the crushed onion and pepper along with curry leaves. Saute till done.
• Temper the stew with this mix. Keep it covered for a while.
• Serve hot with appam!

 

Lovlolikka Wine ||Cooking with Family and Friends - #5||

Does the word Lovlolikka ring a bell? I am sure atleast a few malayalees have heard of those red cherries that grow abundantly in their backyard and that grand moms fondly fed you in pickles. Lovlolikka is mildly sour, tangy with a tinge of sweetness and may not be as popular for eating as is when compared to the pickles and jams that are dished out from these cherries.

I did a hunt for the English name of this cherry and google threw up names like Indian sour cherry and Indian coffee plum. To keep things simple let's call it cherry:) My mom in law has a lot of these cherries peeping into her backyard from the neighbor's garden. The neighbors have graciously offered her all the cherries that grow on the branches hovering in her yard and trust me they are a basketful. So that is how Lovlolikka wine came into being for us. She did not use yeast for fermentation but the wine came just as good with a lovely color.

Hardly a month for Christmas and if you start now, I bet your wine would be ready just in time for Santa!

So here is the 5th recipe in the series of Cooking with Family. This time again with mom-in-law.

Ingredients

1. Lovlolikka/Indian sour cherry - 1 kg
2. Sugar - 300 gms
3. Cloves - 5 to 6
4. Cinnamon stick - 2 pieces of 1 inch
5. Water - as needed

Method

• Wash the berries in water to remove any dirt and pat dry them.
• Dry a big glass jar and add the berries into the jar.
• Add the sugar along with the cloves and cinnamon sticks.
• Pour warm water till the level of the berries in the jar.
• Using a wooden spatula give it a good stir. Cover and keep in a dark and dry place for a week.
• Stir again on the 5th day and 10th day by when the berries would have grown softer. Crush the berries using the spatula in the process.
• Leave it covered and untouched for next 10 days.
• On the 21st day, using a sieve filter out the liquid from the pulp. Store the wine in glass bottles until ready to consume.
• Hurry up, if you start now your wine will be ready by Christmas.

You may also note 

1. Sweetness can be increased or decreased as you like.
2. Most of the recipes call for addition of yeast but it works fine without it as well.
3. You may try using other berries/ fruits in the same recipe.

Karimeen Fry|Pearl Spot Fish Fry || Cooking with Family and Friends - #4||

Another vacation has come and gone by. Every food restrictions you impose on yourself goes for a toss when at home in India. Initially I struggle and some how maintain a balance. After a point in time, all the determination fades and I end up eating without a second thought ( The angel in asks me to eat the food cooked with love by your family and the devil in me reminds me of the weighing scale. After conflict of interests, the devil surrenders to the angel) The first few days after the vacation is again a transition mode. Trying hard to suppress my cravings and get back into routine ( not to forget the yummy stuff you have tugged along all the way from India) One week into our return and I am still fighting off the eating frenzy.

My series of Cooking with family took backseat for a while and now I am back with the 4th in the series. Recipe from my mother-in -law's kitchen. Her fish fry always tastes different from the normal ones I have had and here is the recipe for you.

Ingredients

1. Karimeen/ Pearl Spot - 2 medium size
2. Garlic - 2 to 3 pods
3. Fenugreek powder - 1 pinch
4. Kashmiri Chilly powder - 1 tsp
5. Pepper powder - 1 tsp
6. Turmeric powder - 1 pinch
7. Salt to taste
8. Water 
9. Oil for shallow frying

Method

• Clean the fish, let excess water drain off and create deep gashes.
• In a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic pods. 
• To this add chilly powder, pepper powder, fenugreek powder, turmeric powder and salt and combine well. Add just enough water to form a thick paste.
• Apply this marinade on the fish and let it rest for 15 minutes.
• Heat oil in a pan and place the fish in the pan. Let it cook for 5 to 8 minutes or until done on one side uncovered. Flip and cook the other side as well.
• Drain excess oil on kitchen tissue and serve hot with some vegetables