Ragi Utthappam

How about Ragi uthappam and spicy onion chutney.. Drooling???? Me...yes ofcourse.. can resist the taste of uthappams and spiciy onion chutneys.. 

Have made these uthappams using the left over batter of ragi appam (please check the recipe for the same in breakfast/ Kerala breakfast corner).

Ragi Appam

One more experimentation from my rasoi. 

Ingredients:

Ragi seeds - 3 cup
Raw rice/dosa rice -2 cups
Urad dhal - 1/2 cup
Sugar -5 tspn (add while grinding the rice)

Soak rice + ragi and urad dhaal separate for almost 5 hrs.

Grind them to a smooth batter . While grinding add a handful of poha too to get smooth appams. 

In a small katori add some warm water and 1 tspn of sugar and mix well. Add a pinch of yeast to this ..wait till yeast dissolve completely. Add this to the grinded batter and mix well with up/down strokes. Leave it to ferment .once the batter is raised add salt and make appams in normal way.

Serve with the curry of your choice. 

This is an anytime- easy to make carrot cake with the ingredients available at home.. Once again I tried this with my own recipe

Ingedients :

Carrot -2 robust ones grated to small
All purpose flour -1 & 1/2 cup
Sugar powdered - 1 cup
Baking powder -1/2 tspn

Orange red Food colour - less than a pinch
Vanila essence - 1/2 tspn

Eggs -3 nos
Curd (set one) 1/4 cup
Milk -1 cup
Butter  50 gms
oil - 2 tspn

Seive together flour, baking powder and food colour. Leave it undisturbed

Beat powdered sugar and butter to thick foamy layer. Add only egg yolks now and beat. after it is foamy add egg whites. Beat to a foamy mix. Add the essence and mix well. Add milk and beat again.Now fold in the dry powders carefully without lumps. Finally mix the grated carrot and fold in (do not beat now).Finally add 2 tspn of oil on top of the batter and mix. grease a butter paper with some more oil and pour the batter on top of it on a baking mould. garnish with raisins/nuts as prefered

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes

Idli podi (powder)

It is rightly said that there is no best cook in this world other than our mom. The love and magical taste of her hand made delicacies remains always our favourite no matter at what age we are.. Sharing with you here my mom's recipe for home made idli powder..yummmmmmmm I cant explain the taste of this when she makes.. I have tried here the same recipe but I always feel that her's is the best..

Ingredients :

Raw rice (any raw rice..can use even the idli/dosa rice too) -1 cup
Urad dhaal -1/2 cup
Chana dhaal -1/2 cup
Curry leaves - a big bunch
Dried Red chillies - a hand ful (can reduce the qty if u dont want to make it spicy)
Pepper corns -2 tspns
Asafoetida  (hing) - 1/4 block if it is a solid one  and 1 -2 tspn if it is powdered
Jeera seeds - 3 tspb
Salt -as required

Dry roast all the ingredients separately. Add some oil while roasting hing and curry leaves for better smell to the idli powder. Adjust the flame as per the qty of ingredients and please take care not to charr the ingredients while roasting. Allow all the ingredients to cool and powder it into fine mix in a mixer. 


Mix the idli powder with oil (any cooking oil) while serving.

Ragi Dosa

Ragi is a good source of protein and calcium.. Ragi is a health meal ideal for growing kids and diabetic patients.  Its surely a change from the normal dosa as u need not add on extra calories by the intake of more carbohydrates. 

It tasted yumm and surely is a good and healthy dish to be tried out. 

Recipe: 
Urad dhaal -1 cup
Ragi grains -2 cup
Rice - 2 cups
A handful of green gram and chana dhaal also I added
Methi seeds -2 tspn

Soak dhaal and ragi + others together for 4 hrs
Grind to a thick batter. Once fermented it will become loose. Make dosa as usual. Enjoy with onion-chilli chutney.

Rich chocolate coffee cake with chocolate pudding on top.

This cake tastes exactly like the store bought plum cake without adding plum and rum :)

Once again I tried using my own recipe. and here is how I made this
Ingredients:

Maida -1 & 1/2 cup
Sugar powdered- 1 & 1/2 cup
Chocolate powder - 3/4 cup ( I have used the drinking chocolate for this)

Coffee powder - 4 tspn ( If it is an instant coffee powder u can add as such or if it is otherwise you have to powder it in a mixer and add)
baking powder- a pinch
Baking soda - a pinch


Egg -2 nos
Curd -1 cup (set curd or strain the normal one for sometime to remove the water)
Butter - 100 gms
Cheese grated -100 gm
Oil - 4 tspn + for smearing the  mould
Chocolate essence -1 tspn
Tuti fruiti /kismis and almond bits - 2tpns each (optional) .Mix it with the sieved powders

Method Sieve together Maida, and baking powder and baking soda (2 times), also sieve chocolate powder and coffee powder. After sieving do not disturb the powder.

In a thick vessel mix thoroughly powdered sugar and buter, beat and make fluffy. Add grated cheese too and beat well.  Break the egg and seperate the egg white in another small vessel and add the egg yolk to the beaten mixture of sugar and butter. Beat again very well till foamy. Not add the curd and beat again. Add the egg white towards the end and beat. Add chocolate essence. now fold in the sieved powder ingredients . do not beat.just fold in. Finally add 4tbsp of oil to give a glossy look. If the batter is too thick u can add 1/2 cup of milk too.

Preheat oven at 200 deg and pour the batter on to a mould smeared with oil. Bake for 40 minutes or till the skewer cums clean.

Decorate with chocolate pudding as done in the picture.

Soya Chunks Manchurian

There was nothing left to cook special on our Special Women's Day except few Soya chunks.Was thinking how can I make this chunks delicious..

But I Never thought Soya chunks wud turn out to be so good in Manchurian. It was very easy to make and we Really enjoyed this dish with fried rice and I want all of you to try and surprise your family.

Ingredients"

Soya Chunks - Cooked and washed several times in clean water till the yellow colour of the water changes to clear. - 200 gms

Onion -2 big cut into cubes
Capsicum -1 big cut into cubes
Garlic -2 pods chopped
Ginger -1 inch size sliced thin
Spring Onion - 1/2 cup

Soya sauce-2 tspn
Green Chilli sauce- 1 tspn
Tomato sauce -1 & 1/2 tspn
Black pepper -1 & 1/2 tspn

Corn flour -1/2 cup mixed with water.

Salt and oil as required
Sugar a pinch

Heat oil in a kadai , Saute the garlic and ginger till raw smell is gone, Saute cubed onion. Add the sauces one by one. Add soya chunks and saute till dry. Sprinkle some salt and saute again till dry. [ If you want you can fry the chunks with some batter of corn flour+ maida+ food clour -a pinch+ ginger garlic paste + salt. But I avoided that ]

Once the dish is dry add the cornflour+ water mix and allow it to boil. Add pepper nw (once it starts boiling) and sugar. Remove from fire once the gravy is of desired consistency and garnish with spring onions.

Enjoy with fried rice/roti

Aloo Methi Chicken

Sometimes I just enter into crazy cooking mixing one or two vegetables together and making a new dish.. Tried Aloo-Methi and Chicken together and was awesome. 
Herez the recipe for it

Chicken - 500 gm meat
Potato -2 nos
Onion- 2 big
Garlic- 2 tspn
Ginger -1/2 inch sliced
Curry leaves -few
Methi (Kasuri methi) - a handful

Mrinate the chicken and potato with salt, ginger garlic paste, 1/2 tspn turmeric, 1 tspn red chili powder, 2 tspn coriander powder, 3 tspn chicken masala. Note Both chicken and potato are marinated together..Keep it for 1-0-15 minutes.

cook this meat separately till both chicken and potato are done

In a kadai heat some oil, crack mustard seeds, methi seeds, saunf and add kasuri methi elaves ot it till nice aroma comes. Saute one by one sliced onion, garlic and ginger and curry leaves. Once it is done mix the cooked chicken to this. Add water of to get the required consistency and adjust the level of salt. Allow it to boil once again till gravy is thick.
Believe me this was so yummy and I hope you will love it :D

Chakka podithooval - Dry sabji of Raw and tender jack fruit with grated coconut.

This is yet another recipe that I learned from my mom. the way she cooks this dish is just awesome and its my all time favourite. This is a Very easy to make dish and as the jack fruit season is fast approaching all of u can try this at home. All you need is a medium sized jack where the fruits are yet to develop. U can make this with unripened jack fruits too. 

Cut the jack and remove of the thick gummy portion in the middle and the thorny outer covering too. The portion that we take for making this dish is thin fibre type parts that are seen near the fruits + the unripened small jack fruits. scrape it using knife and it will start falling off.(if small fruits have developed scrape that also.)

boil all the scraped portions in a pressure cooker using little bit of turmeric and salt and water just to cover the vegetable- for 2-3 whistles. Remove the lid of the cooker and evaporate the extra water.

Now in a kadai heat some oil, crack the mustard seeds, Saute chopped small onion (1 handful), crushed garlic -3-4 pieces, few curry leaves, till nice aroma comes. Now add grated coconut 1 cup to this and add a pinch of turmeric powder and jeera powder. add salt if required.saute again well till coconut gives a nice smell. Add the cooked jack fruit to this and saute well and cover for few seconds till the flavour nicely blends. Serve with rice.

RICE FRYMS

Rice Fryms.
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I always love to make this as this is our all time favourite dish and with the double speed of making , this get finished faster in our home 
Summer is approaching and this is the ideal season for making these fryms. Can serve this with rice or can be had as a snack during rainy seasons. The light , crispy and fluffy texture of this fryms will definitely make it your favourite .

Here is an easy recipe for making this.

Rice (any quality) - 2 cups
Water - 6 cups
Jeera seeds -5 tspn
Asafoetida -2 tsp
Salt -as required

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp  

Can add any flavouring ingredients of your choice according to your taste buds.

Pressure cook all the ingredients for 4-5 whistles .Remember the rice has to be thoroughly cooked and mashed. Once the pressure subsides grind the rice to a thicker paste (without water) in a mixer. Squeeze it through a chakli maker and spread it on a cloth which in turn is spread on steel plates or a larger mat. Dry this under sun till crispier.( can remove this from the cloth on the second day and spread it on plates and dry till crispier ). store in containers and fry it in hot oil as and when required. 
Am sure this is going to rock your tables.

Mango Pickle - Instant one

This is a recipe handed over to me from my mom. She is an expert cook in all what she make. I still crave for her version of pickles.

I love making this mango pickle during mango season. Its very instant to make and tasty too. More over there is no waiting time for the pickle to set. and I just love it.

Ingredients are

Raw mango -2 nos
Mustard -2 big teaspoons
Red chilli powder -1& 1/2 tspn to 2 tspn (depending on the size of the mango)
Oil and salt as per requirement.
Curry leaves - few

courtesy - google images for raw mango picture

Cut the mangoes and chop it into tiny bits. Mix it with red chilli and salt for few minutes. Heat oil in a small kadai. Crack the mustard seeds. Add 1 tspn red chilli powder and switch off the burner. Remove the kadai from stove and add curry leaves and saute. Add the chopped and marinated mangoes to it and mix very well. Can use instantly once cooled.

Garlic Pickle

Garlic has been used throughout recorded history for both medicinal and culinary purposes. Garlic is one of the most valuable and versatile foods on the planet.

Garlic is a widely recognized health enhancing supplement. Garlic promotes the well-being of the heart and immune systems with antioxidant properties and helps maintain healthy blood circulation. One of garlic's most potent health benefits includes the ability to enhance the body's immune cell activity.

The active component in garlic is the sulfur compound called allicin. Allicin is the chemical produced when garlic is chopped, chewed, or bruised. Allicin is quite powerful as an antibiotic and a potent agent that helps the body to inhibit the ability of germs to grow and reproduce. In fact, it's said that 1 milligram of allicin has a potency of 15 standard units of pencillin. 

There are now over 12 studies published around the world that confirm that garlic can reduce cholesterol.

Even with much of these health benefits people dont like to have Garlic due its pungent nature and strong odour. But these healthy vegetable can be made into a pickle and enjoy the same qualities forever. 

This is how I made the pickle.

Garlic -200 gms
Peel the garlic and slightly prick using a pin or just crush it a little bit.
Ingredients required are red chilli powder, asafoetida powder and fenugreek powder (can roast the fenugreek seeds & grind to powder), salt, oil and vinegar as required. 

Heat some gingely oil/mustard oil in a kadai, splutter few mustard seeds, add the garlic pieces and saute (no need to cook), add few curry leaves too. Simmer the heat and add the chilli powder, hing powder, and fenugreek powder along with salt and mix well. Finally add vinegar and let it boil for some time. Remove from fire when the required consistency is reached. Fill in bottles once it is cooled.

Dates Pickle

I am an ardent fan of dates pickle. 

Dates are edible sweet fruits and are rich in natural fibers  vitamin and mineral. These natural products contain oil, calcium, sulphur, iron, potassium, manganese, copper and magnesium which are advantages for health. It is said that consumption of one date daily is necessary for a balanced and healthy diet. dates help in fighting constipation , intestinal disorders, weight gain, heart problems,sexual weakness, diarrhea and abdominal cancer.

But most of us dont like to eat it as fruit. This pickle is for all those (like me :D) who doesnt like to eat dates in fruit form.

This goes well with Biriyani 's Kichdi's pulav's etc. This has a blend of sweet and spicy taste.

Recipe:
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Dates -100 gms (Deseeded and chopped) you can either chop it to small bits or can slit into 4 halves.
Chilli powder - 4 tspn
Salt -1tspn (or as required)
Fenugreek powder-1/2 -3/4 tspn
Asafoetida -1tspn (can add extra if required because some hing brands wont give the required smell and flavour. so adjust according to your taste)

you can also use pickle powder if available instead of adding hing and asafoetida powders seperately. Add 3-4 tspn of pickle powder if using the same.

Oil - (mustard oil or gingely oil is the best) - as required .
curry leaves - 10 leaves
Mustard seeds - few

Chopped garlic -2 tspn

Chopped ginger -1/2 tspn

Vinegar - 1/4 - 1/2 cup
Water -1/4 cup

Heat oil in a kadai, splutter mustard seeds, add chopped dates pieces, curry leaves, garlic and ginger pieces and saute well in oil for few seconds. Add chilli powder and salt now. Mix well. If required can add some more oil as the pickle shouldnt be too dry. Add hing+ asafoetida powder (or pickle powder), Mix again. Now add 1/4 cup water to this mix and allow it to boil and cook the dates. The dates will become a bit softer now. Once the water is dried add vinegar and allow to boil. Switch off the burner when the gravy is not too thick and not too loose. Fill in the bottles and use after 2-3 days. You can use this pickle on the same day also but it tastes much good after 2-3 days.

Those who want the pickle to be more spicier can add extra chilli powder. You can saute the required amount of chilli powder in oil and mix with the pickle later also. I like the mix of sweet and spicy taste in this pickle.

Rich dark chocolate cake

Chocolate is the favourite of all irrespective of any age they are in. there are lot many favourites of cooking available with chocolate and cakes and cookies are the top among them. 

I have tried this choco cake with the drinking chocolate powder and it was so awesome in taste that it was melting in the mouth. We all enjoyed the richness of the flavour and taste of this cake.

Here is the recipe I used for making.

Maida/all purpose flour - 2 cup

Baking powder -1/4 tspn

Baking soda- 1/4 tspn

Salt -a pinch

Sieve all these dry ingredients 2-3 times and keep it aside undisturbed. Add 3/4 cup chocolate powder. 

If chocolate powder is not there you can use chocolate bars or cooking chocolate as per your sweet tooth. If using bar chocolate, melt the chocolate in boiling milk and allow it to cool and bring to room temperature before making the cake. Please note to adjust the amount of milk in the recipe if using chocolate bar.

Sugar -2 cups powdered

Eggs -3 nos

Curd (thick) -1 cup

Milk - 1/2 to 3/4 cup

Butter -150 gm

Chocolate essence -1/2 tspn

Beat butter and powdered sugar till nicely blend. Beat again till slightly fluffy. Separate the egg whites and yellow and add yellows to this mixture and again blend.Beat till the mixture is fluffy and soft.Add curd to this.beat again, followed by milk. Finally add egg whites and beat. When butter seperates from curd on top add chocolate essence. Mix well. 

Now slowly fold in the dry ingredients. If you wish to add chopped nuts or tuti-fruti bits or raisins or any other fruit bits of your choice to this mixture, mix it with the dry ingredients and then fold in for uniform distribution. Mix well till no lumbs are formed. Note: do not beat but just fold in. 

Preheat the oven at 200 deg centigrade.  

Grease the baking tray with oil and dust with flour uniformly.  Pour in the batter ,spread it uniform in the tray and bake for 40 minutes or till the skewer comes out clean.. Cool and remove from tray once it is done.Enjoy.

Orange cashew cake with chopped nuts inside and chocolate Icing

Special cake for the special one :D

On my husband's birthday I was thinking about which cake to bake. This time also didnt want to go by any recipe and wanted to try something by my own and finally we both (me and my son) decided to bake this super yummilicious cake for papa.

Ingredients required:

All purpose flour (Maida)- 1 cup
Wheat flour (Atta) -1/2 cup
Baking powder -1/4 tspn
Baking soda -1/4 tspn

Sieve the above ingredients through a narrow meshed sieve. And repeat the process twice as it helps in giving better aeration to the flour and thus making the cake softer.

Chopped nuts - 1/4 cup
Mix well the nuts with the flour. Keep it aside.

Other ingredients required are

Orange juice fresh -1 cup ( of one big orange). I have used the fresh one to get better taste
Sugar -1 & 1/2 cup powdered
Egg -3 numbers (separate the yellow and white)
Curd -1/2 cup + milk 1/2 cup (Total 1 cup)
Butter -100 gms
Cheese -50 gms
Orange food colour -less than 1/4 tspn
Orange essence - less than 1/4 tspn .

For icing :
The ingredients required are Icing sugar, butter, fresh cream and chocolate bar. Melt the chocolate bar in milk and make it thicker and can use. the quantity you can use as required.

Mix butter + cheese and powdered sugar and beat well till fluffy.  Add egg yellow and beat it again. Add curd + milk and again beat. Add the food essence and beat again. Finally add the food colour and egg white. beat again till light . fold in the sieved batter and mix till no lumps are there.

Grease the pan , dust with  flour and pour the batter and bake in a preheated oven at 200 degree for 30 minutes or till done.

Veg Kheema stuffed in snakegourd

Sounds different ? Generally kheema is minced meat of mutton or beef or chicken . But here I have given a twist for the vegetarians. Have used soya granules as kheema. It tasted good. And all soya lovers you have one more item to try with the granules.

Tasted this recipe with kheema from a friend's home and her mom had cooked it so tasty that I cudnt resist myself from trying this out of my own imaginations.

Recipe:
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soya granules -2 cups

Boil the soya in excess of water adding required amount of salt and when it is cooled squeeze of the water. Wash in cold water again and squeeze. Continue this process till the water coming out is clear and white.

snake gourd - (thin ones are better) -2-3 cut into cyndrical shapes.
Onion -3 medium
Garlic and ginger -minced to fresh paste -2 tbspn
keep 2-3 garlic pods and 1/4 inch ginger chopped extra for seasoning
shallots-5 to 6 nos
curry leaves -few, dhaniya leaves- few chopped

Make a masala of soya granules. For that heat some oil add chopped onions (2 nos) , freshly ground ginger garlic paste, few curry leaves, saute till nice aroma comes. Add the masala one by one
Turmeric power -1/2 tspn
Red chilli powder -1/2 tspn
Coriander powder-1 tspn
Gharam masala -1/4 tspn
Mix well and add the soya granules now . Mix everything together till the flavour gets into the granules.can add salt if required. Once done allow it to cool.

Fill this mix in the cylindrical shapes of snake gourd and press it hard to make a tight pack. (or else it will disperse off into the gravy).

For the gravy

Heat oil in a kadai. Crack some mustard seeds, saunf, small onions chopped, garlic pods and ginger chopped. Saute well and add curry leaves. Now add the following masala

turmeric powder-1/2 tspn
Red chilli powder -1/2 tspn
Coriander powder -3 tspn
Mix on low flame till the raw smell is gone. Now add enough water to cook the snake gourd pieces. Allow it to boil. Now add freshly ground gharam masala.
Once start boiling slowly drop in the stuffed snake gourds and cook on low flame Adjust the amount of salt required. In between turn the stuffed pieces so that the upper side also gets cooked. Cook covered. dont saute in between or else the stuffing will come outside.

All the non-veg lovers please try this with minced meat as the taste is awesome with meat. Veg lovers can try this recipe using soya granules. Serve with Rice or Roti. If can take a little effort this is really worth trying.

Beetroot Cutlet

This is a semi sweet and yummy cutlet. All the members in my family like this very much. My son also who does not like to eat vegetables or beetroot if given in a curry form tastes this without any complaint. So I guess surely this can become a hit in ur house too. :)

Ingredients required are

Beetroot grated -2 nos
Mashed aloo -2 nos
Onion chopped- 1 medium
Curry leaves, Ginger and gharam masala as required.
Can also add other ingredients according to your taste .

To enhance the taste I have added Mayonnise to this .can add butter or cheese instead

Mix everything together, roll on a batter of egg white or Maida, roll on bread crumps and deep fry. Enjoy with ketchup/sauce.

Spinach egg

This is a High protein dish with a different taste. A blend of chinese flavour is given to spinach and added boiled egg on top of it. Very easy to make recipe with minimum ingredients.

Ingredients required are

Egg boiled -2-4
spinach -1 bunch
Onion -1 
capsicum -1
garlic -5-6 cloves
ginger -1/2 inch chopped
Pepper and crushed pepper corns -as required

Cube the onion, capsicum and garlic. in a kadai heat some oil and add the chopped spinach leaves, few garlic and ginger cubes. Sprinkle some pepper powder. Allow the water coming out of the leaves to evaporate and make it dry .( Remember we have not added the salt to it).
In another pan heat some oil and saute the onion, garlic, ginger and capsicum (at last).  Now add the following sauces

Soya sauce -1 tspn
Chillic sauce (green chilli) -1 tspn
tomato ketchup -1 & 1/2 tsp
Mix well till raw smell is gone.

Finally add the cooked spinach and mix well. Sprinkle some pepper powder or crushed pepper on top if u want it to be a little more spicy. The sauces give the required saltiness to the dish. If you feel like adding a little more of salt then can just sprinkle some salt on to it. Now add the boiled eggs, scourged on sides on top of it. simmer the flame. Cover and keep it for few seconds till the flavour blends well with the egg. Enjoy with White rice.

Chena ( elephant yam) masala fry

We can use elephant Yam ( Chena in malayalam) for makign a variety of curries. This one is a different yet simple recipe that kids love too much. 

Ingredients

Elephant yam - 1 medium cut into small strips
Masalas required are
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
Red chilli powder -1/2 - 3/4 tspn
Veg masala -1/4 tspn If you dont have veg/sabji masala u can add gharam masala or chicken masala too

Marinate the whole together with salt and leave for few minutes. If u see the water left out from the yam after marination throw it off as it will be a bit sticky. Fry the dry pieces in oil and serve with Rice or can have as a snack with sauce/ketchup

Dry nuts Upma

Most of us do not like to have upma . This is surely a relief for them

 
Just try this different and yet tastier version of our normal (boring) and common preparation.


Ingredients required

Bansi Rava - 1 &1/2 cup
Water - 3 cups
Onion chopped- 1 medium
Green chillies ( chopped) 2 nos
Salt and oil - as required
Curry leaves - few
ghee- 1tspn
Nuts/ dry fruits -as per your taste

I have used peanuts, cashew nuts, raisins for this. you can add other dry fruits also as per your taste

Heat oil in a kadai, crack mustard seeds, saute onion, green chillies, curry leaves, Add water and allow to boil. Add salt to this. Once bubbles are formed add Rava and stir on low flame till powdery.

Heat some ghee in a tadka pan and saute the dry fruits and nuts one by one. Garnish this on top of upma. Mix well while serving. SERVE HOT WITH FRIED PAPAD as it tastes even better with papad.
Can also prepare the upma in ghee for better taste or even drizzle a tspn of hot ghee on top while serving for excellent taste.