Beef Pickle

To Pressure Cook:

Beef: 2 kg

Chilly Powder: 2 tbsp

Turmeric Powder: 1/2 tsp

Salt: as required

Pressure cook on high till the first whistle.
 No need to add water, but if you are unsure, just add 1/2 cup of water. I don't add water at all
After the first whistle, lower the heat and let it get cooked for 20 minutes.
Drain well

Heat a cup of gingelly oil in a kadai.

Fry the cooked beef in it

Keep aside

For the Pickle:

Ginger: 2 inch sliced thin

Garlic; a handful juliennes

Curry leaves: a few sprigs

Kashmiri Chilly Powder: 2.5 tbsp or according to your tolerance level

Salt: as required

Turmeric Powder: 1/4 tsp

Vinegar: 1 cup

Heat a tbsp oil and saute the garlic, ginger, curry leaves.

Add the chilly powder and turmeric powder and saute for a few seconds

Now add the fried beef to it and mix everything properly.

You can add the remaining oil from frying the beef.

Add the vinegar too and take off fire.

Do a taste test and adjust the salt.

Once cool, store in airtight containers and keep in fridge.

Award time again

Punitha of http://southindiafoodrecipes.blogspot.in/ and Beena from http://cookingatmayflower.blogspot.in/ has passed on this award. Thanku so much to both of u.

Hema of  Aromatic Cooking passed these awards to me a long time back. 

But I was in the middle of shifting then and couldnt post it for so long. Thanku so much, Hema...it means a lot to me.












I've been tagged by her. the rules are as follows:
RULES:
1. Post the rules.
2. Answer the questions set for you in the tagger's post and create new set of eleven questions.
3. Tag eleven people and link to them on your post.
4. Let them know you have tagged them.

Now to my answers
1. Introduce yourself
   I am Sojo, a mom to two lovely kids.
2. What's your favorite hobby or how do you love to enjoy your time?
   Reading is my FAVOURITE hobby. I can read anything and everything.
3. When it come to blogging, how supportive are your family members?
   Well, I dont include anyone in this area and they done even know when I click pics or when I key in the recipes!!!! :) :) This is something which belongs only to me and this is done for my kids.... so they can wait till they grow old to see this.... :) O by the way, my hubby refers to this when Iam not in town.... :)
4. What's is your fav. food?
   Kottayam style fish curry with anything!!!!
5. What inspired you to create a blog?
  Well, I wanted to save all my recipes for my kids. That is how I started this.
6. How do u feel while u get an award /Tags from other blogger friends?
   I feel so very happppppppyyyyy!!!!
7. Talk about food photography..do you judge a recipe by the photo posted by the bloggers? and when searching for a recipe in a search engine like Google, do you look for just recipe or look by images?
    I never judge by the pictures!!! A good cook needn't be a good photographer.
8. Have you tried recipes from other bloggers? What's the result?
    Ive tried with mixed results. Some recipes were super duper hit at my place while there were a few disasters too...
9. How happy you will be in getting a comment for your recipe?
I love comments, especially if someone tries something and lets me know.
10. How about taking part in events hosted by other bloggers?
    I do take part on and off.

Now I would love to tag the following friends, Supriya , Reshmi , maayeka , Gauri ,Sushmita ,  Chandrani Swapna , Srivalli , Nisa Homey , Shama Nags , Akila
Since I loved answering Hema's questions, I am going to pass on the same set of questions.

Chakka Vevichathu

Jackfruit (unripe)- 1 kg (the weight after removing the husk, white strips and seeds)

Curry leaves: a few sprigs

Coconut oil: 1 tbsp

To Coarsely Grind:

Coconut grated: 2 cups

Cumin seed: 1/2 tsp

Garlic: 3 cloves

Turmeric Powder: 1/2 tsp

Green Chillies: 4

Chop the jackfruit like in the picture below.

Cook this chopped jackfruit with salt, water and a sprig of curry leaf till done.

Grind the "to grind" ingredients to a coarse paste.

Add it to the cooked jackfruit and let it boil again for a few minutes.

When you get the consistency in the picture, take off fire.

Drizzle coconut oil on top.

Serve warm with ulli-chammanthi  or Fish Curry

Potato Dal Curry

This used to be our "almost" everyday side dish for chapati during my growing up years. Mom used to make this atleast thrice a week to go with chapati and how I crave for this even now!!!! And the good news is that its very very simple to make and hassle free.

To pressure cook:

Toor Dal: 1/2 cup

Potato: 2 medium cubed

Onion: 1 medium sliced

Ginger: 1/2 inch diced

Green Chillies: 4 slit

Turmeric Powder: 1/4 tsp

Salt: as required

Water: 2 cups

Put all these ingredients into a pressure cooker and cook for 5 whistles on high flame. Adjust salt and water if needed.

To temper:

Ghee: 1 tbsp (or use oil instead)

Mustard: 1/2 tsp

Shallots: 2 sliced

Curry leaves: 2 sprigs

Heat oil in a kadai and splutter mustard, small onions and curry leaves.

Pour over the cooked curry.

Serve warm with Chapatis.

Sheema Chakka Thoran

Sheema Chakka/Bread Fruit: 1/4 kg
Onion: 1 medium diced
Green Chillies: 4 slit
Coconut grated: 1 cup
Turmeric Powder: a pinch
Salt: as required
Oil: 1 tbsp
Mustard: 1/2 tsp
Dried Red Chilly: 1
Curry leaves: a sprig














Slice the bread fruit in thin long strips.
Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard, dried red chilly and curry leaves.
Throw in the onion and green chillies.
Stir for a few seconds and add the thinly sliced Sheema Chakka and the grated coconut.
Give everything a proper mix, add required salt and keep the lid on and let it get cooked on low flame.
Serve warm with rice.

Aval Vilayichathu

Aval/Poha (Brown)- 2 cups

Jaggerry grated: 1 1/2 cups

Coconut grated: 1 1/2 cups

Ghee: 1+1 tbsp

Chana dal: 2 tbsp

Ginger powder/Chukku podi: a pinch

Cardamom Powdered: 2 tsp

Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a wide pan and fry the chana dal and keep aside.

Heat the jaggerry with a little water (about half cup or a little more) and once it is melted, let it cool.

Strain it to get rid of the impurities.

In the same pan that u fried the chana dal, pour the melted and strained jaggerry and let it come to a boil.

When it reaches one thread consistency, add the coconut and mix properly.

Again stir for some time on medium heat and add the Aval and the fried chana dal and mix everything properly.

Add a tbsp of ghee at this point along with ginger powder and the cardamom powder.

Give everything a thorough mix and take off fire.

Serve with banana.

Beef Ribs curry

My absolute favourite Meat dish!!!!!! 

Beef Ribs: 1 kg

Shallots: 1/4 kg

Ginger: 1 inch juliennes

Garlic: 2 pods sliced thin

Curry Leaves: 1 sprig

Mustard: 1 tsp

Kashmiri Chilly Powder: 1.5 tbsp

Coriander Powder: 1.5 tbsp

Garam Masala: 1/2 tsp

Turmeric: 1/4 tsp

Oil: 3 tbsp

Wash and clean the ribs thoroughly and drain the excess water.

Heat oil and splutter mustard.

Saute the shallots, ginger, garlic, curry leaves for sometime in oil.

Add the masalas and let it get sauted properly till the raw smell is gone

Add the cleaned Beef ribs, a cup of water, transfer the contents into a pressure cooker and let it get cooked on high heat. After the first whistle, reduce to low heat and let it get cooked for 20 minutes.

Turn off stove and wait for 10 minutes and then open the cooker.

Serve warm with Chapati, rice or Kappa