Minced meat and Aloo Paratha

If you are beef cutlet fans and love Aloo Paratha too, this is the best dinner, breakfast, lunch, picnic lunch, train dinner....you name it...... you can dream of. My Aloo parathas never used to come out well, always it used to break or the shape was bad. So always I used to make 2 chapatis and sandwich with aloo mix and cook and even then I wasnt satisfied. Then I had this when my 3rd sis in law cooked for me once and that was the moment of falling in love over again with aloo paratha. Then I made her stand with me when I cooked it next time and watched her doing it.... this is how.

For the Filling:

Minced Beef: 500 gms (the beef should be pressure cooked first before mincing.... 20 minutes on low flame after the first whistle)

Onion: 2 medium diced

Ginger: 1 inch chopped fine

Green Chillies: 3 chopped fine

Curry Leaves: 1 sprig

Potatoes: 300 gm cooked and mashed

Garam Masala: 1 tsp

Salt and Pepper: as needed.

Oil: 2 tbsp

Heat oil and saute the onions, green chillies, ginger and curry leaves till they are slightly brown.

Add the garam masala, salt and pepper, do a thorough mix and switch off fire.

When it cools, add the mashed potatoes to it and mix everything properly. Keep aside.

For the Chapati:

Wheat Flour: 3 cups

Water and salt: as needed.

Mix everything properly till you get a pliable dough...alternately use your processor and knead the dough.

Take a big ball of dough and flatten it just like for chappati.

Keep a ball of the minced meat mix in the centre (the minced meat ball should be the same size as the wheat ball you had taken)

Now seal it from 2 sides like in the pic below.

then from the other two sides like in the pic here. make sure it is sealed properly, no air pockets please.

Now start rolling from the centre out. it will even out uniformly. Lastly, roll the sides for a perfect round.

Heat the tava, cook both sides smearing oil. 

Serve warm with a spoon of butter and raita/Pickle or any side dish of your choice.

Kaada/Quail Fry

This is an easy recipe I got while I was blog hopping one day. From here

Quail: 5
Chilly Powder: 5 tsp
Pepper Powder: 3 tsp
Turmeric Powder: 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala: 3 tsp
Salt: to taste
Curry leaves: lots
Oil: for deep frying.

Make gashes on the Quail.
Make a paste of all the masalas and salt and apply on the Quail and leave it aside for 2 hours or more.
Heat oil in  a kadai. Fry the Quail with lots of curry leaves.
Drain on an absorbant paper and serve warm.

Banana Cake

This is one cake that got good reviews when I baked and served to my extended family. Banana lovers will love the flavour and with the mild taste of cinnamon, this is for sure a crowd pleaser. So if you love bananas, go ahead and try this.

Ripe Bananas: 4 medium sized (mash it properly)

Sugar: 1 1/2 Cups

Butter: 125 gm

Eggs: 2

All Purpose Flour: 250 gm

Baking Powder: 1 tsp

Cinnamon: 1/2 tsp

Milk: 1/2 cup

Lemon Juice: 1 tbsp

Preheat Oven 180C.

Grease and flour your baking tin.

Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon powder twice.

Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.

Add the eggs to it and beat properly.

To this add the mashed bananas and work your mixer on speed 1 and beat till everything is mixed.

Now add the flour and milk alternately and work your mixer on speed 1 till everything is mixed. Do not over beat.

Pour the batter 3/4 th full to the tin and bake for 30 minutes (might take more time if all the batter is baked in one tin)

. Slice and enjoy!!!!

Alleppey Chicken Fry

Another super delicious Chicken roast recipe from Lekha (Ive mentioned her in my dum biriyani recipe page). Yes one of the lovely girls I mentioned in my earlier post.

Chicken : 1/2  kg boneless

To Marinate:
Chilly Powder: 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder: 1/2 tsp
Pepper Powder: 1 tsp
Salt: as needed.

Keep this aside for one hour or more.

Onion: 2 sliced
Tomato: 2 sliced
Pepper Powder: 1 tsp
Salt: as needed
Coriander Leaves and Curry leaves: a few.
Coconut oil: as needed.

To coarsely grind:
Small Onion: 15
Ginger: 1 inch
Garlic: 4
Green Chillies:4

Heat oil and fry the sliced onion till golden brown and keep aside.
Add a little more oil to the same pan and fry the marinated chicken till golden brown and keep aside.
In the same pan, Add a little more oil and saute the ground paste till raw smell is gone. Add curry leaves and tomato and saute till tomatoes turn limp. Add the chicken to it and mix everything properly. Sprinkle pepper and salt. Take off fire andgarnish with coriander leaves.

Fried Chicken in Gravy/ North Indian Chicken curry

This recipe is typical North style. Half fried chicken in fresh cream gravy. This was passed onto me by a one time neighbour (lol) They were a bunch of energetic college girls who made me feel young whenever I was with them. They were full of life with a heart of gold. O yes, each one of them is special to me. They were kind enough to add me also (oldie) in their whatsaap group, so one day Amal passed on this recipe to me.... and it is real yumm ..... real real yumm...... Thanks Amal.... this one is for keeps.

Chicken: 1 kg

To Marinate:
Curd: 3 tsp
Ginger Garlic Paste: 2 tsp
Tandoori Powder or Chicken 65 Powder: 2 tsp
Salt: as needed

For the Gravy:
Onion: 2 large chopped
Green Chillies: 4-5 sliced round
Tomato: 2 medium sliced
Ginger and garlic: 2 tsp sliced
Turmeric Powder" 1/2 tsp
Chilly Powder: 2 tsp
Fresh Cream: 200 ml (I used only 100 ml and still it was yumm.....it gets better with more cream)

Marinate the chicken in the "to Marinate" ingredients and keep aside for 2 hours or more.
Fry in oil till half done and keep aside.
In the same oil, saute the onions ginger, garlic and green chillies till it browns along the edges.
Now add the tomatoes and cook till it mashes.
Add the chilly powder and turmeric powder and required water.
Let it boil. Now add the chicken and let the chicken get cooked well.
Add fresh cream to it and when it boils along the edges, take off fire and add the coriander leaves and keep the lid.
After a few minutes take off the lid and serve warm with Poori /Chapati/Pita Bread /Bhatura / Naan/Kulcha/Ada Poori

Koorka/ Chinese Potato stir fry/ mezhukkupuratti

A kerala speciality.

Koorka/ Chinese Potato: 300 gms/ 2 cups

Salt; as needed

Turmeric Powder: 1/2 tsp

Mustard: 1/2 tsp

Pearl Onions: 10

Garlic; 5 minced

Dry Red chilly: 4 minced

Coconut Oil: 2 tbsp

Curry Leaves; 3 sprigs

 Wash the Koorka properly. drain.

Scrape the skin and again immersein water. Wash again and again till you get clean Koorka.

Cut in  Chunks.

Mix it with one cup water, required salt and turmeric powder and pressure cook for two whistles.

Release the pressure by pulling the weight up (yes I do that so that the Koorka doesnt mash up inside)

drain excess water and keep it ready.

In a Wok, heat coconut oil and splutter mustard.

Throw in the onion, garlic and let it saute for a few seconds and then add the curryleaves and dried red chilly.

Add the Koorka to it and Mix everything and let all the flavours merge.

Take off fire and the most important thing is to have it hot from the stove to the plate.

Pumpkin Thoran/ Mathanga Tholi Thoran

This is one of my favourite.... yes, ABSOLUTE favourite thoran. So next time, when u make Pulpkin curry/ Mathanga Erisserry, do not discard the peel. Slice it thin and add onion, coconut to it and there you get the best thoran in the world.

Pumpkin peel/  Mathanga Tholi: 2 cups sliced thin

This is the peel. Slice this thin.

Onion: 1 diced

Coconut grated: 1 cup

Turmeric powder; 1/2 tsp

Salt: as needed

Coconut Oil: 1 tbsp

Mustard; 1/2 tsp

Curry Leaves: 3 sprigs

Dried red chilly: 2

Heat oil in a kadai, splutter mustard, curry leaves and dried red chilly. 

Mix in the sliced peels, onion diced, coconut, turmeric and salt.

Stir till everything is properly mixed

Add 1/4 cup water and let it cook on low flame.

Let it cook and all the water evaporate.

Serve warm with rice.

Fruit Yogurt

An easy way of making your own fruit yogurt without any preservatives.

For the Fruit base:
Mango: 4 ripe chopped into small pieces (or any fruit of your choice)
Sugar: 1/4 cup or even less (if you dont want it too sweet)

Mix this together and bring to boil on medium heat. Reduce the heat and let it cook till you get a thick syrup.
Let it cool and spread a few spoonfuls at the bottom of your serving dish.

For the Yoghurt top:
 Milk: 1 litre
Curd: 2 tbsp
Sugar: 1/4 cup

Add the sugar to the milk and bring the milk to a boil. Allow to cool for sometime.
Whisk the curd to and make it come to liquid state.
To the lukewarm milk (skim off any cream that has formed) whisk in the curd.
Pour on top of the fruit mix and allow it to set in a warm place. Takes about 6 or more hours.
After it is set, chill for sometime before serving.
In case you dont want layer yoghurt and want a fruit mixed yoghurt, follow the same procedure, but instead of layering, just mix everything and allow to set. In my personal experiece, layered fruit yoghurt always comes out perfectly set. :0

Orange Sandwich cake

I don't know what is it about Orange cakes, I  can never get enough of it. Store-bought, homemade, mom or mom-in-law made, neighbour made, someone made, even enemy made (not that I have enemies) I just heart orange cakes in any form- eggless or with egg or butterless or even flourless... phew!!! This is another orange cake that my Mommy-in-law made that we just finished in like a few minutes. This is Mrs B.F Varghese's recipe that she followed and I shamelessly took photos of and proudly uploading.

For the Cake:

Butter: 1/2 kg

Sugar: 1/2 kg powdered

Eggs: 1/2 kg

Flour: 1/2 kg

Baking Powder: 4 tsp

Rind of 2 limes

Boiling Water: 4 1/2 dsp

Grease and flour a baking tin. Grate the Lemon rind. Sift the flour with the baking powder. Cream the butter, sugar and the lemon rind until light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time to the mixture gradually beating all the time. Fold in the sifted flour, add hot water and bake at 180C . Allow to cool completely.

For the Filling:
corn flour: 8 dsp
Orange Juice: 3 cups
Rind of 2 oranges
Sugar: 1/2 kg
Lime Juice: 4 dsp
Butter: 4 dsp

Grate the orange rind. Add the sugar, orange juice, lime juice and cornflour and place on fire. Keep stirring, cook until thick.

then add butter and remove from fire and allow it to cool.

Cut cake into two like in the picture below.

 Spread with Custard properly.

  Sandwich together.

Slice and Enjoy.

Cheese Chilli/ Paneer Chilli

Coming from my sister Sophy's kitchen with love.

Paneer: 250 gms
Capsicum: 1 (half of it chopped, half cubed)
Onion: 1 finely chopped
Onion: 1 cubed
Ginger: 1 inch piece minced
Garlic:  8 pods minced
Green Chillies:4
Crushed Pepper Powder: 1 tsp
Tomato Sauce: 3 tsp
Chilly Sauce: 1 tsp
Soya Sauce: 1 tsp

For the Batter:
Maida: 1/4 cup
Corn Flour: 1/4 cups
Red colour: a pinch
Ginger Garlic paste: 1/2 tsp
Red Chilli powder; 1/2 tsp
Slat: as needed

Make the batter first. dip the cubed paneer pieces in it, deep fry and keep aside.
In the same oil, add the minced ginger, garlic and green chillies and saute till slightly brown.
Add the finely chopped onions and finely chopped capsicum.
When that is brown, add the cubed onion and capsicum and saute for 1 minute.
Add all the sauces, pepper powder and salt. Add a little red colour too.
Add the fried paneer to it and mix it well.
Serve warm.

Hawashi / Egyptian Meat Sandwich

Hawashi - I still remember the first time I bit into it. I was just 3 days old in Cairo and whatever I tasted till then was so bland (when compared to Our Indian non veg food, ofcourse :) so when my hubby told me this is something you have to try, i wasn't so sure. (He had already been to Cairo a couple of times back then) . Well, it was different and tasted good and this was the only local dish I could have without having to think twice. From then on, whenever we ordered in Egyptian food, Hawashi was sure to be included.

And since ordering in Egyptian food was sooooooooooooooooo cheap, I never bothered to make it when I was there. But I did get the recipe from one of my friends who was my neighbour too, Nancy Nazir. So the recipe I followed here is basically what she told me but ofcourse, I tweaked a whole lot of ingredients to make it more spicy... but still not as spicy as our desi food. so u can call this Indianized Egyptian Hawashi (the Indian part being 10 percent ;) )

This is made with minced meat stuffed inside Pita Bread  and grilled/baked.  Make Pita Bread by following the recipe Ive posted earlier and then continue to make the Hawashi

Pita Bread : 6

For the filling:

Beef: 500 gms minced (raw ofcourse... just for the few who might be wodering if it is cooked..NO NO, USE RAW MINCED BEEF)
Onion: 1 diced fine
Ginger: 1 inch grated
Garlic: 4 cloves minced
Green Chillies: 10 thinly sliced (My Egyptian friends will have their eyes popped out if they see this, they use just half a green chilly, and even my addition of 10 is not enuf for hubby dear)
Tomato: 1 grated
Salt and Pepper: as needed
Turmeric Powder: 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder: 1 tsp
Cumin Powder: 3/4 tsp
Garam Masala: 1/2 tsp (optional)
Coriander leaves or Parsley: 2 tbsp

Preheat Oven 180 C
Cut your pita breads into two halves, so that you can fill the beef in the pockets.
Mix all the ingredients and fill in the pockets all the way till the edges.
Spread butter on both sides of the bread and bake it till it is browned well and inside is cooked.
Turn it once and again bake for a few more minutes.
Have it immediately with salad.

Pita Bread

All Purpose Flour: 3 cups
Warm Water: 1 cup
Sugar: 1 tsp
Yeast: 2 tsp
Salt: 1 tsp
Oil: 1 tbsp

Dissolve the sugar and yeast in water. Keep it aside for 5 minutes till it froths.
Take a mixing bowl and pour the yeast water, salt and half of the flour to it.
Knead well, add more flour as you go... I know, it is very sticky indeed!!!!
Take another bowl and grease it with oil. Keep the dough inside and turn it once or twice so that it is coated well with oil.
Cover with a cling wrap

and let it rise till its double (2 hours or less)

Take the dough again and knead it (I know its such a mess at this stage with it being very very sticky but these are certain moments in cooking that has taught me what  patience means!!!)
Divide it into 8 portions and with a rolling pin, roll out into thick discs. Sprinkle flour as you roll or it will be such a sticky mess that you might shut down the kitchen for a month!!!!
Preheat oven 180C. Keep the cookie tray in the last rack
After 5 minutes, place 2-3 discs and within a minute it will balloon up, turn it over once and in 30 secs, you can take it out
Have it warm with kebabs and salad or with any curry of your choice.

Apple Crumble Pie

This is one of the easiest desserts you can ever make. But make sure to have it warm...it makes such a world of difference.... again, Never eat it cold... :). And it is somewhat like the Apple Pie Ive posted earlier but definitely easier.......

For the base:
Apples: 400-500 gms
Sugar or Caramelized sugar that u get in supermarkets here in India: 50 gms
Flour: 1 tbsp
Cinnamon Powder: 1 tsp

Peel, core and slice the apples small. Mix in with all the other ingredients.
Slightly grease a baking tray and layer the apple mix at the bottom. Keep aside.

For the Crumble top:
All Purpose Flour: 200 gms
Butter: 125 gm
Sugar: 150 gm (totally upto u, make it less if u dont want it too sugary. I taste the mix as I go)

Rub all the ingredients till you get a mix that resembles bread crumbs.
Press it on top of the apple layer.
Preheat oven 180C.
Keep the prepared dish and bake for 50 minutes or till done. I promise u, ur kitchen will smell like heaven at this point.
Once out, just allow it to cool for sometime and then have it warm.

Dried Prawns and Raw Mango Thoran (Unnakka Chemeen Paccha Maanga Thoran)

Dried Prawns: 100 gms

Dry roast the prawns and take off the head.

Coconut grated: 1 cup

Small Onion: 8

Birds eye Chilli : 10 (U can use green chillies instead, increase the number according to ur tolerance level)

Turmeric Powder: a inch\

Salt as needed

Raw Mango Sliced: 1 medium

Mix everything together, add 1/4 cup water and cook on low flame till done.

Serve warm with rice.

Ada Pradhaman

Ada: 500 gm

Jaggerry: 1 kg

Sago: 200 gm

Thick Coconut Milk: 3 cups

Thin Coconut Milk: 6 cups

Wash the Ada and cook it with lots of water. Make sure it is really soft. Wash it properly again.
Drain completely once done.

Cook the sago in water till done and drain water completely.

Melt the jaggery in a little water and strain.

Saute the cooked Ada in the jaggery mix.

Add the cooked sago to it, saute and mix everything.

Add the thin coconut milk and let it boil

Add cardamom powder and thick coconut milk and let it just boil along the edges.

Take off fire.

Fry the cashewnut, curryleaves, raisins in ghee. Pour this over the Payasam.

Serve hot or cold as dessert

Pavakka Achar (Bitter Gourd Pickle)

Bitter Gourd: 3 kg

Ginger Garlic Paste: 100 gms

Ginger: 1.5 inch sliced

Garlic: 2 pods sliced

Mustard: 1 tbsp

Curry leaves: a few sprigs

Chilly Powder: 10 level tbsp

Turmeric Powder: 1 tsp

Fenugreek Powder: 1 tsp

Asafoetida: 1 tsp

Vinegar: 1 cup

Salt and oil: as needed.

Wash the bittergourd properly and cut in chunks and immerse in salt water.

Slice it into thin strips.

Keep all the other ingredients ready

Fry the bittergourd in oil till brown and slightly crisp

In the same oil, splutter mustard, curry leaves and fry the garlic and ginger.

Add the ginger garlic paste to this and let the raw smell go.

Add the chilly Powder, turmeric Powder, Asafoetida and fenugreek powder and give everything a toss.

Add the fried bitter gourd, salt and the vinegar.

Take off fire

Store it in sterilized bottles