Sambar podi

Sambar powder is a 'must have' on the kitchen shelves of any Indian home . And i am sure homemade is always best and everyone will have their own versions of recipe.  I just cant stand the smell of the store bought ones. And after reading many recipes on the blogs , i jave come with my own version .

 Sambar podi was a hit  at home nd my folks loved it . So thought I should share this sambar powder recipe and main purpose being my kids can follow it too in future.

sambar powder - this is fresh and homemade which will give upto 200 grams in measure

Ingredients 

• ½ cup coriander seeds  or 40 grams coriander seeds
• 2 tablespoon cumin seeds 
• 16 to 18 dry red chillies 
• 1.5 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoon chana dal 
• 1 tablespoon urad dal 
• ⅓ cup curry leaves 
• ½ tablespoon mustard seeds 
• ½ tablespoon asafoetida (kayam)
• ½ tablespoon turmeric powder

Method

• Heat a pan and dry roast the corriander and cumin seeds till they become fragrant and color changes for 1 to 2 minutes .
• Add to a large plate.
• Remove the crown of the 16 to 18 red chillies , Wipe the pan with a cotton napkin , before roasting them.
• Till they change color and pungent smoky aroma 
• Place the roasted red chilies in the same plate.
• Now add 1.5 tsp fenugreek  seeds. Stir and roast them till they get browned. Keep in the same plate.
• Dry roast the black pepper till aromatic 
• And  remove them from the pan ,add  to the same plate, where all the spices are kept.
• To a pan add 2 tablespoon of chana dal. Keep on stirring at intervals, while roasting the chana dal. It takes longer to cook than the spices. the dal should get browned or golden,keep on stirring them and remove aside in the same plate.
• Folow the same method for urad dal.
• Now add 1/3 cup curry leaves (fresh or dried).  Roast curry leaves till crisp. Keep aside.
• Now add 1/2 tbsp mustard seeds . After popping remove to a plate and keep aside 
• Switch off the flame now and add 1/2 tbsp kayam in the pan. quickly stir as soon as you add it.
• Just the color needs to change of the hing and you should get its aroma. remove and keep aside.
• Now  all the spices cool down to room temperature.
• In your grinder jar, add the spices. also add 1/2 turmeric .
• Grind to a fine powder.
• Remove on a plate and grind in batches and spread in plate to cool down. It will warm up while grinding .
• Once the masala cools at room temperature, then spoon it carefully in a jar.
• Tap and shake the jar, so that the sambar masala settles down while filling the jar.
• Close tightly with a lid and keep at room  temperature

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Mushroom quiche

Blogging is a lab space where we continuesly research for new recipes all the time. I have come across this recipe for sometime and have kept  reading  and googling to get the right one  as mushrooms have been my pick every time i see them in the malls . But sadly i am the only one who loves this especially when we had pizzas, my plate will be the dump hole for mushrooms and i would gladly always have a plateful of these .

Mushroom quiche is either easy or it could invovle a few  process. Usually it invovles a crust base and then filled with the egg mixture loaded with mushrooms.spinach or meat.
I enjoyed it for breakfast and can't wait for the mushrooms to hit the market again.

Ingredients 

• 1 tablespoon olive oil 
• 8 oz mushrooms, chopped 
• 1 small onion , chopped 
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 bunch spinach (optional )
• 4 large eggs 
• Salt and pepper to taste 
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1/4 cup parmesean cheese
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Method

• Preheat oven to 190 c.
• Clean mushrooms and  dry  them, and then slicing thinly.
• Add oil in a large frying pan .
• Add the onions and garlic.  Saute for 2 minutes .
• Add mushrooms. 
• saute until tender.
• Spray 9 inch baking  dish with cooking spray to prevent sticking. Layer  the cheese, mushrooms to the bottom of the quiche dish.
• In a liquid  measuring cup beat the eggs ,
• 1/2 cup cream and then add milk until the total volume comes up to 2 cups .
• Beat to  light and frothy. 
• Add the salt and pepper .
• Whisk until frothy again. 
• Now pour the egg mixture into the dish over the layered cheese and mushrooms.
• Bake for about 40-45 minutes till it turns firm to touch ..
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Serve quiche at room temperature.
• Enjoy!

Notes
An adaptation from Julia Child.

• Make sure to dry the ingredients.  
• Wet ingredients will make for a soggy quiche especially the mushrroms So pat out moisture with paper towels or whatever you have to do to ensure that your ingredients are just dry before adding into the quiche dish.
• Make sure to beat the eggs cream and milk to frothy before adding to the quiche as it will make your dish filling. 

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Chicken shawarma

Pita / arabic bread filled with a thin layer of any spread like hummus ,/thahini /garlic paste or even mayo flavored or not  and shavings of meat or chicken accompanied with tomatoes and onions  is a shawarma .

Here i have made with tandoored chicken and rest is as just as mentioned above. 

I have added french fried potatoes . And this is homemade too . Again this is a dinner option just like i said with my last post Chemeen eladda . Why have i not added this recipe for a long time 🤔. This is a complete meal and my kids love this and who doesn't.? I practically grew up eating shawarma...having said that in my days shawarma was one of the most sort out meal for dinner. We would go cycling and a near by bakery had one of the best shawarma sandwiches in the city . It is a Labanese outlet . And the heating one was too filling for the tummy and in those it was just 3 dhs ! We had to take a token and wait ( while we cycle around )and me being a plum pudding would have 2 .  But that's not the case now. They cost around 9 dhs and the filling is not that enough...but we rate it the best still ...😊.

Ingredients 

To marinade 

• 2 tablespoon butter 
• 500 gms chicken, cubed
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• Salt to taste
• 1/4  tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste 

For filling 

• 1 sliced onion
• 1 chopped tomato
• 5 pita breads, small
• 3 tbsp hummus 
• French fries as required. 
• 3 tbsp chopped parsley leaves 
• Chopped lettuce leaves, as required

Method 

• Mix ingredients for marinade in a bowl. Add the chicken cubes  and toss to coat well. Set aside for 15 minutes 
• Add butter  in a frying pan and add the chicken along with the marination. Cook till done.
• Slit the pita bread and spread one tbsp of hummus  on each sides . 
• Sprinkle some parsley  leaves onions and tomatoes.  
• Add the french fries.
• Divide the chicken mixture into five  and spread onto the pitas. Add the lettuce leaves .
• Roll them tight and serve immediately with some salted Labanese pickle!

Note 

1. You can replace parsley with corriander leaves but parsley enhances the Labanese shawarmas much better. 
2. Serve warm and immediately. 
3. I had pickled carrots along with these. 

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Spicy fruit salad

Healthy fruit salad is a mixture of fruits and a little of spice will make your kids go crazy ! My bunch loves salads which makes it a compulsory spot on the table for dinner .

I have used just a few left over fruits and added some spices and eventually it became a great hit.
Clicking the pic was the tough part .

I had to make this salad twice as my kids were too quick in licking the bowl clean 

Ingredients

• 1 Orange ,cut small pieces
• 1 apple ,chopped
• 2 cucumbers ,diced
• 2 tablespoon pomegranates
• 1 stalk corriander leaves chopped
• For the dressing
• 1 teaspoon pepper powder
• 1 green , chilli slit
• 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Salt to taste .

Method

• Mix all ingredients for dressing in a bowl.
• Take chopped fruits in a bowl, pour over dressing and toss well.
• Discard the chilli before serving.
• Serve.
• 
  

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Beef millagu curry

Beef millagu curry is as the name says it all,is a recipe from coorg . Cubed beef along with  red chilli powder and beef masala powder is coated well and marinated for half hour . Not much hassle and you will get a perfect  aromatic beef curry cooked up at a nick of time. 

To tell you the truth my beef curry never turns good even after so much trials. "Aj always complains beef tastes like boiled meat ." Ummande curry kootyal mathi avulla " ( can't get enough of (his) mom's curry ..) i had to admit his mom prepares better than me .. That's when our neighbour  jumps into the story ... she fell sick one day and my mom gave a little of our curry to her .. next day her kid came over to return the pot and she frankly said "itha beef curry theere sherryattilla!!" ( beef curry was not tasty ) . Well mom was a bit taken aback ..by her honesty... hehe she did say the truth though .. immediately her mom came over ... still recovering  and apologized for her daughters remarks ... and to our surprise  she also said we dont know how to prepare  beef...

Now My mom who was despirate  to learn their recipe and she asked her to come over and prepare dinner for us ... and she kindly excepted ... beef millagu curry and porottas... the best combo ..
And when Aj sat down for dinner . He went staright to the kitchen to see if i had really made the curry ..
So here's the recipe that changed my ranking in the best beef curry list!

Ingredients

• 1 kilo beef  , cleaned and cubed .
• 4 large onions, sliced
• 6 Garlic cloves crushed
• 1'piece garlic crushed
• 2 green chillies chopped
• 1 large tomato , chopped 
• 
  

        Marinating powders

• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon Garam Masala
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon beef masala  ( i used eastern )
• 1 teaspoon pepper powder ( i used eastern pepper meat )
• 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon Garam Masala powder
• 1 teaspoon corriander powder.
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder

       Tempering

• 2 teaspoon Coconut oil
• 2 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon corriander powder.

Method

• Marinate the beef in all the powders for 20 minutes app.
• Heat oil in cooker vessel .
• Add the ginger garlic crush pastes and green chillies.  Saute for a minute .
• Add the onions . Saute till it turns  pink in  colour
• Add the powders and salt . Add the meat and tomatoes . Toss and mix well. 
• Meanwhile in a small pan, heat the oil on low flame  and add the red chilli powder and corriander powders stir and off immediately  taking care not to burn the powders . Add to meat masala ,.
• Add 1 cup water and cook for 30 minutes, after whistle goes on . Open and garnish with curry leaves and serve .

Note
There is not much gravy but it will be enough . Adding water will just bland the dish on the whole .
I cooked this beef for 5 whistles and  lowered the flame and cooked for 15 minutes.  You can cook 30 mimutes on low flame after the whistle goes on too.

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Chemeen ellada

Chemeen ella adda recipe . Prawns are cooked in Coconut mixture and i have used red chilli masala as the main ingredient.

I am really losing the edge to write posts. Cooking clicking editting.. all fine but when it comes to writing about it ... thats the tough part now . I just keep writing the same subject over and over again ... i really wonder does anybody really read all this hard work ... 

For one thing i blog for this is one place i can come back to . So i keep my fingers cross and keep writing my heart here . Todays recipe is a real winner in as you guys might think its a real  time consuming recipe to follow... well for me its a NO ... i love oil free food and anything for such creation in my kitchen is a welcome . Do try it out soon. My family loves this as dinners too . So whenever we get fresh fish or prawns , there is no thinking twice.

The use of banana leaf in cooking brings in the flavours and the addas turn more moist . So if possible try to use them in the  cooking process.
I have cooked all in one steamer with the addas arranged apart from each other . 

Ingredients

Prawn masala 

• 2 cups prawns , cleaned and deveined
• 1/2 cup shallots, chopped
• 2 medium onions, chopped finely
• 1 tablespoon green chillies chopped finely 
• 1 teaspoon ginger crushed
• 1 tablespoon garlic crushed 
• 2 teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel powder
• Salt to taste
• Curry leaves ,a sprig
• 2 tablespoon coconut grind
• 2 tablespoon Coconut oil 
• 2 large banana leaf, with center stalk taken out
• Corriander leaves for garnish

For the rice addas 

• Two cups ponni rice / parboiled rice .
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds 
• 1 teaspoon onion 
• 1/4 cup coconut grind 
• 3/4 cup rice flour ( or add till u get a smooth dough)
• Salt to taste 

Method 

Step 1

• First soak the rice in boiled water for 4 hours .
• (You can prepare the masala by this time)
• Grind the rice in very little water and last add the rest of the ingredients just before you finish the process of grinding .
•  The onions, fennel and the coconut needs to be just crushed along with the rice batter . The batter should be thicker than idli batter. If it becomes thin then u will be needing more of the rice flour to form a smooth dough.
• Now pour this thick batter into a mixing bowl. 
• Make a soft dough adding in  the rice flour . 

Step 2

•  Heat oil in a saucepan. 
• Fry the curry leaves 
•  Add the shallots and onions and stir for 2 minutes. 
• Add the ginger and garlic pastes, green chillies and saute for 2 minutes .
•  Add the masala powders and saute till fried. Finally add the prawns and cook till done .
• Add the coconut grind and toss and cook for another 5 minutes. 
• Now let the masala cool down .

 Step 3 

• Spread one ball of dough in the middle of your palm and then place the masala in the centre.  
• Close half way  through and press gently on the sides . It will look a half moon . Repeat with all .
• Place the banana leaves in the steamer filled half with boiling water .
• Place the addas and cook covered for 15 minutes or till the adda  dough is cooked 
•  It will harden on cooling . 
• Have them warm.  

Note .

Arrange 4 to 5  addas on the  banana leaves and you can keep them piled up in the steamer . 

Moist some coconut oil on the leaves . It will enhance the taste. 

Do comment after reading the post ..with love .😉

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