Rich fruit cake

Today I am posting a recipe that's really close to my heart . As a baker , we have some cherished recipes. I love baking so I have a few recipe that are really dear to me . It's a little tedious baking stuffs . It's a scientific lab kitchen where you cannot go wrong with ingredients. Today's recipe is our family recipe. We love fruity cakes. So there will get over within two days ,whatever the quantity maybe. 
The cake is a very tricky one. As there are soo many ingredients with lots of nuts ,not to forget the butter and ghee that's the integral part of thic cake.
The cake has few points to be noted .

Do not topple the cake in warm state. It will break into crumbles. Cooling the cake is very important. I would prefer overnight cooling as it is a large cake it takes time to cool . The nuts and the dry fruits add to the nature of the cake and they float perfectly in the cake without falling to the bottom .
One more important note for the cake is the weight . Before combining the flour and the liquid egg mixture, check the weight. The principal theory is that the weight of the liquid should be equal to the liquid egg mixture .
Both will weight one kilo, according to the recipe . I always say those who love baking and intense bakers who would love to explore fruit cakes this is perfect for you. So just follow the recipe and few guidelines that I have mentioned above and you will get a wonderful bake for this year.
Here's the recipe..

Ingredients

• 200 grams black grapes
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 100 grams orange juice
• 1/2 cup cashews
• 1/2 cup black currents
• 1/2 cup golden and brown raisins each
• 1/2 cup dates pited
• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup apricots
• 1/2 cup figs
• 50 grams honey
• 250 grams plain flour
• 250 grams butter soften
• 6 large eggs
• 250 grams fine sugar
• 100 grams ghee
• 1 teaspoon Black Jack syrup
• 2 tablespoon Whole spice powder( clove, Cardamom,nutmeg, Cinnamon.)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Method

• Butter two pans ( 9") and lay parchment papers along the sides and the bottom of pan for easy removal of cake once done .
• Preheat oven 160degree .
• Crush the grapes and sugar with hand.
• Extract the pulp as much as possible.
• Add the orange juice and boil till thickened . Carefull not to burn the bottom of pan.
• Add honey and stir.
• Add the dry fruits and stir and cook for 5 minutes . Stir well and take off the flame and cool aside.
• Beat the butter and sugar till creamy.
• Add the eggs one at a time
• Add ghee . Beat well.
• Add the syrup ( you can add dark caramel syrup instead) blend well.
• MIx the flour and nuts mixture .
• Fold this gently to the egg mixture ,By hand.
• Pour into pans and bake for 90 minutes or till skewer inserted comes out clean .
• Bake at 160degree for 90 minutes
• Once the cake is done let it cool completely .
• The cake is very rich and so it has to be cooled before topping off to a rack .

PS ...this is the best cake I have in my repertoire 殺

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Star Cookies

If there is something I love to do is cooking really elaborate meals. I love long  table filled with varieties for breakfast lunch and dinner. And having a large family to dine together and make a lovely feeling of being together. But things are not always the same . The minute college is over then kids move out. The west culture is happening in my place too. We have a bunch of them moving to cross countries and  living abroad . But seriously thanks to our tech gadgets we are still able to contact and keep in touch as much as possible. When my brother's get together being the only girl and who loves to cook I prepare sweets in plenty. Then plan out meals and dinners and an array of Kaddis( snacks) for tea . And bake some too.

This tine I made some cookies for them and they were soft and crunchy. But I did forget to put them in air tight containers which made them really softer.hemm shouldn't have done that though.

Star Cookies are one of many super old time aged  Christmas cookies that everyone seems to love so much . Especially this homemade version is times  better than what you’ll find in , at the stores during the holidays and the frosting white  chocolate takes them to a whole new level of yumminess.

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups Flour
• 3/4 cups  Powdered Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 60 grams Unsalted Butter
• 1 teaspoon Ginger Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
• Salt a pinch
• sprinkles as needed
• melted white chocolate for dip

Method

• Beat butter sugar and eggs till it turns creamy
• Add flour baking powder salt ginger powder and make it to a soft  dough.
• Divide dough to half and wrap in plastic cover.
• Chill for 1 hour
• Now preheat oven to 180 degree c for 10 minutes.
• Take the dough  and roll it between plastic sheets for easy rolling.
• Cut it with cookie cutter.
• Arrange on lined baking sheet on pan
• Sprinkle some edible  gold dust on top of cookie before baking
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes .
• Remove from oven and cool for about 10 minutes .
• Serve with desired frosting.

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Easy chicken cooker recipe

This is a very simple recipe and a savior recipe if you have sudden guests coming over . My mom makes it a dozen of time , with pathirri and Pathal . Chicken is mixed well with spices and oniions and there is no stiring or cooking for long time ' required for this recipe.
The ingredients are also very less and you will get a nice bowl full of gravy that can be had  along with chapathis or ghee rice .

Mom follows only  few recipes and they are all finger licking clean. Chicken curry and coconut grind curries are always famous in North Kerala. They are all easy to follow and the best part is only few ingredients are needed.
There is so much going on and we are all living on the edge . The networks and the papers are filled with  atrocities being comitted as a result of the CAB and NRC bills almost being processed. We are tensed here in India as we do not know exactly how things are going to come about to this regards... only time can tell ..something's for sure, whatever's destined it will happen,and I hope this will pass us. Thinking too much isn't supportive for us and getting mentally challenged about things isn't going to help us anytime soon. Inshallah, whatever said our weather is cooling as we are having some winters coming by..hope next year brings us some good news too...

Coming back to today's recipe, I always have some easy recipes for stand by and this is very helpful when I have to finish our chores quick especially when I am lazy to cook ☺️. The chicken cooked is well  blending  in very little masalas and done in just 10 minutes.. woow..this a party recipe and all will enjoy it as the recipe included coconut shreds which turns out to be really yummy.

Ingredients

• 1 kilo chicken cut in pieces
• 2 onions sliced
• 2 tomatoes , medium chopped
• 1 green chilli slit
• 2 garlic crushed
• 1" ginger crushed
• 1 teaspoon red chilli Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Corriander powder
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• Salt to taste .
• 1 cup hot water

For the grind

• 1/2 cup coconut
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 2 chopped shallots
• Few curry leaves
• 1 teaspoon red chilli powder

For the tempering

• 2 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 red chilli
• 1/2  teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon red chilli flakes

Method

• First mix the chicken chunks with the ingredients above .
• After layering it in pressure cooker add the hot water.
• Close the lid and cook for one whistle . Off and let the pressure ease.
• Next roast the 'to grind' ingredients mentioned above ..cool and grind to smooth paste
• After the chicken is cooked add the paste and boil well till the gravy is thickened.
• Temper the gravy by heating the oil and add the
• the ingredients mentioned above.
• Finally add the red chilli flakes to give it a red color to the curry.
• Cover for 10 minutes till the masalas are merged well with gravy.
• Serve warm with garnished corriander leaves .

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Peanut butter cookies

Peanut butter cookies are soft and perfect with the sweetness that they are not going to overload the other ingredients. Thinking of overload .. some things I life are just full of overloads. Ever since we got watspp and Instagram Children  and adults are nearly 80 % overloaded with it. I have rules in my home that no one uses mobile phone over dining table and liesure time. It really gets on my nerves. My kids listen but AJ doesn't. He is and addict on the watspp and YouTube . It's either the 'no more grey therapy ' on the YouTube or watching and sharing on watsapp. I am ,for one good reason am not a complete addict as a foodie my phone even smells kitchen always. 

Coming to the recipe ,it's a genius one. I have a bottle of peanut butter as kids have for breakfast . I usually don't bake with peanut butter as I love to just lick finger clean off it. My watsapp foodie group once put up this recipe and it got many reviews on it. 

I wanted to make it instantly.. that's the ' thing about cookies ... Bakers always have the ingredients for any cookie that fits perfect of the family.
Here's the recipe for the day ...I baked these thee times in a row. ...

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 plain flour
• 1/4 milk powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder.
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoon crunchy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup sunflower oil
• 1 egg for white wash

Method

• Preheat oven to 180 degree c.
• Combine all the ingredients except for the egg .
• Make a soft dough . Divide equally to lemon size balls .
• Make a dent in the centre of the cookies .
• Place them one inch apart and brush with egg wash .
• Bake in a pan layered with butter paper .
• Bake for 15 minutes.
• Cool on wire rack
• The cookies are really soft and crunchy with peanuts .
• I would prefer to bake for another two minutes more for my oven as I would have loved it to be a little more dense.
• But it is really worth a try.  Totally yummy.

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Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

Carrot cake has a never ending style to it. It is a rich cake with moisture and spices of cinnamon and nuts and pineapple crushed to endure the cake as a whole . To make things even more elegant it is gorgeous with a nice cream cheese frosting . I like the colour of the cake . A nice orangish tan of the grated carrots . 
Now some recipes might be having addition of apple sauce instead of pineapple crush. If your pantry has apple sauce it can be added ..just that you have to add atleast 1/2 a cup of it  to the batter instead of the pineapple crush ..

But personally I love the pineapple crush more .  The tanginess gives a nice kick to the recipe making it really so desserty..
Although carrots have a sweetness to it just like beetroot , I think it's a fair veggie to be added to making a wonderful cake .I have a caramel carrot cake here , that's a traditional cake which my mum used to bake every week for chai..and we used to love it all the more...

While baking this cake she gave her vote to the caramel carrot cake ... Well I love both as both ahve their own tastes and we cannot compare it at all. This cake has a frosting which is cream cheese based and a dash of vanila essence made wonders to it. It is said or I think a friend once told me that carrots usually comes from the Greek era and ' karaton' as they called it was given to soldiers everyday as a visionary diet which would obviously help them in the nights. But this recipe originates in the Euro sweets cakes as carrots are cheaper to find. So much for a timely history of the cake itself hehe ..
Here's the recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup walnuts
• 2 and 1/2 cups  raw grated carrot
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon  salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 4 large eggs ( at room temperature)
• 1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup , sunflower oil
• 226 grams  pineapple, crushed this is  optional

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon   vanilla essence
• 1 teaspoon  lemon juice
• 340 grams full fat cream cheese, softened

Method

• First preheat your oven to 180 degree c .
• Grease and lay parchment paper into two tins 9×2 inches.
• Roast walnuts to brown colour.
• Grate carrots . Keep aside
• Sift all the dry ingredients, flour Baking Soda and baking powder,ground  cinnamon .
• Beat eggs to fluffy
• Add sugar and essence. Beat well.
• Add the oil in thin stream . Beat well for two minutes . Off the beater .
• Add the sifted ingredients. Combines all with spatula.
• Fold in the walnuts and carrots .
• Bake in oven for  40 minutes.
• All ovens may vary in time . So check after every 20 minutes.
• After the cakes are cooled after  baking ,remove the cakes  from pan and allow to cool for 10 minutes  . Cool further on wire rack . 
• The cook should cool completely before frosting.

.

Cream Cheese Frosting: 

• Beat butter to smooth .
• Add powdered sugar and vanilla essence.
• Beat till fluffy for 2 minutes .
• Now add the cream cheese and scrape the sides to combine well.
• The frosting will be smooth.
• Assembling the cake .
• Cut the cakes to two layers each .
• Gently spread the frosting inbetween the cakes  and layer some chopped nuts which is optional.
• Serves around 12 to 15 people.
• Note the cake is super moist and just bake till it relieves from sides of pan.
• Baking time differs for each oven ..

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Creamy vegetable kurma

Vegetable Kurma is authentic recipe in every state . Kerala menu is blunt without this recipe in their menu. A normal morning breakfast includes varieties to choose from like appams, puttu , ishtu curry ( coconut based vegetable curry) kadala curry , etc. 

Today I am posting a curry found at all weddings. This creamy vegetable curry is served with null puttu or porottas. A wide variety of vegetables are added like carrots, cauliflower, potato,green peas that makes this curry really rich.  Coconut and cream makes it all the more creamy and I always try to make my curries a little more creamy by either adding some cream or coconut milk or even sometimes milk .
U can omit the cream but the taste would differ a little . Here's the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon jeera seeds
• 1 sprig curry leaves .
• 1 onion sliced
• 2 green chillies slit
• 1 inch ginger crushed
• 1 cup chopped vegetables ( potato,green peas,carrots, cauliflower)
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 Vegetable stock cube
• 1 teaspoon pepper powder.
• 1 teaspoon jeera powder
• 1 teaspoon crushed red chilli powder
• 2 teaspoon Coconut oil
• 1 cup fresh thick coconut milk
• 3 teaspoon fresh cream
• Corriander leaves for garnish .

Method

• In a pressure cooker, heat the oil , splutter the mustard seeds and jeera seeds.
• Next add the curry leaves, crushed ginger  and green chillies and saute
• Next add onions , salt and saute till soft.
• Add the veggies along with the masala powders and saute till well combined.
• Add the Coconut milk.
• Close the cooker and pressure cook till whistle goes off and , simmer  10 minutes  minutes.
• After the veggies are done ,add the cream and corriander leaves for garnish.
• Serve hot with rotis and chapathis.

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Chocolate yul log cake

As the last month has come, I am in mixed emotions. As of right now we wait for December to arrive .. something is always cozy about it . I think , because kids don't have school .or may be the feeling is because there is hardly a week of school and then the exams are to come and go and we have a vacation where we travel to places that we love. But this December it's not cool nor is it comfortable . The weathers' are all changed and I cannot but argue that is taken a toll on the kids. They are all sick and I have to deal with it . All my kids are having exams this week and I am hoping they get well soon . 

As December is usually the baking month of the year. I try out few recipes. We get all the fresh berries and , citrus fruits are really cheap and many of my friends who live abroad are into baking plum cakes and cookies. Starting this month I made this cake which I wanted to make for so long.
Bûche de Noël (BuSH dunoh EHL) or yul log cake as it is called here, is a special  sweet dessert in itself. As a French pastry  dessert , there are variant  recipes for this traditional cake dessert, my version is  deliciously moist  chocolaty sponge cake, that is filled with  whipped cream, rolled into a pineapple filled  cylinder, and then frosted with chocolate ganache. 

The cake is usually dusted with Powder sugar to illustrate a snowy effect and decorated with maringue strawberries and cherries for everyone to dive in.

The cake is super moist so follow the instructions carefully as you wouldn't want a broken cake  while folding .

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs, separated yolks and whites .
• 2/3 cup sugar, halved
• 1/2 cup  flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• FILLING:
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoon of pineapple chunks jam .

FROSTING
For the  ganache:

• 200 ml whipping cream
• 200 grams chocolate bar.

Directions

• Separate the egg yolks and whites .
• Let the whites stand for 30 minutes .
• Prepare a baking pan of size 15 "/ 10 " / 1 " greased and layer with paper. Set aside.
• Beat the egg yolks for 5 minutes.
• Add 1/3 sugar . Beat to combine.
• Add the flour, baking cocoa, baking powder,salt.( All sifted well twice ).
• Set aside.
• Now beat the egg whites for five minutes. And the remaining sugar gradually 1 teaspoon at a time. Beat till soft peaks form. Gradually fold with spatula to the batter . Spread evenly on pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes till the skewer comes out clean once inserted .
• Set aside for 5 minutes to cool.
• Dust some Coco powder on a clean kitchen towel and roll the cake over like a cylinder. Now let it cool in this state completely.
• Beat the whipping cream according to packet instruction. Add powder sugar if needed.
• Unroll the chocolate cake and spread one tablespoon of pineapple jam with chunks in it .
• Top with whipped cream.
• Roll the whole cake again slowly.
• I made ganache heating 200 ml of cream and 200 gms. chocolate bar. Pour onto the cake and decor with maringue starwberries or just give a bark shape to it as I have done. I have cut it and placed a piece on the other side to give it a broken bark shape.,.

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Broken wheat upma

Simple broken wheat upma recipe . Relishing diabetic freindly recipes is necessary for us as we age older. As I am baking and creating more sweets for the blog I am also a little worried about how much I eat a day . 

I have not started to diet as yet. My body is very subtle to such things in life I lose and gain every quickly. My  high metabolic rate is the reason for this. If I get excited about something i eat a lot lesser. So here's the recipe for an easy breakfast to get away with the morning hassle...

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Cucumber coconut chutney

As the year I sending I am feeling a little down. The reason I think is we are moving so fast now . Where has the January and June ...go...we had a terrible six months of rain scare . Our area almost flooded . The was no electricity in some parts but Alhamdulillah we were safe to this regards. Now it seems we are going to have it every year. And In between all this scariness my mum says by 2050 Kerala will be underwater  . Climate took its toll on us as the heat was also solid . It was never this hot than last the  few years . Anyways every day passes by and we pray for good health.
I have never skipped chutney for Friday's Biryani. And this is so much a favorite for us. 

I personally love the garlic smell in the chutney and adding one green chilli is really spicy for us but that's what we need with achhar .I have atleast four achhars now. Pappaya,lemon mango and tamarind, on my table . Biryani is not complete without the condiments . Some serve pappadam  raita pickle and chutney . AJ wants all of this infrontt of him if he is having his Biryani.
I prepare this chutney for  my Biryanies

Ingredients

• 1 grated cucumber
• 1/2 grated coconut fresh
• 3 cloves garlic
• 4 curry leaves
• 1 green chilli
• A pinch of salt
• A pinch of mustard seeds

Method

• Grind all the above mentioned ingredients to a smooth paste.except for the cucumber and salt.
• Did not add water
• Transfer to bowl.
• Add the cucumber grated into it.
• Add salt now and mix well
• Serve immediately.

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Kabirri Biryani

I have dark mode for this month's post as I am slowing down. My posts are just like a mirror to the rest of the world. It's how I feel the day I post will actually show what kind of mood i am in . The blog I started was sheerly out of enthusiasm and determination to ensure that my experiences with cooking comes as a full proof and also I am able to record all my cooking recipes here. But it wasn't easy and my ups and downs took a toll on me . But the thought of leaving my blog never occurred to me. I check out other blogs and that always kept spirits up .

So I repeat this month , with the same spirit, I decided to create something that we came to love so much. Biryani has always been a chossy thing. With respect to my kids, the boys love it with less masala and my daughter and myself love just to the perfection. Not too much or less. When we were small , as most kids, we would like up the onion masala and the spiciness was very high   but we loved . Mom used to make mostly Chinese fried rice and it was really good with chilli chicken and we oils reserve it for tea too. Back then  Chai and Biryani was a good combo  for us. Thanks to fadwas kitchen for the recipe .

I would say the easiest art of making Biryani is easy if u follow the rules and do a little of prepping up. Normally we prepare the usually Kerala biryany and call it a day.

I don't know what's in the name but I do know  it's a little different . This Biryani is prepared in three different steps. Marination  of meat , prepare the masala and last Prepare the rice . Go ahead and try it out its really yummy.

Ingredients

• 5 cups Biryani rice ( I have used ghee rice )
• 1 kilo beef cubes
• 2.onions sliced
• 3 tomatoes medium
• 2 tomatoes chopped
• 6 green chillies
• 2 teaspoon Ginger garlic paste

Masala powders

• 1/2  teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1+1  teaspoon pepper powder
• 1+1 teaspoon Arabic masala
• 3 /4 teaspoon garam masala .
• 3/4 teaspoon corriander powder
• 1/2  teaspoon salt or according to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon beef masala

• 1 + 1 Maggi cubes
• A bunch corriander leaves
• A bunch curry leaves
• 1/2 cup Orange juice
• 1 lime  juice
• 1/2 teaspoon whole pepper corns
• Whole masala( cardamom ,cloves cinnamon stick)
• Oil for frying
• 3 teaspoon ghee
• Orange peels
• Food colour (optional)
• For frying and decor..
• 3 Onions
• 1 carrot sliced finely
• Few curry leaves

Method

• Now let's begin and fry fry the onions and let it become  golden brown and keep aside .
• Next fry curry leaves and carrots.Just fry for few seconds and keep aside .
• Marinate beef with masala powders(1  tablespoon pepper powder, 1 tablespoon Arabic masala ,1/2 teaspoon whole peppers, whole garam masala and one cube Maggi stock .) for one hour .
• Meanwhile heat oil in pan and fry the onions and saute till translucent .
• Add Ginger garlice paste and green chillies paste .Saute for two minutes .
• Add masala powders (Add 1 teaspoon turmeric powder,1 teaspoon Pepper powder, Arabic masala 1 tablespoon ,3/4 teaspoon Corriander powder,  one Chicken cube ,)and saute for a minute on low flame .
• Add the tomatoes chopped.
• Once they turn mushy add the tomato puree.
• Mix well. Then add the lime and 1/2 orange juice. Reserve 1/2 for rice later.
• Add the marinated beef and mix well .
• Cook the beef till done .
• When beef is getting done.
• Wash the rice and drain aside .
• Take a heavy bottom vessel . Then fry one  onions and add whole garam  masalas.
• Add boiled water and rice . Add the orange peel and salt . Cook the rice till 3/4 done .
• Dum cooking
• While still on low flame let's dum cook the Biryani now.
• Take out half of the rice .
• Add the fried onions, nuts (cashews and raisins) corriander and mint leaves.
• Sprinkle arabic masala and one teaspoon ghee .
• Add the beef masala and then the rest of the   rice on top . Finally add the rest of the onions nuts and leaves . Dum cook for 15 minutes.
• Serve with raita ,pickle papapdm and chutney.

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Banana walnut cake

Banana Walnut Cake is a super easy one layer ultra moist cake loaded with nutty and banana flavors and and you can frost with rich cream cheese .
Whether its a cake, bread, cupcakes, or muffins, I just love baking with bananas, there is a  nice smell and the whole house smells of a nice spicy bake. The flavours of cardamom and cinnamon sticks out well.  Most of the time, I wait for the bananas  to go ripe so I can jump on it to bake something out of it !

As a kid we had some bakes like this but never got to get any form out so mum always bakes fresh out of fruits and nuts very often .mainly we would have  brownies or cookies made with nuts. It wasn’t until I tasted a slice of banana bread made with walnuts that I was truly overwhelmed . It all turned the epitome of comfort food .

The cake itself is moist and flat as I baked in a 8" pan but sturdy enough to handle it. If you want to frost you can go ahead with  cream cheese frosting. What's an easy way to fixing the overripe bananas , and is ridiculously easy.
I didn't use any equipments other than my hand whisker. So go ahead and try out super easy cake...

Ingredients

• 1 cup All Purpose Flour / Maida
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon  Baking Soda
• 1/4 teaspoon Cardamom powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
• 50 grams Butter
• 3/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Ripe Banana( I used ripe plantain)
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 cup Walnuts

Method

• Preheat oven to 180 degree C.
• Grease a pan  with little oil.
• Next step is to take soft butter, sugar in a bowl and mix well with hand 
• Now add in the banana and egg and mash well 
• Whisk gently.
• Whisk in the dry ingredients.
• Next add in the dry ingredients .
• Followed by milk , walnuts 
• Fold in gently and incorporating well.
• Next fill into the pan and top extra walnuts for the extra crunch.
• Next step is to bake for 25 mins.
• Remove and serve warm with ice cream.

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Uznu bonda

Uznu bonda is crispy fried and a light snack . Usually bondas are usually tiffin snacks and they have and  lot of variations like potato and vegetable mixtures are added to it. But this plain bondas with light spices that turned out fluffy , light , and super delicious with your choice if chutney and ketchup as my kids love it.

Uznu is made with uznu parrpe only. Only get them and add a few ingredients and it's easy to fry which is the next step. Slow cooking is the key to perfect bondas .addition of rice flour or Urad dal powder gives the bondas a crispy flavor.

Uznu ( Urad ) dal bondas are had along with coconut chutney or sambars for breakfasts .
It's very healthy and light and have it with hot masala tea as we have it .  I am sure you will live it .
Ingredients

• Urad dal - 1 cup
• Onion - 1 chopped finely
• Green Chilli - 2 chopped finely
• Ginger - 1 tsp chopped finely
• Curry leaves a handful
• Coriander leaves - 2 tblsp chopped finely
• Salt to taste
• Water as needed
• Oil for deep frying

Method

• Soak urad dal for 4 hours. Drain and  grind till it becomes really  fluffy. Dont add too much water Just sprinkle little water at a time and grind till urad dal is almost fluffy and light.
• Now take it in a bowl. Add all ingredients and mix well.
• Heat oil for deep frying. Now take a spoonful of batter in oil and fry till golden  crispy in colour.
• Drain and serve with chutney

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Red sauce penne pasta

Red sauce penne pasta recipe or pasta in red sauce recipe or even you can call it tomato based pasta recipe which  basically is pasta recipe prepared in blended tomato sauce with penne pasta, oregano herbs, chilli flakes and corriander leaves. pasta recipes all usually served as a snack and also as  meal for dinner, but we have it mostly for dinners..

The red sauce pasta recipe which is tomato based recipe,. pasta recipes are staple food of traditional italian and continental cuisine and is prepared with very few ingredients and fresh herbs and loads of cheeses and  out of all red sauce pasta is indeed a most popular one to sought out for. . similarly, i have already shared the white sauce pasta recipe which is of more creamy and cheesy pasta recipe on this blog

My kids love pastas but it has to be loaded with cheese and red sauce pasta recipe is my favourite  recipe. I personally am big fan of pasta as sometimes we love to to go bland on our foods as we always have iddlies and sambar . however, just for a change i prepare these pasta recipes once in two weeks . There are not much innovative recipes to this recipe and   I am still  googling to find out more .

And now some important tips and suggestions for a perfect tomato pasta recipe. firstly, i always use ripe tomatoes that are really red and juicy as  for tomato sauce for pastas, they need to be thick. . secondly, you can use store bought tomato puree for sauce too, that will make your work easier. Finally i have used penne pasta to tomato pasta recipe, however even macaroni, spaghetti noodles and may varieties can be used with the same sauce. You can your choices of veggies as I had these in handy at the moment.now off to the recipe

INGREDIENTS

FOR RED SAUCE:

• 3 to tomatoes, red and ripped
• 1 cup capsicums ( red , yellow, green )
• 1/2 cup mixed vegetables ( peas , cabbage , olives , mushrooms)
• 2 tsp  oil
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2  medium sized onion, finely chopped
• ¼ tsp chili flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon garam masala powder
• ½ teaapoon oregano
• salt to taste
• Few corriander leaves
• ¼ tsp pepper, crushed
• 3 tbsp cheddar cheese / any cheese, grated

For boiling pasta

• 1 cup pasta ( I used penne but you can have your choices too )
• 5 cups water or as required to boil
• salt to taste

Method

• firstly, cook ripe tomatoes  for 5 minutesin boiling water .
• Now after 4 minutes cool and peel skin and blend to thick puree.
• Next in a large vessel add enough  water to cook penne pasta with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 tablespoon oil .
• Soften the pasta for 10 to 12 minutes 
• finally, drain the pasta and keep aside.
• in a large kadai heat  oil and saute bay leaf and garlic till they turn aromatic.
• also saute onions till they change colour.
• Add the vegetables mentioned above .
• also add corriander leaves, chili flakes,garam masala , mixed herbs, pepper, salt and mix well.
• Next add pureed tomatoes and cook and saute for 5 more minutes 
• .
• cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
• and add in boiled pasta
• By mixing gently pasta should be coated well with the purred tomatoe mix . 
• spread the grated cheese on top and cover and cook till the cheese has melted.
• finally, serve red sauce pasta You can choose any cheese of your choice.

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Theduka recipe

Theduka is a authentic long forgotten recipe of Kerala. My mum used to make with quite often when we kids and we used to much like as we didn't getavny food to eat the whole day . Some times she would drizzle some sugar syrup on it to make its sweet savoury snack . Why is it  called theduka ...no idea But it is very relaxing snack. We have it after lunch just to snack on it as my husband loves to have mixture after lunch ...I feel it's an awkward desire to have something like that. He always brings a lot of savoury snacks to munch on after lunch which I think is totally unhealthy too. 

Theduka recipe is very easy and munchy recipe . It is usually made for occasions like marriages and seasons like Diwali. A sit is a must store recipe , something I don't want it let go I am posting this recipe ...There are many forgotten indian snacks ,many of which is so funny to recognize or even spell the word accurately. When our grannies get together it is that possible time I get to catch up on some recipes of theirs . There are two oldies who are so stubborn to share their precious recipes with me . As they say it will be adulterated with new ingredients and the new generation will spoil the whole food. I smile at such talks. We have a couple of old ladies at home grandmas aunties and few distant relatives who join for tea once in a while. They share teenage thoughts and school days of yester years and how they brought their snacks to husband's home to as a token of love  for the in laws to keep. This snack is distributed amongst all the possible friends and relatives and many nearby neighbors . So we have that tradtion  still going on . I never give up such gatherings a sit is that tinkle of time that I personally get some really good ones from these people. Theduka as this is an awkward name for a simple recipe with very few ingredients , is a much loved snack for kids and especially we are munchers like me ,who love to to munch on everything that I can get my hands on.um makes a lot of these and carry it along  while visiting grandpa ...he would put on his false teeth and munch along . Faiz loves this very much and I would pack it along with some fruits and vegetables and he would always love to share it with friends so I pack a little more for his tiffin's to school. Now off to the recipe..

Ingredients

• 1 cup Maida
• 2 tablespoon Ghee
• Salt to taste

Method 

• Combine all the ingredients and set aside to rest .
• Divide the dough into small balls .
• Flatten the dough really thin .
• Cut into strips and slit in slants .
• Creating  diamond shaped pieces
• Fry the pieces to only light brown colour.
• Sprinkle some sugar syrup which is optional.

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Medu vada

Perfect vada recipe . This is so crunchy and soft within recipe. I have perfected the best recipe so far as my trials are concerned . We do not have this as often but when we have vadas all devour on it. Vadas are crispy savoury food made of lentils . The lentils are soaked for some few hours and then adding a few more ingredients small portions are deep fried.

Now some insight to making and knowing how to make Vadas. Those used  making just Ural dal are known as medhu vada. They are has along  with sambar and coconut chutney.
In India it's made during festivals.and occassions.
Here at my home I made this using simple ingredients as onions ,ginger, green chillies , pepper corns .

Also a pinch of baking soda makes fluffy Vadas. A wet grinder is usually used to make Vadas. Mine is too large to grind for a small family . So I have used normal mixer grinder for this recipe .

Ingredients

• 1 cups of urad dal
• 2 teaspoon  of urad dal for roasting and grind to fine powder or 3 teaspoon rice flour will also do.
• 2 tsp of rice flour
• 2 green chillies
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda.
• few curry leaves
• 1 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped
• 1 inch ginger, finely chopped)
• 1 teaspoon pepper corns
• salt to taste
• oil to fry

Method

Wash dal and soak in water for 3  to four hours .it should be fully immersed in water .

• Drain all the water from soaked dal. grind urad dal  to smooth paste using very little water.
• The batter should be thick and use very little water. The right consistency is very important or otherwise, you will not be able to get the vada shape.
• Add coriander, green chilli, ginger and pepper corns baking soda , roasted urad dal powder to the batter and mix it very well.
• Or add rice flour instead of urad dal powder,if u have , it will make the Vadas fluffy .
• Heat oil in deep  pan  on medium flame. Take small scoops of batter with wet hands so that the batter doesn't stick to the palms wet your palms .
• Make hole in the center and slide it into the hot oil.
• The vada should float on top of oil.
• Make sure your oil is not too hot. otherwise the vadas would not cook evenly.
• Fry on both sides till it becomes golden brown in colour.
• Serve medu vada immediately with chutney and sambar combo.

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Stove top pizza recipe

I think this is a recipe all should learn to know  how to make a stove top pizza. I just short circuted my microwave and am feeling so sad about it . My kids and family love pizza and we make very often too. Pizza made with your choices of topping is really exciting . I make my pizza for scratch and it's not that tiring. This is easy and we have to just make the toppings ready before hand .

Rainy  days are easy for a pizza-lover — especially if that pizza-lover has a massive crowd to feed like mine  .  A few years back, my mum and I started experimenting with stovetop pizzas to avoid turning our house into a pizza hut  during the rainy  months, and this soon became a favorite technique.

INGREDIENTS
Make your pizza dough

• 1  cup milk
• 1/2 cup water .
• 2 teaspoon yeast
• 3 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups flour ., Add more if needed.
• Pizza toppings
• 2 onions diced
• 2 capsicums diced
• 1 cup mushrooms
• 1 cup green and black olives
• 2 cups cooked chicken
• Oregano and chilli flakes for seasoning.

Method

• Take a deep vessel . Heat water and milk . It should be just warm . Add the rest of the ingredients and knead to pilable dough..it should be very soft . Cover and let the dough rise.
• Divide to half .
• After risen dough on flat floured surface .
• Flatten with hand .
• And keep aside.
• Cook the raw veggies in oil . I added them just as it is.
• Grease a pan with olive oil and set aside.
• Now heat oil in non stick pan, add chicken cubed pieces and saute for a min. Add all seasonings, salt, oregano pizza seasoning. Mix well and cook till done. Set aside.
• Take risen pizza dough in the pan and spread it evenly and cook on medium high heat . After few minutes , bubbles will appear. Prick holes with fork on dough. Flip the other side and cook on low flame . Cover the pan with glass lid preferably , so u can see the dough rising .
• You will get a soft well cooked dough. 
• Check not to burn the bottom.
• Spread pizza sauce and layer  cheese, peppers, onions, chicken and more cheddar cheese. sprinkle with oregano  pizza seasoning and cover with lid.
• Bake on stove top on low flame till cheese melts .
• Now remove it and serve hot.

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Chicken combo recipe

Chicken fry could combo recipe . This is totally a fun recipe ...why? Because of the colour , texture, soft and juicy and ofcourse they way it's plated will bring your tummy rumbling. Whenever I buy chicken , my kids protest not to make curry but make special fries. And I google and find many options to new recipes. As my blog is still in the shifting stage I am lucky I have many more recipes to upload and conquer the variety of tastes. 

I marinated the chicken and it took me very less time to cook till done. I prepared two marinations and let the chicken sit in for ate lats four hours if your in a hurry to cook them otherwise I would recommend at least 12 hours .
Off to the recipe...

For the malai chicken masala

700 grams chicken , cut into bite-size pieces

Marinade ingredients

• 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 tbsp grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 2 tbsp  yogurt
• 2 tbsp heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp white pepper powder
• 2 green chillies, minced
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• salt, to taste
• 1 bunch cilantro leaves
• 1 bunch mint leaves
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 5 to 6 green chillies
• salt, to taste

Method

• Put the  ingredients in a blender and whizz to get a puree
• In a deep glass bowl, mix the marinade  puree  paste  ingredients very well with a mixing spoon and add the chicken pieces in it. Cover with cling foil and keep in the refrigerator for a couple of hours
• Heat some oil in a pan , add the marinated chicken basting with oil or butter at regular intervals. Turn over and repeat. Remove when slightly charred (20-25 minutes)
• If cooking in the oven, place the chicken.with  skewers on an aluminum foil lined baking dish and bake in the oven at 400 F for 1 hour. At the half an hour mark, turn over the skewers once. When done, brush with some oil or butter.
• Garnish with some chopped cilantro and serve hot with the cilantro-mint chutney and lemon wedges.
• .

For the red chicken masala

Ingrediants:

• Chicken Breast- ½ kg
•  
• For Marinate:
• 1  cup curd
• 1 tablespoon Red chilli powder-
• 2 tsp Garam masala powder-
• 1 tsp Turmeric powder
• 2 tblspn Ginger Garlic paste
• 1 tsp pepper powder
• Salt to taste
• Red Food Colouring-a pinch
• For Basting:
• Lemon juice-2 tblspn
• Oil-2 tblspn

Method:

• Mix the marinate Ingredients together..Now add in chopped chicken pieces and mix well..
• Let this marinate in the fridge over night..
• Bring the chicken to room temperature  before 30 mins  so that it   cooks well
• Place the chicken pieces in the pan and fry the chicken for 10 mins..
• When 10 mins is over take the chicken out and apply the rest of the remaining marinate over this and fry  for 10 mins.
• Now mix lemon juice, oil,  together for basting the chicken
• Now take the pan out…Turn the chicken over and base it with the lemon liquid and place it back to fry for 5 more mins.
• Cook chicken for 5 mins untill well done and chare it on all sides..
• Remove this and serve hot..

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Kerala mutton biryany

I am buckling up for the late and last minute posts  for this month . With the health issues and myself trying to finish up planned posts I try to accommodate as much as possible .     And mum mentioned that I should get my regular  health check-up . I have a few issues but nothing that I can't handle. Umma knows when I take a little of pressure from work I get tensed and all my activities slow down. Because I love to cook at times but also all this depends on my mood. As I was thinking of making something sweet all this week and Aj came up with a huge packet of butterscotch icecream I gave up the plan to do so.

My pantry used to always be filled with the basic necessities for preparing desserts along with biryani, because every Friday and Sunday I make something for the family. After along time i am making this biryani as Fridays we prepare one pot meals . I usually do this because I want to be hasstle free spending some quality time with Aj. As I said before he is  totally a foodie. He wants everything  yo perfect . Biryani should accommodated with chutney,salad , raita, achhar...ah and ofcourse it should be lemon pickle , pappadam and finally a nice lime tea. He lovesbmyblime tea and always says it's  times better than7 up or Pepsi.. Phew... Does your partner really want like this  ? Are all men the same ? I wonder not.

 

Kerala mutton biryany is perfect blend of a nice  golden  masala. When it comes to biryany each member wants it different. My recipe is always a little more of masala blend . I love to have a little more  masala  to the Biryani while umma loves a sparingly of it. Kids don't like onions so there will be a heap of it in the side of the plate.

Coming to the recipe, mutton is cooked into he masala till it's done and then it's dum baked in a heavy bottomed pan .
Follow the recipe ...

Ingredients

• 1 kilo mutton with bones
• 1 and half kilo onions ,Sliced finely
• 1/4 kilo tomatoes , chopped finely
• 1/2 cup ginger garlic paste
• 6 green chillies , crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder
• 1 cube chicken Maggi stock
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper powder
• Salt to taste
• A bunch corriander and mint leaves
• A handful curry leaves.
• 2 tablespoon coconut oil
• For the rice
• 1 teaspoon.ghee
• 3 glass (250 ml ) ghee rice
• 6 glasses of hot water
• Few cashews and raisins
• 1/2 cup fries onions

Method .

• To cook the mutton masala
• Fry the onions cashews and raisins. Keep aside.
• Wash and drain rice . Keep aside .
• Heat oil in the pan , add the whole garam masala. Add the onions ,saute till translucent.
• Add the ginger garlic green chilli paste.
• Stir till raw smell goes away.
• Add the tomatoes . Cook till mushy.
• Add the masala powders. And Maggi stock .
• Add the mutton and cook for 20 minutes .
• Cook till mutton is tender.
• to cook rice for biryani
• While the mutton cooks, clean and wash biryani rice and soak and dry it for 10 minutes.
• In a large pot, add ghee and fry the chopped onions , bay leaves, cinnamon sticks,  cloves, cardamom. Add the rice and fry on high flame stirring constantly for 5 minutes ,then add boiling water and add salt .
• Cook the rice until 90 percent done.
• to layer and dum the mutton biryani
• In a large pot in which you want to dum (slow cook) the biryani, add half the cooked rice as a bottom layer.
• Add cooked mutton masala and spread evenly.
• Sprinkle mint and corriander leaves, 1 tablespoon ghee,  and birista ( fried onions) and cashews, raisins on the mutton.
• Add the remaining rice over the mutton layer evenly.
• Add remaining ghee, and reserved oil that we scooped out from the mutton masala.
• Place a heavy pestle on the lid so that the vapour does not evaporate . 
•  Dum cook  the mutton biryani for 20 minutes, first on high flames for 5 minutes and then simmer for 15 minutes.
• Once the biryani is done, allow it to rest for 15 minutes.
• Carefully dish out, Mutton Biryani is ready to serve with raita of your choice.
• Notes
• I have made mutton biryani masala in a pot, but you can make it in pressure cooker as well. My personal favourite is to slow cook mutton in a pot.
• If you are making mutton biryani masala in pressure cooker, then do not add too much water as it will make watery masala base for the biryani as the masala should be thick consistency.

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Malai burfi recipe

Malai burfi is one sweet dish that is easy and fudgy recipe to make . Malai barfi recipe is one such  creamy fudge made with full cream milk  and milk powder. It is a popular north indian sweet recipe which is normally made during the festival seasons in India . There are many variations to this barfi  but I posted  this recipe post using milk powder and milk  to get the desired texture.

I guess we should have a couple of easy recipes to remember to create instant desserts after lunch or a first preference at least when it comes to preparing any quick and fast sweet. there are many ways  to preparing and ingredients used to making these burfis which intentionally is so addictive .

Traditionally, the malai barfi recipe is made just with milk and Koya which can be tiring and time consuming process altogether. basically, the cream is evaporated till it reaches the semi-solid texture. the evaporation process can take a lot of time  to combine and leave the edges of the pan. hence in this recipe post, i have used milk powder and milk as the only liquidus ingredient which makes the recipe a lot easier . 

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup ghee
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2.5 cups milk powder
• 1 teaspoon cardamom powder
• 1 teaspoon dry fruits ( almond cashew raisins)

Method

• Grease a pan and set aside.
• Heat a non stick pan
• Add ghee ,milk ,sugar and milk powder.
• Stir on low flame .
• Keep stirring till it leaves the side of the pan..
• Add cardamom powder.
• Transfer to greased pan .
• Let it cool and serve with garnished dry fruits of choice

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Set dosa recipe

How to make set dosa recipe  . An  easy and tasty dosa recipe made with rice, urad dal and cooked  rice . Unlike plain crispy dosa, the set dose is famous  for its softness, sponginess, light, size and serving style. it is an ideal breakfast recipe as it comes in a set of 3 dosas in one serving and is ideally served with chutney or sambar .
Our country is known for it's variations in Dosas being the  staple food of India and are mainly used for morning breakfast . Dosas are made with different sizes and textures .One such simple and easy dosa recipe from south india is the set dosa  .

I love to have this   for my morning breakfast most of the days and having said that i adore the crisp and roasted dosa recipes like masala dosa . We fell in love with dosas and Chutnies while staying in Bangalore with lovely ghee  , coconut chutney and sweet sambar.

This recipe  yields the soft and spongy dosa and  yet you can use other rice variants  and you will  get the same result. secondly, the fermentation is the step you cannot omit for having soft,spongy  set dose  as like me of the climate is hot and moisture, then you will get nice dosa fermentation. if you are living in a cold and dry place then use the preheated oven and place the batter in it to ferment . Once the dosa batter is fermented add salt , and use it .  Do not let it ferment a lot , and store in the fridge to use later.

Ingredients

• 2 cups iddli rice
• 1/4 cup Urad dal
• 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds.
• Ghee for drizzling

Method

• Take a large bowl add  2 cup idli rice, ½ of   urad dal and ½ methi seeds
• Add enough water and soak for 5 hours.
• Add cooked rice.
• Drain off the water and transfer to grinder.
• Grind to  paste little by little adding water as needed.
• Cover and ferment in a warm place for 8 hours.
• After 8 hours, the batter has doubled in size. mix gently without disturbing the air bubbles.
• Further add 2 tsp salt and mix well.
• Pour a paddle of batter on hot pan 
• Spread out in a circular motion slightly thick than regular masala dosa.
• Also pour ½ tsp oil around the edges.
• Cover and roast the dosa .
• Finally, enjoy set dosa with chutney.

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