Protein shake

Rains ... Yes today rains have poured its glory on the beds of Kerala. Freezing temperatures and cozy winds and I am loving it . I still cannot believe that Ramadan is over and we are back to yet another routine work schedule. Time flies and so do our best of experiences. It feels good as  like monsoons have just started and we are going to have a six long months of showers on and off. Eid went smooth and we went abide with comfort and kids complaining next time we should have a trip organised for the upcoming Eid. Travel is going to be tough though. The main reason was that from long we have done travelling as a family and during monsoons it's tough to handle kids by me. I just cannot handle all three in one go.
Today's recipe is an energy drink. It's a super drink. My son have after the gym . It's his favorite and he would have a full jar .  It's tummy filling so try it out. It's packed with protein and fat. He's very lean so it's ok for him to have but I just had a simple tablespoon . 

Ingredients

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 tbsp creamy peanut butter
• 1 ripe  frozen banana chunks
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon for flavor.
• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
• 5-10 ice cubes if you want to thinner the quantity

optional: 1 tsp. honey

Method

• Blitz all together to thickness that u would like.
• I added a little more almond milk. But anyways works better.

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Green chutney

Our vacation is over and so is the blessed month . We are having just two days more for the Eid holidays to get over. Tomarow is Eid for us . Many are celebrating Eid today too in some parts of the world . Wednesday and Thursday are the official leave for us. But one day for private sector. Going back to work and school is going to be like stretching our legs out there . Kids had a calm Ramadan as the schools were closed the whole month. It's the new academic year for them. So they really needed a vacation well deserved.

It has started to rain here but no rescue from the heat and the humidity. We will be going for Eidgah in the morning and a visit to my in-laws are staying close by. ,. Kids want to go out somewhere..but I am guessing we all will be just visiting our relative houses. I am pressing more on having a calm Eid ..as our house will be pouring with guests. Zehna doesn't like it indoors for Eid.  She loves travelling and she always see to it we don't doz off during Eid .

Today's recipe that I am posting is a basic green chutney . I use for the wraps thats mostly packed with tiffins. Cold chutney with simple bread and cheese ia good combo and old past street food . Here's the recipe .

Ingredients

• 1 cup corriander chopped
• 1 cup coconut grated
• 3 green chillies
• 1 teaspoon yellow lentils/dal.
• 2 Garlic pods
• Salt to taste

Method

Grind all the ingredients into a  fine mix adding little water.
Serve with Vadas iddlies and poories too.

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Irani pola/ Ramadan recipes

How fast everything flies by ..  the year is half and  it's really sad to say the most precious month is gone by . Alhamdulillah we are blessed to have this month in our lives. Life is so short and doing good to others and ourselves should be the top priority. I  try to bring the kids along with the flow. But it's tough as a parent I n many ways . I have to deal with three kids of which two are already are teens. And ist scary at times. How fast they grow in this world . It's stressfully I keep pace with  flow with their needs. And it's like I cannot catch the breath with them. This Ramadan hadhits toll on my health immensely. Being the reason I couldn't blog much.. i look at it as a deep break in life.

 My taste is drifting  more towards savoury spiceless recipes. I love blant food just like babies. ,,. Pepper is favorite one now. I love to have it in all my curries and pasta which brings me to this new recipe for today . Irani pola ..
What's with the name ? i really have no  clue as yet  but this is a trendy Malabar dish now and occasionally its with spicy red masala. I have changed that with white saucy chicken filling and its delicious.

Ingredients

To blend

1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk
2 small eggs.
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon white pepper powder.

Filling
1 tablespoon butter
200 gms chicken boneless cubed.
1 teaspoon Ginger garlic paste.
1 tablespoon green pepper finely chopped
1 tablespoon Yellow pepper finely chopped
1 tablespoon red pepper finely chopped
2 tablespoon mushrooms finely chopped
1 teaspoon spring onion finely chopped
1 teaspoon red chilli flakes
1  teaspoon pepper powder
Salt to taste
1 bay leaf and green chilli

White pasta sauce
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon garlic chopped
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon plain flour
Salt to taste
1/2  teaspoon red chilli flakes
1/2 teaspoon pepper powder

Method
Heat butter in a saucepan. Add garlic and just stir till raw smell disappear.
Add the flour. Stir quick on low flame. Careful not to burn the flour. Off the flame.
Add the milk and give it a mix and quick stir till no lumps are formed.
Turn on the flame and add the spices.
Turn off the sauce once it thickens
Set aside.

Heat butter. Add the chicken, add 1/2 teaspoon pepper and salt . Just cook til done. Add rest of  the ingredients. And cook till just done. Do not over cook . Discard the bay leaf and the green chillies.
Add the white sauce  which should just coat the ingredients. Mine measured to half cup sauce.

Blend all the ingredients mentioned under blend .

Heat another pan with a dash of ghee.
Pour half of the thick batter into the pan.
Cover cook for 5 minutes .
Add filling on top. And pour rest of the batter to cover the ingredients evenly.
Decor top with corriander leaves , left over colorful pepper rings .
Bake it under medium flame.
Bake for 1/2 an hour, or till toothpicks inserted comes out clean . 
Irani polas are served cold .. reason being it will harden with time .

Notes .
Do not add to much white sauce as it will become mushy and the feeling of it not cooked well creeps in.
The only spice ingredient is black pepper.
And do not forget to place a plate under the pan for baking otherwise you will have burnt layer underneath the bake finally.
Just coat the chicken with white sauce as needed. Don't over do it.

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Crispy chicken parcels,Ramadan recipes

We are stepping into our last days of Ramadan.Prayers and duas are just flowing throughout. Still the feeling of its not enough creeps in. I am always not satisfied until I give my 100 % so may Allah accept our duas and keep his glory on us. As every year Ramadan just flies. The climate in Kerala is very hot. Kids just didn't want to have anything but cool and cold snacks that too very minimal quantity. We tried to have mainly liquids in form of soups ,oats kanjis . And plenty of water.  I have not put any effort on this for blogging..so feeling little damp about it though ...it's just that I couldn't manage it all do i am on no effort to try for longer posts as I have said earlier too.Will try to get back in order inshallah.

Today's recipe is very easy and fun for kids to have.  I prepare atleast one snack on daily basis. None of us have dinner. As suhoor is our main dinner. Followed by a cold drink or tea.
Yes we have a heavy suhoor. I guess all have it in different ways.
Hope you guys like it and enjoy the Ramadan and stay blessed.

Ingredients

Pastry sheets as needed
Chicken masala
Barbecue sauce
Cheddar cheese

How to make chicken masala

2 onions sliced
3 cups boneless chicken pieces
1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
Few curry leaves and corriander leaves .
1 teaspoon Red chilli Powder
1 teaspoon pepper powder.
2 teaspoon butter.
Salt to taste

Method 

Heat butter in non stick pan . Saute the onions .
Meanwhile mix the chicken pieces with ginger garlic paste ,red chilli powder, Salt , pepper powder.
Saute the chicken in butter till done .
Add the leaves. Mix well and cool aside.
Spread one sheet horizontal damp the middle with some flour paste.( 1 teaspoon flour and 2 teaspoon water.)
Place one sheet on it vertical .
Spread  1 teaspoon barbecue sauce in the middle . Top it with 1 teaspoon chicken masala and 1 teaspoon cheddar cheese on top.
Take one left side layer and flip over  the masala . Apply flour paste  and take adjacent layer,cover it.. Again add the flour paste . Repeat with the other two layers and finally sealing well with flour paste ending with a box like samosa.

Note
Fry only in medium heat .
Seal the edges well or else the oil tends to enter through making it soggy.

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Chicken broth soup/Ramadan recipes

This spicy and yet light on your tummy is really delicious. And I wish I and made more . This was an accidental item on the table . As my mom was making fresh boneless chicken, she never discards any bones. Throw all  in with carrots, onions, tomatoes and what ever you feel like into vessel and boil till reduced water content . And Masha Allah I will have to get back to making more of it again. It was that fun having it for iftar.
Here's my recipe for this Ramadan recipe.

Ingredients

1 chicken with bones only.
1 small piece carrot
1 teaspoon diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon diced onions
1 teaspoon Black pepper powder
1 teaspoon butter .
Salt to taste
1 piece cinnamon stick
4 cups water.

Method.
Dump all the ingredients into a cooker and let the whistle go for one and then open and simmer till water is reduced to half quantity.
I didn't add any thickening agents like cornflour or oats .
You can add if you want it thicker
This soup is a bit runny so go for it as I had it 
Serve with fried croutons.

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Fried boiled eggs/ Ramadan recipes 2

Alhamdulillah we are almost to half of this month to fulfil our fasts and our prayers are getting stronger with faith. My cooking is very minimal this month and we have done only what is healthy for our tummy . Thanks for the heat we have only water cool and warm drinks with one basic snack. Last year we overloaded ourselves with too many snacks and the rest would be given away to the needy. This time as the weather is so super hot we non of us want to eat anything heavy. Just few fruits and juice water and one prepared snack which would be usually slightly spicy.
Today's snack is our grandpa special. Fried boiled eggs. Tossing boiling eggs in spicy mix. Grandpa loves to have this every day of Ramadan . His favourite combo would be dosa and fried boiled eggs.
Here's the simple recipe for this Ramadan.

.
Ingredients

5 Boiled eggs
2 teaspoon red chilli powder
2 teaspoon chicken spice powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon plain flour .
Salt to taste .

Method 

Mix all the spices in little water to a fine paste.
Marinate the boiled eggs in spice batter for 10 minutes.
Stir fry in oil till just done.
Serve warm.

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Prawns masala addas\ Ramadan recipes 1

Asalamualaikum . Welcoming Ramadan for this year with so much gratitude and happiness . As for this holy month , I have seen some changes and that's how people are greating Ramadan this year with love and affection. It's not only the food but more focus is on the iftar giveaways and donations in the work camps , labour camps.  With the cleaning and among the other prepping for this  Ramadan I decorated my home too. But also we as a family have decided to work on more charity and learning more on Quran and it's history. Getting the kids wake up for suhoor is a task I really cannot handle... But my 5 year old wakes up and has a little of the yummies that's we make for suhoor . He loves the idea of waking up and having something to eat and pray fijr prayer. He calls that fasting in Ramadan. Though he threw tantrums for fasting this Ramadan...keeps an alarm and wakes up to the dot ... No fuss at all  and it's overwhelming when he comes down to eat and pray.  I guess he sees our excitement and wants to be a part of it too .

Now coming to the recipe . This month I will be focusing on recipes than the notes that I write to you ,. Today is our tangy and spicy prawn masala addas . Very filling and adding a little more tomatoes bringing the juicy prawns and spiciness out to explore your taste buds. Here's the recipe as follows...

Ingredients

  1/2 kilo prawns deviened  and cleaned.
  2 onions chopped finely
  3 tomatoes chopped finely
  1 green chilli
  Curry leaves
  Corriander leaves
  1 teaspoon Ginger garlic paste
  Salt to taste
  1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  1 teaspoon chilli powder
 
For the rice dough

1 cup rice , soaked in boiling water for 4 hours .
Salt to taste .
1 /2 cup rice flour 

Method.

Grind the rice in little water to a thick batter ( like iddli batter)
Add salt.
Add the flour and make a smooth dough .
Heat the pan and add coconut oil.
Add the onions and fry till light brown .
Add rest of the ingredients and saute well .
Flatten the dough to size of the palm . Spread the masala evenly and cover fold the dough to half . Steam cook till done .
It took me half hour to cook the rice dough.

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