Chicken and Egg Fried Rice

After many tries found this recipe for chicken egg fried rice exactly like the ones we get in the restaurants in India. Everybody at home loved this.




Ingredients:

Chopped carrots - 1/4 cup
chopped beans - 1/4 cup
peas - 1/4 cup
chopped spring onions - 1/4 cup
chopped onions - 1/4 cups
pepper - 1 tsp
Basmati Rice - 2 cups
eggs - 4
finely chopped chicken - 1/2 cup
chopped ginger and garlic - 2 tbsp


Preparation:

1. Marinate the chicken with turmeric, salt and yogurt for 1 hour
2. Wash the basmathi rice in hot water. Heat 6 times water in a thick bottom open pan and add the washed rice. Let it cook for 10 minutes or until its almost done. Turn off the stove, drain the water, spread the 3/4th cooked rice in a board vessel and let it dry.
3. Add the chopped vegetables (carrots, beans and peas) in a bowl and add water just to cover the vegetables and microwave it for 5 minutes.
4. Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped onions, ginger and garlic.
5. Once the onions turn golden brown, add the chicken.
6. Fry til the chicken cooks completely and then add the eggs, adding pepper and salt fry until the eggs are cooked along with the chicken.
7. Once the eggs are done, add the boiled vegetables from the microwave.
8. Now add the spring onions and in medium flame mix the cooked rice and serve.

Stuffed Mushrooms

This is a very simple and healthy appetizer or a snack. This surely is a great treat for the mushroom lovers. Enjoy.




Ingredients:

Button mushrooms - 1 pack (From Sams Club)
Organic baby spinach - 1 pack (From Sams Club)
Butter - 1 tbsp
Garlic and herb seasoning (I use the Tone's with no salt and no msg from Sams club) - 1 tsp
Grated cheese - 1 tbsp (any kind will do)


Preparation:

1. Heat butter in a pan and add the spinach. Cook for 5 minutes until the spinach is done.
2. Add the garlic and herb seasoning and the grated cheese in low flame and let the stuffing become little sticky.
3. Wash and clean the button mushrooms. Remove the stems and use only the caps.
4. Stuff the mushrooms caps with the spinach stuffing from step 2
5. Line up the mushrooms with the stuffing in a tray and put it inside the oven and cook in 350F for 15 to 20 minutes until the mushrooms are done.

Spicy Chicken gravy and masala

This gravy turned out awesome and I referred the Spicy Chicken Masala Curry from Sailu's food and changed the recipe to my liking. The best part of the gravy is that it does not need coconut at all and still gives a thick, tasty kurma style flavor and consistency. It was great with dosa/iddli/chappatti/white rice.

The chicken masala is really spicy and has a great aroma of the Indian spices. So its a great food for the spice lovers. It tastes great with white rice and rasam.



Ingredients for the spicy chicken gravy:

Chicken breasts - 1 pound
onions chopped - 1/2 cup
tomatoes chopped - 1/2 cup
chilly powder - 1 tsp
cummin powder - 1/2 tsp
corriander powder - 1 tsp
pepper powder - 3/4 tsp
turmeric - 1/2 tsp
curd - 2 tbsp
casews - 6
curry leaves - 10
garlic - 3 pieces
ginger - same quantity as garlic
cloves - 4
cinnamon - 2 small sticks

Preparation of the gravy:

1. Marinate the cut chicken with curd, chilly powder, turmeric and salt
2. In a pan heat the cloves, cinnamon, curry leaves and casews and grind it into a fine powder
3. Grind ginger and garlic and make a paste
4. Heat oil in a pan and add the onions, paste from 3, tomatoes.
5. Add cummin powder, corriander powder, pepper powder and cook until it lets out the oil.
6. Turn off the stove and cool the contents and grind it into a paste.
7. Now heat oil again in the same pan and add the marinated chicken and let the chicken cook in it own water that it lets out.
8. When the chicken is almost done, add the paste from 6 and the powder from 2
9. Add water as much as you need and cook until the desired consistency is reached.



Ingredients for the spicy chicken masala:

chicken breasts - 1 pound
onion chopped - 1/2 cup
garlic - 2 pieces
ginger - same quantity as garlic
peppercorn - 10
cummin seeds - 1 tsp
cloves - 5
cinnamon - 2 small sticks
elachi - 3
poppy seeds - 2 tsp
red chillies - 5
curd - 2 tbsp
turmeric - 1/4 tsp

Preparation:

1. Marinate the cut chicken with curd, turmeric and salt
2. Grind ginger and garlic and make a paste
3. In a pan heat cloves, cinnamon, elachi, cummin seeds, peppercorns, red chillies, poppy seeds ad grind it to a fine powder
4. Heat oil in a pan and add the onions.
5. Then add the paste from 2
6. Turn off the stove and cool the contents and grind it into a paste.
7. Now heat oil again in the same pan and add the marinated chicken and let the chicken cook in it own water that it lets out.
8. When the chicken is almost done add the paste from 6 and the powder from 3
9. Cook until the oil separates.

Tomato Rice

A very simple dish that can be prepared in no time. The tomato rice with chips or papad is a good combination.



Ingredients:

Basmathi Rice - 1 cup
onions cut thin long - 1/2 cup
tomatoes chopped - 1/2 cup
green chillies - 4
garlic chopped - 2 tbsp
chilly powder - 1 tsp
cummin powder - 1 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
curry leaves - 5
mustard and urad for seasoning - 1 tsp

Preparation:

1. Wash the basmathi rice in hot water and cook it in the rice cooker.
2. In a pan heat oil, add mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves
3. Add onions and garlic and let it turn brown
4. Now add the tomatoes and the masala powders and salt.
5. Add little water and cook until it lets the oil out. Turn off the stove. You can use this curry as a gravy for dosa/iddli as well.
6. Mix the cooked rice and the curry gently

Mushroom Manchurian

Gobi/mushroom manchurian is a very famous indo-chinese dish that serves a great combination with fried rice or noodles. In most of the indo-chinese restaurants, I like to order the gobi manchurian as dry and extra spicy and simply love it. With different trials, this recipes works great for both gobi and mushrooms. Adjust the spice level to your taste with the quantity of chilly powder and green chillies you use.



Ingredients:

Button mushrooms - 10
maida - 1/4 cup
corn flour - 1/4 cup
chilly powder - 1 tsp
green chillies - 10
garlic - 4 pieces
ginger - same quantity as garlic
onions chopped - 1/2 cup
spring onions chopped - 1/2 cup
bell peppers chopped - 1/2 cup
garlic chopped - 1/4 cup
tomato ketchup - 3 to 4 tbsp
soy sauce - 1 tbsp



Preparation:

1. Wash and clean the button mushrooms. Remove the stems and use only the caps.
2. Grind ginger, garlic and green chillies to a smooth paste.
3. Mix maida, corn flour, paste from 2, chilly powder and salt with little water and make a smooth batter. Let the batter be very thick.
4. Now marinate the mushrooms with the mix from 3 for some time. coat the mushrooms generously with the thick batter.
5. Deep fry the mushrooms from 4 and drain it in a paper towel to remove the excess oil.
6. The mushrooms from 5 can be used a dry version and can be served as an appetizer.
7. In a separate pan heat oil and add the onions, garlic, bell peppers and then the spring onions.
8. After the onions are brown add the tomato ketchup, soy sauce and then add the mushrooms from 5 and mix well.

Note: You can follow the same recipe to make the famous gobi manchurian. You can make it dry or saucy by adding some water. Cook the cauliflower separately in microwave for 2 to 3 minutes before frying it.

Szechuan Fried Rice

This dish is a typical Chinese fried rice which can be described as spicy, hot, fresh and fragrant. This is a very simple version of the Szechuan Fried Rice and is very tasty. You can adjust the spiciness level with the amount of red chillies, peppercorn and the spicy sauces you use. The mushroom manchurian makes a perfect side for this rice.



Ingredients:

vegetables (carrots, beans, cabbage, bell peppers chopped really small) - 2 cups
peas - 1/4 cup
spring onion - 1/2 cup
red chillies - 6
garlic - 4 pieces
ginger - same quantity as garlic
peppercorns - 1 tsp
soy sauce - 2 tbsp
tomato garlic/chilly sauce - 2 tbsp
schechuwan sauce - 2 tbsp
Basmathi rice - 2 cups



Preparation:

1. Wash the basmathi rice in hot water. Heat 6 times water in a thick bottom open pan and add the washed rice. Let it cook for 10 minutes or until its almost done. Turn off the stove, drain the water, spread the 3/4th cooked rice in a board vessel and let it dry.
2. Grind red chillies, ginger, garlic and peppercorn to a coarse paste without adding water.
3. In a separate pan heat oil and add the stuff from 2 and fry for a minute.
4. Add the vegetables in the order carrot, beans, bell peppers and cabbage.
5. Add little water when the vegetables become dry.
6. Cook the peas in microwave for 2 to 3 minutes and add this.
7. Next add the spring onions.
8. Now is the time to add all the sauces and salt.
9. Mix well and add the cooked rice from 1

Note: You can add scrambled eggs to make Szechuan egg fried rice or the chopped and fried chicken to make Szechuan chicken fried rice.

Alfredo Pasta with brocolli and mushrooms

Here is a famous Italian dish. Olive garden which happens to be my daughters favorite restaurant serves fettuccine Alfredo chicken, a mouth watering dish. The Alfredo sauce happens to be my husbands favorite Italian sauce too. I like to cook with any kind of pasta rather than just the fettuccine especially the kids always love their pasta shapes and have so many preferences. This time I used the Halloween pasta which has all the fancy spider, jack-O-Lantern kind of shapes and she loved it.



Ingredients: Serves 4 - 6

Pasta - any kind 4 cups (fettuccine/shell/farfalle/fusilli/rotini/penne/any fun shaped pastas)
Alfredo sauce - 1 bottle (I use the Bertolli afredo sauce available from target/walmart)
Broccoli - 1 cup
Mushrooms - 1 cup (the white button mushrooms)
cheese - pepper jack 4 - 5 cubes
Garlic and herb seasoning (I use the Tone's with no salt and no msg from Sams club) - 2 tsp
chicken slices and cubed breasts - 1 cup (optional)
butter - 1 tbsp



Preparation:

1. Cook the pasta carefully as per the package instructions. Do not over cook the pasta because then it breaks.
2. Wash the mushrooms thoroughly. I use only the mushroom caps.
3. Add water to just cover the broccoli in a microwave safe bowl and microwave it for 3 minutes.
4. Marinate the chicken with 1 tsp of the seasoning and bake it in the oven for 15 minutes or until completely cooked.
5. In a pan heat the butter and saute the mushrooms for 5 minutes in medium flame. Check if the mushroom is cooked. Mushrooms cook faster just by sauteing and lets out the water.
6. Add the broccoli from 3 and cook for 1 minute.
7. Add the chicken from 4 and toss for 1 minute
8. In low flame add the garlic, herb seasoning and the Alfredo sauce.
9. Let the Alfredo sauce cook for a while. Add water if it gets too thick.
10. Add the cheese slices and once the cheese melts add the cooked pasta from 1.
11. Mix everything gently and serve

Chapatti rolls

A very simple dish that serves best for breakfast or a simple lunch or a heavy snack. Easy to pack lunch box item and a healthy one. I made it with lots of vegetables and egg. You can also make the stuffings with the chicken keema. Here is the recipe,




Ingredients:

Vegetables - 3 cups (carrots, beans, bell peppers, cabbage, onions, green chillies)
Eggs - 2
cheese - 2 slices (any sandwich cheese slices would do)
Chappattis - 10





Preparation of the stuffing:

1. Prepare the chapattis with whole wheat flour
2. Chop the onions, vegetables and green chillies into really small pieces
3. In very little oil fry all the stuff from 2. Add little water and cook the vegetables. Don't overcook the vegetables.
4. Now spread the vegetables to the corner of the pan and add the 2 eggs and beat it to scramble it. Add little salt.
5. Once the eggs are done mix it with the vegetables
6. In low flame add the cheese slices until it melts and the stuffing becomes sticky.

Note: You can also make the chicken keema and add the cheese slices to melt on the chicken and this can be the chicken stuffing.

Preparation of the rolls:

Now spread as much of the stuffing you want in a chapatti and roll it and cut it for presentation.

Diwali Sweets

Diwali is a festival not just for lights, lamps and firecrackers, but for some mouth-watering delights as well. Each region of India has its own traditional variety of sweets made specifically for this festival. Bottomline is that we get a good opportunity to eat lots of sweets :)

Here are the sweets and snacks that I made for this Diwali,
Mysore Pak (The one in the middle of the picture)
Diamond Cuts (The diamond shaped pieces)
Adhirasam
Rava Paniyaram
Laddu
Channa Dal Vadai (This is the only kaara that I made)

Adhirasam

Adhirasams that my grandmother makes when I was little can never be forgotten. She gets us a big box of murukku and adhirasams every time we meet. I love those yummy adhirasams. My mother in law makes good adhirasams too. I called her to take her recipe and it turned out awesome.

Ingredients:

Manda Vellam (Jaggary) - 1 medium sized
Basmathi Rice - 2 cups
elachi crushed - 5

Preparation:

1. Soak the rice in water for 3 hours. Drain the water and spread the rice in a clean washed towel.
2. Grind the Rice in a mixie without adding any water. Make it like a powder. Use a sieve and keep filtering until the rice is evenly powdered.
3. Add the completely crushed elachi into the powdered rice.
4. Take water just to cover the vellam in a pan and heat it till the vellam melts completely in water.
5. Continue to heat in medium flame until you reach the required consistency of the syrup.
6. If you take a drop of the syrup and put in cold water it should form a ball. Keep checking for this consistency. Do not make it thicker than that. The consistency is very important to make soft adhirasams without cracks. Turn the stove off.
7. Slowly add the syrup to the powdered rice. Make a dough. Do not make the dough very thick like chapatti flour. MAke it little sticky because the flour continues to thicken.
8. Leave the flour for one day.
9. Make small balls and flatten it by pressing with your hands and deep fry it in oil. The adhirasams becomes pluffy and you can press the adhirasams between 2 thick spoons and drain out the excess oil and place it in a paper towel.
10. Adhirasams are initially crispy, but they turn soft after it comes down to the room temperature.

Channa dal vada

We call it aama vada. I used only channa dal for this vada. You can use the other dals too for this vada. Here is the recipe,


Ingredients:

Channa dal - 2 cups
onions chopped - 1/2 cup
green chillies chopped - 4
curry leaves chopped - 8
corriander leaves chopped - handful
fennel seeds - 1 tsp

Preparation:

1. Soak the channa dal in water for 3 hours
2. Drain the water and grind it with the mixie without adding water. Do not mash it. Grind it coarse along with the fennel seeds.
3. Mix it with salt, onions, green chillies, curry leaves, corriander leaves.
4. Make small balls and flatten it by pressing with your hands and deep fry it in oil.

Rava Paniyaram

A very simply dish again and is one of my favorites,


Ingredients:

Rava (Soji) - 1 cup
Maida - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
water - 1 cup
Oil - 1/2 cup (for frying)

Preparation:

1. Mix rava, maida, sugar and water into a dosa like batter and keep it aside for an hour.
2. Heat oil in a pan and pour the batter into the oil like you make bajji and deep fry.

Diamond Cuts

A quick snack that can be used especially during travel. Comes really handy then. This is a tasty, crispy and mildly sweet snack that kids will love. My daughter loved this snack, and suggested me making traingles, squares and circles rathan than just the diamonds :) Here is the recipe,

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Ghee - 1/2 cup
Maida - just enough to hold
Oil - 1/2 cup (For frying)

Preparation:

1. Mix sugar, milk and ghee in a bowl until the sugar dissolves and everything is blended well.
2. Slowly add as much maida the dough will need to get a chappatti like consistency.
3. Roll it like chappattis and make horizontal and vertical lines at an angle such that you get all diamond shapes.
4. Deep fry in oil. After removing it from oil place them all in a paper towel to drain out excess oil.

Mysore Pak

Nothing can beat the Krishna Sweets Mysore Pak. My daughter is a big fan of it too. My mom always makes good mysore pak and she says this is the easiest sweet that you can make. She makes it sound very simple. It should probably take 30 minutes maximum. Here is the recipe,

Ingredients:

Gram flour - 1 cup
sugar - 2 cups
ghee - 1 cup

Preparation:

1. Heat the pan and fry the gram flour for a few minutes and keep it aside.
2. Take sugar and add water just to cover the sugar and let it boil.
3. Once the sugar is dissolved, start adding the gram flour in one hand simultaneouly stirring the solution so that no lumps are formed. Slowly add all the flour into the solution and mix thoroughly with a big heavy handled spoon.
4. Put the ghee bottle in the microwave and heat until it completely melts.
5. When the flour is blended well with the syrup, pour the melted ghee little by little and stir constantly.
6. Initially the ghee gets absorbed into the mixture. It reaches a point where the mixture will not take more ghee and will start letting the ghee out.
7. At this point remove the mixture (which is still semi solid) from stove and pour in a broad vessel. If you let it stay more than the semi solid consistency, the mysore pak will turn hard.
8. Let it cool and make pieces.

Note: Important thing to note is that do not make the sugar syrup thick. The sugar should just dissolve in water and should easily flow. If not the mysore pak will turn gummy.

Laddu

The famous laddu's are altime favorites for almost every kid. We take our daughter to the Balaji temple here and my daughter will never forget to buy her laddu and will not give it to anybody else. She calls it a laddu temple :) I was married 6 years back and I was so much surprised when my mother in law had made a bucket full of laddus and packed for us while we left india to the USA. Those were amazing laddus and I always wanted to make such good laddus but never had the time to do so. Finally my dreams came true when I felt so good after making these laddus this time. Here is the recipe,

Ingredients:

Gram flour - 2 cups
Sugar - 2 cups
casews - handful
Ghee - Just for frying the casews
Oil - 1 cup (for frying the boondis)


Preparation of the boondis:

1. To the gram flour add very little water and make a batter. The batter should not be too thick or too watery. It should be of medium consistency like the iddly batter.
2. Heat the oil in the frying pan. Use the boondi making laddle (its a flat round laddle with small holes), to make the boondis. Keep the laddle on top of the oil at a distance and pour one big spoon full of the batter on the laddle. Tap gently with the spoon
3. Small droplets of dough falls in the oil and gets fried. When the boondis turn golden brown remove it and drain it in the paper towel to remove the excess oil.
4. After making all the boondis drop them all together inside the sugar syrup. Make sure the sugar syrup is just removed from the stove. It has to be warm. Mix it well and slightly grind it. (Dont mash it. Just the boondis should be broken. )
5. Fry casews in ghee and add it to the boondi mixture.
6. Make laddus when the mixture is lukewarm and you can hold them in hand. Its important to make the laddus when the mixture is warm otherwise, the sugar will crystallize and balls cannot be made.

Preparation of the sugar syrup:

1. Take the sugar in a separate pan and add water just to cover the sugar and turn the stove on.
2. Heat till the sugar is dissolved stirring it in between. When the sugar is completely disssoved, allow the syrup to boil until the required consistency is reached.
3. The sugar syrup when you touch with your thumb and forefinger it should form a string. turn off the stove once this consistency is reached.

Mushroom kulambu

This is a the curry that my mom makes right from my schooldays. A very simple and yet a special gravy that is a perfect side dish for chapattis/dosa. Its serves a complete lunch with white rice too. In India we get the chippi (like sea shells) mushrooms and they taste so good for this gravy. I got a mushroom mix pack from garden fresh this time and it turned out good. Here is the recipe,

Ingredients:

Mushrooms - 1 pack
onions thin cut - 1/2 cup
tomatoes chopped - 1/2 cup
green chillies - 2
curry leaves - 8
corriander leaves - handful
cocunut - 2 to 3 small pieces
chilly powder - 1 tsp
cummin powder - 1/2 tsp
corriander powder - 1/2 tp
pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp


Preparation of the kulambu:

1. Clean the mushrooms by washing them in warm water.
2. Grind the cocunut and the other masala powders into a smooth paste
3. Heat oil in a pan and add the green chillies, onions and curry leaves.
4. After the onions turn translucent, add the paste from step 2
5. Add the tomatoes and fry til the tomatoes cook.
6. Add the mushrooms, corriander leaves and salt and saute for a few minutes.
7. Add required water and pressure cook for one whistle.

Vegetable Cutlet

Cutlet is a famous appetizer in any indian restaurent. It serves a healthy snack loaded with vegetables. Its an easy-to-cook kid recipe and absolutely delicious. One could enjoy the cutlets in any get together.

Ingredients:

Carrots grated - 1/2 cup
beans chopped - 1/2 cup
peas - 1/2 cup
cabbage chopped - 1/2 cup
potatoes medium sized - 2
onions chopped -1/2 cup
ginger - 2 inch piece
green chillies - 6
Garam masala - 1tsp
bread - 4 slices
bread crumbs - 1/2 cup
corn flour - 2 tbsp
Maida - 1 tsp


Preparation of the cutlets:

1. Steam cook the vegetables. I add all the vegetables except potatoes to the iddli plates and steam cook for 10 - 15 minutes in the cooker.
2. Add water to a bowl with the potatoes whose skins are peeled. Microwave the potatoes for 5 minutes
3. Mash the potatoes and keep it aside
4. Make a paste of ginger and green chillies
5. Heat oil in a pan and fry the onions. After it turns trasnlucent, add the paste from 4
6. Next add the steam cooked vegetables and the mashed potatoes.
7. Add the garam masala and salt to this mixture.
8. Remove the pan from the stove and let it cool.
9. Immerse the 4 bread slices in water and crush the bread to remove the water.
10. Add this crushed bread, corn flour and half of the bred crumbs to the mixture and make it like a chappatti dough.
11. Make a small ball out of this dough and flatten it to the cutlet shape and touch it with maida and breadcrumbs and deep fry in oil.
12. Serve hot with tomato ketchup

Chettinad Style Chicken Curry

This is the recipe from this blog site (Sailu's Kitchen) and it turned out awesome.

Parotta Fry

Nothing can match the Saravana Bhavan's chilly parotta fry. The spicy parotta fry will be the first thing that I would crave and will eat as soon as I land India. Efforts made in recreating it seem be to successful this time. Here is the yummy spicy parotta fry.

Ingredients:

Frozen Parottas - 4
Onions chopped - 1/2 cup
tomatoes - 1/4 cup
baby carrots - 4
peas - handful
bell peppers - 1/4 cup cut evenly
cabbage chopped - handful
green chillies - 6
garlic - 2
ginger - same quantity as garlic
chilly powder - 1 tsp
cummin powder - 1/2 tsp
pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Eggs - 3
Kozhi kulambu - 3 tbsp
curry leaves - 10

Preparation of the parotta fry:

1. Grind the garlic, ginger and green chillies into a coarse paste.
2. Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan, and add curry leaves, onions.
3. After the onions turns translucent, add the paste from 1 ad fry for a few mintues
4. Add the chopped tomatoes, grated carrots, peas, cabbage, bell peppers.
5. cook the vegetables in medium flame and then add the masal powders and salt
6. Push the stuff in the pan to the corners and scarmble the eggs in the middle of the pan.
7. Once the eggs are done mix everything well.
8. Prepare the parottas as per the package instructions and cut them into small small pieces.
9. Add the cut parottas into the pan and mix very well.
10. Add the kozhi kulambu and fry the parottas for few more minutes in low flame.
11. The yummy parotta fry is ready and enjoy.

Chicken Keema Dosa with kozhi kulambu

Chicken Keema is a traditional dish of the India. It is typically ground meat and can be used as a filling for samosas or naan. The keema that I like to use as a filling for dosa can also be used to prepare chicken keema kottu parotta. I prefer to eat the chicken keema dosa with this kozhi kulambu, the authentic chicken curry that serves a perfect side dish.

Ingredients for the keema:

boneless skinless chicken breasts - 1 pound
onions chopped - 1/2 cup
green chillies - 6
garlic - 4 pieces
ginger - same amount as garlic
cummin seeds - 1/2 tsp
fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp
chilly powder - 1 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
cummin powder - 1/2 tsp
curry leaves - 10

Preparation of the keema:

1. Use a chopper to chop the cut chicken. If you only use mixies, use the mixie to chop the chicken, but just put it on for a second and stop. You should have a nicely ground meat.
2. In a pan heat oil and add cummin seeds, fennel seeds and then the curry leaves
3. grind ginger, garlic, green chillies without adding water.. (it shoud look like finely chopped pieces.. Don't make a paste)
4. Add the stuff from 3 and fry for a few minutes
5. Add the chicken and fry
6. Add the chilly powder, cummin powder, turmeric powder and salt
7. Fry until the chicken is cooked. Add very little water if it gets dry.

Ingredients for the kozhi kulambu:

Chicken pieces with bones - 1 pound (I prefer the organic chicken from whole foods)
Onions thin cut - 1/2 cup
tomatoes chopped - 1/2 cup
cocunut - 2 tbsp
casews - 10
poppy seeds - 1 tsp
garlic - 3 pieces
ginger - same quantity as garlic
chilly powder - 1 tsp
cummin powder - 1/2 tp
corriander powder - 1/2 tsp
pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
turmeric - 1/4 tsp
curry leaves - 10
cloves - 4
cinnamon - 2 sticks
elachi - 2
fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp

Preparation of the kulambu:

1. Grind cocunut, casews, poppy seeds, cloves. cinnamon, elachi, fennel seeds, chilly powder, cummin powder, corriander powder, pepper powder, turmeric, ginger, garlic and tomatoes.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add curry leaves, onions and fry until translucent
3. Add the chicken and the ground masala from 1 and fry until the chicken is completely covered with the masal.
4. When the chicken is half cooked add sufficient water and pressure cook for one whistle

Mochai Subji (Green beans Subji)

This recipe is from Mallika Badrinath "masala kurma varieties". I like the mochai payar as we call it in tamil. The fresh ones surely gives an awesome taste, but unfortunately we only get them frozen here as "Surti Papdi lilva". This goes good with white rice or chapatti.

Ingredients:

Mochai - 2 cups
small onions - 12
onions chopped - 1/4 cup
curry leaves - 8
cocunut - 3 tbsp
poppy seeds - 2 tsp
corriander seeds - 2 tsp
cummin seeds - 3/4 tsp
peppercorns - 8
red chillies - 6
tamarind- lemonsized


Preparation of the Subji:

1. Make a paste of coconut and poppy seeds
2. Heat little oil in a pan and fry corriander seeds, cummin seeds, peppercorns, red chillies. Next add little grated cocunut and fry for one minute in low flame.
3. Transfer the contents of step 2 into a mixie and fry the chopped onions in the same pan. Add the fried onions also into the mixie and grind it all to a smooth paste
4. Heat little oil in a pan, add mustard, urad, curry leaves and chopped small onions.
5. Now add the mochai and fry for a few minutes
6. Add paste from step 3
7. Prepare the tamarind extract. (Immerse the tamarind in little water in a bowl and microwave it for 1 minute. Let it cool and then extract the juice and discard the remains)
8. Next add the tamarind juice from step 7 and the paste from step 1
9. Add salt and sufficient water and pressure cook for 1 whistle.

Spicy Brinjal curry and the french beans dal side

This is one of my favorite recipes from Ramya. It was in 2002, I learnt this curry from her. It goes awesome with white rice. The french beans is the long tender beans. We get this from Sams club/Costco.

Ingredients for the curry:

Brinjals small - 10
Onions thin cut lengthwise - 1/4 cup
small onions - 10
tomatoes - 2 medium sized
cocunut - 3 tbsp
curry leaves - 8
tamarind - lemon sized
chilly powder - 2 tsp
garlic - 2 pieces

Preparation of the curry:

1. Cut the Brinjals removing the stem portion and just make 2 cuts such that the brinjals remain as a single piece
2. Grind the cocunut first and then add the small onions (Fry them in little oil before grinding), curry leaves, garlic, tomatoes and chilly powder.
3. Prepare the tamarind extract. (Immerse the tamarind in little water in a bowl and microwave it for 1 minute. Let it cool and then extract the juice and discard the remains)
4. Heat 3 tsp oil in a pan and add mustard, urad and the curry leaves
5. Next add the thin cut onions and fry til it turns translucent
6. Now add the paste from step 2
7. Next add the brinjals and cook with lid closed.
8. cook for 5 - 10 minutes until the paste is well cooked and the brinjals are almost cooked
9. Now add the tamarind juice prepared from step 3.
10 Add salt and cook until the oil separates.

Preparation of the beans:

1. Cut the french beans and add enough water and microwave it for 10 minutes. (Add water just to cover the beans)
2. Boil the toor dal separate with little oil, cummin seeds and turmeric powder in a pressure cooker.
3. In a separate pan heat little oil and add mustard, urad, curry leaves and the corriander leaves.
4. Add this stuff to the cooked dal along with salt and keep it aside.
5. In a pan, heat very little oil and add mustard, urad and curry leaves and add the beans done from step 1
6. Fry in medium flame. Let the water dry out.
7. Add the dal from Step 4. and keep stirr until the beans blends well with the dal and add required salt.

Mung bean sprouts curry

Mung bean also known as green bean, mung or moong. In tamil we call it pachchai payaru or paasi payaru or payirtham payaru. This being rich in vitamins and minerals always considered a healthy food and can be used in everything either as a salad or in soups or just as a healthy snack like a sundal. This is free of cholesterol and are ideal for anyone counting on calories. This is a high source of fiber and are easily digestible as it contains the enzymes facilitating the digestive process.



Here is a very tasty typical south indian style of cooking this sprout that goes great with rice, poori, chappattis.

Ingredients:

Onions thin cut lengthwise - 1/2 cup
tomatoes chopped - 1/4 cup
cocunut - 3 tbsp
green chillies - 6
corriander seeds - 1 tsp
fennel seeds - 1 tsp
poppy seeds - 1 tsp
ginger - 1 inch piece
coves - 4
cinnamon - 3 sticks
elachi - 2
sprouts - 2 cups
potatoes cut - 1

Preparation of the curry:

1. Heat very little oil in a pan and fry the onions til it turns translucent
2. Add tomatoes and fry. Adding salt here lets the tomatoes cook fast
3. Grind cocunut, green chillies, ginger, corriander seeds, fennel seeds, poppy seeds, cloves, cinnamon sticks, elachi into a fine paste
4. Add the paste from 3 into the pan and fry for 2 minutes
5. Add the sprouts, potatoes and sufficient water
6. Pressure cook for 1 whistle

I like to eat this curry with white rice and spinach on the side as shown in the picture :)

Potato Curry

Here is a very simple curry that takes a preparation time of 15 minutes. A good quick fix that goes great with poori/dosa.

Ingredients:
Onions thin cut lengthwise - 1/2 cup
tomatoes chopped - 1/4 cup
green chillies - 6
curry leaves - 4
corriander leaves - handful
potatoes cut to desired shapes - 1 cup
turmeric powder - less than 1/4 tsp
mustard seeds/urad dal - 1/2 tsp



Potato curry:

1. In oil add mustard, urad dal and curry leaves
2. Next add green chillies cut lengthwise
3. Add the onions and fry til it turns translucent
4. Then add tomatoes and then the potatoes.
5. Add the turmeric powder and salt
6. With sufficient water pressure cook for one whistle

Iddiyapam/kolakattai/puttu

Iddiyapam stems from south india. It is basically rice noodles eaten with cocunut milk and sugar. It can also be eaten with vegetable stew or aviyal or vegetable/chicken kurma.

Preparation of the flour:

The red raw rice is all that we need.

1. Soak the rice in water for one hour
2. Use the strainer to drain out the water
3. Fry the rice in an empty dry pan in low flame until the water in the rice dries out.
4. Grind the rice using mixie and use the strainer to get the fine composition of the flour.

Preparation of Iddiyapam:

1. Take the prepared flour and add boiling hot water (you could boil the water in the stove or in microwave) and make a dough like chapatti dough adding little salt.
2. Fill this dough in the iddiyapam maker and rotate the handle of maker in clock wise direction smoothly.
3. We will have the noodles coming out of the maker. Make two or three circular rounds of the noodle on to the iddi plates.
4. Steam cook like iddlis
5. Serve hot with cocunut milk and sugar or kurma

Preparation of Kolukkatai:

Use the prepared flour and make a dough like for iddiyapam and just make shapes like you want and steam cook it in iddli plates.

Preparation of Puttu:

Add grated cocunut and sugar to the prepared flour and add very little water just enough to hold the flour in hand. Stuff this mixture into the iddli plates and steam cook.

Sambar

This dish is common in the South made of toor dal. It is usually served with steamed rice and some vegetable side for a good lunch. With iddlis, sambar make a great breakfast/dinner.

Ingredients:

Drumsticks/Brinjals - 1 cup
Sambar powder Shakti masal - 1 tsp
Toor dal - 1 cup
Tamarind - lemon size
Onions thin cut lengthwise - 1/2 cup
tomatoes chopped - 1/2 cup
green chillies - 1
curry leaves - 4
corriander leaves - handful
cummin seeds - 1/2 tsp
mustard/urad dal - 1/2 tsp
fenugreek - 1/4 tsp
asofetida - a pinch

Sambar:

1. Boil the toor dal with turmeric powder and cummin seeds adding 1 tsp of oil (I like to use idhayam nallanai in particular for this)
2. Soak the tamarind in water and microwave it for 1 min. Once it cools, take the extract. throw out the pulp.
3. To the boiled dal add the cut vegetables, onions, tomatoes, green chillies, sambar powder, tamarind extract, asofetida, salt and sufficient water and pressure cook for one whistle
4. In a separate pan heat oil and add mustard, urad dal, cummin seeds, feugreek and curry leaves
5. Add the studd from step 4 into the cooker and decorate it with corriander leaves.

Mushroom curry

This is a rich curry that goes great with chapattis/naan and is very special for the mushroom lovers.

Ingredients:

Mushrooms button shaped - one packet
garlic - 4 pieces
ginger - same quantity as garlic
Onions thin cut lengthwise - 1/2 cup
tomatoes chopped - 1/2 cup
green chillies - 4
chilly powder - 1 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
casews - 10
corriander leaves - handful
Butter - 1 tbsp

1) Grind ginger and garlic and make a paste
2) Grind casews and make a paste
3) Grind tomatoes and make a coarse paste
3) In butter fry green chillies, musrooms and the onion leaves (we call it vengaya thal) fry until the mushrooms leave the water out. take them and keep aside
4) Now in little butter, fry onions, paste 1, paste 3 in order.
5) Add chilly powder, salt, little turmeric
6) Add paste 2
7) Keep frying in low flame til the butter and oil separates little and then add the fried stuff from step 3
8) once the mushroom is cooked u can garnish it with corriander leaves.

Chapatti kurma

Chapatti is my daughter's altime favorite. I make the chapatti dough and put it in the refrigerator almost a week. I can make the chapatti fresh as needed. I only use the whole wheat flour now, totally moving from maida to wheat. A biggest point in making this dough is to add hot water (I take the water in a bowl and microwave it for 2 to 3 min). It really makes the chapattis extremely soft. It remains soft even after a couple hours of leaving it outside. This way you dont have to add oil/ghee at all. the next step is just to roll and put it in a pan in medium flame. I call it pulka chapatti. The following kurma is a great combination for this chapatti.

Ingredients:

Carrot/Beans/peas/potatoes/cauliflower/capscicum cut evenly - 2 cups
Onions thin cut lengthwise - 1/2 cup
tomatoes chopped - 1/2 cup
green chillies - 12
cocunut - 3 tbsp
garlic - 3 pieces
ginger - same quantity as garlic
cloves - 4
cinnamon sticks - 4 sticks
elachi - 2
fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp
poppy seeds - 1 tsp
casews - 10
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Kurma:

1. Grind cocunut, garlic, ginger, green chillies, cloves, cinnamon, elachi, fennel seeds, poppy seeds, casews into a fine paste
2. In oil fry onions, the paste from 1 and tomatoes in this order
3. Add the vegetables, turmeric powder and salt
4. Add sufficient water and pressure cook for 1 whistle

Kathirika/murungakai puli kulambu

Here is the famous tangy kulambu, very common in the south. With white rice and potato fry, it makes a great lunch

Ingredients:

Brinjals small - 5
Drumsticks - 10 pieces (I use the frozen ones)
Onions thin cut lengthwise 1/2 cup
tomatoes chopped - 1/4 cup
green chillies - 2
Tamarind - a small lemonsize
Cocunut - 2 tsp
chilly powder - 1 tsp
cummin powder - 1/2 tsp
corriander powder - 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
curry leaves - 4
fenugreek - less than 1/4 tsp

kulambu:

1. Grind the cocunut with chilly powder, cummin powder and corriander powder ( alternatively you can fry the cummin seeds, corriander seeds, red chillies and grind them with cocunut)
2. Soak the tamarind in water and microwave it for 1 min. Once it cools, take the extract. throw out the pulp
3. In little oil, add mustard, urad dal, cummin seeds, fenugreek, curry leaves, cut green chillies
4. Now fry the onions until it gets translucent
5. Add the tomatoes and the paste from 1. Add turmeric powder and salt
6. Now add the drumsticks and the brinjals
7. Add the tamarind extract from step 2
8. Add very little water and cook for one whistle

Methi Leaves kootu

Trying to get on the healthy side of cooking and still maintaining a good taste, I found this one.

Ingredients:

methi leaves washed - 2 cups
onions chopped - 1/4 cup
tomato small chopped - 1
green chillies - 2
garlic - 1 piece
curry leaves - 4 leaves
mustard, urad dal - 1/2 tsp
toor dal - 1/4 cup

Methi leaves:

1. Cook the toor dal with little oil, cummin seeds and mash it
2. In very little oil, fry the mustard and urad dal
3. Add curry leaves, green chillies
4. Add onions and fry til it becomes translucent
5. Add tomatoes, garlic
6. Finally add the methi leaves
7. After it cooks and let out the water add the cooked toor dal and salt
8. Cook for 10 more minutes in medium flame

Ennai Kathirika

I recently got a liking for brinjals and trying out different things that could be done with the brinjals. This is from my friend Prathiba. I changed the recipe a little bit to my liking.

Ingredients:

Small cute brinjals - 10
cocunut - 1/2 cup grated
fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
ginger - 1 small piece
garlic - piece
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
onions chopped - 1/2 cup
mustard, cummin seeds - 1/2 tsp
curry leaves - 4 leaves
green chillies - 2

Brinjals:

1. Cut the Brinjals leaving the stem portion so that the brinjal stays as one single piece
2. Take oil in a pan (use more oil for this)
3. Add mustard seeds, cummin seeds, curry leaves
4. Add green chillies, onions fry til it becomes translucent
5. Grind cocunut, fennel seeds, chilly powder, ginger and garlic into a coarse paste
6. Add the ground stuff and fry in medium flame
7. Add salt and the brinjals
8. Cook until the brinjals are well done in medium flame

Squash Dal kootu

Here is a healthy curry that goes great with rice or with chappatis. I always make this curry with toor dal or moong dal until, I found from kay's kitchen that I can use channa dal too and get an awesome taste.

Ingredients:

Green Squash - 3
Channa Dal - 1/2 cup
onions cut lengthwise thin - 1/4 cup
green chillies - 4
cumin seeds - 1 tsp
cocunut - 2 small pieces
mustard, ural dal - 1 tsp
curry leaves - 4

Squash Dal:

1. Soak the channa dal for 30 min
2. Grind Cocunut, cummin seeds and 2 green chillies
3. Heat very little oil in a pan and add mustard, urad, curry leaves, green chillies cut lengthwise
4. Add the onions and saute til it becomes translucent
5. Add the cut squash
6. Add the ground stuff from step 2
7. Add turmeric powder and salt
8. Add the channa dal and water just to cover the stuff
9. Cook for one whistle

Channa Masala

Channa masala is always a very famous curry for chappattis/pooris.

Ingredients:

white kabuli channa - 1 cup
garlic - 2 pieces
ginger - same quantity as garlic
clove - 3
cinamon - 3 sticks
elachi - 2
onions cut lengthwise thin - 1/2 cup
tomatoes ground coarse - 1/2 cup
green chillies - 4
chilly powder - 1.5 tsp
chole masal - 2 tsp
curry leaves - 4 leaves
cilantro - handful

Channa masala:


1. Soak the channa dal in water overnight
2. Pressure cook the channa dal separate
3. Grind clove, cinnamon, elachi, ginger and garlic
4. In oil, add the stuff from 3
5. Add onions, green chillies and cilantro
6. Grind the tomatoes (dont turn it into a smooth paste)
7. Add the ground tomatoes
8. Add the chilly powder, chole masal and salt
9. Add the cooked channa dal
10. Pressure cook for one whistle

Poori

Pooris are always my favorite. Its very recently that I discovered that making the pooris with whole wheat flour too gives a good taste. I have noticed that it absorbs very less oil than using the maida. Make a dough with the whole wheat flour with water. Add water in the right proportion such that the dough is not too soft or it should not be too hard as well. Roll it and deep fry it in oil and enjoy :)