Paal Kozhukatai
I got this recipe from my sister. She used to make it for special ocassions and “Paal Kozhukatai” is one of my favorite recipes from her kitchen. As many other not so often made dishes, I’ve always thought it would be pretty tough to make it. But I finally decided to make it on Gokulashtami (an Indian festival) and it came out really awesome. And its not at all tough to make. It just took like 30-40 minutes for me to make this lovely dessert. Hope you enjoy making this recipe. Ingredients: Rice flour: 1 cup Coconut milk : 1 cup water :1 cup Milk : 1/2 cup cardamom : 5-6 (crushed) saffron : a pinch Sugar : 1/2 cup (according to your sweet level) Method Of Preparation: Take a cup of rice flour in a pan and add...
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Coconut and Rice Kheer – Thengai Arisi Payasam
Kheer or Payasam is an Indian dessert made for festivals and special occasions. Coconut and Rice kheer is popular in South India and I love this kheer just for the combination of rice and coconut cooked in milk. To sweeten this dish, we can add either sugar or jaggery. I prefer sugar to jaggery for this payasam. Finally enhanced with the flavor of cardamom and fried cashew nut. It is a bit time consuming but very simple procedure. Try this and let me know how it turns out. Preparation time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 2 hours No. of servings: 6 t0 7 Ingredients: Basmati rice – 4 tbsp Shredded coconut – 1/2 cup Milk – 8 cups Sugar – 3/4 cup Cardamom pods – 4 Broken cashew nut – 2 tbsp Ghee (clarified butter) – 1 tsp Method of Preparation: Soak...
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Godhuma Rava Briyani/Cracked Wheat Briyani
My mother used to make lot of dishes with cracked wheat. I never got a chance to make anything with cracked wheat myself. Cracked wheat is healthy and you can substitute it instead of rice. If you are in a good diet I would recommend this to eat with sambar, rasam or anything. It is good for health and is low in calories. One of my good friends, Swathika from work, gave me this idea about making briyani in cracked wheat. She had actually made briyani in Rava (Sooji). So I decided to try making Briyani in cracked wheat. Ingredients: Cracked Wheat : 2 cups Onion: 1(medium) Ginger & Garlic Paste: 2 tbsp Tomatoes: 1 Curry leaves: 5-6 Mint leaves: 1/4 cup Coriander leaves: 1/4 cup Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp Oil: 3 tbsp Bay leaves: 2 Cloves: 3 Green...
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Pidi Kozhukkattai – Steamed Sweet and Hot Dumpling
Pidi Kozhukkattai or Steamed Rice Dumpling is a South Indian delicacy which is made for an evening snack or tiffin. There are two types, sweet and the spicy version. It is more like making upma and then steaming it. So it is also known as Upma Kozhukkattai. The spicy dumpling is generally served with coconut chutney or by itself. It is very easy to make and perfect for kids and adults. Ingredients: For Sweet Dumpling: Rice – 1 cup Shredded coconut – 3 tbsp Crus ed jaggery – 1 cup Cardamom – 2 count Water Method of Preparation: Wash rice, strain it and dry it on a clean cotton towel or paper towel. Spread it well so that it helps in drying. Once the rice is dried, grind it coarsely like rawa/sooji. Separate into two halves and measure the quantity....
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Pudhina Puloa/Mint Rice
We have a vegetable garden in our backyard this summer. We planted some mint and they are growing nicely. I made this Mint Pulao from our garden fresh mint. There is nothing like the smell of fresh mint and fresh cilantro from your own vegetable patch.Mint Pulao is one of those items you can whip up quickly yet it has the taste like you spent hours toiling in the kitchen heat making this perfect dish. Ingredients: Mint : 2 cups Coriander leaves : 1cup Garlic : 3 Ginger : 2 tbsp Coconut : 1/2 cup Green chilies : 8- 10(Adjust according to your spice level) Vegetable Oil : 3 tbsp Bay Leaves : 2 Cloves: 3 Cinnamon stick : 1/2″ Onion : 1 (medium)chopped finely water : 3 1/2 cups Basmati Rice : 2cups Paneer : 1 cup (fried)(optional)...
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Rigatoni Spinach Pasta
I adapted this recipe from food channel. My husband and myself recently become very addicted to Italian food. We’ve had a party at our home and I planned to prepare totally different kind of dishes on that day. I used to watch Food TV whenever I get time. I found this recipe and most likely the combination of spinach and pasta is very interesting, so I made this spinach rigatoni pasta for the party and it was a sooper dooper hit. Everyone loved it. It is easy to make too. Ingredients: Rigatoni Pasta : 1 lb Olive oil : 1 tbsp Unsalted Butter : 1/2 stick Shallot : 1 (large) minced Mozarella cheese : 1/2 lb Garlic : 2 cloves (Pressed) All purpose flour : 1/4 cup Milk : 1 1/2 cups Ground Nutmeg powder : 1/4 tsp Ricotto...
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Cashew Pepper Chicken Curry
You’ve heard me mention and share some excellent recipes from my beloved sister Suja. Now it is my pleasure to share her recipe and pictures straight from her Kitchen. The speciality about this recipe is that all the ingredients are available in any Indian pantry. It is a simple recipe you can make it in 30 minutes. It tastes best with chapathi, rice and parota. Try this recipe and share your comments for Suja. Ingredients: Chicken : 500gms Onion : 1 (medium) Tomato : 1(medium) Ginger and garlic paste : 2 tbsp Turmeric Powder : 2 tsp Peppercorns: 10 Green chilies : 2 Red chili powder : 1 tsp Cashew : 5-8 Badam : 3 (optional) Curry Leaves : 4-5 Method Of Preparation : Heat oil in a pan add onions and fry them till it becomes translucent. Now...
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Crab Curry
 Crab is one of my most favorite non vegetarian dishes. Growing up in a town close to the Bay of Bengal, we had no shortage of fresh seafood. In fact, my mom used to make crab atleast once in every 2 weeks.Crab can be made into delightful dishes in various forms and recipes. Crab Curry has to rank amongst the top contenders there. And this is another one of my sister’s (Suja) recipe and as usual it turned out to be a mind blowing entree. If you have a love for crab meat, I welcome you to try this recipe and let me know how it turned out. If you made your own modifications to it, also share it with me. After all cooking is part experimentation + part personalization (kai pakkuvam in Tamil). Ingredients: Crab : 2...
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Potato Fry
This is one of the easiest potato fry recipe. When I got married and started to learn cooking Potato fry was one of the few recipes that I’ve mastered. I’ve learned this recipe from my husband. He used to make this all the time when he was a bachelor as it is something very quick to make as well as tasty. Also it goes as a great side for plenty of dishes like sambhar rice, Porichakuzhambhu rice. Ingredients : Potatoes : 2 (medium) OIl: 1/4 cup Chili powder : 4 tbsp ( According to your spice level) Mustard seeds : 2 tsp Urad dal : 2 tsp Curry leaves : 5 to 6 Salt : required to taste Turmeric powder : 1/4 tsp Method of Preparation : Cut the potatoes in  half and pressure cook them for 2 whistles...
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Okra Fry
Okra/vendakkai fry is most popular side dish in south India. Okra is a love or hate thing for many. Some people love em (me) and some people hate em (hubby). But, if you are looking to convert those who hate it, Okra Fry is probably your best bet. Okra fry would make for a great side dish for a variety of rice dishes. My recipe is a simple and easy version, you can make it spicy and crispy and it will go great with Sambar/Rasam. Ingredients: Okra/Ladies finger : 2 cups (sliced into small discs) to thin circles) Onion : 1 medium Green chilies : 4 Curry Leaves: 6 Salt : required to taste Oil : 3 tbsp Yogurt : 2 tbsp Urad dal : 3 tsp Mustard seeds : 2 tsp Method Of Preparation : Heat oil in...
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Spicy Mutton Chukka
I am sure you have one of these obscure things in the vast array of food that we consume, that just hits the spot with certain dishes. Mutton chukka is one of those dishes for me. Being a southie, it tastes heavenly with rice dishes like Sambar rice, Rasam rice & even Briyani. If you make it a little not-so-dry you can even have it paratha or rotis. Ingredients: Oil : 1/4 cup Mutton : 1/2 kg (cut into small pieces) Onion :Â 2 cups Tomato : 1/2 cup Chili Powder : 2 tbsp Green chilies : 2 to 3 Turmeric Powder : 1/4 tsp Ginger : 2 tbsp garlic : 3 Cumin seeds : 1/2 tsp Fennel seeds : 1/2 tsp Cloves: 3 Bay leaves : 2 Cinnamon : 1/4 “ Curry leaves : 8 to 10 Method...
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Plantain Masala Fry
Plantains tend to be firmer and lower in sugar content than dessert bananas. Bananas are most often eaten raw, while plantains usually require cooking or other processing, and are used either when green or under-ripe (and therefore starchy) or overripe (and therefore sweet). In south India plantain leaves are used like plates for serving food. In Kerala, a food preparation called “Ada” is made in plantain leaves. – (Wikipedia) This is the first time I’ve made Plantain curry after my marriage. I love plantain my mother use to make lots of dishes using Plantain. After my mother-in-law visited us this summer our food habit changed a lot. Finally we are eating a lot of vegetables now  🙂 . She used to make this fry with her own magical touch. I got the recipe from her and it came out...
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Baklawa – The Sweetheart Middle Eastern Dessert
Baklawa is a signature middle-eastern dessert and is a favorite favorie favorite sweet of mine. I used to pester my hubby often to get this from a middle-eastern restaurant in town. It is even our make-up dessert after our little fights. That’s how much I like it. Even though I have tried my hand at baking a little, Baklawa seemed very intimidating to make it in my kitchen. And just the other day, I was talking to an old time school friend of mine, Subash. He is now a chef and when we started talking about food, he mentioned he had a simple to make yet an authentic recipe for Baklawa from a Labanese chef. He was kind enough to share it with me and a huge THANKS to you, Subash. Ingredients: Phillo pastry : 1 pack Sugar :...
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Tomato Rice – Thakkali Sadham
Time is passing like crazy and I apologize for my absence off late. Tomato Rice has to be one of those simplest of  variety rice dishes yet can be very fulfilling to your taste buds. It’s one of my favorite lunch box meals in my school days. This is the first year we had a little garden patch in our backyard and we got plenty of tomatoes this season. Tomato rice being like my most favorite of variety rice dishes, I made it from our own garden tomatoes. It’s actually very easy to cook too. This is my mom’s special recipe and I can’t believe I am letting the family secret out. Just kidding :-). I love sharing those secrets with you. Ingredients: Tomatoes : 2 (make it into puree) Onion : 1/2 ( Medium) Green chili : 4...
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Vadakari – Lentil Curry
When I was in India Vadakari used to be in our breakfast menu atleast twice in a month. It is one of my favorite sides with idli . But I never got a chance to get the recipe and live demo from my mom. After I got married I came to know it is my hubby’s favorite too. I tried it a few times but it wasn’t even anywhere close to my moms recipe. My mother-in-law is in town and now she made this last month for us and I was like this is it! It was just my moms recipe and the same restaurant style taste that I used to crave for. And now I got the recipe and tried it last week by myself and it came out really good. It is again one of the famous...
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Black Forest Cherry Torte – Black Forest Cake
Cake, when you hear the word, you can imagine all the mouth watering cream and toppings blended with the soft layers of the spongy cake. Black Forest Cherry Torte (torte is the German word for cake) is one of the popular German dessert. It is a chocolate layer cake with whipped cream, cherries and chocolate curls. The cake is further decorated with whipped cream, cherries and chocolate shavings. It is a pure heaven when it melts in your mouth. This is the first cake I have ever baked in my life and I am so happy that the output was good. I made this wonderful cake for my friend Satish’s birthday. Satish is my one of my best friend and luckily we happened to stay in the same city and he stay very close to my house. This was...
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Curried Shrimp Skewers
Our good friends, Romie & Peter had invited us over for dinner. Romie had made several delicious dishes for us. She is an excellent cook and every time we go over to her place, I am looking forward to a new dish she would have made. And this time was no different. She had made multiple mouth watering dishes and I really loved perai (Kerala dish) and Curried Shrimp Skewers. I couldn’t resist to take pictures of them and share it with you all. And I am posting the Curried Shrimp Recipe here on behalf of her. I will be posting the Perai (kerala dish) recipe very soon. The first thing that struck me, probably you too, is the presentation. Doesn’t it look so inviting? Here is an awesome recipe and pictures from Romie’s kitchen. Ingredients: Raw Shrimp :...
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Seafood Paella (Traditional Spanish Recipe) and an Award
Paella is a traditional Spanish dish. But it tastes almost like Indian Biryani. The speciality of paella is its used to cook in a special paella pan which is a large, shallow, flat pan. From Wikipedia, Paella is a typical Valencian rice dish from Spain. The origin of the name paella is in the Valencian for frying pan. This word in turn derives from Latin patella and is akin to French poêle, Italian padella, Old Spanish padilla and New Mexican Spanish Paella. Paella is usually garnished with vegetables and meat or seafood. The three key ingredients are rice , saffron, and olive oil. An important part of the flavor comes from the addition of saffron and the sofrito, or the combination of tomatoes, and garlic (and sometimes peppers). if you are a vegan one can substitute vegetables instead of...
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