Pappadam

Ingredients (Yields 20 - 25 based on size):

       Urad Dal whole        -  1 cup
       Baking soda             -  ½ tsp
       Salt                           -  1½ - 2 tsp    
       Oil                            -   2 - 3 tsp
       Water                        -  ½ cup

       All purpose flour      -  as required, while rolling

Preparation:

       Grind the urad dal into a fine powder. Sieve it using a strainer/sieve with small holes.

       Add the baking soda and salt to the urad flour. Give a quick mix. Add oil and start mixing to just incorporate the oil into the flour.

       Add water and mix well to form a thick rough dough. At this stage add more oil if needed, not more than a teaspoon.

       Transfer the dough onto a clean chopping board / counter top / any clean hard surface. Use a pestle to pound the dough. I actually started with the base of the mortar first and as the dough became softer, used the pestle to pound it better. This step takes approximately 15 - 20 minutes of continuous pounding.(Yes thats a good workout for your arms.) The dough would be now soft to handle.

        Roll the dough into a log, approximately half inch diameter. I divided the dough into two before I rolled. Using a knife cut the log into approximately an inch pieces.

        Roll each portion into small rounds, dusting with all purpose flour. Using a cookie cutter, or any round lid, cut the rolled ones into perfect rounds. I used a small lid and hence my pappadoms were a bit smaller than the regular size ones. However, size doesnt matter.

         Spread the pappadoms on a clean cookie sheet and let it dry under sun for 10 - 15 minutes. Flip them in 10 minutes to have it completely dry. Do not dry it too much as it might get stiff. It should still be pliable.

         Fry the pappadoms in hot oil. We fried all of it right then and hence not sure about the shelf life.

Recipe Courtesy: Ria's Collection / Story telling camera

Vattayappam

Ingredients( 8 inch round):

           Rice Flour - 1 cup
           Yeast         - 3/4 tsp
           Luke warm water - 1/4 cup
           Sugar        -  1 tsp + 1/2 cup
           Grated coconut - 1 cup
           Egg Whites - 1 large
           Ghee - 1 tsp
            Salt - as required

Preparation: 

Add the yeast and 1 tsp sugar to luke warm water and set aside to bloom. Meanwhile, grind the coconut with little water to a smooth paste. Mix this with the rice flour and sugar.

Once the yeast is ready, add that as well to the mixture and set it aside for 3-4 hours. Add more water if needed. The batter consistency should be similar to dosa batter.

Beat the egg whites stiff and fold them into the batter. Add salt.

Grease the pan with ghee and add the batter to it. Steam cook for 25 minutes on medium flame.

Recipe Courtesy: Ria

Idly Bajji

Ingredients:

Idly                                          --    8 - 10 

Besan flour                             --   1 cup

Rice Flour                               --   ½ cup

Red chilly powder                 --   1 ½ tsp

Black Pepper Powder           --   ½ tsp

Asafoetida                              --   ¼ tsp

Oil                                           --    to deep fry

Salt                                          --    to taste

Water                                      --    as required

Preparation of the Bajji:

Mix the besan, rice flour, pepper, chilli powder, baking soda and salt. Add water little by little to form a batter similar to the dosa batter consistency.

Slice the idly into four.

Heat oil in a pan for frying. Dip the idly pieces in the batter; let the pieces be well coated with the batter and deep fry until they turn brown and crispy.

Serve hot with ketchup or any chutney. 

Kothu Poratta / Chilly Poratta

Ingredients (Serves 3 - 4):

Plain parottas         -- 6 small
Onions                        -- 1 cup, chopped
Green chillies           -- 2, slit lengthwise
Ginger                         -- 1 tbsp, chopped finely
Garlic                          -- 1 tbsp, chopped finely
Tomatoes                  -- 1 cup, chopped
Cumin Seeds             -- 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder   -- ¼ tsp
Red Chilly Powder -- ½ tsp
Garam Masala          -- ½ tsp - Increase it to 1 tsp, if you do not have the left over gravies
Left over kurma or any similar gravy -- ½ cup
Pepper Powder        -- ½ tsp
Eggs                              -- 2
Coriander leaves     -- ½ cup, chopped
Oil                                  -- 2 tbsp
Salt                                -- as required

Preparation:

Chop the parottas and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan, preferably something like a wok. Add the cumin seeds and let it splutter.Add the chopped onions, green chillies, ginger and garlic. Sauté until the onions are translucent.

                 

 

Add the turmeric powder, chilly powder, and  garam masala and sauté until the raw smell disappears. Add the chopped tomatoes and saute until they are mushy. Add the left over gravy at this stage.

Break in the eggs into the pan and do a quick mix with the masala. Throw in the chopped parotta when the eggs are still wet. Mix well, gently though to coat the parottas with the eggs and let it cook. Saute until the eggs are cooked and the gravy is completely absorbed.

                 

If you would like to add chicken, add 1 cup of cooked and shredded chicken along with the chopped parottas.

Sprinkle the pepper powder and garnish with the coriander leaves. Serve hot.

Paalaada(Rice crepes) with Chettinad Egg Curry

 

Chettinad Egg Curry

Ingredients (Serves 5 - 6):

For Roasting and Grinding:

Cloves -- 7
Cinnamon -- 3 inch piece
Dry red chilli -- 4
Coriander seeds -- 1 tbsp
Black pepper -- 1 tsp
Cumin seeds -- ½ tsp
Fennel seeds -- 1 tsp
Poppy seeds -- 1 tsp, Or 6 - 8 almonds/cashews
Grated coconut -- ½ cup

For Gravy:

Onion -- 2 medium size, around 3 cups, finely chopped
Tomato -- 2 medium size, around 1½ cups, chopped
Garlic -- 3 cloves
Ginger -- 1 inch piece
Green chillies -- 1 - 2
Turmeric powder -- 1/4 tsp
Salt -- to taste
Coriander leaves -- 2 sprig, for garnishing

Eggs -- 6 nos.
Red chilly powder -- ½ tsp

Oil -- 3 tablespoons
Mustard seeds -- ½ tsp
Fennel seeds -- ½ tsp
Bay leaves -- 1
Curry leaves -- 1 spring

Preparation:

Hard boil egg for 10 - 12 minutes. Once done, remove the shell and prick using a fork. Keep aside.

Meanwhile, dry roast all the ingredients given under "For Roasting and Grinding" except poppy seeds/nuts. On a low flame roast until the coconut is brown in colour. Add the poppy seeds/nuts and turn the flame off. Let it cool to room temperature.
Grind to make a smooth paste by adding required water.

Make a paste of ginger, garlic and green chilly. I prefer using a mortar and pestle for this.

Take a pan and heat oil in it. Add the eggs followed by red chilly powder and required salt. Fry it rolling in the pan, so it gets fried with the masala coating. Drain the eggs from the oil and keep aside.

Add mustard seeds, fennel seeds and bay leaves to the oil(Add more oil if required). Let them splutter.

Add chopped onion with curry leaves. Saute it till the onion is translucent. Add the freshly ground ginger garlic green chilly paste and fry for 1 - 2 minutes.

Add the chopped tomato and cook till the tomato is mashed up. Then add the ground masala and turmeric powder. Mix well.

Once the masala gets cooked well, add 1-2 cups of water. Let it boil in medium flame.

When the gravy becomes thick and the oil oozes out from the gravy, add eggs, mix it well and turn off the flame. You can cut the eggs into half if required. I like it that way so that more masala gets into it.

Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Reciepe Courtesy: Umas Kitchen

Paalaada - Rice crepes with Egg & Coconut Milk

Ingredients (Serves 4):

Rice -- 1 cup, I used Sona masoori
Eggs - 1
Coconut Milk -- 1 cup, Regular whole milk works well too
Water -- as required
Salt -- to taste

Preparation:

Wash and soak rice for 4 - 6 hours.

Grind it adding the coconut milk / whole milk. Add more water as required. Grind it until it is really smooth.

Add the eggs and blend it well.

Add salt and give a mix. The batter should be of buttermilk consistency. Add more water if required.

Now heat a nonstick pan. Pour a ladleful of batter in it and swirl the pan so it coats on all side of the pan.

This takes only 10 - 20 seconds to cook. Once it is cooked, fold it into triangles.

Serve hot with any spicy gravy. It made a good combo with the chettinad egg curry.

Reciepe Courtesy: Youtube

Perfect Pound Cake

Ingredients:

All Purpose flour  --   200g
Baking powder       --   ¼ tsp
Salt                              --   ¼ tsp                   
Unsalted butter     --   227g/2 sticks(softened)
Granulated sugar  --   250g
Eggs                            --   4 Large, at room temperature
Lemon zest              --   1 tsp
Vanilla extract      --   1 tsp
Heavy cream         --   80ml

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare a 4 x 8 inch pan - Grease and line it with parchment paper.

Sift flour with baking powder and salt and set aside.

Cream the softened butter in a mixer at medium high speed until creamy (about 2 mins). Add sugar and continue beating for about 4 mins until light and fluffy.

Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs one at a time, until well blended.

Add the lemon zest and vanilla extract.

Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating it with heavy cream.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 60-70 mins (It took 68 mins for me) , until the cake turns brown and a skewer comes out clean.

Recipe Courtesy: Shirley

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Ingredients:

Unsalted butter    --   1½ cups (3 sticks), room temperature
Cream cheese        --   1 bar (8 ounces) , room temperature
Sugar                         --   3 cups
Eggs                           --   6 large
Vanilla extract      --   1 tsp
All-purpose flour --   3 cups
Salt                             --   2 tsp
Baking Soda            --   ¼ tsp
Baking Powder      --   1 tsp

Preparation of the pound cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Grease two 8 ½-by-4½- by-2 ½-inch loaf pans and keep aside. (I made in one loaf pan with half the quantity.)

Sift the flour,salt, baking powder and the baking soda in a large bowl and keep aside.

Beat butter and cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add sugar; beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla. With mixer on low, add flour in three additions, beating until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Tap pans on work surface to eliminate any large air bubbles.

Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out almost clean, 60 to 75 minutes (if the tops begin to brown too quickly, tent with aluminum foil).

Cool 10 minutes in the pan. Turn out the cakes; cool completely, with top sides up, on a wire rack.

Recipe Courtesy: Joy of Baking

Chocolate Banana Nut bread

 

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour    --   1 ¾ cup, I have also tried with multigrain aata
Cocoa Powder           --   ¼ cup
Granulated Sugar     --   1 cup
Baking Powder          --   1 tsp
Baking Soda                --   ¼ tsp
Salt                                 --   ¼ tsp
Eggs                               --   2 large
Unsalted Butter        --   ½ cup
Ripe Bananas             --   3 Chiquita / 1 ½ cup mashed
Vanilla Extract         --   1 tsp
Chocolate Chips       --   ½ cup
Pecans                          --   ½ cup, Toasted and chopped

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9 x 5 loaf pan.

In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients -- flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In another bowl, combine the mashed bananas, lightly beaten eggs, melted and cooled butter, and vanilla.

Fold in the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a spatula until just combines.Fold in the nuts and chocolate chips.

Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for about 60 - 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let it cool on a wire rack and then remove the bread from the pan.

Serve warm or a room temperature.

Recipe Courtesy: Joy of baking

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

The first time I made a pineapple upside down cake, I did not bother about its authenticity or origin or even how it is served. But I just followed the recipe from my friend and got a yummy outcome. This time, I just came across few pics of this upside down cake and there I noticed a cast iron skillet. That was a news to me and on further browsing I came to know that these upside cakes has its origin in the cast iron skillets.

This being an interesting fact, I thought of giving a try.  And now I am sure that I ll definitely make this many more times and this recipe is a sure keeper. Since I broke one whisk of my hand mixer, I wanted one recipe which does not call for beating egg whites to peak. That’s how I landed here and I wasn’t wrong.  – Quick, easy and yummy.

Ingredients:

Topping:

Unsalted Butter          --   5 tbsp
Dark brown sugar      --   ½ cup, firmly packed
Pineapple rings           --   7, I used Dole 20 oz can
Maraschino cherries --   7
Chopped walnuts        --   ½ cup

Cake:

Unsalted Butter          --   5 tbsp, softened
Granulated sugar       --   ¾ cup
Egg                                   --   1 large
Salt                                   --   1 tsp
Baking powder            --   2 tsp
Vanilla extract            --   1 tsp
All-Purpose Flour      --   1-1/3 cups
Whole milk                    --   ½ cup

Preparation of the cake:

Preheat the oven to 365 degrees F.

For the topping,  melt the butter over medium heat in a 10 inch cast iron skillet. Sprinkle brown sugar over it and stir.Swirl it and make sure you have an even layer. Once it start bubbling, remove from heat and keep aside.

Drain the rings from the pineapple can. Place the rings over the caramel. Place a cherry in the center of each ring. Sprinkle the chopped walnut in the remaining area over the caramel. Keep it aside.

Beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg, salt, baking powder and vanilla and beat well until combined. Divide the flour into 3 and add each portion followed by half of the milk and repeat, to end with the flour.

Carefully spread the cake batter over the pineapple rings and smoothen the top using a spatula or spoon.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Make sure you do not poke into the pineapple while testing the cake.

Remove the cake from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Place the serving plate over the top of the skillet and flip over. Let the cake fall onto your serving plate. Remove the skillet. There might be pineapple rings or cherries sticking onto the pan. Never mind - Using a fork or spoon, pick it from the pan and place it on the cake. It would not be difficult/sticky as we have enough butter in the caramel.

Reciepe Courtesy : Food Family & Finds

Pesarattu with Red pepper chutney

Gone was a wonderful weekend. With loads of people around. Children – crying, shouting, laughing, sleeping, fighting… what not.. I always love it that way. Only thing which I do not like is such days are so short. I always wonder if the clock runs faster – the cheater clock.

Now coming on to the recipe. I had this dosa from my cousins place and always wanted to try this out. But never worked out. And finally when they visited our place, I made her make this for us and learnt too. Here comes the recipe of this yummy and healthy dosa and a wonderful colourful chutney.

Pesarattu - Ingredients:

Moong dal / Green gram --   2 cups
Rice                                          --   2 tbsp (any kind of rice, uncooked)
Fenugreek                             --   1 tsp
Cumin Seeds                         --   1 tsp
Salt                                           --   as required
Onion                                      --   to garnish (optional)
Green Chillies                       --   to garnish (optional)

Preparation:

Soak the moong dal, rice and fenugreek for 5 - 8 hours or overnight. Drain and Grind the soaked items adding cumin seeds, salt and water to a coarse texture. It should NOT be so fine. You do not have to ferment it.

Chop the onions and green chillies into small pieces and keep aside.I did not use green chillies as we did not want that spicy.

Using a ladle pour the mixture onto a hot griddle and spread it in circular motions to prepare the yummy dosa. Garnish with onions and green chillies.Let it cook for a minute or two. Turn it over to cook the other side for a minute. Remove it from the pan.

                   

Repeat this until the mixture is done. In case your dosa sticks to the pan, you can wipe the pan with a little oil in between each dosas.

Chutney - Ingredients:

Red Pepper       --   1
Onions                --   1 medium size
Tomato               --    2 small size
Ginger                 --   1 tbsp, chopped fine
Garlic                  --   2 - 3 cloves, chopped fine
Mustard seeds --   1 tsp
Curry leaves    -- 2 - 3 leaves
Oil                        --   as required
Salt                      --   as required

Preparation:

Clean and chop the onions,red pepper, tomatoes, ginger and garlic.Heat oil in a pan and add the onions. Saute until they are transparent. Add the red pepper, tomato, ginger and garlic and saute until they are slightly mushy.Let it cool. Grind into a fine paste.

           

In the same pan, heat more oil and add curry leaves and the mustards. Let the mustard seeds splutter. Pour this over the chutney.Serve this with hot dosas.

Recipe Courtesy: Minu chechi

Chocolate cake

Hello everyone.. It has been a while since I wrote something here. I was busy with work and now too busy being a working mom. Luckily I am out of my kitchen nowadays as I have my mom here with me. I know it is not tuff and I am not the first person to be so. Its just the matter of getting used to and getting into a routine. Till then, I would like to describe myself as “BUSY”… he he ..  It has been few days that I thought of writing something here, to open up my mind. I know all of us, genuine bloggers, are against plagiarism. Some see their recipe stolen, few lovely pics and even the whole blog is stolen at times.

But have you ever thought of the thought being misunderstood as a thief when you did not even think about that? Yeah someone pointed at me thinking I stole something from their blog without giving them due credit.  I was so sad and disappointed when I came to know that. I did speak to that person and I tried to explain my innocence. But not sure if they believed me or not.  I never got a convincing reply. May be they still believe that I am the culprit….

Believe me, I am now scared to even look into another blog – May be I get inspired reading those and might use similar words in describing my recipe, especially when I try to translate Malayalam into English. Friends.. Let me know what you would  have done in such a situation.

Okay… Now coming to the cake. I made this for my dad’s bday. I have never seen him celebrate his bday. He doesn’t believe in celebrations during bdays.  He never wished us ‘Happy Bday’ on our bdays. But we used to gave small get togethers for our bdays when we were kids. I ve even tried asking him to wish me. His answer is “veruthe enantham kalikkathe po” – Let me try to translate it. Something like “Just go away without kidding” . Eventhough I made the cake, I did not expect he would cut it. But he happily did that .. may be to make us happy or may be he was also happy doing it or may be he is getting into these celebrations. Anyways…. love you Acha and wishing you a very Happy Birthday once again…..

I wanted to post this on that day(13th) itself. But as mentioned above, getting used to the new roles and trying to fit everything into schedule, this was something I could push apart.  

Ingredients for the base cake:

All-purpose flour, sifted  --   2/3 cup
Dutch-processed cocoa powder --   2/3 cup
Vanilla extract  --   1½ tsp
Hot clarified unsalted butter --   4½ tbsp
Eggs --   6 large
Sugar --   1 cup

Ingredients for the Filling:

Confectioners' sugar --   1 lb
Unsweetened cocoa powder --  ½ cup
Butter        --   1 stick or ½ cup, at room temperature
Vanilla extract --   1 tsp
Boiling water  --   1/3 cup
Heavy cream --   2 cups
Simple syrup --   1/3 cup, (equal amounts sugar and water, simmered until sugar dissolves)

Ingredients for the Decoration:

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted

Preparation of the base cake:

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Fit the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan, with parchment paper and set aside.

Sift together the flour and cocoa three more times and set it aside. This helps the cake to be airy.

Whisk eggs and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer. Set the bowl over simmering water and heat the eggs, whisking constantly, until they are slightly warm. Remove it from the water and beat the eggs at high speed until they have tripled in volume. They should form a ribbon when the whisk is lifted. It took around 25 - 30 minutes with my hand mixer.

Sift the dry ingredients into the egg mixture and gently fold in. This should be done in 3 - 4 batches.

Mix hot clarified butter and vanilla extract in a bowl. Add about 1 cup of the batter into the mixture and fold together until well blended. Add this over the batter and gently fold it in. This helps the butter to combine well into the batter without too much of mixing.

Pour into the cake pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the top of the cake springs back when pressed gently. Let it cool completely and then get prepared for the decoration and fillings.

Preparation of the filling:

I made using half of the above quantity. With an electric mixer beat the butter until light and fluffy. Sift the confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder into and mix until completely combined. It will be in a powdered state and not creamy at this stage. I couldnt get any pictures at this point.

Add the vanilla and boiling water and mix until smooth.

In another bowl, whip the heavy cream until soft peaks. It is better to chill the bowl and the whisk before whipping. Add this into the chocolate mix and fold in until completely combined

Preparation of the decorative pieces:

Get ready with the parchment paper spread on a flat surface. Keep a ziplock cover open and ready to use.

Grate the chocolate onto a parchment paper. Take 2/3 of this in a bowl and microwave for 10 secs. Take it out and mix well. It wouldnt have completely melted at this stage. Do not heat it at a single strech. Because atleast a part of the chocolate get over heated and hence will loosen the molecules and the chocolate will not hold its shape.

Repeat for 2 - 3 times until the chocolate is completely melted. Add the remaining chocolate into it and mix well. If it is too hard, keep in the microwave for another 5 - 10 secs. Pour this into the ziplock cover and draw the patterns as per your ideas. Let it cool completely before you remove it from the parchment paper. Decorate.

    

For a better idea of tempering and decorating visit the videos at howtocookthat.

Assemble the cake:

Cut the cake into 3 horizontal layers. Place the base layer on a 10 inch cake board. Generously brush the top with the simple syrup. Add 1/3 of the filling and level it. Repeat this with the next layer and top it with the final layer. Cover the whole cake with the remaining filling and decorate according to your ideas.

Recipe Courtesy:
Base Cake: CafeFernando
Decoration: Howtocookthat
Filling: Started with food network ended in my own recipe as the other one was too sweet for us.