Arikadukka – Stuffed mussels

Back home, my mom prepares arikadukka whenever we get big mussels. The mussels stuffed with the rice flour mix and then fried in coconut oil… Have them hot with some tomato ketchup….. slurrrrpppppp…..

Last day, when we went for grocery shopping, we came across a bunch fresh mussels. AJ couldn’t resist himself from getting it. It was so small and preparing arikadukka out of it was supposed to be difficult. Or in my mom’s words, it is not worth the effort. But I decided to try it out just because of my craving...  Believe me, it was not that difficult and was definitely worth the effort. The bigger the mussels, the better.. But the small ones are equally delicious and yummy..

Ingredients:

             Mussels/Kadukka                                 --   30 – 45 small ones
            Rice flour                                                  --   1/2 cup  + 1 tbsp (if required for batter while frying)
           Water                                                         --   a little less than 1/2 cup
           Shredded Coconut                                --   1/4 cup
           Shallots                                                     --   2
           Green Chillies                                          --   3-4
           Fennel Seeds / Perumjeerakam      --   1 tsp
           Curry leaves                                            --   1 spring
           Chilly Powder                                         --   1 tsp
           Turmeric Powder                                  --   1/4 tsp
           Salt                                                               --   to taste

Preparation of Arikadukka:

Clean the shell of the mussels and split open with a blunt knife without breaking the shell. Remove any hairy kind of  material from it.

 

Take 2-3 mussels out of the shell and keep aside.

 

Grind the shallots, green chillies, fennel seeds, curry leaves and the shelled mussels along with a pinch of salt. Add coconut to the ground mixture and crush them. Just pulse in your mixer.

    

 

Boil the water and add the rice flour into it and keep stirring as you add the flour. Switch off the flame and let it cool a bit. Once you are able to touch it with your hands, knead into a smooth dough . Add the ground coconut mixture into the dough and mix well.

 

Check for salt and add if required, but remember that the mussels are a bit salty. Instead of using rice flour, you can prepare the dough using raw rice. Soak half a cup of raw rice for a couple of hours and then grind into a fine paste adding minimum amount of water.

 

Fill the flour mixture in each of the mussels, close them and tie it tight with a thread. Tying with the thread helps to keep the stuffing inside, without letting it move out when cooked. You can fill in more than what I have done and let the mussels be half open and then tie it. I reduced the filling in each as we concentrate more on the mussels than the stuffing, also the mussels were very small.

    

          Steam the mussels in a covered vessel until cooked (It took around 15 minutes for me.) 

          Remove the mussels from the shell and keep them aside.

     

Mix the chilly powder, turmeric powder, salt and a tbsp of the left over flour mixture(if you have any) , or 1 tbsp of rice flour with water and make a thin paste.

   

Dip the mussels in the batter and deep fry in oil. Drain on to a kitchen towel and serve hot.

 

Submitting this to Akheela's  Food palette series Orange

Celebration Chocolate Cake

Any one would love this moist chocolate cake.  This recipe is adapted from the Hershey’s site. I was in search of a chocolate cake recipe and landed up in Divya’s chocolate cake event. She has also tried this out and those pics made me drool. AJ is not a great fan of cakes, but this time he asked for more and also asked me to make it once again. An appreciation from his side is very rare and that happens only when he likes something very much. The whole credit goes to Hershey’s.

Now its his Bday today and I’ve prepared it once again. This time I had to make a larger cake and so I did sandwich a vanilla cake in between. I shall update the recipe of the vanilla cake later. The first pic is that of the Bday cake and the rest are that of the one which I prepared before. I know, I have to master the art of writing on cakes J J J

Ingredients:

     Cake:

           All-purpose flour          --   1 ¾ cup
           Baking soda                    --   1 ½ tsp
           Salt                                     --   ¼ tsp
           Hershey's Cocoa           --   ¾ cup
           Boiling water                 --   1 cup 
           Butter                                --    ½ cup + 2 tbsp 
           Sugar                                 --   2 cups 
           Eggs                                   --   3
           Vanilla Extract             --   1 tsp
           Milk                                    --   ¾ cup
           Dairy sour cream         --   ¼ cup  (I used thick yogurt)

     Filling:

           Heavy whipping cream --   200 ml
           Sugar                                     --   ½ cup
           Cocoa Powder                   --   3 tbsp
           Slivered Almonds            --   ½ cup

     Icing:

            Heavy whipping cream   --   100 ml
            Icing Sugar                           --   1/2 cup
            Semi-sweet chocolate      --   100 gm
     Rose:
            Vegetable Shortening       --    1/4 cup
            Powdered Sugar                  --    1 cup
            Water or Milk                        --    2 tsp
            Vanilla extract                      --   1 tsp
             Salt                                            --    a pinch

Preparation of the cake:

              Heat oven to 350°F. Grease three 9-inch round baking pans (I made in two pans and filled in 2 cup cakes as well) and dust with flour. Mix cocoa with boiling water in small bowl; stir until smooth. Set aside to cool.

    

             Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Gradually add cocoa mixture, beating well.

     

             Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternately with milk and sour cream to butter mixture, beating until blended. Pour batter into prepared pans.

        

             Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks;Cool completely.

Preparation of the filling:

               Whip the heavy whipping cream until they form peaks. Fold in the powdered sugar and the cocoa powder. 

               Spread it over the first cake and then sandwich the other on the top. You can also sprinkle some slivered almonds on the whipped cream. I spread the same mix on the sides of the cake and also sticked on some almonds over there.

     

               This is a trick to stick the almonds on the sides of the cake. I have not yet mastered the art of spreading the icing on the sides of the cake. So any irregularity is covered up J

Preparation of the icing:

               Add the chocolate and sugar to the cream and keep it on a double boiler until the chocolate is completely melted. Let it cool and then pour it over the cake. 

      

Preparation of the rose:

                    Mix all the ingredients and make a rose. Check out this youtube video and get an idea. I do not know how to explain J.

Kappa Vevichathu (Mashed Tapioca)

Ingredients:

          Tapioca                              --   ½ kg
          Turmeric Powder          --   ½ tsp             
          Shallots                              --   1 large    
          Green Chillies                  --   4-5
          Cumin Seeds                    --   ½ tsp
          Red Chillies                      --   2
          Mustard seeds                --   ½ tsp
          Curry Leaves                  --   1 spring
          Oil                                        --   2 tbsp
          Salt                                      --   to taste

Preparation of Kappa:

         Peel the tapioca and cut into medium size pieces.

         Take 5 – 6 cups of water in a large vessel. Add salt and turmeric powder. Once it boils, add the tapioca and let it cook until tender. Drain the water and keep aside.

      

         Grind shallots, green chillies, cumin seeds with salt. Heat oil in a pan and splutter the mustard seeds and add the red chillies. Fry for half a minute and then add the ground mixture.

    

         Add the curry leaves and then add the cooked tapioca. Optionally you can also add cooked black chick peas, moong dal etc.

        Mix well and serve hot with fish curry or chilly chammanthi.

Parippu Vada (Masala vada)

This is AJ’s all time favorite. This is a crispy and crunchy tea time snack. Anyone can keep on munching this at any time of the day. In Kerala you can see this available in all chaaya kada / thattu kada (tea shops) and in every train. Every other week, during my travel from Kochi to Calicut and the way back, I never missed the parippu vada from the Shornur Station.

Ingredients:

         Toor dal                  --    ¾ cups
         Channa Dal            --    ½ cup
         Asafoetida             --    a pinch
        Green chillies         --   4 –5
        Onion                        --    ½ of a medium sized
        Ginger                      --   1 inch piece
        Curry leaves         --   1 spring
        Oil                              --    to fry
        Salt                            --    to taste

Preparation of Parippu Vada: 

         Soak both the dals together in water for two hours. Strain the water and pulse the dals in the mixer. It should be ground into a course mixture.

     
        

          Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

    

        Heat oil in a deep pan. Make small round shaped vadas and deep fry. Remove them from oil when brown and drain on a tissue paper. Serve hot.

Kadhai Gosht – A North Indian Mutton Curry – Borrowed Recipe

This is another wonderful recipe from Shab’s cuisine with slight modifications from my side.  Really loved this one and will definitely follow this again.

Ingredients:

          Mutton                                    --   1 kg
          Onion                                       --   3 medium size
          Yogurt                                    --   5 tbsp
          Garam Masala                    --   2 tsp
          Ginger Garlic Paste           --   2 tbsp
          Tomatoes                              --   2 large
          Green chillies                       --   5-6   
          Turmeric Powder              --   1/2 tsp
          Chilly Powder                     --   2 tsp
         Coriander Powder             --   2 tsp
         Cumin seeds                          --   1 tsp 
         Cardamom                            --   4 no 
         Cloves                                     --    5 no
         Cinnamon stick                   --   2 inch piece
         Coriander leaves                --   2 cups chopped

 

Preparation of  Kadhai Gosht:

Wash mutton pieces and drain well. Marinate the meat with the onions chopped into tiny pieces/grated, yogurt, ginger garlic paste and garam masala. Refrigerate it in a container with lid for over night.

Bring the marinated meat to room temperature before cooking.

      

In a pressure cooker, heat oil. Add cardamom, cinnamon and cloves and sauté for few seconds till it leaves aroma.  Add in the chopped tomatoes and green chillies. Sauté until the tomatoes are squishy.

   

Add salt, chilly powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder  and cumin seeds and stir fry for few minutes.

Add in the marinated meat and sauté for 10 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Add ¾ cup water, stir well and pressure cook till done. Adjust the salt if required. If required, add water and let it dry as per required gravy. Since we already sautéed meat for sometime, it would take less pressure cooking time. So don’t forget to check in between for doneness.

    

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or chapathi.

Spicy Dahi Murg

I was searching for a different kind of chicken curry and I found this @ Shab’s place. I loved the recipe and the name she had given to this J Though she has warned about the risk of getting this correct, I could come up with  a yummy dish. I am not sure if mine was the same as what her mom prepared. But we liked this version. Thanks to Shab’s mom for the wonderful recipe.

Ingredients:

        Chicken                                            --   2 lb (approximately 1 kg)

    For marinade:

        Chilli powder                                --   2 tsp
        Coriander powder                     --   4 tsp
        Greek yogurt or  thick curd   --   6 tbsp
        Lemon juice                                  --   1 tbsp
        Salt                                                   --   to taste

    Others:

        Onion                                               --   1 medium size
        Ginger                                             --   1 inch
       Garlic                                               --   7 large cloves
       Oil                                                      --   3 tbsp
       Cumin seeds                                  --   1 tsp
       Cardamom                                    --   3
       Cloves                                              --   5
       Cinnamon stick                            --   2 inch piece
       Coriander leaves                         --   ½ cup(loosely packed) chopped
       Tomato                                            --   1 medium size

Preparation of  Dahi Murg:

        Mix all the ingredients for the marinade and apply it to the chicken.Mix well. Cover and leave it in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours.

       Heat a large saucepan and add oil. Add cumin seeds along with other whole spices. When the aroma comes,add in chopped onion,little salt, ginger and garlic and fry until the onion starts to turn golden in colour.  Add in the chopped tomatoes and fry until they are squishy.

 

       Add in the marinated chicken and mix well. Cover and cook in low flame until the chicken is almost cooked and the gravy is very thick. Add some water if required. ie only if water doesn’t come out of the chicken. Add in the chopped coriander leaves and stir carefully. Cover and cook until done.

     Serve hot with chapathi, pathiri etc..