Fish Molly / Molee

Ingredients

1. Fish - ½ kg
2. Onion – 2 thinly sliced
3. Ginger –1 inch
4. Garlic –5 - 6 cloves
5. Green chilli – 3 – 4
6. Cloves – 6
7. Cinnamon – 2 stick
8. Cardamom – 5
9. Bay leaves - 2 
10. Tomato – 2-3
11. Coconut milk – 2 cups
12. Oil – enough to shallow fry fish
13. Mustard Seeds –1 tsp
14. Curry leaves – a hand full
15. Salt – to taste

For Marination

1. Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
2. Pepper powder – 1 tsp
3. Lemon juice – ½ lemon (optional)
4. Salt - to taste

Method

1. Marinate the fish pieces with turmeric powder, pepper powder, salt & lemon juice and keep aside for 1 hour.
2. Meanwhile prepare all the other ingredients. 
3. Shallow fry the marinated fish till they are half done.
4. Heat oil in a pan and splutter the mustard seeds.
5. Make sure that the heat is on medium and add the cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and bay-leaves and fry for few seconds.
6. Add ginger and garlic and fry for a min.
7. Now add onions and green chillies.
8. After few minutes add the tomatoes and saute for few more minutes.
9. Once the tomatoes becomes soft add coconut milk and salt. Let it boil.
10. Add the fried fish pieces and cook till they are done.
11. Serve hot with Palappam or bread.

Medu Vada

Friday morning I was searching the net for a nice easy recipe... something to make for Iftar. It had to be something simple... and by simple I mean: less mess to clean up after. I guess this is why I hate cooking to start with. All the dishes to do and the cleaning up...
I'm not so familiar with food names Indian or others... so even if I did come across something I've had, the name might make me think it as something new, until I go thru the ingredients. As a kid I wasn't much into any food. I'll eat if I was really hungry and mostly it was Indomie noodles or some sandwich or the potato+maccaroni + maggie cube+ milk thing I used to make... I liked that combination and used to make every time I felt I needed a snack....
I've had vada's made of urud daal but when my brother-in-law, Nafih, mentioned this soft, donut-shaped vada made of urud daal, I thought it must be something new. He said my mom-in-law makes real good vada's... and so that was it.. it intrigued me... if he'll like it then I'll try making it...
Getting the men to eat is not something easy. After having a baby, I love practically every and all kinds of food. But that is not the case with my husband... or his brother... Good thing my son takes up from me on eating habits :D

After blogging about food for more than half the year, I'm not only starting to love the way food looks, I also developed a more than healthy appetite for them. Searching for new recipes to try out, I've come across some really amazing food blogs. I love to read them coz they write with such passion about food... it's really inspiring :) . Steffy and I will be updating our Blogs v luv with the lovely blogs we come across. Some of the most recent being: Foodelicious, Kurryleaves and The Big Sweet Tooth... such charming ladies behind these blogs :) ... Do check them out... I'm sure you'll love them...

Coming back to the Vada's..... as i said i thought they were something new until I checked Google.... Google says its the same stuff u make for dahi vada excluding the dahi...
I really am no good at food and names... :)

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients: 
- Urud daal - 1 cup
- cumin seeds - 1 tsp
- a few curry leaves, finely chopped
- chopped onions - 2 to 3 tbsp (optional)
- Ground Pepper - 1tsp
- Asafoetida - a pinch
- salt to taste
- Oil for frying

How to make:
Soak Urud daal for 6 hours or over night.
Blend it into a course, thick paste. When blending add as little water as possible.
Add the cumin seeds, chopped onions, curry leaves, pepper, asafoetida and salt. Mix well. Beat the batter with a spoon until its all fluffy....

Make into donut shape and deep fry... fry until they turn golden brown...

This chutney is my current favourite dip. There is tamarind, coriander and chillyyy!!! All my favourites mixed together to give a mouth-watering, spicy dip for vada's, cutlets, onion rings....

I was more in love with the dip than the vada's. Quite easy to make too.

Blend together 1/2 cup of chopped coriander leaves, 4 tbsp of thick tamarind paste, 2 green chillies and salt. Make it into a paste.... 

Enjoy!!  :)

Beef Curry

Ingrdients

1. Beef - 1 kg
2. Potato - 1 big
3. Onions - 2 nos
4. Shallots - 1 cup
5. Dry red chillies - 10 nos
6. Coriander seeds - 3 tsp
7. Black Pepper - 1 tsp
8. Cinnamon - 2" piece
9. Cloves - 4 nos
10. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
11. Garlic  - 10 nos
12. Ginger - 1" piece
13. Tomatoes - 2 nos
14. Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
15. Coconut oil - 3 tbsp
16. Salt - to taste
17. Curry leaves - few
18. Coriander leaves - 2 few
19. Corn flour - 1tsp (optional)

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the dry red chillies and keep aside.
2. Fry coriander seeds and keep aside.
3. Fry black pepper, cinnamon sticks, cloves and cumin seeds together and set aside.
4. Saute Shallots, till they turn brown.
5. Grind all the above fried ingredients together.
6. Pressure cook chopped beef with turmeric powder, salt, potato and the above mixture.
7. Saute onions in the pan, till brown followed by green chillies, crushed garlic and ginger and chopped tomatoes.
8. Add these to the cooked beef and cook for few more minutes.
9. When the curry turns brown, turn off the flame.
10. If you want the gravy to be thick,  mix the corn flour in a little cold water and add it to the curry (optional).
11. Garnish with curry leaves, coriander leaves and a spoon of coconut oil.

Enjoy with Puttu or Appam!

Crispy Onion Rings

This is one easy-to-make, mouth-wateringly deeelicious, crispy-crispy snack. :)
My elder sister, Shahmida, introduced me to this.

All u need are some onions, Gram flour, Rice powder, Chilli powder and salt...

Make a batter with 1 cup gram flour, 1/4 cup rice powder, 1/2 tsp chilli powder and salt. Add just enough water to get a thick batter kinda like idly batter...

Slice the onions into rings, Dip in the batter and deep fry in hot oil. It is all bound to stick together, so put one at a time if ur not in a hurry :)

Serve ASAP so that it stays crispy.. :)

Serve with a nice sauce to dip and eat... tamarind-dry red chilli-coriander is a good combination if u want a spicy-sour one. Tomato Ketchup would also do.

I don't like ketchup as a sauce. I like it on bread... as a sandwich :D. One of my friend back in KG used to always get Tomato Ketchup sandwich :D and I used to go home, ask my mother to make me that. Since then I love it. I still do :)

Chicken Cutlets

Yeeessss..... only one cutlet....

It's been a week since Ramadan started and I haven't been able to take any pics of the food I make. I always cook just before Iftaar and there wouldn't be any time for pics. And later there won't be any left overs to show how it was either.

But yesterday, I managed to save one cutlet! :P

Here's the recipe for about 20+ cutlets:

- 1/2 kg Boneless chicken cut into small pieces
- 2 Potatoes (Pressure cooked.. then mashed)
- 1 Big onion sliced into fine cubes
- 4-5 cloves of garlic sliced finely
- ginger (half or just a little more than half the amount of garlic u take)
- 2 green chillies sliced finely
- pepper powder - 1 tsp (add more if u want)
- salt to taste
- chopped coriander leaves 1/4th of a cup
- 1 egg
- Bread crumbs
- Oil for frying

If ur potatoes are big add only 1. It's better to have more chicken than potatoes...

Heat oil in a big frying pan. Sautee onion till it becomes soft. Add ginger, garlic and green chillies. Cook for a minute or 2 then add in the chicken pieces, salt and pepper. Cook the chicken well. As it's boneless and small they'd cook fast. If there are big pieces of chicken do try to break them down. When u feel the chicken is cooked switch off stove. Add in the potatoes and coriander leaves. Mix everything well. Add salt or pepper if needed.

(Do be careful with the salt. If salt is less in the cutlet u could always serve it with a nice chilli or ketchup sauce. No one would notice the salt....but an excess of salt in cutlet? What can be done for that? Any ideas?)

Beat the egg in a bowl.

Now, after u've let the mixture cool down a little, make small cutlets in whatever shape u want. Dip the cutlet in the egg, then coat it with bread crumbs. Do that for the rest of the cutlets.
When you are done with all, fry in oil till they turn golden brown. Fry only as much as u need. You could freeze the rest for cooking later.

You could make cutlets with leftover chicken too. The number of cutlets will depend on the size of your cutlet...

Cauliflower Kurma

Hey guys....

I had made some veggie gravy Monday night to go with rice for dinner... because I was out of non-veg to make curry :). A meal without fish/chicken is not much appreciated here. So while the guys had gone out to buy some fishy/chickyy, I made this cauliflower kurma.

My husband loves cauliflower and I had a lot of it sitting in the fridge. At first I thought of making cauliflower curry with coconut milk, but then the cauliflower kurma (which is with either thick cream or coconut grinded to paste) has much richer flavour and I love the creamy texture..

I opted for the kurma...

I had thought of frying whatever non-veg they get... but there wasn't any time for that. They came home pretty late... around 11. I had given them a big list of things to buy. Ramadan shopping list. I wanted to keep things ready so that all my fasts are not totally absorbed with cooking. The funny thing about fasting is, we tend to want to make each and everything that comes to mind. Even the food we dislike otherwise starts to sound and look appealing :P :D

This is what all you'll need for making the kurma...

Ingredients:
- Cauliflower - 1 big flower
- Medium sided onion - 1/2 cut lengthwise
- Tomatoes -1/2 cut into cubes
- Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
- Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
- Coriander leaves- 1 tsbp chopped
- Oil - 2tbsp
- Salt to taste

To grind:
- Coconut or Cream (I used cream) - 1/4 cup
- Fennel seeds  - 1tsp
- Cashew nuts - 5
- Onion - 1/2 medium
- Tomato - 1 small
- Garlic -  5 cloves
- Green chillies - 2
- Cinnamon - 1/2 inch piece
- Cloves - 2

How to make:
- Grind all the ingredients under 'To grind'  with little water to a smooth paste and keep aside.
- Clean and cut cauliflower into small florets and pressure cook with salt, water and turmeric powder. It should only be half cooked. Don't let it get overcooked and mashed.
- Heat oil in a pan, add onions and fry till golden brown. Add tomatoes, chilli powder, turmeric powder. Mix well and cook until oil starts to ooze out and the tomatoes are mashed.
- Now add the ground paste and cook till raw smell of garlic leaves and oil starts to separate.
- Now add the cauliflower and mix well. Switch off flame.
- Add more water if the gravy is too thick for ur liking...
- Taste and adjust salt.
- Garnish with coriander leaves. I sprinkled some dry mint on top instead of coriander.

It's a reasonable easy recipe... won't take time if u have clean work space and everything (like grinder and other stuff) ready. The resultant kurma was quite creamy... like butter chicken gravy. This would go best with chapati's or roti's. But I had rice already cooked.You could add potatoes or green peas to it if u want more veggies.

Will try to put up Iftar recipes if time permits. Or else I'll post them all after Ramadan. Ok then, Catch u guys later.....

Ramadan Kareem!! :)

Squid Roast

I was not feeling well yesterday. Headache as usual (It's a really hot summer! :( ) and I asked my husband to go buy the grocery. I had asked to buy some fish for making curry. He got home squid and (not surprisingly) prawns. He always buys prawns not matter whatever else he buys...

I decided to make squid roast.

This ones an extremely simple recipe. What you'll need is:

- squid, cleaned and sliced into rings - 1/2 kg
- 2 onions thinly sliced
- 1 tomato, diced
- 4-5 cloves of garlic
- Ginger - 1 tsp
- Chilli powder - 1 tsp
- Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
- Garam Masala - 1 tsp
- Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp(add more or less depending on how spicy u want it)
- Curry leaves - 4 to 5
- Salt to taste

How to make:

- Heat oil in a pan and add the sliced onions and curry leaves.
- Saute until the onions start turning golden brown. Add ginger and garlic. Mix well and let it cook for a minute or 2 until the garlic smell goes.
- Add chilli, turmeric, garam masala and pepper powder. Add the tomatoes and mix well. Now let it cook for another 2 minutes or so until the tomatoes turn soft and mushy.
- Now add the squid and salt. Mix and let it cook through. Make sure not to over-cook the squid. I did.. and it turned all rubbery. It takes hardly 10 minutes or so to cook squid.

(There is also another method of cooking squid in which the squid is first marinated with chilli powder, turmeric and salt and cooked for about 5-6 minutes and kept aside. The masala is made separate and the cooked squid added into it. Either way u get the same stuff...)

My son was walking around with this. He likes squid, but this one was too spicy for him. So I cleaned off all the masala from it and gave him.

Catch u later then.. tata! :)

Beef Fry

Ingredients

1. Beef – ½ kg
2. Onion – 1 big, finely sliced
3. Small onion – 10-15, sliced
4. Ginger - 1 inch
5. Garlic - 10
6. Chili powder – ½ tbsp
7. Coriander powder – 1tbsp
8. Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
9. Vinegar – 2 tsp
10. Bite size coconut pieces (thengakothu) – ½ coconut
11. Coconut oil 3-4 tbsp
12. Salt - to taste
13. Curry leaves
14. Garam Masala – ½ tsp

To Roast and Grind

1. Fennel Seeds – 1 ½ tsp
2. Cinnamon – 1 inch piece
3. Cloves – 6- 8
4. Cardamom – 4-5
5. Bay-leaves –2

Instructions

1. Roast and powder all the ingredients under to roast and grind and keep aside.
2. Mix all the powdered spices, ginger, ½ garlic, small onion, chilli, coriander and turmeric powder, vinegar, salt, and beef and pressure cook till it is done.
3. Heat oil in a pan and fry coconut pieces and keep aside.
4. Now saute the onions, rest of the garlic and curry leaves till it becomes golden brown. 
5. Add garam masala and saute for one more minute.
6. Add the cooked beef, coconut pieces & curry leaves.  
7. Fry till all the water is evaporated and is fried. 
8. Serve with rice.