Fish Machboos / Kabsa

Arabic Rice is also known as Kubsa or Machboos. The one with chicken is always a hit at home. I love it since the preparation time is less and recipe is easy to follow. This is the traditional dish of Arabs and they add lots of raisins and nuts like almonds , pine nuts in this.Some add vegetables too.The Machboos (read makboos) preparation varies from region to region and each Middle east country has its own version of Kubsa Rice.



Ingredients
Fish 6 fillets big
basmati rice 3 cups
onion 1 big
tomato paste 3 Tbsp
cardamoms 3
cinnamons 3 pieces 1/2 " size
cloves 3
pepper corns 1 tsp
cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
pepper powder 1 tsp
saffron few strands
dried lemon 1 whole
zaatar 1 tsp optional
garlic ginger paste 2 tsp
olive oil 2 Tbsp
Hot water 6 cups
salt



How to prepare
Marinate fish pieces using pepper powder, salt and garlic ginger paste. Heat little oil in a pan and fry the fish pieces. No need to make too crisp.
Heat olive oil, add cumin seeds and all spices . Saute chopped onion in this. When it is transparent add tomato paste , washed rice and dried lemon . Add 6 cups boiled water into this. Cook it on a medium heat. When the rice is about 3/4 cooked , reduce heat, add saffron, thyme and place the fish pieces on top.Cover with a lid and cook this on low flame until done. Swich off fire when the rice is cooked. First place the fish pieces into a serving bowl. Then serve rice without breaking the fish pieces.

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Potato / Aloo puri

Ingredients
Atta / wheat flour 2 cups
potato 1 medium size
onion 1/2
green chilly 1 or as desired
curry leaves few
coriander leaves few
cumin seeds powder 1/4 tsp
water enough
salt
oil



How to prepare
Boil and peel potato. Mash it.
Chop onion, green chilly, coriander leaves and curry leaves together finely. Mix everything with Atta and make a dough for making puris.(Or saute them in little oil and mix with atta / flour.) Make small balls and press them to make puris applying little oil. (See puri recipe here) Deep fry. Make puris little thick while pressing. Other wise it would be difficult to remove from the press.

Curries for Puri,

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Ginger Chicken

Ingredients
Chicken 1/2 kg small pieces
garlic paste 1 tsp
ginger paste 1 tsp
ginger chopped 1 " piece
onions 2
tomato 1
soya sauce 2 Tbsp
fish sauce 1 tsp optional
pepper powder 3 tsp
green chillies 2 or 3 slit
chopped celery 1 Tbsp optional
turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
cardamom 1
cloves 2
cinnamon stick 1 " piece
cornflower 1 Tbsp
coriander leaves chopped few
water 1/2 cup
oil
salt



Method
Cut and clean chicken. Chop onions and tomato.Just crush cardomam, clove and cinnamon.
Cook chicken pieces with salt, turmeric powder and garlic ginger paste with water. When it is cooked remove chicken pieces and keep aside.
Add corn flour to the water remained (broth) after cooking chicken.
Heat oil. Saute onion until semi transparent. Add green chillies and chopped ginger and saute until lthe aroma spreads. Add tomato, celery, crushed spices , pepper powder and enough salt. Saute well and add chicken pieces and the broth mixed with cornflour. Stir well until it is thick. Add soya sauce and fish sauce. Stir well and remove from fire. Garnish with coriander leaves, chopped spring onion etc.
Restaurant ginger chicken has much darker color than this home made preparation. I used light soya sauce for preparing this.

See the chilly chicken recipe

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Vegetable Samosa

Ingredients
Potato 1 boiled and peeled
green peas cooked 3/4 cup
cauliflower florets 1 cup cooked carrots chopped 1 Tbsp
onions 2 chopped
ginger 1/2 " piece chopped
green chillies chopped 2
curry leaves and coriander leaves few chopped
fennel seeds / perumjeerakam powder 2 pinches
cumin seeds / jeerakam powder 2 pinches optional
garam masala 1/2 tsp
pepper powder 1/4 tsp
chilli powder 1/2 tsp
coriander powder 1 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
salt
oil



Method
Heat oil saute chopped onions. When transparent add chopped ginger and green chillies. Saute for a while. Add chopped cauliflower , carrots and saute. Break potato (don't mash it like we do for cutlets) and add it to this along with green peas. Stir after adding all the powders and curry leaves and coriander leaves too. Add salt too.



For making dough,
Samosa dough is always prepared using maida and baking powder. I wouldn't use much of maida for cooking except for making cake. So I make dough using a mixture of atta and maida.You can take the equal amounts of maida and atta for this. Or use it as you desired. Add ghee or oil while kneading the dough. Fill the mixture in the samosa cones as you see in the above picture and deep fry them. Serve with hot chilly or garlic tomato ketchup or some green chutneys..!

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Fish Molee

Some times I would think fish molee would be the best Kerala fish curry that is suitable for those who donot love spicy curries , especially non-Indians. I had this thought whenever my husband took some Indian curry dishes to his office, his colleagues (he is the only Indian there) started shedding tears because of the spiciness, though I had prepared them using very less quantity of spices.. :D (It is not the matter, still they want Indian food) My kids too behave like that, they are not ready to eat spicy things, so I make this curry often for them.



Fish Molee Ingredients
Fish fillets 6 medium size
onion 1 medium size
tomato 1
green chillies 2 or 3
ginger julienned 1 inch piece
garlic cloves chopped 2
garlic and ginger paste 2 tsp
pepper powder 3 tsp
chilli powder optional
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
lemon juice 1 tsp optional
curry leaves few
coriander leaves few
coconut milk 2 1/2 cups thick
coconut oil 2 Tbsp
salt



How to prepare
Clean fish. Marinate it with garlic and ginger paste, salt and 1 tsp pepper powder.
Heat coconut oil in a frying pan. Fry fish fillets in this. No need to make a crispy fry, but just frying outer part is needed.
Take fillets out of the pan, saute onion and garlic in the same oil. When it is transparent, saute julienned ginger and slit green chillies. Saute for a while until the aroma of ginger comes out.
Add remaining 2 tsp pepper powder, turmeric powder and tomatoes. Stir for a while and add the coconut milk.Add enough salt.When it is hot, add fish fillets, and boil on a low flame. When the curry turns little thick, add lime juice , remaining 1/2 cup thick coconut milk, curry leaves and mix. Remove from fire. Garnish with coriander leaves.
If you find the curry is not thick (this happens if your coconut milk is not enough thick) add 1 or 2 tsp corn flour and boil.

Fish Molee goes well with Appams..

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Cabbage Thoran - Two Types

Thoran / stir fry is a common side dish for a Kerala meal. The red cabbage thoran is little different, since I have added egg in that. You can try both recipes for both types of cabbages.



Cabbage stir fry / thoran Ingredients and method
Cabbage 1/4 kg
onion 1
coconut grated 2 tbsp
green chillies 2
curry leaves few
ginger 1/4 inch piece
turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
mustard seeds
coconut oil
salt

Clean and chop cabbage finely. Chop onion into very finely. Cut green chillies length wise into two. Crush ginger. Mix coconut, green chilies,ginger, turmeric and salt together.
Heat oil, allow mustard seeds to splutter. Then saute onion for few seconds.Add the mixture and stir well. Add cabbage too and mix. Cook on a low flame, keeping the pan closed. Stir occasionally. If needed sprinkle little water. You can add egg in this too if you like.. :)
See more about cabbage here.

Red cabbage keeps changing it's color depending on the ingredients you used to cook with it. When I added egg, the egg white (albumen) changed to green color. It is because of the alkaline nature of egg white and red cabbages usually alters alkaline substances green.This is because red cabbage contains a pigment called anthocyanin. I think the other ingredients like egg yolk which are neutral, made red cabbages retain it's purple color.

Red cabbage stir fry / thoran Ingredients and method

Red cabbage 1/4 kg

onion 1

green chillies 2

curry leaves few

egg 1

pepper powder 1 tsp

mustard seeds

salt

oil

Chop onion and slit green chillies. Heat oil splutter mustard seeds. Saute onion with green chillies. Add cabbage and pepper powder mixed with salt. Sprinkle little water if needed and cook. When it is about to finish, break one egg into it. Stir well until the egg turns like granules.Remove from fire.
Read about red cabbage here.

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Pazham Nirachathu / Stuffed Bananas

Pazham nirachathu / Banana stuffed with a sweet mixture of coconut,egg and sugar is another Malabar dish, usually served during iftar (nombu thurakkal / breaking time of Ramadan fasting) or for guests. Preparing this dish was a challenge for me all the time. Making slits on the banana (4 or 2 ) without cutting the ends , stuffing them and deep frying the whole banana in oil was little bit difficult. I always ended up, making only 1 or 2 slits(it is enough ) and shallow fried.. :)



Pazham nirachathu / Stuffed bananas Ingredients
Bananas ripe 2
egg 1
cashew nuts few
raisins few
coconut grated 1 Tbsp
sugar 1 Tbsp
maida 2 Tbsps
cardomam powder 1 pinch optional
water

How to prepare
Peel bananas. Make 4 slits on it without cutting the ends.

Break egg and beat it with sugar.

Heat ghee, Add the beaten egg mixture, and stir until it turns granules. Add cashews, raisins and coconut and stir. Remove from fire. Let it cool.

Fill the inside portion of bananas using this mixture.

Make a very thick batter using maida and water. Using this close all the slits of bananas. Heat oil in a pan ,deep fry them.
A friend from Kannur side suggested me to roll dough like chapathis and wrap the banana, close edges and deep fry. You can prepare this in another way too. For that steam cook bananas, peel and follow the same procedure. I haven't done that way yet.Those who do not love egg, please avoid it and add more coconut in the filling. Don't use too ripe bananas for this.

See the other banana dishes here,

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Kappa , Meen , Ulli chammanthi / Tapioca , Fish , Small Onion Chutney

Kappa /tapioca with fish and ulli chammanthi /shallots chutney is a delicious dish which I usually crave for... :) This fish preparation is not a curry , it is the "mathi thappuvechathu" dish which we do prepare using the old baking method! (See the recipe and baking method here)
During a specific season, we get fresh big sardines (mathi / chaala) which contains lots of fat ( meen neyyu) in it and with the lesser number of bones too. That kind of sardines are good for preparing this. Sardines soak in the thick masala of freshly ground ginger, garlic, shallots, pepper, gooseberry (or tamarind) etc and slowly reduce water on a medium heat.You can try this with ayala/mackerel also.



For preparing Kappa / tapioca,
Cut and peel the roots. Wash and boil in water enough to soak it. Add salt when it is boiled. Cook and drain when it is done.



I have posted a Ulli chammanthi recipe before, with dry red chillies. This one is with green chillies, which is best with kappa.

Ulli chammanthi
Small onions 7
Tamarind 1 gooseberry size
Green chillies 4 (according to taste)
Salt
Coconut oil

Peel small onions, wash them.. Grind all the ingredients together and add coconut oil in the end.

See other Kappa / Tapioca preparations here.

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Vazha pindi Muthira Thoran / Banana stem Horse gram Dry curry

Ingredients
Vazhappindi / banana stem 1
horse gram / muthira or red cow peas 1 cup
dried red chillies 3 or more
small onions / shallots 1/2 cup peeled
garlic cloves 2 big
mustard seeds
curry leaves
coconut oil
salt

Method
Remove the outer coverings of the stem and take out the edible part. Cut them into rings. Then again chop them into small pieces. Remove the fibers (naaru). (You can remove them while cutting into rings.)

Wash and cook vanpayar or muthira. when it is nearly cooked, add chopped pindi pieces. Cook till done. Add salt while cooking.Reduce water.

Crush dry red chillies, small onions, garlic cloves together. Heat coconut oil, splutter mustard seeds, saute the crushed ingredients with few curry leaves. Satue until the raw smell of the ingredients go, and about to get a little brown color. Add the above cooked mixture and check for salt. Mix very well. The banana stem / pindi I used was about a forearm length. You can prepare this using coconut also. Will post it later insha Allah.



A simple and delicious green peas saagu from Asha. Please visit foodies hope for the recipe..

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Caviar omelets

Caviar / fish eggs are known as parinjeen or pananjil in our place. (Don't know how it is known in other places of Kerala.) This is a very simple dish which we would make just as we prepare our usual omelets.



Ingredients
Fish eggs / caviar 1 cup
onion 1
tomato 1
pepper powder 1 tsp
green chillies 2
curry leaves few
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
eggs 2
salt
oil



Method
Wash and cook caviar with salt , turmeric powder and enough water. Remove outer skin (if it has) and mash it.Chop all the vegetables. Break eggs into a bowl. Add the chopped vegetables, pepper powder and salt. Mix together , just like for making omlettes.Heat a pan, spread little oil make and omelettes. Make small omelettes. Otherwise it will break.

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Garam Masala Powder

Garam masala powder Ingredients
Cloves / Karayampoo / Gramboo 2 Tbsp
Cardamoms / Elakka 20 (with the light green color outer cover )
Cinnamon / Karuvappatta 2 " pieces 10
Pepper corns / Kurumulaku 2 tsp
Fennel seeds / Perumjeerakam 1 tsp
Black Cardamoms 10 (with the black outer cover)
Bay leaves / Tejappatta 6
Nutmeg / Jaathikka 1
Star anise / Thakkolam 6



Dry roast all the ingredients together in a heated pan.If the spices are enough hot to touch with your hands, then remove it from the fire. No need to roast for long. Powder them together when it is little warm. Keep in an air tight container.



If you don't like, no need to add pepper corns and fennel seeds in this preparation. And if a recipe asks for pepper powder or fennel seeds powder with garam masala, you can add it according to the recipe, since this powder contains only less quantity of them and won't have that much effect.

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Cabbage Pickle

Cabbage Achaar / Pickle Ingredients
Cabbage 1/4 kg
shallots / chuvannulli 10
garlic cloves 6
ginger 1 inch piece
turmeric powder 1 tsp
chilly powder 2 or 3 tsps
green chillies 4
curry leaves chopped few
mustard seeds /kaduku 2 tsps
fenugreek / uluva 1/2 tsp
coconut oil 2 Tbsp
vinegar 3 Tbsp or as desired
salt



How to prepare
Chop cabbage finely. Chop garlic and shallots length wise. Peel and chop ginger too. Cut green chillies into big pieces. Heat oil splutter mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds. Then add garlic, ginger , green chillies, curry leaves and all the powders. Saute for 1 minute. Then add cabbage , salt and 1 Tb sp vinegar. Stir well and cook covered on a low flame stirring occasionally. When the cabbage is cooked add remaining vinegar, check salt and remove from fire..
We cannot store this for long time. After one day, I kept it in fridge. Have to add more oil to keep it out side..

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Brinjal / Vazhuthananga kaalan (sambar)

When I prepared this dish, I didn't get a name to call. This curry is prepared using a mixture of spices of sambar and kaalan. Hence the name sambar kaalan.. :D This is a No Onion , No Garlic preparation and is a very thick curry which is good with rice..



Ingredients
Brinjal 4
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
chilli powder 1 tsp
asafoetida / kayam 1 small piece
kadala parippu / gram dal 2 tsps
uluva / fenugreek seeds 1/4 tsp
coconut grated 1 cup
curd 1 cup
mustard seeds
curry leaves few
coconut oil
water
salt



Method
Heat one spoon oil in a pan. Roast kadalapparippu and kayam in that until slightly red and take it out.
Cut, clean and cook brinjals with salt, water , chilli and turmeric powders.
Blend coconut with curd and roasted kadalapparippu and kayam. Blend until you get a smooth mixture. Pour this into the cooked brinjals. Mix well, check salt.and heat it. When it begins to boil switch off fire.
Heat coconut oil, splutter uluva and mustards , fry curry leaves and pour this seasoning into the curry. You can adjust the thickness by adding water according to your taste.

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Kunjippathiri / Kozhi Pidi / Steamed Rice Dumplings In Meat Gravy

Pidi / Kunji pathiri are small rice balls that steamed and cooked in the tasty meat, fish or vegetable curry. This is really a delightful dish to take as dinner or evening snack. Pidi has an important role in Malabar cooking since it is their one of the main dishes served for the guests. People from Malabar are well known for their hospitality(ie.salkkaaram). I had few neighbors from Kannur (Cannanore) and Thalassery (Tellichery) side. Every evening , they would bring some delicious snacks for us. I started expecting them knocking my door every day, after a few days I joined with them .. :D
Some times (most of the days) , they shared whatever they cooked for lunch and dinner too, and made me even to think stop cooking.. :) If it is Ramadan month, they prepared various dishes for each day, and dished out to all the neighbors! I felt bad some times, since a person hailing from Central Kerala, our dishes are totally different from theirs, and with a baby (my D was only 1 year old at that time) I couldn't reciprocate the same way they do. But it was also a boon for me, I could learn a little of their cooking methods..
When you make Pidis, make it smaller than this. I have made it little bigger than the original pidis, since I couldn't spend much time for preparing this...


Pidi in mutton gravy..

Kozhippidi/Kunji pathiri Ingredients
Chicken 1/2 kg boneless
onions 3
tomato 2
green chillies 2
garlic paste 1 tsp
ginger paste 1 tsp
garammasla 1 tsp
pepper powder 1 tsp
chilli powder 1 tsp
coriander powder 2 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
coriander leaves few
coconut milk 1 cup thick
shallots / chuvannulli 5
coconutoil
salt

For making pidi
rice powder 2 cups
water 1 cup
small onions 4
cumin seeds 1/4 tsp
fennel seed 1/2 tsp
salt



Method
Make a paste of small onions , cumin seeds and fennel seeds together.
Boil water. Add salt. Pour this to the rice powder and mix well . Add the above paste and knead it to make a dough.
Apply little oil on palms, make small balls from this and press to make like very small pathiris. Steam them for 5 minutes using an Idli vessel or some thing like that.
Keep aside.
Clean and cut chicken into small pieces. Mix it with chopped onion,tomato,green chilly crushed,garlic and ginger paste and all the powders and salt. Add little water enough to cook. When it is half cooked add coconut milk and the prepared pidis to it. Cook on a low flame until the chicken is cooked and the gravy is thick. The pidis should be covered with the masalas.Mix with chopped coriander leaves.
Heat coconut oil, roast chopped small onion and pour this to the preparation.

There are some other methods too for making this.The methods varies for different regions. A fried of mine suggested to make like we do for pathiris.(See the procedure for making pathiris here) So in that way we should add rice powder to boiling water with the other ingredients. Make dough like we do for pathiris and make small pidis as I described before. This method is much better since the flour is already cooked in the boiled water, so you can add the pidis directly to the curry with out steaming them. Boil them for a while with curry.

Some makes this by grinding rice, especially people from Kannur District. I really appreciate their enthusiasm for making good , wondrously tasted dishes, but for me everything seemed little lengthy. I hate standing in the kitchen for long, and finishes cooking soon with the already available ingredients only.. :) So if you are interested to follow the proper Malabar recipe for making pidis I will try to mail it for you, Insha Allah..

Update-Vegetarians can use potato and cauliflower instead of chicken.

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Simple Yellow Cookies

Easy Cookies for beginners from a beginner.. :) These cookies tasted like the tiny yellow egg biscuits that available in bakeries of Kerala.

Ingredients
Maida / All purpose flour 1 1/2 cups
sugar 3/4 cup
baking powder 1 tsp
vanilla 1/2 tsp
pure ghee 2 Tbsp
salt 1 pinch
egg 1



Method
Beat / blend sugar and ghee. Add egg and blend it again. Add the remaining ingredients and make a dough. If you find the flour is not enough (too soft to form dough), add little more spoons. This depends on the size of the egg used. Keep the prepared dough in the fridge. Better keep it overnight. Preheat oven for 15 minutes.
Take the dough out . Make small balls and press it between palms.(Or use a cookie cutter).Let them have 1/4 inch thickness. Grease baking sheet with little oil, place the prepared cookies on it, bake it for 15 minutes in 180 degrees. Check and if the bottom side is slightly brown take it out and let it cool..

Sent to the "Yellow food event" hosted by kochtopf.twoday.net on International women's day!

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Potato Bonda

Ingredients
Potatoes 2
onion 1
ginger 1/2 " piece
green chillies 2
curry leaves few chopped
coriander leaves few chopped
mustard seeds
turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
salt
oil

For batter
Gram flour / besan 1 cup
chilli powder 1/2 tsp
cumin powder 1/4 tsp optional
salt
water
Make a medium thick batter using the above ingredients.



Method
Boil and peel potatoes.Mash them.
Chop onion , green chillies and ginger. Heat oil and splutter mustard seeds. Saute onion, green chillies,and ginger .Add curry leaves, coriander leaves and turmeric powder. Mix this with mashed potatoes and salt. Make small balls and dip them in the besan batter. Deep fry.

Submitted to" Ode to potato" hosted by Monsoon spice..

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