Stuffed Buns

Am not much fond of baking. I don't feel it as easy as the normal stove top cooking. Here is the stuffed bun recipe that I tried out recently.I think the bun was not much good as the one we get from the bakeries. Didn't have much patience to wait until I get a good result. I used the beef masala mixture for stuffing buns, that can be used as samosa filling. Anyway this would be an healthier option than taking the deep fried samosas. Hope you all baking experts can make this very well, try out and let me know.

Ingredients,
maida 3 cups

egg 3

sugar 1 tsp

yeast 2 tsp

milk 1 cup or as needed

butter 1/4 cup

salt

Preparing bun dough,
Beat 2 eggs.

Mix flour with butter.

Add yeast(mixed in little warm water), sugar and salt.

Mix and add beaten eggs.

Add enough milk to make a dough.

Place a clean wet cloth on the dough and keep for some time.

Allow the dough to be doubled.

For making masala,

beef pieces - cooked 1 to 1 1/2 cups

onion 1

tomato 1

green chillies 2

pepper powder 2 tsp

garam masala 1 tsp

ginger chopped 2 tsp

coriander leaves chopped 2 Tbsp

boiled and peeled potato 1

curry leaves few

salt

oil

Make beef into small pieces using hands.

Heat oil, saute chopped onions.

When semi transparent, add ginger, green chillies chopped, curry leaves etc.

Saute well until the onions turn slighly brown, add tomatoes.

Then add powders, coriander leaves and cooked beef into this.

Saute well for some times, and add enough salt.

Crumble potato and mix with this.

Beef should be cooked with turmeric powder, coriander powder and chilli powder, garlic paste, garam masala and salt.

For stuffed bun,

Take one ball from the rised dough, flatten, place one Tbsp of masaa in this.

Join the sides together and make an onion shape.

Make all the dough like this.

Beat egg and add 1 tsp milk.

Brush this over the buns.

Bake in the oven until buns turns slightly brown.

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Semiya Vada

I hope some of you have tried out the vermicelli dishes that I had posted earlier. Here is a simple spicy snack with vermicelli which is very easy and takes little time to prepare. Make it more spicy by adding extra green chillies or change ingredients and make it according to your taste.

Ingredients needed,

cooked vermicelli 1 cup

green chillies 2 or 3

ginger chopped 1 tsp

onion 1

rice powder or maida 1 Tbsp

curry leaves or

coriander leaves few chopped

cumin seeds 1 pinch

garam masala powder 1 pinch

egg 1

salt

oil

How I prepared this,
Cook vermicelli in water, drain and keep aside.

Chop onion and green chillies.

Break egg into a bowl.

Add all ingredients into this and mix well.

Make small vadas and deep fry in oil.

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Chemmeen Vada / Prawn Balls

Eid Mubarak to all readers!
Hope you had a great spiritual treat during this Ramadan. Now all of you would be busy planning and preparing a delicious Eid meal.. Here we normally make a chicken biriyani, which is the easiest, serves along with raita , pudina chammanthi or some pickle.We would meet so many relatives on Eid day, that is the happiest part, I think.
Here is an easy snack for you to serve joyfully in the eid evening.. Enjoy!



Ingredients used,
prawns 1 cup cleaned
onion 1 medium size
ginger paste 1 tsp
garlic paste 1 tsp
pepper powder 1/2
green chilly 1 or as per taste
bread slice 1
rice powder 2 tsp
egg 1
curry leaves few
coriander leaves few
salt
oil



How I Prepared,
Apply salt on prawns, steam it for 10 minutes.
Allow to cool.
Crush it in a grinder.
Crush chopped onion,curry leaves and green chilly too.
Make bread crumbs using the bread slice.
Break egg into a bowl.
Mix the crushed ingredients with chopped coriander leaves, salt,rice powder, bread crumbs,garlic ginger paste and egg.
Apply little oil on palms, make small balls.
Deep fry these in oil.

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Potato Omlettes

I don't know this dish exits anywhere. During college years, I made a bet with my friends that I will give them food which I prepared my self when they visit my home. And this was the dish which I made. I did nothing special but added some mashed potatoes to our ordinary omelets. Anyway they didn't believe and thought my mom cooked it as usual...

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Soybeans Burgers

Do you have plan to prepare this? You should learn some basics of cooking soya beans. The dried soybeans appears as little bit hard to cook. Pour the contents to a plate and remove all stones or damaged beans. Wash very well and soak the beans in water for overnight. Pressure cook for approximately 1/2 hour on medium heat or until you find them cooked well. Don't add salt while cooking beans since it may increase the cooking time.

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Egg Pakoda / Fritters

Some readers had informed me about the difficulty in getting the comments published.I could understand most of the viewers are using IE and many times the page loaded very slowly.I tried google chrome and it also showed much problems.Since long, that is from the beginning of this blog, I have been using firefox - am using firefox version 3.5.5 - and haven't faced much problems yet.I think it is the best web browser to view this site. (also for editing) If any one of you noticed problems while viewing this site, please try viewing it in firefox. And don't forget to let me know if the page takes much time to load.
This week, you have a delicious egg pakoda / pakora recipe to try out.It is very easy to prepare but take care while frying, when the pakodas turn crisp it will start bursting little, (not much to worry :). So, reduce heat while taking them out from the hot oil.

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Chilly Bread

Nowadays it is easy to turn every leftovers to a 'chilly dish'! Just add a 'chilly' tail to the dish and call it Chilly porotta,(recipe in draft), bread chilly, chilly idli etc.. Whatever it is kids are satisfied with the tomato sauce/ketchup used in the dish and they are ready to love it.. Try the simple bread chilly recipe for your child this week.. Since am not good in health, thought to meet you with a simple recipe this week.Ok, try out and come back with your feed backs.. :)

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Vegetable Cutlets

A reader Shahana had left a comment on the previous post about taking lemon juice after fasting.She says it is not good to take an acidic drink in an empty stomach. Many think so.I believe, if the stomach is empty or full, lemon is a good thing to drink.Since long am practising the same and haven't experienced anything bad with that.When I was a child , I had read in a book (prophet's medicines, I think) the only sour thing which do not harm our body is lemon. I don't know how much of this is true. (I have never found a hadith regarding this until now.) You all know, Arabs use only good and healthy ingredients in their cooking. And lemon is widely used in Middle Eastern Cuisine.
I have read some where, the acidic quality of lemon changes to alkaline after it is digested. You can read similar words here,
Foods such as orange juice and lemon juice are acidic in their natural state but turn alkaline after they have been metabolized in the body. As such, for dietetic purposes they are usually considered to be alkaline forming foods despite being acidic prior to consumption. Most fruits are alkaline except a few that include cranberries, plums and prunes. These fruits are classified as acidic because they contain acids the body can't metabolize.
http://nh1.ccone.com/
Feeling irritated after a heavy meal?
Squeeze half of lemon into a glass of warm water, add enough salt and Drink! :)
Today, a lovely snack for you from my yesterday's iftar, enjoy! :)

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Meat Samosa

Ramadan kareem to all readers!
This is the special month for all Muslims, in which they should spend - much time for praying , and some money for charity.. I have noticed many people are giving too much importance for food in this month, especially ladies spend a good part of the day in kitchen for making various dishes.. It shouldn't be encouraged, but inviting some people for "iftar" is very good, there is no need to put my comments over it, I hope you all know about it. Ramadan is for spending a big part of your time in spiritual matters, and for giving rest to your stomach after a whole 11 months of eating.. Some readers had asked for more snack recipes but with the less time am spending to blog, it is a difficult task for me, sorry for that...
Anyway am posting a simple meat samosa recipe, that you can make with our usual ingredients..



Ingredients for making samosa,
chicken 1/2 kg
onion 2
ginger 1/2 " piece
green chillies 2
curry leaves few
coriander leaves chopped 2 Tbsp
garam masala powder 1/2 tsp
pepper powder 1 tsp
salt
oil

Cook chicken with,
coriander powder 2 tsp
chilli powder 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
garlic cloves 5 crushed well
salt
water



Preparation Method,
Cook chicken, allow to cool.
Remove meat from bone, keep aside.
Use the leftover broth to make soup or any other thing.
Chop onion, ginger,green chillies and curry leaves.
Heat little oil, saute onion.
When it is semi transparent, add ginger, green chillies and curry leaves and saute until aroma comes.
Add shredded chicken into this with garam masala powder and pepper powder.
Stir well, add salt if needed.
Sprinkle coriander leaves, mix and remove from fire.
Make samosas, using this filling.
For samosa cover, check the vegetable samosa recipe, which I had posted earlier.

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Masala Kadala / Peanuts

I never thought I can make the masala coated peanuts.Whenever I see them in packets a question was always there in mind, how could one separate peanuts while frying? When I got the answer, I could find out it was very simple! If you stir the batter carefully in the hot oil , you can do it!Though I know we can make it easily in the microwave, I loved the deep fried version. So it was a compulsion for me to make this snack.



Ingredients
Gram flour / kadalamavu 11/2 cups
peanuts / kadala 1 cup roasted
garlic cloves 4 or garlic paste 1 tsp
cumin seeds powder 2 pinches or 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
kayam / asafoetida 1 pinch
red chilly powder 1 tsp or more
curry leaves chopped few
salt
oil for frying



How to prepare
Make a paste of garlic and cumin.Mix this with gram flour, red chilly powder, curry leaves, salt and kayam.Pour little water to make a thick batter. Slowly add water and mix.
Put peanuts into this and mix well until each nut is covered with gram flour mixture.
For deep frying this, heat oil in a deep frying pan.
When the oil is enough hot, pour a part of this mixture into oil.
Slowly stir this to prevent peanuts to stick together.
Have to take care in this stage, since the nuts stick together easily in the hot oil.So do this step immediately after you put the masala mixture in the oil.
When the peanuts are golden red, remove them from the oil and allow to cool.
Enjoy with tea or juice!

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Masala Egg Vada

Masala egg vada is also known as mutta nirachathu in Malabar.Since boiled eggs are my all time favourite, I always ended up making this simple snack,especially for iftar / nombu thura.During school and college days,I loved to take my evening tea / kattan chaya with boiled egg.Still I love to take the same but nowadays am little bit of health conscious and it prompted me to take it with breads and veggies in the sandwich form.
I think,adding little pepper powder and salt to the eggs is the most popular method of eating eggs in the simplest form. Using boiled eggs or bull's eye are the normal methods, but I like the semi solid egg yolk (pakuthi vevu) in the boiled egg which tastes wonderful!Since fear about fever linked with chicken and eggs has prevented me taking it in a half cooked mode. Mostly I prepared bull's eye, and cooked it very well by closing the lid or flipped it over. Then removed egg yolk (this for kids) and used only egg white for preparing sandwiches.If using boiled eggs, removed egg yolk and chopped the whites into big pieces and placed between breads with other ingredients.



Ingredients for making masala mutta vada
Eggs 6
gram flour / kadala mavu 2 cups
onion 2 medium size chopped
ginger 1/2 inch piece chopped
coriander leaves few chopped
green chillies 2 chopped
pepper powder 1/4 tsp
chilly powder 1 /2 tsp or as desired
garam masala 2 pinches
salt
oil

Preparation Method
Boil eggs, remove shell and cut into halves.
Make a thick batter using water, chilly powder and kadalamavu.Mix with enough salt.
Heat oil, saute onion,when it is transparent add ginger, green chilly and coriander leaves.Saute for few seconds.
Add powders and mix well.
Take out the egg yolks and mix with the above.
This becomes a thick masala and take little from it and put it in the place of yolk in the egg.
Make all the egg halves like this.
Dip each in the kadalamavu batter and deep fry it in oil.

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Chicken Fingers

I would prepare this easy chicken fry using the chicken fingers recipe given by one of my senior friends who is an expert cook. Kids love this very much and of course you too will definitely love it! I have one other recipe for making fish fingers and will come with it later, insha Allah..



Ingredients used
Chicken breasts 2
lime juice 4 tea spoons
egg 1 beaten
red chilli powder 1/2 tsp
bread crumbs 1/2 cup
Salt and pepper to taste.



Method of preparation
Shred the chicken breasts into thin long pieces.
Sprinkle salt, pepper, red chilli powder and lime juice on the chicken pieces and mix well.
Leave it for an hour in the refrigerator.
Dip in the beaten egg and roll over in the breadcrumbs.
Deep fry in oil , until they are golden and crisp.
Serve with lime wedges .

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Fish Cutlets

This is the simplest of the cutlets. If you have some boiled potatoes in your fridge, use some tuna and make a quick spicy snack in the evenings! One friend commented that she didn't like tuna before, but once after prepared cutlets using tuna, she loved it and would make it frequently... :)



Ingredients
Fish fillets 6 or tuna 2 cans
potatoes 2
onion 2 medium size
ginger 1 " piece
green chillies 3 or as you desired
curry leaves 1 tsp chopped
coriander leaves 1/4 cup chopped
pepper powder 1 tsp
garam masala 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp for cooking fish
bread crumbs
egg
salt
oil



How to prepare
Boil and peel potatoes.Mash them, keep aside.
Cook fish using turmeric powder and salt until done. Remove bones and break the flesh with hands. Or if you use canned tuna, drain the water from it.
Heat little oil, saute finely chopped onion until semi transparent. Then add chopped ginger, green chillies and curry leaves and saute together until the smell spreads.
Add the powders with crumbled fish pieces, salt and coriander leaves. Stir this well for a while. Add mashed potatoes and mix well with hands. Add more salt if needed.
Oil palms, make small balls or circles as desired, dip in egg (use whole egg or egg white) , roll in breadcrumbs as usual then deep fry.

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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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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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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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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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Kappa / Tapioca Cutlets With Ullichammanthi / Small Onions Chutney Filling

Have you tasted kappa / tapioca in the form of cutlets? If not, try this recipe, you will never fail..This tasted wonderfully with the ulli chammanthi inside! Enjoy! :)



Kappa cutlet ingredients and preparation method
Kappa mashed 2 cups
onion 1 chopped
green chillies 2 or 3 chopped
curry leaves few chopped
coriander leaves chopped few optional
ginger 1/2 inch piece chopped
garam masala 1/2 tsp
salt
coconut oil



For filling
shallots / chuvannulli
tamarind / puli
dried red chillies / unakkamulaku
salt



Follow the recipe of ullichammanthi.

For coating
bread crumbs
egg



Heat oil, saute onion, green chillies, ginger, curry leaves, coriander leaves. Add garam masala. Stir well and mix with salt and mashed tapioca.Apply little oil on palms. Make small balls. Press one side with fingers and fill ulli chammanthi. Shape into the cutlet form. Dip in egg / egg white / maida batter and roll in breadcrumbs. Deep / shallow fry. Add pepper powder if you need very spicy cutlets.And add much chutney than you see in the picture.

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Kappa Beef Ularthu / Tapioca Biryani

Kappa / Tapioca may be every Keralite's all time favourite, right? I love it with fish and Ulli chammanthi, but many here prefer it mixed with beef. Another thattu kada version is waiting for you, hope I can post it too soon, insha Allah.. :)



Kappa Biriyani Ingredients
Kappa 3/4 kg
beef 1/2 kg
onion 2
tomato 1
green chillies 2
curry leaves few
coriander leaves few chopped
garlic cloves 6
ginger 1 inch piece
pepper corns 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
garam masala 1 tsp
chilli powder 1 tsp or more
coriander powder 1 tsp
coconut oil
small onions chopped 5
mustard seeds optional
salt



How to prepare
Cut kappa / tapioca into small pieces . Clean and boil tapioca with salt and enough water. Drain water.

Grind garlic and ginger to a paste. Wash and cook beef with chopped onion, tomato, garlic and ginger paste, crushed pepper corns, salt and all the powders.Reduce water to make a thick gravy. Heat oil, saute chopped shallots / chuvannulli, add curry leaves, slit green chillies and the thick beef curry. Add cooked tapioca and coriander leaves and mix well.Remove from fire and keep covered for a while.

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Vegetarian Omelettes

Eggetarians cannot taste this like real omelets, though this is a good option for vegetarians. You can add tomato,mushrooms, ginger or any other vegetables according to your taste. This is a best filling in sandwiches too.



Ingredients for making Vegetarian Omlette
Besan / gramflour / kadalamavu 3/4 cup
Maida 1 tb sp
yeast 1/2 tsp
Beans chopped 1 tbsp
carrot chopped 2 tbsps
cabbage chopped 1 tbsp
onion chopped 1
green chilly 1 or 2
coriander leaves chopped 1 tbsp
pepper powder 1 or 2 tsp
garam masala 1/4 tsp
water
salt
oil / ghee



Mix besan, maida and yeast together with enough water to get the consistency of dosa batter.Keep it an hour or more to rise. Add all the chopped vegetables, salt and powders. Heat a pan, spread little oil / ghee then pour 1 ladleful of batter. Turn over when one side is done. Make small omelettes. Cook this on a medium heat, turning frequently.This will help to cook the inner part very well.

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