Ingredients

Black Chick pea: 1 cup Water to soak the pea: 4 Cups Onion: 1 Ginger garlic: 1 tbsp Tomato: 1 Coriander powder: 1.5 Tsp Red Chilli powder: 1 Tsp Garam masala: 1/2 Tsp coconut Oil: 2 Tbspn Salt For tempering: Mustard seeds curry leaves
Oil: 1 Tsp
green chillies slit: 3
garam masala: 1/2 Tsp

Method

1. Soak the pea overnight in water 2. Add oil to pressure cooker and saute the onions for 5 mins. Add ginger garlic and cook 3. Add chopped tomato and cook until soft 4. Add all the powders for gravy and saute 5. Allow this cool down and grind well by adding little water. Grind to a fine paste 6. Add this paste to the same cooker and add the soaked chick peas 7. Mix well and add the left over soaked water 8. Add salt and cook for 10 whistles 9. Open when steam goes. 10. Prepare the tempering by heating oil and add mustard and curry leaves and green chilli. Switch off flame and add the garam masala and add this to the boiling gravy. 11. Serve with any kerala breakfast

Traditional Cooking!

Shabana

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Puttu is a traditional Kerala breakfast prepared very commonly at homes. It is steamed rice flour with coconut usually, but can have a huge number of sweet and spicy variants. This recipe will help you to make puttu without adding any water to the rice flour. Its a very easy way to make and a fool proof method to get super soft puttu.

Ingredients

Rice Flour : 4 Tbspn

Cooked rice: 5 Tbspn approximately

Salt

Method

Watch my full video tutorial for easy understanding. 

Happy Cooking 

Shabana

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Fluffy Idlis and Chutney recipes

The toughest part of making idlis at home is to grind the rice in a normal blender or mixie. Not everyone would have an electric stone grinder, and even with a stone grinder making the batter with rice is a time consuming process. So I wanted to try out making the batter with urud dal and rice flour. I got the recipe and tried it couple of times and i am sharing that right proportion here for all my readers so that you can try out in your normal blenders or mixie to get fluffy hot idlis !!

Ingredients

1 Cup = 250 gms

• Rice flour: 3 cups
• Urud daal: 1 cup
• Cooked rice; 1 fistful (Optional, for faster fermentation)
• Water for rice flour: 3.5 cups
• Water to grind the urud daal: less than half a cup
• Salt

Method

Soak the urud daal in water for 3-4 hours.

Once the daal is ready to be ground, mix the rice flour with the water and make a thick batter and keep aside. ( no blender required)

In the jar of your mixie add the drained urud daal and the cooked rice and grind to a smooth paste with very little water. Daal will be ground easily in 1-2 minutes.

Once the daal is ready pour it into a large vessel and mix the rice flour batter with a ladle or heavy spoon

Add about a teaspoon of salt and mix well and allow to ferment overnight.
Next morning stir the fermented batter very well and make soft fluffy idly and enjoy with chutney of choice.

Coconut Chutney with red chilli powder

In a blender add half cup grated coconut, 1-2 tsp red chilli powder, 2-3 shallots and grind well by adding little water. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a kadai and splutter some mustard seeds, 2 dry red chillies and few curry leaves. To this add the ground coconut and mix well in low flame. Switch off flame before the chutney reaches a boil.

Coconut Chutney with green chilli

In a blender add half cup grated coconut, 1 green chilli, 2-3 shallots and grind well by adding little water. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a kadai and splutter some mustard seeds, 2 dry red chillies and few curry leaves. To this add the ground coconut and mix well in low flame. Switch off flame before the chutney reaches a boil.

Onion Chutney

Add a tablespoon of oil in a kadai and saute 1 large onion until it gets translucent. Add a teaspoon of red chilli powder and a small ball of tamarind and mix well. Once cooled blend this until smooth. Optionally you can add the tempering. (Heat a teaspoon of oil in a kadai and splutter some mustard seeds, 2 dry red chillies and few curry leaves)

Happy cooking!!
Shabana

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Paal appam

A very traditional breakfast recipe directly from God's Own Country. The dish is prepared from ground rice and coconut. The traditional recipe uses freshly grated coconut along with rice. But I have tried a small variation by using desiccated coconut to it and is more easy as it has no hassles of grating coconut. Here's what you ll need

Ingredients

Makes 18-20 appams

• Uncooked white rice : 1 cup (pachari)
• Dessicated coconut: 4-5 tbsp
• Cooked rice: 1/4 cup ( white rice or red rice)
• Active yeast: 1 tsp
• Sugar: 1 tsp
• Salt: To taste (1tsp approximately)
• Water: as needed to grind the rice

Method

1. Soak measured rice in water for 5-6 hours 
2. In a blender add the soaked rice, cooked rice, dessicated coconut, sugar and salt and water and grind to a smooth batter. Add water little by little while grinding and adjust the consistency. 
3. Take about 2 tbsps of the batter and mix the yeast well and add this to the ground batter and mix well and allow to ferment for 8-10 hours (Overnight)
4. Before making the appams stir the batter well and adjust the consistency with water or coconut water 
5. Heat the 'Paal appam chatti' (or a small kadai) and pour a laddle full of batter and rotate the chatti to form a round shape with more batter on the middle portion. Then cook the appam with closed lid. Need not flip it over. Remove from pan when the middle is cooked and sides are light brown.
6. Enjoy one of the best kerala breakfasts with any curry of your choice.

Happy Cooking!!

Shabana

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Pazham Varattiyathu

A very common snack item from North Kerala using ripe plantains. Its a very healthy recipe and is best for kids as a breakfast or a snack. Ripe plantains are roasted in ghee and then mixed with fried coconut and scrambled eggs. This recipe is quite easy to make and is different in taste compared to the normal banana fritters, which is the most common snack made with plantains. Do try this nutrients packed dish and feel free to post a feedback..

Ingredients

• Ripe Plantains (ethapazham): 2 numbers Cut into small cubes
• Ghee: 4Tbsp
• Raisins and cashews: 10 each
• Scrapped fresh/frozen coconut: 2 fistful ( about half a cup/100 Gms)
• Eggs lightly beaten: 2 numbers
• Cardamom powder: 1/2 tsp
• Sugar: 4-5 Tbsp

Method

1. Heat a tablespoon of ghee and lightly roast the cashews and raisins for a minute.
2. To this add the grated coconut and fry on medium heat for 5-6 minutes until the coconut gets a light brown colour

      3.Transfer this to a plate and to the same pan add 3 Tbsp ghee and add the sliced plantains/banana and roast until brown in colour. While the bananas are cooking, beat 2 eggs with a fork and keep ready

       4.Once the plantains changes colour and is cooked on both sides now add the beaten eggs and keep mixing to form a scramble along with the bananas. Also add the cardamom powder along with the eggs.

        5.After the eggs are scrambled add the sugar and give a good mix.

        6.Finally add the coconut and nuts and mix until everything is well incorporated.

        7.Serve hot as a breakfast or an evening snack.
 

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Keep cooking!!

Shabana

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Upma

Upma or uppumaavu is a very common breakfast of South India. It is cooked with roasted  sooji / semolina with added vegetables of individual preference. The right consistency of the dish is the key to making the best Upma. The cheap cost of the ingredients and the easiness to cook makes it a ‘common man’s dish’. My version of the dish has very less ingredients but you can add the vegetables of your choice and make a variation.

Serves: 2

Ingredients

·         Semolina: 1 cup
·         Water: 1.5 cups to 1 ¾
·         Onion: 1 small diced to small cubes
·         Green chilly  : 2 finely chopped
·         Salt
·         Oil : 2-3 Tbspn
·         Curry Leaves
·         Mustard seed : ¼ tsp

Method

1. Keep the water to boil in pan and add required salt
2. While water is boiling add oil to another pan and splutter the mustard seeds followed by the curry leaves
3. To this add the chopped onions and green chilly and sauté till translucent. (Add veggies in this stage if needed and cook. Suggested veggies include carrots, peas and beans)
4. Add the semolina and roast for 3-4 minutes on medium flame
5. By this time the water should be boiling. Keep adding the boiling water little by little to the roasted semolina and keep stirring so that semolina gets cooked evenly and also is free from lumps. Adding the water little at a time will help you decide the consistency of your upma.
6. Once all the water is added in batches the semolina must be cooked all through and you can serve it hot with any side dish of your choice or can be eaten the way it is!

Note: The quality of semolina will decide the water needed for the upma. So boil water slightly more than the mentioned quantity and keep adding little at a time so that the right consistency is obtained.

Easy cooking!

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Bread Upma

Bored of the regular bread sandwiches and bread toasts in breakfast? Here's a breakfast variation with bread and this works out perfect as a snack too! 

Ingredients:

• Butter : 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves: 1 Sprig
• Green Chillies: 2 ( slit and deseded)
• Asafoetida (hing): 1/4 tsp
• Coriander leaves : @ Tbsp Chopped
• onion : 1 ( finely chopped)
• Garlic: 1 tbsp ( finely chopped )
• Tomatoes : 1 &1/2 ( deseeded and chopped)
• Turmeric powder : 1/2 tsp
• Kashmiri red chilli powder: 1/2-1 tsp
• Salt
• Water : 1/2 cup
• Lemon juice: 1/2 Tsp
• Bread slices : 4 Cut into bite sized pieces

Method:

1. Heat butter in a pan and let it melt completely,
2. Add mustard seeds, curry leaves, green chillies, asafoetida, coriander leaves, onions and stir fry them.
3. Add garlic and mix everything till the onions turns translucent and not brown
4. Add tomato and mix well.
5. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt and cook it till the tomatoes turn soft.
6. Add water, lemon juice and boil it till the water dries out
7. Add the bread pieces in the tomato mixture and toss them well to coat all the bread pieces well.
8. Sprinkle some coriander leaves and mix well everything
9. Serve hot!

Happy Cooking!!

Shabana

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Chilli idli

An amazing fusion of South Indian and Chinese recipe which can be a filling breakfast or a snack and goes best in your kids lunch box. A healthy start would need the following ingredients.

Ingredients

• Oil : 2 tbsp
• Onion : 1 medium (shelled)
• Ginger : 1tsp
• Garlic : 1 tsp
• Green chillies : 2 cross cut
• Capsicum : 1 cut to big cubes
• Tomato ketchup : 3 tbsp
• Chilli sauce : 2 tbsp
• Soya sauce : 1 tsp
• Sugar : 1/2 tsp
• White vinegar : 1 tsp
• Spring onions : finely chopped
• Fried idlis : 15-20 mini idlis

Note : If mini idli maker is not available make normal idlis and cut into 4. Deep fry these idlis by flipping sides until golden brown and keep aside.

Method

1. Add oil to a pan and add the shelled onions and stir till translucent . Then add in the ginger and garlic chops followed by the capsicum. Give a quick stir. Do not over cook (you need a good bite of the veggies).
2. Add in all the sauces , vinegar and sugar and very little salt. Be careful on adding adding salt coz all the sauces have salt.
3. Add in the fried idlis and toss well in the sauce. Finally add the spring onions and give one good last stir. Garnish with spring onions and serve yummy fried idlis!

Add Onion and saute

Add green chillies and capsicum 

Deep fry the idli

Fried Idli to be added to the sauces and onion - capsicum mix and toss well

Happy cooking!!
Shabana

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