Microwave Pasta

Till now I have only made pasta in the traditional way, by cooking it in boiling water on the stove. But this is an easy less messy job of making pasta and the taste also is pretty much the same. So try this , save time!

Method

Get a microwave safe bowl and add 1 cup of pasta in it.
Add water to the bowl so that pasta is a couple of inches deep. Remember that the pasta will grow in size, so be sure to have enough water. You can always drain out the extra if you add too much.
Place the bowl on top of a plate and put it in the microwave just in case any water spills over.
Take the suggested cooking time from the pasta box and add 3-4 minutes. Check on the pasta when it's done and sample a piece or two.
If the pasta is at desired doneness, strain the pasta over the sink. If it’s not at desired doneness just put in the microwave for a few more minutes.
Place the pasta on a plate or in a bowl and add whatever sauce you would like. Enjoy!

Cinnamon hearts

This is a very easy but absolutely tasty tea time snack. Usually rolls are made with the same dough and filling. But for easy sake, I usually mix it together and bake it in cup cake moulds. The taste would be same as that of the rolls but the procedure is much easier.

Ingredients

Dough

2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
3⁄4 cup milk

Filling

4 tablespoons butter
1 cup brown sugar or 1 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon

Method

For the filling, in a small bowl combine softened butter, brown sugar and cinnamon to form a crumbly mixture.
In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Cut in softened butter (sometimes your hands are the best tools).
Stir in milk to form a soft dough. Now add the filling to this dough and knead well.The outcome would be a rough kind of uneven mixture. Take a ball out of it and set it firmly on a heart shaped cup cake mould and bake it for 20 minutes at 400 degree. Enjoy it for tea or breakfast.

Plain Dosa

This is one dish that you can eat pretty well with anything and everything. It can be eaten for breakfast , lunch and dinner and trust me, you wont get bored. This is the simplest of all dosas-the plain one. There are atleast a 100 more dosas for me to experiment on!!

Dosa batter Ingredients

1 cup whole skinned urad dal
3 cups idli rice
Salt as needed

Instructions

Soak the rice and dal separately for 3 hours
Grind dal first into a smooth consistency adding enough water
Grind rice into a smooth batter by adding just enough water to get it going.
Combine the two, add salt, and let it ferment in a large enough bowl lightly covered, for about 6-8 hours in a warm place

To nake Dosa

Ingredients

4 cups of fermented dosa batter
1-1.5 cups of water
4 tbsp of  oil

Instructions:

Add enough water to the fermented batter until you have a smooth, pouring consistency. Make sure the batter is not too watery though, it should be thick-ish but fall off your spoon easily.
Heat a tawa or iron griddle and grease with the oil lightly. Pour about 1/2 cup batter to the centre of the tawa.
Using the back of your ladle, gently spread the batter with a circular motion from the centre towards the sides of the tawa.

Since we are not making very crispy dosas, don't spread it too thin. The dosa should be more or less evenly thick.
Drizzle about 1 tsp of oil around the edges of the dosa and add a few sprinkles on the top as well.

If your tawa is greased adequately and is not sticky, the edge of the dosa will start to come off the pan in about 1 minute or so. Use a spatula to gently lift the dosa
and flip it over. Cook the other side for another 40 seconds or so and remove from pan.
Enjoy.

Coconut Chicken Curry

This is a simple yet delicious Chicken curry recipe. It tastes absolutely great when served with rice or roti. Here a perfectly marinated chicken is cooked in a delicious coconut gravy to bring out all its flavours. Enjoy.

Ingredients

1 kg chicken
200 ml cream
100 ml coconut milk
200 gm onion, cut into small pieces
2 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp Sugar
1 tsp garam masala
100 gm butter/refined oil
1 tsp red chilli powder

Method

Add garlic and ginger paste, turmeric powder, salt, garam masala, salt and chilli powder. Coat it on chicken and mix well. Keep the marinated chicken for two hours.
Then place the pan on fire and put the oil/butter and fry the onion till golden brown.
Add the marinated chicken to the pan and fry on a low flame adding coconut milk slowly till the chicken is cooked properly.
Then mix the cream slowly.
Add 1/2 tsp of sugar. Mix. Garnish with Coriander leaves. Serve with roti/rice.

Khajuri

This is a very easy snack that can be made in a jiffy. It can be rightly called as 'Childs Play'. This is a perfect teatime snack and the most commonly made snack in my home too. I prefer it to be very crispy. So I sometimes add a little bit of rice flour in it.

Ingredients

1 cup refined flour
1  cup semolina
1 cup sugar, powdered
1/2 cup milk to knead
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup ghee, melted
Oil for deep frying

Method

Mix the flour, salt and soojee and rub the ghee into it.
Add the sugar and knead into a stiff dough with the milk. Keep aside covered for 15 minutes or so.
Break into small pieces and roll into rounds. Press softly on the muddle of each bslls to get a perfect flat round shape.
Deep fry over medium heat and serve hot or cool and store in an airtight container.

Malai Chicken Kebab

This is a truly yummy chicken appetizer dish and undoubtedly my favourite chicken starter. The wide variety of flavours blend together with the chicken to create a true fantasy of taste in our pallette. This is a must try recipe for all chicken lovers. Enjoy.

Ingredients

250 grams of boneless chicken
1 ½ tbsp. Cheese
1 tbsp. curd
2 tbsp. cream
¼ tsp pepper
¼ tsp cardamom powder
A handful of Coriander leaves
2 green chilies
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp. corn flour
Salt to taste

Instructions

Wash chicken and pat dry with a kitchen tissue
Marinate chicken with pepper pow, cardamom pow, ginger garlic paste, set aside for 10 mins
Meanwhile Grind cheese, curd, coriander leaves, green chili and cream till smooth
Marinate the chicken with this and refrigerate for 30 mins to 1 hr
Preheat the oven at 240 C, skew the chicken pieces and place them on a tray
Grill for 15 mins.
Turn around and grill for another 5 to 8 mins.

Pepper Chicken

This is a very tasty chicken recipe which is perfect with both rice or chappathis. I had made it many times but realized only today that I hadnt posted its recipe in my blog. It can be made into a dry dish or as a gravy.

Ingredients

1 heaped cup chopped onions
/2 cup chopped tomatoes
salt as needed
1 tsp pepper corn
¼ tsp. red chili powder
¾ tsp. garam masala powder
1 sprig curry leaves
½ tsp cumin
2 to 3 green cardamoms
1 inch cinnamon stick
3 cloves
2 tbsp. oil

Marination

500 grams chicken (with bone or boneless)
1 tsp ginger garlic paste or grated
⅛ tsp turmeric
salt little

Instructions

Wash chicken and drain off the water. Marinate with ingredients under marination. Keep it aside until needed.
Add oil to a hot pan, add cumin, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom and allow them to sizzle.
Add curry leaves and ginger garlic paste. Fry till the raw smell of ginger garlic goes off.
Add onions and fry till they turn golden.
Add tomatoes and salt. Fry till the tomatoes turn mushy and soft.
Add red chili powder, garam masala and coarsely crushed pepper corn.
Fry everything well till the mixture looses all the moisture.
Add chicken and fry for about 3 to 4 minutes.
Cover and cook on a low flame till the chicken turns tender. If the chicken doesn't ooze out enough water to cook, then add little water. Cover and cook. If you want to have gravy, switch off the stove.
If you prefer a dry version, cook without lid and evaporate the moisture in the chicken. Fry till all the moisture dries up.
Serve hot.

Padavalanga Mezhukkupuratti (Snake Gourd)

This is one of my favourite mezhukkupuratti recipes. My mom makes it perfectly well and I still cherish the tasty lunches I enjoyed with my parents back in kerala.

Ingredients

Snake Gourd - 250 gms
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tspn
Salt
Curry Leaves
Green Chilly - 2 cut into two
Coconut Oil - 2 tbspn
Shallots - 7
Red Chilly Powder/ Red Chilly Flakes - 1 tspn

Method

Cut Snake gourd into small pieces and wash it well. Cook the Snake gourd adding enough water, turmeric powder, salt, curry leaves and green chilly. Cook for 5-6 minutes with lids closed.
Heat oil in a pan. Add shallots and saute till it turns light brown. Now add red Chilly Powder. Saute till the raw smell goes off.
Now season with some curry leaves. Easy and tasty mezhukkupuratti is ready!

Padavalanga Thoran (Snake Gourd)

This is a traditional kerala recipe which is very tasty.This is perfect to be eaten with matta rice and kachiya moru. It takes very less time to be perfectly cooked. Enjoy.

Ingredients

Snake gourd-1
Shallot-12
Coconut1/4 cups
Green chilli-2
Salt to taste
Turmeric-1/2 teaspoons
Cumin Powder- A pinch
Oil-1 tablespoon
Mustard seed-1 teaspoon
Curry leaves

Method

Clean and cut snake gourd and set aside.
Cut shallots into small, slit green chillies.
In a pan add oil add mustard seeds, when it crackles add curry leaves, green chillies, snake gourd, shallots, coconut, turmeric, cumin and salt (you can use 1 medium size onion instead of shallots). Cover and cook, no need to add any water since snake gourd has enough water in it. Once it is cooked and all the water is evaporated, Switch off the flame.
You can use onion instead of shallots

Egg Ghee Roast

It is a very famous egg dish from Mangalore.It is easy to make and since it is completely cooked in ghee, it is absolutely yummy. I usually hate Egg Roasts. But this particular dish gave a new twist to the ordinary egg roasts because of the addition of tamarind and ghee. Enjoy.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon Kashmiri Chilly powder
2 Green Chillies
8 Garlic cloves
1 small piece Ginger
1/2 tsp Tumeric powder
6 Whole peppercorns
2 Cloves
1 small Cinnamon sticks
1 tsp Coriander seeds
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds
1 tbsp Tamarind pulp
(Grind all the above ingredients into paste, add little water while grinding.)  
6 Hard Boiled Eggs
1 big Size Onions finely chopped
Few Curry leaves
4 tbsp Ghee
Salt to taste
Few Coriander leaves chopped to Garnish 

Method

Take a pan, add ghee, add onions and  curry leaves. Fry the chopped onions till brown. Add the paste. Sauté it for 2 minutes. Add 1/4 cup water. Simmer for few . Add the eggs. Stir it. Cook the eggs in the masala till the eggs are well coated with the masala. Garnish it with coriander leaves.  Serve hot.

Perfect Microwave Rice

This is the easiest way you can cook rice. No mess, Saves time and we get the perfect texture rice. I came acriss this recipe and tried it for the first time and was simply amazed with the results.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups white rice - White rice(Ponni Rice)
Water

Directions

Scoop the rice into the microwave-safe container, pot or steamer. Fill the pot with water and swish the water and rice with your hands. Pour out the water, keeping the rice in the pot (just cup your hands around the rice to prevent it from pouring out). Repeat for 2-3 more times until the water is just barely cloudy.

Add enough water to cover the rice by about 2" - or place your finger straight down touching the top of the rice. The water should meet your first knuckle and 1 Inch more.(If it is basmati rice, you need water reaching only upto your first knuckle)

Microwave on high for 14 minutes. Let rest covered for 3 minutes.

Nankhatai

Nankhatai is an Indian short bread cookie that is very easy to be baked and tastes truly yummy. I had eaten it a lot during my childhood days when my dad used   to bring it for us from bakeries. They are usually made during the time of festivals. It is very crisp, yet so soft that the minute you put them in your mouth, they just melt away. It can be made and stored in airtight containers.

Ingredients

All purpose flour - 1 and 1/2 cup
Gram Flour - 1/2 cup
Semolina  - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 1 cup
Powdered Sugar - 1 cup
Cardamom powder- 1 tsp
Baking powder - 1 tsp

Instructions

Measure all the ingredients and keep them ready.
Sieve Maida, Besan and baking powder.
In bowl mix all the dry ingredients, maida, Besan ,Sooji and Baking powder.
To make the dough, in a big flat plate or bowl add powdered sugar and ghee and mix well for around 5 minutes.
Add the dry ingredients and elaichi powder to the ghee and sugar mixture and knead into soft dough.
Make small balls and flatten them by pressing them gently between your palms and place them on a greased baking tray. This recipe makes approximately 19-20 big sized cookies . It varies depending on the size you want to make.Preheat the oven at 200 degree C for 10 minutes.
Place the baking try in the oven at 180 degree C for 15 – 20 minutes.
Once they are out from the oven they will be soft, so avoid touching them.
Let them cool down completely after which  they are ready to serve.

Masala Pori (Crispy Puffed Rice Snack)

This is a super easy dish to be prepared and it can be done in less than 10 minutes. I always have it prepared at home, so that when ever I feel like eating something, I snack on this. It is delicious and is low in calories

Ingredients

1/4 kg - puffed Rice
1 cup - Peanut
1 cup - roasted gram
2 - Garlic Cloves
1 tsp - Mustard Seeds
10 - chilli
Curry leaves - a few
3 tsp - chilli powder
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp - asafetida
1/2 tsp - Garam Masala
Salt to taste
3 tbsp - Coconut oil

Method

Clean the puffed rice and crush the whole garlic without peeling the skin.
In a large frying pan, add coconut oil and season with mustard, curry leaves and chillies.
Now add garlic and fry for a while and add groundnuts, roasted gram, chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and salt and saute for a min.
Finally add the puffed rice to it and mix quickly and remove from fire immediately and transfer to another vessel.

Mix Veg Butter Masala

I've often sympathized with pure vegetarians wondering how thay would manage with only veggies on their dining table and very less creativity in their dishes. But I guess it is high time I change that opinion. There is a huge scope for variety and creativity in vegetarian dishes too. Try this Veg butter masala inspired from our very common chicken butter masala.

Ingredients

MixVeg – 1/4 Kg (Carrot,Capsicum,Green Peas, French Beans)
Tomato Sauce – 1/4 cup
Kasoori Methi – 1 tablespoon
Fresh Cream   - 1 cup
Cold Milk – 1/2 cup
Cashew Paste – ½ cup
Onion  - 4 no's pureed
Tomatoes - 8 no's pureed
Garlic  – 1tablespoon paste
Ginger - 1 tablespoon paste
Red chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder  - 1/4 teaspoon
Coriander leaves - A bunch
Orange –Red colour – ¼ teaspoon
Oil - 8 tablespoon
Garam Masala Powder – 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste

Method

Put kadai on gas, add oil and heat it well.
Add onion puree, kasuri methi and ginger-garlic paste, saute on high flame.
Let the water of onion and ginger-garlic evaporate very well. The colour should become crispy golden brown .
Switch off the gas and add salt to taste, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala.
Mix them very well , now add tomato puree and Switch on the gas to a high flame.
Fry it till you hear a sizzling sound and till each particle of tomato contracts and the oil separates from the corners of the kadai.
Switch off the gas to add the milk ingredients.
Now add orange or red colour, tomato sauce, cream, cashew paste and cold milk.
Boil the Vegetables and add them into the gravy.
On the gas on high flame, mix it and let it boil once only and turn off the gas .
To garnish add green coriander leaves.

Chickpeas Curry

There is nothing to be proud of in this dish. It is made by everyone everywhere and is one of the easily made vegetarian recipes. It can be a tasty side dish with puttu or rice or chappathi and is a highly nutritious and healthy dish.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced small
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 cinnamon stick
Pinch of ground cloves
2 cans chickpeas
3 tablespoons ketchup
Salt and ground pepper

Directions

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until dark brown around edges, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, curry, cinnamon, and cloves and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add chickpeas, ketchup, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook 20 minutes. Uncover, and increase heat to medium-high; cook until sauce is slightly reduced, 5 minutes. Serve hot.

Madhura Seva

I adore this sweet snack which is very famous and commonly made in all malayali homes. I have a special attachment to it because this was my grand dad's favourite snack. I still remember how he used to keep jars of cashew nut and madhura seva in his coveted cupboard and present it to us when we go to visit him during our vacation times. He left this world 5 years ago and even now I cherish the beautiful moments I had with him. He was truly a very special person in my life. He would definitely smile at me from his abode for making this! Love you Appacha.
Try this recipe.

Ingredients

Gram flour -2 cups
Sugar -3/4 cup
Salt - a pinch
Water

Method

Mix salt and gram flour. Slowly add warm water to this and make a smooth dough. Knead the dough for a minute. Heat oil in a pan. Press the dough through a mould into hot oil and fry it till golden brown.Remove from oil and let it cool.
Dissolve the sugar in 1 1/4 cups of water.Boil the syrup till one thread consistency is reached.
Add the fried seva into this and mix well .Allow them to cool.When it completely cools store them in airtight containers.

Tandoori Roti

Till now I've only eaten Tandoori Roti from restaurents, although I very well know that it is absolutely easy to make. So last  day I gave it a try and I would say that it was not bad. I still have lots to improve on it to get the exact texture. But this was perfectly okay for a first time. Enjoy.

Ingredients

Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Oil - 1 tsp
Salt - as required
Water - 3/4 to  1 cup

Method

Measure and take wheat flour, transfer to a wide mixing bowl.Add salt and oil.
First mix well with your fingers so that the distribution is even, then start adding water little by little, start kneading.
Knead it to a soft pliable dough. Let the dough rest for atleast 30mins.Then knead it again and make medium lemon sized balls from the dough.Transfer one ball to the rolling board and sprinkle little flour on it.
Roll it to a slightly thick roti, You can either roll it as a circle or oval.On the top side, brush with little water.Repeat the process for other rotis too.0
Heat a dosa tawa, I used my iron dosa tawa.Once the tawa is hot,carefully transfer a roti so that the water surface touches the tawa. Allow it to cook for a minute, as bubbles start to come,carefully flip the dosa tawa upside down as keeping keep flame in high.Cook until the rotis are charred a bit. Rotate the tawa for even cooking. It will start to fall down, you can hold it with a tong.It is better if you have a handle for the dosa tawa.
If you don't have a dosa tawa with handle, then cook on one side in tawa then pull out the roti with a tong and place it directly on high flame. Brush it well with ghee / butter. Cut into two and serve!