Varutharacha Meen Curry / Fish in Roasted Coconut Gravy

                                                                                                    

Varutharacha meen curry and hot Ari Pathil...This is a famous Malabar combination...it's equally welcome for breakfast and dinner.

Although I am not fond of fish, I enjoy trying out different fish recipes for my hubby dear, who in fact enjoys them. Here I have used roasted coconut and this adds a special flavor to the dish...

Ingredients:
  
Black Pomfret – 4 slices of medium thickness  
Onion – 1 large- sliced
Tomato- 1 medium chopped
Green chilly – 2 chopped
Ginger garlic chopped – 1 tsp each
 Fenugreek seeds- ¼ tsp
Chilly powder – 1 tsp
Corriander powder – ½ tsp
 Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
 Curry leaves - a handful
 Oil – 2 tbsp
 Salt  – as required

For the roasted coconut paste:

1.       Grinded coconut – 4 tbsp

2.       Shallots whole – 3 / 4

3.       Fennel seeds – 1 / 2 tsp

Clean the fish and cut into 4 slices of medium thickness.

First let us prepare the coconut paste. Take a fry pan or wok. Add the grinded coconut, shallots and fennel seeds. Dry roast the coconut on low flame till it turns golden brown. Remove from flame.
Once the roasted coconut cools down grind it with little water to make a fine paste.

Now take the sauce pan and heat the oil. Add the fenugreek seeds. Sauté for a min. Add in the sliced onions, green chilly and ginger garlic. Sauté well till the onion turns golden brown. Now add in the chopped tomatoes and sauté. Next add the chilly powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder. Sauté well till the tomatoes get mashed up.

Add 1 1/2 cup of water. Add 1/2 tsp salt. Cover with lid and cook. Once the onion and tomatoes get really cooked, add in the fish pieces. Cover and cook on low flame till the fish gets cooked. Now add the grinded coconut paste and mix. Add curry leaves and simmer for 5 mins till the gravy gets a little thick. Remove from flame.

Serve it warm with Ari pathil / Roti… Enjoy the delicacy !!

Chocolate chip cupcakes

                                                                                                              
                                            

Chocolate chips could be a reason for a child to smile... Yes, it's a little treat for them..My little ones are always fond of chocolate chip cakes and cookies..

Today's adukala recipe is dedicated to all the little ones out there ......Myself, I am always curious to know the origin of recipes..how the flavours were invented, why the ingredients were selected..I did a little bit of home work and came across this story which I would like to share with all the lovely mothers who would love to narrate it to their kids...

Well.... this story dates back to 1933, one fine day, a wonderful lady called RUTH GRAVES wanted to bake some cookies which required some baker's chocolate. Oops ! she ran out of these..so, she decided to chop up some chocolate bar which she hoped would melt into the dough and turn out right for her cookies...But fortunately for her, we must say, all of it didn't melt completely.. There were bit of chocolates here and there which nestled just perfectly into the golden cookies and guess what ?? it turned out to be an instant hit .."The chocolate chip cookies"

Here, I have tried out  the cup cakes using milk chocolate chips..I am sure there are varieties of choclate chips available in the market..

Ingredients:

1. Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup
2. Butter - 110 gm (melted at room temperature)
3. Eggs - 2
4. Flour - 1 1/2 cup
5. Baking powder - 1 1/2 teaspoon
6. Chocolate chips - 1/2 cup
7. Milk - 1/2 cup
8. Vanilla essence - 1 teaspoon
9. Confection sugar
10. Salt - 1/2 teaspoon

Preparation:

 Preheat the oven to 180 degrees for 10 mins. Take a medium bowl and beat the melted butter and sugar till the mixture becomes really fluffy. Please note that the butter needs to be melted at room temperature to get the best texture.

Add the eggs one by one into the butter mix and beat it well.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in this mixture in to the butter and egg batter. Add in enough milk just to get the right texture.

Gently fold in half the chocolate chips. Scoop equal measures of the batter into the cup cases.

Sprinkle the remaining choclate chips on the top of each cupcake case. Bake them at 180 degrees for 10-15mins till they have fully risen and turned golden brown. Remove and let it cool.

Shower the confection sugar on the cup cakes just before serving...

Easy Praline Pudding

                                            

                                                                                                           



Puddings or desserts are always a delight to have.. My hubby and kids.. they just love the desserts made at home..Whenever I am invited over for lunch or if we go out for for dinner, I always make sure there is sufficient space left for the yummy desserts..

It's always a pleasure for me to try out different desserts. I guess we are all familiar with the good old china grass. Well, why don't we give it a twist and try our pudding with a Praline topping.

China grass is another name for agar agar which is a gelatine extracted from seaweed.  Praline is a confection which is prepared from sugar syrup and nuts. We can use cashew or almonds. Here I have used cashew nuts.

So, let's try out this easy "Praline Pudding"

Ingredients:

1. China grass - 10gm
2. Milk - 1/2 litre
3. Sweetened condensed milk - 1 big tin - 395 gm
4. Cashew nuts - 4tbsp
5. Sugar - 4/5 tbsp

Preparation method:

Let's first prepare the praline. What we need to do is prepare the caramel sauce.

Take your sauce pan. Add the sugar and pour water just enough to dissolve the sugar. Turn on the flame and heat it. Stir till the sugar gets dissolved.

Once the sugar gets dissolved and the sugar syrup starts boiling, stop stirring with the spoon as this will cause the sauce to crystalize.

When the sauce starts turning light brown add in the whole cashews and remove from flame.
What we need to take care is that the sauce must not turn dark brown as this might cause the cashews to burn.

Pour this mixture into a plate lined with parchment paper. Once it cools , break into small pieces and pulse in the grinder so that we get a coarse mixture of the praline. Store in an airtight container.

Next, lets move on to make the pudding. First, we need to dissolve the china grass. So, what we need to do  is soak the china grass in 1 cup of water for 15-20 mins. Then just heat this mixture till the china grass completely dissolves.

Next take the milk in a saucepan and add in the condensed milk. Mix it well and  let it boil  for say 5 mins.Remove from flame. Immediately add the dissolved china grass mix to this boiled milk and stir well so that it gets comletely mixed with the milk. Please note that while mixing the dissolved china grass with milk, both needs to be of the same temperature to avoid hardening of the china grass.

Take care not to boil the milk once you have added the china grass as the milk might curdle. Now pour the pudding mix into a serving dish. Let it cool and then refrigerate. Serve it cold with a generous topping of the yummy Praline.

Beetroot Raita

                                                              

Allright, lets get a little healthy today...Yes, that's right , I made a very nutritious recipe..It's called the
"Beetroot Raita".

This is a very tasty veggie dish and also easy to prepare. This is  a side dish and goes well with rice or chappatis. This recipe was handed over by my dear Mom..

We all know that Beetroot is rich in a variety of nurients and boosts our immune system. So, this is a must have for our little ones..and know what? the reddish purple colour is also very tempting for our kids to try this out.

My hubbys enjoys it with hot chappatis..We normally have it for lunch...


Ingredients:

1. Beetroot -2 medium finely chopped
2. Onion - 1 large finely chopped
3. Green chilly - 2 chopped
4. Curry leaves - a handful
5. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
6. Dry red chilly - 2/3
7. Coconut oil - 3 tbsp
8. Yoghurt - 1 cup
9. Salt - as required

Preparation method:

First, take your wok and heat 2 bsp oil. Now add in the onions, green chilly and saute it well. Once the onions start turning golden brown, add in the chopped beetroot. Add 1/2 tsp salt and saute it well again. Cover with lid and keep on low flame for 5-10 mins. Do saute in between. Check the salt and add more if required. Once the betroot is done, remove from flame and keep aside.

Once it has cooled down, now we need to add the yoghurt. Mix it really well so that the beetroot gets really mixed.

Next we need to temper the mustard seeds, curry leaves and dry red chilly in the remaining 1 tbsp coconut oil and pour over the beetroot yoghurt mix. "Beetroot Raita is ready " ....

Refrigerate it for half an hour..Serve it with hot chappatis or rice...

Malabar Chicken Stew

                                                                          
                                                             

                                                

Wow! what a delicious breakfast it was ! Hot appam and yummy chicken stew...what's better to start a lovely Friday with.

I am sure we have come across different varieties of stew. What we have here today is the very famous "Malabar Chicken Stew ". This goes well with our yummy Ghee rice, Appam , Pathiris...Yes, the list goes long...

Coconuts grow in abundance in Kerala, and consequently coconut milk is used in abundance in all our dishes, especially in Malabar. Guess, we all are used to our ready made coconut milk powder, which is so easily available, but try out this stew with the thick fresh coconut milk ..It does taste great !

Why don't we try it out....

Ingredients:

1. Chicken - 500 gms
2. Onion - 2 medium sliced
3. Potato - 1 large chopped
4. Ginger garlic chopped - 1tsp each
5. Green chilly- 5/6 as per your spice meter
6. Curry leaves- a handful
7. Corriander leaves chopped - 1 tbsp
8. Coconut milk - 1 cup
9. Whole pepper - 8
10. Cinnamon stick - 1 small piece
11. Cloves - 3 pieces
12. Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
13. Garam masala powder - 1/4 tsp
14. Oil - 2 tbsp
15. Salt as required

Preparation method:

First clean the chicken, cut into medium size pieces. Wash and drain in a colander.

Heat oil in your cooking pan. Add the whole spices - pepper, cinnamon and cloves. Fry for 1 min. Once, you start getting the aroma of the whole spices, add in the sliced onions, green chilly, ginger garlic and curry leaves.

Saute it well, till the onions start turning golden brown. Now add in the chopped potatoes. Saute it well again.

Now, add the chicken pieces and mix it well, so that the onion mix gets coated well over the chicken. Saute for another 5 mins. Now add water, just enough to cover the chicken. Add 1/2 tsp salt.

Once the water starts boiling, lower the flame and cover the pan. Once the chicken gets cooked, add the coconut milk, pepper powder and garam masala powder. Check the salt.

Once the stew starts boiling, remove from flame and garnish with chopped corriander leaves.

Serve it hot with Appam / Ghee Rice ....

Breaded Chicken Pockets

                                                        

      

                                                                                                                        

I am across this recipe when my dear colleague a few days back, got us these delicacy appetizers. It tasted great!
             
I immediately asked her what's this? something very new..Oh...these are sandwiches with chicken mayo, she said..

No, I told myself..this appetizer deserves much more attention.. Yes, I renamed them on the spot ... From now, these will be called " Breaded Chicken Pockets"

The very next day, I made it for my son's lunch box or I must say snack box as he get's back home by 2:00, right in time for lunch. He told me, ma it rocks!! me and my friends ..we enjoyed it! I was so happy to see that smile on his face.

Yesterday, I made them again..and my hubby and kids just enjoyed them...

So, lets see how do we go about it...

Ingredients:

1. Chicken Filling
2. Sliced bread - 1 jumbo pack
3. Eggs - 3 well beaten
4. Cream cheese spread - just enough to seal the edges
5. Mayonnaise - just enough to spread in the sandwiches
6. Bread crumbs
7. Oil - for deep frying

Preparation method:

All right, first step is to prepare the Chicken filling.

Each pocket requires two slices of bread. First we needs to cut ot a circle from each slice.

You can do this by using a cup or lid with a sharp edge. Repeat the same till your have a pair of circles for the number of pockets you wish to make.

Take the first circle, apply the cream spread on the edges of the circle. Cover it with the other half and seal the circle. Now lets call this the pocket.

Repeat the same for the other circles. Once you are done, dip each pocket in the beaten eggs and  roll it in the breadcrumbs.

Once all the pockets are done, Deep fry each pocket, till it turns golden brown. Cut the fried pockets into 2 equal halves. Slightly open the middle of the pocket with a knife , taking care not to open the edges.

Apply a layer of mayonnaise and stuff in the chicken filling. Repeat the same with all the other pockets.

Voila !! our breaded chicken pockets are ready !!

Serve them hot !! with ketchup.... :)

Chinese Chicken Filling

                                                                                               

Oops ! Looks like I have been away for a while. Got really tied up with work for the last two weeks..
Now, it's week end again...

Well, let's see what's cooking today? Let's cook something Chinese..Yup, let's make a Chinese chicken filling.I am sure we all are fond of Chinese appetizers.

This chicken filling goes well with springrolls and also tastes great in sandwiches. As the veggies are added, the nutrition count is also good..

So, lets check out this recipe.
Ingredients

1. Boneless chicken - 250 gm
2. Onion chopped - 2 medium
3. Carrot - 1/2 finely chopped
4. French beans - 3 finely chopped
5. Capsicum small - 1/2 finely chopped
6. Ginger garlic - 1 tsp finely chopped
7. Oil - 2 tbsp
8. Soya sauce - 2 tbsp
9. Pepper powder - 1 tsp
10. Salt - as required

Preparation Method:

Clean the chicken and cut into medium pieces. Wash and drain in a cloander.

Cook the chicken with 1/4 tsp salt, ginger garlic and little water. Once cooked, let it cool and shred into small pieces. Keep aside.

Take a wok or fry pan. Heat the oil and saute the onions first. Once the onion start turning slightly brown, add in the carrot and beans. Saute again. Add 1/4 tsp salt. Once the veggies get half cooked, add in the shredded chicken pieces and mix it well.

Now add the soya sauce and saute again till the chicken and veggies gets mixed well with the soya sauce.
Next add in the capsicum and mix well. Add the pepper powder. Mix it well again.

Keep on flame for 1 min and remove from flame.

We don't want the capsicum to get over cooked as it gives away the fresh flavour.

There .. Our chinese chicken filling is ready....!!