Showing posts with label Indian food. Show all posts

Adai

Posted by Lisa on Wednesday, March 28, 2007. Filed under: ,
5 Comments

Yes, I make Adai for our breakfast at home ;-p. I don't want to say that this is the original Adai since I knew this food only after I moved to Cochin. Well actually, I never found Adai in Cochin home for breakfast. Don't know why. The most common daily breakfast here are puttu, idli, dosa and appam.

The first time I taste this was when I stayed a couple of days in my brother-in-law's house in Madras. His wife made this delicious breakfast one morning, and we (me and my husband) enjoy it very much. Guess what, Adai is even new for my husband..!!!

We called it simply as Dosa. After we had our breakfast, my sister-in-law show me how to make it. She showed me the 4 different dals she use to prepare it. And I found it very easy to make and it doesn't need a fermentation at all. It's a perfect dish for breakfast...!

So here it is... The original recipe of Adai (I found out that this is called Adai, after I browse on the internet ;-p) by my sister in law.

Ingredients:
1 glass of white rice
1/4 glass of Thuvara Parippu (Toor Dal / Red Gram)
1/4 glass of Uzhunnu Parippu (Urad Dal / Black Gram)
1/4 glass of Cheru Parippu (Moong Dal / Green Gram)
1/4 glass of Kadala Parippu (Chana Dal / Bengal Gram)
enough water to make a batter
salt
1/2 cup Muringakka leaves

Soak the grains and pulses for 4 hours or more. Later wash and grind them together by adding a little water. No need to ferment the batter. Add salt and Muringakka leaves. Mix well.

To make adai: heat a pan and pour little oil and then pour a ladle of the batter and with a spatula make it to a round shape. Cook only one side. Seve with coconut chutney.

Chicken Liver Masala

Posted by Lisa on Monday, January 29, 2007. Filed under: ,
6 Comments

I never prepare chicken liver dish in Indian way before. I just didn't know how, cause I found it very rare (never) in Kerala house. One day when I bought one package of chicken livers from nearest supermarket, I decided to give it a shot. So I just browsed around. And you know what, I found only one recipe from Pachakam.

The preparation a little bit 'confusing' if you follow the recipes though, hehehehe.... So, just use your feeling. That would be better. And I feel satisfied with the taste... For me, it's perfect with rice, but not with chapati as the recipe's owner suggested.

As only two of us in the house who will enjoy it, I adjust the ingredient according to our need and the ingredients available in our kitchen. My husband love it..

2 tbsp oil for stir frying
1 Onion, chopped
5 cm cinnamon stick, break into pieces
1 potato (big size), cut intu small cubes
salt as required
a little water

2 tbsp oil for frying
3 garlic (minced)
2 tomatoes, chopped
250 grams chicken liver, cut into pieces
1/2 cup frozen green peas
2 green chilies, slit lengthwise
1/4 tsp garam masala

For the paste:
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder

Heat 2 tbsp oil over medium heat. Fry the onions and cinnamon, until the onions are soft. Add the potatoes, salt and stir-fry the potatoes for about 2 minutes. Add some water, cover the pan and simmer until the potatoes are tender.

Heat the remaining oil over medium heat in a heavy bottomed wide pan. Add the garlic and stir-fry for 30 sec. Add the spice paste, lower the heat and stir fry for about 2 minutes. Add half of the tomatoes, along with some of the juice, stir and cook for further 2-3 minutes, breaking the tomatoes with the spoon. When the mixture is fairly dry, add the liver and adjust heat to medium high. Stir-fry the liver for 3-4 minutes. Add the remaining tomatoes and the juice, stir-fry for 5-6 minutes. Cover the pan and simmer for about 8 minutes.

Add the potatoes, green peas, green chillies and the remaining salt and cook for a minute or two. Adjust heat to medium and cook uncovered for further 5 minutes. Stir in the garam masala powder and remove from heat.

Original Recipe : Pachakam

Fish Biriyani

Posted by Lisa on Tuesday, December 26, 2006. Filed under: ,
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Since I never make chicken biriyani with the perfect taste, This Fish Biriyani always become my favorite thing to serve for our guest at home. We love it from the first time we tried this recipe. If you like, you can try it also..


Ingredients:
For Fish Masala:
500 grams King Fish
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 - 2 tsp chili powder (as required)
1/2 tsp salt

3 Onions (big size), finely sliced
1 big tomato, chopped
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tsp garam masala powder
1/2 cup thick coconut milk
2 tbsp curd
1 1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves
salt as required

For the Rice
3 cups of Basmati rice
6 cups of water
1 Onion, chopped
2 tbsp ghee
5 cardamom pods, Crushed
3 sticks of cinnamon
3 cloves
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt (as required)

Roasted Cashew Nuts and Yellow raisins..



Preparing the fish:
Clean and wash the fish pieces, drain it well. Marinate them in turmeric powder, chili powder and salt for about 1/2 - 1 hour. Heat oil in a pan, then fry the marinated fish. Keep aside


Preparing the masala:
Heat a small amount of oil in pan. Add sliced onions and fry on a low flame, till it becomes slightly brown. On medium flame, add ginger-garlic-green chilly paste and tomato, stir it until it become paste around 5 minutes. Add garam masala powder,curd, coconut milk, coriander leaves and salt and stir it for 5 min. Add fried fish pieces and reduce the flame and cook till it starts to boil. Keep a side.


Preparing the rice:
Heat ghee in a pan.Add cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, pepper and onions and fry till onion turn slightly brown. Add rice and stir for another 5 minutes. In a pressure cooker put water along with salt and let it boil. Pour the rice into the boiling water then close the cooker with the lid and cook until one wistle. Turn off the flame.



Preparing the biriyani:
Take a deep bottom vessel and layer rice and fish masala. Pour 2 tbsp of ghee and tightly cover with a lid. Keep it on a very low flame for 10 min.Garnish with roasted nuts and raisins.

Onion Uthappam

Posted by Lisa on Tuesday, December 19, 2006. Filed under: , ,
4 Comments

I like Uthappam better than dosa. For me, the taste of the fried onions give a good combination to the sour taste of the batter.

Earlier, we can eat uthappam only when we had breakfast in hotel (breakfast in hotel..!!?? ;-p). But since I knew that uthappam is made using the same batter as idli and dosa, I'll make my own uthappam whenever I have left-over idli/dosa batter.

Enjoy hot Onion Uthappam with Coconut Chutney

Ingredients:
3 cups Idli/Dosa batter
salt as required
2 Onions ( or as required), finely chopped
3 green chilies, finely chopped
2 tbsp finely chopped corriander leaves (green cilantro)
1/2 tsp minced ginger (optional)

Mix together all the ingredients except the batter in a bowl, set aside.
Add a little salt to the batter, mix well.
Heat a dosa pan and spead a little oil over the pan. When it becomes hot enough, place a laddle of the batter and spread it (it should be thick than a normal dosa). Sprinkle onion mixture on top of the batter evently and cook for about 1 minute.
When it is cokked on one side, turn over, add a tsp of oil all over its edge and remove when fully cooked.

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