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

Aloo Paratha

Posted by Lisa on Thursday, January 25, 2007. Filed under:
8 Comments

Actually, this is my first time to cook Aloo Paratha in my own kitchen. And I found out that the process is not that difficult as I thought. I think I will make aloo paratha more often than before...

For the Dough:
2 cups Whole wheat flour (atta)
3/4 warm water for kneading (approx)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp ghee or butter.

For Stuffing:
3 large boiled potatoes
1 onion, finely chooped (small size)
2 tbsp minced cilantro
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp red chili powder, or to taste

For the dough: Sieve the flour together with salt. Add warm water a little at a time, and knead to form a soft dough. Set aside

For the stuffing: Mash well the boiled potatoes. Add all the stuffing items to mashed potatoes and mix it properly.

Divide the dough into balls of equal portions and. Roll one ball to form of a small puri. Now put a small quantity of above mixture (potatoes) over it, close it from all sides. Apply some flour on both sides and roll it gently into a paratha. Heat a flat pan and cook paratha, by applying 1/2 - 1 tsp. oil on each side, until light brown and serve hot.

Bubur Sumsum

Posted by Lisa on Friday, January 19, 2007. Filed under: , ,
10 Comments

Finally, I got the mood to write down the recipe of Bubur Sumsum, one of all-times favorite appetizer of many Indonesians. Well, actually I'm not quite sure this bubur is an appetizer. We usually don't eat appetizer, just straight to the Main Dish... !

Bubur is a term we use for 'Porridge'. The most common ingredient for making porridge in Indonesia is rice. Bubur sumsum is porridge made from combination of white rice powder and coconut milk, served with jaggery sauce. It has a very soft texture. Most children love to have it for their breakfast. I like it too ;-p. But believe it or not, even though it is not hard to prepare this dish, I never made my own Bubur Sumsum before. Don't blame me. Why should I spent time in kitchen to make this while I can buy it easily... hehehehe. Yes, we have an old lady who will bring the bubur in her basket and sell it door to door every evening.


Making this bubur is not diffcult thing to do in Kerala. We have all the ingredient here. However, Indonesia and Kerala share commons of food together. Rice powder and coconut milk is the main ingredients for both Idonesia and Kerala. So I think the taste will not be that strange for Kerala people. Lets start with the recipes....


for the porridge:
100 grams white rice powder
750 cc coconut milk
1 tsp salt
2 sheets of pandan leaves

For Sauce:
250 gram jagerry
1 cup of water
2 sheets of Pandan leaves.

In a Pan, mix together white rice powder, salt and coconut milk to form a very smooth batter. Tear the Pandan leaves then add to the batter. Cook the batter along with coconut leaves in medium hot flame. Stir continousely until it became thick and cooked.

For the sauce: Mix all the ingredients in a pan then bring them to boil and let the jaggery dissolved. Strain it and the sauce is ready to serve.

Put 2 - 3 ladle of bubur in a bowl then pour the sauce over it. Serve it hot... Yummy...

Gobi Manchurian

Posted by Lisa on Monday, January 15, 2007. Filed under:
16 Comments

I enjoy the taste of Chinese Cuisines served by Indian restaurants... ;-p. Chili Chicken, Chilli Gobi.. and Gobi Manchurian are my favorite. For me they don't taste like the chinese food I've known before. I always joke to my husband whenever we visit chinese restaurant in Cochin... "aaaah.. you mean, Indian Chinese food.." hehehe. They actually really new taste for me. I mean, I rarely find this kind in Chinese restaurant in Indonesia.

But I like it anyway. Especially when it served dry, not with gravy. I think most of Restaurant in Cochin serve them with gravy because most of people still enjoy them as a side dish for chappati or porrota... Hmmm, Nice combination of chinese and Indian then.. :-)

For the cauliflower:
250 grams cauliflower (1 medium size), cut into small florets
1/3 cup corn flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (maida)
1/3 cup water (approx)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper powder

Sauce:
1 medium size Onion, chopped
2 garlics, minced
1 inch ginger, minced
2 green chilies, chopped
1 tbsp soya sauce
4 tbsp hot and sweet sauce
1/2 tsp vinegar
1/4 tsp white pepper powder
salt as per taste
1 tbsp corn flour dissolve in 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup chopped green onion + green corriander

In a bowl mix maida, corn flour, salt and pepper by adding water to form a fine batter. Add the cauliflower into the batter and mix well. Heat oil in a pan, deep fry the cauliflower florets covered with batter until brown and cooked. Set aside.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan, add chooped Onion, green chilies, minced garlic and ginger. Saute in high flame for 5 minutes until they turn slightly tender. Add soy sauce, hot & sweet sauce and vinegar. Saute again for 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper powder. Then add the corn flour mixture and cook until the sauce thicken. Add the fried cauliflower and mix them so all the florets is covered with the sauce. Remove from flame and garnish with chopped green onion and crriander leaves.

White Chocolate Muffins

Posted by Lisa on Friday, January 12, 2007. Filed under: , ,
5 Comments


What more can I say about this muffins...? You know I love muffins. This recipe is taken from "Le Cordon Bleu Home Edition, MUFFIN". One of my Indonesian food blogger friend posted it in her blog. Never skip the Lemon rind ingredient, otherwise you will miss the sensation of the good aroma...

375 g (12 oz) self-raising flour
125 g (4 oz) caster sugar
200 g (6 ½ oz) white chocolate, chopped
2 eggs
375 mil (12 fl oz) milk
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
160 g (5 ¼ oz) unsalted butter, melted
45 g (1 ½ oz) flaked almonds

1. Preheat the oven to hot 210°C (415°F/Gas 6-7). Brush a 6-hole (250ml/8 fl oz capacity) muffin tin with melted butter or oil. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl, stir in the sugar and chocolate and make a well in the centre
2. Whisk the eggs, milk and lemon rind together in a jug, and pour into the well in the dry ingredients. Add the butter, and stir with a metal spoon until the mixture is just combined. Do not over mix – the mixture should be lumpy.
3. Spoon the mixture into the muffin tin, filling each hole to about three-quarters full. Sprinkle flaked almonds on top of the mixture and gently press them on. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of a muffin. Leave the muffins in the tin for 5 minutes before lifting out onto a wire rack to cool

Chocolate-Nuts Muffin

Posted by Lisa Filed under: , ,
1 Comment

Yes. Another Muffins. I always love muffins. And I love chocolate too. The combination of both makes a perfect snack for tea time. Just like this Brownies-looked-like Muffins.

The original recipe is Chocolate-Cherry Muffins from William Sonoma's Kitchen. For the usual reason (difficult to get the ingredient mentioned), I used Cashew Nuts instead of Dried Cherries.

When adding the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mix them in quickly, just enough to form a rough, lumpy batter. If the batter is overbeaten, the muffins will be tough.


Ingredients:
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
3 Tbs. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup dried cherries

Preheat an oven to 325ºF. Grease a 6-well heart-shaped muffin baking pan.

In a small heatproof bowl, combine the chocolate and butter. Set the bowl over but not touching simmering water in a small saucepan and melt the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally, until smooth and blended. Let cool slightly.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar and vanilla until light in color and doubled in volume. Whisk in the chocolate mixture and then the flour mixture just until combined. Stir in the dried cherries.

Divide the batter evenly among the wells of the prepared pan and smooth the tops. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 20 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and set on the rack. Serve warm. Makes 6 muffins.

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