Punjabi spicy-hot aloo-gobi/Cauliflower and aloo step-by-step method.

Homey was bought up in Haldwani, Nainital and my mother-in-law makes excellent Punjabi dishes. I always makes this dish as it is hot and spicy and goes well with roti, naan, paratha etc. Slow cooking is important here .....all through the cooking. I am going to take you to a tour of cooking this very special dish so that, just anybody, be it newcomers or new brides or bachelors can make my fav dish.

1. Heat oil (any refined oil) in a pan and put in 1/2 tsp jeera and let it splutter.

2. Put in 2 sliced onion, chopped 1-inch ginger, 1/2 pod chopped garlic and fry for sometime.

3. Onion should really brown...remember slow cooking is the rule here.

4. Put in 2 tsp of kashmiri chill powder, 2 tsp of freshly grounded coriander powder, 3/4 tsp of freshly grounded garam masala, and a fat pinch of turmeric powder.

5. Put in 2 chopped tomatoes and salt and saute.

6. Add little water so that the tomatoes can really be incorporated and saute for sometime.

7. Thats how it should look after sauting the tomatoes .....oil should come out.

8. Now put in the cubed potatoes and gobi.

9. Add litter water, mix well and cover and cook till done on slow flame.

10. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with roti or nan

I wanted to show that cooking is really easy with my step-by-step method.

Detailed recipe:
Potatoes: 2 (cleaned and cubed).
Gobi: 1 medium (cleaned and cut into small florets).
Jeera: 1/2 tsp.
Onions: 2, sliced.
Ginger: 1 inch, sliced or chopped.
Garlic: 1/2 pod, chopped.
Red tomatoes: 2, chopped.
Kashmiri chilly powder: 2 tsp.
Coriander powder: 2 tsp.
Garam masala: 3/4 tsp.
Turmeric: A fat pinch.
Salt.
Oil
Coriander leaves for garnishing.
Little water to add while sauting the tomatoes and lastly while cooking the aloo and gobi.
Method:
Heat oil in a kadai, put in jeera and let it splutter. Add the onions, ginger, and garlic, saute till onions are brown. Add tomatoes and salt mix well and little water to it and let it saute till oil comes out. Add potatoes and gobi and add little more water. Cover and cook. Lavish coriander leaves on top. Serve hot with roti or naan.

Sending this to Aipi and Priya's Book marked recipes.

Also sending this to Dish Name Starts with C host by Akila from Learining to Cook.

Ethakka appam (Batter fried bananas)

Ethakka appam or pazham pori as it is known towards North Kerala is an all time malayali favorite. It is an easy to prepare filling snack. Banana is dipped in maida and sugar batter and deep fried .....yum!
For the batter:
Maida: 1/2 cup.
Raw rice podi: 2 or 3 tbs.
Sugar: 2 tbsp.
Method: 
Take 2 ripe bananas.
Deskin and slice ripe banana into half; again slice each half into thin slices and keep aside.
Mix all the batter ingredients to a smooth and fine paste.

Dip each banana slice into the batter. (see that the banana is fully coated with the batter).

Put it into hot coconut oil and deep fry.

Strain into paper towels and serve hot with chai.

My first awards.

I had gone to Kottayam on Friday to attend my cousins wedding and came back on Sunday late night and found two awards waiting for me from two of my amazing blogger friends; Gayathri of http://gayathriscookspot.blogspot.com/ and Kavita of http://kavitaskitchen.blogspot.com. Please visit Gayatri's and Kavita's space for some very interesting recipes.

Thanks a ton both of you.....for the inspiration... encouragement.

Aval nanachathu (Brown rice flakes snack)

Aval nanachathu is an all time favorite of malayalees. It is a traditional snack which is healthy and filling. Jaggery and freshly grated coconut is mixed into the aval with 2 or 3 cardamons. You can have this either mixed with ripe plantain or on its own. There is no need for salt as there is slight salt in the jaggery. This is an excellent snack for kids as well as adults which can be prepared in 5 min. I am sending this to Eat well Live Well event going on in Taste of Pearl City.
 Ingredients:
Matta(brown) rice flakes: 250 gms.
Freshly grated coconut: 1/2 cup or as needed.
Jaggery  grated: 1/2 cup or as needed.
Cardamons: 2 or 3.
Method:
In a wide vessel put in the riceflakes, coconut scraping, jaggery, and cardamons. Mix well with hand as it will release the moisture from the jaggery and coconut. Serve by mixing ripe plaintain into the aval or by itself.

Note: Can also be made with white rice flakes/flattened rice/poha. It is best to be made with dark brown jaggery than the whitish ones.

Kayum payarum thoran (Raw banana with redgram )

What's for dinner?, what's for lunch?, what's for breakfast? these questions are something which never cease form my mind. Homey and myself loves traditional kerala dishes, but with kids it is different. My 9-year-old son says it is not fashionable to have traditional food, he says "amma why can't you make chicken stripes, burgers, shawarma (that is the present craze of Calicut, everywhere you can see shawarma stalls), noodles, broasted chicken etc etc." Well.....making him have healthy food is becoming a task for me.....and he finds lots of excuses for not having....like his friends will tease him or even his teacher told him that chicken contains more protiens than any vegetable!!!....kids these days are more clever!!!. He likes red gram very much so I tricked him into having this with the red gram.
Ingredients:
Raw banana or plantain: 1/2 kg.
Red gram: 1/2 cup.
Green chilly: 2.
Shallots: 2 or 3.
Coconut scraped: 1/2 cup.
Turmeric: A fat pinch.
Garlic cloves: 3.
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp.
Red chilly flakes: 1 tsp.
Salt.
Curry leaves.
Coconut oil: 2 tsp.
Little water.
Method:
Soak red gram for 15-20 min and cook it in a pressure cooker and keep aside.
Peel the banana skin. Chop it into small pieces and drop it into a veseel with water and wash it 2 or 3 times.
Grind coarsely coconut, green chilies, turmeric, 2 shallots, and 3 garlic cloves and keep aside.
In a cheenachatti or kadai, heat oil, put in the mustard seeds, 1 shallot chopped, red chilly flakes, and curry leaves; fry for a min. Drain the chopped banana and put it into the kadai, add salt and mix well. Add little water and cover it  to cook for a few min.
Add the cooked red gram mix well.
Add the coarsely grinded coconut and cover for a min and mix well.
Lavish with curry leaves.

Serve hot with rice or kanji.

Choc pops (homemade)

I got this idea after seeing cake pops at Bakerella and moreover Cheriyan's birthday is coming up and I wanted to make something creative and kid friendly for his birthday party. So I wondered why can't I make choc pops with my very own homemade chocolates....and it is easy too I mean no baking and chocolates can be made in 15 min and so the problem was the lollipop sticks.....and then I saw Swapna's cake pops .....the lollipop sticks problem was solved by bamboo skewers. I made the chocolate and spread a little on a greased plate to cut out and wrap in colorful foils.

The rest I rolled into balls greasing my hand with butter.

I inserted the bamboo skewers while still warm and left it to cool.

.
And brushed them with butter and rolled them in sprinkles.

Even wrapped some of them in colorful foils.....to give a colorful look for my son's birthday party.

This one is really easy to make .....just make the homemade chocolate and roll them...put in the sticks...brush with butter...roll them in sprinkles.....wow! that is pretty fast ....no baking...no crumbling cakes etc etc. Lovely choc pops are ready to treat ur kids and spice up their party.

No baking.....just make chocolates and roll them up

Ingredients:
One measure of homemade chocolates.
Little butter to grease hands and brush the choc pops.
Lots of sprinkles.
Bamboo skewers.
Colorful aluminum foils.
Method:
Make homemade chocolates and roll them and stick them with skewers.

Kids are going to love this....so try it mummies.
Sending this to bookmarked recipes on US Masala.

Vegetable cutlets

These days it is very difficult to make children have vegetables and this is a daily struggle for most mothers. My way of making sure that my kids have some vegetables is in the form of vegetable cutlets. Nidhi loves fried cutlet with tomato sauce or rolled in roti or sandwiched in bread or to have with rice........It is best to boil some potatoes along with some carrots and keep aside to cool. I also add most of the vegetables like beans, capsicum (both my kids hate capsicum and beans), cabbage, and a little bit of red or green spinach, cowpea (our very own achinga)....I mean whatever vegetables my kids don't have will find a place in my cutlets. If you have a mincer (food processor) it makes the job easier; all the work will be done by the mincer .......Now if you don't have a mincer just chop the onions, green chilly, ginger, and the vegetables relatively small. The best part is if you make cutlets and coat it in breadcrumbs it can be kept in fridge for 4 to 5 days. That is really a blessing for me  when my son fuzzes about his food......I temp him with this crunchy, yummy, spicy cutlets.

Ingredients:
Potatoes: 1/2 kg.
Carrots: 1/4 kg.
Clean and wash the potatoes and put them into a cooker with little water and top it with cleaned and cut carrots. Steam it and leave it to cool. De-skin potatoes and smash it with carrots and keep aside.

Onion : 2.
Green chilies: 1 or 2.
Ginger: 1 small piece.
Put all three in a mincer and mince or chop them.

Beans: 250 gm.
capsicum: 250 gm.
capsicum: 250 gm.
A little bit of other vegetables which your kids don't have.
Put all this in a mincer.

Garam masala: 1 tsp.
Pepper powder: 1 tsp.
Vinegar: 1 tsp.
Salt.
Oil for sauting and frying.
Bread crumbs.
Egg: 1.

Heat a kadai pour 3 tbsp oil into it. Add the chopped onion, green chilly, and ginger let it saute for sometime. Add salt. After it is sauted add the garam masala, vinegar, and pepper powder. Mix well and add the minced vegetables and let it really saute for sometime taking care to mix it nicely. When it is cooked add the smashed potatoes and carrots and mix well. Check for salt..if needed add more. Mix well for another 5 min and then switch off fire and leave it to cool. Roll them into oval or round shape with your hands.

My gorgeous cutlets waiting to be dipped in bread crumbs.

Beat 1 egg with a spoon and dip each cutlet into the egg and then roll in the breadcrumbs. You can store this in the fridge for upto 5 days make sure it stays in the top shelf. Fry them in hot oil (whenever your kids demand). Serve hot with tomato sauce.

Netholi/Kozhuva fry (Anchovy fry)

Amma used to make this easy and simple Netholi fry.....I love the crispiness of the fry.....to have with hot rice....Anchovies are a good source of calcium, protein, and omega-3 fatty acids. This is a huge hit with kids because of its crispiness when fried. 


How to fry them:
Netholi cleaned: 1/2 kg.
Red chilly powder: 2 tsp.
Salt: 1/2 tsp.
Oil for frying.
Method:
Mix netholi with all the above ingredients except the oil. Heat oil in a nonstick pan. Put in the netholi and after 2 min simmer the fire and fry till they become really crispy. Serve hot with rice or as a snack.

Oats porridge.

Oats porridge is one of the most healthiest breakfast for both the young and the old. It is so easy to prepare that it can be done in less than 5 min. Good for weight management, managing cholesterol etc etc. This is my very own Indianised porridge version . It has very less calorie. No milk or cream or even sugar. So a healthy meal for all those weight watchers. It is best to have it while still hot and serve with an achar/pickle or can have it by itself. Well... what better way to keep your family and you healthy. I am sending this to Eat Well Live Well event going on in Taste of Pearl City..

How to make oats porridge:
Oats (any brand): 3 heaped tbsp.
Scarped coconut: 3 heaped tbsp.
A fat pinch: Jeera.
A fat pinch: Salt.
Water: 200 ml (1 cup)

Method:
Put all this together in a saucepan and bring it to boil. Simmer for about 3 to 4 min and switch off fire and cover with a lid for a min. Serve hot with pickle or by itself.

Have a healthy day....healthy heart.....healthy life.

Spanish omelette

I have been cooking Indian for a long time and my kids wanted something non-Indian for a change, so I surprised them with this Spanish omelette as it can be made in 5 min provided you have an Amul cheese slice, bacon, and a boiled potato ready.

How to make Spanish omelette:
Egg: 1
Boiled potato cut into small pieces: 1 medium.
Onion chopped: 1.
Small tomato chopped: 1.
Bacon bits: 2 tbsp (optional).
Chilly flakes: 1 tsp.
Amul cheese slice (or any other brand): 1
Pepper powder: A fat pinch.
Salt.
Method:

Heat a nonstick pan and pour 1 tbsp oil and saute the onion, chilly flakes, bacon, potato, and the tomato.

Beat the egg, add salt and pepper and make a thin omelette on a nonstick pan. Spread the sauted ingredients on top of it and top it with shredded cheese.

Serve hot.


Recipe source: Ponnu Liz Malieckal