When Amma asks me what I want special on reaching home, this dish is always on the top of my list  (btw, I dont know whether it can be called a list, because my cravings are endless ;) ). Now when I say Amma asks, don’t misunderstand that she is cooking …..hhmm she doesn’t cook much …I mean she cooks, but only once in a while. She doesn’t have a knack for cooking or should I say …the art of cooking doesn’t fascinate her as much as it does me ;). So our home cooking is outsourced to sarasa chechy, our maid. She cooks really well and this is her recipe. But there are certain dishes which I like the best when amma makes it …like parippu payasam, orotti, bombay toast etc; (more on these in another post)

Though Amma doesn’t cook much, she encourages my cooking and gives expert advice  ;) and hey she does marketing  for my blog too…she promotes my blog among her friends & colleagues, I guess that’s how she compensates for her cooking skills :)

A few days back, I had a craving for this dish. I called home and asked sarasa chechy the recipe. Since I called out of the blue, she was very confused and nervous while telling me the recipe but finally  Amma came to her rescue… and in the end I was confused :). The person who knows the recipe (Sarasa chechy) is confused and cant explain, and the person who doesnt know (my Amma) is explaining with  confidence saying” di.. nee athu korachitto, venamenkil ethum koodi kurachu etto” ;)  Anyways I figured it somehow and, I was happy with the outcome.

Please check out the picture of Prawns Olathiyathu, made by Bindhu, based on the above recipe. Thanks dear :)

Here is the recipe:

1. Prawns – 250 gms, peeled
2. Ginger & garlic – 1 tbsp each, crushed
3. Chili powder – 1/2 – 1 tbsp
   Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
   Coriander powder – 1/2 tbsp (optional, refer notes)
   Garam masala – 1/2 – 1 tsp (optional, refer notes)
4. Kokum(kudam puli) – 2-3 small pieces soaked in water for around 10 minutes
5. Thengakothu (tiny coconut pieces) – 1/4 cup (you can add more if you like)
6. Onions – 2, sliced finely
   Small onion – 5, sliced thinly
7. Salt
   Curry leaves
   Coconut oil

Wash and clean the prawns. Add half of the ginger & garlic, chili (half of it) & turmeric powder, kokum, thengakothu, salt & curry leaves. Mix well using your hands. Add water and cook till it is done, make sure that prawns are not over cooked. Drain the excess water.

Heat oil in a pan and add finely sliced small onion and fry till it becomes golden brown. Add remaining ginger & garlic, curry leaves & onion. Saute till the onion becomes light brown. Add the remaining chili powder, coriander powder & garam masala (if using) and fry till the raw smell goes and oil starts appearing. Add cooked prawns & salt (since prawns is already cooked with salt, adjust the salt for the gravy accordingly). Mix well and add 2-3 tbsp of  water. Cook it till the water is dried and  prawns are well coated with masala. I like the prawns to be roasted well, so I keep it for around 10-12minutes on low flame, by stirring it in between. Serve with rice or roti.

Notes: The original recipe does not use coriander powder & garam masala. Since I like it spicy, I added it. So you can use it as per your taste.

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First post of the new year!!

I wanted to post something which is a “pakka” kerala dish as the first post of this year. This has something to do with a new year resolution ( I dont know whether I should call it a resolution because usually my resolutions backfire :( ) Anyways, this year I want to give some priority to Kerala dishes. Though I’ve posted many Kerala recipes, I still get feedback or requests for more and more Kerala dishes. But…if you go through my Kerala recipes, you can see that majority of them are non veg recipes. Apart from a few veg curries that I usually make, I dont venture much into Kerala style veggies…however I hope I will try some veg curries this year.

I made this chicken curry for new year lunch along with ghee rice. Since I wanted to make something”nadan” I was going through my Kerala cookery books. I have this habit of marking the recipes in the book, which I want to try and after trying it I make a note also about whether I liked it, whether I added something extra, cooking time etc; That’s one habit I got from my cooking guru, my aunty, Tesschechy and I found it quite useful too, because I might be making that recipe again after a long gap and this notes helps me a lot.

Enough of this & that…lets  go to the recipe. It’s a spicy one and we enjoyed its sight, aroma and taste :)

Here is the recipe:

1. Chicken – 1kg
2. Small onion- 200 gm, sliced
3. Dried red chili -100 gm
   Whole coriander – 100 gm
   Ginger – 100 gm, chopped
   Garlic – 50 gm, chopped
4. Coconut – 1, grated
5. Onion -1/2 kg, thinly sliced
   Green chili – 10, slit lengthwise
6. Tomato – 1/4 kg
7. Turmeric powder – 1/2-1 tsp
8. Small onion – 10, sliced
   Chili powder – 1/2 -1 tsp
9. Curry leaves
   Salt
   Coconut oil

Heat  oil in a pan and saute curry leaves & 200 gm small onion, sliced. After a few minutes add number 3 ingredients. When it is fried well, add grated coconut, mix well. Fry it till the coconut becomes golden brown. Let it cool for sometime. Add enough water to the cooled coconut mixture and grind to a smooth paste.

Heat oil in a pan and add thinly sliced onion and green chili. When onion is fried well add tomato. When tomato becomes soft add turmeric powder and salt &  stir for a few minutes. Add the ground paste to this and mix well. Add cleaned chicken pieces to this, combine well and add enough water for the chicken to cook. Cover and cook in low flame and stir in between and cook till the chicken is done.

Meanwhile heat oil in another pan and add small onion (10) thinly sliced and curry leaves. Add chili powder to this and fry well. Add this to the cooked chicken and mix well. Serve hot with ghee rice, plain rice or roti.

Notes: I used Kashmiri chili powder for this. It’s a spicy dish, so please adjust the spiciness as per your tolerance level.

Recipe source: Vanitha Pachakam Magazine

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Its been long since I made biriyani, wait there is some correction in the sentence.. its been a long time since I made biriyani in Bahrain. When I went to India a few months back for my hols, I made chicken biriyani (actually WE made, my sis in law was also there) and the reason.. my bro was bugging me so much saying that am an internet cooking fraud :) He never had food cooked by me, so his conclusion is that all the posts in my blog are a result of some fraudulent activities :)

He cannot be blamed, I never used to do any cooking before my wedding and for that part I never even dared to hold raw meat or fish, I used to stand 10 ft away from those things. Now when I think about it, though am embarrassed to say, I must admit I was such a fussy pot, hhmmm….If my husband reads this sentence, he will say some correction is there in this sentence too..”not was a fussy pot”, he will correct it as “is a fussy pot” ;)

Anyways, I made biriyani here (Bahrain) for last xmas, so its almost a year. That’s a long gap right? Recently when I was chatting with my cousin sis, she said she makes biriyani almost like once in 2 weeks, so that ignited the craving for biriyani…

I’ve bookmarked this recipe long time back….again, this recipe comes from my friend Divya. If you are a regular reader of my blog, am sure you know her well through my posts :) I think I will have to create a new category called Div’s recipes :) She emailed me this recipe saying this is her mom’s all time hit prawns biriyani. I tried it and it was a hit here too…so guys go ahead and try it.

Hey, one more thing…I’ve published a prawns biriyani before and if you asks me what’s new in this… the main difference is that this is prepared in a typical biriyani style and the other more in a pulav style. Anyways you can see it for yourself:

Here is the recipe:

For the rice:

1. Basmati rice – 3 cups
   Water – 6 cups
2. Cardamom & clove – 6 each
   Cinnamon – 1 medium size stick
3. Ghee – 3 tbsp
4. Lemon Juice – 3-4tbsp
   Salt

For the masala:

1. Prawns – 1/2 kg (cleaned & deviened)
2. Ginger garlic paste – 2 tbsp
3. Chilli powder – 1/2 tbsp
   Pepper powder – 1/2 tsp
4. Onions – 3, chopped finely
   Green chilli -5-6
5. Tomato – 2-3, chopped finely
6. Coconut – 1 handful
   Coriander leaves – 1 handful
7. Curd – 1/2 cup
8. Cashews – 6-8 (soaked in 2 tbsp water), optional (refer notes)
9. Garam masala – 1 tsp

For garnishing:

1. Cashews & raisins – 1 handful each
   Onion – 1 medium, sliced finely
2. Coriander leaves
   Ghee – 1 tbsp

Rice preparation:

Wash and soak the rice in water for 25 minutes. Drain the water completely. Boil 6 cups water with half the quantity of whole masala & keep it aside. Heat ghee in a vessel/pan, splutter the remaining whole masala and add the rice. Fry the rice for around 5-7 minutes or until the rice starts cracking. Add the boiled water, lemon juice & salt. Cook till the rice is done and water is completely dried. Spread the rice in a tray & keep aside.

Masala preparation:

Marinate the prawns with 1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, pepper powder and salt and keep it for 2-3 hours in the fridge. Meanwhile grind together a handful of coconut & coriander leaves with a little water & keep it aside. Also grind the soaked cashews into a smooth paste.

Shallow fry the marinated prawns after the specified time. Once the prawns are fried, keep it aside and use the same oil to cook onions, remaining ginger garlic paste (1 tbsp) and green chilli. Once onions are fried well, add chopped tomatoes. Once the tomatoes are cooked, add curd, coconut, coriander leaves paste. Once it boils add fried prawns and cook in low flame for 5-6 minutes. Add the cashew paste & 1 tsp of garam masala. Mix well. Cook for 2 more minutes & remove from fire.

Garnishing:

Heat ghee in a pan and fry the cashews & raisins. Remove them from the pan & in the remaining ghee fry the onions till it becomes golden brown. Drain the excess ghee in a paper towel & keep it aside.

Layering the Biriyani:

Preheat the oven to 180 degree 10 minutes before baking the biriyani. Apply some ghee to a baking dish. Put one layer of masala in the dish. On top of that spread some rice and make another layer. Again spread another layer of masala on top of the rice. Repeat the process until the masala and rice is finished. The top layer should be of rice. You can drizzle ghee & sprinkle coriander leaves in between the layers. Cover the dish with a wet cloth. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.

Garnish the baked biriyani with fried cashew, raisins, onions & coriander leaves. Serve hot with pickle, raita & pappad.

Stove Top Method:

Notes: I generally like more masala for the biriyani, hence the quantity of masala will be more compared to the normal biriyani recipes. I’ve used kashmiri chilli powder for this recipe. Also in Divya’s recipe she has used pudina along with coconut & coriander, since we don’t like its taste much, I haven’t used it. You can add it along with coconut & corinader while grinding, also pudina can be used while layering the biriyani & also for garnishing. The original recipe doesn’t mention cashew paste, so it’s optional.

Check out Ria’s version of this biriyani here.

Also see the picture of Prawns biriyani made by Ligi, using this recipe:

Here’s one more pic sent by Ambili Thomas, thnak you Ambily :)

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The word “thattukada” brings me a lot of good memories. Am sure that every Malayalee has tried this local fast food version at least once. The thattukada is a road side eatery / fast food outlet / hawker food. If you’ve been to Kerala, you can’t help but notice these thattukadas where porottas are made and I should say that sight itself is kinda appetizing!

My brother is a thattukada fan and he is the one who introduced me to this world of fiery n colorful thattu specials. He used to get parcels for me. His thattu favorites were squid curry, fried rice, kappa n meen curry and beef curry.

He had the habit of checking the dinner menu at home and if he was not happy, he’d immediately take his bike n go n fetch some thattukada specials. I used to wait to see the expression on his face to decide whether I should start having dinner or wait for those fiery thattu specials ;)

I guess spiciness is the trademark of thattu dishes and this curry is no exception. Please adjust the masala measurements to suite your spice tolerance level.

Here comes the recipe:

1. Beef – 1/2 kg, cut into small pieces
   For Masala
2. Ginger – 1 tbsp
   Garlic – 10 cloves
   Pepper – 1/2 tsp
   Chili powder – 1/2 tbsp
   Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
   Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
   Fennel (perumjeerakam) -1/2 tsp
   Cardamom – 2
   Star anise (thakolam) – 1
   Cinnamon – 1 small piece
   Cloves – 2
3. Onion – 2, sliced finely
   Ginger – 1 small piece
   Green chili – 2
   Salt
   Curry leaves
4. Coconut oil

Grind together number 2 ingredients. Heat the oil in a pan/pressure cooker. Add number 3 ingredients and saute. When the onions become soft add ground masala & fry till the oil starts appearing. Add the beef and 1 cup of water. Cook the beef till it becomes tender and the gravy is thick.

It tastes great with parotta, roti, puttu.

Source: Vanitha Magazine

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Has it ever happened to you, that you frequently cook a dish you like so much, until somebody forcefully asks you to stop making it? It happens with me at times. If I like something, I keep on making it until I reach my diminishing margin of utility (the only thing I remember after studying economics for 3,4 years :) ) or until my husband refuses to eat it again ;)

Lemon Drizzle Cake & Lemon Bars are two main items that belong to this category and after trying this dish I fear this will also have the same effect. Again this recipe is from my mom in law :)

Mappas is a typical kerala dish, with thick and creamy coconut milk. One of the other main ingredients is coriander powder and what makes it distinct from the usual chicken curry is the fact that there is no chili powder in this. It tastes great with appam. I strongly recommend this curry if you like coconut milk based curries.

Recipe for Chicken Mappas

1. Chicken – 1/2 kg, cut into medium size pieces
2. Onion – 3 medium, sliced very thinly
   Ginger & garlic – 2 tbsp each, chopped
   Green chili – 4,5
   Coriander powder – 1 1/2 – 2 tbsp
   Garam masala – 2 tsp
   Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
   Chicken masala – 1/2 tsp (optional)
3. Tomato – 1, medium
4. Medium thick coconut milk – 1 1/2 – 2 cups
   Thick coconut milk – 1 1 /4 cup
5. Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
6. Small onion – 4
7. Salt
   Curry leaves
   Coconut oil

Marinate the chicken pieces with onion (1 1/2), ginger & garlic (1tbsp each), green chili (1/2 of the total qty used), coriander powder (1/2 of the total qty used), garam masala (1tsp), turmeric powder, chicken masala, curry leaves & salt. Keep it aside for 10 minutes. Cook the marinated chicken in medium thick coconut milk, till the chicken becomes tender.

Heat oil in a pan & splutter mustard seeds. Add small onion, remaining portions of the sliced big onion, ginger & garlic, green chili and curry leaves. Saute it till the onion becomes soft. Add remaining coriander powder & garam masala. Fry it till the oil starts appearing. Add the sliced tomatoes. When tomato becomes soft add cooked chicken along with the gravy. Combine well. Add thick coconut milk and cook for 5-7 minutes.

Serve with Palappam, Kallappam or Idiyappam.

Other side dishes for appam:

• Mutton
• Nadan Beef Curry>
• Fish Molly

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This fish curry is one of the most sought after items at my house in Kerala. I missed making it for such a long time and the reason: my husband wants “charu” (gravy) for everything, so I sticked to the fish curry recipes with coconut milk.

Since am still recovering from the hangover of my India trip, I decided to make this & once again relish the joyful memories of my holiday :)

Whenever I see the color of this fish curry, the tagline of a fish masala powder (Eastern Fish Masala) comes to my mind “edivettu (which literally translates to thundering) meencurry” . HHmmmm looks like am watching too much TV these days ;)

Here goes the recipe for “edivettu meencurry”

1. Fish – 1/2 kg, cut into medium size pieces
2. Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
   Fenugreek (uluva) – 1/4 tsp
   Ginger & garlic – 1 1/2 tbsp, crushed into a fine paste
   Small onion – 6-8
3. Kashmiri chili powder – 1 1/2 – 2 tbsp
   Coriander powder – 1 1/2 – 2 tbsp
   Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
4. Cocum/kudampuli – 2,3 pieces
5. Curry leaves
   Salt
   Coconut oil

Soak cocum in 3 tbsp water for 10 minutes.Mix the powders (chili,coriander & turmeric) together with coconut oil/water & make a paste. Heat oil in a meenchatti (earthen ware) or a pan & splutter mustard & fenugreek. Add crushed ginger garlic paste & stir for 3,4 minutes. Add small onion & curry leaves & saute till it becomes soft. Add the masala paste & fry till oil starts appearing. Add cocum along with the water & fish pieces. Combine well. Make sure that fish pieces do not get broken in the process, it will be safer to rotate the pan to ensure that fish & masala is mixed well. Add required amount of water & cook till the fish is done & gravy becomes thick, it will take around 20 -25 minutes on low flame. Serve with rice or kappa (tapioca)

Note: It tastes better the next day.

Source: Vanitha Pachakam

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If you are the kind of person who likes flavor in your food, this is for you. Its a very simple dish, but its packed with flavor. The ingredients are very basic stuff, but somehow the outcome is extraordinary :)

Hope you will also like this flavor filled dish :)

1. King fish – 1/2 kg
   For Marination
2. Chili powder – 1 tsp
   Pepper powder – 1/2 tsp
   Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
3. Salt
   For Masala
4. Onion – 2 medium, chopped
5. Tomato – 2 chopped
6. Green chili – 3
7. Ginger – 1 1/2 tbsp, chopped
   Garlic – 1 1/2 tbsp, chopped
8. Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
9. Kashmiri chili powder – 1 1 /2 tbsp
   Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
   Garam masala – 1 tsp
10. Water – 2 cups
11. Coconut oil – 4-5 tbsp
    Curry leaves
    Salt

Marinate the cleaned fish pieces with number 2 ingredients (marination ingredients) and keep aside for half an hour. Heat 4 tbsp oil in a pan and fry the marinated fish pieces. Add chopped onion, ginger & garlic,curry leaves and green chili to the remaining oil and saute till it is done. Add all masala powders and stir for a minute. Once the masala powders are fried well, add tomato pieces and saute till the oil starts appearing. Add 2 cups of water & salt. Let it boil. Once it starts boiling add fried fish pieces and cook in low flame for about 7 – 10 minutes or until the fish pieces are covered in the gravy. Serve hot with rice.

Check out this recipe tried out by Ambily Thomas, thanks a lot dear :)

Recipe source: Lakshmi Nair, Magic Oven cookery show

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