CURD PAKODA

CURD PAKODA: The perfect snack for a rainy evening. The smell and the feel of having hot hot pakodas with tea and heavy rain in the background (I am in kerala currently) is one of a feeling. It can never be duplicated. I am not sure if I am the only person who has the problem of being really hungry most of the time especially when it gets cold. My mom certainly made my evening a beautiful one with her hot hot curd pakodas. It is an easy to make snack.

INGREDIENTS:

Maida -1 cup

Curd – ¼ cup

Chopped Ginger – 1 tablespoon

Green chilli chopped – 3

Red Onion – 1 medium

Salt to taste

Oil to deep fry

METHOD:

Mix all the ingredients to make a batter with thick consistency. Pour water if required. Take a heavy bottomed pan for deep frying. Take enough oil and heat it. Pour the batter into the oil using a tablespoon. Make sure that the pakodas do not stick to each other. Cook on medium heat. This will ensure that it gets cooked well on the inside. Remove the pakodas when golden brown on both sides. You may have it with ketchup or any dip or chutney as you please. Serve hot!

NB: check the sourness of your curd. You can also add thinly chopped carrots and beans to the mixture, to make it more healthy.

UPMA or THICK SEMOLINA PORRIDGE

UPMA or THICK SEMOLINA PORRIDGE: Upma is one of the simplest dishes you can find on the south Indian breakfast menu. As a child I used to hate it. I had no idea how to make an upma even after my marriage. Then one day, I bought a roasted rava or semolina pack. On the back of it was mentioned the method of making the upma. I tried it and it was a success. I swear it tasted better than my mother’s upma. Well the difference was the addition of ghee or clarified butter. It was this ingredient that made all the difference. From that day, both my husband and I are fans of upma.

The way of having upma also differs from house to house. Some have with bananas or plantains. Some like to have it with just sugar. Some like to have a combination of both. Some like to eat it as such. But I love to have it with white coconut chutney. I swear I love this combination. Anyone who has tried that combination will surely love it.

I am posting the traditional upma recipe but you may add veggies like carrot and French beans to it.

INGREDIENTS:

Roasted Semolina – 1 to 1 ¼  cup

Water – 2 cups

Ginger – ½ “ piece

Dried red chilli – 2

Green chilli – 2

Red Onion – 1

Mustard seeds – 1 tablespoon

Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Salt to taste

Oil – 1 tablespoon

Ghee or clarified butter – ½ to 1 tablespoon

 METHOD:

Clean and slice the onions. Clean and cut other veggies like carrot and beans (which are optional). Slit the green chilli into two.

Take a heavy bottomed pan. Heat oil and splutter the mustard seeds along with dried red chillies. Add ginger and sauté till it turns light brown. Add the onions and green chilli and sweat them. Add salt. Add other veggies along with the onion.

When the green chilli turns translucent, add curry leaves and ghee along with water. When the water boils and bubbles up nicely add the semolina. You need to add the semolina and stir at the same time. This ensures that no lumps will be formed and it gets cooked evenly.  Keep stirring till the semolina gets cooked and becomes dry. This will take hardly a minute or two. Turn off the stove and serve!

NB: Always add salt before you add semolina. The salt should be on a higher side before you put the semolina so that once you cook with the semolina it gets the correct taste. If you put salt after you cook it, it won’t get uniformly distributed. 

VENDEKA KICHADI or LADY’S FINGER or OKRA KICHADI

VENDEKA KICHADI or LADY’S FINGER or OKRA KICHADI: Okra has been my favourite vegetable of my childhood times. I used to nag my mother around to make okra stir fry. This is one of the first vegetables I learnt to clean and cut as early as 5 or 6 years. I used to tell her that I would cut it and she has to make me the stir fry. My mother has made okra kichadi only once or twice. I will post the okra stir fry some other time.

This dish goes perfectly well with rice especially as a part of the traditional sadhya.

Okra is one of the most low calorie vegetables. It contains a lot of fiber, vitamin A, C and K. It is one of the best foods to relieve constipation due to its high fiber content. So it truly makes it a healthy dish which is so easy to make.

INGREDIENTS:

Okra – around 10 numbers

Red Onion – 1

Scraped coconut – 3 to 4 tablespoons

Green chilli – 2 to 3

Mustard seeds – 1 tablespoon

Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Curd or buttermilk or labaan – ¼ to ½ cup

Salt to taste

Oil – 1 to 2 tablespoon

METHOD:

Clean and cut the okras in round shape. Slice the onions. Grind the scraped coconut, green chilli and half of the mustard seeds.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan and splutter the mustard seeds. Add okra, curry leaves and red onions along with salt and sauté till it turns lightly brown. 

Add the ground mixture along with the curd or buttermilk. Turn off the stove and serve!

CARROT AND BEANS THORAN

CARROT AND BEANS THORAN: I simply hate the taste of beans thoran. But my husband loves it. So each time I make it he ends up eating it alone. That does not work as well as I will be forced to eat it despite my efforts to convince him that I hate it. That is when the idea of mixing both these veggies came to me. I love carrots. So the combination of French beans and carrot.

INGREDIENTS:

Carrot – 1 big

French beans – around 20

Curry leaf – 1 sprig

Scraped coconut – 5 to 6 tablespoons

Garlic clove – 1

Turmeric powder – a pinch

Chilli powder -½  teaspoon

Cumin seeds or jeerakam – ½ tablespoon

Mustard seeds – ½ tablespoon

Salt to taste

Oil – 1 to 2 tablespoon

Dried red chilli – 1 or 2

METHOD:

Clean the veggies and chop them separately. Roughly grind scraped coconut, turmeric powder, chilli powder, cumin seeds, curry leaf and garlic clove.

Heat oil in a pan and splutter the mustard seeds along with dried red chillies. Add carrots and sauté for about 2 minutes. Add French beans and the ground mixture with salt.  

Cover with a lid and cook over low heat.  Check and sauté once in a while to avoid burning. Serve!

NB: If you are using a chopper, no need to grind the mix. You may add it along with the french beans for chopping. 

CHICKEN CURRY WITH COCONUT MILK

CHICKEN CURRY WITH COCONUT MILK: This has always been one of my favourite dishes with chicken. But my mother used to hardly make this. This curry has a thick and creamy consistency. Since it is yellowish to light brown colour, most people think that it is not hot and spicy. But I must say you are absolutely wrong. This curry gets its heat from the ginger and green chillies apart from pepper and red chilli powder.

 The combination of coconut milk and curry leaves lends an authentic kerala taste i,and aroma to the dish.  This goes perfectly well with appam, chapatti, Porotta, puttu, idiyappam, rice, etc....

Not making you wait longer, the recipe is being posted below...

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken – 250 gm

Red onion – 2

Fennel seeds  - ¼ tablespoon

Green chilli – 3

Ginger – ½ “ piece

Garlic  cloves –2

Curry leaves – 1-2 sprigs

Turmeric powder – a pinch

Chilli powder – 1 ½ teaspoon

Coriander powder – ½ tablespoon

Garam masala powder – 3/4 tablespoon

Pepper powder – ½ teaspoon (optional)

Thick Coconut milk – ½ glass

Salt to taste

Oil – 2 to 3 tablespoons

METHOD:

Clean and cut the chicken and vegetables. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel or pressure cooker and add fennel seeds. Once they turn brown add and sweat the onions. Add ginger, green chilli and garlic. Saute till the onion starts turning brown.

 Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and garam masala powder. Saute till the raw smell goes. Add chicken and salt and mix well. Close the lid of the cooker and cook on medium heat till one whistle. 

Switch off the stove. Once the pressure subsides, open the cooker and add coconut milk and pepper powder. Once boiled switch off the stove. Serve after 5 to 10 minutes.

NB: If you are using a pan, cook on low heat with closed lid so that the water will ooze out and get the chicken cooked without burning. Once the chicken is cooked add the coconut milk and wait till it boils.

This curry would get spoiled fast as it contains coconut milk. So refrigerate the left over curry as soon as possible.