Chicken Kurma

 

It has been sunny but still cold, and I had planned to cycle after going to FIL's home today.

Last  days it has been cold but sunny , and when I go to FIL' place to take his food or shopping i stay there for a while and then go with my cycle for a longer ride.

 

And that was the plan today too, so I went to his place but I spend almost 2 hours there that I decided there is no more sun left and  rather cycle back home than going for a longer ride.

 

There are times when I say to Hans I never thought I would be so busy with FIL, Ok when ever I went there when MIL was still alive FIL was also there always but I was more busy with mom as you know we would talk about what we cooked, and what we are planning to cook tommorw, then recipes we saw and all the other gossips about the other family memberes.

 

 

But now it is not like that ,like today I was there and FIL was showing me all his old pics and talking about the past that I just sit there and listen and see the pics. Ok I have seen most of these old pics plenty of time, but he still shows me .
Today ofcourse I saw newer pics too including the pic of his home when he bought some 58 yrs ago and then i saw his grandfathers pic who was born in late 1800 etc...
It is unbelievable, FIL will become 87 in May but he still remember what happend in his youth even and I am like my god ask me some thing from my youth I have no idea :-)

You will find a variety of recipe for kurma/korma even in my blog you will see a vriety like this Moghul Chicken Korma which we love and for people who don't like that much spicy dish this moghul korma is perfect as it is a very mild one. And then there is this chicken korma with almonds  which is fabulous too so i guess you can have your pick for a korma recipe :-)



Chicken Kurma:

1 kg chicken ( Use chole chicken as the sauce taste better)
1/2 cup hot water
1.4 tsp turmeric powder
2 cinamon sticks
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp cardamom pods
Salt to taste
100 ml vegetable oil
350 gm onions sliced
2 tbsp garlic paste
2 tbsp ginger paste
1/2  tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp corriander powder
2 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp aniseed
200 gm tomatoes chopped
1 cup youghurt
hand full of corriander leaves
3 green chillies sliced in hhalf
1/4 cup cashw nuts
1/2 cup fresh coconut grated

1. Cut the chicken in pieces and cook the chicken in a pan with hot water, turmeric ,cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and salt for 10 minutes and keep it aside.

2. Heat the oil in a pan/wok and fry the sliced onions , stirring freequently . When they are fried well add the ginger and garlic paste.Mix with a little water corriander , turmeric , chilli poder and anise powder and add to the pan. Fry this ix well.

3. Add the chopped tomatoes. Fry well untill the oil seperates. Add the curd, corriander meaves, green chillie and the cooked chicken together with the water the chicken was cooked.
Cover with a lid and reduce the heat and simmer for futher 10 minutes or till the chicken is cooked.

4. In the mean time drind the cashews together with the coconut ( adding a bit of water while grinding if you need).
Add this paste into the curry when the chicken is fully cooked. Mix everything well .
You can serve the korma with rice or roties.

 

Kerala Egg Curry

 

There are times when I say to myself, why do I mostly blog about the baking goodies I make at home rather than the easy to make dishes like this egg curry.
Answer is simple, I always think why I should post a very easy recipe as who would be intrested in such a easy dish to make.
I have started posting here some easy recipe as I know Shyama has fully started cooking lunch/ Dinner in her place.
She refuse to take the tupperwares which I pack with all the dishes I make as I did in the first years of her college years.
Now every weekend when she goes I will be asking her shoudn't you take atleast one dish with you which I have kept in the freezer for you.
She will be like no mama you know I am cooking these days with my friends in Kot.
 But she fall for her Indian mom's trick, I just make this sad face and she takes a tupperware :-)

Idiappams just going to be steamed

So this is yet another super easy recipe and I know she will make them in her place too and yet another reason for me for making this is , Friday I am giving a Cooking Demonstration ( Kerala food) for a whole bunch of University Kids in Leuven.
So this is such a easy recipe to make and just use few ingridients and also SUPER cheap and I didn't want that the recipe is not in my blog if any of them wanted to make the dish for them self.

Serve 2
2 Hard boiled eggs
2 tbsp oil
Onions 1 1/2 thinly sliced
Green Chilly 1
Ginger grated 1 tsp
2 garlic cloves grated
Few curry leaves ( 6 )
Chilli powder 1 tsp
1 tsp corriander powder
Garam masal 1/2 tsp
Half tomato ( large) chopped
Coconut milk 150 ml ( I used tinned)
Salt to taste.

Heat oil in a pan add the slices onions fry for few minutes till they become light golden brown, add the ginger, gralic, chilly and curry leaves and fry for 2 minutes.
In the mean time mix chilli powder, worriander powder and garam masala in a small bowl with 1 tbsp of water. Add this mix into tha pan and fry in a medium fire for 5 minutes. Take care you don't burn the spices if it is too dry add one more table spoon of water.
You will know when it is ready when the oil seperates from the spic mix.
Add now the sliced tomato and cook for futher few minutes.
Add salt , and the coocnut milk and bring to boil. Add the egg  ( I just give few cuts on the egg not too deep so that little taste of the sauce can go into the eggs )and cook it further for just 2 more minutes so the eggs are heated through.
Serve with rice, Idiappams, Apoms or even bread choice is yours.
 

Passion Fruit Curd Tartlets

Remember my Passion Fruit Curd whichI sad is so easyto make and so Delicious.
These tartlets are made by using the delicious passion curd.
Till I made this curd recipe I always thought that sweet curds were something I won't make anymore as when ever I made them they were too runny etc...
But this one is totally different and it really worked. Recipe here.

The recipe is from one of my favourtie Baking Diva Mary Berry from her book Baking Bible.
And she has written in her book that these tartlets are quiet crumbly to handle and eat.
And I so much agree while i was handleing the finished tartlets they were so fragile I thought I will break them :-)
But they are so worth making as the taste is so good.

 

 

For the Shortbread ( Tartletts) These make 10 small tarts)

100 gm Softend butter
50 gm sugar
50 gm semolina
100 gm plain flour

For the filIing
I used the Passion fruit curd.

For the meringue topping:

1 Large egg white
4 tbsp of sugar.

1. Make the tartlets.Soften the butter in a bowl, add the sugar, semolina and flour and work together to form a smooth dough. Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
2. Prea heat the oven to 150° c/ Fan 130°c / Gas 2.
   On a lightly floured worksurface, toll out the pastry to just under 5 mm ( I/4 in) in thickeness. Cut the circled according to the tartlet pan size you are using. Press the circles gently into the tart pans. Prick the base well.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or untill firm and golden ( mine to less minutes). Leave the tarts in teh tine to harden slightly then ease out of the tine and leave it to cool completley on a wire rack.
4. Just before serving spoont he passion fruit curd.
   
   Pipe the meringue onto the tarts and use a blow torch to give them a caramalized effect.
   
   For the Meringue toppin:

whisk the egg whites in a free-standing mixer until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed. Add the caster sugar a little at a time, still whisking until the meringue is stiff and glossy.

Kerala-Style Peas Masala Recipe

One of the early blogs I know is from Nags, actually I think I knew her sister's  Blog first and then came to know her or is it other way around, I don't remember anymore.

When I found her blog years ago she was a very young woman in her early twenties and I remember her early posts when she was living in Hyderabad and cooking for herself  and then posting what she has cooked etc.... from that young woman she has become this wonderful cook, and I just love her recipes as they are so easy to make and I know what ever I try from her place it is always good.

I have so many recipes which I have bookmarked and I have made few from her place like this Chick Pea Kozahmbu, which is a super hit in my place and I have made it so many times I hav elost count, then there is this Vengaya Kara Kuzhambu which we love too and when ever I do a thali party this dish is always there.

 



From the time I saw this peas curry I have been wanting to make but then as you know one wants to make so many dishes that there is hardly time to make every thing one want.

Nags curry looks more yellow than mine, but I think it would be to do something with my roasting the spices she added 1 tbsp of oil ,which i didn't I dry roasted them only after making the dish I was like hmmmm wasn't the pic in her place was lighter then I thought maybr i did something wrong and read the recipe and then found out about the oil, but don't know if tha tmakes a difference in taste.

As we all loved it. I even took two portions for Shyama when I went to visit her so that she just have to make rice or buy roties.

It is exams in college so she has not been home for a month, so Hans and I visited her twice taking some food and other things she need.

I did take step by step pics, but not adding them as nags as beautiful step by step pictures and explaining the recipe so if you want to make this delicious dish, you can hopp over to her place.

 



Kerala Chicken Curry

I think if you are from Kerala and you love Chicken Curry I am pretty sure that you have had this kind of curry. As most of the home make some curry like this , ofcourse recipe might be a little different.

Even if you think the ingridient list is long it is a pretty easy Curry to make.

And personally I think the curry is much better the next day, just make sure you keep the curry in the fridge if you want to use next day.

The good think aobut the curry beeing good next day is, you can prepare the day before you have some guest or even if you want to have something delicious foe a weekend you can cook this ealy and chill on weekend, only thing you will have to do is heat up the curry when you want to use it.

I am sure just looking to that sacue of the Chicken Curry you all are drooling.

I can imagine hundreads of ways of eating this chicken curry.

You can eat with rice, roties, bread, idiyappoms, dosa ( first time I ate Dosa and Chicken was in a Mall in B'lore few years back )



I medium whole chickencut int small pieces.

Oil 1/4 cup

Shallots 250 gms thinly slices

8 to 10 garlic cloves sliced

Ginger sliced thinly tbsp

Green Chillies halfed 6

Corriander powder 3 tbsp

Chillie powder 2 tbsp

Turmeric powder 3/4 tsp

Garam masala 1 tbsp

Coconut milk 400 ml. In a traditional kitchen they will use frehsly squeezed coconut milk and use the thin milk and the thicke milk, I use tinned one. And when the recipe as for thin milk I just dilute few tbsp of thick milk with water and then add.

Fennel seeds dry roasted and powdered 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Curry leaves, few sprigs



Method:

Heat the oil in a pan/wok add the garlic and ginger, fry for few minutes.

Add the sliced onions, fresh chillies and saute till they are lightly browned.

Now mix with a few tbsp of water the trumeric, corriander powder,Chillie powder and add this mix to the onions and fry atleast 8 minutes till the oil seperates from the mix, this step is really important.

Now add the chicken pieices and fry for few more minutes.

Add the garam masala, fennel powder and salt and fruther fry for few more minutes.

Take few tbsp of coconut milk dilute with 1/2 cup of water and add to the chicken mix.

Cook for some 15 minutes more or till the chicken is done.

Now add the rest of the coconut milk boil for few minutes add the curry leaves, and close the pan with a lid.

Serve with steamed rice, roties, bread etc....



Banana Chips

Having the aroma of frying something in coconut oil that brings me back to the smell of home, that is how i feel, now if you ask my husband he would say smell of coconut oil for him is like cookie smell it remind him of the coconut macarons they sell here ;-) when I add coconut oil to my hair he come and smell my hair and tell me it smells like cookies, thank God he doesnt eat my hair ;-)

Ok Now back to the cooking part that is how my kitchen was smelling when i was frying these banana chips.
If I close my eyes I would be back to Kerala or one of those Bus Stands or Railway stations were they sell freshly fried banana chips.

It is not like I get these Bananas in the local shops, last time when I went to the Asian store I saw them, and bought few and the next day itself I fried them and you can all guess who ate most of it , well I point the finger to myself.
These are easy to make actually there is no recipe.

2 to 3 green banana.
Coconut oil for frying ( if you dont like coconut oil, you can use any oil)
1 tsp of salt mixes witg few tbsp of water,

Peel the skin of the raw banana.
Heat the oil in a deep pan or wok,  when the oil is hot slice the banana using a mandolin ( I slice them straight to the pan) if you dont want to do that you can slice them in plate and then add to the hot oil carefully)
I slices them very thin.
Stir now and then it only takes few or less minutes to fry them.
Now if you like salty chips you sprinkle a bit of salt water mix to the wok, I would suggest be very carefull as there will be full noise and splattering from the wok.
Stir few minutes and drain to a kitchen paper.
I fried them in few batches as if you fry them all together they wont get crispes they will be soggy.

It is after taking the pics and then writting the post I realized that I have this Banana chips in my blog, it was one of the earliest post I have years ago there is step by step picutures there only difference is that I sliced the banana much thinner in this nec chips post

Sending these delicious Banana Chips to Kerala Kitchen

Prawns in Coconut Milk Curry

Remember I told you in one of my earlier post that I celebrated Onam for the first time here in so many years, well and if your remeber I did say it was not a fully traditional one.
And one of the dishes I made for my guest was this Delicous Creamy Keral style Prawn curry.
I have never seen a couple of people snatching the bowl of a dish so fast.
And everybody went for second and third helping. It is always enjoyable to see your guest enjoying the food youhave prepared.

I made this from one of my favourite Kerala blog Kothiyavunu. And as the name say if you go to her place indeed you will be drooling on each recipe.
I just made the name short. The original name is Chemmen Thenga pal Curry/Prawns Coconut Milk Curry Kerala/Thrissur Style.

Ingredients
For marinating prawns
Prawns .1/2kg
Garlic paste .1/2tspGinger paste
1/2tsp Coriander powder
1tsp Red Chilly powder
1tspTurmeric powder
1/2tspBlack Pepper Powder ( i would do freshly ground )
1 tspGaram masala
1/2tspSalt or to taste.

For the gravy
Onion 2 medium sliced
Tomato 1 medium Cut fine
Garlic paste 1tsp
Ginger paste 1tsp
Coriander powder 1tsp
Red Chilly powder 1tsp ( I used Kashmiri chilli powder)
Turmeric powder 1/2tsp
Garam masala 1/2 tsp

400 ml tinned coconut milk
Green chillies 2 split or according to your taste
Curry leaves 2 sprigs
Kudampuli 1piece ( it is a typicall S.Indian fruit which is dried and this give a tangy taste to thewhole dish)
Mustard seeds 1/2tsp
Fenugreek seeds 1/4ts
Coconut oil :2 tbsp


Marinate the prawn with the above ingredients and keep it in the fridge for an hour.
Heat coconut oil in a pan,when its hot,add mustard seeds,fenugreek seeds.When it starts splutters.
Add the sliced onions till the onions become soft but not dark.
Then add the green chillies and curry leaves and stir for few minutes.
Now add ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder,corainder powder, gram masala powder,pepper powders and stir till the aroma comes out.
Now addthe chopped tomato pieces along with little salt and staute well till the tomatoes are cooked.
AsI used tinned milk I took few tsp of coconu milk diluted with few tbsp of water and then added to thepan.
Then add the rest of the coconut milk and then add the prawn and cook for 4 or 5 minutes.
Serve with rice.
Don't over cook the prawns, I just cooked them for 5 minutes.

Acchapam (Rose Cookies)

I don't think I really appriciated when my mom made all the Indian sweets or some special treats.
And also I was never intrested in cooking during that time like most of you .

If I am honest when I was in my early teens I don't think I even thought aobut how much time and efffort she put into make some of the spcial food she made. Every day when we three girls came back home from school,there was something home made which she whipped up for us, which we used to hogg like piggies or on the weekend or special occasions she used to make other things which took a lot of time and work.

I remember she used to make these Achappams and not just for 1 cup of flour, i think when she made them it was mostly for a kilo of flour as I remember , they were made and kept in this huge parle biscut tins.

I am telling about how Ididn't apriciate the work she had put to make things for one reason, I tried for the first time to make Achappam few days back.

Well the first I mixed everything and tried them and whil i dipped the shape into the hot oil I saw them breaking into circles than just giving beautiful flower shape.
So I mixed a new batch tried again , no use it was a disaster again, so i searched the net and found a recipe just using flour and i tried them, well i got beautiful flowers, but then were too soggy with oil and then heavy so I binned my third batch of the day.

So I tried again the below recipe which I got form the net.

It is true they say making Achappam is like winning lottery.
I got 7 beautiful rose shaped achappams and they wee not sticking into the mould , came out perfectly, but from the 8th one it started sticking.
So i gave up .
I just think I am not that lucky in making these beautiful cookies like Mishmash or Aparna.

I am not giving up, I am sure gonna try again, but I think i will wait for a while :-)

Raw rice powder - 1 glass
Sugar - 1/4 glass
Coconut milkthick , I used tinned coconut milk. ( didn't measure just used till i got a batter like for dosa
Eggs - 1
Black seasame seeds ( i didn't have so used white)
Oil for frying

Beat the eggs well.
Mix together egg, sugar, rice powder, seasame seeds and coconut milk well.
The consistency should that of dosa batter.
Heat the oil and dip the achappam mould.
The mould should be very hot so that the achappams will come out from the mould when you dip it in the oil.
Once the mould is hot enough, dip the mould into the batter and fill it till 3/4th of the capacity.
Dip it in oil again and after half a minute, shake the mould lightly so that the achappams will come out easily. (If you shake the mould vigourously, the shape will not be maintained and there are chances of the achappams to break.)
Once slightly golden brown, turn and cook the other side.
Remove from the oil and place them on a tissue paper.
At a time, you can make 3-4 achappams or more depending upon the size of the vessel

As this is a traditional christmas cookies from kerala I am sending this to Susan for her if you want to see what all cookies santa as got till now just go here

Errisery

I am sure all Keralites will be knowing this traditional dish Erissery..
Ofcourse there is a lot of different ways to make this traditionam dish.
Mine is from Mrs Mathews book Flavours of the spice coast.

1/4 cup blacke eyed beans
2 cups water
2 cups pumpkin
1/2 coconut grated
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chillie powder
2 to 3 green chillies ( optional)
3 garlic cloves
Salt to taste

For seasoning
2 tsp coconut oil
1 small onion choped finley
1 tsp mustard seeds
a few curry leaves
2 dry red chillies halved
2 tabsp coconut grated.

Methid:
Cook and wash beans in 2 cuo water. Add the chopped pumpkin and cook.
Coarsley grin ingridient 4 to 7 and add to the coked vegetable. Mix well and add salt.
Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds.
Toss in the chopped onione, curry leaves dry chiliies.
Add grated coconut and saute untill the coconut is lightly browned.
Stir this seasoning into the curry and serve hot.

Sending this to which is hosted by Srivalli aslo to whiwh is hosted at Tongueticklers

Kerala Kadala Curry

Life is back to normal from today onwards.My daughters spring break is finished and she is back to school from today , so the daily routine have started, no more getting up late having breakfast in the irregular time and lunch etc......

Have to admit we had a excelent two weeks. Even though the weather here was really, really bad.

We went to London for four days which was wonderful. One of our friends asked me how was it in London and I replied to her we ate and drank and had a jolly good time :-)

Well we also went to Museums and lot of other touristical places....... also did shopping.
I did window shopping and my daughter did real shopping. I have to admit i bought few baking things from there.
Isn't it crazy i went to one of the most famous places and the main things i bought are for my cooking.

And talking about cooking, I made this kerala chick pea curry thanks to bee of Jugalbandi actually I made this before I went for the break but didn't had time to post it.

The kadal curry was really delicious. My hubby was extremley glad that I made a totally different chick pea dish, for the last 17 years I have been making the same one :-)

Bee had written, Her words......This recipe needs patience. The onions need to be cooked down for a while and caramelised to a deep brown on a medium-low flame. Likewise with the coconut. Don’t try to hurry this dish along.

It did take a bit of time to make it, but it is really woth all the time you spend on making it as it was DELICIOUS. I will be surley making it again soon.

I didn't change anything in the recipe except she used dessicated coconut I used fresh coconut.

Roasting the spices

Roasting the coconut

Sunita's Think Spice event is back and it is going to trotting the globe from now on and this month it is hosted by Grecthen Noelle of Canela & Comino The spice she have choosed is She have asked us to Share other information about cloves: Is it used in forms other than cooking in your home?

I remember when I had tooth pain when i was at home my mom giving cloves to me and asking me to chew on them. Don't ask me if it worked or not as I don't remember, I only remember the severe pain I had :-(

Also when I was in high school one of our sir was trying to stop smoking and he used to chew these cloves always. No idea if it worked.
Only thing I remember is we girls used to give him lots of cloves ( you know to please the teacher) which we used to take from our mom's kitchen.
I am sure all the moms were thinking to themselve are they using so much cloves as it was getting finished so fast.

Little did they know their daughters were taking it for giving to their favourite teacher :-)

Most of the ingridients

Curryleaves etc....

Delicious...............