Puli Inji / Injicurry - Ginger Jaggery sauce

I simply love this curry coz its sweet and spicy and gives a lovely kick to any boring bland dinner. If I have rice with just moru, pappadam and puli inji, I'll be happy. I also recently learned that its a good side with Chicken biryani. As the main ingredient of this dish is ginger, it helps with digestion of a heavy meal such as Onasadya or Biryani. I'll post a better picture the next time I prepare it.

Credit: Mishmash

Ingredients:

1 cup minced fresh ginger, tightly packed
3-4 Indian green chillies, finely chopped
4-5 curry leaves, finely chopped
l/2 tsp mustard seeds
l/4 tsp fenugreek seeds/ Uluva
l/4 tsp Uzhunnu parippu/urad dal/black gram
2 whole dry red chillies
3 tbsp coconut oil
1 1/2 cups water
3-4 jaggery/sarkkara cylinders, with 1 1/4 inch length and 3/4 inch width OR to taste
2-3 tsp tamarind concentrate OR to taste
l/4 tsp chilly powder
l/4 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste

Method:

• In a small deep saucepan or stone vessel, heat water, tamarind paste, melt jaggery with red chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt and bring to a boil and then keep the lid open and place a stirring utensil in it and let it simmer until it reaches half the quantity of the water. Adjust the tamarind-jaggery balance by doing a taste-test here and adding the extra bit if necessary. There should be a proper balance between tamarind and jaggery. So adjust according to your personal taste.
• Meanwhile, heat oil in a shallow pan and splutter mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, urad dal and dry red chillies. Add minced ginger, green chillies and curry leaves and fry until ginger turns golden brown, in low flame. Enjoy the wonderful aroma coming off the pan at this point. Using a slotted spoon, transfer all the ingredients from the pan, including the oil (there will not be much oil left), to the saucepan where the tamarind and jaggery mixture is simmering. Once more bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low flame and let it thicken until the oil layers floats on top. At this stage, turn off the stove. It thickens more when it sits in the room temperature.
• This can be made in advance and stored in refrigerator for a long time. The oil floating acts as a preservative here. It can be served not only at Sadya but also a great condiment for Biryani.

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Parippu Curry / Kerala style dal

Credit: Sankeerthanam 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup daal
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
•  2 green chilies

To Grind:

•  1/2 to 3/4 cup grated coconut
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder

 To Temper: 

• 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/8 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 dry red chilli
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbs ghee (clarified butter)
• 2 to 3 shallots, chopped
• few curry leaves

Method:

Pressure cook daal up to 2 whistles adding turmeric powder, green chillies and salt. To this, add ground coconut paste. Cook for 5 more minutes adding little bit water. Heat 1 tbs ghee in a separate pan, splutter mustard seeds, cumin seeds and  fennel seeds. Add  red chillies, curry leaves and shallots, fry slightly. Pour the seasoning  into the curry. Serve with rice

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My First Onasadya

I had intended to post this immediately after Onam. But I guess its better late than never. I was super-excited to prepare my first Onasadya. So I called up my sis over and we had a fun day purchasing veggies at the supermarket, cutting, chopping, grinding, cooking and finally serving it to Bee who waited patiently for the sadya to be prepared. Apart from the items displayed in the photo above, I also had moru kachiyathu and two types of payasams. One was the semiya payasam which I will be posting separately. The other was pazham pradhaman. The pradhaman turned out to be slightly on the sour side, maybe coz the nendrapazham was not too ripe? I need to try it out a few more times and perfect it before posting that one. Who knows if I'll have the time to do another one before I leave to another country where there maybe no nendrapazhams??
The sadya turned out to be great. Bee loved it especially since they were all new curries that I prepared for the first time, and he was enjoying the new flavours of kerala. There were so much leftovers, that I sent a lot of it with my sister. She in turn shared it with lots of her friends and I received a good feedback. Glad to know that I made some people deprived of onasadya happy this year :) What more could I ask for!!
I must thank the Kairali sisters from Pazham Pappadam Payasam to be generous enough to have a free e-book full of onasadya dishes, which came in useful for most of my sadya dishes.
Recipes of individual components of my sadya to follow soon :)

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Fresh start

So I've been away from my blog for way too long. And it filled me with guilt coz I've enjoyed it so much. Also I've been cooking quite a lot, taking pictures and have not bothered to post any of them. Its just that there was so much going on in my life, that I was sort of banned from blogging until I finished all that work.
First came Onam, and I prepared my first ever Onasadya!! And it just made me feel so proud that I was able to make so many dishes in one day like a cook-off or a race. And I was surprised that most of the recipes were quite easy, and the fact that most of them did not require onions and garlic. Strange but I never knew. And then came Eid, and I tried out two different types of samosas. Unfortunately, they disappeared before I could take photos of them. And then I made my first ever Biryani, a Malabar Chicken Biryani which was again a big hit. And then more stuff just kept getting made on the way.
And then what else is new. Oh yes, I got MARRIED!! yayy.. to Bee of course. Nothing fancy, we just got it registered. Another big thing coming my way is that I'll be moving to USA soon. So I'm looking forward to have a bigger fancier kitchen with an oven finally! And cant imagine all the fresh berries and other fresh produce I'll get to experiment with, for my future blogging. Oh and I'll also get to experience snow for the first time. I'll be moving to a place called Mount Olive in New Jersey. I'm going on a long term onsite assignment and I did not wanna go there alone, of course. I just had to take Bee with me and he is all the more excited than I am. Coz he'll get to quit his job that he hates, and stay at home for a few years, learn cooking (ya right! but lets see) and just chill! Also he plans to learn few languages at his own pace, look at other career paths, so I think he deserves the break that he's been yearning for quite a while.
Bee banned me from blogging until I get all my papers in order and submit them at my company's travel desk. There was tons of paperwork so I just couldnt get back to blogging until now. And now, I'm thinking where to start! Get ready, lots of recipes to follow soon!

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Indian Penne: A Twist of the Twist of Taste

Two fusion foods in one day? I must be goin bonkers!! I think its because of watching this new show on Fox History & Traveller channel, called The Twist of Taste by Vineet Bhatia. This guy is totally twisting Indian foods into more gourmet-like fine-dining platters. So I googled him and found this article. I learned that he's the only chef apart from Gordon Ramsay to receive Michelin stars in two separate countries. So he seems to be a pretty big name in the food industry, now probably a celebrity chef. At the end of the article, he mentioned this penne with chicken tikka pasta dish he cooks for his sons at home. It sounded wierd and I had no idea how it would taste like. But having had a horrid day at work, I decided to try it and surprise myself. Thank god it turned out well. I did twist this twister's recipe to suit the stuff I had in my refrigerator. I did not want to make chicken tikkas because of the marinating time. I had some chicken seekh kababs in the freezer. Also had capsicum, baby corn, so I used em all.

Ingredients:

Penne Pasta: 250 gms
Turmeric Powder: 1 tsp.
Red chilli powder: 1 tsp.
Salt to taste
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Onion: 1 medium chopped
Capsicum: 1/2 chopped
Baby Corn: 4 cut into strips
Garlic: 2 cloves minced
Ginger: 1 tsp minced
Green chillies: 1 finely chopped
Seekh Kabab: 2
Tomatoes: 2 chopped
Tomato Puree: 3 tbsp.

Method:

Slice the Seekh kababs into half inch thick pieces. Boil water, add turmeric, chilly powder and salt. Add 400 gm pasta, preferably penne. Cook until slightly softer than normal. Separately, in a little olive oil, sauté garlic, mustard seeds, green chillies, ginger and finely chopped onions. Add baby corn, capsicum and seekh kababs. Allow to cook till the seekh kababs change colour to your preference. Add chopped plum tomatoes and a pinch of chilli powder (optional, its spicy already). Add tomato puree. When the mixture is ready, Toss it all up with the penne. Let the spices seep into the pasta. Serve.

Note: So if you want to use chicken tikka instead, just add the chicken tikka after adding the tomatoes. And I guess tomato puree wont be necessary.

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Pizza Parotta - My Twist of Taste

These days I see a lot of emphasis on fusion food. I was never really into it as I prefer trying to get the authentic tastes. But I sometimes wonder how someone would even think of fusing this and that together. Some are interesting, some not, some even pure genius!
So how did I venture into this area of fusion food? As they say, necessity is the mother of all inventions. I was working at home coz I was not feeling too well, and did not have much work. But to my utter disappointment, my clients felt that today was the perfect day to report tons of issues, and I get assigned more work than I usually handle. Grr... there goes all my plans to relax at home, exploring various recipes and trying out new stuff. I started to feel hungry and wondered I had in the refrigerator. I had a packet of Kerala Parottas. But what do I eat with it? Most of the veggie ingredients were Italian stuff left over from my pasta recipes. So I imagined... what if I use the ingredients like a pizza topping but the base be used as a kerala parotta? Its like those thin crust pizzas, except that this crust is thin and flaky. yum! and oh it was yum!! Mine was totally simple and quick but you can add any of your favourite pizza toppings.

Ingredients:

Kerala parotta: 1
Salsa: 2 tbsp.
Black Olives: 4 sliced
Basil Leaves: 2 or 3
Mozzarella cheese: as required
Oregano: to garnish
Garlic bread seasoning: to garnish

Method:

Spread the salsa on the parotta. Arrange sliced olives and broken up basil leaves on top. Sprinkle grated mozzarella all over. Take a frying pan with a lid. Place it on a stove on low heat. Place the parotta on the frying pan. Sprinkle oregano and garlic bread seasoning. Cover the lid and allow the pizza to cook on low heat. Wait till all the cheese melts and take it off the pan. Slice them and serve immediately!



You can add sauteed baby corn, capsicum and minced garlic in a little olive oil. You can also add cold cuts like sliced sausages, bacon or pepperoni. Onions, sun-dried tomatoes, the list can go on...

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Penne Yummyolio

I just didn't know what to name this pasta dish. Its yet another penne pasta dish I made with different ingredients available wth me at that time. It was a weekend when I blackmailed my sister into coming over because I was cooking something yummy. So thought of naming it that way.

Ingredients:

Penne Pasta: 250gms

Olive Oil: 3 tbsp.

Salsa: 100ml

Garlic: 2 cloves

Onion - 1 medium

Cherry Tomatoes: 10

Capsicum: 1 (yellow or red)

Baby corn: 5 or 6

Sausages: 2

Streaky bacon: 3 strips

Basil Leaves - a sprig

Black Olives: 5

Parsley - garnish

Cheeses: Parmesan, Emmental, Mozzarella

Method:

Boil water and add penne to it with some salt and olive oil. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and keep aside. Mince garlic, chop onions, capsicum. tomatoes. Cut baby corn into thin strips. Slice sausages and olives. Heat olive oil in a pan, add minced garlic and let it sizzle for a few seconds. Add onions, capsicum and baby corn. Toss around till onions become soft. Add sausages. Take streaky bacon strips and snip them up using a pair of kitchen scissors into the pan. Allow the bacon fat to melt, and add the the cherry tomatoes and basil leaves. Add in the salsa and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the sliced olives, grate the cheeses and add them too. Combine well and garnish with parsley and some grated parmesan or emmental. Pasta Yummyolio is ready to serve!

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