Potato Peas Subji

This is a north indian style subji I tried yesterday. Goes well with roti's.

Ingredients
--------------
Potatoes - 200gms (Boiled)
Green Peas - 200gms
Onion - 1
Tomato - 2
Cinnamon - 2
Star anise -1
Chilly powder - 1 Teaspoon
Coriander powder  - 1 Teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 Teapsoon
Garam masala  - 1/2 Teaspoon
Ginger - 1 Teaspoon
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 Teaspoon
Coriander leaves - for garnishing
Oil - 2 Teaspoon
Salt

Method
---------
1.Heat oil in a pan. Season with cumin seeds, cinnamon and star anise.
2.Add finely chopped onion and fry till it becomes golden colour.
3.Add finely chopped tomatoes and ginger and fry till the oil comes out.
4.Add chilly powder,coriander powder , turmeric powder and fry for 3 minutes.
5.Add green peas and boiled potatoes and fry.
6.If required add 2 Tablespoon of water and cook.
7.Add garam masala powder and add water to adjust the consistency.
8.Switch off the stove and garnish with coriander leaves.
9.Serve hot with roti.

Meen Kulambu

Saturday I prepared this simple meen kulambu with minimum no of ingredients. And without coconut, as my mixie is out of order. So, the recipe follows..

Ingredients
--------------
Sea Bream - 2
Gingelly Oil - 1 and half Tablespoon
Onion - 1 (preferably shallots, if available)
Tomato - 1 ( can be 2)
Methi Seeds - 1 Teaspoon
Saunf - 1 Teaspoon
Curry leaves - few
Garlic - 3 crushed
Tamarind - Size of small lemon
Kulambu Milagi Thool - 5 heaped Teaspoons
Turmeric powder - 1/2 Teaspoon
Green chilly - 2 slitted

Method
----------
1.Clean the fish with turmeric powder,salt and little vinegar. Drain the water completely.
2.Heat oil in a pan. Season with methi seeds, saunf and curry leaves.
3.Add chopped onions and a pinch of salt and fry till they become deep golden brown.
4.Add garlic and chopped tomatoes and fry till the oil comes out.
5.Add masala powder and fry till the raw smell goes. If it is too dry, add a teaspoon of water.
6.Now use a hand blender and coarsely grind the mixture for 2 mins.
7.Add tamarind water , green chillies and salt.
8.Let it boil till the raw smell goes..
9.Add the cleaned fish, close the lid and cook for 7 minutes.
10.Serve hot with rice.

Note
------
1. A fish with fat gives taste to this curry..
2. A teaspoon of gingelly oil and fresh curry leaves can be added at the end after switching off the stove.
3.I used the kulambu milagai thool prepared by amma. Can substitute with aachi kulambu milagai thool.
 

Black Channa Curry

Yesterday prepared this simple kadala curry as a side for chapathi. Didn't have time to take pictures. May be next time, I can add the picture. Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients

Black Channa  - 1 cup (Soaked overnight)
Onion - 1
Tomato - 2
Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 teaspoon
Cumin - 1 Teaspoon
Chilly Powder  - 1 Teaspoon
Coriander Powder - 1 Teaspoon
Kulambu Milagai Thool - 1 Teaspoon
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 Teaspoon
Curry Masala Powder - 1/2 teaspoon(can substitute with Garam malasa)
Coriander Leaves
Oil - 1 Tablespoon

Method
1.Heat oil in a pressure cooker and season with cumin seeds.
2.Add onion and fry till golden brown.
3.Add ginger garlic paste and tomato pieces and fry.
4.Add soaked channa and all masala powders(except curry masala), and coriander leaves and fry for sometime.
5.Add water (I usually add boiling water to reduce the cooking time). Close the pressure cooker and cook for 10 minutes in medium flame.
6.Open the cooker and add curry masala powder.
7.Serve hot with chapathis. But I hope this goes well with rice too.


Note.

Can add coconut milk at the end if we need a change. I liked it this way..

Chicken Dum Biriyani

I prepared this biriyani for last week end. Just wanted to note this down as it was so perfect.

Ingredients
--------------

Basmati Rice - 4 Cups ( I used Kohinoor)
Chicken  - 800gms
Onion - 2
Green chilly - 2
Tomato - 2
Curd - 1 Cup
Cinnamon - 4
Cardamom - 5
Cloves  - 4
Bay leaves - 4
Star Anise - 1
Chilly Powder - 1 and half Teaspoon
Garam masala - 1/2 Teaspoon
Ginger Garlic Paste - 3 Teaspoon
Coriander - A handful
Mint - A handful(I substituted with a teaspoon of dried mint)
Oil - 2 Tablespoon + 1 Teaspoon
Milk - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 2 or 3 Teaspoon
Lemon - 1

Method
---------

1.Clean the chicken and marinate with half of curd and salt.
2.Wash the Rice and soak them for 20mins.
3.Heat  2 Tablespoons of Oil in a pan and season with 3 Cinnamon, 3 Cardamom, 2 Cloves, 3 Bay leaves .
4. Add sliced onion and fry till they are dark brown. Do not let them burn.
5. Add Ginger garlic paste , green chilly and fry till the raw smell goes.
6. Add chopped coriander and mint leaves and fry.
7. Add chopped tomatoes and fry till the oil comes out.
8. Add chilly powder and garam masala powder.
9.Add  Chicken pieces and fry for 5 minutes.
10. Now add remaining curd, milk and salt and cook till the chicken is almost done. Add 1/4cup of water if necessary. It should not be too thick.
11.In the meantime, boil water in a big pan or pressure cooker and add the soaked rice, salt, remaining spices(cinnamon, cardamom, cloves,star anise , bay leaves) and a teaspoon of oil
12.Cook the rice for 7-8 minutes. It should be cooked only 70%.
13.Drain the water and spread the rice in  colander.
14.Spread little ghee in a pan of electric rice cooker.
15.Put a layer of rice in cooker pan  then top it with chicken gravy. Repeat this until all the rice is done.
16.Spread some chopped coriander, mint leaves and sprinkle lemon juice. Add Ghee.
17.Switch on the electric cooker. After some time, it will go to warm mode.  Let it be in warm mode atleast for 15minutes.
18.While serving, Gently mix the rice with a plastic or light wooden spatula.

Notes
-------
While cooking chicken, after adding each ingredient , close the lid and cook.
Instead of milk , we can add coconut milk.
Even though , it looks like a elaborate process, it is easy as we can cook chicken and rice side by side. We can make sure rice is not over cooked. No need to worry about the water ratio.
Do not mix the rice with heavy spoons or spatulas. Use lighter ones and handle gently.

Fairy Cakes

This is a simple cake made by my DD during her summer holidays. It was so yummy and so soft..

Ingredients

Butter - 100gms
Self Raising Flour - 100gms
Castor Sugar - 100gms
Egg - 2
Vanilla Essence - 1/2 Teaspoon
Readymade Icing - As required

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C.
2. Mix all the ingredients with a beater for 3 minutes with a electric beater.
3. Spoon the mixture into 12 cup cases arranged in a muffin tin.
4. Bake for 15 minutes or till done.
5. Once cooled down, decorate with icing.
6. Enjoy ..

Mutton Kola Urundai Kulambu

Amma is an expert in making this and it's Appa's all time favourite. Here, goes the family recipe with little secrets.   

Ingredients

Minced Mutton  - 500gms
Onion - 1
Tomato - 2
Coriander Powder - 2 Tablespoon
Chilly Powder - 1 Tablespoon
Curry Leaves - Few
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 Teaspoon
Cinnamon - 1
Cardamom - 2
Cloves - 2
Coconut - 1 Tablespoon
Mutton bones - 100gms (optional)
Oil - 1 Tablespoon

Paste 1
Cinnamon - 1
Cardamom - 1
Cloves - 2
Poppy Seeds - 1/2 Teaspoon
Saunf - 1/2 Teaspoon
Coconut - 1 Tablespoon

Paste 2
Onion - 1(Finely chopped)
Green Chilly - 1
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - little

Method

1. Keep Oil in a kadai and when it is heated, add 3/4th  of mutton mince and fry them with little bit of turmeric powder till it changes colour.
2. Fry ingredients in paste 1 in little bit of oil and keep them aside.
3. Fry ingredients for paste 2 in remaining oil.
4. Grind the fried mutton mince, uncooked 1/4th of mutton mince, ingredients of paste 1 together in the mixie to a coarse paste.
5.Now add ingredients for paste 2 and pulse them together till they are mixed.
6. Make golf size balls with this mixture. We can take half out of this mixture for a fry if we want.
7.If using bones, boil  them in water with salt , take the the stock and discard the bones. If we add bones, it'll break the mince balls.
8. Heat oil in a kadai, season with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, saunf seeds, curry leaves.
9. Add finely chopped onion, ginger garlic paste, tomato and fry them nicely.
10. Add coriander, chilly and turmeric powders.
11. Add 2 cups of water or bone stock and let it boil.
12.Grind coconut into a smooth paste and add it to the kulambu. Add salt.
13. When it is boiling, add 2 minced mutton balls and wait till they are floating on top. Now add next 2 balls. This way, add all the mutton balls 2 by 2.
14. Boil it for 5 minutes.
15.Switch off the stove and serve hot.

                                                                                                                                               

Pizza

Yesterday I prepared this Pizza for dinner and we enjoyed it a lot. It was close to pizza hut. For this measurements, I made 2 large pizzas .

Ingredients

For base
All purpose flour - 3 cups
Yeast - 2 and a half  teaspoon
Olive Oil - 3 Tablespoon
Sugar - 1 Tablespoon
Salt - 1/2 Teaspoon
Water - 1 to 1 and a half Cup

For Sauce
Tomatoes - 10
Garlic - 3 Flakes
Olive Oil - 2 Teaspoon
Oregano - 1 Teaspoon
Basil - 1 Teaspoon
Salt -  To Taste
Chilli Flakes - To Taste

For Topping
Mozzarella cheese -  150gms
Chicken  - 150gms
Oil - 1 Teaspoon
Chilly Powder - 1/2 Teaspoon
Salt - To Taste
Mushroom - a handful


Method

Pizza Base
1. Mix yeast with lukewarm water,sugar, 2 Tablespoon of olive oil in a bowl and keep aside for 5 minutes.
2. Mix salt and all purpose flour in a bowl and add the yeast mixture and make a dough.
3. Apply little oil in hand and knead the dough well.
4. Wrap the bowl tightly with a cling wrap and place it in a warm place for 90 mins.
5. Punch the dough and keep it aside for second rising for 30 minutes.

Sauce
1.Keep the tomatoes in boiling water for 3 minutes and then remove the skin.
2. Cut the tomatoes into half and remove the juice and seeds. We can use this for making tomato rasam or add them in other kulambu or gravies.
3. Crush the tomato pulp using a hand mixer. or chop them nicely.
4. Finely chop the garlic.
5. Heat oil in a pan and add garlic. Fry slightly and add the crushed tomatoes. Add basil, oregano, chilly flakes and salt.
7.Keep this in low flame till it becomes sauce like consistency. This may take around 20 - 30 mins.

Chicken topping

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add chicken breast cut into stripes, chilly powder and salt. cook in low flame.


Assembling

1.Preheat the oven to 225 C.
2. Apply oil in a non-stick baking tray.
3. Take a pizza dough and stretch it into the tray as thin as possible using hands. Apply oil in hands to prevent the sticking.
4. Spread the sauce all over the pizza.
5. Add the cooked chicken pieces, thinly chopped mushrooms. We can add other toppings such as capsicum, onion , boiled corn here. I didn't add as I didn't have them.
6. Cover the pizza with shredded mozzarella cheese.
7. Sprinkle oregano and basil.
9. Bake it in oven for 10 minutes.