Kanda Poha (Aval Upma)

Kanda means Onion and of course u know poha (flattened rice). In Tamil it is called Aval Upma. Delicious...Kanda poha is a Maharastrian dish which is served as tiffin/Breakfast. Aval/Poha also has a historic story between Krishna and Kuselan. I am not going to historic details..Ever since i decided to participate in FIC-YELLOW, i am cooking many yellow color foods. U never realize it until u make them...

Ingredients:

2 Cups Poha (thick variety)
1 large onion chopped
2 green chillies
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 cup roasted peanuts
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp chat masala
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste
1 tomato finely chopped
coriander leaves


Preparation:

Wash poha in cold water several times. Leave it in a strainer for 30 minutes. Add salt, turmeric powder and chat masala to poha. Mix well. The powders are added beforehand to avoid breakage of poha.

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard and cumin seeds. Once mustard splutters add onion and greenchillies. Fry for few minutes, add poha and mix thoroughly. Adjust salt. Cover and cook for 10 mts, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle some water if poha sticks to the bottom. Finally add chopped coriander, peanuts and lemon juice. Remove from heat. Leave it for couple of minutes for chemical reaction to occur!!!!.Just kidding...

Serve it with chopped tomatoes and Sev.


This is my contribution to FIC-YELLOW hosted by sunshinemom of TONGUTICKLERS.

Ambur Mutton Biriyani

Ambur is a small city in Vellore Districts famous for Mutton Biriyani, Corn (cholam) and Sweets. Ambur is a muslim populatd city and u know how good their biriyani tastes... yummy.. especially the one made in Ambur is delicious...When we travel from vaniyambadi to vellore by bus car whatever means of transport, we stop by ambur to buy biriyani. One more speciality is corn, man they taste awsome... Its a great snack to munch in the car... Still remember the fresh smell of the corn... Lovely food... Here I am gonna share the lovely recipe for Ambur Mutton biriyani.

Ingredients:

Biriyani Ella (Bay Leaf) - 3
Cinamon - 1
Cardamom(Elachi / Elaka) - 2
Onion - 1
Tomato - 1
Mint - 1 bunch
Coriander(Kothamalli) 1/2 bunch
Garam Masala - 1 tsp

Marinate:
Mutton - 1 kg
Yogurt - 4 tsp
Salt to taste
Turmeric Powder 1/2 tsp
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Pepper Powder - 3/4 tsp
Lemon Juice - 4 tsp
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp

Paste:
Cashew Nuts Plain - 20
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Sombu / Saunf - 1 tsp
Garlic - 8
Chilli Green small - 2

Rice 4 Cups


Preparation:

Mix the ingredients given for marination and keep aside for 1 hour.

Grind the ingredients given in paste to make a smooth paste adding little bit of water.

Heat ghee in a sauce pan and fry the rest of the ingredients in specified order. Now add the marinated mutton, ground paste and 1 cup of water. Cover and cook till meat becomes tender. U can also use cooker for this process. Leave for 1 Whistle.

Once the cooker cools down add rice to the mutton mixture. For 4 cups of rice (1:1.5 ratio), I added 5 cups of water coz the mutton gravy will also have water. Cover and cook for one whistle. Remove from heat.

(Ambur Biriyani and prawn Masala)

Serve hot with onion raita and egg...

This is my contribution for Harvest The festival of Rice hosted by Sudeshna of Bengali Cuisine.

Banana In coconut milk ('Kluai Buat Chi' )

Thai cuisine is known for hot and spicy flavours!!!Thai Cuisine is known for being hot and spicy and its balance of five fundamental flavors in each dish or the overall meal - hot (spicy), sour, sweet, salty and bitter (optional). (source:Wikipedia)

I have been to Thai restaurants, not a great fan of their food. My personal favourite is fried rice and Thai red curry!!!!. This is the first time I am trying something from Thai cuisine. I wanted to cook something simple for my first attempt. Coconut milk seems to be basis for every recipe in Thai cuisine. When i was looking for recipes, I found out a dessert ' Banana in coconut milk'!!!. It was very simple and took only few minutes to prepare it. Kluai Buat Chi Recipe can be found here.

I am gonna make a dessert, Kluai Buat chi from Thai cuisine for A.W.E.D -Thailand hosted by Dk's Culinary Bazaar.

Ingredients:

3 Ripe Bananas
1 cup sugar
2 cups coconut milk
1 cup coconut cream
pinch of salt



Preparation:

Peel the banana and slit according to ur choice. I like round shape so i cut it round.

The original recipe calls for cutting vertically into half, then once again cut the pieces horizontally into half. Each banana is cut to four pieces.

Pour the coconut milk in a non-stick pan over medium heat.After the milk starts boiling lower the heat .Add Banana and cook till tender. I used ripe banana and it took about 6mins to become tender. Take care not to over cook banana coz it will make them soft and bloated.
Remove the pan from heat, Add sugar & salt and mix well.
Finally add coconut cream and transfer to serving bowl. Let it cool down to room temperature before serving!!

Kung Pao Chicken

Kung pao chicken, Chinese pronounced as gong-bao-ji-ding is a classic dish in Chinese cuisine. Ambassador is a Chinese restaurant in Houston, famous for its spicy Chinese recipes. The place is thronged by Indians and Americans!!!! The food is so delicious and they make it spicy according to ur taste... We are one of the regulars to the restaurant and we always order Kung pao chicken for main dish!!!!

I have lived in Aberdeen for more than 3 years, never heard of this dish in any Chinese restaurants ( only 2 Chinese restaurants and few takeaways..its a small city)) !!!. I was introduced to this dish by my hubby and I love it!!!!

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 7 to 8 ounces each

Marinade:
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

Sauce:
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1 teaspoon sugar

Other:
8 -10 dried red chili peppers
3 cloves garlic
2 green onions (spring onions, scallions)
4 tablespoons oil for stir-frying, or as needed
2 teaspoon Szechuan peppercorn or black peppercorn, optional
1/2 cup peanuts or cashews

1 tsp dried red pepper flakes
a few drops sesame oil, optional

1/2 cup chopped Bell pepper, carrot, celery

Preparation:

Cut the chicken into 1-inch cubes. Combine with the marinade ingredients, adding the cornstarch last. Marinate the chicken for 25 minutes.

While the chicken is marinating, prepare the sauce and vegetables: In a small bowl, combine the dark soy sauce, rice wine ( can be found grocery shops in international section), and sugar. Set aside.Cut the chilies in half so that they are approximately the same size as the chicken cubes. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Cut the green onion on the diagonal into thirds.

Heat the wok over medium-high to high heat. Add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the chicken. Stir-fry until it turns white and is almost cooked. Remove from the wok.Add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and stir-fry until aromatic (about 30 seconds). Add the chili peppers and the Szechuan peppercorn if using and vegetables .

Stir-fry briefly until they turn dark red and veggies are cooked.Add the sauce to the wok. Bring to a boil. Add the chicken back into the pan. Stir in the peanuts and the green onion. Remove from the heat and stir in the sesame oil. Serve hot.

Serve hot with Fried rice!!!!

Sweet Potato Gulab Jamun (Ranga Alur Puli)

Sweet Potato known as yam or Sakkarai Valli Kizhangu( Tamil) . My mom used to make sweet potato balls with sweet potato which is very simple and easy to make. Last week I was in mood to make some sweet for my birthday. I was reading other Indian blogs to find interesting recipes. I found Sury's sweet potato dessert which is a Bengali sweet known as Ranga Alur Puli. I also found another version of same sweet from Mahanadi's blog!!!

I did make some slight changes to the recipe according my taste!!!!

Ingredients:

Jamun:

1 sweet potatoes

1 tbsp All purpose flour

1 pinch Baking powder

1 Ready Mix Gulab Jamun packet

2 tbsp ghee

Sugar Syrup:

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 tsp cardamom seeds

2 tbsp Chopped Almonds

few strands Saffron

Coconut Filling:

1 cup Shredded coconut

2 cups Milk

1 cup sugar

1 tsp Cardamom seeds

2 tbsp chopped Cashew nuts

2 tbsp chopped Almonds

Preparation:

Jamun:

Steam cook the sweet potato till soft, peel the skin and mash it to a smooth paste. Add ghee, flour, baking soda and jamun powder and mix well. Don't add water, moisture in the sweet potato will be enough to make tight dough. Keep aside for 30 minutes.

Filling:

Boil milk with sugar in medium heat. keep stirring, once it starts to thicken add coconut and other ingredients. Keep stirring it, till the milk evaporates and coconut mixture comes to a sticky consistency!!! Remove from heat, let it cool down.

Sugar syrup:

Boil water and sugar with other ingredients in medium heat. Once the sugar water forms syrup consistency ( One string), Remove from heat. (Don't over heat the sugar syrup)

Make small balls from the jamun dough. Make small dimple and fill it with coconut filling. close it on all the sides and make a ball. Prepare balls from rest of the dough and keep for deep frying.

Heat Oil in sauce pan, on medium heat. It should never be hot!!!. Drop the jamun balls and deep fry them for 7-10 mts. Keep rolling them in oil to get even color on all the sides!!!

Remove Jamuns, place them in a clean tissue to remove excess oil. Add these jamuns to sugar syrup. I left them in fridge about 6 hrs!!! I usually reheat in microwave before serving!!!

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Chettinadu Chicken or Mutton Rasam (soup)

Chicken Rasam is one of Chetinnadu specials!!! I learnt this rasam from a chef who is working in Gourmet Kama restaurant in Aberdeen. This recipe can be used for both mutton or chicken. This rasam or soup would be one of the best remedies for cold. I personally prefer mutton for this recipe!!!!. Mutton Rasam and chicken chukka is a combination to beat!!!!

Ingredients:

1/2 kg chicken or mutton ( with bones)

5 shallots ( chinna vengayam)

1 tbsp pepper powder

1 tbsp cumin powder

1 tomato

2 greenchillies

5 flakes garlic

1' ginger

1 tsp redchilli powder

1 tsp dhaniya powder

2 cloves

1' cinnamon sticks

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp lime juice

oil for seasoning

salt to taste

Preparation:

Use small pieces of chicken or mutton with bones. Boneless meat doesn't give much flavour to this rasam!! Gringdginger and garlic to a fine paste.

Heat oil, add cloves and cinnamon sticks. Add shallots and fry for few minutes. Add Ginger garlic paste, fry till the raw smell vanishes... Add tomatoes and greenchillies and fry for 1o mts. Transfer this mixture to a cooker, along with chicken or mutton. Add Spice powder and add 2 cups of water( alter according to ur taste, u can have it slightly thicker consistency for rice, whereas for the soup it has to be watery). Leave it for minimum of 6 whistles ( cooking time depends on quality of the mutton). Remove from heat, once the pressure is down add little bit of lime juice ( optional) and Garnish with cilantro...

Serve hot with crushed pepper!!!!!

Note: U can filter the rasam, and have it as a soup!!!

Ennai Kathrikai Kozhumbu ( Brinjal Curry-Vaniyambadi style)

Ennai kathrikai kozhumbu or Brinjal curry is made in different styles. I myself make it in two method. One method uses stuffed brinjal and other doesn't. The one I am gonna share today is vaniyambadi style!!!!

Vaniyambadi is a town, part of Vellore district.The town is also famous for its food, including biriyani and various types of sweets. The famous Hill station Yelagiri is about 20 km from town. Speaking of vaniyambadi brings back my childhood memories..... Even though I was born in chennai, I hardly lived there for few years!!! My mother was a advocate then, now she is in Judiciary and gets transferred every three years.. that's how I came know about most of the places...

Vaniyambadi has Muslim population and their biriyani tastes heavenly!!!! I have tasted so many varieties of sweets, which u will never find it elsewhere.. Coming to Brinjal curry, they used to make this curry as side dish for biriyani... U have to try this combination, its awsome!!! My mom learnt this recipe from one of our neighbour and passed it to me. I love this curry with rice and pickle. U have to use tender brinjal to enhance the taste of the curry... Lets move on to the ingredients!!!!!!!!!!!

Ingredients:

8 small Brinjals

salt to taste

2 cups water

Paste:

1 large onion chopped

5 garlic flakes

1' ginger

1 large tomato chopped

2 tbsp redchilli powder

1 tsp garam masala or ( 4 cloves, 4 small pattai, 2 cardamom, 1 tsp fennel seedes)

1 tbsp dhania

1/2 cup grated coconut

Seasoning:

Mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves

Preparation:

Cut the brinjal from down into four pieces. don't separate the ends!!!. I didn't have small brinjal so I used Eggplant which tasted as good as our brinjals..

Heat oil, add the ingredients from paste one by one... Fry for few minutes till the raw smell of spices vanishes!!!. Remove from heat, allow it to cool down. Grind to fine paste adding 2 cups of water.

Heat remaining oil, add seasoning items in same order... Add Brinjal and fry till the skin turns to brown color. I t might take upto 10 - 15 mts. Keep in medium heat, don't over do it. Add the ground mixture and let the brinjal cook in it. Add salt, cover and cook till the brinjal becomes tender... Garnish with cilantro!!!

Serve hot with Rice or Chappati

Please Leave Ur Valuable comments!!!!!