Easy Spicy Potato Roast

After the over doze of Christmas cakes, cookies, puddings and everything sweet, this potato roast served as an accompaniment for our simple meal, today.
This dish is something I make very frequently for children, particularly as a side dish for their pack away lunch. An absolute kid freindly accompaniment!

Today we woke up to see the cloudy dull morning.With no vegetables in the crisper, I decided to make this instantly, with plain hot rasam and fiery kothamalli chutney! :-)

Easy Potato Roast 
Serves two

Total time needed - 20 minutes
 [For Preparatory -10 minutes
 For Cooking -10 minutes]

Read More »

Tweet

Thakkali Kuzhambu / Tomato Coconut Curry

                             
                                 Tastespotted,  Foodgawked
I have brewed my Christmas wine, baked the cookies today and will be ready with the cakes next week!
      Hope you too are catching up with the festival with loads of homemade goodies..

Something which excites about past week is that my traffic has peaked up in spite of  being the dullest month of the year. In fact the past two weeks had earned the most hits ever!
I had always consoled myself and thought December is the right month to take a break from blogging with less visitors coming in because of fun and festivity and holidays all around. But alas, the opening of the month is here with all the pleasantest surprises!

In between making the wine and cookies , I made this tomato coconut curry for dinner, hot and spicy with crispy dosas. The crepes and the curry went extremely well and was apt for the winter evening!
As most of the recipes, I learnt this from my in-laws and is a regular dish at least once a month for dinner. The curry goes well with steamed rice but my in-laws strictly have the curry with dosas / idlies.

Here goes..

Tomato Coconut Curry
To serve 2-3

Ingredients:

Roast and grind to a smooth paste:

Oil- 2-3 tsps
Big onion- 1 medium sized, sliced lengthwise thinly
Pottukadalai / roasted gram - 1 tbsp
Red chillies- 4 nos or chilly powder-3/4 tsp
Coriander powder- 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Ripe red tomatoes - 2 medium, sliced to bite size pieces
Coconut- 1/2 cup

To season:

Oil - 2-3 tsps
Mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
Sliced small onions- a tbsp
Curry leaves- one sprig

Cubed potatoes- 1 cup
Salt- to taste

Method:

Heat oil (to roast and grind) in a thick bottomed kadai. Roast the chillies and keep aside. (if you use chilly powder you can use it later) Throw in onions. While it is translucent add in roasted gram. Sauté both, followed by the powders (chilly powder, if you use instead of chillies, coriander and turmeric) in a very low heat taking care not to burn the powders. If you feel the heat is too much, put off the stove and mix.
Sauté sliced tomatoes and while it is mushy and cooked, mix in the freshly grated coconut. Mix it along well for just a few seconds(say, 30 secs) and switch off the stove. Let it cool.

In the meanwhile, heat oil (for seasoning) in a larger vessel ( because we are going to mix the ground paste  after the seasoning and make the curry in this one). Splutter mustard seeds, caramelize the onions, throw in the curry leaves and pour 1/2- 1 cup of water. Add the potatoes, once the water simmers and close it over low heat. Add salt. Switch off when the potatoes are half done.

Or, while it gets cooked, grind the roasted ingredients to a smooth paste adding a little water.
Mix in the paste, carefully without lumps, along with the potatoes in the pan . Check the consistency. It should neither be too thick nor thin. Check salt. Simmer the curry  gently for  5 minutes. Serve warm with dosas/ idlies!

I am off to Pondy and Chennai for the weekend. So I may not be able to blog hop in return.
See you next week :)

Read More »

Tweet

Idiyappam with Ishtoo

It always makes wonder how the name 'Ishtoo' got popular in Kerala and presume as an attempt to sound like the English, when they named this mild curry, Stew..probably!

Amma wanted to make idiyappam and ishtoo for breakfast, the dish which evokes the reminiscences of our childhood days, the day sis and me were busy packing off from Kottayam. She had a hard time on the day with unannounced power cuts and least help from her daughters ;), well, she never expects our help as well but later by the end of the day her maid turned up and promised solid help to make the dish, which turned out to be our 'pack-away dinner' in Ernakulam!

I managed to click a few pictures in the middle of packing and running up and down the town for the last minute shopping and today, exactly after 3 weeks, since we left home, I drafted the post and rang amma up for the recipe..

Kerala Idiyappam (Serves 4-6)

Ready made rice flour / idiyappa podi (She used Matha. Double Horse, Eastern and Nirapara are also good brands)- 1/2 kg

Boiling water- 3 1/2 - 4 cups (more or less) or as needed to make a soft dough.

Salt - 1/2 - 3/4 tsp or to taste

Grated coconut- 1 cup

Boil water in sauce pan and add to the flour in a large wide vessel while mixing to form a dough with the stem of a ladle or so. Add water little by little adding salt to the flour and knead to an ultimate soft dough.The amount of water varies according to the quality or the rice powder.




Lightly grease the idiyappam press mould and put in one portion of the dough. Sprinkle 1-2 tbsps of coconut shavings on a a piece of greased banana leaf. Press out the dough to form circular mounds over the shavings.




Place the leaf carefully on the perforated plate of the steamer..




and steam for about 10 minutes till the iddappam is cooked; with the steamer closed with its lid :)
I badly wanted to capture the steam n oye oye, I made it!!

Idiyappam stands or an idli stand can be the substitutes to the perforated plate lined with banana leaf. A pressure cooker, without the weight, can be used for steaming instead of the traditional 'appachembu' or the steamer you see here.

Ensure idiyappam is cooked.




Topple gently on a tray or a flat plate and serve steaming hot with Potato Ishtoo.

Potato Ishtoo

To serve 4 , you need,

Potatoes - 4 medium, peeled & cubed
Big onions - 2 medium, cut into squared slices
Green chillies - 4 to 5, slit lengthwise

For the coconut milk,
Grated coconut - 4 cups, loosely packed. You may need 1 big or 2 small coconuts.

To season,
Coconut oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Finely minced shallots/small onions- 1-2 tsps
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
Salt to taste

* Dried and liquid variants of coconut milk are widely available in the market, these days. Prepare thick/thin milk according to the package/can instructions . The traditional way of preparing coconut milk, added to the curry enhances the taste and flavour to a large extend and hence I always resort to this method!

Extraction of coconut milk

Place a half of the coconut shavings in the blender with about 100ml (1/2 cup) of warm water. Process for about 20 seconds. Repeat with the other half with another 100 ml. Strain the milk using a filter or a double layered cheese cloth. Squeeze to finish off extraction completely.The milk you thus get is the concentrated milk or the 'onnam pal'/ first extract. Set this aside in a separate bowl.

Repeat, with added 200 ml of water to the coconut. Pulse to strain out the second extract / 'rendam pal'.
Another 200 ml of water pulsed will result in the third extract / 'moonam pal'.


Combine 2nd and the 3rd extracts.You may have, more or less, 3 cups of milk. Transfer into pan and boil potato chunks in this.The liquid part should at least 2 inches above the pieces. Be careful not to bring to a complete boil but simmer instead, stirring every now and then. Add the onions, green chillies and salt let cook until soft. Do not bother much if the milk curdle a bit coz it's natural. Once the vegetables are cooked, switch off the stove and add the first concentrated extract.
Heat coconut oil in a separate pan, crackle mustard seeds, caramelise the minced onions, throw in the curry leaves. Pour this over the curry. Close with a lid until served with steamy idiyappams.

Variations- You can add pieces of carrots and minced ginger while simmering the vegetables, the original Ishtoo additions!We generally avoid both as they suppress the divine flavour of coconut milk.
You may avoid the seasoning part by drizzling the coconut oil and stirring in the curry leaves.

Ishtoo serves well with Appams too!

Read More »

Tweet

Aloo Methi ~ with homegrown greens!

Our morning cup of coffee tastes bitter.When it comes to vegetables or greens our palates are wired to reject; but soon finds a real, almost addictive kind of acceptance.Isn't that a surprising fact?

Methi's bitterness is definitely not as brutal as that of a bitter gourd but the dominant taste is all about the crunchiness of the sprouts, enlivening, yet not overwhelming fresh bitterness that is so unique with these flavourful greens!

My very first attempt of growing methi at home proved to be a simple success!

Day-1: The seeds are sprinkled in 4 rows on top of loose, moist soil that receive abundant morning sunlight! Careful sprinkling of water is done from this day onwards.

Day-13: The tender shoots popping up!

Day-13: They receive a cool shower of rain in the morning!

Day-14: The young whiter stems topped with neat little leaves (though a little dirty coz of the showers).... I can't wait anymore! ;)

I could smell the unique flavour of the fresh young plants while holding them on one hand with the camera on the other!

Aloo Methi

I'd been wanting to make this simple, classic dish for a long time and am pleased that I could do it with fresh homegrown greens :)

To serve a small family-

Ingredients:

4 medium sized potatoes,cubed

A large bunch of fresh methi leaves(remove just the roots, wash well and chop the plants roughly into 2 or 3 pcs each)

1 Big onion-chopped-need not be fine

Garlic- 2 cloves-minced

Red chilly powder- 3/4 tsp(feel free to substitute sambhar powder for a Southie touch ;))

Oil- 1-2 tbsps

Cumin seeds-1/2 tsp

Red Chillies-2 nos-each broken into 3 pcs

Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp

Salt- to taste

Method:

Heat oil in a wide heavy bottomed pan.Throw in the cumin seeds and the broken red chillies, give a quick stir, followed by the onions and garlic. Sauté, add the methi leaves and sauté again. Add the turmeric and chilly powders. Stir to mix, sprinkle some water soon after the leaves wilt(this will take only a few seconds) and close it with a lid for a minute.

Open and add the cubed potatoes.Add salt and mix well. Sprinkle water while mixing to enhance the cooking of potatoes along with the greens and spices. Close again with the lid, keeping the flame to low-medium.Give it a gentle stir/toss every now and then until the cubes and the methi stems are cooked soft. Take care not to over cook the whole dish.A mushy aloo and methi is not what we really need to make :).Open the lid and let it be to evaporate any excess water.

Serve hot with steamed rice or any Indian breads!

Read More »

Tweet

JFI- Soya Chunk Cutlets

True that I love cooking soy and soy products, mainly because I’m into a core vegetarian family as these compliment a real good source of protein and supplement for the growing children.They had been persuading me to come up with the usual Soy chunk gravy, which I haven’t made for months, while hubby was looking forward to some freshly boiled and seasoned soy beans, though he was aware of the fact that they are not in season, at least here, at present.
Tofu was unfortunately out of stock in the near by supermarket today(I could always come up with the easy, yummy and healthy scrambled version of it, as the last minute entry)and I received perplexed looks from the sales girls when I demanded for pack of soy flour.All I could grab was a pack of Meal maker(soy chunks)sitting pretty and smiling at me from one of those topmost racks!..
Back home, I googled to find an interesting recipe from here.
The reasons for choosing the above are,

• Easy recipe (promising to be tasty too).
• Cutlets, an all time fav of my children.(a fine opportunity to sneak in spinach or any other ‘disapproved’ veg readily accepted as a filling ;))
• As a replacement for my sudden craving for meat cutlets(sob sob) :)

So here goes, ( to yield 10 cutlets)..

You Need:
Soya Chunks-1 cup
Big onions-2 nos
Ginger –an inch piece
Garlic pods- 4 big or 7 small ones
Curry leaves- a few
Coriander powder-1/2 tsp or finely chopped cilantro-a tbsp
Chilly powder-1 tsp(more or less according to your spice level)
Garam masala powder-1 tsp
Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
Pepper powder-1/2 tsp
Potato(medium)boiled-3 nos
Salt- as needed
Oil-2 tbsp
Bread crumbs- 3/4 cup or as reqd
*Egg-1 large
Oil-for deep frying

Method:

1. Boil a pan of water(3 to 4 cups).Wash and soak soya.Turn off fire and close the pan with a lid for 20-30 minutes.Ensure the chunks are soaked well and absorbs water by stirring once in 10 minutes.
2. Drain, squeeze out excess water and mince in a mixie.
3. Chop ginger-garlic,onions, green chillies and curry leaves to fine pieces and sauté in that order in 2 tbsps of oil.
4. When the colour turns to light brown, add salt, turmeric,coriander and chilly powders. Saute and mix well.
5. Add the minced Soya chunks and sauté for a few minutes.At this stage the mix resembles scrambled eggs.Sprinkle a few drops of water, cover and cook for 5 more minutes in minimum heat.
6. Add the garam masala, pepper powder and chopped cilantro.Mix well.
7. Add the boiled(preferable microwaved jacket potatoes-peeled and mashed), mix well and remove from fire.
8. When cooled shape into cutlets, dip in beaten eggs, roll in bread crumbs and fry in oil until golden brown in medium fire.
9. Serve hot with onion rings and tomato ketchup.

*For a vegetarian/vegan recipe substitute maida/bengal gram flour batter instead of beaten egg.

Now, off to Sia for JFI- Soya :)...

Read More »

Tweet

Vegetable Khurma

If someone asks me, “have you ever tried making parathas?”
I wouldn’t say a blunt 'No'!.

Yes, I have, with my sister in law about a decade ago!.

It was our first joint attempt of making the same and came out with at least 3 dozens of real hot parathas after 3 long hours of hard labour(otherwise for the preparation of the dough,which SIL patiently took up)
Once we were through, I should mention, my SIL bluntly remarked.."hmmff I'm never going to attempt this again..
"Yup, bet!.. me too!"!I replied with a sigh!!..
Well, always good at keeping my words ;) I’ve never dared to make ‘em since then.

At least for me, I believe- it’s quite a tiring job!..though my friend Renuka, an expert in preparing parathas, never admits! :).

So, the yummy hot parathas were brought home by my better half and for sure the side-dish here is the fruit of my own effort : )
Again, the recipe of Khurma is my own creation since it’s a mix up of my mom’s and ma in law’s.

Srivalli, this is for your great event of Curry Mela.

Get ready with:

Vegetables- potatoes, carrots, peas, cauliflower- diced, not too small pieces- 2 large cups
Big Onion-medium sized, sliced lenghthwise- 1
Garlic-sliced lengthwise-5-6 cloves
Spices-cloves,cardamom and cinnamon- 2 each
Oil-a tbsp
Thick n creamy coconut milk-1/2 cup
Bay leaves-2-3 nos
Chopped cilantro-to garnish
Salt-to taste

To Grind:
Coconut-1/2 cup
Ginger-an inch piece
Garlic-2 cloves
Green Chillies-3-4 nos
Roasted gram/pottukkadalai-2 tsps
Fennel seeds/saunf-a tsp
Khus khus/poppy seeds-a tsp
Coriander powder-a tsp

Method:

1. Cook vegetables till half done, one by one in just enough salted water according to their respective cooking timings.

2. Grind the listed ingredients to a smooth paste.

3. Heat oil in the utensil intended to make the curry.Throw in the spices. Sauté sliced onions till translucent.Transfer the ground paste along with enough water.Bring to boil and simmer for a few minutes.Transfer the cooked vegetables together to the simmering curry and let it simmer again for a few minutes.Add the bay leaves and salt.

4. Remove from fire when the khurma reaches the semi thick consistency.Blend in coconut milk gently.Garnish with finely chopped cilantro. Serve hot with Parathas.

A few more awards I now need to brag about, though accepted late, are :) :-

Great bear hugs from Divya, Suma and Prajusha.

Prajusha, thankyou again for the Yum Yum award.

Proud to receive the inspirational award from dear Lathamma.

The following rules apply to this award:
1. Only 5 people are allowed to receive this award
2. 4 of them followers of your blog.
3. One has to be new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. You must link back to who ever gave you the award.

I'd like to pass on this award to these blogging friends -

Prajusha, Lathamma, Divya, Renuka and Lavanya.



Blogging Friends Forever, Best blog darts thinker and Beautiful site awards are presented by Suma Rajesh.


I’ve been seriously thinking of changing my old fashioned, stale template style here while I was presented this wonderful award from Pallavi and Suma, again.

Brilliant Weblog is a prize given to sites and blogs that are smart and brilliant both in their content and their design. The purpose of the prize is to promote as many blogs as possible in the blogsphere.

Here are the rules to follow:
When you receive the prize you must write a post showing it, together with the name of who has given it to you, and link them back.
Choose a minimum of 7 blogs (or even more) that you find brilliant in their content or design.
Show their names and links and leave them a comment informing they were prized with ‘Brilliant Weblog’.
Show a picture of those who awarded you and those you give the prize (optional).

I would like to pass all my other awards(except BFF which is listed above) to-

Prajusha, Divya, Nags, Srivalli, Lathamma and Lakshmi, Renuka, Suganya, Sra, Aparna, Pallavi, Lavanya and Mitr (except the 'yum yum award' as she is not a food blogger:))

P.S- Ignore the ones you are already awarded.

No words to Thank my lovely pals for fondly remembering me to pass over these wonderful awards to me even when I was away from blogging..

Read More »

Tweet

Spicy Baby Potatoes

In T.N baby potatoes are available almost year round while I still wonder to have never stumbled upon these cuties in my native place.

The magic of these spiced up potaoes is that, this goes well with almost all main dishes; be them Chappathis, Plain rice with Sambhar, Dhal, Theiyal or any kuzhambu or even with plain Curd rice..

The “hit-dish” in my family is named as Kutty Urulai Kara Curry , somewhere between a dry and a semi dry one.

Today I served this as an added dry side dish for peas pulao and cauliflower gravy.

Sia, here’s my Ode to Potato. It's already raining pototoes in the blogosphere for you and this is just a droplet!!!..

And before I get in to the recipe, I would like to sincerely thank Chithra for honouring me with the Excellent Award for this blog...very sweet of you, dear :)...

... now, back to the recipe..

You need:
Baby potatoes –1/4 kg
Oil-2 tbsps
Mustard seeds and urad dal-to temper
Big onions-diced to small pieces-1/2-3/4 cup
Garlic- minced fine-1/2 tsp(optional)
Sambhar powder-a spoonful and a half
Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
Water-2 tbsps
Salt-to taste
Curry leaves –A sprig

Method:
1. Wash the potatoes.Pressure cook till 2-3 whistles.Peel when cooled down and transfer to a broad bowl.Let the potatoes be rightly cooked not too hard, not too soft.

2. Add the powders(sambhar, turmeric and salt) sprinkle water.Mix well to get the powders coated to the potatoes.Marinate for at least half an hour.

3. Heat oil in a wide non-stick Kadai.Splutter mustards,brown the urad dal,fry the onions and garlic till transparent.

4. Throw in the curry leaves and add the marinated potatoes.Mix well.Keep the flame to medium.Spinkle more water if necessary.When the curry gets really hot, lower the flame.

5. Cook open without a lid.When the water gets absorbed mix well.Check salt and let it get toasted for about 15-20 minutes.

6. Remove from fire when the spices are all coated well the potatoes acquire a deep brown colour with that toasted spicy finish. Serve hot.

The same dish with diced 'regular' potatoes and less onions. Served with steamed white rice, sambhar and rasam..

Substitutions:
1. Regular potatoes can also be used to make this dish. Pressure cook them with skin sliced to big chunks, peel off the skin once cooked and cooled and dice them to bite sized pieces and follow the above methods of preparation.

2. Instead of Sambhar powder you can use a mixture of ¾ tsp coriander powder + ¼ tsp jeera powder + 1/2 tsp chilly power. But sambhar powder gives the best balanced taste.

3. Play along with powders like curry masala, garam masala or a combo to get a varied taste preferably for Chapathis, Rotis, Pulao etc.

Read More »

Tweet

Rösti and a stay in Swiss...

Did I tell you,Girls that we stayed for a week in Swiss after going around Paris?

Well,we flew to Geneva and reached the final destination,the beautiful village of Grindelwald.The mystic nature,the picturesque snow topped mountains and its warm people made us spell bound..

And here I am with the traditional dish of the swiss Rösti,a delicious wholesome dish,which ultimately turned to be one of our favourites.Each household has its own version of it,with meat,more of onions,variety of veggies and so on.

I tried an 'all veggie Rösti' topped with extra chunks of carrots with the usual potato base,using Gruyere cheese, a swiss delicacy, which tastes great when melts.

The recipe is certainly simple than it seems and worth a shot if you are a potato or a cheese lover!.

Here's how I made it...

You Need:

500gms Baking potatoes
4-5 garlic cloves-crushed
Butter-60gms
2 Large carrots-sliced into rounds-for topping
Gruyere cheese -75gms-grated,for topping
Freshly ground pepper
Salt-to taste
Finely chopped herb of your choice-to garnish

Method:

1.Hard boil the potatoes and carrots,separately.Slice carrots to rounds.

2.Chill the potatoes for about 2-3 hours,preferably in a freezer.

3.Reserve a couple of potatoes and slice into rounds,sized more or less like the carrots,for topping.

4.Peel and coarsely grate the remaining potatoes.

5.Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade.

6.Lightly butter the baking dish.

7.Mix grated potatoes,pepper powder,garlic and salt and move to the baking dish.

8.Spread the top with butter and bake for 40 minutes or until the grated potatoes are golden and cooked.

9.Return the sliced potatoes and carrots(pre cooked) to the oven.

10.Sprinkle with the cheese, cook for 5 more mins until the cheese melts and spreads and the topping turns golden and bubbly.(Feel the delicious smell of it by now:))

11.Transfer carefully into a serving dish and garnish with finely chopped herbs of your choice.


The beautiful village of Grindelwald,in the suburbs of Jungfrau and a little up, the town of Interlaken.

Over to the final destination,passing Bern and Interlaken.

The railway station-Jumped out of the train to breathe the cool fresh fragrant air...

and straight to our lovely apt,Haberdarre!

The Front view..

The well maintained,modern kitchenette

The Picturesque view from the apt..

Neighbourhood of Haberdarre.The flowers belong to our apt :).

On the way to Junfraujoch-top of Europe!

Land above the clouds!.The breath taking view of Swiss and France (a part of them)from Sphinx-the viewing station of Jngfrh.

Another Shot,of the "mountains of eternal snow"..

Sphinx,says...

The beautiful carvings of "The Ice Palace-Jngfrh".

A nearby spot of Grindelwald,called FIRST,near the Bernese Alps...

The point where para gliders make their way through..

We had our own ways to enjoy,though.The ice bunny,

transformed to Ganesha:).

Swiss cows,were never heard mooing,instead we could hear the lovely little jingling sounds of their bells,round their necks..

The Unusual waterfalls-water gushing through the large holes of the rock.Had to go pretty IN the damp cold rocks to view the falls,named..

.. the Trummelbachfalls..So, that was our final spot of holidaying,to be precise :)..

...from the snow capped mountains to the lush green valleys;from the wild sparkling rivers to the serenity of plam lined lakes,our holiday was not on earth but on "Paradise!".

P.S-A great thanks to all my readers who patiently scrolled long down to view the pics and matter of both of my holiday posts..:)...

Read More »

Tweet