Beans in my garden

When I sowed the bean seeds a couple of months back, never thought I'll get any harvest out of it. All the 8 seeds I sowed turned out to be little plants and I thought they'll not survive. But 6 of them survived and now I have my first harvest of beans.

Cashew Chicken

Ingredients:

1 lb Chicken
15 cashew nuts
2 tbsp coconut
1 cup yogurt
1 cup mint (chopped)
1 cup coriander (chopped)
1 small onion (finely chopped)
5-6 green chilly
1 cup cubed Potato
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp pepper powder
1 tsp shahi Jeera
1 tsp ginger/garlic paste
1 small strip Cinnamon
3 cloves
2 cardamom
1 small bay leaf
salt, to tasteMethod:

Grind around 10 cashew nut and the grated coconut into a thick paste. Corsely crush the remaining 5 cashew nut.

Heat some oil and add cloves, cardamom, Cinnamon and bay leaf. After about a minute add Shahi Jeera and fry then add the corsely crushed cashew nut and let it brown up a bit. Now add onion and fry until the onion turns light brown and then add ginger/garlic paste. When the raw smell leaves this mixture, add the the ground cashew nut and coconut mixture. Fry until this mixture is nicely roasted.

Add some coriander powder and salt to taste, then add yogurt and mix well. Add the green chillies, mint and part of the coriander. Add pepper. mix well and add more salt if needed. If you want the curry to have little more spice, you can add some red chilly powder too. Add the cubed potatoes.

To get some color into the curry, you can add some turmeric but this is a optional step and I've skipped it.
Now add the chicken pieces and cook until the chicken is well cooked. Serve with Pulao or even plain rice.

Garlic Bread

I and my husband have opposite taste when it comes to food. I love to experiment and he resists change. On the whole he prefers mostly south Indian food. But with our anniversary coming up next week, I have been nostalgic about the wonderful 2 years we have spent together.
I wanted to surprise him this Friday night with a romantic dinner. Usually we go out, but this garlic bread and store bought cheese spread with sunny side eggs and roasted chicken was a super hit for our Friday night dinner.

Ingredients:

1 Baguette (Store bought)
4 tbsp Butter
3 tbsp Parsley or Coriander (chopped)
4 cloves Garlic(grated)

Method:

Cut the store bought Baguette into 1 inch slices but don't cut right through. Mix butter, parsley and grated garlic. Spread the butter mix in between the slices and remaining on top of the baguette.
Preheat oven to 325F. Cover the garlic/butter covered baguette in aluminum foil. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Turn over and bake for another 10 minutes.Serve with cheese spread, hummus or a dip of your choice.

Jeera Salt Biscuits with Wheat

Jeera(Cumin) Salt Biscuits with WheatIngredients:
1.5 cups wheat flour
1/4 cup oil
2 tbsp sugar(powdered)
1tsp salt
1 tbsp Jeera(Cumin)
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg

Method:

Mix sugar, oil and egg and blend well. Now add wheat flour, cumin seeds, salt, baking powder and form a dough out of it.
Shape the biscuits with a cookie cutter. If you do not have a cookie cutter, make small balls and press it in your palm to make it flat and round. Put on the greased baking sheets and bake at 350F for about 10-15 minutes or until light brown.Remove and let it cool. Serve with evening tea or as a snack to the children.

Tip: You can grease the biscuits with butter before baking to add to taste. This is a optional step.

Banana Cake

Ingredients:

3 Bananas(should be really ripe to get that lovely flavor)
1 cup Rava or Sooji or Semolina
1 tsp Baking powder
1.5 cups Milk
1/2 tsp Cardamom powder
3/4 cup Sugar
1 tsp Cashew nuts

Method:

Soak the rava in milk for 2 hours. Then add mashed bananas into the soaked rava. Add baking powder, cardamom powder, cashews.
Preheat the oven at 350F for 10 mins. In a well greased oven safe dish pour the rava batter and bake in the oven at 350F for about 30-45 mins. The cake is done when the skewer or knife when inserted into the knife comes out clean. If you think the cake is not done, leave it in the oven for another 5 mins until the cake is cooked.

Tip: You can grease the oven safe dish with ghee(clarified butter) if you prefer. This will make the Banana Cake even yummier. If you are health conscious, skip the ghee and use non-stick cooking oil.

Chicken Curry in Yogurt Gravy

I think this is my posting of first non-vegetarian dish. Not a big fan of non-veg items, but I love this yogurt gravy and this fine gravy can be used as a base for many of the curries. I am making Chicken curry with this gravy, but you can add fish, mushroom, chickpeas etc to make a similar yummy curry.

Ingredients:

1lb Chicken
1 cup yogurt (do not use yogurt or curd that is very sour)
1 onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp cumin powder
1 small strip Cinnamon
3 cloves
2 cardamom
1 small bay leaf
salt, to taste

Method:

Heat some oil and add cloves, cardamom, Cinnamon and bay leaf. After about a minute, add onion and fry until it turns slightly brown. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for sometime until the raw smell goes. Now add tomatoes. Cook till tomatoes are tender and start to pulp up. Add red chilly powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt to taste. Mix in a cup of finely beaten yogurt.Add chicken to the above gravy and cook until chiken is well cooked. Goes well with Naan, Roti, chapathi and Rice.

Dosa Kai Curry (Yellow Cucumber Curry)

I am turning into a big fan of vegetarian dishes, and I am into trying out all the veggies I am able to find in the Indian grocery store. I am basically from Bangalore and did not try much of cooking before my marriage. When I found Dosa Kai (Yellow cucumber) I was intrigued and wanted to try it. This below recipe is a north Karnataka dish.

Ingredients:
1 Dosa kai(yellow cucumber) small size - chopped (you can remove the seeds if you want, but I preferred to keep it)
1 Tamarind small ball, soaked in water
1/2 cup Coconut grated
4 Dry chillies roasted (add more if required according to your taste)
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Jaggery - Grated or Powdered
Salt to taste

For seasoning:

Mustard-1 tsp
Garlic - 5 finely chopped
Curry leaves -5-6 leaves

Method:

Take the cut yellow cucumber, a little salt, turmeric and water(about 1 cup) in a pan and cook until the Dosakaya is well cooked. Grind Tamarind, coconut, dry chillies into a fine paste. Once the dosa kai is completely cooked, add the ground paste and add little more turmeric and Jagerry. Cook for 5-10 mins.
Now take a little oil in a separte pan and add mustard. Once the mustard starts to splutter add chopped garlic, curry leaves. Pour the seasoning over the cooked dosakai curry.

Goes well with steamed white rice.

Reheat Pizza

This has been my time tested way to reheat Pizza. Preheat Oven to 450F and heat for 4 mins. Perfect Crust, Prefect melt of the cheese.

Yennai Kathirika - Simple Version

I did not feel like cooking elaborately today and was lazy. So I was talking to one of my ex-colleague on phone and she gave me this simple version of yennai kathirika(Stuffed Eggplant fried in Oil).

Ingredients:

8 small Eggplant or Kathirika cut vertically and horizontally as show in the picture2 tsp Sambhar Powder
1/2 small onion finely chopped
Salt to taste
3-4 tbsp Oil

Method:

Mix the sambhar powder, finely chopped onion and stuff each brinjal with this mixture.
Heat oil in a pan and add the brinjals and salt to taste. Cook on low heat until the brinjal is completely cooked. You can add a little water or tamarind juice if you feel the brinjal gets stuck to the pan.Decorate with fresh coriander leaves. Goes well with Chapathi, Roti and Rice.

Green Tomato Bajji

I had some green tomatoes with me and was clueless about what to do with it. When I searched the internet I came across the recipe for fried green tomatoes. When I saw the recipe for it, I thought why not, it almost sounds like the bajji we do at home. Bajji is a popular snack in South India .

It was an experiment for sure, but believe me the end result was too good. The sour taste of green tomato and the crispy outer shell of batter, made a deadly combination for the taste buds and left me and my hubby wanting for more.

Ingredients:

4 tbsp besan(Gram Flour)
2 tbsp Rice flour
3/4 tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste
3 medium size Green Tomato (Cut Tomatoes into thin slices)


Mix Gram Flour, Rice Flour, Chilli Powder, salt with water and make a batter that will coat the tomato pieces. Make sure the batter is not thin. Dip the green tomato slices in the batter and deep fry. If you are health conscious and would like to use less oil, you can shallow fry it in a non-stick pan like I did.

Enjoy the crispy snack with some tea.

Vendakkai Puli Kozhambu

Ingredients:

1 lb or 1/2 kg Ladies finger or Okra(Vendakkai)
2 Tomatoes
1/2 cup think tamarind juice(or 1 tsp tamarind paste)
1/2 onion(finely chopped)
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
3 tbsp thick coconut milk
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds(Vendayam)

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and add fenugreek seeds. Let it fry for a few seconds and then add chopped onion until they turn translucent. Add tomatoes and cook for 5-10 mins until they are soft and mushy. Add turmeric, chilli powder, coriander powder, salt to taste and cook for a minute. Add Okra and tamarind juice, 1 1/2 cups of water and cook on medium heat until the vendakkai is cooked. Now add thick coconut milk and cook for 5 mins.

Serve with steamed white rice or roti.