Chicken Stew

Ingredients

Chicken – 450 gm

Small onions – 15 nos.

Green chilli – 2 nos.

Ginger garlic paste – 2 tsp

Coconut milk – of ½ a coconut

Pepper powder – ½ tsp

Red chilli powder – ½ tsp

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Olive oil – 3 tbsp

Curry leaves for garnishing

Salt to taste

Method

Marinate the chicken pieces with turmeric, pepper powder, salt and 1 tbsp oil for half an hour. Heat oil in a pan, add the ginger garlic paste, onions and green chilli and curry leaves. Mix well till they turn golden brown in color. Add in the marinated chicken. Mix well. Grind the coconut with little water and take out 1^st milk, again grind the coconut with water and take the 2^nd milk. Add the 2^nd milk to the pan containing the chicken. Add in the masalas of red chilli and pepper powder. Close the lid and leave it to simmer on low heat. When the gravy thickens and the chicken gets done, add salt and pour in the 1^st milk. Mix well and remove from heat. Serve hot with chapatti, roti or rice.

Kerala Chicken Curry/Naadan Kozhi Curry

Ingredients

Chicken – 500 gm

Onion – 3 nos.

Ginger garlic paste – 3 tsp

Garam masala – 1 tsp

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Coriander powder – 2tsp

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Pepper powder – ½ tsp

 Cashew nut paste – 10 nos.

 Tomato – 1no.

Olive oil –

Salt to taste

Lemon juice – ½ a lemon.

Method

Marinate the chicken pieces with lemon juice, 1 tsp ginger garlic paste, turmeric and salt for ½ an hour. In a pan, heat oil, add onions, ginger garlic paste and mix well. When it turns golden brown in color, add in the tomatoes. Sautee well. When they combine well, add in the red chilli, coriander and pepper powder. Sautee well. Add in the marinated chicken pieces. Mix well. Add 2 cups of hot water. Close the lid and leave it to simmer nicely. When the chicken is cooked and done, add in the garam masala and cashew paste. Mix well. Let it to simmer for 2 minutes. Garnish with curry leaves. Serve hot.

Very Hot Long Green Chilly Pakoda

Ingredients

Long chillies – 6 nos.

Chickpea flour/ kadala mavu – 1 cup

Maida/Flour – ½ cup

Water – as required to make a thick consistency dough

Sugar – ½ tsp

Salt to taste

Method

Make a thick consistency batter with chickpea flour, maida, water, salt and sugar. Halve the long chillies and take all the seeds inside out of the chillies. This helps reduce the hotness of the chillies. Please heat oil in a deep bottomed pan. Put the halved chillies into the batter with the batter coating the chillies on all sides. Deep fry the chillies in the hot oil. When done and it turns golden brown on all sides, take it out, dab with tissue to take away the excess oil. Your hot pakodas are ready to eat. 

Vermicelli Upma

Ingredients

Roasted Vermicelli – 1 cup

Water – 2 cup

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Ginger – 1 small piece

Onion – 1 no.

Green chilli – 2 nos.

Grated Coconut – 3 tbsp

Carrot grated – 1 no.

Curry leaves – to garnish

Olive oil – 1 tbsp

Method

In pan heat oil, mustard seeds; when it starts to splutter, add curry leaves, green chillies, onion, and ginger and mix till they turn golden in color. Add 2 cups of water, salt and when it starts to boil, add in the roasted vermicelli. When the water is fully absorbed by the vermicelli, mix well and cook till it gets done. Add in the carrot and coconut grated. Mix well and when done, serve hot with a dash of sugar on top. Your yummy vermicelli upma is ready to eat.

Vermicelli Payasam

Ingredients

Vermicelli/Semia – 200 gm

Milk – 6 cups (1 litre)

Sugar – 2 cup (as per requirement)

Cashewnuts and raisins – 2 0 nos. each

Cardamom powder – 1 tsp

Water – ½ litre

Method

Heat a little ghee in a pan and fry the vermicelli till golden. Keep it aside. Boil milk in water and add in the fried vermicelli. When the vermicelli gets cooked, add in sugar. Mix well. When the milk reduces and vermicelli gets completely cooked add in the cardamom powder. Roast cashew nuts and raisins in the remaining ghee in a separate pan. Add them into the cooked payasam and serve hot or cold to your liking.

Plums ‘n Chocolate & Cream

Ingredients

Plums in sugar syrup – 15 nos.

Dairy milk Chocolate – 2 nos. from shop

Cream – ¾ cup

Sugar – 3 tbsp

Nuts & raisins/cashew & almonds – to garnish on top

Method

Melt the chocolate in a bowl which is in turn kept on top of a vessel containing water that which is kept on a fire burner (stove). When the chocolate is melted, take it out of flame. Mix the cream with sugar and keep it aside. In a tumbler, add the plums, then a little cream, then the melted chocolate. Then again add the cream with melted chocolate on top. Garnish it with the sliced nuts. Your dessert is ready to serve.

Chickpea/Kadala Curry

Ingredients

Chickpea(Kadala) – 200 gm

Cashewnuts – 5 nos.

Coconut grated – 3 tbsp

Garlic – 2 cloves

Small Onion – 5 nos.

Pepper corns – 10 nos.

Red chilli powder – ½ tsp

Coriander powder – ½ tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Onion – 1 no.

Tamarind pulp water – 1 tbsp

Jagery – 1 pinch

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Salt to taste

Water- as required to cook the chickpea

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Olive Oil – 1 tbsp

Method

Soak the chickpea for 8 hours in water. Cook the chickpea with enough water.In a pan fry coconut grated, peppercorns, cashewnuts, small onion, and garlic nicely. When it turns golden brown in color, add the masalas, i.e., red chilli, coriander and turmeric powder. Mix well. Take it out of flame & cool it and grind it into a nice paste. In a pan heat oil, add mustard seeds, when it starts to splutter fry the onions till it turns golden brown in color. Add the ground paste and enough water to cook. When the gravy comes to a boil, add the chickpea, tamarind pulp water, salt, jagery and water. Cook it till the gravy thickens. When oil starts to separate out add the coriander leaves to garnish and take it out of flame and serve with puttu or chappatti.

Lady’s Finger Stew ( Vendakkaya Stew)

Ingredients

Lady’s Finger cut as round slices– 200 gm

Small Onion cut length wise – ½ cup

Greenchilli cut length wise – 2 nos.

Red chilli powder – ½ tsp

Coriander powder – ½ tsp

Garam masala – ¼ tsp

Coconut milk thick & thin – of half a coconut

Tomato cut into small pieces – 1 no.

Salt to taste

Curry leaves for garnishing

Method

In a pan, heat oil; add the onion slices, lady’s finger, green chilli and sauté well. After it turns brown in color, add in the red chilli, coriander, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well. Add in the tomato pieces and sauté well. Add the coconut milk of thin consistency. Add in the garam masala. Let the gravy to thicken. When the gravy thicken and oil starts to separate out, add in the thick consistency coconut milk. Add the curry leaves. Mix well, take it out of flame and serve hot with chapatti, bread or rice.

Appam (Kerala Bread)

Ingredients

Raw rice – 3 cup

Cooked rice – 3 tbsp

Coconut grated & Coconut water – of half a coconut

Yeast – a little

Warm water – to add to the yeast

Sugar – 1 tsp to add to the yeast and warm water

Salt to taste

Method

Soak the raw rice overnight with enough water. In a grinder, grind soaked raw rice, cooked rice, coconut grated and coconut water. Pour the ground paste into a deep bottomed bowl. In a glass, mix yeast with warm water and sugar. Pour into the ground mixture. Keep the mixture to rise overnight. The next day, you can make Appam out of the ground mixture. In an Appa Chatti (Pan) pour 5 tbsp of ground mixture or dough, rotate the appa chatty to reach all sides of the chatty. Close it with lid. After 1 minute when the appam is done take it out of pan. Serve hot with milk, bull’s eye(egg) and chammandhi or egg masala. 

Chicken Cutlet

Ingredients

Chicken cut into small pieces boiled with salt, turmeric and red chilli powder– ¼ kg

Potato boiled and cooked – ¼ kg

Ginger cut into very small pieces – a piece

Bread cut into small pieces – 2 slices

Green chilli – 1 no.

Onion diced into small pieces – 1 no

Egg – 1 or 2 no.

Bread crumbs – of 4 slices of bread

Coriander leaves – a handful of leaves

Olive oil – 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Method

Heat oil in a pan, add onion, ginger, green chilli, coriander leaves and sauté well. When golden, mix well and add the chicken pieces that was earlier boiled and drained. When done, add in the potato and mash well. Once it cools down, add the bread pieces. Mix well. Make round balls out of the mixture and press them to give a flat, round shape to it. Smear the cutlets with egg on all sides and then put the cutlet into the plate containing the bread crumbs. Mix the cutlet well into the crumbs smearing the cutlet on all sides.  Heat oil in a pan and add the cutlets to get them cooked and done. Serve hot.

Buttered Prawns

Ingredients

Prawns – 250 gm

Butter – 2 tbsp

Garlic cut into very small pieces – 5 nos.

Salt to taste

Method

Marinate the prawns with some salt. Keep it aside. Heat oil in a pan, add butter, then add the garlic, when it turns slightly golden, add the prawn pieces that was earlier marinated with salt. When fully cooked and fried on both sides, take it out of flame and serve hot as a starter dish.