Chicken Stew

 Haaaa   this  one is   favourite no 1, This  has been cooked  by  my  mom for  almost all my birthdays and  for every Christmas ,  how can i  not  write or post about  it . My friends  who  have tasted  it  will really vouch  for it  and   many have  requested  for this  recepi and  i  will not hold  back  it any   longer. All my  family  members love this  dish  and this  has  been in my family for almost from the  time of  my great  grandfather Sure  gonna  be  tasty.........

Ps: All vegetarians  u can  make this  without the non  veg part in  it  and  all the  nonvegis it  taste  good  with mutton.

Item: Chicken Stew
Source : MOM

Ingredients

• 1lb of  chicken or meat 
• 2 big potatoes
• 2 big  carrots 
• 12-15 cauliflower florets
• 100gms of peas
• 100 gms of beans 
• 1 big tomatoes
• 1 bif turnip 
• 2 inch ginger
• 5-6 green chillies
•  Mint leaves (Pudina)
•  1 large onions
• Garam masala   powder
• 1-2 inch of cinnamon 
• 5-6  cloves 
• 5-6 green cardamom 
•  50 gms Shredded dry coconut . Grind it along with some garam masala ( piece of cinamon. 4-5 cloves) make it  to  a  fine  paste  with  water 
•  2 cups of fresh coconut  milk (store bought also will do)
• Oil 
• Salt

How i Made it 

Step  1 

• Clean and wash  the  chicken (ur  style ) , i like it de-skinned  and  medium cut pieces.
• Take it  in a  big vessel and  add a little  water  and  keep it on meium flame  till its  soft and boiled  
• Cut all the  veggies into medium sized pieces
• Finely chop the  ginger
• Slice the onions 
• Slit the green chillies

Step 2

•  Take a big and thick bottom vessel  , keep it on a  medium flame , add  oil, when hot add 1inch cinnamon stick , 4-5 cloves and 3-4 cardamom
•  Add chopped ginger  and  let them fry   and then add sliced onions and slit  green chillies and fresh mint leaves ,  fry them till they  are   slightly  brown .
• Now  add in ur tomatoes and  when they are soft add in  all the veggies , fry them  in the  oil and  now 
•  Add the shredded  coconut garam masala paste and  mix  well , 
•  Add the  boiled  chicken  along with  stock (water remain after boiling)
•  let  it cook  on a  low  flame  till the  veggies are  80% cooked , now  add the  coconut milk.
• Allow  it  to   cook on  low  flame  till the  veggies are  cooked  completely  and oil seperates,
• Now  garnish then  with  finely chopped  mint  leaves and  cover  it  till served.

I love this   with  chappathi, dosa , and  specailly aappam . try this  i am sure  you  will remember me  for this  recipe.

Tomato chutney

 This is  my  moms favourite dish and  would  be  made  when tomatoes would  be  very cheap  and  specially when we traveled  this  was the  dish we carried  along. This   was  my staple  food  when  i stayed in hostel  when  ever i visited home i carried a  big  box of it and  stored  in the fridge and  used  for  almost 3 -4 months. I have  eaten this  for  idly , chapathi, dosa , rice , paratha  and with boiled  eggs  and  dried  fish in it  its  awesome . Its   simple and  one  of  my moms best recipe which i love .

Tomato chutney
Source : MOM
Time take : 30 min

Ingredients needed:

• 2lbs Tomato
• Oil
• Salt 
• 1tsp of chilli powder\
• 1tsp of  turmeric 
• 2 tsp of tamarind pulp Or  tamarind size of a  small lemon,  Do not  make  pulp of  it , add is  as such there will be  no addition of  water.

Dry Masala

•  2tsp of  cumin (Zeera)
• 1tsp of  mustartd (rai)
• 10-12 no of fenugreek seeds
• Dry  roast all the  three ingredients  and  grind  to fine powder.

For Tempering 

• 1tsp of  mustard
• 1tsp of cumin
• 10-15 pods of garlic curshed (if u love  garlic  can  add more)
• 2-4 springs of curry leaves
•  5-6 dry red chilli 
• Asofoteida ( hing )

How i did  it 
 Cut the washed  tomatoes  take  it  a big  thick bottomed  vessel, to it all oil, chilli powder, turmeric. salt, tamarind and  dry  roasted ground masala and keep it on a medium flame . Do not add water . allow  the  mixture to cook well till the  tomatoes are  soft and  gets completely mushy  and  till the  water  in  it is  dry.

Cool the mixture and smash  it  till its a  smooth  paste , can  do it using vegetable smasher .

 Now  in another  wok  (kadai)  add oil , when  hot add  mustard and cumin seeds, when it splutters  add  crushed garlic pods, red chilli and curry leaves  when done  add the  mixture  to it , reduce the  flame and  bring the mixture to rolling boil   and  cook it   till the  oil seperates. Cool the  mixture and  store in clean air tight container in the fridge.

Bhendi Fry ( Okra fry )

I know  bhendi is not manys  favourite  specially my best friend Anees, but  i love  bhendi  and this  bhendi  fry  is  specailly  my  fav. u must be thinking that  i say the same  dialouge for  almost all the  dishes  the  reason is that i  posting all my favs  first and  second thing is that i am foodie and indian food is   my  first  and  my  last choice , since here i have  got a  chance to  taste  cusine from all over the  world , which makes  me  more  crazy for the indian food.
This  is a  simple  recipe  but  very  crunchy and tasty  can  be used as  snacks and  also as vegetable dish  for  regular meals.

Item: Bhendi (okra) fry
Source : Mom
Time  20 mins

Ingredients:

• 250 gms of Okra(bhendi)
• 1 Onion medium sized
• 1tsp of  chilli powder
• 1tsp of  zeera powder
• Oil
• 50gms of besan atta(chick pea flour)
• 50gms of corn flour
• Salt

How i did it 

 Wash  the  bhendi and  pat dry  or  wipe  it  with the  cloth,  cut  it  regular small pieces, Take  the cut peices in a  big tray, to it  add sliced onions , chill powder, zeera powder, salt , besan atta (chick pea flour), sprinkle  some  water  and  mix all  of them together ( similar  as  making pakodas), keep it aside for  few  minutes .

Pour oil in  wok ( kadai)  and let it heat  up,  now  sprinkle   corn  flour on the bhendi  mix and deep fry  it on medium flame . fry  till golden  brown  and its ready to serve.

Fish curry and fish fry

 It has been a very  super hectic  week end  and this was planned before  as we  all have decided to have a baby shower for one of  my  good friend yamini , since it was planned  i was determined to keep  my self out  of my kitchen  to spend  more time  on its preparations and so decided to  make fish curry a  day before so that  it would stay for couple of days, so  fish curry was on the menu, so along came fish fry  too. This  both will suffice any fish lovers and  believe  me i love  it,  Fish  is one common choice we all three have , my mom and my mother in law  both cook fish in a different way but  both are awesome.  This  fish curry is a traditional  one  with little moderations from my side...  if u have  not  tried cooking fish at home  believe try this  its  easy and u  will love it. u will not have to go  to hotels looking for  fish gravy.

Source : My Mom
Time : 20-40 mins

 How i made it 


Ingredients :

•  2Lbs of fish (  i used tilapia)  can use  fish of ur  choice .
•  1 onion 
•  1 Tomato
•  3-4 green  chillies  slit  from  end to end 
•  Curry leaves
•  Tamarind ( big lemon sized0 soaked in water 
•  1 1/2 tsp of chilli powder
• 1 1/2 tsp of coriander powder
• 1tsp of zeera powder
• turmeric
• salt
• coconut milk(optional)

For the dry  grind 

• 2tsp of zeera
• 2tsp of urad dhal
• few seeds of fenugreek 

Dry roast  all  and  grind it  to a fine powder.

How i did it 

  

Take a  vessel. i normally prefer flat bottom and  wide vessel,   heat  oil , once its  hot  add  onions , green chillies , once the onions are brown add tamatoes,   add the  ground  dry rosted  powder, then chilli powder,  coriander powdre ,turmeric , salt  and little water. keep this  on low  flame  and wait till the tomatoes get soft and  raw smell of the masala is  gone now add the tamarind pulp and allow  the mixture  to boil . Once the mixture  comes to a rolling  boil ( will take  5-10 mins) add the fish , cover the vessel and  reduce the  flame for  10-20mins  or till  oil seperates . Now add the coconut milk   let it boil for another 5-10min on low flame and then turn the flame off ( this is an optional addition , the fish curry  will taste good without it. i usually alternate the process. This  time i used the store bought coconut milk but fresh  press is always better).   i usually leave the fish curry alone, i dont even  mix it  and prefer to store  it  for  next day  and believe me  it   will taste awesome .

 Fish Fry 

 Source : Mom

Time : 15-20mins 

Ingredients :

• 1 lb Fish 
• Oil
• 1 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1tsp coriander pwder
• salt 
• lemon juice 

 Take  all the dry ingredients in a bowl and make a thick paste  with lemon juice , apply this  paste  to the  fish and allow  it to marinate for 30-60 mins and then shallow  fry  it .

Brinjal masala (bagara baigan) hyderabadi style.

The moment i hear  the  word hyderabadi, i think  about biryani. Yummy ..... hey  iam not posting  a recipe for biryani its for the  brinjal masala (bagara baigan)  as they say in hyderabad which compliments the yummy  biryani. i  did make  biryani for  baskars bday and took step wise pics too,  but  i by mistake  deleted all of them , i tried  recovering  them but  my efforts went  to drain and  so there is no way i could  post  it . Will surely do that  soon.  but  first here is the recipe  from  my  moms  kicthen, it  not only compliments biryani , it goes well with chapathi and  white rice  too. i love this  dish and  baskar  has nicked named  it as chatachat ( that means quick one ) this is done  pretty  fast  and i do  it when i am in a   hurry  to get out of the kitchen.

Item:  Brinjal masala
source : Mom
Time taken : 30 mins

Ingredients:
250 gms of  brinjal
Oil (will need  a little more than usual but less will do)
Salt to taste
1 tsp Turmeric
1 1/2 tsp Chilli Powder
1tsp of  coriander powder
1-2 tsp of ginger garlic  paste.
1-2 tsp of jaggery
2-3 tsp tamarind pulp (lemon sized tamarind)
1 onion
1 tamato
curry leaves
coriander leaves
2-5 nos of  green chillies.

For Masala

50 gms of peanuts( i usually  dont measure i take  fistful)
50gms of  dry coconut flakes
1 tsp of zeera
1tsp of coriander seeds
1tsp of sesame seeds( til )
 dry roast  all the ingredients  and  grind  it  to thick  paste with water.

How i did  it .
Step  1 : Cut the stem of the brinjal and make a  cross cut  at the  bottom of  it .
Fry  the brinjal in  a little oil and keep it aside.

Step 2:  Add oil to the pan,  add onions and green chillies  when  oil is hot, saute the  onions  till brown , add ginger garlic paste to it fry till the raw smell is  gone, now add tomatoes, turmeric, chilli powder, coriander powder and salt.  Fry well till the raw  smell is  gone  add a little water  so that  it cooks well and and the tomatoes become soft. No add the ground masala and tamarind pulp and  some water now add the fried brinjal, Reduce the flame  and let it cook slow till the oil seperates . Now add the  jaggery, mix well and switch off the flame. Serve this  hot biryani  or  white rice or chapathi.

Vathakolambu

Hey  this  one is a  pakka tamilian recipe, since i am  married to a pure tamilian i learnt these recipes, these are the few dishes which i have  mastered in last  few months and this  is one of those dishes that  baskar will die for.It  is  simple curry  which is very easy to make  and has  lot of variation in the veggies we use . i lov  this  dish with drumsticks and i love  it when it is made a day before its served (like fish curry ).  i usually make this  dish when i have  lot of  other  house hold work or a lazy day like  yday. i temper it  and add all the ingredients and forget  about it  for  next 30 mins so its  easy.The other advantage is that  this  can stored and   be  used  for  days  if  stored well like puliyogre mix, so it very handy  when  out  in trip  where u cant carry all the food.
 i actually  learnt it  from one of  my friend , who  also is a good cook. Sharing  recipe  is  one  of  our  favorite pass time  too.

Vathakolambu
Source: Ranjani
Time : 40- 45  mins
mode : easy
Serves : 4( if  its  Baskar then only  one )

Ingredients

•  Thick  tamarind pulp
•  8- 10 medium cut peices  of  Drumsticks  (i  used frozen one, fresh is always better)
•  1 Tsp of chilli powder
•  1 Tsp of turmeric powder
•  2 tsp of sambar powder( i used MTR brand , anything will do fine), 

 To Temper.

•   Sesame Oil (This  recipe  will need a lot of oil but  use according to your  taste)
•  1/2 tsp of mustard   
•  1/2 tsp of  cumin 
•  10- 15 nos of fenugreek seeds
•  1tsp of  black gram (urad dhal)
•  strands of curry leaves
•  3-4 Nos of  dry red chilli.
• powdered  Asafoteida(Hing )

How i made it 
 Heat  oil in a vessel  and  when hot  add mustard  and cumin  seeds , when splutters add  black gram. fenugreek seeds, dry  red chillies ,curry leaves and  hing , when  tempering is  done add raw drumstick  to it . let the veggies  fry for couple of  minutes, to it  add the thick tamrind juice  , then  add to  it , chilli powder, turmeric , sambar powder , hing and salt.
Let the mixture  boil on a  low  flame  till  the  tamarind  juice  thickens and  oil  seperates.
Serve this  with hot rice

Note : different veggies like brinjal, okra(ladys finger) sundaka vathal , garlic pods can be  used.

Strawberry Ice cream

I scream, u scream  we all scream for ice cream

On a hot summer  day who would not die to  eat a  cold  cup of ice-cream, and i belong to the  category of people  who can eat ice cream at any season and  at any time of the day or night, and   my daughter  is also following her moms foot steps. i come from a  great ice-cream lover family , where every treat is celebrated with different flavours of vadilal ice-cream. i have tasted and eaten  ice cream in many forms, friend ones melted ones and  ice-creams in colas are also great and my favorite  flavor is ALL right frcm the one rupee mango candy  to big and exotic named ones too.
Oh i love this icecream i made i still have some left , my daugter and i will enjoy it the afternoon sitting in the pation watching the kutty baby birds and  i cant wait for u all try this .  I have  made icecream with mangoes  but strawberry is for the first time.

Ingredients that we need

• 500ml of milk
• Fresh strawberrys 
• 2-3 spoon full of corn starch
• 500gms of sugar
• Strawberry essence (its ok  if u dont get it , since i found it in walmart i used it )
• Half tin( 150 ml ) of condensed milk
•  250 ml of heavy whipping cream 

How i did  it

• Boil the milk in a heavy bottomed vessel , Add about 400 gms of sugar to it, keeps stirring and reduce the flame. Once the sugar dissolves , remove the milk from the flame.
• Mix  the cornflour  in  litttle cold milk , and stir  the mixture into the boiled milk, keep the  milk  back on low flame , till it thickens.(u will know when you see it) Switch off the  flame and cool the mixture.
• Take strawberry( the amount depends on  your taste buds. i used about 20- 25 of them) in the mixer add to it about  50 gms of sugar and  blend it  into a smooth pulp. u can add some milk  to it  to make it  more soft . Add this strawberry pulp to the boiled and cooled milk.
• Add the condensed milk and strawberry essence about 4-5 drops to  it  and freeze it in the freezer.
• let the mixture get semi freezed , thaw it  blend the mixture using a blender or mixer,  u can  use had mixer too.
• Add the whipped cream to the mixture, blend it again (i used the hand mixer), to it add small cut peices of  fresh strawberry (i used around 5-7 of them) and strawberry essence about 4-5 drops.
• Freeze  it , your strawberry ice-cream is ready.

Whipping cream.

Freeze the bowl and the whipper blades  before starting the whipping process, it should be very cold.

 take the whipping  cream in  a cold  bowl (I used the store bought heavy whipping cream)

 and  whip it  using a  hand blender till soft peak are formed , donot over do it as it  will convert to butter. once the soft peaks are formed add 2-3 table spoons of sugar . Now its ready to use.

project One a day

Prawns in coconut milk

This  one was  not planned  for today but just happend.  i am a see food lover but prawns is not  my favourite, But  bass loves prawns as theer are no  fish bones in it. I love to cook to cook prawns but cleaning  and deveining  it  is  really a  trouble but thanks to pre cleaned  de-veined  frozen prawns available in market.

This  dish is very  simple ,the  addition of coconut milk  make  it very  creamy and enhances the taste.

Prawns   in coconut milk 

source:  My Mom

Time: 30 mins 

Ingredients that  we need:

2lb of  prawns (deveined)

• 2 no medium sized onions
• 2 no big tamato
• whole garam masala ( 1 inch cinnamon stick, 4-5 cloves, 2-3pods of cardamom)
• Chilli poder 
• Turmeric powder
• 2 spoon of  ginger garlic paste 
• Oil
• 1tsp of garam masala powder
• curry leaves
• 1 bunch of coriander leaves  
• Coconut milk from half coconut or half tin of coconut milk from the stores

How i did  it : 

Step 1:  

• Thaw the prawns in hot water(if u get fresh ones then  wash, clean it  and devein it) once thawed remove the tails.  I use turmeric to wash and clean any type of meat or seafood

Step 2:

•  Add oil to the nonstick vessel , and when the oil is hot add finely chopped onions and green chillies
• when the  onions is slightly brown all the ginger garlic paste , fry  well till the raw smell is  gone.
• The add finely chopped tomatoes, turmeric and chilli powder and salt, fry  well till the  tomatoes are  finely done.
• At this  stage add prawns and  lower the flame 
• Cook well till the the prawns are soft and gets blended in tomato gravy , add  garam masala powder.
• Oil will start oozing out from the sides, at the  stage  add finely chopped coriander leaves, mix well, 
• cook for another 2-3 min add coconut milk and lower the flame , cook it  the coconut milk gets boiled  and oil oozes out.
• Serve with plain  hot rice  or chapathi

Mutton mince ( Kheema ) gravy

This  one is one of my favourites  from the  big list  my  mom has. This  goes well  with  both chapathi and plain hot  white   rice. This  has  become baskar's favorite . I like this  with  rice and  rasam  and he likes this  with hot plain chapthi. It was the demanded recipe when i was expecting and tirelessly  my mom made this  for me every week. i have made this  recipe a number of times  but failed to get that mms taste in it. Nevertheless here is the recipe  for u all.

Mutton Kheema
Source : My Mom
Preperation time:  20 mins
cooking time : 20 mins

Ingredients that  we need

• 1lb of minced meat
• 2 no medium sized onions
• 2 no big tamato
• whole garam masala ( 1 inch cinnamon stick, 4-5 cloves, 2-3pods of cardamom)
• Chilli poder 
• Turmeric powder
• 2 spoon of  ginger garlic paste 
• Oil
• 1tsp of garam masala powder
• curry leaves
• 1 bunch of coriander leaves

How i did  it : 

Step 1:  

• Wash the minced  meat throughly and  drain the  excess water  from it .
•  To the raw  meat  add  a little turmeric , salt , whole garam masala , and little sliced onions and  one spoon ginger garlic paste.
• Keep  it  on low  flame  with  little water added to it. keep checking  so that  it dose not  run dry. keep it on medium flame till mixture it  is  cooked throughly.

Step 2:

•  Add oil to the nonstick vessel , and when the oil is hot all finely chopped onions and green chillies
• when the  onions is slightly brown all the ginger garlic paste , fry  well till the raw smell is  gone.
• The add finely chopped tomatoes, turmeric and chilli powder, fry  well till the  tomatoes are  finely done.
• At this  stage add the cooked minced  meat  along with water left  out during the boiling proocess , lower the flame 
• Cook well till the the meat in blended in tomato gravy  and  garam masala powder.
• Check for  salt , add salt  at this  stage if needed  bcoz the meat has  salt (which was added during the boiling process).
• Oil wi.ll start oozing out from the sides, at the  stage  add finely chopped coriander leaves, mix well, 
• cook for another 2-3 min, switch off the flame  and  now add  lemon juice (optional) and mix well.e rice or hot chapathis
• Serve with plain   hot rice or hot chapathis

Strawberry preserve

After  a wonderful day at  Washington farms it was time to  make use of the loads of strawberry we picked up  at the farms. i had a  list of  ideas about  how  to make the complete  use of  it. Making strawberry preserve was the first thought  that was in  my  mind, apart from that  i wanted to make a strawberry  cake and ice cream and smoothie and what  not,  i am trying all of  that in turn. Preserve  suddenly  bring to my  mind the  yummy mango preserve and guava preserve my mom used to  make for us in summer. we had a  big gauva( with red pulp) tree in my grandmothers backyard. The  tree was so productive that we used to run out of ideas of what to do with so many guavas ,and jam was the instant answer. i loved what  my  mom made and i am using the same recipe but with strawberry.

STRAWBERRY PRESERVE

Source: Mummy (that  what i called  my mom)

Time  30-40mins

Ingredients used

2lb fresh strawberries

4 cups of Sugar

2 spoons lemon juice

1pck of pectin 

How i  made it 

1. Washed and hulled all the strawberries.Since it was hand picked there were no rotten ones.
2. With the help of the potato masher, mash up the berries ad much as u can 
3. Add sugar to it and  let it sit for 30-40mins
4. Bring  the mixture to boil on a low flame for 5-10mins , then add the lemon juice .Let the mixture come to a  rolling  boil  for  another 10  mins.
5.  In another  small bowl  take some water and add the pectin and  dissolve it  and  keep it  ona  low  flame till it  boils over.
6. Add the boiled pectin to the boiling berry mixture and then increase the flame to  high . Let the  whole  mixture come to a  rolling  boil for about 10 mins.Keep stirring continuously.
7. Switch off the flame and allow the preserve to completely cool down.
8. Store it in your fridge in clean bottles.

Test to check if your preserve is ready .

Jelling test:

• Place a small plate in the freezer, when u start preparing the preserve.
• Take a spoon ful of ready preserve and place it on the chilled  plate
• Replace the  plate back in the freezer and let it sit in ther for  couple of minutes
• Now remove the plate and run you finger into the preserve in the center, if the preserve dose not try to  run back then its  ready to be canned

Making of preserve in pictures