Ulli vada

         
                                       


                                                     When we were kids we used to have ulli vada at least once a week. But most of them were pretty huge and rubbery . One was enough to fill my tummy for the rest of the day. I find these vada's crisp, tasty and fun to eat  when they are small in size. If you are particular to make these in the authentic vada shape, just dip your hands in water, scoop a small amount of batter, make a hole in the batter and fry it in hot oil.


Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cup maida 
2. 1 medium sized onion finely chopped.
3. 2 green chillies finely chopped.
4. 1/4 tsp jeera .
5. 2 or 3 curry leaves finely chopped
6. 1/2 inch ginger finely chopped.
7. Salt.
8. 1/2 cup water.
9. 1/2 tsp baking powder
10. 2 cups refined oil.

Preparation

1. Mix ingredients 2 to 7 .
2. Add maida and thoroughly mix in with the above ingredients.
3. Add baking powder.
4. Add water and make a dough which is slightly soggy than chappathi dough. Now, you need to let the dough rise in a warm place for 10 to 15 minutes.
5. Heat oil in a frying pan.
6. Scoop 1 tbsp of batter and fry these till they turn golden brown.
7. Drain off excess oil.

                      

               These vada's taste good with a cup of tea. 

Mango Mousse Cake

                  It was Achu's (My Nephew) birthday on the 4th of this month. I wanted to send him a mango mousse cake which I found on one of the online cake shop. Unfortunately I could not do that. But the picture of this cake haunted me and I couldn't resist making this cake. I made it this weekend.
                Even though this recipe is easy, its time consuming and has to be done in 3 different steps .

1. Baking the cake
2. Making Mousse
3. Making the firm mango puree topping.

         Ingredients

   For Cake(320-350 gms)

1. 80 gm flour
2. 80 gm caster sugar
3. 80 gm butter.(room temperature)
4. 1 egg
5. 4 tsp mango puree
6. 1 tsp orange zest
7. 1 tsp mango essence
8. 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1/4 baking soda

For Mousse

1. 200 ml whipping cream
2. 5 tbsp powdered sugar
3. 1/2 cup mango puree at room temperature
4. 10 gm mango gelatin crystals

For Topping

1. 1/2 cup mango puree.
2. 10 gm mango gelatin
3. 2 tbsp caster sugar

Preparation

1. In a bowl mix in sugar with the butter till soft
2. Whisk the egg and add in the above mix till soft and fluffy.
3. Add mango puree and mix well.
4. Sift flour with the baking soda and baking powder and add with the above wet ingredients.
5. Pour the batter in a baking tin and place in a pre heated oven at 160 degree for 25-30 minutes or until done(ie, when pierced with a knife, it has to come out clean)
6. Take it out from the oven and let it cool down to room temperature in the tin.
7. While the cake is cooling down, whip the cream with sugar until soft peaks appear.
8. Dissolve gelatin in some hot water and when fully dissolved, add it in the mango puree.
9. Add the above mixture to the whipped cream and mix well
10. Now pour in the mango mousse on top of the cake and level it out. Place it in the fridge to refrigerate
11. When the mousse and cake is  in the refrigerator, we will prepare the topping.
12. Dissolve gelatin in hot water
13. Mix it in the mango puree and sugar
14. When the mousse and the cake is set,pour in the topping mixture on top of the mousse.
15. Let it chill for at least an hour before serving.

Kethal Chicken

                                                        Kethal's  is a hotel in Kochi , well known for a chicken recipe Kethals chicken.And the first time I went there , I saw our Indian fast bowler Sreesanth . OK,  back to the dish. This is an extremely spicy dish with lots and lots of chilly flakes. In the hotel it was served with unlimited lemonade and  chappathi or ghee rice. My choice was ghee rice. Even though the dish was tasty, it was like having a fire ball in your digestive system.Yesterday, my friend reminded me about this recipe, and from that very moment I wanted to make it.
                                                    This recipe demands tender chicken where the whole chicken would weigh around 200 to 250 grams. Since I could not find that,  I opted chicken wings.This is my version of Kethal chicken.

Ingredients

1. 8 chicken wings.
2. 10-12 dry chilly (unakka molaku) or  2 tbsp crushed chilly flakes.
3. 1 tbsp extra hot chilly powder.
4. 1 tbsp kashmiri chilly powder
5. 1/2 tsp corriander powder.
6. 1/2 tsp turmeric powder.
7. 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
8. 2 tbsp lemon juice/viinegar
9. Salt 
10. 1 tbsp oil (preferably coconut oil)
11. oil for deep frying.

    Preparation

1. In a Kadai pour 1 tbsp oil and saute dry chilly for nearly 2 minutes.
2. Drain off excess oil and crush them  in a mini mill.
3. Now for marination, mix these flakes with ingredients 3-9 in a bowl .
4. Marinate Chicken wings in  with the above marinade and keep it aside for at least 1 hour.
5. Deep fry .

            While frying, chilly flakes will fall off from the chicken. So, try to scrape them from the kadai and  place it in a kitchen towel. Its very tasty and would be useful for decoration.

"Easy Biryani"

              Nothing pleases me more than my family, friends and good food. It is easy to impress someone with good food. Some recipes demands lot of time and attention .And as far as I know Biryani is one of them. When this was made at my home , Amma would patiently wait for rice to be half cooked , drain it, layer it in a heavy bottomed pan with chicken, bake it and on goes the process. This made me nervous!!...And after cooking,a whole sink of vessels will be waiting to get cleaned up.
             Recently I learned this recipe from my husband, and this for sure is the easiest Biryani recipe I have come across. I was blown away when he made this for me .Since rice, chicken and masala are cooked together at the same time ,the whole dish looks green in colour (weird) .The first time he offered me, I was hesitant to taste it. But this biryani did impress me, and so did Kuryappee.Thanks to his room mate who taught him the recipe and technique. All you need is a cooker and big spoon and if wisely done ,all you have to clean will be this cooker and the spoon

         Ingredients

(This would serve 2 people)

1. 1 cup basmathi rice  approximately 220 gm(1/2 cup per person)
2. 4 chicken legs.

       For Masala

1. 3 tbsp ghee or oil
2. 50 gm  coriander leaves
3. 10-15 gm mint leaves
4. 5-10 peppercorns   
5. 4 cardamom pods
6. 1 bay leaf          
7. 2 star anise
8. 4-5 cloves
9. 1 inch cinnamon stick 
10. 1/4 tsp fennel and cumin seed .
11. 2 green chillies
12. 1 inch ginger piece,2 garlic clove (can be replaced 1 tsp ginger garlic paste)
13. 1 onion finely chopped
14. 1 tomato finely chopped
15. 1 tbsp biryani masala (If you dont have whole garam masala{ingredients 4-10} then add 2 tbsp biryani                            masala)
16. 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
17. 1/2 tsp chilly and 1/2tsp coriander powder
18. salt as required

          For Garnishing

1. 3 tbsp ghee/oil
2. 10 cashew nuts
3.  10-20 raisin     

    Preparation

• In a blender ,blend the ingredients from 2 to 11 with little bit of water till they form a paste and keep aside
• In a cooker, dry roast the rice till it turns golden brown.Take that rice off and keep it aside.
• Pour ghee and fry raisins and cashew nuts ,drain off the excess ghee and keep it aside for garnishing.
• Add rest of the ghee and  saute the finely chopped onion ginger and garlic till they are golden brown.
• Add tomato and saute it for 1-2 minutes
• Add Biryani masala, chilly, coriander and turmeric powder and saute it for another 30 sec.
• Add the mint coriander paste, cook it for 2 minutes and add salt.
• Add the chicken pieces and thoroughly mix in with the Masala. Close the cooker and wait for a whistle.Turn the flame off 
• Once the pressure subside open the cooker and add the  rice. Make sure that water in the cooker is double the amount of rice. ie  for 1 cup of rice, water in the cooker should be 2 cups. Add extra water only if needed.
• Back to the stove and give it one good whistle and then take it off from the flame.Once again open the lid after the pressure subsides. 

                                    Serve hot biryani with pappadam, salad and lemon pickle....