Bittergourd tomato curry(pavakka thakkali curry)

Ingredients:
Bittergourd/Pavakka    - 1 large, deseeded and sliced finely
Tomato                        - 1 small ,Chopped
Shallots                        -1 cup sliced
Garlic cloves                 -6-7 slices
Chilli powder                 -1 tsp
Turmeric powder          - 1/2 tsp
Tamarind  paste            -1 tbsp
Mustard seeds               -1/2 tsp
Curry leaves                  - a string
Oil                                 - 2tbsp
Asafoetida                     - a pinch
Fenugreek powder         - a pinch
Salt as required

Method:
Marinate the bittergourd pieces with salt and keep it for somethime.Drain the water coming from it out through a strainer.
Heat oil in a pan.Splutter mustard seeds and add curry leaves .Saute it.To this add sliced shallots,garlic and bittergourd and saute again.Add chopped tomato and saute .Now add chilli powder,turmeric powder,asafoetida and saute till  raw small goes.To this pour tamarind paste along with one cup water and allow it to boil.Now sprinkle the fenugreek powder and reduce the fire to low and cook until the gravy thickens.Serve  with rice.

Potato-Mutton Curry

I'm sending this mutton recipe to the "EFM MUTTON SERIES" of Srishkitchen.

Ingredients:
Mutton                          - 1 pound  cubes
Potato                            - 2 potatoes cut to cubes
Onion                             - 2 sliced finely
Tomato                          - 1 cut into cubes
Pepper powder              - 1tsp
Cardamom                      -4
Cloves                            -4 
cinnamon stick                -1
Dry red chilli                    -5
Garlic cloves                    -10
Ginger                             - 1 piece
Vinegar                           -2 tbsp
Dry kasthuri methi leaves  -2 tbsp
Ghee  or butter                 -1/4 cup
Salt to taste
Method:
Clean the mutton pieces throughly and keep it aside.
Grind  ginger piece,garlic cloves,salt and pepper powder to a paste.Marinate mutton pieces with this paste.
Heat ghee or butter in a pressure cooker.Add sliced onion,crushed dry red chillies,cardamoms,cloves and cinnamon sticks to this and saute till the onion turns light brown in colour.Now add cubed tomato pieces,cubed potatoes and mutton pieces and saute for some  more time.Add 1 cup water and dry kasturi methi leaves to this and pressure cook it in high flame for 3-4 whistles.

Fish curry/Varutharacha meen curry

Ingredients:

White fish sliced  - 1/2kg 
Coconut grated   - 11/2cup(fresh)
Chilli powder      - 1 tbsp(heapful)
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Cocum               - 3 piece
Green chilli         - 1(slited)
Garlic                 -2 cloves(chopped)

Ginger                - a small piece(chopped)
Shallots              - 4
Fenugreek          -1/4 tsp
Curry leaves       - a string
Coconut oil as required
Salt to taste

Method:
.Soak cocum in 1/2cup water.
.Heat a pan.Put fresh coconut grated,shallots and saute it for sometime till the coconut turns dry(the colour will change to light brown).After that add chilli powder and turmeric powder.Saute it for 2-3times again on low flame. (If you are using designated coconut,you can add coconut, chilli powder,turmeric powder and shallots together to the pan and saute)Remove fire.Allow it to cool .
.Grind it to a fine paste without water.This paste,if you prepare in bulk,you can keep in the freezer for future use.
.Pour this  paste with some water to the pot for preparing fish curry(preferably mud pot ).To this add cocum,green chilli,ginger ,garlic and salt and allow it to boil on medium flame.When it boils ,add fish and turn into low flame and cook until its done.
.For seasoning,in another small pan heat coconut oil, add fenugreek seeds and curry leaves and saute it.Pour this over the fish curry.
Note:
If you dont like cocum taste,you can use slices of one skin peeled,half-ripe mango.
When cooking fish curry in mud pot(mun chatti) for the first time,frequently check to see there is sufficient liquid in the pot so that the fish does not stick to the pot.

Naadan Mutton curry

Ingredients:
Mutton                - 1 kg
Onion(big)           - 2 sliced finely
Ginger chopped   - 1 tbsp
Garlic  chopped   - 1 tbsp
Green chilli           - 2 slit into two
Kashmiri chilli       - 11/2 tsp
Turmeric powder  - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala       - 1/2 tsp
Fennel powder      - 1 heap tbsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves   a string,
Coriander leaves for garnishing

Method:
Heat oil in a pressure cooker.Add sliced onion,ginger and garlic chopped and saute for few minutes till the onion turns soft.Now add all the masalas and curry leaves and saute it till the raw smell of masalas go.Now add the cleaned mutton pieces and saute it again once or twice.Add 1 cup of water and close the lid.Now pressure cook it for 3 to 4 whisles.Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Vellarikka Pachadi(Kerala Style Cucumber Raita)

Ingredients:
Cucumber          - 1
Coconut             -1/2 of a  coconut ,grated
Curd (beaten)     -1/2 cup
Cumin seeds       -1/2tsp
Green chillies      -3
Mustard seeds    -1 tsp
Curry leaves       - a string
Coconut oil         - 2 dsp
Salt as required

Method:
 .Peel off the cucumber skin and chop into small pieces.
 .Cook cucumber in a vessel with 1/4 cup of water and salt as required for a few minutes.
 .Grind together the grated coconut,cumin seeds,green chillies to a fine paste.
 .Add this ground paste to the cucumber cooked and allow it to boil in a medium flame.Switch it off immediately and remove from fire.
. Add beaten curd to this.
.In another pan , heat coconut oil, splutter mustard seeds and saute curry leaves.
.Add this seasoning to the cucumber pachadi and serve with rice.

Indian flag puttu

In this blog I'm planning to share some of my experiments with my spoons and cutting board.When i started my cooking,i didn't know the ABC of cooking.In this blog I'm sharing some of the easy recipes i know to those who are facing the same situation as me when they started fighting with spoons n vessels in the kitchen.

Lets start with breakfast.When we ask a malayali about the easiest breakfast they can offer,they will tell its puttu.So lets make some different varieties of puttu(steamed rice cake) to impress our family or guests.Usually with puttu we will have either banana or whole green gram Dal and of course pappad.This flag puttu is one of my mother's recipes which she makes when some unexpected guests comes in the morning.

Ingredients

Rice flour                               -2 cup

Grated coconut                      -3/4 cup
Grated carrot                         -1/2 cup

Whole green gram dal            -1/2 cup

Green chillies                         -1

Turmeric powder                   -a pinch
Salt to taste

Method:

Soak whole green gram dal for few hours.Better to keep it soaked overnight.Cook it with some water in a pressure cooker if you soaked it in the morning only.otherwise cook it in the normal vessel with a pinch of turmeric powder ,salt and split ed green chilly.When it is almost done mix quarter cup grated coconut to it.By that time we can grate coconut and carrot and keep it aside.

Take the rice flour in a big bowl.Add some salt to a cup of warm water and sprinkle it evenly over the flour and knead it.Add 1/4 cup of grated coconut to it.The key is that only enough water to wet the flour be added, and that too slowly.This should not have the consistency of dough,but rather a damp coarse mixture.

Usually for making puttu there is a special utensil which is available in most Indian stores.This puttu maker can be used over any pressure cooker lid.Fill the pressure cooker with enough water and keep this puttu maker over the lid.If u didn't have a puttu maker ,you can use idly mould too.

Now in this puttu maker ,primarily put quarter cup of carrot grated mixed with 2 tablespoon grated coconut.Above that put the rice flour mix and last the gram dal mix .Steam it.hmm...our colourful healthy puttu is ready.We can serve it with some pappad and pickle.