Mutton Chukka

Mutton Chukka (Serving size-2)

Ingredients:

• Mutton - 1 pound
• Onion - 1 medium sized (thinly sliced)
• Tomato - (chopped)
• Garlic - 8 big cloves
• Ginger - small piece
• Cinnamon
• Cloves
• Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
• Black Peppercorns - 7
• Pepper powder
• Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
• Salt
• Yogut - 1 tsp (optional. can be replaced with lemon juice from 1/2 lemon)
• Coriander powder - 2 tsp
• Garam masala - 1 tsp
• Mustard seed
• Curry leaves
• Cilantro
• Water
• Oil

Procedure:

1. Cut mutton to the size you prefer.
2. Put the mutton pieces in pressure cooker and add some salt, peppercorns, 4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped cilantro, yogut or lime juice and cook the meat about 90%.
3. Grind garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, fennel seeds and cumin together with very little water to make a paste.
4. In a pan, add oil.
5. When the oil is hot, add mustard seed and curry leaves
6. Add sliced onions. When onions turn golden brown, add tomatoes and saute.
7. Add the ground paste and saute for a minute. Then add salt, coriander powder, garam masala. Sprinkle little water, if it is very dry.
8. Then add the cooked mutton from pressure cooker.
9. Mix everything together and let it cook for few more minutes.
10. If the dish has too much water, open the lid of pan and let the water evaporate till you get preferred consistency.
11. Add some pepper powder.
12. Add chopped cilantro at the end. 

Pepper Chicken

Pepper Chicken (Serving size-2)

This is a tasty dish and simple to make, in less time. Happy cooking :)

Ingredients:

• Chicken - 1 pound
• Garlic - 5 big cloves
• Ginger - small piece
• Cinnamon
• Cloves
• Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
• Black Peppercorns - 10 (Add more pepper powder at the end, if you prefer the dish more spicy)
• Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
• Salt
• Coriander powder - 2 tsp
• Garam masala - 1 tsp
• Mustard seed
• Curry leaves
• Cilantro
• Water

Procedure:

1. Cut chicken to the size you prefer. I used boneless thigh meat.
2. Grind garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, fennel seeds, peppercorns and cumin together with very little water to make a paste.
3. In a pan, add oil.
4. When the oil is hot, add mustard seed and curry leaves
5. Add the ground paste and saute for a minute. Then add chicken pieces.
6. Saute and mix till the paste mix well with the chicken.
7. Add salt, coriander powder, garam masala and some water (Don't add too much water, as more water will come from chicken when it cooks). Let the chicken cook well.
8. If the dish has too much water, open the lid of pan and let the water evaporate till you get preferred consistency.
9. Add some pepper powder, if you prefer the dish to be spicy.
10. Add chopped cilantro at the end. 

Goat Curry

Goat/Lamb Curry (Serving size-4)

This weekend I didn't feel like going out anywhere, as we were back from a trip just last weekend. Rather decided to cook some favorite yummy food and be lazy at home. Its not easy to get good lamb meat, around our place. Luckily, I got good meat yesterday. My taste buds craved for goat curry, which I don't cook often. So, here is my recipe.

This is a coconut based gravy with lot of spices.  Happy cooking :)

Ingredients:

• Lamb/Goat
• Coconut - 1/2 cup (grated and dry roasted)
• Ginger - 8 cloves
• Garlic - small piece
• Potato - 1 (big sized)
• Cinnamon
• Cloves
• Salt to taste
• Onion - 1 (Big sized - Chopped)
• Tomato - 1 (chopped)
• Coriander powder - 2 tsp
• Garam Masala - 1 tsp
• Chili powder
• Turmeric powder - pinch
• Mustard seed
• Black pepper
• Cumin seeds
• Cilantro (chopped)
• lemon - 1/2 
• Water

Procedure:

1. Take the meat in pressure cooker, add salt, 3 cloves of garlic, some black pepper, 1/2 tsp Coriander powder, Garam masala, some chopped coriander leaves, Turmeric powder, chilli powder, lemon juice from 1/2 lemon. Mix everything and let it cook well.
2. Cook the potato separately with pinch of salt.
3. Heat a pan and dry roast grated coconuts until it turns brown and keep it aside.
4. In a pan, add some oil. When the oil is hot, add mustard seed, cumin seeds, chopped garlic, ginger, onions, tomatoes, salt, remaining Coriander powder, garam masala one by one and saute well till the raw flavor goes. 
5. Finally, add coconut (roasted) and let it cool.
6. When the mixture is cooled, grind it to make a smooth paste.
7. In a pan, add the mixture, cooked potatoes and add cooked meat.
8. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Egg Gravy

Egg Gravy (Serving size-2)

Weekends are NOT the best time for me to spend hours inside my kitchen. I rather want to go out and have fun. So, I always make dishes which are quick and also delicious (Why should I compromise on taste?). So, today I decided to make Tomato Rice and Egg Gravy for dinner. Here is the recipe for Egg Gravy.

This is a Yogurt based gravy with eggs. Try this with some twist of your choice and let me know how it turn out. Happy cooking :)

Ingredients:

• Eggs - 5
• Garlic - 4 cloves
• Ginger 
• Cumin seeds
• Cinnamon
• Cloves
• Salt
• Onion - 1/2 (Big sized - Chopped)
• Tomato - 1 (chopped)
• Coriander powder - 2 tsp
• Garam Masala - 1 tsp
• Chili powder
• Turmeric powder - pinch
• Mustard seed
• Plain Yogurt - 3 tbsp
• Cilantro (chopped)
• Water

Procedure:

1. Boil the Eggs and separate yolk from Egg whites and keep it aside.
2. Grind ginger, garlic, cinnamon, cloves, plain yogurt together with very little water to make a paste.
3. In a pan, add oil.
4. When the oil is hot, add mustard and cumin seeds
5. Saute chopped onions
6. When the onions become tender, add chopped tomatoes
7. Then add the ground paste.
8. Mash the egg yolks and add it to the pan. You can also grind it with very little water
9. Add salt, coriander powder, garam masala, turmeric and chili powder and mix everything well. Add water if it is very dry. 
10. Cut the egg whites into 4 or 6 pieces and add it to the gravy.
11. Add chopped cilantro at the end. 

Pepper Mushroom

Pepper Mushroom (Serving size-2)

This is a tasty dish and it is very easy to make, in less time. Happy cooking :)

Ingredients:

• Button Mushrooms - 20
• Garlic - 4 cloves
• Black Peppercorns - 10 (Add more pepper powder at the end, if you prefer the dish more spicy)
• Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
• Salt
• Coriander powder - 2 tsp
• Mustard seed
• Curry leaves
• Cilantro
• Water

Procedure:

1. Cut mushrooms to the size you prefer.
2. Grind garlic, peppercorns and cumin together with very little water to make a paste.
3. In a pan, add oil.
4. When the oil is hot, add mustard seed and curry leaves
5. Add the ground paste and cut mushrooms
6. Saute and mix till the paste mix well with the mushrooms.
7. Add salt, coriander powder and water. Let the mushroom cook well.
8. Add some pepper powder, if you prefer the dish to be spicy.
9. Add chopped cilantro at the end. 

Chicken 65

Ingredients:

• Chicken (Boneless or Thigh meat)
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
• Ginger - 1 tsp (finely chopped)
• Garlic - 2 tsp (finely chopped)
• Chilli sauce
• Salt
• Egg - 1
• Corn flour
• Pepper powder
• Color - Red
• Oil

Procedure:

1. Cut chicken into small piece. Add ginger garlic paste, 2 tsp pepper powder, salt to it.
2. Beat the egg in a bowl. Add the nicely beaten egg to the chicken.
3. Add 2 tbsp corn flour to chicken. Mix them all together. Let it rest for 5 mins
4. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the chicken in medium flame. Let it cook. Make sure it is not fried too much.
5. Keep the fried chicken aside
6. In a pan, heat some oil.
7. Add curry leaves, chopped ginger and garlic and saute.
8. Add chilli sauce (as per your taste) and pinch of red color.
9. Add very little water so that it is not too dry.
10. Add the fried chicken pieces and mix well so that the color and other ingredients mix well with the chicken.
11. Add pepper powder if you like it to be more spicy.

Onion Samosa

Ingredients:

Rolling sheet:

• All purpose flour (Maida) - 1/2 cup
• Whole wheat flour (Aata) - 1/2 cup
• Salt
• Oil
• Warm water - 1 cup

Stuffing:

• Onion - 1 big onion (chop into small cubes)
• Tomato - 1/2 (Optional)
• Salt
• Cumin powder
• Chaat masala
• Chili powder
• Turmeric powder

Procedure:

Rolling sheet:

1. In a bowl, add maida and wheat flour. Add salt and 1 tbsp oil.
2. Add warm water and knead a soft dough. Keep it covered and let it rest for 20 mins.
3. Make small balls out of the dough and roll it in a square shape. This will avoid wastage of dough.
4. In a tawa, place the rolled sheet and turn side in few seconds. Don't let it cook like chappathi. Warm it until the texture changes from dough to rolling sheet.

Stuffing:

1. Heat a pan and add oil. When the oil is hot, add onion cubes and saute. When the onions are well cooked, add tomato, salt and other masalas.
2. Keep it aside and let it cook.

Deep Fry:

1. In a small bowl, take 2 tbsp of maida flour. Add little water to it. mix well and keep it aside. This is used to glue the edges of samosa, before frying
2. Apply maida + water mixture to 1 side of the rolling sheet. Make cones out of the cut rectangular rolling sheet. 
3. Insert the stuffing into the cone. Apply some glue(Maida+water) and fold the edges and seal it.
4. In a pan add oil to deep fry the samosa.
5. Fry it till the color changes to golden brown.

Indian Pizza

Indian Pizza Serving size: 2

Ingredients:

Pizza dough Ingredients:

• All Purpose Flour (Maida) - 2 cups
• Eggs - 2
• Salt - as required
• Baking powder
• Yeast
• Warm water
• Oil

Pizza Ingredients:

• Spinach - 1/2 pack (Grind it coarsely)
• Onion - 1/2 (sliced)
• Tomato - 1/2
• Bell Pepper - 1/2
• Cooked Chicken pieces
• Coriander leaves
• Coriander powder
• Chili sauce
• Garlic
• Shredded cheese

Procedure:

1. Beat eggs well. 
2. Mix yeast with little warm water and add it to dough. Add other Pizza base ingredients and make a fine dough. 
3. Cover the dough with a cloth or lid and let it rest for 2 to 3 hrs
4. Heat a pan, add little oil. When the oil is hot, add spinach, salt, coriander powder, garam masala and saute well. (Add other masalas like chaat masala as per your taste). Keep this mixture aside.
5. Sprinkle some salt and pepper over the cut onions, tomatoes, bell pepper, garlic and grill it for some time. Grilling is optional.
6. Separate the dough into 2 equal halves. Apply oil to a plastic cover and press the dough on it to make a flat round pizza base.
7. Pre-heat the oven to 300 degree. Spray oil over baking pan and sprinkle some flour over it.
8. Place the round, flat pizza base dough on the pan.
9. Spread spinach mixture over it. Add some chili sauce over it.
10. Then place onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, chicken and chopped garlic over it. spread Shredded cheese and chopped coriander leaves at the top.
11. Keep it in the oven and bake it for 20 mins or until the dough is well cooked.

Idyappam

Ingredients:

• Rice Flour - 2 cups
• Water - 3 cups
• Salt - as required
• Shredded coconut

Accessories: Murukku press (choose the achchu with thin holes) & Idly mould

Procedure:

1. Boil 3 cups of water
2. In a bowl, take 2 cups of rice flour, add salt and mix well
3. When the water comes to boil, pour it into the bowl little by little and mix it with a spoon. Don't put your hands into it. The water will be very hot.
4. Mix the flour and water well. Make sure the dough is soft. You don't have to add all the 3 cups of water.
5. Take a hand full of dough and put it into the Murukku press and press into Idly mould. Sprinkle some shredded coconut on its top.
6. In pressure cooker, some water (2 or 3 cups). Place the Idly mould into it and close it with lid (without weight).
7. Let is steam cook for 10 mins.

NOTE: Idyappam goes well with Chicken curry, Kadalai Curry or some coconut milk and sugar.

Sweet Poli

Ingredients:

• Channa Dhal - 2 cups
• Cardamom - 3
• All purpose flour - 1 cup
• Sooji (Rava) - 1 tsp
• Salt - pinch
• Jaggery or Brown Sugar - 1/2 cup
• warm water - 1 cup
• Ghee or Butter - 1 tsp
• Oil

Procedure:

1. Cook Channa Dhal to tender. And let it cool.
2. In the mean time, take All purpose flour in a bowl. Add rava, ghee and pinch of salt. Mix well.
3. Add warm water little by little and make a soft dough.
4. To avoid dough sticking to hands, add few drops of oil.
5. Knead it well, so that it is very soft and stretchy. Cover the dough and keep it aside for 30 mins.
6. Take the cooled channa dhal and powder it in mixy. Make sure it is not too moist.
7. Add Jaggery or brown sugar little by little and mix well. If you want it more sweet, add more jaggery. Taste the mixture in between, so that it is not way too sweet. This is the Sweet Stuffing.
8. Make small balls out of the dough. 
9. Make balls (double the size of dough balls) out of sweet stuffing.
10. Take a dough ball, press its center and place the stuffing dough into it.
11. Stretch the dough from its side and cover the sweet stuffing.
12. Place it on a plastic sheet with oil applied to its surface.
13. Press it with hands and then roll it like chappathi.
14. Make it as thin as possible.
15. Cook it in a pan. Turn sides and make sure its well cooked both side.

Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups
• Eggs - 3
• Dates - 15 (cut into pieces)
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Carrot - 1 cup (shredded)
• Coconut - 1 cup (shredded)
• Vegetable oil - 1 cup
• Vanilla essence - few drops

Procedure:

1. Beat the eggs nicely for 5 mins in maximum speed
2. Add few drops of vanilla essence
3. Add Sugar and oil and again beat well for 3 mins
4. Mix grated coconut, shredded carrots and chopped dates with a spoon in same direction until it is well mixed.
5. Keep it aside for 30 mins
6. Apply butter to the cake mould
7. Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees
8. Pour cake mix into the mould and bake it for 30 mins
9. To make sure it is well baked, insert a toothpick at the center part of the cake.
10. If the cake mix doesn't stick to the tooth pick, then it is well cooked.
11. Let the cake cool for 15 mins.

Sweet Potato Halva

Serving size: 3
Ingredients:

• Sweet Potato - 3
• Sago - 1/2 cups
• Brown Sugar - 5 tbsp
• Cardamon - 5
• Cashew nuts - 10
• Ghee - 3 tbsp
• Water

Procedure:

1. Cook sweet potato until tender. Save the excess water for later use.
2. In a pan, add sago and 1/2 cup of water and cook until its well cooked.
3. Let the sweet potato and sago cool down.
4. Grind sweet potato and sago in mixy to make a very silky smooth paste. Add little water(remaining water from the cooked potatoes) if it is too dry.
5. In a pan, add 2 tbsp of ghee. Saute cashews. Once it becomes light brown, take it from the pan and keep it aside.
6. In the same pan with remaining ghee, add coarsely powdered cardamon and add the sweet potato & sago paste
7. Add sugar and keep mixing it. Taste for sweetness. Add more sugar at any time, according to your taste.
8. Keep mixing, until the mix gets thicken. if it sticks to the pan, add more ghee to it.
9. Finally, add cashews. Pour it into the serving bowl and let it cool. 
10. Keep it in refrigerator for 1 hour, once it cool down. 

NOTE: Milk can also be added in the process. It make the halva more rich.

Roomali Roti

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Maida flour
• 1 cup wheat flour
• Rice flour - in small quantity
• Ghee - 1 tbsp
• Warm water 
• Salt

Procedure:

1. Mix maida and wheat flour together. Add salt
2. Add warm water and knead a soft dough.
3. Keep it aside for 30 mins.
4. Take rice flour and spread it in a place.
5. Make small balls from the dough.
6. Take 2 small balls of dough, press it with fingers and make it flat
7. Apply ghee to 1 side of each hand pressed dough.
8. Place the dough on rice flour, so that rice flour sticks to the ghee coated side.
9. Place one dough on top of the other dough (ghee & rice flour coated side facing each other) 
10. Roll it together very thin. (as thin as possible). use maida flour to avoid dough sticking to the roller.
11. Heat dosa pan. make sure its really hot and place the rolled dough over it. Turn sides after few seconds.
12. The roti puff up and will be able to separate the 2 layers.

Hot & Sour Soup (Veg & Chicken)

Ingredients:

• Stock (Vegetable or Chicken Stock) - 4 cups
• Soy sauce - less than 1/4 cups
• Rice Vinegar - 2 tbsp
• Chilli sauce - 2 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Vegetables
• Mushroom - 2 big sized (chopped)
• Green onions(Spring onions) - 3 stems (chopped)
• Onions - 1/2 thin sliced
• Shredded carrots - 1/2 carrot
• Egg whites (from 1 egg)
• Corn flour - 2 tbsp (dissolved in little water)
• Chicken pieces - few (for chicken soup)

Procedure:

1. In a pan, add stock, soy sauce, rice vinegar
2. Add all chopped vegetables and chicken pieces. DO NOT add egg whites and green onions now.
3. Add chilli sauce and bring it to boil.
4. Check taste. Add little salt if the stock doesn't have salt in it. 
5. If you want it more spicy, add pepper powder.
6. When the mushrooms and chicken are well cooked, add egg whites to a strainer and drop it little by little.
7. Add corn flour (dissolved in water) liquid. This is to give some thickness to the soup.
8. Finally add chopped green onions and let it cook for 3 mins.
9. Enjoy the soup.

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour - 4 cups
• Eggs - 7
• Vegetable oil - 2 cups
• Vanilla essence - 2 tsp
• Cocoa powder - 3 tsp (heap)
• Dates - 15 (chopped)
• Nuts (Almonds, Walnuts,...) - 1 cup
• Baking powder - 1 tsp (heap)
• Sugar - 2 cups

Procedure:

1. Mix oil and sugar well
2. Beat eggs well separately, add vanilla essence and mix with oil and sugar.
3. Add baking powder, cocoa powder, nuts and dates to the flour and mix well.
4. Mix the flour mixture with egg+sugar_oil mix and stir all the above in same direction.
5.  Keep it for an hour
6. Bake in 250 degrees for 30 mins.
7. To make sure it is well bakes, insert a toothpick at the center part of the cake.
8. If the cake mix doesnt stick to the toothpick, it is well cooked.
9. Let the cake cool for 15 mins. 

Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups
• Eggs - 3
• Dates - 15 (cut into pieces)
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Carrot - 1 cup (shredded)
• Coconut - 1 cup (shredded)
• Vegetable oil - 1 cup
• Vanilla essence - few drops
• Baking powder - 1 tsp

Procedure:

1. Beat the eggs nicely for 5 mins in maximum speed
2. Add few drops of vanilla essence
3. Add Sugar and oil and again beat well for 3 mins
4. Mix grated coconut, shredded carrots and chopped dates with a spoon in same direction until it is well mixed.
5. Keep it aside for 30 mins
6. Apply butter to the cake mould
7. Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees
8. Pour cake mix into the mould and bake it for 30 mins
9. To make sure it is well baked, insert a toothpick at the center part of the cake.
10. If the cake mix doesn't stick to the tooth pick, then it is well cooked.
11. Let the cake cool for 15 mins.

Chicken Curry

Ingredients:

• Chicken pieces
• Onion - 1
• Tomato - 1
• Ginger - small piece
• Garlic - 6 cloves
• Cinnamon
• Cloves - 3
• Cardamom - 1
• Fennel seeds - 1 tbsp
• Shredded Coconut - 3 tbsp
• Cashew nuts - 10
• Coriander powder -  1 tbsp
• Garam masala 1 tsp
• Salt as needed
• Chilli powder

Procedure:

1. In a pan, saute shredded coconut until brown and keep aside
2. In the same pan, add some oil/ghee and saute cashew nuts until golden brown and keep aside
3. Grind cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, garlic into a paste
4. Grind onions into paste. Similarly, make paste out of tomato.
5. Grind the cashews and coconut and make smooth paste. Add very little water if needed, to make a smooth paste.
6. In a pan, add oil
7. When the oil is hot, add mustard seed, curry leaves, add all the pastes 1 by 1, in the order in which they were ground.
8. Saute well after adding each paste.
9. Add salt, chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala and mix well for 5 mins. 
10. Add Chicken pieces and add water, as needed. Let the it cook, till chicken pieces are fully cooked.
11. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Vegetable Pulav

Ingredients:

• Rice - 2 cups
• Water - 4 cups
• Onion - 1/2 thin sliced
• Cinnamon
• Cloves - 3
• Cardamom - 1
• Fennel seeds - 1 tbsp
• ginger - small piece
• garlic - 6 cloves
• Mint leaves
• Coriander leaves
• Vegetables ( Carrot - 1, Beans - 15, green peas 1 cup is what I used)
• Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
• Garam masala - 1 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Grind Cinnamon, cloves, fennel seeds, cardamom, ginger and garlic and make a paste.
2. In Pressure cooker, add oil/ghee
3. saute thin sliced onions, add the paste and mix till the rawness of onion goes off.
4. Chop mint and coriander leaves and add it.
5. Add the vegetables. Add salt, chilli powder
6. Add Coriander powder, garam masala and mix well for 5 mins
7. Add rice and water. Mix well once and put the lid of cooker, without weight.
8. Once steady steam appears, put weight on and reduce heat to minimum.
9. Let it cook for 20 mins.
10. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Egg Dosa

Ingredients:

• Dosa batter
• Egg - 1 (for 2 dosa)
• pepper powder
• Onion - few chopped pieces
• salt
• coriander leaves -  chopped

Procedure:

1. In a bowl, beat the egg
2. Add salt, chopped onions, pepper powder, chopped coriander leaves
3. Make dosa and spread the mixed egg along with the content over the dosa batter using a spoon. Add more pepper powder, if you want it spicy.
4. Once it is cooked, turn side.

Lime Rasam

Ingredients:

• Lime - 1
• Black Pepper  - 2 tbsp
• Cumin - 2 tbsp
• Garlic - 3 cloves
• Coriander leaves
• Onion - 1/2 chopped
• Tomato - 1 small sized
• Turmeric powder - pinch
• Perungaya powder

Procedure:

1. Grind garlic, pepper, cumin in mixy
2. In a bowl, take juice from the lime, add the ground mix
3. Add enough water, as needed
4. Add salt, turmeric powder, perungaya powder, chopped coriander leaves and mix well and keep this rasam water aside.
5. In a pan, add oil. when oil is hot, add mustard seed, curry leaves, chopped onions
6. Saute well, then add chopped tomatos
7. Add the earlier prepared rasam water.
8. Once it starts to boil, pour it back to a bowl.