EGG MASALA

Hey all, Hope you all had a great weekend. So here I am with a new recipe. This one is very very simple. I made it when I didn't have the mood to make anything detailed nor wanted to eat out so, came up with this one. So here it goes.

SIMPLE EGG MASALA

INGREDIENTS

EGGS: 5 (LARGE)
GINGER; 2 TBSP
GARLIC: 2 CLOVES
ONION: 1
TOMATO: 1
JEERA: 1 TSP
RED CHILLY POWDER: 1/2 TSP
TURMERIC POWDER: A PINCH
DHANIA POWDER : 2 TSP
SALT AS REQUIRED


MAKING

Take a vessel, fill it with water and boil the eggs with a sprinkle of salt. Take the eggs out after its hard boiled and peel the outer cover and keep aside. Now take a pan, add little oil, add the Jeera, Ginger, Garlic, Turmeric powder, Red Chilli Powder, Dhania Powder. Stir for 2 minutes before adding the finely cut onion. Stir fry again for a couple of minutes before adding the tomato cut into small pieces. Add the salt as required and stir for 2-3 minutes. Add the hard boiled eggs cut into half, add a little water and allow it to simmer until the gravy has no water residue and is thicker. Garnish it with fresh coriander leaves and your simple Egg Masala is ready to eat.

Serve it with bread or pav as my sis-in-law mentioned. She told me that its more tasty when served with Pav spread with butter.Hope you make it and more im[portantly like it.

TIPS

Dont stir the gravy too much after the Eggs are added.

Mac N Cheese

So, hey all. The recipe coming up today is is the traditional and everyones favorite Mac N cheese. Its very simple and can be made with simple ingredients.

MAC N CHEESE

INGREDIENTS

TUBE PASTA : SMALL ONES

FOR THE SAUCE

MILK : 1-2 CUPS
ALL PURPOSE FLOUR OR MAIDA : 2 TBSP
UNSALTED BUTTER : 1/2 STICK OR 2 TBSP
CHEESE : SHARP CHEDDAR OR LIGHT CHEDDAR, MOZZARELLA, AMERICAN, MIX OF ALL
SEASONINGS: ONIONS, GARLIC etc

MAKING

Take a vessel and boil water in it with a sprinkle of salt. Once the water has started boiling, add the pasta and cook for 10 minutes. Drain the water and keep the pasta aside.

For the sauce, take a pan, add butter and allow it to melt ( don't melt it too much that it becomes ghee). Add the 2 tbsp all purpose flour and mix it for a few seconds before adding the milk. The reason the all purpose flour/ maida is added is, to thicken the sauce. After the milk is added wait till it starts boiling. Don't let it boil too much. Just when the milk starts boiling, you will see it thickening, add the cheeses. You can combine a little bit of everything. You will see a nice smooth paste like consistency. Make sure the cheese doesn't become sticky or stringy so  keep the gas in low flame and switch off the gas once the cheeses have melted.

Add the pasta, add salt and sprinkle pepper powder on top. Yummy Mac N Cheese is ready.

Now for some variation and Tips;

Mozzarella cheese tends to be sticky so avoid it if  possible. You can also add garlic and onions to it. light fry them both before adding them to the sauce. Add them after the milk . You can also bake them by adding breadcrumbs as the top layer in a greased oven pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Lastly, the gas should always be in low flame and make sure the sauce doesnt become too burnt.

Enjoy !

VEGETABLE STEW

Hey all, I am back. First of all, thank you all for the encouragement, thats exactly what I needed to go further. Ok, now my son has gone to school and my daughter is sleeping so its the perfect time to dish out my next recipe. This one I learnt recently and is known to many especially in Kerala. Its called Vegetable Stew served with Appam and Idiappam. I am sure all those from Kerala would be familiar with this.

VEGETABLE STEW

INGREDIENTS

VEGETABLES: CARROTS, POTATOES, CAULIFLOWER, PEAS, CORN etc..
ONIONS : 1 BIG OR 2 SMALL
GINGER : 2 TBSP (CUT, SHREDDED OR PASTE)
GREEN CHILLIES: 4-5
CURRY LEAVES
CORN PEPPER : 1-2 ( not compulsory)
BAY LEAVES : 2
CARDAMOM : 3
CINNAMON STICKS: 3-4
COCONUT MILK : 1 CUP
COCONUT OIL AND SALT

MAKING

Take a pan, add a spoon of coconut oil or any other oil (vegetable, refined oil. canola), add the Bay leaes, Cardamom, Cinnamon sticks, Curry leaves, Ginger paste, Green chillies , Corn pepper. Stir them for a few seconds before adding the Onions. Stir again for a couple of minutes before adding all the vegetables. Make sure the onions and the vegetables are not too fried otherwise the whole stew would be dark in color. Simmer the gas, stir the vegetables, add the salt as required and then finally add the coconut milk. Make sure the gas is in very low flame so that the coconut milk doesn't curdle.If you don't have coconut milk, take grated coconut, grind it in the mixie with water/milk and liquify it so that it gets the consistency like coconut milk. This is what I did as I didnt have coconut milk one time and it came out equally well. The stew shouldn't be too thin or too thick. Your stew is ready, serve it with Appam, Idiappam or any dish like uttappam, sevai . Believe me, its yummy...

CARROT THOGAYAL

Hey there, I am back with a new recipe, this one comes from my Mom-in-law's cooking artillery. She had made this when she visited us in 2011. It's so simple yet delicious. So, here it goes.

CARROT THOGAYAL

INGREDIENTS

CARROTS: 1-2 GRATED
SMALL ONIONS: 5-6

Carrot Thogayal

TAMARIND: SIZE OF A TEN CENT COIN-OR 25 PAISE OR SMALLER
COCONUT: 1-2 TBSP
RED CHILLIES: 3-4
SALT AS REQUIRED


MAKING

Very easy, just grind all the above with salt as required and season it with little coriander leaves and coconut oil.

yummy Carrot Thogayal is ready. you can serve it with chapathi's or rice.

Try it and let me know.

BEETROOT KOOTU

This recipe was made by mom when she was here for my delivery. The other day I wanted to make it but as always I forgot how she made it and so I was forced to give a new spin to it and lo-behold it came out so well that I was surprised myself.

So this recipe is a new spin to my mom's Beetroot kootu

INGREDIENTS

BEETROOT: 1-2
CHANA DAL (Kadalai Paruppu): 1/2 cup
CURRY LEAVES
URAD DAL: 1 TBSP OR HANDFUL
COCONUT : 2 TBSP
RED CHILLIES : 3

Beetroot Kootu

SEASONING

COCONUT OIL AND MUSTARD SEEDS



MAKING

Cut the Beetroot into small cubes. Take the Channa Dal and wash it. Boil the Channa Dal and Beetroot together in a vessel with enough salt and water. Now, I didn't have enough time to boil the dal in the cooker which is the easy way to do, so I chose to boil them both together. Meanwhile, fry the Urad Dal, Dry Red Chillies, and coconut until they are light brown in colour and grind it in the mixie with little water. Remember, Channa Dal, takes a long time to cook which I figured out that day. So once its almost cooked or half-cooked, I couldn't wait any longer so to speed things up, I added this to the coconut gravy already in the mixie. Gave them all one or two more rounds in the blender and yes, the beetroot kootu was ready and well mashed and mixed. The Channa dal was totally cooked and mashed totally with the gravy.

Season it with coconut oil and mustard seeds, add it to the kootu once the mustard splutters and your tasty easy Beetroot Kootu is ready. Have it as a side dish to sambhar and even works well with Roti's.

So try it out especially when you have just one beetroot left out which is of no use.

Happy New Year...

Hi Everyone,

Heres wishing everyone a very Happy New Year. Though I am late and have been busy running around my two little tots day in and day out, I have decided to give my blog another shot and this time want to focus on it a little more.

This year started with me trying out something and ending with something really different and tasty that had my husband asking me to write it down somewhere....

So this really encouraged me to do this more often and so I am going to do it. Lets see how it works out...