Crunchy Jelaibi

Ingredients:

1 cup Maida

1 tsp level baking powder

(sieve both maida and baking powder  so that they mix in well together)
2 pinch yellow food colour
3 cups sugar
1 ½ glass water
cold water to mix

Method:

1. Make the sugar syrup, let it cool completely, it should be thick, only then the jalaibi will get it’s taste.

 
Mix the flour, with the food colour and mix it with COLD water, it will start turning very sticky like a glue, keep mixing strongly with a whisker till the batter is very creamy but not runny.

2. You can use the icing set which is used for cakes and fix the tinniest nozzle on it as when you drop the batter in the oil it will raise in size so better use the smallest one, now heat the oil, fill in the icing device, and go round round with it dropping it in the oil and make the form of jelabi  or use  a plastic sheet and make it like a cone and fill it with batter and make a thin hole in the nob and use it .

3. Don’t fry too long you will feel as the colour changes to a light brownish orange, take it out and put it directly in the syrup BUT take it immediately out after 4-5 seconds!! If it stays long it will become very soggy, to have it crunchy you have to hurry, place them on a grill so that the extra syrup runs out, don’t cover them they will stay crunchy 100% !!!

Now enjoy crispy Jelaibis  :)

Ice Coffee

This is very yummy chilling coffee for all coffee lovers . I love to have this in hot summer whenever I have a feel to have coffee :) . usually Ice coffee is done with ice cream, but this recipe is without ice cream , its light and yummy. 

Ingredients:


Boiled Milk - One cup
Sugar- 1 teaspoon
Instant coffee powder - 1 teaspoon
Milk chocolate - 3 inch piece ( I prefer using galaxy choclate or diary milk)
Ice cubes - handful

Method:


Mix all the ingredients together and beat in the mixi for 3 minutes and serve cold .


Yummy chilled coffee :) for a hot day.

Ladys Finger Kara Kolambu

This is a yummy curry apt for plain white rice. I made this with ladys finger but also it tastes good adding brinjal or drumstick or potato .

Ingredients:

Ladys Finger - 250 gms  wash and cut into one inch pieces

Fresh coconut scrapped : 1/2 cup

Onion  - Slice onion roughly

Tomato - 2 ripe medium size tomatoes chopped roughly

Sambar powder- any good brand one tablespoon

Tumeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Hing -1/4 teaspoon

One lime size tamarind - make into a juice for 1/2 cup

Garlic- 6 cloves sliced

Jaggary or white sugar - 1/4 spoon

Mustard seeds - 1/4 spoon

Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 spoon

Whole red chillies- 3

Curry leaves

Salt to taste

Oil as required, I prefer gingelly oil for this curry as it enhances the taste

   

Method:

1. In a kadai heat 2 tablespoons oil and add the onions , garlic and fry well with a stream of curry leaves and once the onions are fried add the tomatoes and fry well till the raw smell goes off and then finally add the sambar powder , 1/4 teaspoon tumeric powder and fresh coconut and toss for 2 minutes and then grind to a fine paste.

2. In a kadai add little oil and fry the ladys finger in slow fire for 7 minutes and once done remove and keep aside.

3. In the same kadai, add oil  and once hot add mustard seeds, then fenugreek seeds, curry leaves and pinch  of hing powder, and then add the tamarind juice and cook it along with little water and once the raw smell of tamarind goes away, then add the fried ladys finger and then add the grinded gravy with little water, add salt and cook till the gravy becomes thick and then remove and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve it  with hot steaming rice.

Karela Salad

A quick and easy Yummy salad with karela , it is a must salad in Srilankan food. I learnt this from my Srilankan friends and it is worth trying.

Ingredients:

Karela  : 2 nos washed and thinly sliced in round shape

Tomato : 1 sliced thin

Onion : thinly sliced round

Lemon Juice : 4 tablespoons  

Black Pepper Powder : 1/2 teaspoon

Tumeric Powder  : 1/4 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Method:

Mix tumeric powder and salt with the sliced karela and marinate it for 10 minutes and then deep fry it in little oil until very crispy like chips, but to avoid oil , I microwaved the karela to a crispy texture with one teaspoon of oil.

Now mix the fried karela, onion rings, tomato, pepper powder, lemon juice and   salt and serve with hot white rice accompanied by vegetarian curries.  

Saucy Baked Chicken

Was wondering what to cook for dinner and once decided to make chicken, I grabbed the Fauzia's recipe which I had been longing to do and eyed for long time :) . I couldnt resist to eat it once I made it it looked fabulous and smelled superb and tasted the best and this is the best ever baked chicken  by me :), a big hug and thank you to Fauzia. A must try easy recipe.

Ingredients:

1 chicken, without skin, cut into 8 or 10 pieces
2 tbsp oil
3 tbsp tomato paste (if your tomato paste is of a good bright coloured type, then first use 2 tbsp and check how the colour looks when blended with the rest of the ingredients...if you find you need more you can then add as necessary)
1 medium red onion chopped
1 heaped tsp ginger garlic paste
2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp whole cumin
2 tsp salt
2 TBsp tandoori masala
1 big mug plain yoghurt, full
2 green chillis (add more if you want it spicier)
1 bunch coriander, with sticks (not just the leaves)
Juice of 2 lemon (if ur lemons are very juicy then use just the juice of 1)

Method:

Clean and wash, then drain the chicken and set aside in a bowl.

Put ALL the other ingredients into a blender. Blend everything together until smooth. If you find the colour is not as vibrant as you would like, add a tsp of tandoori masala and a little more tomato paste, and blend again. Then pour over the chicken. Cover and refrigerate, let it marinate preferably for about 2-4 hours, but up to overnight is fine.

Pour everything into a glass pyrex baking dish, cover with foil. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C. Place your baking dish on the center rack and bake for 30-35mins. 

(At this point your whole house will have the most appetising aroma. So be warned, tummies will growl!) :D

Remove dish, open the foil and turn the pieces over. Baste them with some of the liquid, just scoop with a spoon n drizzle over the pieces to keep them moist. Replace foil and put the dish back in the oven. Bake for another 30-35mins.

Finally remove the dish from the oven and discard the foil. Turn the pieces over once more and baste again with the sauce just to retain moisture, then put the tray back into the oven (without the foil this time) for about 10 mins or so just to give the pieces a nice colour. (If you have a grill in the oven, turn it on at this point to give the chicken a fantastic finish).

Once ready, remove and cover loosely with the foil until time of serving so the heat is retained.

Serving options: This dish can be served  with many different things in the past, but the best accompaniment in my opinion is fries, some sort of bread like naan or pita or parathas, chappatis and a fresh salad and an icy cold drink.


Enjoy cooking and eating this fabulous Chicken:) 

Rava Laddo

This is the recipe of my sweetest grandma who is an excellent cook and this is the most frequently wanted and made sweet in my house which I learnt to master it from her. This is very easy to make in less than 20 minutes .

Ingredients:

White Rava (Sooji ) : One cup

Cashew nuts : broken a handful

Raisins: Handful

Almonds and pistachios Crused handful (Optional)

Hot Milk : 1/4 cup

Sugar : 3/4 cup

Cardamon Powder : 1/4 teaspoon

Fresh coconut Grated : 1/4 cup

Ghee : 1/4 cup or 4 tablespoons

Method:

1. In a kadai add ghee when hot add cashew nuts, raisins and other nuts you prefer and once light brown add the fresh coconut and fry in very slow heat for 5 minutes and then add the rava and roast it in very slow fire for 7 minutes  and be careful not to brown the rava and once the rava is roasted, add sugar and mix well for 5 minutes in slow fire , add cardamon powder and then add the milk and mix well and immediately switch off from fire .

2. Start making ladoos when warm itself, if you feel too dry to make ladoos add little milk, grease hands with ghee and make the ladoos in the sizes you wish.

Note: if you wish you can add a pinch of food colour of your choice to make it more colourful and add it in little water or milk and add to the mixture while mixing on heat. 

Quick & Easy Coconut Rice

This is a quick and easy recipe which I always prefer for a lunch box and very yummy when accompanied by potato fry or cauliflower fry. 

Ingredients:

Rice: two cups boiled and dont make it soggy and should be in the tempo for friedrice

Fresh Coconut scraped : one cup

Mustard seeds: 1/4 teaspoon

Split channa dhal: 1 teaspoon

Split Urad dhal:  1 teaspoon

Garlic: 6 cloves chopped or sliced

Cashew nuts : 6 nos broken into two (Optional)

Whole red chilies: 5 nos broken into two

Asafoetida powder: 1/4 spoon

Curry leaves

Salt to taste 

Cooking Oil: 2 tablespoons

Coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

1. Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds and then urad dhal, channa dhal, chashew and when it changes colour, add the garlic and fry for a minute and add the red chilies and curry leaves and asafoetida powder  and coconut and fry well for 2 minutes and dont burn the coconut to brown colour and add enough salt and rice and mix well.

2. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Enjoy yummy yummy coconut rice with potato fry:)

Puli Vada

This a really simple and simply superb recipe taught to me by my friends mom Jalajaka , it really tastes awesome and has a big advantage where we can keep the vada dough for at least one week in fridge  and still it turns out  awesome. A must try snack.

Ingredients:

One cup rice ( Ponni or basmathi or raw rice) : wash and soak it for 2 hours

Tamarind : one big lemon size

Whole Red chillies : 6 nos

Curry leaves a few

Fresh Coconut scrapped : Two handful or half coconut

Salt to taste and oil for frying

Method:

1. Remove all the water from thee soaked rice and dry grind the rice without adding water to a course powder and dont make it very fine and keep aside.

2. Grind in the mixi with little water , coconut, redchillies, curry leaves and tamarind like chutney and salt keep aside.

3. Now add the chutney to the rice powder and mix well with hand so that you get a thick dough like muruku dough even thicker than that and now make small balls and take a plastic bag and rub oil on it and make the ball flat with hands and the vada should be thick and deep fry it in hot oil in medium heat . It will swel up like pooris.

Serve hot with plain coconut chutney and even it tastes great when eaten with no side dips.

Bhindi Pepper Fry

While doing Bhindi fry in the same style, I tried using pepper powder instead of chilli powder and turned awesome . Sure for a change from the normal poriyals :). It tastes good and tangy with the fresh pepper and mango powder or lemon juice added.

Ingredients:

Ladys finger : 1/2 Kg cleaned and cut diagonally in small peices

Mustard seeds: 1/4 teaspoon

Slit Urad Dhal: 1 teaspoon

Fresh crushed Pepper powder : 1 teaspoon

Garlic: 5 pieces thinly sliced

Onion : One thinly sliced

Yogurt : 1 tablespoon

Dry Mango Powder  : 1/4 teaspoon (Optional or use a few drops of lime juice instead of mango powder)

Salt to taste

A few curry leaves

Oil as required.

Method:

1. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a non stick kadai and when hot add mustard seeds and then add urad dhall and once light brown add the onions, sliced garlic  and fry for one minute adding curry leaves and then add the ladys finger and yogurt and fry well for 10 minutes in very slow fire, dont close the lid .

2. when the ladies finger is fried well add enough salt , dont make it too dark add the  freshly crushed pepper powder and 1/4 spoon mango powder or a few drops of lemon juice and give a toss and remove from fire.

Serve hot as a accompaniment with any curry and white rice or hot chappatis and pulkas.

Fruit Trifle

A yummy fruit trifle which is my all time favorite, it is very quick and easy to make as we can even do even  with only one fruit .

Ingredients:

Milk : 1/2 liter

Vennila custard  Powder : 3 tablespoons

Sugar : 1/4 cup

Fruits : cut into small peices( Apple, Orange, whole seedless grapes,  banana, mangoes , pineapple and anything of your choice)

Jelly : Make jelly with strawberry flavour and lime flavour ( I used this for red and green colour)

Method:

1. Boil milk with sugar and then dilute the custard powder with milk and add add to the boiling mik and mix well till it becomes thick and then remove from fire and cool .

2. keep blending the custard mixture with a hand whip as it will form thick crumps otherwise but see that it is very thick like yogurt.

3. Now mix in the fruits and garnish with jellys of your choice to make it more colourful chill and serve cold :)

Note:

If you are adding Pineapple, add it only before you serve as it might become bitter if kept for long in the custard mixture.

Make sure the mixture is very cold before garnishing with jelly or it start blotting as happened to mine  as shown in the pictures.

Dhal Rice ( Pappu Biyam Rice)

It was a lazy friday and blinked myself in FB and read the posts of this dhal rice traditionally known as Pappu Biyam Koodu in our Naidus community and was craving to immediately cook the same for lunch , infact this is the National Food of Coimbatore Naidus :) . This is my version of Dhal rice which I learnt from my grandma, event hough I dont get the same taste as her magic fingers do still tried to perfect it to some extent.  

Ingredients:

Rice  one cup and (Toor Dhal + channa dhal 1/2 cup) : Washed and soak it together for 2 hours

Onion : 1 big no sliced thin ( or use one cup of chopped shallots (small onion )

Green Chillies: 5 nos slit lengthwise

Tomato : 1 big No sliced

Garlic : 5 cloves of garlic chopped roughly

Mustard Seeds : 1 teaspoon

Tumeric Powder : 1 /2 teaspoon

Channa Dhal : 1 teaspoon

Split Urad Dhal : 1 teaspoon

Curry leaves a few

Coriander leaves chopped 2 tablespoon

Oil : 3 spoons

Salt to taste.

Method:

1.  Take a cooker and heat 3 spoons of oil in it and when hot add mustard seeds and then urad dhal and channa dhal and when it slighlty turns colour , add the onions, greenchillies, curry leaves  and garlic and fry well till onions become pink in colour and add tumeric powder & tomatoes and add enough salt and fry till tomatoes starts mushing and then add the soaked rice with dhal without water and fry it in the oil for 2 minutes and then add  2 cups of water in the same cup in which the rice was measured and pressure cook till 3 whistles or according to your normal rice cooking mode.

2. When the steam is off, add the chopped coriander leaves and mix well and serve hot with desi ghee and papadam , pickle, pudina leaves chutney, coriander leaves chutney :)

It is a quick and easy yummy recipe.

Slimming Tea

I recently found this fabulous slimming tea recipe and it really works, minimum 3 cups a day is a must to reduce weight gradually along with low calorie food. 

This tea not only reduces weight but also good for reducing cholesterol as we use cinnamon in it . 

Ingredients:

Green Tea Bag : 1 No
Cinnamon Stick : 2" inch
Fresh ginger : 1" inch
Lime : 1 slice 


Method:


To a cup of hot boiling water , add one green tea bag , one slice of lime, 1 peice of ginger and 1 piece of cinnamon stick and leave it for 5 minutes and immediately remove the added tea bag, cinnamon, lime , ginger as it might become bitter if you keep it for long. 

Happy Slimming :) .

Mutton Machboos

This recipe is one of the best rice recipes in Middle East and I learnt this from one of my friend :) . The same recipe can be used to make with Chicken, fish ( fish has to be fried coated with chilli powder and salt and added to the rice in the last ) or vegetables ( carrots, potatoes, peas, cauliflower and capsicum ) . 

The real version of Machboos is non spicy as majority of the arabs eat non spicy food  but we asians rock with hot spices :) and I hence I made very small variations to suit our Asian taste buds . If you want to take a break from the normal biriyanis and fried rice stuff , you can try this yummy rice , it looks like biriyani but it will taste different for sure :) .

Ingredients: 

Tender Mutton : 1/2 Kg with bones

Basmathi rice : 2 cups ( washed and soaked in water for one hour and then fried for 5 minutes in 2 table spoon oil without water)

Potatoes : 2 medium sized cubed into 3 inch pieces 

Capsicum : 2 nos deseeded and cut into cubes 

Onion : One big size sliced thin

Green chillies :  7 nos whole 

Tomatoes  : 3 medium size but into big cubes 

Ginger garlic paste: 2 tablespoon

Black lemon : 2 nos (wash it and pierce holes on it using a knife) 

whole Black pepper : 1 teaspoon 

Bay leaf : 2 peices    

Cinnamon sticks : 2 peices

Green cardamon : 4 nos

Cloves: 4 nos

Chilli Powder  : 1 teaspoon

Pepper Powder : 1 teaspoon

Curry Powder : 1 teaspoon ( I use Madras curry powder)

Cumin powder : 1 teaspoon

Tomato Paste : 4 tablespoon ( I prefer using the packet ones as it gives good colour)

Oil : 1/4 cup

Salt to taste  

Method:

1. Take a big pot and add 1/4 cup oil and when hot add bayleaves, cinnamon, cardamon, cloves , one teaspoon whole blackpepper and mix well and add one big sliced  onion and fry till golden brown and then add 2 tablespoon ginger garlic paste and fry till it starts sticking to the pan and now add the cubed tomatoes,  tomato paste and fry well till the raw smell of the tomatoes goes and when it starts becoming mushy, add the mutton and fry well for 5 minutes and then add 2 pierced black lemons  and then the spices ( one teaspoon chilli powder, one teaspoon curry powder, one teaspoon blackpepper powder and one teaspoon cumin powder ) and  mix well and add some water and enough salt and close the lid and cook the mutton in slow fire  and when meat is half done add the capsicum and 2 handful of finely chopped coriander leaves and  mix well and keep cooking till the meat is tender.

2. Now add the soaked rice ( you can fry the soaked rice without water in a tablespoon of oil in a kadai for 5 minutes and then use the same as this will avoid the rice getting mussy ).

3. See  the water level in the pan and it should be 1: 11/2 (one cup rice and one half cup water ). Now at this stage taste the water and adjust salt and   keep the fire on medium and cook for 5 minutes and then keep an old frying pan on fire and keep the vessel on top of it on very verylow fire and close with a tight lid and keep in dhum for 30 minutes . 

4. Yummy machboos is ready :) to be served with onion yogurt (curd ) raitha .

 

Eggless 8 Minutes Banana Bread

This is the yummiest and easiest recipe in just 8 minutes :) . This can be easily done in a normal cooking mode Microwave Oven in 8 minutes and it can also be baked in normal oven. I prefer the microwave version as it can be done in minutes. This is a quick and ideal breakfast bread and if you make this for kids they would have a real blast :). 

Ingredients:


Self Raising Flour / Maida  - One cup
Ripe Banana - 1 and half cup mashed well
Baking Powder - 1 teaspoon
Baking soda - 1/2 teaspoon
Castor sugar or Brown sugar - 3/4 cup
Milk - 1/3 cup
Cooking oil either corn or sunflower - 1/4 cup
Crushed Nuts & Raisans- 1/4 cup any nuts of your own choice

Method:


1. Seive the flours , baking powder and baking soda together so that it mixes well and keep aside.

2. Mix the castor sugar or brown sugar in 1/4 cup oil and milk and beat well with a hand beater and then add this to the flour mixture and mix well and also add the mashed bananas 1 and half cups and beat well in a hand blender till everything mixes well to a smooth texture, just mix it for 3 minutes and not for a long time and finally mix in the nuts.

3. grease an microwave dish and pour the mixture and bake for 8 minutes in high cooking mode . Once done insert a toothpick and if it is done it will come out clean and if not bake for another 2 minutes.

4. Allow it to cool well and then transfer and slice and enjoyyy :)

Note: If you use castor sugar the bread will be in a whiter shade and if you use brown sugar the bread gets a good colour and it tastes different. I prefer using brown sugar.

Aloo Tikki

This is my all time favourite whenever I feel like making some snack using potatoes in the evenings, I instantly prefer doing this , it is quick and easy and it is a big hit in my family J . A good Starter for parties, you can even do on the previous day and keep it in fridge and fry it on the next day.

Ingredients:

Potatoes: 3 medium sized potatoes boiled and mashed

Onion : one finely chopped

Green chillies : 6 Finely chopped

Ginger : 2” inch piece grated fine

Coriander leaves: handful chopped finely

Curry leaves : a few finely chopped

Corn flour : 2 tablespoons ( Mix it with quarter cup water and keep aside )

Bread crumbs : one cup

Ordinary White Bread : 5 slices ( Dip for a second in water and squeeze out all the water )

Oil for frying

Salt to taste

Method:

1.   Take a Mixing bowl and add the mashed potatoes, onions, greenchillies, curry leaves, coriander leaves, grated ginger , soaked bread , salt and mix well till it becomes smooth and then make small balls and shape it like oval balls and keep aside  .

2.       Now dip the tikkis in cornflour mixture and then roll it in the bread crumbs and deep fry in  oil in medium heat till golden brown and the tikkis will  burn if you fry in high fire .

Note: Dipping in the cornflour  or egg  and breadcrumbs is optional and it can be deep fried even without this and I had done it without dipping in cornflour and bread crumbs still it is very crispy but it should be fried in hot oil and then on  medium heat . 

 Serve with tomato or chilli sauce .

Chicken Bread

I always had a craze to learn baked dishes and a few times I had tried a few recipes and always failed in one step or the other but always blamed my oven and kept cribbing that I dont have a right oven in place,   but in the same oven this is the first baking recipe which turned out absolutely perfect and fabulous. I learnt this also from a TV channel and is a unique recipe to impress your loved ones :) .  A must try recipe and vegetarians can  substitute veggies or anything they wish and amend the ingredients stuffing to their taste buds but never change the proportion of the dough as this is really a perfect dough for any kind of stuffing . 

Ingredients for Dough:

Maida or All purpose flour - 4 cups /16 OZ (1/2 Kg)
Milk Powder - 2 Tablespoon
Cooking Oil - 1/4 cup
Instant yeast - 1 tablespoon
Castor Sugar - 1 teaspoon
Salt- 1 teaspoon leveled
Egg -1
Lukewarm water

Dough Mixture Preparation:

Take a vessel add the flour and add all the ingredients as measured above, add yeast, milk powder, cooking oil, castor sugar, salt , egg and knead it well with lukewarm water to a chappati dough consistency and keep it in a greased vessel and brush some oil over the dough and keep it covered in a warm place for one hour till the dough becomes double.

Stuffing Chicken Mixture:

Ingredients for stuffing:

Chicken 1/2 KG boiled with salt and shredded ( or use boneless peices and boil with salt and shred)

Butter- 3 tablespoon

Onion- One big onion finely chopped

Maida or All purpose flour - 2 tablespoon

Salt- one tablespoon

Black pepper powder- 1 tablespoon

Green chillies- 4 nos chopped finely

Garam masala Powder -1/2 teaspoon

Milk- one cup

Tomato Sauce- 1 tablespoon

Coriander leaves- Finely chopped 2 tablespoons

Method to prepare stuffing:

• Take a non stick pan or tawa , heat it and add 3 tablespoon butter and add the chopped onion and fry till it turns pink and then add 2 tablespoon maida and mix well for a minute and then add salt, pepper powder, green chillies , garam masala powder and mix well and add one cup milk, and mix well in low fire till it becomes thick and now add the boiled shredded chicken and mix well for 2 minutes and then add tomato sauce and coriander leaves and mix well and then remove from fire. The mixture should be thick and not watery.

Dough Stuffing:

Ingredients:

One egg

one tablespoon til/sesame seeds

Kead the doubled dough well using hands for a minute and then take a big handful size of dough and roll the entire flour into oval shape with 1/4 inch thickness like the thin crust pizza and then make small cuts on the sides of the rolled dough till the end on both sides and keep the prepared mixture in between and start overlapping the cuts from both the sides as shown in the picture and once done , brush the bread with egg and sprinkle some til /sesame seeds on top of the bread and keep it aside for another half an hour to rise and then bake it 200 degree centigrade for 20 minutes till it browns on the top .

You can also make make small croissants using the same filling and bake in the same procedure.

You can also do your own kind of stuffing with vegetables or eggs or mince meat as per your choice but see that the stuffing stays thick.

It is a worth trying dish which suits for partys and dinners :)