Capsicum/ Paprika Stirfry

I love to have my ripe red or yellow capsicum raw, or even better, its juice extracted from a low juicer. It  took me a while to drink this juice as I was not a fan of the paprika. In Udupi  where I grew up we only got small green ones which were not my favourite at all. These green ones have a strong taste, while the red & the yellow ones are very sweet and you can just  eat them raw.

During hot summer days Jan & myself would bike all the way to the Hague Market just to    buy them in bulk   to extract juice. Once I started enjoying it I realised how SO YUMMY it was ! And full of vitamins too!


Here is also a recipe, to show you how to make an easy stirfry with these 
delicious vegetable.

Ingredients

Mixed Capsicum / Paprica (3nos.)
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 large onions slices.
1/2 tsp.of Turmeric/kurkuma powder
Seasoning(option)Mustard, cumin & dry red chilly

Method:
1.  Slice the capsicum & the onions as shown.

2.  Heat a Tab. sp of oil (you can use any oil here)add when the oil is hot lower the flame   remove pan from fire & add the seasoning i.e.

3.  1/2 tsp. of whole black mustard, allow the mustard seed to crackle.

4.  Then add the 1/4 tsp. of whole Cumin seed & the dry red chilly.

5.  Add then 1/2 tsp. of turmeric powder & Salt to taste.

6.  Bring the pan back on fire & add the sliced the onions& crushed garlic & fry on medium   flame for 2 to 3 minutes until the onions are translucent.

7.  Now add the sliced capsicum & stir fry for two minutes on high flame.

8.  Sprinkle some freshly grated or desicated coconut .

Serve with a chapati or rice.

Enjoy!

Chicken Biriani

I have been a non meat eater for a while but have cheated when ever Biriani was around, especially Chicken Biriani. I would excuse myself and have a generous portion of the rice and leave the chicken behind. But it's been hard and once again I have gone back to having chicken once in a while (my soul was not satisfied said a friend of mine)..Anyway.
I made this for my team of friends Ilse,Mieke,Sunny,Wilma & Fatna as a thanks giving(belated) for all their help.

I want you to try this out!

What you need is:

• 1 kg of chicken cut into pieces
• 500 grams of Basmati rice
• Ginger garlic green chilly paste.(2 tab. sp. ground garlic paste, 1 tab.sp of ground ginger paste & 4 ground green chillies & salt to taste )
• 2 large onions
• 12 cardamon pods
• 12 cloves
• few pieces of cinnamon barks
• One handful of Coriander leaves 
• One handful of mint leaves.
• 1 tsp. of turmeric powder
• 1 tab.sp of Coriander powder
• 1/2 tab. sp. of cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp. of red chilly powder
• 1 tsp. of garam masala powder
• 1 tsp. of Shahjeera / caraway seeds
• saffron in milk (1/2 a cup of warm milk with 1 tsp. of saffron)
• Few tab.sp. of ghee (4 to 6 tab.sp.)
• 1/2 a lemon juice
• Oil
• Salt

Step I:

1 kg. of chicken cut into pieces.

Marinate this in Ginger garlic green chilly paste & keep it over night in
the fridge.(2 tab. sp. ground garlic paste, 1 tab.sp of ground ginger paste & 4 ground
green chillies & salt to taste )

Step II:

2 large onions finely slice lengthwise & fried until golden brown & kept
aside.

Step III:

Take a heavy pan and add 1/2 a cup of oil (I used sunflower).When the oil is warm add:
6 cardamon pods
8 cloves
2 to 3 pieces of cinnamon barks

Fry for a few seconds and add:
A handful of fried onions,
1 tsp. of turmeric powder
1 tab.sp of Coriander powder
1/2 tab. sp. of cumin powder
1/2 tsp. of red chilly powder
1 tsp. of garam masala powder
Fry these ingredients for a while about 2 minutes on a low flame.

IV. Then add:

One handful of the Coriander leaves
One handful of mint leaves.
Stir well and check if it is salty enough.

V. Add then:

The marinated chicken & 1/2 a lemon juice & mix well.
Let it cook for 15 minutes stirring now and then.

After 15 minutes take the pan away from the fire & keep aside.

VI. Prepare the rice:

As you are preparing the Biriani masala ingredients,
Soak 500 grams of Basmati rice cleaned & soaked in plenty of cold water for 15 minutes.
Then pour the rice on to a colander and let all the water drain and rice look almost dry.

While rice is soaking,
Take a pan add 2 to 3 ltrs. of water add:
6 cardamom
4 cloves
few pieces of cinnamon sticks
1 tsp. of Shahjeera / caraway seeds
2 tab.sp. of oil &
Salt

When the water is boiling, add the rice stir just once.
Allow to boil on high flame for 5 minutes and then drain the rice of all water.
Here you can remove all the whole spices if you do not want them.

VII.  Now

We are going to make some layers, first chicken, then rice on top, so;

Keep the chicken mixture back on fire and let it simmer.
Remove half the chicken mixture with its gravey and keep aside.

VIII. Then

Spread a handful of coriander , mint leaves and fried onions on top of the
chicken that is kept to simmer.

Then on top of this half the rice kept to drain and spread it out well.

Now add the rest of the chicken mixture kept aside on top of the rice spreading it evenly around 

Again add on top of it a handful of coriander, mint & fried onions.

Now add the rest of the rice (this is the last)& spread it out well.

Add now on top of this last layer of rice;
Few tab.sp. of ghee (4 to 6 tab.sp.)
saffron in milk (1/2 a cup of warm milk with 1 tsp. of saffron)
Some more coriander, mint & fried oniond.

IX. Then,

Take an aluminium foil and cover the pan well before you put the lid on it.
Now higher the flame for 5 minutes and let the rice cook.
Keep your oven warm at 150 deg. and transfer the pan and let it cook for
half hour and switch off.. 

OR

Cover your pan with a heavy blanket(woolen or a duvet)and let it rest until
time to serve 

OR
Place pan on a large saucepan / tawa then on fire & cook for another 25
minutes on low flame.



Serve with a Yogurt Salad / Raita
Papadam & a boiled egg.

ENJOY!

Bombay Toast / French Toast/ Egg bread

Whatever one calls this white bread item, it is the most tasty way to have white bread for breakfast.

Growing up my mum often made this, but I had forgotten it until we were at Deepthi's parents place last December and her mum (I call her Baby) served this for breakfast.We both loved it & Jan who hardly has any breakfast had 4 slices of them!!!(me too...:-) ).IT was soooooo tasty.

Even though we had Aapam & stew the previous morning we both agreed this was the best breakfast! and once I was back home lost no time to make this. 

I remember we called it as Bombay toast but mostly its called French Toast or egg bread.
Anyway here is how to make this easy bread.

There are two ways of making this...



Ingredients:

Method 1
2 slices of white bread ( usualy left over bread from the previous day is used)
2 Eggs well beaten
1-1.5 cups of milk
2 tab. sp of sugar
A pinch of Cinnamon powder



Method 2
Same as above however no sugar instead Salt to taste & good helping of ground black pepper.




Add milk & all other ingredients to the beaten eggs & mix well.

Now immerse the slices of bread making sure all the milk is absorbed by the bread.

Heat a pan , add a knob of butter or Ghee and fry them on either side until it turns brown.





Enjoy!

Cha /Masala Tea

It took me a while to really make a GOOD cup of tea / cha. It was Sanjeev's Mum who had gifted me a packet of tea from Delhi and taught me how to make a perfect tea. I am so greatful to 'Didi" for teaching me how to make this perfect cup of tea and I even call it 'Diditea'.It may sound funny but thats how I call my cup of tea!


Ingredients:
1 tab.sp. of Assam Tea
1 piece of crushed fresh ginger
2 cloves
1 cup of full milk ( i use preserved milk)
1 cup of water.
Sugar

Method:
Bring to boil all the above ingredients .Let it simmer for a minute.

Switch off the gas and close the pan with its lid and let it rest for 5 minutes..

Sieve & serve hot ! This makes two cups of Cha.


Tips: If you do not have Assam tea use only English breakfast tea bags.Here you will need 2 bags .




Enjoy!

Kwark / Quark /Srikhand

This is a dessert I have been serving during lunches dinners ever since I came to the Netherlands. During one such dinner I heard someone say the Srikhand was tasty and in India it was served with poori (a kind of deep fried Indian bread) and this is when I started calling it 'Srikhand'. I had called it '"Kward met fruit/Quark with fruit."..... This is made with ready made Kwark freely available at the super market... try this out.


Ingredients:
400 Gms. of Kwark
4 to 6 tab. sp. of fine white sugar or Honey
Few pinches of Saffron threads
A pinch of cardamon powder


Method:

Empty the Kwark into a glass bowl & add all the above ingredients and mix well.

Place this in the fridge over night.

When serving give it a stir again& serve with fruit.

Banana & Mango goes very well with Kwark.


Enjoy!


Tips:
A perfect dessert made in no time and well appriciated by all!

Moong Dal Payasam / Kheer

(Cherupayar payasam)

Everyone who has had this payasam at my place just LOVED it!.

In my younger days when mum made this I never liked it as I hated anything made out of jaggery. I never tasted this payasam and on my Birthday I could choose and my Mum made special Pal / Milk payasam for me & I was happy!......

When I started making this payasam I found it very tasty and when I would tell my Mum how good it turned out to be she would ask me surprised if I had tried it. I love this payasam now and anything made out of Jaggery!!!..... and my explaination to all this is perhaps that I got some attention those days when she made special pal payasam for Papa (Papa is my pet name)

Now, everytime I make this payasam I am asked for its recipe and often I have told the guestsin a nut shell  how to make it.

Here is an easy way to make this delicious payasam which I am sure you will all try .....



Ingredients:
1 cup Moong dal
1 cup jaggery syrup( I use palm sugar syrup)
200 ml of coconut milk (I use Kara product)
400 mll water
1 tab. sp.Ghee
Handful halved raw cashewnut
A handful of raisins
4 cloves
Cardamom powder
1 tsp. dry ginger powder(chukku)
Pinch of Salt

This will serve 10 to 12

Method:
Using a heavy pan heat the Ghee and fry the Moongdal om a medium flame until they are all coated in Ghee and half the Moongdal turned dark brown(do not burn)You need to keep stirring as we do not want the entire Moongdal brown.

Then cook or pressure cook* this in water , cloves & salt for about 15 minutes or until they are 3/4 done.

Using a ladel mash half of the contents& stir the entire cooked moongdal well & add the jaggery syrup & the ginger powder & allow to simmer.

Then add the coconut milk give it a good stir and simmer for another 5 minutes. If the payasam / kheer is too thick add some milk or water to dilute.

Garnish with Cashewnuts & raisins &fresh coconut pieces fried in ghee. This garnish is what makes the payasam a big hit!




Garnish for payasam:
Heat another tab. sp of Ghee & fry the coconut pieces until they are almost dark brown but not burnt.

Then add the cashew nut and the raisins. Allow the cashewnuts to brown and the raisins to puff up.

Add this to the payasam & give it a stir.

Finally add the ground Cardamon powder & serve warm.


Enjoy!


Tips:
After you have fried the Moongdal I have seen my mum wash it in water. I have never done this.

I use palm sugar /Gula java available at the chineese or Indonesian stores.Mind you this is tastier than our Jaggery.

If I remember, asa kid when I travelled by train some place near Vadagara in Kerala we could get Ari chakkara / rice jaggery to buy.

This Ari Chakkara tasted very much like the Palm Sugar / Gula Java.

This payasam is at its best when served hot on a banana leaf!!!! the aroma of the leaf adds more flavor to this great payasam....

Onion Baje/ Pakora

First of all, I'd like to wish you all a happy New Year!

In 2014, I'll make sure to give you a new recipe every week so you can make it a year full of delicous food! Starting off  with: Pakora:)

This is a favourite during the lunches and dinners with all of us. I could say Onion at its best!. Very simple to make and done in no time.

This is specially for Marijn ( my little jochie :-) now 18 I babysat :-) )
He is so fond of this that we made it almost every week.The only time he would not have this is when he had to go out with his bunch of GFs and BFs......& I could understand that.... nobody wants to smell after fried onions right? & mind you the entire house smells and I could not wait to keep all windows and doors wide open ...& often Hannie my neighbour would ask me "what are you cooking Hmmm"

But it's definitely worth it once in a while as it is a delicious and simple dish, so please try it and let me know what you think!

Ingredients:
1 large onion
2 green chillies sliced into fine rings
Pinch of whole cumin seed
Few pinches of Hing / asefetida
4 tab. spoons of Gram flour
1/4 tsp. of Turmeric powder /kurkuma
A handful of chopped coriander leaves
1 Tab. sp. of ground rice powder


Method:
Remove skin and halve the onion & slice the halves into fine semi circular rings

Add the salt & green chillies and give it a good squeeze and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Now add rest of the ingredients andmix well.

Take a tab. sp. of the baje dough flatten it a bit & drop them into hot oil and fry until golden grown on either side.

Remove & put  them on a kitchen paper and allow all oil to drain.

Serve with coconut chutney or tomato chutney!

Enjoy!