Baked Cubed potatoes packets

I've adapted this recipe from one of my canadian friend and Indianized it...You guessed it right...I've added the chilly spice for which India is famous for to this western style baked cubed potato.

Recipe is quiet simple. Preparation is only to peel and cut potatoes and onions.

Gather all the other ingredients and mix everything in a bowl and pack them in foil and bake for 25 mins.

These can be accompanied with tandoori/barbarque chicken, any dry chicken curry, a steak or lamb or pork chops.

For my vegie friend's try it with spicy chick peas stir fry or Sundal as it is called in tamil.

Ingredients :
1 lb - Potatoes ( Any kind) - peeled and cubed (In western style they are skin on)
1 Carrot (optional) - cut into thick small strips (I didn't use)
1 medium onion cut length and breath wise
4 long Green Chillies - slit into half and then cut again in half
1 tbsp - Olive oil

Herbs:
Finely chopped :
Curry leaves
Coriander/Cilantro leaves
Optional: If you don't mind the flavour
Pudina/Mint leaves
Basil (I didn't use)

Seasonings:
Black pepper powder
a pinch of Amchur(dry mango powder) -if desired
Salt

Sheets of aluminium foil depending upon how many packets you want to make.

Procedure :

Preheat the oven to 350c.
1. In a mixing bowl, add peeled cubed potatoes, cut onions, green chillies, oil, herbs, and seasonings.
2. Mix thoroughly to coat the potatoes with the oil, herbs and seasoning.
3. Place two laddleful of this potatoe mixture on the pre cut aluminium foil sheets and wrap them into packets like this.
4. Place the prepared foil packet inside the oven on the heated racs and bake for 20- 25 mins at 350c.
5. After the set time take one packet out of the oven and unwrap gently, taking care that the hot steam doesn't hurt your fingers.
6. Poke a knife or fork thru the potato cubes to see if they are done.
7. If the fork doesn't pass thru smoothly then bake for some more time till done.
8. Once done remove from the oven and open the wraps to void further cooking if the potatoes are already well done.

These wraps are quiet good for barbaque pinics, as they can be prepared in advance and stored in the fridge.

The juices from the potatoes and onions keep them moist to enjoy with any dry dish.

Qiuck Chicken Roast

My husband is the one who created this simple yet adorably tasty chicken roast. Perfect for those weekday dinners when you can't spend much time in the kitchen. The ingredients that go into it are pretty much the same as the regular chicken curry. Only the style(method 2) in which it is cooked is rather too simple to be delicious.

Its a kind of one step chicken roast(method 2).
Ingredients:
Chicken - 2 lb (skinless, bone in and trimmed of all fat, cut into medium size pieces)
Onions - 1 Medium
Green chillies - 4 slit length wise
Ginger garlic paste( or Chopped finely) - 2 tbsp
Canola or Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Spice powders:
Home made Garam Masala powder - 1 tsp
Chilly Powder - 1 tsp
Tumeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Herbs:
Curry leaves - a handful
Coriander leaves - a few finely chopped
Salt -to taste
Method 1:
Heat oil in a pot or a wide saucepan, add green chillies curry leaves.
After the splutter sounds stops add onions and fry a little .
Add the ginger garlic crushed or paste and saute for a minute
Add the turmeric powder and fry for a minute
Add the chicken pieces, chilly powder and salt and mix well to give a nice coat of the masala for each piece.
Do not cover at all.
Keep stirring for 3-5 min, and add the garam masala powder and mix nicely.
Simmer till the the chicken is fully cooked( say 15- 20min), mixing regularly so that the curry doesn't stick the edges of the pot.
When almost cooked add the coriander leaves.
After a minute, remove from heat.
Method 2:
Alternatively to make this preparation dame easy and simple just put all the ingredients along with the chicken in a pot and cook stirring frequently till the curry is done.

Though this chicken curry looks so simple to make, it is absolutely tasty. In fact since we didn't fry the ingredients separately like the traditional preparation, it gives a distinct unique flavour to the dish. The turmeric, onions and curry leaves contribute to the taste and flavour here.

I recommend consuming this chicken preparation the same day..Left over curry does not taste the same.

This can be served with hot Rice with sambar or for western style I found it goes extremely well with baked cubed potatoes.

I will publish the baked cubed potatoes soon.

I'm sending this chicken dish to the event Potluck - "Chicken" created and hosted by Vikki's Kitchen

Gulab Jamun

As yet another Mother's day is just here...I thank the Lord for giving me mothers in my mom & grandmothers and blessing me to be wholesome women by making me mother to two sweet little sons. Incidently mother's day is more special in our family as my fisrt son Josh's b'day also falls during this time.

Nothing like celebrating this time with some traditional Indian sweets and savouries.
Think about Indian snacks and desserts ...who won't long for those chatpat Pakoras(Hindi), Pakodi(Telugu), Pakoda(Tamil) and those mouth watering Gulab Jamuns.

These two have been my favourite savoury and sweet from childhood. To light up your evening there is this Pakora with the desi chai, and to round up a meal there is this Jamun
One is a Starter and the other a Dessert.

So wishing all the mothers a happy motherhood, here is a the most famous Indian sweet - Gulab Jamun.

You can check out my recipe for pakoras here

Recipe for Gulab Jamun:
Ingredients :
1 cup Whole Milk Powder
1/2 cup all purpose flour (Maida)
(Alternately you can use 2 packets of store bought ready made gulab jamun mix)
1/2 tsp baking soda
75 gms thickened cream
2 Tbsp Ghee
approx 1/3 Cup Whole warm milk to make the dough
Oil for deep frying
A pinch of salt

For the Sugar Syrup
2 cups Sugar
1 cup water
1/2 tsp Rose essence/extract
1 tsp cardamom powder
A few Saffron strands(Kesar) - optional

First prepare the sugar syrup :
Dissolve 2 cups of sugar to 1 cup of water and bring to boil on meduim heat.
Add the rose essence, cardamom powder and saffron strands to the syrup.
Keep warm on stove to add the fried gulab jamun.

Making Jamuns:
Combine the milk powder, flour, baking powder, ghee and a pinch of salt
Add thickened cream to this.
Add enough milk to make a medium-hard dough.
Grease to your hands and make even size balls and place them on separate plate, taking care that the balls have smooth finish.
If the balls appear to be dry and crackled, see that your hands are greasy enough and add a bit more milk to the dough to moist and smooth.
Heat the oil on high and then lower the heat to medium.
Now slip one ball into the hot oil, it should rise to the surface slowly and not at once.
If the ball rises at once that means the temperature of the oil is too high which will burnthe balls and not cook them from inside.
If the first ball rises slowly, then add the remaining balls and fry till they turn brown.
The balls must be fried very slowly under medium temperature to ensure completely cooked inside and even browning outside.
The balls swell and become bigger in size and surface up as they fry and cook.
Once the jamuns are cooked drop them in the prepared warm sugar syrup.
Soak the gulab jamun in the sugar syrup for atleast 2 to 3 hours. You can soak overnight too for best results.
Serve them warm or at room temperature.

This is one sweet I use to make a number of times from my teenage.

My two little brats and hubby always enjoy the gulab jamuns.

A good combo with gulab jamun is ice cream, topped with dried crated pistachio or almonds. In Indian buffet restaurants this is a staple both here and back home.

Spicy Crab Curry - South Indian Style

The only seafood I use to enjoy in my childhood days was fish and shrimp/prawns. Though rarely my mom used to cook crabs I never did dared to taste it..
Firstly because of their severe smell and next I couldn't understand how the heck we eat it...You have to keep cracking the shell of its legs and body to get to its flesh...It looked tedious to me and more over I thought who kicked me for such an adventure...until one day after I got married my husband made a crab curry that broke of the shell of me not trying them. That was the tastiest seafood I had tasted. I think I got more fascinated by the thick gravy that he prepared for the crabs...Ever since I started trying them...AND in these 10-11 years of marriage I would have eaten them 10-15 times...Mostly we cook them at home..but there use to be one Malayalee restaurant in Chennai, which use to have Crab Manchurian on their menu which use to be exceptionally great. One other place was the Nagapattam seashore, Tamil Nadu India...I should say one of best places to enjoy seafood..their fish and Nandu(crabs) are irresistible..accompanied with Kothuroti(mashed egg parota w/ choice of meat/chicken) and mutte dosa(thin egg dosa) with mild yet spicy fish gravy..

So Crab/Nandu(Tamil)/Peethalu(Telugu) is one seafood which comes with a reciting story in my life. I made it only a few times after I came to this part of the world. Guess I'm not so fortunate enough to get those live jumbo crabs. So have to rely on the small or medium size frozen box crabs...

This recipe is not the exact one that my hubby made the first time. Nevertheless it tastes good too.

Ingredients:
1 box Frozen crabs cleaned
3 Tbsp oil(canola/olive)
3 medium onions
6-8 green chillies
200 gms coconut
1 tbsp rice flour
200gms crushed tomato puree
2 Tbsp ginger garlic paste
3/4 tsp fennel seeds
10 - 12 curry leaves
a bunch of coriander leaves - finely chopped.
Spice powders:
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chilly powder
1 tsp each cumin & coriander powders (optional)

Salt to taste

Procedure:
Defrost, clean and wash the crabs and keep them separate. You can add a Little turmeric, chilly and salt to marinate them as we are working on the gravy for them.
De skin onions and cut them into cubes, add the fennel seeds and grind them to a fine paste...keep aside
Add the slit green chillies to the crated coconut and make a smooth paste
Now in a wok or kadai, heat oil and then add the onion fennel paste. cook this for 3-5 mins till the rawness of the onion is gone. Now add ginger garlic paste and cook for 2 mins.
Add curry leaves and saute'
Add turmeric and fry for a min.
Add coconut and chilly paste and cook for 3-5 mins
Now add the tomato puree and cook for 5-6 mins or till the mixtures leaves the oils.
Now add all the malasa powders and some salt, mix well. cook for 2 mins till nice aroma is achieved.
Now add the crabs and the remaining salt and mix well till all the crabs are well coated with the gravy mixture.
Sprinkle 1/2 cup water and cook on medium heat till the crabs change color and appeared to be cooked, about 5-7 minutes.
Once the crabs are almost done, add the rice flour to thicken the gravy and make it stick to the crabs.
Add the chopped coriander leaves and remove for heat.
This is one richly flavoured and aromatic dish.
In my experience this crab preparation is best combo with Egg fired rice and a papad. The thick gravy that is dressing the crabs perfectly goes with the mild fried rice and scrambled papad.

Spicy Shrimp Dry - Asian Oriental Style

This is one easy way to cook up shrimp with spice and taste. The traditional shrimp/prawn curry takes time cause they use lots of onions for gravy or if it is cooked in kerala or Thai style the coconut milk forms the base for the gravy. But for weekday dinners when we want something quick yet not compromising taste...this could be one recipe for shrimp.

No need to cut a whole lot of onions or grind ginger garlic paste or extract fresh coconut milk(off course now most of us use canned). Though I named it spicy, we can reduce the chilly and make it less hot so kids could enjoy too.

Ingredients:
1 Pkt frozen jumbo shrimp(deveined, deshelled, tails intact)

Spices:
4 pods Garlic finely chopped
1 inch Ginger piece finely chopped
2 long Green Chillies finely chopped
2 Onion leeks chopped
1 tsp Red Chilly Flakes
A sprinkle of Pepper powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste

Sauces:
1 tsp Worcester sauce
1 tsp Teriyaki sauce
1 tsp Soya sauce
1 tsp Oyster sauce
1 tsp Chilly Coriander sauce

Others:
1 tbsp sesame or canola oil

Garnish :
Spring onions rounds
Coriander finely chopped

Procedure :
In a wok heat 1 tbsp of oil and add the shrimp along with turmeric and little salt...
Saute' for a 1 to 2 minutes and remove from the wok and keep aside.
This will possibly take off any raw shrimpy smell and lets out a nice aroma.
Now in the same wok add garlic and ginger, saute' a little, add green chillies and onion leeks saute' for a minute.
Transfer the sauteed shrimp to the wok, coat with the fried ingredients.
Add all the sauces. You can omit some sauces if you don't prefer them.
Add salt, red chilly flakes, and give it a nice mix to evenly coat the shrimp with the sauces and other ingredients.
Saute more till the raw smell of the sauces is gone and the shrimp are fully cooked.
Remove from heat and garnish with coriander and spring onions.
Serve with fried rice or even just as starters.

Bulgur or Cracked Wheat Porridge

If there is one term that tops the healthy diet list with good carbs and good fats that is none other than "Bulgur" Bulgur wheat or cracked wheat is so rich in fibre and has lesser carbs than in white or brown rice...You read any health article this is one grain that you can readily see in the healthy carbs list...

Bulgar, cracked wheat, cous cous, qiunoa are a few terms in the world of diet and health which are talking there place instead of rice.

Bulgur is differentiated with cracked wheat, which is crushed wheat grain that has not been parboiled. Although traditionally de-branned, whole-grain, high-fiber bulgur and cracked wheat can be found in natural food stores. Bulgur is a common ingredient in Turkish, Middle Eastern, Indian and Mediterranean dishes. It has light, nutty flavor.

Its high nutritional value makes it a good substitute for rice or couscous.

Bulgur has low glycemic index of 46 than compared with rice at 83

Bulgur can be used in pilafs, soups, bakery goods, or as stuffing. It is also a main ingredient in some salads. In Indian cuisine, bulgur or daliya is also used as a cereal with milk and sugar, which is what I'm posting here.

I had this cereal once in a restaurant in Delhi, North India...Usually I'm bad at trying new foods..But this porridge didn't disappoint me.

I have yet to discover the other versions of this wheat where it can act as a substitute to rice. I remember my aunt used to make upma with this...But the cracked wheat which I got from Indian groceries is a larger grain and more firm and hard. So I don't know the ratio of water to be added to it for upma or to cook rice.

For now I'm happy consuming this as a porridge to benefit from its goodness.

Ingredients :
This is one filling porridge, packed with fibre and protein and has a nuty chewy texture which is perfect for me...

1/2 to 3/4 cup Bulgur or Cracked Wheat
1 + 2 cups low-fat or 1% milk
1 cup or more water
4 Tbsp Brown sugar or 4 sachets of Sugar free or Splenda
A Pinch of salt
A few saffron strands
Raisins (Completely optional, omit if your on a diet, I just used them here for presentation)
Thinly crated nuts like cashew, almonds or pista (I didn't use nuts either)
Few drops of Almond and/or Rose Essence ( This is optional again, I used it to flavour my porridge, instead of having a bland one or to balance the wheaty flavour)
1 pinch of Cinnamon or All spice or Nut meg powder if you want to spice it up more. ( I preferred without these spices)

Procedure:
Read the instructions on the Wheat package to boil or pressure cook wheat with 2 cups of milk and 1 cup water along with salt
If using cracked wheat variety it will take longer time to cook.
Soak the saffron strands in the rest of the 1 cup milk
When almost cooked add brown sugar, rose or almond essence, spices (if using) and cook till wheat is soft.
Once fully cooked add the remaining 1 cup saffron milk and remove from heat.
Serve hot in bowl garnished with crated nuts, raisins(if using) and a saffron strand.
The above measures make around 3 to 4 cups of porridge.

Vattlappam - Coconut Jaggery Egg pudding

Vattlappam is a South Indian, Sri Lankan Tamil dessert. I had never tasted this when I was in India...But this so much resembles the Andhra special dessert preparation called 'Junnu'. The major difference in preparation of both these puddings is the kind of milk each use. "Junnu" is made with a special kind of milk called "junnu pal(in telugu) milked from a cow which has just delivered. Usually up to to 6 - 7 days you can get this concentrated milk from the new mummy cow. In Vattalappam we use coconut milk..People also mix evapourated milk in proportions.

So the 3 main ingredients for this pudding are Coconut milk , jaggery and eggs. Well in other combination if you replace the coconut milk with the regular milk and jaggery with sugar or brown sugar this can be the regular conventional "Egg pudding" or "caramel pudding" in simple terms.

I have tasted this in special Srilankan parties...It just took me back to those days when my mom used to make the fresh junnu, which is my favorite dessert, I literally die for it. I miss it so much. In my childhood days I used to enjoy this rare treat, when supplied with "junnu pal" by family friends who own a cow or the milk lady who supplies fresh cow milk door to door,( when the proceesed milk in packets was not so popular). Now from where will I get junnu pal in Canada. So thanks to coconut milk, which replaces junnu pal to make this pudding.

Lets see the recipe now.

Ingredients:
1 Can( 2 cups) Coconut milk (use 2 cups fresh coconut milk for best results)
1 Cup Evaporated milk
1 Cup Powered Jaggery ( depending upon how sweet you want)
4 whole Eggs plus 2 egg white
1 tsp Cardamom(Elachi) powder
A pinch of Nutmeg powder
A pinch of salt
1 tsp Black Pepper dust(optional)
2 tbsps roasted Nuts and Raisins(optional)

Procedure:

Whisk/beat eggs in a bowl with a hand blender.
Add coconut milk, evaporated milk, blend again.
Add powered jaggery whisk thoroughly till all the jaggery is dissolved in the milk and egg mixture. Taste for sweetness and increase if desired.
Add salt, nutmeg, elachi powder mix well.
Meanwhile boil hot water in a kettle.
Preheat the oven to 350c
Choose two deep baking trays(metal/glass) so that one easily fits into another leaving enough gap between the borders of the other.
Now pour the pudding mixture into the smaller tray and place it in the bigger one.
Fill the bigger tray with boiling hot water till the water comes half way to the tray inside.
Now sprinkle Black Pepper powder on top of the liquid mixture..(this is my addition)
Alternatively if you want you can use small ramekins to bake this pudding and place them in the hot water filled tray.
Now place all this equipment in the oven and bake for 45mins or till the pudding sets.
You can also steam this pudding in a cooker.
Arrange the fried cashew and raisins at this point on top of the pudding.
When the point of the knife comes clear when slipped into pudding, remove from the oven and let cool outside till room temperature and then transfer to the fridge for 1 or 2 hours.
When chill cut into desired shapes and serve.
To enjoy the flavours in this pudding it should not eaten be not too cold.
The coconut milk and jaggery contribute to the unique taste of this dessert.