Curry

Pork curry

| Rekha Vengalil


You need –

  • Pork – ½ kilo, boneless & cut into bit size cubes
  • Onions – 2 large, thinly sliced
  • Dried chili flakes – 2 teaspoon or add more if you want to
  • Oil – 2 tablespoons
  • Grated ginger – 2 teaspoons
  • Grated garlic – 2 teaspoons
  • Ground  Coriander– 2 teaspoons
  • Ground turmeric – 2 teaspoons
  • Ground cumin – ½ teaspoon
  • Ground pepper – 2 teaspoons
  • Dark soy sauce – 2 tablespoons
  • Vinegar – 1 teaspoon
  • Chopped parsley – for garnish

How to –

Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan and brown the meat on all sides. Set aside. In the same pan fry the onions till they caramelize a bit. Add the ginger garlic and continue to cook till the raw smell is gone.  Stir in the ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, chili flakes, pepper and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add soy sauce and 1 cup water. Cover and cook for 45 minutes or till the meat is done.



Uncover and Stir in the vinegar. Cook till the gravy thickens a bit about 4-5 minutes or as per your choice on the consistency of the gravy. 

 
Garnish with parsley and serve with rice or flat bread.


Palak Paneer

| Rekha Vengalil


You need –
  • Fresh spinach – 1 bunch
  • Paneer cubes – 1½ cups
  • Onions – 1 cup, chopped
  • Tomato – 1, chopped
  • Garlic paste – 1 teaspoon
  • Ginger paste – 1 teaspoon
  • Green chillies – 1 , slit
  • Turmeric powder – ¼ teaspoon
  • Chili powder – ½ teaspoon
  • Salt to taste
  • Garam masala – ½ teaspoon
  • Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
  • Heavy cream – 2 tablespoon

How to –

Blanch the spinach in a sauce pot with boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes.  Remove and puree the spinach. In a pan heat the oil and fry the paneer pieces until the sides becomes slightly brown.  Set aside.

In the same pan add more oil if need be, add cumin seeds and onions and sauté on a medium flame till they turn translucent. To this add fresh tomato and cook once again until it become mushy. Then make puree of this onion and tomato and set aside. Heat a medium sauce pot and add tomato onion mixture, ginger -garlic paste, green chilli, turmeric, garam masala and red chilli powder and cook oil starts to saperate.



Add the spinach purée and little water mix well and cook on a medium flame for 2 minutes. Add the salt, cream and mix well. Tip in the paneer, mix gently and cook on a medium flame for another 1 to 2 minutes.

Serve hot with Roti.


Kerala style egg roast

| Rekha Vengalil
 
You need – 
  • Hard boiled eggs- 4 nos
  • Onion-sliced finely 2 cups
  • Ginger – crushed 1 teaspoon
  • Garlic – crushed 1 teaspoon
  • Tomatoes – chopped 1 cup or 2 medium tomatoes
  • Curry leaves-2 sprig
  • Water-1/2 cup ( or as required)
  • Coconut oil – 2 tablespoons
  • Salt – to taste
For dry roasting
  • Dry kashmiri chilies – 4 – 5 or according to taste
  • Coriander seeds-1 tablespoon
  • Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
  • Fennel seeds – ¼ teaspoons
  • Whole pepper – ½ teaspoon
 
How to –
 
Dry roast all the ingredients under “for dry roasting” and grind them into smooth paste.
 
Heat oil in a pan, ginger,garlic and saute for a few seconds. Tip in the onions , curry leaves and salt. saute till onions are caramelized, over a medium flame for about 12-15 minutes, stirring frequently
 
 
Add the tomatoes and cook till the tomatoes turn mushy. Add the ground paste and mix well.  Now add  water. Add  eggs, turn the to low and simmer for a few minutes until spices are absorbed, for about 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat.
 
 
 
Serve with idiappam, roti, steamed rice or appam.

Lamb rogan Josh

| Rekha Vengalil



Mutton cooked in rich gravy with aromatic spices.  It leaves your kitchen smelling good too! Well as much as I love this dish I like to stay of it too.. 🙂 its additive and I can mop up till the last bite…



The recipe is from the Hawkins cookbook. I have not made any change to the recipe but altered the quantity of the ingredients since I was using 1 kilo of mutton where as the original uses more.


You need-
  • Mutton (Shoulder) – 1 kg , cut into bite size pieces
  • Whole coriander seeds – 2 tablespoon
  • Cumin seeds – 1 ½  teaspoon
  • Poppy seeds – 3 teaspoons
  • Almonds – 12 nos
  • Brown cardamoms – 1
  • Pepper corns – ½ teaspoon
  • Cloves – 2
  • Mace – a pinch
  • Grated coconut – 2 tablespoon
  • Ginger – 15 grams
  • Garlic – 5 cloves
  • Grated nutmeg – a pinch
  • Bay leaf
  • Cinnamon stick – 1 cm
  • Green cardamom – 2 nos
  • Onion – 1 large, grated
  • Tomato – 1 large, chopped
  • Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon
  • Whole dry chillies – 4-5 nos. Soaked in ¼ cup hot water for 15 mins.
  • Kashmiri chilli powder – 1 tablespoon
  • Yogurt – ½ cup, beaten
  • Water – ½ cup
  • Salt as per taste

How to –

In a pan roast together coriander, cumin, poppy seeds, almonds, brown cardamoms, peppercorns, cloves, maze, coconut and grind to fine paste along with Ginger, garlic and soaked dry chillies adding enough water (use the water in which the chillies were soaked) . Set aside.
Heat oil in a pressure cooker pan.  Add the bay leaf, cinnamon and green cardamom until fragrant. Add the grated onion and fry till golden. Add the ground paste, tomatoes, turmeric and chilli powder. Stir well.


Add the yogurt 1 tablespoon at time. Stir and blend well. Continue to add the remaining yougurt the same way. Cook until the oil start to separate. Add the meat, salt and fry till the meat is lightly browned. Add the water and mix well. Closed the pressure cooker and cook till done.


Garnish with fresh coriander and serve with rice or rotis.


Dal tadka

| Rekha Vengalil



You need –
  • Red Lentils / masoor dal – 1 cup
  • Onion – 1, finely chopped
  • Tomatoes – 2, chopped
  • Garlic – 2 cloves minced
  • Turmeric – ¼ teaspoon
  • Salt to taste
  • Ghee/ clarified butter – 1 teaspoon
  • Water – 1 ½ – 2 cups


For Tempering (Tadka)
  • Cumin seed – ¼ teaspoon
  • Mustard Seeds – 1 teaspoon
  • Dried red Chilies – 2
  • Asafoetida – Pinch
  • Coriander leaves – for garnishing
  • Ghee – 1 teaspoon
How to –

Wash the lentils in cold water until clean and set aside. In a heavy bottom pan heat the ghee. Tip in the onion, garlic, salt and turmeric, fry until the onion turn soft. Add the chopped tomatoes and saute for 2 minutes. Add the lentils and water. Cover and cook until the lentils are mushy. Add more water to bring the dal to the required consistency.



In a small frying pan heat the ghee.  Add the mustard seeds and once they start to splatter add the cumin seeds, dries chilies, Asafoetida and fry for a few seconds. Add this to the cooked lentils, mix well. 

Serve warm with Roti or rice.


Pumpkin curry

| Rekha Vengalil


You need –
  • Pumpkin – 250 grams, cubed
  • Onions – 125 grams
  • Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
  • Ginger – 1 small piece
  • Garlic – 3 big cloves
  • Cashew nuts – 10 grams
  • Garam masala – ½ teaspoon
  • Dried methi leaves – 2-3 tablespoon
  • Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon
  • Turmeric powder – ¼ teaspoon
  • Tomato puree – 2 tablespoons
  • Double cream – 1/3 cup
  • Water – 1 cup
  • Lime juice – 1 teaspoon
  • Salt – to taste

How to –

  • Grind the cashew nuts, onions, ginger and garlic to a fine paste.
  • Heat oil in pan, add the onion paste and fry till the raw smell is gone.
  • Add the tomato puree, lime juice, turmeric powder, chilli powder, methi leaves and salt. Continue to fry for 2-3 minutes.
  • Add the cubed pumpkins and fry for 3-4 mins on low heat.
  • Add water, cover and cook until the pumpkins are tender on low heat stirring occasionally.
  • Add the crea, and garam masala and simmer until the pumpkin is soft.


Serve hot with rotis.

Simple egg Curry

| Rekha Vengalil

Perfect curry to go with appams…

You need –
  • Boiled egg – 3-4 nos
  • Thick Coconut milk  – 125 mls
  • Thin coconut milk – 250 mls
  • Onions – 2, medium, thinly sliced
  • Ginger paste – 1 teaspoon
  • Garlic  paste – 1 teaspoon
  • Coriander powder – 3 teaspoons
  • Chili powder – 2 teaspoon
  • Turmeric powder – ¼ teaspoon
  • Garam masala powder – ½ teaspoon
  • Mustard seeds – ½ teaspoon
  • Oil – 1.5 tablespoon
  • Salt to taste

How to –
  • Add a little water to chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and garam masala to make a fine paste.
  • Heat oil in pan, Crackle the mustard seeds.
  • Add the onion, ginger-garlic paste, sauté till the onions turn light brown and the raw smell is gone.
  • Add the masala paste and continue to sauté till done.
  • Add the thin/second extraction of the coconut milk, curry leave, boiled eggs  and cook for 5 mins.
  • Add the thick milk/first extraction of the coconut milk and simmer for a minute. Do not boil.
  • Turn of the heat and serve hot with appam /rice/ roti.

Mutton green kurma

| Rekha Vengalil

You need –
  • Boneless mutton – ½ kilo, Cut into cubes
  • To grind into a fine paste
    • Green chilies – 4-5 nos
    • Ginger – 2 inch
    • Garlic – 4 pods
    • Whole pepper – 1 teaspoon            
    • Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon
    • Onion – 1 large
    • Cashew nuts – ½ cup
    • Mint leaves – ½ cup
    • Coriander leaves – ½ cup
  • Yogurt – ¼ cup
  • Coconut milk – 2 tablespoons
  • Water – ¼ cup
  • Sunflower oil – 2 tablespoons
  • Salt to taste

How to –
  • Heat oil in a pan, add the  masala paste and cook till the raw smells gone.
  • Add the yogurt to the masala paste. Beat the yogurt well before adding. Cook for 2-3 mins
  • Add the mutton pieces, salt and stir to coat well.
  • Add  water and pressure cook till done.
  • Uncover, add the coconut milk. Mix well and turn of the heat.

Serve hot with Rice or Roti.

Asian vegetable curry

| Rekha Vengalil

You need –
  • Baby corn – 4 no’s, cutting in half
  • Green beans – 150 grams, cut into half
  • Potatoes – 2 no’s, cut into chunks
  • Carrots – 1 large, cut into thick slices
  • Bay leaves – 2 no’s
  • Lemongrass – 1 stalk, peeled and the white part finely chopped
  • Onion – 1 large, finely chopper
  • Fresh ginger – 1 cm,  chopped
  • Garlic – 2 cloves – finely chipped
  • Chilli –  1, finely chopped
  • Turmeric – 1 teaspoon
  • Coconut milk – 350 ml
  • Water – 100 ml
  • Oil – 2 tablespoons
  • Coriander – chopped finely, 2 tablespoons
  • Salt as per taste


How to – 
  • Wash all the veggies well. Set aside.
  • Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add the lemongrass, ginger, onion, garlic and fry till the onion and garlic are soft.
  • Add the turmeric and stir for a 2 mins or till the raw smell is gone.
  • Add in the potatoes and carrots. Stir well
  • Add the coconut milk, water, bay leaves, chilli and salt. Bring to boil, reduce the heat and simmer partly covered for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
  • Add the baby corn, beans and simmer until the vegetables are tender.
  • Turn off the heat, remove the bay leave and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with rice.