Chicken Korma

| Rekha Vengalil

This curry is mild and aromatic. Goes well with roti or rice.

Chicken Korma

You need –

  • Flaked almonds – 25 grams
  • Ginger grated – 1 teaspoon
  • Garlic grated – 1 teaspoon
  • Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
  • Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon
  • Chili powder – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Paprika – 1 teaspoon
  • Greek Yogurt – 4 tablespoons
  • Chicken breast – 2
  • Chicken thigh – 2
  • Onion – 1 cup
  • Lemon juice – 1 tablespoon
  • Water – ½ – 1 cup
  • Double cream – 150 ml
  • Coconut milk – 2 tablespoon
  • Coriander chopped – 3 tablespoons
  • Garam masala – 1 tablespoon
  • Oil – 2 – 3 tablespoon
  • Salt to taste

How to – 

  • Roast the almonds on a baking tray in a hot oven for a few minutes till the almonds turn light golden brown or dry roast in a pan.
  • Combine ginger, garlic, cumin seeds, ground coriander, paprika, chili powder, almonds and the yogurt and marinate the chicken for 30 minutes.
  • Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the onion and cook until golden brown.
  • Add the marinated chicken, salt and lemon juice and combine well. Cook for 5- 7 minutes.
  • Add the required water, cover and simmer until the chicken is done and stirring occasionally.
  • Add cream and simmer for another 5 minutes then add coconut milk, chopped fresh coriander, garam masala and cook for a further 3 -4 minutes. Stir occasionally. 
                                                                  Chicken Korma
Turn off the heat and garnish with flaked almonds.

Chana masala/Chickpeas curry

| Rekha Vengalil
I don’t make puris often but when I did the other day, I could think of nothing but this curry to go with it.

Chana masala/Chickpeas curry


You will need –
  • White chickpeas – 400 grams
  • Cardamom – 3
  • Coriander seeds – 1 teaspoon
  • Cinnamon – I median stick
  • Onion – 1 medium finally chopped
  • Ginger paste – 1 teaspoon
  • Garlic paste– 1 teaspoon
  • Tinned tomatoes – 3/4 cup
  • Chili powder – 1 teaspoon
  • Chana masala – 1 teaspoon
  • Lemon juice – 1 tablespoon
  • Garam masala – 1 teaspoon
  • Salt to taste
  • Ghee/oil – 2 tablespoon
  • Water – 1 cup or as required

How to –
  • Wash n soak the chickpeas with enough water overnight.
  • Drain the chickpeas and cook with water and salt in a saucepan until the chickpeas are soft.
  • Grind the cardamom, coriander seeds and cinnamon stick in a pestle and mortar to fine powder.
  • Heat oil in the saucepan and stir-fry the spice powder for about 10-15 seconds
  • Add the chopped onion and sauté until golden brown.
  • Add the garlic and ginger paste and cook till the raw smell is gone
  • Add the tomatoes, chili powder and salt and cook for about 5 minutes.
  • Add the chickpeas, water and the chana masala. Stir and cook for 20-30 minutes
  • Drizzle the lemon juice and add the garam masala and turn off the heat.
  • Garnish with Coriander leaves.

Serve hot with Puri, rice or roti

Quick prawn biryani

| Rekha Vengalil 

For all the seafood lovers, here’s a delicious prawn biryani… I was running late for preparing lunch, but wanted to make something nice as our Sunday lunch at home is always special. Since there was not much time for marinating and the long cooking procedures, I decided to make a quick biryani and made this delicious rice in about 45 minutes (where I usually take more than an hour). So here’s the Quick prawn biryani recipe.
Quick prawn biryani

You will need-

For the Rice:
  • Rice – 1 cup
  • Bay leaf – 1
  • Cinnamon – 1 small stick
  • Clove – 1
  • Fennel seeds – ¼ teaspoon
  • Cardamom – 2
  • Hot water – 2 cups
  • Salt – As per taste

For the the prawn masala:
  • Tiger Prawns – 250 grams
  • Onions – 1 cup finely chopped
  • Ginger paste – 1 teaspoon
  • Garlic paste – 1 teaspoon
  • Green chillies – 1 (or 2 if you need it spicier) slit lengthwise
  • Biryani Masala – 2 teaspoon
  • Yogurt – 4 tablespoon
  • Turmeric – ¼ teaspoon
  • Ghee – 1 tablespoon
  • Coriander leaves – finely chopped 1 tablespoon
  • Salt – as per taste

For Garnishing:
  • Friend Onions – 1/2 cup
  • Coriander leaves – 2 tables spoon finely chopped
  • Mint leaves 2 tablespoon finely chopped
  • Friend cashews and Raisins – 10 each
  • Saffron strands – a pinch and soaked in 1 tablespoon milk
How to –

Cooking the rice:
  • Soak rice for 15 minutes and drain completely
  • Cook the rice with all the dry spice, salt and 2 cups water till done.

Prawn masala:
Quick prawn biryani
  • Heat oil in deep pan. Shallow fry the prawns and set aside.
  • In the same pan add the onions and sauté till golden brown
  • Add the ginger-garlic paste, chilies and continue to fry till the raw smell is gone.
  • Add the biryani masala turmeric and salt. Fry for a minute
  • Add the yogurt and cook for a minute
  • Add the prawns and mix well to combine. Add the chopped coriander leaves. Cover and cook till the prawns are completely cooked
  • Add water if you need to as you don’t want the gravy to be too dry but enough to mix well with the rice.
  • Once the prawns is done. Lay the cooked rice on top of the prawn masala. Sprinkle the saffron milk, half of the fried onions, chopped coriander and mint leaves.
  • Cover and cook on low flame for about 5 minutes.

Quick prawn biryani
Garnish with the remaining fried onions, cashews and raisins. Serve hot

Please note – you can use tomatoes instead of yogurt. You will need 1 medium tomato.

Carrot cake

| Rekha Vengalil

This cake recipe is from http://www.joyofbaking.com/. I have never baked a carrot cake before and it turned out be a hit. This is a rich and moist spice cake with grated carrot, and the cinnamon flavour adds a punch. 

I have frosted the cake with butter cream with rose swirl design. 

Carrot cake
                                                                                                              Carrot cake


Balti chicken pasanda

| Rekha Vengalil

The quest to make something new landed me with this. A sure treat for chicken lovers! Having done a little browsing about this, I understand this dish originates from North Pakistan and getting very popular in the west. The term “Balti” refers to the cooking vessel in which the food is both cooked and served. It is a round cast iron heavy bottom pan, looking more like a wok. The word pasanda is an urdu word meaning “the favourite one”. The bust of flavours is incredible. It’s a must try. There are a couple of recipes online and this one especially look quite appetizing http://shabscuisine.blogspot.sg/. Since I have used 1 kilo chicken I have changed the quantity of the ingredients accordingly.

Balti chicken pasanda

You will need –
Chicken – 1 Kg cut into pieces
Onion –1 cup finely chopped
Vegetable oil – 2 tablespoon
Chopped coriander – 2 tablespoon
Chili – 1 slit
Light cream – 1 cup
  
For the Marinade:
  • Greek yogurt – 6 tablespoon
  • chilli powder – 1.5 teaspoon
  • Minced garlic – 2 teaspoon
  • Minced ginger – 2 teaspoon
  • Garam masala – 2 teaspoon
  • Ground almonds – 2 tablespoon
  • Cardamoms – 5
  • Cinnamon – 1 medium sticks
  • Paper corns – ½ teaspoon
  • Cumin seeds – ½ teaspoon
  • Salt to taste
How to – 
  • In a large mixing bowl combine all the indigents as above for marinating. Add chicken pieces and leave to marinate for a minimum of 2 hours (more the best). Cover and refrigerate.
  • Heat oil in a large shallow pan. Add the onions and sauté until it is golden.
  • Add the marinated chicken along with the marinade and stir well until it is well blended with the onions. You can add little water if the chicken looks dry but I did not.
  • Cook over medium heat for about 20-25 minutes or, until chicken is cooked.
  • Add green chilies and chopped coriander leaves. Pour in the cream and bring to boil.
Garnish with coriander leaves. Perfect with naan, roti and pulao.
Balti chicken pasanda

Please note – Alter the cream quantity as required if there is more gravy since the chicken does release water as it cooks if you have not drained it completely before cooking. Your gravy should not be runny. 

Peas Pulao

| Rekha Vengalil

This is my all time favourite and comes from my Mom. Most Sundays back in Bangalore our lunch would be either peas pulao or ghee rice with mint-chicken curry. To me this is still the best combo. I have not made any variations to the recipe. Just that I use an electric rice cooker whereas mom goes with a pressure cooker.
Peas Pulao


You will need –
  • Basmati rice – 1 cup
  • Water – 2 cups
  • Frozen Peas – ½ cup
  • Onion – 1 medium thinly sliced
  • Garlic paste – 1 teaspoon
  • Ginger paste – 1 teaspoon
  • Green Chili – 1 slit length wise
  • Fennel seeds – ½ teaspoon
  • Cardamom – 2
  • Cinnamon – 1 small stick
  • Clove – 1
  • Bay leaf – 1
  • Ghee/ clarified butter – 2 tablespoon or as required


How to –
  • Wash the rice and soak for 15 minutes. Defrost the peas.
  • Heat the skillet and add the Ghee. Once the ghee is heated, tip in the spices (Fennel seeds, cardamom, cinnamon, clove and bay leaf) and fry till the raw spell is gone.
  • Add the onions, chili and ginger-garlic paste. Fry till the onion turns pink and the raw smell of ginger-garlic is gone. Please make sure not to burn them as this will change the color of the rice when you cook.
  • Once done add the rice in and fry till the rice doesn’t stick to each other ensuring the rice not turning brown.
  • Turn of the heat and move the rice to the rice cooker. Add 2 cups of water, Peas and salt to taste. Cook till done. If you have fried the rice in the pressure cooker then continue in it adding water and cooking.

Note – once the rice is cooked. Keep it uncovered for a few minutes before you use a fork to fluff up the rice slowly.

Parippu Payasam

| Rekha Vengalil
This Onam, I made the Parippu Payasam. Adding small pieces of thinly sliced fried coconut is indeed a delight biting into, but unfortunately I couldn’t source that. Freshly squeezed coconut milk would be best but canned coconut milk is still close. This serves 4 and Cooking up this delicious dessert is not hard at all.
Parippu Payasam

You will need –
  • Yellow moong dal/Cherupayar Parippu – 1/4 cup
  • Jaggery/ whole cane sugar  -1/2 cup
  • Thick coconut milk – 1 cups
  • Thin coconut milk – 4 cups
  • Ghee – 2 tablespoon
  • Cashews and Raisins- 10 each

How to –

  • Fry the Dal without oil for few minutes until they turn light brown.
  • Wash and pressure cook adding enough water.
  • Melt the jaggery by adding little water. Once melted jaggery, add it to the cooked dal and stir well.
  • Now add the thin coconut milk and cook.
  • When the milk evaporates and becomes half add the thick coconut milk. Stir well for couple of  minutes and turn off the heat. Do not boil after adding thick coconut milk.
  • Heat a pan and add the ghee..Fry and add the cashews and raisins to the payasam. Fry the coconut pieces also if you are using it and add.

Serve this hot and can stay in the fridge for 2 days. 

My Onasadya

| Rekha Vengalil

Firstly, wishing all the Malayalis a very happy Onam! And for those who are new to this term, here is something to read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onam
Some nostalgic memories of the growing up years still remain so fresh. Since my schooling was in Bangalore, I have not celebrated too many Onam in Kerala. But still, it was great fun with all the Malayali friends and families getting together on this day, and then our month long cultural celebrations at the Kerala Samajam (Club).

Onasadya
Now the main attraction of the festival – the ONASADYA. I remember mom having an early start in the kitchen preparing all the traditional 11 to 13 essential dishes  that together forms the Onasadya…  I always wondered from where mom would get all that energy to prepare the sadya all by herself. Not that we never wanted to help her in the kitchen but she always loved to do it all by herself. And I have picked this up from my mom too as I love to cook all by myself and see my family and friends happily enjoy the food J

Little India, Singapore
For me – someone who loves to cook, the true happiness of the festivity is to prepare the scrumptious Onasadya. It’s a half day long process but I completely enjoy every minute I spend in the kitchen. I am glad that here in Singapore it’s not hard to find all the ingredients and vegetables that you need for the sadya. A trip to little India is all that you need to make.  Having done my Onam shopping this year and my Onasadya, I am looking forward to a great year ahead and do more culinary experiments.

A great food to celebrate and treasure god’s own country called Kerala…!

Thai Chili fried rice

| Rekha Vengalil

As the name suggest, it’s Hot!!! I got this recipe from one of my cookbook and wanted to share with you.  It’s so delicious, simple to make and a total pleasure to eat. The two key Asian indigents, Thai red chili paste and fish sauce are available in any Asian store or at the Asian section in your super market. For those who are not so easy with the heat, you can de-seed the chilies and then add-in.
 
Thai Chili fried rice
You will need –
  • Cold steamed rice – 4 cups
  • Peanut oil – 3 tablespoons
  • Onion – 1 large finely chopped
  • Red chili – 1 sliced
  • Green Chili – 1 sliced
  • Thai red curry paste – 1 tablespoon
  • Chicken breast – 1 finely diced (you can use 1 pork chop instead of chicken)
  • Prawns – 500 grams. Shelled and de-veined
  • Eggs – 2 beaten
  • Salt – to taste
  • Pepper  – to taste
  • Fish sauce – 3 table spoons
  • Spring Onions – 1 cup chopped
  • Coriander leaves – ½ cup
  • Red chilies – 2 for garnishing (optional)

  • Heat oil in a wok. Fry Onion and sliced chilies until soft.
  • Add the curry paste and fry until the oil separates from the mixture.
  • Now add the chicken/Pork and fry until cooked and then add the prawns. Fry for a minute or two (or until prawns turn pink)
  • Add the rice and toss thoroughly until the rice is coated with the curry mixture and heated through.
  • Push the rice to the side of the wok making a well in the middle, now add the beaten eggs, season with salt and pepper.
  • Stir until the eggs start to set and mix well with the rice on high heat until the eggs are cooked.
  • Sprinkle the fish sauce evenly over the rice and combine.
  • Turn off the heat and stir in the spring onions.
  • Garnish with coriander leaves and chili.