Lemon Rice | Tangy & Zingy LBR Recipe

Deciding on what goes into our daily lunch boxes is a very tedious task for me. Whatever suggestions I give, they will be immediately turned down by Mr.A. I dont know why, while I love one pot meals, he is exactly the opposite. One pot meals is a strict NO... YES comes only once in a blue moon.
Lemon rice is one- one pot meal which I hate. But I have been craving for this for a long time. My palate has been in want for that tangy flavor. When I asked whether this could be made for lunch, and when I got YES for an answer, I just jumped at it. Made this tangy zingy lemon rice for our lunch box

~*What U Need*~

Cooked Rice - 2 cups
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dhal - 1 tbsp
Ginger(grated) - 1 tsp
Green chilli - 1
Peanuts - half a handful
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
Dried Red chillies - 1
Hing powder - a pinch
Salt
Oil

How I made it:

Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds and when spluttered add the curry leaves and fry.
Add the urad dhal and grated ginger and hing powder.
Slit open the green chillies, chop the red chillies. Add this to the pan and fry the mixture for few mins
Add the peanuts and saute till brown.
Add salt and turmeric powder. Combine well and fry for 2 mins.
Remove this mixture from flame. Add the cooked rice to this and toss
Finally add the lemon juice and combine well. Do not break the rice... Just toss well

Serve with spicy side dishes / papads / simple mango pickle.

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Semiya Payasam with Jaggery & Coconut milk

My Huss is becoming more and more diet conscious day by day. It is a firm NO to refined sugar these days unless and until it is a yummy chocolate cake. Semiya Payasam is my all time favorite. I have been craving for this for quite some time. And when I brought up this with hubby, he was so adamant in using Jaggery instead of sugar. Better something than nothing and so I made this delicious kheer with jaggery.

~*What U Need*~
Semiya / Vermicelli – 100 gm
Javvarisi / Sago pearls - ¼ cup
Thick Coconut milk – 1 glass
Thin Coconut milk – 1 ¼ glass
Milk – 1 glass
Broken Cashews – ¼ cup
Raisins – ¼ cup
Ghee – 3 tbsp
Jaggery – 250 gms
Water – 1 glass

How I Made It
Crush the jaggery into pieces and heat it with some water. Once the jaggery has dissolved well, strain it to remove the impurities.
Add sago / javvarisi to water and heat it till the sago pearls cooks well or till each pearl turns glassy. This will take around 10 – 15 mins. After 5 mins, stir the mixture occasionally as it will tend to stick to the pan
When the sago pearls have cooked, add thin coconut milk and combine well.
When it starts to boil, add the vermicelli and allow to cook. Once the vermicelli has cooked add the jaggery syrup and mix well. Check for sweetness and if required add some more jaggery syrup.
Remember that we still have to add the thick coconut milk and hence make sure that the sweetness is slightly more than required. Allow to boil.
Add the thick coconut milk and heat for 2-3 minutes and then switch off the flame.

Heat ghee in a kadai. Add the broken cashews and raisins and sauté till golden brown and raisins have puffed up. Add this to the Payasam and give a stir.

Serve hot / chill. I however prefer the chilled version.

Points to remember:
# For 1 glass of semiya use ¼ glass of sago.
# Make sure that the Jaggery syrup is not too runny.
# After 5 mins of addition of sago pearls, stir the mixture occasionally as it will tend to stick to the pan

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Pepper chicken Masala & Suggest tea-time snacks for get-together

I saw this Pepper Chicken Masala in Jay's Tasty Appetite and had an instant love to this recipe. Me and huss usually order this whenever we go to Thalapakatti, an authentic restaurant famous for its flavorful briyani. So when I saw this, I wanted to try this instantly but as usual my friend laziness reserves a seat with me at times. So chased him away and made this flavorful chicken. It was delightfully hot and I would recommend to have it with chapathis / naans.

Veggie pals do skip the post from here and read the last of the post and do provide me some suggestions. Thanks in advance...

I replaced the pepper powder with freshly ground pepper which added a unique flavor...

~*What U Need*~

Chicken - ½ kg
Onion - 2
Medium Sized Tomatoes - 2
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
Peppercorns - 1 ½ tbsp
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - ½ tsp
Oil - 4 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Garam masala powder - ½ tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Chopped fresh coriander leaves - 2 tbsps
Salt to taste
Broken Cashews - 1 tbsp

How I Made it:

Coarsely grind the peppercorns.
Clean the chicken pieces and drain the water
Marinate with turmeric powder, salt, half of the pepper powder, lemon juice and red chilly powder for an hour.
Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onion. Sauté till golden.
Add ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell disappears.
Blend tomato in mixie and add to onion mixture. Sauté till the oil starts oozing out.
Add garam masala powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, remaining pepper powder and mix well.
Now add the chicken pieces and stir in low flame. Stir in frequent intervals.
Cook in medium flame until the water leaves the chicken and the chicken is tender.
Reduce the flame and cook till all the water evaporated and the chicken is cooked.

Remove from flame and garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.
Fry the cashews in oil till golden brown and garnish op top.

Note: Adjust red chilli powder and pepper powder to ur taste. The above measurements are how I use (my family is a sweet tooth and hence I do not use much amount of spices)

Serve hot with chapathis / white rice / biryani.

The weekend is few hours away and I am excited as am meeting my college pals after a long time... Have invited them over to my house for tea and have decided to make a huge platter for our tea-time snacks.. Do drop in some suggestions on what I can make...


HAPPY WEEKEND GUYS!!! ENJOY EVERY SECOND!!!

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Tender Cucumber Salad with Red Wine dressing

The summer has set in with full violence but the good news !!! it has brought on melons, tangy sweet mangoes and of course tender cucumbers in abundance. Cucumber is a perfect cooler for the season and what is best than making a refreshing salad with a simple red wine dressing. Sounds yum na!!! That’s what I made when I got a half kg of tender cucumbers.
Huss always wants mayonnaise to be added to the salads which I didn’t prefer for this salad. I just wanted a mouthful of freshness. So pan-fried some paneer cubes and topped off his salad with this. And he loved it!!!

~*What U Need*~

Tender cucumbers / Vellari Pinji – ¼ kg
Lettuce Leaves – a bunch
Capsicum(julienned) – ½ cup
Salt – to taste
Pepper – a pinch
Chaat masala – a pinch

For Salad Dressing
Olive Oil – 2 tbsp
Red Wine – 3 tbsp
Apple Cider Vinegar – ½ tsp

Optional
Paneer cubes – 10-12
Ginger Garlic Paste – ½ tsp
Oil – 1 tsp
Salt – to taste
Pepper – to taste

How I Made it
Slice the cucumbers thinly. Cut the lettuce leaves. Add the julienne-d capsicum and mix well.

Add the salt and pepper and combine well.
To this add the ingredients in the salad dressing and give it a stir.

Lets prepare the paneer now!!! Heat oil in a pan. Add the ginger garlic paste and sauté till the raw smell goes off.
Add the salt, give it a stir and add the paneer cubes.
Allow it to cook to brown on every sides.
Add the pepper and toss it. Don’t use spoon to work on the paneer, just gently toss it around.
This step is purely optional. I skipped this for my salad.

Add the sautéed paneer cubes on top of the salad. Sprinkle some chaat masala and serve immediately.

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Dahi Vada / Thayir Vadai

I hate ulundu vadas as such but I love thayir/sambar vada very much… The vada filled with the flavor of curd/sambar with a melt-in-the-mouth texture is one of my favorites. I would say that my dad makes the perfect and best vadas, a compliment that my mom has always envied. Oh mom!! U r the best cook in the world… Except for the vadas dear… This is wat I would say often. Usually I used to call my mom for any recipe but this time, I contacted a different person… My DAD.

Mrs. A: Hi Mom!!! Wat r u doing???
Mom: Hi dear… Gonna get ready for my evening nap.
Mrs. A: Oh cool.. I called up to get a recipe.
Mom: Oh!!! Tell me dear… which one?
Mrs. A: Can you please pass on the phone to DAD? I wanna get the recipe of Thayir vada.
Mom: Grrrrrrrrr…… Call up your Dad’s number…

And then the phone went dead… Oh my… She hates when I compliment dad for food. So I called up my dad and got the recipe… But I needed ages of cajoling to cool down my mom.

~*What U Need*~

For the Vadas
Urad dhal – 1 cup
Onion – 1
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Green chilli – 1
Ginger – a small piece
Salt – to taste
Oil for frying

For the Curd Seasoning
Finely Chopped Onions – 1 cup
Grated carrot – ½ cup
Chopped coriander leaves – ½ cup
Thick curd – 1 cup
Salt – to taste
Omapodi / Sev – 1 cup

For each serving
Pepper – a pinch
Chaat Masala – a pinch

How I made

Vada
Clean and Soak the urad dhal for 1 ½ hours
Grind to a smooth mixture sprinkling little amount of water from time to time.
Chop the onions, green chillies, and ginger finely.
Coarsely chop the curry leaves.
Mix all this with the urad dhal mixture and beat till fluffy.
Wet your hands with some water and shape the mixture into vadas.
Fry in hot oil till evenly browned.

Serve hot with coconut chutney / sambar!!!

Thayir Vadai
Beat the curd and salt into a smooth mixture adding some water. The curd should be in semi-liquid consistency.

Line the vadas in a large bowl. Pour the curd on top till the vadas are 3/4th immersed.
Sprinkle generously onions on top followed by grated carrot and coriander leaves.
Sprinkle omapodi aka sev on top. I generally dump sev on my vadais.

Allow the vadais to soak for atleast half an hour. This will make the vadai soft and filled with the flavor of the curd.

When serving, place the thayir vadais in individual plates, pour some curd over it, scoop out the veggies & omapodi and top the vadais. U can have this as a snack or for breakfast... I prefer the latter.

Sprinkle some more fresh and crispy omapodi again, some coriander leaves, a pinch of chat powder and pepper and serve.

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Egg Bhurji | Scrambled Eggs with Onions and Tomatoes

When we were kids my dad makes this often for chapathis and we loved it. But he usually skipped the tomatoes. When I got married and the first time my MIL made this dish, it was so different to me but I liked the taste. The tanginess of the tomatoes was so pleasing and took the entire dish to the next level. When my MIL told that this was my huss's favorite, I didn't have another option but to adapt this.

~*What U Need*~

Large eggs - 2
Finely chopped Onion - 1 cup
Finely chopped Tomato - 1/2 cup
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp
Ginger Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2 tablespoons
Salt - to taste

How I Made it:

Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Add the curry leaves and allow to splutter. Now add the onions and saute till glassy / transparent. Add the ginger garlic paste and saute till done. Add the tomatoes and saute till oil starts oozing out. Add the turmeric powder and chilli powder and fry. Add salt and combine well. Break open the egg and add it to the mixture. Fry till the egg mixes well with the onions and becomes scrambled. Do a taste check and turn of the flame.

Serve hot with Pooris / chapathis.

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Chocolate Custard with Coffee Caramel

My mom loves custard pudding. When I told her that I made Caramel custard which was a success she told me to make some for her when she comes to Chennai the next time. Knowing that she loves the flavor of chocolate in anything (just like me), I made a mild chocolate pudding with coffee caramel. Mild chocolate cos I wanted the custard flavor to be predominant, coffee caramel cos I am a big fan of anything coffee. I intend to make a rich chocolate pudding soon and I will post it as soon as done.

~*What U Need*~
Milk - 1 1/2 cups
Sugar - 3 tablespoons
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Custard powder - 2 tbsp
Cocoa powder – 1 ½ - 2 tbsp

For the caramel
Sugar - 3 tbsp
Water -1 tbsp
Instant coffee powder – 1 tsp (I used Nescafe Classic)

How I Made

Coffee Caramel
In a wide pan, add the sugar and water and rotate the pan without stirring.
After few mins, you will see the mixture starting to boil and brown. Keep on rotating.
The entire liquid will start to turn a golden brown color.
When the brown color starts darkening, add the coffee powder, mix till combined, off the stove and pour the caramel into ramekins before it starts to harden.
Be careful. Do not touch the caramel as ur skin may get burnt. If touched, place ur skin under flowing cool water.

Chocolate custard
Take some milk from the mentioned quantity and mix the custard powder and cocoa powder without forming any lumps.
Bring the sugar and milk to boil and add the custard+cocoa liquid.
Stir for 3 mins. The custard will start to thicken. Remove the pan from flame.
Pour the mixture into the ramekins. Allow it to cool to room temperature. When done, refrigerate atleast for 8 hrs or firm in the sides and wobbly in the centre.

Topple the custard onto a plate and serve. The combination of rich chocolate and aromatic coffee is always heavenly and so was this.

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Palam Pori / Ripe Banana Fritters | Mom's Recipe

Ripe Banana Fritters / Palam pori as they call it, is a famous tea time snack in Kerala. People familiar with the Keralite cuisine will know how delicious this snack tastes. I am an ardent fan of this and prefer to have it anytime. So whenever we have ripe nendram palams at home mom makes it a point to make me some of these and I just gobble them down in minutes without sharing it with anyone. But this time when she made it, poor me… got only 3 pieces cos there was huss dear sitting nearby who is now a newly-turned fan of this.

~*What U Need*~

All purpose flour / Maida – ½ cup
Rice flour – 1 tbsp
Yellow food coloring / Turmeric powder – a pinch
Sugar – 3 tsp
Salt – a pinch
Baking powder – ¼ tsp
Water – as needed
Nendram Palam – 1
Oil – for frying

How I made it
Sieve the maida, rice flour and baking powder together.
To this add turmeric powder/food coloring, sugar and salt and combine well.
Add water and mix well and bring it to a semi-liquid consistency.
Slice the bananas as shown below.

Dip this in the flour mixture.

Fry till golden brown

Pat the excess oil using tissue.
Serve as tea-time snack !!!

I had some excess flour mixture to which I added some sugar and fried. It was equally crispy and tasty.

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Keerai dosai with Tomato Chutney

As I had already told you, I love greens and so does Mr. A. So whenever I go to the market, if I find anything fresh and green, I just get a bunch with no thought about the already residing veggies in my pantry. When I return home and check my fridge, I will have to thrust the greens in due to lack of space… Ooof me and my bizarre greens craziness. So I was left with a whole bunch even after making Keerai saadam for lunch today. So cleaned, chopped and dumped them into the dosa batter.
I served the dosa with tomato chutney and we loved the combination.

~*What U need*~
For the Keerai Dosai
Dosa batter – as needed
Greens / Keerai – a bunch

For the tomato chutney
Onions(Large) – 1
Tomatoes(Medium) – 2
Dried Red chillies – 2
Grated Coconut – 3 tbsp
Tamarind – a small piece
Urad dhal – 1 tsp
Cumin / Jeera seeds – ½ tsp
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Oil – 2 tbsp
Salt – to taste
Water – as needed

How I made

The tomato chutney:
Chop the onions and tomatoes.
Heat oil in a tawa. Add the urad dhal and allow to brown. Add the red chillis and allow to blacken.
Remove the urad dhal and red chillis. This is to make sure that they are not over-cooked.
Add the cumin seeds and curry leaves and allow to splutter.
Now add the onions and sauté till golden brown.
When done add the tomatoes and tamarind and fry well. Add salt to taste.
When the mixture is cooked well, add the grated coconut and combine well. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
Cool the mixture to room temperature and blend well to chutney consistency adding water as required.

The keerai dosai
Chop the greens and mix it with the dosa batter.

Combine well.

Make dosas from this batter. You can also sprinkle finely chopped onions on top of the dosas as in making uthappams.

Serve hot hot!!!

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