Instant Kinnatappam

Traditional Kerala kinnatappam are made with rice flour and fermented batter but, I was craving for kinnatappam and decided to skip the lengthy process. Basically, patience is not my biggest quality 😂. I skipped rice flour for all purpose flour and no grinding involved thus,  no fermentation as well. Trust me, with all the left out process, the end result do came out perfectly fine. This recepi is something I call as instant kinnatappam as it is easy,simple and never compromise on taste. 

Do use organic jaggery so that you won't end up with residues in your batter. For non-organic jaggery, boil the jaggery to make jaggery syrup and strain to discard impurities before adding to the batter. Of you are adding jaggery syrup do adjust the amount of water accordingly to form a semi thick batter. Delicious kinnatappam which is beautiful on the eyes and absolutely satisfying on the palate 

Ingredients 

1 cup all purpose flour 

1/3 cup freshly grated coconut 

1 cup water 

3/4 powdered jaggery 

10-12 cashews

1 tbsp black raisins 

Pinch of cardamom powder 

Pinch of salt

Ghee for greasing 

Methods

Grease a round pan with ghee and keep aside.

In a large bowl,  whisk in all purpose flour, salt,jaggery,coconutda b and cardamom powder.

Add water and stir to form a semi thick batter without lumps. 

Pour the batter into the greased pan and sprinkle with cashews and raisins.

Steam for 35-40 minutes on medium heat.

Remove from steamer and cool completely before slicing. 

Mussels Gravy

 

Mussels are a rare dish in our home. We seldom cook mussels reason being, the whole trouble of cleaning it. Cleaning mussels thoroughly to get rid of last bit of sands and dirts are not something I enjoy doing. Once in a blue moon I do take the trouble and dish out mussels and this is my latest innovation. Unlike, the regular Chinese or Malay style of cooking this beautiful green shellfish,  I came up with my own Indian way. Well coated with flavourful masala and not too spicy for the palate. Mint leaves somehow, lent the freshness to the dish and I used dessicated coconut instead of fresh coconut due to it's crunchiness. You may use freshly shredded coconut as well no harm 😁.  Once the mussels are cooked it will open up beautifuly and an important step in preparing mussels are to discard any mussels which are still intact after cooking. Those are not safe to consume.

Ingredients 

500g mussels, washed & cleaned

3 tbsp coconut oil 

1 onion,chopped

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 sprigs curry leaves 

1 tsp ginger paste

4 cloves garlic,chopped

1 green chilly,chopped

1/2 tsp turmeric powder 

1/2 tsp cumin powder 

1/2 tsp fenugreek powder 

2 tbsp fish curry powder 

2 tbsp chilly powder 

1 tbsp mint leaves

1 tbsp garam masala 

1 cup water

1/3 cup evaporated milk

1/4 cup dessicated coconut 

1/2 tsp salt

Methods

In a work, heat coconut oil and add mustard seeds and cumin seeds.  Once it started to splutters add curry leaves and chopped onion. 

Add ginger paste, chopped garlic and chilly. Saute for 30 seconds. 

Add turmeric powder,fish curry powder,chilly powder,fenugreek powder, cumin powder,mint leaves and garam masala powder. Saute till the raw flavor leaves. 

Add water and boil for 1 minutes. Add the cleaned mussels and stir till the masala are well coated. 

Add the evaporated milk and sprinkle with dessicated coconut. Stir and season with salt. Stir well and cook for 5-7 minutes or till all the mussels are open up. 

Discard mussels which are still intact. 

Serve with hot rice. 

Tea Kadai Kajada

Tea kadai Kajada or also known as muttakose found in most tea stalls throughout in South India. I had this snack delicious Kajada in small tea stall in from of our hotel in Coimbatore,Tamil Nadu during our vacation and totally love the taste. Even though nothing fancy in appearance the humble looking Kajada are full of satisfaction as a snack. It's crispy in the outside and soft inside goes really well with a cup of steaming hot chai. The cardamom are not overpowered and with very mild sweetness are indeed a satisfying tea time treat.

Unlike other pastries or bread,  you don't have to make slits for the beautiful cracks that's seems on the Kajada. The magic happens while frying. Little cracks will start forming while the dough frying happily. Always fry your Kajada in medium heat oil for even frying.  I serve my Kajada with a piping hot ginger elaichi chai on a rainy Sunday evening.

Ingredients 

1 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup confectioners sugar 

1 tsp cardamom powder 

1 tsp baking soda 

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg, whisked 

2 tbsp milk

Ghee for greasing 

Oil for deep frying 

Methods 

In a large bowl,  add all purpose flour,confectioners sugar, salt,cardamom powder and baking powder. Stir to combine.

Add the whisked egg and milk. Knead into a soft sticky dough. 

Heat oil in a frying pan on medium heat and apply some ghee on your palm. Take a small portion of the dough and shape it into ball. 

Gently drop into the oil and fry till brown on all sides. 

Transfer to a tray lined with kitchen towel to drain excess oil. Repeat with the remaining dough and fry the kajada in batches. 

Serve hot or warm with a cup of chai.

Thengai Paal Vadai

 

As my late paternal grandma called it, thengai paal vadai or sweet bonda in coconut milk is a recepi I learnt from her. Yes,  my passion for cooking started from a budding age. I used to spent my school holiday at my late paternal grandparents house and tea time snack is a must in their household. Now I know why I love to serve tea time treat for Dandelions. It's something inherited from your family 😊. I still remember how grandma will start her preparation for her thengai paal vadai as early as 7am. The soaking part only needed 4 hours but,  she'll make a huge batch to distribute to neighbors as well. Those are days of exchanging food with your neighborhood.

She'll start to grind using her old mortal with a little help from me (I'm 9-10 years old that time)  and could hardly lift the mortal. I'll be eagerly waiting to taste the soft, fluffy, coconut milk oozing vadai. The batter  whipping process after adding the baking soda is important to yield a fluffy vadai and it helps to absorb the coconut milk well.  Unlike other Indian sweets, thengai paal vadai are mildly sweet and the aroma of cardamom powder are irresistible with the creamy and rich coconut milk. Food does bring back memories. People might leave but,  their memory and love stays forever 😍

Ingredients 

1/2 cup ulunthu/urad dhal

1/8 cup raw rice

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 cups freshly squeezed coconut milk

1/4 cup sugar/vellam

1/2 tsp cardamom powder 

1 tbsp chopped pistachio 

Oil for deep frying 

Methods 

Wash and soak rice and urad shall for 4 hours. 

Add urad shall, raw rice and salt into a grinder or food processor. Grind into a smooth paste without adding water. If needed just add 2 tsp water. 

Transfer the batter into a bowl and add baking soda. Whip the batter well to add air which will result in fluffy soft vadai.

Heat oil in a medium flame and using your hand,  gently drop the batter into oil. Fry in batches till golden.

Remove from pan and transfer to a plate lined with clean kitchen towel to drain excess oil.

In a saucepan over a low heat,  warm the coconut milk. Do not boil the milk just warn it for 1-2 minutes. 

Remove from heat and add sugar and cardamom powder. 

Stir till sugar completely dissolved.

In a large bowl add the fried vadai and pour in the warm coconut milk. Stir gently and let it soak for 15 minutes. 

Serve  with sprinkling of crushed pistachio.

Apple Nachos

 

Due to the pandemic, Dandelions schools are closed for months and started with virtual online classes. By end of the classes both the girls will be worn out and looking for snacks. As a mother, I don't want them do munch on junk foods which is not to be found in my household instead, I prepared a simple and refreshing munchies. Apple nachos as it's sounds has the elements of nachos with the crispiness of the apples, drizzling of sweet caramel sauce and sprinkling of nuts and chocolate chips. Assorted flavors on each bite and amazing texture of crunch and velvety sauce. 

Choosing a crisp apples for nachos are very important for the texture.  I prefer Granny Smith and Fuji red apples. You may use store bought caramel sauce or in my case,  I used my homemade caramel. Choose your favorite nuts or assorted nuts to build the flavor. The girls polished off the whole plate and I'm a satisfied mom 😁.

Ingredients 

2 Granny Smith apples

2 Fuji red apples

1/4 cup caramel sauce

1 tsp salt

Handful roasted and chopped walnuts/almonds/hazelnuts

Handful semi sweet chocolate chips

Methods

Filled water in a large bowl and stir in the salt. Keep aside.

Washed, cored,sliced the apples and add into the prepared salt water. 

Arrange the apple slices on a large plate. Drizzle with caramel sauce and sprinkle with chopped nuts and chocolate chips.

Serve immediately.

Vanilla Chocolate Loaf

We are experiencing monsoon season here, the usual climate as any other year end. Baking bread on cold weather is quite challenging in the term of activating the yeast. To yield a soft and spongy bread, yeast need to be activated to perfection and it's warm place for the process. One of simple trick I learnt overtime on baking on cold climate is,  by placing the covered dough in a warm oven. When I say warm,  it shall be warm to body temperature level not hot. Too hot or too cold environment will easy kill the yeast resulting, in a dense and hard loaves. 

For a change, I made two basic flavored bread. Vanilla for my elder Dandelion who are not into chocolate and the dark beauty is my youngest favorite flavor in the whole world. You got to satisfy two different audience here with one single loaf 😂. As for the bread,  it's soft, spongy and and goes very well with a generous slab of butter or marmalade. 

Ingredients

4 cups bread flour
2 tbsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water

1 cup lukewarm milk
1/3 cup + 1 tsp granulated white sugar
1/3 cup butter,melted

1/4 cup butter,softened

1 egg,slightly beaten

4 tbsp cocoa powder 

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp vanilla extract 

3 tbsp chocolate chip

1 egg, beaten for egg wash

Methods 

Using a stand mixer, fitted with dough hook add lukewarm water,yeast and 1 tsp sugar to the bowl. Stir and let the yeast to bloom for 5-10 mins.

In another mixing bowl, mix in melted butter,egg,vanilla extract and milk. Add the mixture to the yeast. Add flour,salt and remaining 1/3 cup of sugar. Turn on the machine and beat for 15 minutes. 

Divide the dough into two and add the cocoa powder to one portion of the dough. Knead till the cocoa powder thoroughly mix with the dough. You will end up with one plain and another chocolate dough. 

Place the both dough separately in large greased bowls and cover with clean kitchen towels. Let the doughs to rest in a warm place for 90 mins.

Punch down the vanilla dough and lightly dust a clean working surface with flour. Place the dough on working surface and divide them equally into 6 equal sized balls.

Repeat the same with chocolate dough. Using a rolling pin, roll the ball into a oval. Brush the surface with butter and make few slits leaving the edges intact. Using your hand gently, roll the dough into cylinder. 

Place it on a 9"inch round cake tin lined with parchment paper. Take a ball of chocolate dough, roll into oval,brush with butter, make few slits leaving the edges intact and using your hand gently, roll into cylinders. Place the chocolate dough next to the vanilla dough. Repeat the process with the remaining vanilla and chocolate dough. 

Cover the dough with  it clean kitchen towel and let it rest for another 30 mins in a warm place. 

Brush the vanilla dough with egg wash. Sprinkle the chocolate dough with chocolate chips. 

Preheat oven at 350'F or 180'C and bake in the middle tray of the oven for 30-35 mins till golden. Remove from oven and cool on cooling pan for 15 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool completely on the rack. 

Tapioca Masala Dosa

I have shared masala thosai or dosa recepi in my blog few times with different stuffing or masala. This time too,  I'm sharing a unique stuffing unlike our regular potato stuffed masala dosa. The secret lies in the very special powder which is known as super food. As we all are aware pomegranate is one of the best fruit nature has gifted us. For centuries this jewel fruit has been used for health and beauty. Known as a fruit ideal for women, this ruby red gem like fruit packed with essential nutrients and antioxidants. It helps to keep the uterus in pink of health and a favorite fruit for skincare products. It give a natural glow to the skin, reduce cancer risk and etc.

I regularly include pomegranate in our diet in the form of fresh fruit, juice or even in cooking as masala. I powdered the dried seeds and add them to my stir fry recipe or curries as an health booster. In this masala dosa recipient,  I added them into the making of the masala and topped with a generous sprinkle of fresh pomegranate and chopped chillies for extra kick.  Lightly pungent,sharp in flavour and crunchy in texture goes really well with the fermented soft and spongy dosa.

Ingredient

1 cup par boiled rice
1/4 cup urad dhal
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
Salt taste

For The Masala

1 cup boiled tapioca, lightly mashed
1 sprig coriander leaves,chopped
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 onions,chopped
1 green chilly,chopped
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 sprig curry leaves

3/4 tsp pomegranate powder 
1 tomato,chopped
1/3 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Oil

For The Toppings

3 tbsp fresh pomegranate seeds

1 green chilly,chopped

Methods

For The Dosa Batter

Soak all the ingredients except salt for atleast 4 hours or overnight.

Grind the soaked ingredients with little water. The batter should not be too thin or too thick.

Pour he batter into a large pot or vessel and add salt. Mix well. Let  the batter ferment for 7-8 hours

For The Masala

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds splutters Add chopped onions and curry leaves. Saute till thee onions turns translucent

Add the ginger garlic paste and saute for 30 seconds. Add the chopped tomato and saute till soft.

Add the mashed tapioca,pomegranate powder and turmeric powder. Mix well.

Add coriander leaves and season with salt. Stir to combine.

Transfer to a bowl.

Prepare Dosa

Heat dosa tawa and drizzle with little oil. Take a ladleful of dosa batter and spread into a circle.

Sprinkle little oil along the edges of the dosa.

Smear the tapioca masala and cook til the dosa turns golden and crispy.

In a bowl, combine pomegranate seeds and chopped chilly. Keep aside 

Fold and top with prepared pomegranate seeds. 

 Serve hot with chutney

Stir Fry Lala With Tabasco sauce

This is a fiery and hot lala or stir fry clams recipient. The recepi is from my younger sister who love spicy food and it's not a surprise when she cooked this mouth watering clams for our family get-together. Yes..yes,  we sisters (4 of us) all love cooking. Something we inherited from our lovely mom. The lip smacking stir fry lala in hot sauce was a hit among us when she dished it up and we quickly jotted down the recepi from her. If you are not someone who can tolerate heat, please adjust the amount of tabasco and black pepper powder but do not skip both ingredients as,  it gives the deep flavor to the dish. Somehow, I found by adding brown sugar it balances the heat and lend a taste of caramelization. I could just eat it alone with hot steamed white rice or munch it as it's own. 

Ingredients 

300g lala/clams, cleaned

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp minced garlic

1/2 inch ginger, julienned 

1 tbsp dried shrimp

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tbsp dark say sauce

1 tbsp Tabasco sauce 

1/2 tsp black pepper powder 

2 sprigs curry leaves 

1/3 cup water

1/2 tsp brown sugar

1 tbsp chopped scallions 

Salt to season

2 tbsp peanut oil

Methods

Wash and marinate the clams with turmeric powder. Rest for 15 minutes and wash to remove odour.

Soak dried shrimp in hot water for 10 minutes. Drain and chop into tiny pieces. Keep aside.

In a bowl combine tabasco sauce, oyster sauce,dark and light source sauce, brown sugar and brown sugar. Mix well and keep aside. 

In a work heat peanut oil and fry the chopped dried shrimps till fragrant. Add the  ginger and garlic and saute for 10-15 seconds.

Add clams and stir for few seconds. 

Pour in the sauce mixture and cook for 1 minute.

Add the black pepper powder and chopped scallions. Stir well. 

Once all the clams open up which will take approximately 5-8 minutes, off the heat and transfer to a serving plate and sprinkle with chopped scallions.

Serve hot with white rice.

Lychee Mint Chilly Cooler

There will be a time when we enjoy some drink to go with our meals. Most of the time it happens to be during our weekend lunch. Even though, it's not always but,  most of the time some kind of cooler will find its way to our weekend lunch table. My most trustable person to make them are, my youngest Dandelion. She love to help me in the as much as her elder sister. Cooking has always be fun by having my Dandelions around with their chatty talking and the extra hands counted. Having found few cans of lychee in the pantry, little Dandelion decides to mix up a special drink inspired by what we had during our vacation in Vagamon, Kerala. A combination of mildly sweet and a hint of spiciness.

We discard the sugar syrup which is used to soak the lychess and instead opted to make our own with vellam aka cane sugar. Do not worried about having a fiery drink as the heat release from the chilly are very mild. It's something new to try to our ordinary drink. One of the best refreshment from the crushed mint leaves and the citrus taste of lime juice are extraordinary especially when it goes a long way from the slight heat of the chilly.  Best to serve chilled on a sunny day. 

Ingredients 

1 can lychee in sugar syrup

5 limes,juiced

2 red chillies,slitted

1/3 cup vellam/cane sugar

1/2 cup water 

Handful of mint leaves,crushed

5 cups water

Ice cubes as needed

Methods

In a saucepan add Bellamy and 1/2 cup of water. Stir till Bellamy completely dissolved. Keep aside to cool. Strain the jaggery to remove impurities.

Drain the sugar syrup from the lychee can. 

Add the lychee and 5 cups water into a large cocktail bowl or a jug.

Add the vellam syrup, lime juice and crushed mint leaves.

Add the slitted chillies and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Add ice cubes and serve immediately.

Multigrain Sweet Adai With Banana And Dates

 

As a mother all we wanted is to provide the best and healthy food for our kids and family but,  as we all know it's an impossible task especially when feeding kids with multigrains. They simply don't like the taste as they find it boring. Truth is, mothers can turn the boring into something interesting with little creativity. That's how I make sure my Dandelions have the wholesale goodness of millets and grains as their food style. One of those are this simple and easy to prepare sweet version of multigrain adai with banana and dates. 

With natural sweetening agent of banana and dates the adai are full of flavor. I added jaggery syrup to enhance the taste and Dandelions love the tiny bits of minced dates on every bite. Packed with essential nutrients and minerals, this adai is very filling and perfect as breakfast or as a tea time snack. 

Ingredients 

1/2 cup multigrain flour/saatu maavu 

1 riped banana, mashed 

5-7 dates, pitted & minced

1/4 cup jaggery 

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp cardamom powder 

Ghee as needed

Methods

Heat a pan with 2-3 tbsp water and melt the Jagger.  Strain to discard impurities. Keep aside.

In a bowl,  combine multigrain flour,salt,mashed banana and minced dates. 

Add the jaggery water and mix well.

Divide the dough into equal sized balls. 

Grease a banana leaf of a flat surface plate with ghee and using your hand,  flatten the dough into disc. 

Heat a non stick tawa or pan over medium heat. 

Place the adai on the team and drizzle with ghee. 

Cook on both sides the colur change from light to dark brown or till done. 

Repeat the process with remaining dough.

Enjoy hot or warm.

Peanut Butter Mantis Shrimp

To make it a story, one fine Saturday morning we drove to Kuala Selangor to get our fresh seafood. Kuala Selangor is one of the small coastal area in the district of Selangor, Malaysia which is known for their jetty, fishing nets and fresh produce. We drove quite early to grab the freshest and true enough upon reaching their fish market everything just came down from jetty. Some fishes are still breathing or happily swimming in their tubs. That's how fresh they are and I'm spoilt with choices with variant of seafood fiesta right in front of my eyes. From shellfish to fishes, crabs and many other seafoods that I couldn't even pronounce their name was put up for sale.  The excitement filled me like a little girl in a candy shop 😆.

The excitement doubled up when I saw plates of Mantis shrimps and quickly grabbed them at my best. The same mantis shrimps went into my peanut butter shrimp. Instead of ordinary butter prawn I added creamy peanut butter to give it a twist. I shall give a tap on my shoulder for give it a try with peanut butter. Dandelions love the creaminess of the dish and the well coated combination of butter and peanut butter. They suck the juice out of the prawn till the last bit and u know it's really good. Personally, I love the fragrant of the dish and it goes really well by it's own or serve hot with white rice.

Ingredients 

300g mantis shrimp,cleaned

1/3 cup all-purpose flour 

1/4 cup rice flour 

1/2 tsp black pepper powder 

2 tbsp unsalted butter 

2 tbsp creamy peanut butter

2 sprig curry leaves 

2 bird eye chillies,chopped

2 cloves garlic,minced

6 tbsp evaporated milk

Salt to season

Methods

In a bowl, add mantis shrimp,rice flour,all purpose flour and black pepper powder. Mix well to combine.

Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Deep fry the shrimps in batches till golden for 2-3 minutes.  Keep aside.

Melt unsalted butter in the work and fry the curry leaves till fragrant.

Add minced garlic and chopped chillies. Saute for 10 seconds.

Add the peanut butter and stir.  Add evaporated milk and season with salt. Stir and bring to a light boil. 

Add the fried mantis shrimp and toss till the shrimps are well coated with the sauce. 

Turn off heat and transfer to a serving plate. 

Serve hot with white rice.