Appam and Egg curry

The two best friends.. appam and egg curry. Although I love chicken, I still prefer egg curry with appam. This has been my favourite since childhood and now I get to finally pass on the “appammania” to my baby. My 10 months old baby had appam for the first time today and absolutely loved it. What more, he had egg curry too! Of coarse the curry was customised for him but tasted just as good as what I normally would make. 

Everyone has their own style of making appams with two things in common, rice and fresh coconut. I have also omitted baking soda and/or yeast as they turn out fairly bubbly after fermenting (just like dosa, idli)

Ingredients for Appam 

1 cup rice
2 cups coconut water
Tender coconut of one coconut
1 tsp sugar
Pinch of salt
Baking soda (Optional, for extra fluffiness)

Wash rice thoroughly and add coconut water to it. Leave it for fermenting for at least 6 hours. If you are planning for dinner then you can start the process in the morning. After 6 hours, grind the rice and coconut water along with tender coconut, sugar, salt.

Let it stand for another hour.

The batter should look like this.

If you want to add soda, do so just before making appams. The appams shown in the pictures do not have soda.

Traditionally, appams are made in appachetti which sadly I do not have 😦 tch tch. So I make them in regular non stick pan which is why the appams in the picture look flat. 


You need to make appams on medium heat. Ladle some batter on to the pan in the centre and gently spread in all directions. While pouring the batter, simmer the flame, then increase the flame to medium and cover with a lid for about 50 seconds. They don’t usually stick to the pan but if they do then take few drops of oil on a tissue paper and wipe the pan before each use.

Most of us with the habit of making dosas will get tempted to add oil at the time of frying.. its actually not required but I myself ended up adding oil and then realised!

They are done when the sides start to come off from the pan. 

For that perfect white appam, do not flip the appam, also there is no need. I was being extra cautious because of the kid. 

Your appam is ready.. enjoy! 🙂

Oh wait, you need egg curry too. So here is my baby friendly egg curry which tastes as good as normal egg curry.

If you don’t eat eggs then vegetable stew, chole curry or soya chunks curry are good options.

Ingredients for Egg curry

4 Eggs
1 tsp ginger and garlic paste
2 onions finely chopped or pureed
3 tomatoes finely chopped or pureed
2 tsp coriander powder
Turmeric
Salt and chilli powder as per taste
2 tbsp oil or ghee

Heat oil in kadhai, add onions, ginger and garlic, fry till onions turn transparent. Add tomato and cook for 2 minutes. Add coriander powder, turmeric, salt, chilli powder and mix well. Add water till the gravy is completely under water. 

Simmer the flame. Break eggs into the gravy by leaving some gap between them. Do not mix or stir. Just cover the lid and let it cook for about 10 minutes. Remove the lid and cook till excess water evaporates.

Egg curry is ready!

Enjoy Appam and egg curry 🙂

Some people have doubts about giving fermented food to babies. 
My answer is simple, if you are giving idli, dosa then you can give appam too. 

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Chicken Chettinad

Coming from Tamil Nadu, chicken chettinad has found its place in every Indian’s heart. My friend and I recently visited Khane khaas in Bandra and ordered chicken chettinad, it was okay but nothing like chettinad, it tasted more like butter chicken and it was not surprising given that owner was a sardar ji! 🙂 I was still craving for chettinad and decided to make it that night. 

If you are in for some real spice, this is just for you. Here it goes..

psst.. chettinad tastes even better next day so make lots of it. This recipe is sufficient for 2 for at least 3 meals (including 1 or 2 friends 😉 )

another thing.. you will notice that there is boneless chicken too, I do that when I pack some of it for next day’s lunch. It is easier to have boneless chicken with roti.

Ingredients

1 kg chicken (curry cut)

1/2 kg boneless chicken

1 tbsp lemon juice

Pinch of turmeric

5 big onions finely chopped

2 tomatoes finely chopped

Salt to taste

2 tbsp oil for cooking

1 bay leaf

Garam masala paste

1+1/2 inch cinnamon stick

4 green cardamoms 

1 black cardamom

1 tsp Fennel seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

5 cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg powder

1/4 tsp black peppercorns

1/2 star anise

2 tsp sesame seeds

3 tsp fresh grated coconut or dessicated coconut

1 red chilli

Ginger garlic paste

10-12 garlic cloves

2 inch ginger

3 green chillies 

Wash and clean chicken, drain excess water. Pour the lemon juice and turmeric, mix well and marinate until rest of the ingredients are ready.

Dry roast garam masala spices, grind by adding little water to form paste. 

Remove masala, use the same jar and grind together garlic, ginger and green chillies. Remove ginger garlic paste, pour some water and clean the jar, keep this water for cooking.

Add oil in pressure cooker, when hot, add onions and fry till they turn transparent. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for 5 minutes, Add tomatoes, reduce the flame to medium and cook with closed lid for 5 more minutes.

Add chicken, masala paste, salt and chilli powder (optional) mix well. Cook for another 5 minutes on high flame. Add water from the jar and add some more  to cover 3/4th chicken curry in water. 

Pressure cook on low flame for about 10 minutes.

Remove the lid when pressure subsides, if you find excess water fry on high flame until gravy thickens to desired consistency. 

Spicy Chettinad Chicken is ready! 

Egg Masala with a twist

There are probably a thousand ways of cooking eggs and every family has its special egg recipe, well here is mine.

Unlike preparing the masala and breaking eggs in it, chop boiled eggs to pieces and add to the masala. Trust me, the same masala will taste different in both versions! So you can alternate between these two styles of cooking eggs.

Ingredients (serves two)

4 hard boiled eggs
3 onions finely chopped
2 tomatoes finely chopped
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp jeera powder
1/4 tsp sonth (Dry ginger powder)
1 tsp chinna ullipaya karam ( okay okay! don’t give me that look!! it is roasted red chillies crushed with garlic pods and some jeera!! there is no fixed proportion, just try it with whatever proportion you like.)
1/4 tsp garam masala
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup finely chopped coriander
2 tbsp +1 tsp oil
salt to taste

Okay, so as the picture on the right suggests, heat oil in a pan and add onions. When onions turn transparent, add tomatoes and simmer the flame.

When oil separates, add all the masalas along with lemon juice and mix well. Cover with lid for 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tsp oil in a separate pan and fry the eggs as is till they turn golden brown. Now chop them into big chunks and add to the pan with masalas. Mix gently and sprinkle salt.

You are done! 

If you like, sprinkle some coriander at the time of serving. Serve with hot rotis/parathas 🙂 

Baingan cooked in raw mango and onion gravy

Mangoes are perhaps the only reason to look forward to in summers. Can you think of something else too?? pls share.. I will be happy to know!! coming back to the point, the season commences with a variety of kairi (raw mango) preparations, right from U.P to down south, the variety of pickles is just amazing! As the season progresses, we see more and more sweet mango pickles and the fun continues. Apart from pickles, mangoes are used in cooking too and who can forget mango desserts! In south India raw mango is used along with other main ingredients like brinjal, prawns, dal.

I am going to share recipe of famous Andhra brinjal curry in raw mango gravy.  It is simple to make and goes well with plain rice/roti/parathas/stuffed parathas.

Ingredients
250 gms Brinjal (Small ones, any kind)
1/2 cup grated kairi (raw mango)
2 medium sized onions finely chopped
2 green chillies finely chopped
1 tsp coarsely ground garlic
Pinch of sugar [Optional – If the kairi is too tangy]
Pinch of turmeric
2 tsp vegetable oil

Chop each brinjal into 4 pieces length wise.

Heat oil in a kadhai. Add onions and green chillies and simmer the flame. Cook till onions turn transparent. Remember not to fry them.

Add brinjal, sprinkle turmeric, salt and chilli powder. Mix well, simmer the flame and cover the lid. Cook for 5 minutes.

Add raw mango and garlic. Mix well and cover the lid. Cook for 5-8 minutes, till brinjal becomes soft.

Little sweet, little tangy baingan (brinjal) curry is ready to serve. The sweetness is because of onions, it brings balance to the gravy.

Easy Juicy Prawns Curry

Part south Indian and part konkani, presenting to you a tangy juicy and coconut-y prawns curry.

I usually make this masala for stuffed tandoori pomfret and it tastes awesome and believe me, prawns curry is just as good!!

The recipe is fairly simple and ingredients are commonly available on any given day in your kitchen. Well I pull it off on weekdays after returning from work, so you see, its a piece of cake!

Ingredients

250 gms Prawns  
1 tsp tamarind pulp
[For preparing tamarind pulp, remove seeds and dip tamarind in warm water, stuff the tamarind as much as possible, to avoid watery pulp. Put it in a mixer and grind till it reduces to pulp. For storing for future use, add a pinch of salt to the pulp and store in a dry air tight container in fridge]
1/2 cup grated coconut
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh coriander
2 onions finely chopped
2 tsp finely chopped garlic 
1 tsp finely chopped ginger 
3 green chillies finely chopped
2 tsp Kashmiri lal mirch powder [Love this chilli powder, moderate hot, good color!]
Pinch of turmeric
Salt to taste


Heat oil in a kadhai, simmer the flame and add onions and green chilli. Cook till onions turn transparent and add ginger and garlic pieces. Increase the flame to medium and fry till garlic turns little brown.

Add grated coconut and simmer the flame. Cover the kadhai and cook for 5 more minutes.

Add turmeric, tamarind pulp, lal mirch, salt and mix well. Add prawns and mix well. Simmer the flame and cover and cook for another 10 minutes.

Easy juicy Prawns curry ready to serve! Sprinkle some coriander at the time of serving.

Chicken Semi Dry Curry

The best combination undoubtedly for any rice and non veg lover will be steaming hot rice and chicken curry home made style. This recipe is my mom special. 🙂

I feel that chicken goes well with rice as compared to mutton. Of coarse nothing comes close to sea food curry, say, prawns curry with rice. I will soon be posting prawns curry that tastes best with rice.

The gravy is not very soupy, its thick. I personally prefer thick gravy with rice and soupy with roti/paratha.

A tip for busy women/men in kitchen who pack lunch to office – It is a fact that chicken curry tastes best when it is with bones, but highly inconvenient to eat in office! So I always buy half boneless and half with bones and cook together for dinner. While you can finish off pieces with bones at dinner time, you may keep the boneless pieces curry along with rotis for your lunch box the next day.

Here are the ingredients for this simple and delicious recipe.. there is twist in this recipe keep reading.. 🙂

Ingredients
250 gms chicken with bones
250 gms boneless chicken
4 onions finely chopped
2 green chillies finely chopped
1 cup chopped fresh coriander
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp kashmiri lal mirch (Gives good colour but not very spicy, just what we want!)
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp levelled turmeric 
Pinch of asafoetida
Salt to taste

Heat oil in kadhai, add asafoetida, when it turns brown, add onions and green chillies. Fry till onions turn transparent, add ginger garlic paste and fry till oil separates. Add chicken and sprinkle turmeric, mix well.
Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle salt, chilli powder and mix well. Add just enough water to cover all pieces. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Now comes the twist! turn off the flame and add garam masala. Mix well and cover the gravy with lid. Give a standing time of 5 minutes and then serve! The twist is to add garam masala after the curry has cooked and flame has been turned off.  This gives a very interesting and aromatic flavour, try it to believe it!

Sprinkle fresh coriander at the time of serving.

Jackfruit sabzi (Kathal)

This vegetarian dish is as close it gets to being non vegetarian! Oh yes, it is Jackfruit curry/ Kathal ki sabzi
This meaty bite like kathal ki sabzi is so satisfying, that you will remember its taste for long long time.
I almost forgot about it until my friend Nisha reminded me of it! All thanks to her mom’s yummy preparation that I decided to prepare it again.

If you have some more recipes of jackfruit, please do share, also please leave your feedback/comments to help improvise this recipe further. Thanks in advance!

Ingredients
1/2 kg raw jackfruit cut into 2 inch pieces
[Try not to chop the seeds, keep them as whole]
2 tsps ginger garlic paste
3 onions finely chopped
2 tomatoes finely chopped
5 green chillies
1/2 cup curd (Beaten)
1 leveled tsp garam masala
1 tsp red chilli powder
Pinch of Asafoetida
Pinch of turmeric
Salt to taste

Heat oil in a kadai, when its hot, add jackfruit and fry for 10 minutes on high flame turning the pieces every 2 minutes.
Add some salt and mix well before turning it off. Move the fried jackfruit to separate vessel.

Heat some oil in same kadai. When its hot, add hing (asafoetida) , after few seconds, add onions and chilly and fry till onion turns transparent. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for 2 minutes. Simmer the flame and add tomatoes, haldi (turmeric). Cook till oil separates. Add the curd, mix well and cover with lid for 2 minutes.

Add fried jackfruit, sprinkle some red chilli powder and salt as per taste, mix well. Cover the kadai with lid and cook for 5 minutes.

In the end, add garam masala and mix well and turn off the flame. Put the lid and leave it for 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy kathal ki sabzi with roti/rice. Choice is yours 🙂

Lauki/doodhi/bottle gourd Kofta

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Ok, this is my version of lauki/doodhi kofta.. found it extremely simple and delicious.
It has more of lauki in it and hence the name 😉

Here is the recipe.. hope you try it and like it

Ingredients

For Kofta
3 cups shredded lauki/bottle gourd/doodhi
[I used a vegetable chopper and carefully ran it for 1-2 seconds at a time to ensure lauki is indeed shredded to tiny pieces but not complete paste.]
1 cup shredded paneer
[Again used vegetable chopper to achieve desired texture carefully.]
2 tsps besan
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp jeera powder
Salt to taste

For gravy
3 onions finely chopped
2 tomatoes finely chopped
1 cup finely chopped fresh coriander
1 tsp tomato sauce
1/4 tsp garam masala
1/4 cup fresh cream (optional)
1 tsp jeera powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/4 cup hung curd
[Pour curd in a dry cotton cloth and lightly tie from top and hang it, in an hour’s  the water will drain out]
Salt to taste
Pinch of hing (asafoetida)
2 tsp oil/ghee

For making Koftas, squeeze out excess water from lauki with your hands.
mix all the ingredients for kofta and make balls.

Heat oil for deep frying koftas. Add koftas to oil when its hot. Fry them till they turn golden brown and strain them onto a tissue paper.

Try not to finish them even before curry is ready. 😉

Preparing curry, heat 2 tsp oil in a kadai and add pinch of hing. After 3-4 seconds, add onions and fry till they turn transparent. Add tomatoes and let it cook on medium flame. When oil separates, add hung curd and cook till oil separates. 

Add masalas and mix well.

Drop the koftas in gravy and carefully dip them until nicely coated with masalas.

Cook on low flame for 5 minutes with lid.

Garnish with fresh cream and coriander before serving. 

Hope you liked it.
Looking forward to your tips and comments..
Thank you for visiting  🙂

Tips on kofta
-When you squeeze out excess water from lauki, the kofta balls absorb less oil while frying.
-If you likeeggs, you can use 1 egg white beaten instead of besan as a binding agent.

Prawns semi dry curry

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No matter how many times I have it, never get bored of it. Am sure you will like it too.

Ingredients

1/2 kilo cleaned prawns

1 heaped tsp crunchy peanut butter

1 heaped tsp tamarind pulp
[For preparing tamarind pulp, dip de seeded tamarind in warm water, stuff the tamarind as much as possible, to avoid watery pulp. Put it in a mixer and grind till it reduces to pulp. For storing for future use, add a pinch of salt to the pulp and store in a dry air tight container in fridge]
11/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup fresh grated coconut
3 green chillies finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped coriander
1 1/2  tsp olive oil
1 tsp finely chopped ginger.
salt to taste

Pour oil in hot pan. Add onions, green chillies and fry till they turn transparent. Add ginger and coconut, fry for 2 mins.

Add tamarind pulp, peanut butter and salt, mix well.
Fry for 30 seconds.
Add prawns, mix well and fry on medium flame till they get cooked.

Turn off the stove and sprinkle chopped coriander.

Try this tangy coconuty prawns curry with hot rotis or dal n plain rice and enjoy a meal of a lifetime. 🙂

Looking forward to your comments/suggestions!

Bhindi Kadhi

var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push([‘_setAccount’, ‘UA-36452076-1’]); _gaq.push([‘_trackPageview’]); (function() { var ga = document.createElement(‘script’); ga.type = ‘text/javascript’; ga.async = true; ga.src = (‘https:’ == document.location.protocol ? ‘https://ssl’ : ‘http://www’) + ‘.google-analytics.com/ga.js’; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); A very simple recipe of Dahi Kadhi with Bhindi. Here is the recipe of Dahi Kadhi with Pakodas
Relish it with steaming hot plain rice. There is nothing like it.

Ingredients(Serves 2)
250 gms Bhindi (each cut into half)

For Kadhi
1/2 cup Besan(Bengal gram flour)
1 1/2 cup curd
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup finely chopped onion (optional)
3 green chillies
1/2 tsp shahi jeera
1/4th tsp Methi seeds
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp finely chopped ginger
1/2 tsp rai (mustard seeds)
Pinch of haldi
8 curry leaves (kadi patta)
1/2 cup finely chopped coriander
Pinch of Hing (Asofoetida)
Salt to taste

Heat oil in a frying pan and fry Bhindi till its not sticky anymore. Fry on high flame and toss bhindi without a spoon, by flipping the pan. Add some salt to taste. Turn off the flame when it is partially cooked.


For making kadhi

Mix water and curd to make buttermilk.
Dilute besan in buttermilk.

In a hot kadai, add oil. When it is hot, add rai and methi seeds. When rai starts to splutter, add jeera, hing and kadi patta. Fry for 5 seconds on low flame.
Add onions, ginger and green chillies and fry on high flame till it turns golden brown.

Turn off the flame, add besan and butter milk mixture and stir well. Stir such that no lumps are formed.
Turn on the flame (high) and continue to stir till it starts to boil and then simmer the flame. Add salt.
Boil till it reaches desired consistency.

Add bhindi and mix well.

Turn off the flame and sprinkle chopped coriander leaves on top (optional).

Looking forward to your comments/suggestions.. 🙂