Killi Sambar | Killi Milagai Pota Sambar

Easy Rava Ladoo

Ingredients

2 cups Rava/semolina

1.5 cups Sugar

5 cardamoms

5 tbsp ghee

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1/4 cup+3 tbsp sugar

How to prepare

• Heat a tablespoon of ghee in a pan and fry the nuts. (Nuts, almonds, pistachios, raisins, whatever you like can be added)
• Heat a tablespoon of ghee in the same pan and fry the rava on low heat for ten minutes. Rava is light brown in color and smells good. Turn off the heat and keep away from heat.
• Pour three tablespoons of ghee into the hot semolina and mix well.
• Grind powdered sugar and cardamom. Add it to the rava and mix well. Sugar should be added to the semolina only after the heat has reduced slightly.
• When the sugar is well combined, add nuts and a quarter cup of milk and mix well.
• Take a small amount of mixture in your hand.Press it with your hands and form a round shape ball
• serve rava ladoo once cooled completely or store in airtight container for 2 weeks.

Malabar Special Neyyada

A very tasty Malabar special snack to prepare for an Iftar dinner

 Ingredients

• 4 Eggs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• 1 cup maida
• 1.5 cup milk
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup ghee
•  A handful of cashew nuts
• 1 tbsp raisins

 How to prepare

• Beat eggs, a quarter cup of sugar and cardamom powder in a mixer.
• In the same jar, add flour, milk, a tablespoon of sugar and enough salt, mix well and blend.
• Heat a teaspoon of ghee in a pan and fry the cashew nuts and raisins.
• Boil the water in an idli pot or steamer.  Put a steel plate or mould brush with ghee.
• Pour a quarter cup of the prepared maida batter into it, cover and cook for two minutes.  Pour egg mixture on top and add a teaspoon of ghee.  Cover again for two minutes, then pour in the maida batter and cook.
• Repeat the process till the prepared batter is done.  Do not forget to pour ghee after each layer.  Pour the maida batter on top and sprinkle with the roasted nuts and raisins.  Cover and cook for another 10 minutes.
•  Delicious Neyyada is ready.

Kannur Special Chicken Kalmas

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw rice
• 1&1/4 cup water
• Salt as required
• 1 teaspoon Ghee
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut
• 6 shallots
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds 
• 2 tablespoon maida
• 400 gm chicken
• 2 big onions
• 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic crushed
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon chilly powder
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder
• A handful of chopped coriander leaves
• 2+ 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon red chilly powder 
• 1 tablespoon  rice flour
• 1 teaspoon garam masala powder
• Green chillies as required

Irachi Koonju | Jackfruit seeds thoran

 Ingredients

•  Jackfruit stem cut into squares- 1 cup
•  Jackfruit seeds - 1 cup
•  Red onion chopped - 1 cup
•  Coconut slices (thengakothu) - half a cup
•  grated Coconut  - 3/4 cup
•  Coconut oil - one tablespoon
•  Mustard - a teaspoon
•  Curry leaves - as needed
•  Dried chillies -3
•  Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
•  Kashmiri chilly powder- 2 tsp
•  Coriander powder - 2 tsp
•  Garam masala powder - 1 teaspoon
•  Salt
•  Water - 1.5 cup

 How to prepare

Heat coconut oil in a heavy-bottomed pan, splutter the mustard and fry the curry leaves and dried chillies.

Reduce heat to low and add turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and garam masala and saute for a minute.

 Add jaggery, jaggery, red onion, coconut husk, salt and water.  Once everything is well combined, cover and cook on low heat for 15 to 20 minutes.

When everything well cooked, add the shredded coconut and sauté until dry.

Chakka Appam | Chakkayada

Chakkayappam is a delicious snack made with ripe Jackfruit.The nutritional value of Jackfruit can help prevent many lifestyle diseases.

 Ingredients

•  Ripe Jackfruit finely chopped - one and a half cup
• Rice flour - 1.5 cup
• Coconut Shredded- 1 cup
• Jaggery - 3/4 cup
• Water- 1/4 cup
•  Cardamom powder -a teaspoon
• Dry ginger powder - half a teaspoon
• Salt - a pinch
• Baking soda - a pinch

 How to prepare

Add jaggery and water in a pan and bring to a boil.

In a bowl, combine finely chopped jackfruit, coconut and jaggery.  You can grind jackfruit  and add it.

Add cardamom powder, dry ginger powder, salt and baking soda and mix well.

Add rice powder little by little and knead.  It should be slightly softer than the chapati dough.

Put one banana leaf add a spoonful of dough and roll it .

Steam cook on low heat for 30 minutes.  Delicious chakkayappam is ready.

Thalassery Special Kozhikkaal

Have you ever eaten Thalassery Special Kozhikkal? If you go to Thalassery and ask for Kozhikkal, you will get a snack made with Tapioca.  This is a super snack to eat with tea.

•  500gms Tapioca
• A small piece of ginger
• 10 cloves of garlic
• 3 Green Chillies
• 2 springs curry leaves
• 3/4 cup besan flour
• 1/4 cup rice flour
• 1 tbsp Kashmiri chilly powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
• Salt
• oil-for frying

 How to prepare

Cut the tapioca into thin strips.  Rinse well and soak in water for half an hour.

Crush the ginger, garlic and green chillies.  Add finely chopped curry leaves, besan flour, rice powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder, asafoetida powder and salt and mix well.  Add enough water and mix well.Add drained tapioca  to it and mix well.

Take a handful of tapioca mixture in your hand, press it lightly and fry it in hot oil till it turns nice brown.

 Delicious chicken leg ready.

Cumin Rice

Cumin rice is a North Indian dish.  It can be prepared very quickly.  It tastes good with vegetable curries and nonveg curries

 Ingredients

•  Basmati rice - 1 cup
• Ghee -2 tbsp
• Cashew Nuts- a handful
• Cumin - a teaspoon
• Cardamom-2
• Cloves -2
• Bay leaves-1
• Cinnamon sticks - a small piece
• Green Chilly -1
• Salt - to taste
• Boiling water - 2 cups
• Coriander leaves- a handful

 How to prepare

Wash the rice well and soak it in water for half an hour.

Heat two tablespoons of ghee in a saucepan and fry the nuts.

Add cumin, cardamom, cloves, bay leaves, cinnamon and green chillies.

Drain the water and add the rice and fry on low heat for 5 minutes.

Add 2 cups boiling water and enough salt, cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.

Finally, add coriander leaves and roasted nuts.

Restaurant Style Chutney | Coconut Chutney | Pottukadala Chutney

Ingredients

•  1 cup grated coconut
• 1/4 cup roasted gram (pottukadala)
•  2 Green Chillies
• A small piece Ginger
•  Salt - to taste
•  Water - as needed
•  Coconut oil - one tablespoon
•  Mustard - a teaspoon
•  Curry leaves - a sprig
• 2 Dried chillies 
• 3 Small onion

 How to prepare

• Fry roasted gram for 3 minutes without oil.
• Add roasted gram,coconut, ginger, green chillies, enough salt and water and in a mixer and grind.
• Heat coconut oil in a bowl and season with mustard, curry leaves, finely chopped onion and dried chillies.

Kottayam Style Kallappam

 You can make traditional Kallappam without adding toddy.

 Ingredients

• 2 cups raw rice
• 1/4 cup cooked rice
• 2 tender Coconut 
• Tender coconut water - as needed
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 3/4 tsp Salt
• 3 pearl onions
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 cardamoms
• 1/4 tsp Yeast

 How to prepare

• Wash the rice thoroughly and soak for 4 hours.  Add two more cardamoms and soak.
• After soaking well, drain the water from the rice and add the rest of the ingredients and grind well.
• Leave the batter to rise for eight to ten hours.
• Heat a tawa and pour a ladle full of the batter and cook till golden brown on both sides.
• Kallappam tastes great with non veg curry. It is also good with milk and sugar.

Chicken Mandi | Kuzhimanti

Mandi or Kuzhimanti is a food item from Yemen.  Mandi is popular among the Arab people at weddings and other celebrations. ‌ Manti, which is also popular in Kerala, is cooked in pits.  Let’s take a look at how to make mandi with a lot of flavor without the pit.

You can make mandi with chicken or mutton wi  To prepare the mandi, you first need to prepare a spice.

Ingredients needed to prepare manti

• 1 kg Chicken with skin
• 3 Maggie Chicken Cube
• 1 tbsp Mandi Masala 
• 1 tsp Crushed pepper 
• 1/4 tsp Red Food Color (optional)
• 1/4 cup Refined oil
• 1 finely chopped Onion 
• 1 Chopped capsicum
• 1 tbsp chopped Coriander leaves
• 1 tbsp Mint leaves 
• 3 cups of log grain Basmati rice
• 1/4 tsp Saffron
• 1/4 cup milk
• 4 Cardamoms
• 4 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 dried lemon
• 1 tbsp refined oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 green chillies
• red food color/beetroot juice
• a small piece of charcol or coconut shell

 Ingredients required for manti masala

• 1 tbsp Coriander
• 6 Dried red chillies 
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp pepper
• a small piece nutmeg
• 1/2 dried lemon
• 1 star anise
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 cardamom
• 5 cloves
• a small piece of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Roast  Ingredients other than turmeric powder,  on low heat for 5 minutes without adding oil. Turn off the heat,add turmeric powder and allow it to cool. Transfer the spices in a mixer jar, and grind into a fine powder.

How to prepare chicken manti

• Marinate chicken with Maggi Chicken Cube, Crushed pepper , Manthi Masala and Red Food Color (optional) and leave for at least 2 hours (If you do not have Maggi Chicken Cube, add a little ginger, garlic paste and salt instead).
• Soak 1/4 tsp of saffron in hot milk.  If you do not have saffron, you can mix 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder with milk.
• Wash the basmati rice well and soak it in water for half an hour.
• Heat 1/4  cup of refined oil in a large biriyani pot.  Add chopped onion and capsicum and fry.  Add a little coriander and mint leaves and arrange the marinated chicken pieces.  Cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. Turn after 10 minutes and cover again.
• Meanwhile, boil 10 cups of water in another pot.  Add cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, dried lemon, a tablespoon of refined oil and a teaspoon of salt and bring to a boil.  When it boils well, add the soaked rice.  When it is 80% cooked, drain.
• The chicken is now well cooked. Remove half the chicken pieces from the pan. Arrange cooked rice and add 6 green chillies to the rice.  Pour in the pre-soaked saffron to get a nice color.  Instead of saffron, you can add turmeric powder.  Grate beetroot and squeeze a little juice to get red color.Arrange chicken pieces on top.  
• Heat a piece of charcoal/coconut shell on direct flame until it is sred hot, this will take about 5 minutes.Once the charcoal is burning hot, place it in the bowl of oil that is in the rice.Cover immediately with a tight lid / aluminium foil.
• Simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.
• To serve, spread rice onto a large serving tray and place a piece of chicken on the top.

Mysore Bonda and Pottukadala Churney

Mysore bonda is a super snack to eat with tea. It can be eaten with tomato chutney or peanut chutney.

 Ingredients

1.  Maida- 1.5 cup
2. Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
3. Yoghurt - 1 cup
4. Salt - to taste
5. Ginger finely chopped - 2 tbsp
6. Coriander leaves finely chopped - 1/4 cup
7. Green Chillies -2
8. Coconut - 1/2 cup
9. Cumin - 1 tsp
10. Oil -a tablespoon
11. oil- for frying

 How to prepare

Mix the ingredients 1-10 well by hand.  Add a little water if needed.

Heat oil in a kadai, remove small lemon sized ball from the batter and fry until golden brown.

Pottu kadala Chutney

Ingredients

1. Coconut Shredded- A cup
2. Roasted gram - 1/4 cup
3. Green Chillies-2
4. Ginger- A small piece
5. Salt - to taste
6. Water - as needed
7. Coconut oil - one tablespoon
8. Mustard seeds- a teaspoon
9. Curry leaves - a sprig
10. Dried red chillies -2
11. Pearl onion- 3

 How to prepare

Fry roasted gram ( pottukadalai) for 3 minutes without oil in a pan.

Add coconut, ginger, green chillies, enough salt,roasted gram and water in a blender  and grind into a smooth paste.

Heat  coconut oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds.Add curry leaves, finely chopped onion and dried chillies.

Pour this tempering over the chutney.

Chicken Kondattam

 

We prepare a lot of different dishes with chicken.  Chicken Kondattam is a very tasty  dish that can be prepared very quickly.  

Ingredients

1. 1 kg Chicken cut into small pieces
2. 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder 
3. 1 tbsp Kashmiri Chilly powder
4. 1 tbsp coriander powder
5. 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
6. 1 tbsp lemon juice / vinegar
7. 1/2 tbsp crushed fennel seeds
8. Salt
9. 1.5 cups pearl onion
10. Curry leaves
11. 4 tbsp Tomato ketchup
12. 1/4 cup coconut oil
13. 1 tbsp chilly flakes
14. 6-10 dried red chilly

• Marinate chicken pieces with ingredients 2-8 for 15-30 minutes.
• Heat a quarter cup of coconut oil  in a pan and add the chicken pieces.When the chicken pieces are well cooked and crispy, add chopped pearl onion, curry leaves, crushed chillies and dried chillies and saute.
• When the onion is well combined with the chicken, add the tomato sauce and fry.  Salt can be added if required.
• When the tomato sauce is well absorbed into the chicken pieces, turn off the heat.
• Delicious and easy chicken Kondattam ready.

Kuttanadan Duck Curry & Duck Roast

Sweet Plantain Chips | Sweet Banana Chips

• 4 Plantains
• Coconut oil- for frying
• 3/4 cup Sugar
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder
• 1/4 tsp Cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp dry ginger Powder

Peel raw banana, cut it into half moons and deep fry in medium heat . It will take around 20 minutes to get it crispy. Drain and set aside.

Take sugar, water ,cardamom powder,dry ginger powder,cumin powder  in a pan and boil till one string consistency.

Add in fried raw banana pieces and coat it well. Swith off heat and stir till the banana is coated well with sugar.

Let it cool.Store in a air tight container for week.

Malabar Special Thari Kanji | Thari Kachiyathu | Thari Payasam | Iftar Special Drink | vermicelli & Semolina Kheer

•  Semolina - 3 tbsp
• Vermicelli- 2 tbsp
• Ghee - a teaspoon
• Water -a cup
• Milk - two cups
• Sugar - 3 tablespoons
• Cardamom powder -a teaspoon
• Thick coconut milk - half a cup
• Ghee -half a tablespoon
• Cashew Nuts - two tablespoons chopped
• Raisins - a tablespoon
• Small onion - 5 

 How to prepare

• Heat a teaspoon of ghee in a saucepan and fry the vermicelli. Add rava to it and fry for 3 minutes.
• Boil a cup of water in another pan.  Add vermicelli, rava and cardamom powder and cook over low heat.
• When it is well cooked, add two cups of milk and enough sugar.  When it boils well, add half a cup of thick coconut milk.
• Turn off the heat when it starts to boil.
•  Heat half a tablespoon of ghee in another pan and add finely chopped red onion.  When the onion starts to change color, add nuts and raisins and fry.
• Pour it on top of the prepared kanji and mix well.