Cucumber kichadi/ Vellarikka kichadi

Here is a simple sabzi which is popular in Kerala. It is served as a side-dish with rice. The main ingredients are coconut and curd/yoghurt.

Ingredients:

• Cucumber - 1 ( I have used half)
• Grated coconut - half (take the white outer portion and try to avoid the deeper portion)
• Curd/ Yoghurt
• Green chilies - 2
• Mustard seeds
• Curry leaves
• Dry red chilies - 2
• Salt
• Edible oil

Preparation:

• Peel off the outer layer of the cucumber and chop it finely.
• Boil the cucumber in little water and salt.

• Grind the grated coconut, mustard seeds and green chilies. It should be ground finely.

• Once the cucumber is soft and the color changes, add the ground mix to it and stir well.
• Add more salt to taste if required.
• Cook with closed lid for 5 mins in low flame and turn off the flame.

• Wait for 5-10 mins for the dish to cool down and then add the curd/yoghurt and mix well.
• In a small frying pan, do a 'tadka'. Add edible oil and heat and then add mustard seeds. Once it crackles, add  some curry leaves and dried red chilies. 
• Add tadka to the cooked dish. Kichadi is ready!

This dish is different from the North Indian Khichdi. 

Kesari

Kesari is a South Indian sweet made out of semolina or sooji. It is very simple to prepare and very tasty too. You don't have to wait for any festival for making this :)

This recipe is straight out of my mom's kitchen. I must say that I grew up munching this sweet.

Ingredients:

• Rawa/ Sooji/ Semolina - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 1/2 cup
• Water - 1.5 cups
• Cashews, raisins/ kismis fried in ghee/butter
• Crushed cardamoms - 3-4
• Food color - yellow (or even turmeric powder will do)
• Ghee/ Butter

Preparation:

• Take a deep frying pan and start frying semolina/ sooji/ rawa in 2 spoons of ghee/butter. Fry for 4 mins.
• Meanwhile, keep water for boiling. Once boiled, add a pinch of food color.

• Slowly add the boiled water to the fried sooji/ semolina. Let the stove be in low flame throughout.
• Keep stirring well to avoid formation of any lumps.
• Add sugar and stir well. 
• Add a spoon of ghee and stir well.
• Slowly add water and stir well. Do this till you pour all the water into the sooji.

• Add the crsuhed cardamoms, frieds raisins and cashews and stir well.
• After 5 mins of stirring, the sooji-water mix will be thick and now the flame can be turned off. Kesari is ready now.

• Take a plate and spread a spoon of ghee/ butter all over it.

• Transfer kesari to the plate and spread thoroughly.

• Wait for 3-4 mins and then cut the kesari into small pieces. Shape of your choice. Decorate with cashews and raisins and serve.

If you add more ghee at each stage, it will definitely increase the taste. Those who are health conscious can just add less ghee/butter. Enjoy this simple sweet anytime!

Breakfast special: Ven pongal/ Khara pongal

Pongal is a South Indian breakfast which is very simple to prepare. It is one dish which just cannot go wrong. Ven Pongal or Khara Pongal is the spicy version of Pongal. There is also a Sweet Pongal. Let's see how to make the Khara (spicy) version. It is not only delicious but also very healthy and easy to digest.

Cooking time: 30 mins. Serves 2

Ingredients:

• Rice - 1 cup
• Moong dal/Green Gram/ Paasi paruppu/ Cherupayar parippu - 1/2 cup
• Salt - to taste
• Pepper seeds (full)
• Cumin seeds/ Jeera seeds
• Chopped ginger 
• Curry leaves
• Cashews (fried in ghee/butter)
• Ghee/ Butter - 2 spoons

Preparation:

• Wash rice and fry it in a deep pan for 2 mins. No oil or ghee required. Keep aside.
• Wash Moong dal and fry it for 2 mins. No oil or ghee required. Keep aside.
• Take a pressure cooker and transfer fried rice and dal. Add 3.5 to 4 cups of water.
• Add salt and mix well. Cook it in the pressure cooker and wait for 7 whistles and switch off the stove.
• Wait till the steam goes off completely. This could take 10-15 mins.
• Take a small frying pan and heat. Pour 3 spoons of oil and once it is hot, add cumin seeds. Wait till it crackles.
• Add the chopped ginger, pepper seeds and curry leaves and fry for 1 min.
• Open the pressure cooker once the steam is off, stir the mixture well. Rice-dal will be mushy. This is what we want.
• Now add the fried ginger-pepper-curry leaves-cumin seeds mixture and mix well. Add fried cashews as well and mix.

• Take a small bowl and transfer some of the mixture to it and now topple this into a plate. 

• Pongal is ready to eat. Adding 2 spoons of ghee/ butter on top of this will only add to the taste.

Combine hot pongal with delicious sambar to get the best of both the dishes. For yummy sambar, 

refer -> http://she-simple-healthy-elegant.blogspot.in/2013/12/delicious-sambar.html

Breakfast special: Mangalore Buns

Mangalore buns is a breakfast/ snack dish popular in the city of Mangalore. I used to have it during my days of working in Mangalore. It's taste is very similar to Kerala's Unniappam. You can have these buns with or without any sauce. I love having it as it is.

Ingredients:

• Atta/ Wheat flour - 2 small cups
• Small Bananas - 4
• Jaggery - 1 lump
• Curd/ Yoghurt - 2 spoons
• Baking soda - a pinch
• Ghee/ Butter - 1 spoon

Preparation:

If you want to make these buns for breakfast, you should make the dough on the previous night. If you want it for a snack, then make the dough in the morning.

• Mash the bananas to make a puree either by hand or by using a food blender. Keep it aside.
• Take the atta/ wheat flour in a large vessel and add the banana puree to it. 
• Also add the crushed jaggery lump and mix well.
• Add 2 spoons of curd/ yogurt and a pinch of soda ad knead well.
• Add little water if required.
• Add a spoon of ghee to avoid the dough from sticking to your hand.
• Make a thick/hard dough and keep it closed overnight.

• Next day you can start rolling for the buns.
• Make lemon sized balls out of the dough.
• Roll them to make small but thick roti/ pooris. They should not become thin like we roll for phulkas/ rotis.

• Use additional wheat flour to roll, to avoid the dough from sticking.
• Dust out any additional flour from the rolled dough before frying.
• Start frying in a deep pan like how we do for pooris. Do not over fry it to make it hard.

Mangalore buns have the light sweet taste which comes from the banana-jaggery mix. It is very different from most of our other breakfast recipes. Try it out this weekend and let me know if you liked it.

Tomato Onion Fry with Egg

Tomato Onion fry with or without egg is a typical Kerala dish which can be combined with dosa/ chappathi/ roti/ phulka/ appam.

The below recipe serves for 2. I have taken this recipe from my mother-in-law.
Cooking time: 40 mins.

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes - 3
• Onions - 6
• Boiled Eggs - 2 (or 3)
• Garlic cloves - 4 (crushed)
• Ginger (crushed)
• Chilly powder - 5-6 spoons
• Cumin powder/ Jeera powder - 2 spoons
• Coriander powder - 2 spoons
• Salt
• Edible oil

Preparation:

• We need a lot of onions as they will reduce eventually during deep sauteing.
• Take a deep frying pan and pour edible oil generously (6 spoons). Add mustard seeds and let them crackle.
• Add crushed ginger garlic and saute for a min in high flame.
• Add finely chopped onions and saute on high flame for 15 mins till the onions reduce and become almost dark brown.
• Add cumin powder, corainder powder , chilly powder and salt and saute for 2 mins. Idea is to get a dark brown mixture. 

• Add the chopped tomatoes and saute well. Add more edible oil and continue to saute.
• Saute till the mixture reduces and reduce the flame to low. Masala is ready now. If you do not want to add eggs, then skip the next steps.
• Peel off the boiled eggs and make 4-5 creases on them. This will allow the eggs to absorb the masala.

• Add the creased eggs into the masala and cook in low flame for 5 mins. Close it with a lid. Turn off the flame after 5 mins.
• Add coriander leaves to garnish.

This curry is very spicy and can be had even without the eggs. Either ways it will taste yummy.

Mac and Cheese

Mac and cheese or Macaroni and cheese is a dish cooked in macaroni pasta and cheese. The dish is very popular in United States, United Kingdom, Australia and many other countries.

The steps involved are very simple and you can cook it while watching your favorite TV show. I have prepared mushroom mac and cheese with bread crumbs. Cooking time: 45 mins.

I owe this recipe to my husband :)

Ingredients:

• Macaroni pasta
• Mozarella cheese 
• Boiled milk - 2 cups
• Bread piece - 1
• Mushrooms - 5-6
• Butter/ Ghee
• Pepper powder
• Salt
• Maida/ All purpose flour - 6 spoons

Preparation:

• Boil water with 2 spoons salt and cook macaroni in the boiling water till its al dente (firm but not hard). This could take 10-15 mins depending on the macaroni you are using.
• Parallel to this, heat 3 spoons of butter/ ghee in a frying pan. 
• When it has melted, add 6 spoons of maida/ all purpose flour and saute for 2 mins. It should become dark yellow.

• Add boiled milk to this mix and stir well. There should not be any lumps. Continue to saute till the mixture becomes creamy and thick. Now turn off the flame.

• Add 1 spoon salt, 1 spoon pepper and a handful of cheese bites. Different types of cheese can be used here. I have used only mozarella cheese.
• Drain out hot water completely from cooked macaroni. Keep it in cold water to avoid further cooking.

• Add the macaroni (with no water) to the milk-cheese mixture and mix well.

• Stir well to mix all the ingredients thoroughly.
• Toss chopped mushrooms in 2 spoons of ghee/ butter for 2mins. You can use any vegetable of your choice.
• Toast the bread piece. 

• Take a baking/ oven bowl and transfer 3/4th of the mac and cheese.

• Now make a layer of tossed mushrooms.

• Add rest of the macaroni.

• Add some more cheese bites(generously).

• Crush the toasted bread to crumbs and add it on top of the mac and cheese.

• Lastly, keep the bowl for baking in an oven or microwave at 160 degrees Celsius for 10 mins. 
• Cheese should have melted completely by now and bread crumbs are brown in color.

Serve hot hot!

Apple Kheer / Apple Pudding

Kheer or Payasam as it is called differently in different parts of India is rice pudding. Here is our very own kheer with an apple twist to it.

Ingredients:

• Apples - 2
• Dates - 4-5
• Cooked rice in water-milk - 1/2 cup (I have used basmati rice here. 50-50 water-milk used for cooking rice)
• Milk with saffron induced - 1 big cup
• Raw brown sugar - 1 cup
• Cashews
• Almonds
• Cinnamon stick
• Cardamoms

Preparation:

• Cut the apples and cook them in saffron induced milk till the apples become soft. 

• Add sugar, cinnamon stick and crushed cardamoms and stir well.
• Add the cooked rice, stir well and cook it with a closed lid for 10 mins.
• Add more sugar if needed. Turn off the flame once it is cooked.
• Garnish with dates, cashews and almonds.

There you go. Apple pudding is ready to eat. This one totally fits my bill. It is Simple, Healthy and Elegant!