Nethili Vadai - Anchovies Fritters

As you might have noticed, I have just vanished from the blog world for quite some time now. Reasons have been many. Loads of work and then I have taken off from work for a few months on health grounds. These few days I get away, I wanted to relax and rest my body and soul. Right now, I'm in India with family and just enjoying the serenity. Though I'm busy all day, I have no stress now and I like it very much. In the meantime, I have finished my German Driving Theory Exam - which I kept postponing for about one year.

Coming to driving, after having learnt the many rules and regulations, traffic signs and how to behave in different situations, coming here to India and noticing the traffic, I just feel shocked. Nobody obeys rules!! The bitter truth is that, most of the people do not know about traffic rules. However, the traffic flows and functions in some kind of understanding against one another. And, it has been so for ages!! It is indeed a wonder.

Well, now, I just want to share quickly with you, one of my favourites at my in-laws place. My husband hails from a town located in the southern most part of India and famous for its culinary specialities, which are mostly a tasty blend between the Tamilnadu and Kerala cuisine. Located relatively close to the sea, there is never a shortage of sea-food at home. My mother-in-law prepares wonderful varieties out of them and Nethili vadai (Anchovies fritters) is just one simple delicacy which is sure to please anyone's taste buds.

Preparation Time: 30 mins
Makes: 15 pieces

Ingredients:
Anchovies - 250g
Gram flour - 3 Tbsp
Curry leaves and cilantro - a handful, chopped
Salt - to taste

To grind:
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Sombu powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric - a pinch
Green chillies - 2 long, slit lengthwise
Ginger garlic paste - 1 Tbsp
Small onions - 10

Method:
Clean the anchovies. Take the anchovies in a heavy bottomed vessel, add some salt and a little water and cook them.

Grind the ingredients given under "To grind" to a coarse paste.

Drain the water from the cooked anchovies and add the ground masala paste to them. Add the gram flour and the chopped green leaves to them. Mix them all together like you would for preparing vadais or other fritters.

Heat oil in a kadai. Take small balls out of the mixture, tap them lightly, put into the hot oil and fry them golden brown.

Crispy Nethili vadai (Anchovies fritters) are ready.

You may enjoy these crispies as such with ketchup or as a side dish for meals. :)

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Palak Lamb

Wow, can you believe? This is my fiftieth post. Ok, ok... I agree I write a post once in a blue moon. Nevertheless, my blog in fact keeps growing slowly and I sooo love it for that. Fine, over to the post... ;o)

Recently I got a craving for lamb, since it was quite a long time that we had lamb meat in our diet. So, we purchased lamb from our favorite butcher and on that Sunday when we planned to cook it, I was not in a mood for an elaborate Lamb Biryani. Neither did I want to cook the same old curry. Wanted to try something different and suddenly this idea of Palak Lamb popped up. Believe me, I had tasted this dish in some Indian restaurants here. Though the curry would be decent, the lamb would always be a big failure. So, there I got the trigger for an adventurous ride of making my own.

My husband suggested that I look for a recipe somewhere on the net, but I was bent on making my own and did not refer anywhere. I had the exuberant taste in mind - how it must taste and just went on doing myself. I have noted down the recipe I used and have given below.

Serves: 6
Preparation Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Lamb - 1 kg
Fresh Spinach Leaves - 400 g
Onion - 2 big, finely chopped
Green chillies - 2 to 3
Tomatoes - 2, finely chopped
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 2 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Corainder leaves - fresh, a handful, chopped
Whole gram masala - Cloves, Cardamom, Cinnamon - a few pieces each
Lemon juice - juice of half a lemon
Salt - to taste
Oil - 3 tbsp

Method:

Remove the visible fat from the lamb completely. Cut it into bite sized pieces and clean thoroughly. In a bowl, add the lamb pieces, 1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste, 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder and the juice of half a lemon. Sprinkle some salt and mix them well with your hands. Cover with a fresh foil and refrigerate for about 1/2 hour.

In the meanwhile, chop the onions, tomatoes and chillies and keep them ready.

Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add the whole gram masala pieces. When hot, add the cumin seeds, chopped onions and a pinch of salt and sauté well till the onions turn translucent. Now add the remaining 1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste, chopped green chillies and 1/2 tsp turmeric. Sauté for a few minutes till the raw smell goes off and add the chopped tomatoes. Give a stir and let the tomatoes cook and become soft and mushy.

Now add the red chill and coriander powders and sauté for about a minute. At this stage, add the marinated lamb pieces and chopped coriander leaves. Mix them all well and adjust the taste if necessary. Close the lid of the cooker and put on the whistle. We have not added a single drop of water till now as it is not necessary. The meat would cook well in its own juices and from that of the tomatoes. Let it cook for about 5 - 6 whistles.

In the meanwhile, clean the spinach leaves and chop them roughly. In a broad pan, heat about 1/2 cup of water and add the spinach to them and close with a lid. This is to blanch the spinach. Please do not overcook it. Once cooked, drain the spinach leaves, let them cool a little and with an electric blender, puree it to a thick consistency.

After the pressure is out of the cooker, open the lid and there you find the most delicious curry. The meat would be cooked well and it must be so soft that it could easily be removed from the bones. This is the perfect stage. Now add the pureed spinach and give a gentle mix. Done !!

This goes well with pulavs, cooked white rice, naans, rotis and turkish breads.

Verdict:
You know what, this was the best Palak Lamb that I have ever tasted anywhere. I have now taken an oath never to order this dish in restaurants anymore. The curry smelled so fresh with spices, the meat so well cooked and soft. We had it with hot white rice and every spoonful was delicious and yummy. My husband too appreciated it a lot and we both took ourselves extra servings. Home made is always the best!! Well, being a foodie is more of an advantage. Just follow your taste instincts and you will get to eat what you want. :)

Tips and Health Info:
Lamb meat is a rich source of protein and contains a high amount of unsaturated and Omega 3 fatty acids, folates and vitamins. So, it is not all that bad. However, one third of the fat from Lamb are saturated. So, a moderate amount of consumption is recommended. Take care with the selection of fresh lamb meat while purchasing and with the hygiene while preparing.

Spinach, as we know is a good source of plant iron and rich in folic acid, vitamins and calcium. So, this delicious and healthy combo is a real treat to pregnant women and to others too.

Toxoplasmosis is a condition, caused by a parasite called Toxoplasma. Most of the human population is susceptible for infection with the parasite, though the effects are not so dramatic. For a pregnant woman, it is of special concern because there is a chance that the baby gets affected from the mother, which might result in severe consequences for the baby. Only a small percentage of women of child bearing age is actually immune. In Germany and many other countries women are tested during the early stages of pregnancy. If the mother is found to not have enough immunity against Toxoplasma, the doctor advises to take the precautionary measures. Whenever consuming meat, it must be thoroughly cooked. Raw or undercooked meat including sausages, where the parasites are more probable to occur, must be completely avoided. Also, only pasteurized milk should be consumed. For more info, please refer here and here.

Such meat preparations where we cook the meat thoroughly is advisable for pregnant women, where one can enjoy the delicious richness of meat along with their health benefits without any worries :)

Sending this as an entry to Healthy Morsels - Pregnancy and Gimme Green by Chef Al Dente.

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Chicken Sukka

Before I could realise, my Blog has turned one. For the past one year, blogging has been more than just a hobby for me. I haven't written a hundred post. However every single post is dear to me and I'm just glad that I'm writing them. It gives me immense pleasure on seeing the growth of my blog with a good number of committed readers. However, I must confess that I'm not writing regularly due to time constraints :( Many ideas still remain just ideas. I hope, the new year would bring a good swing in my blog. Lets hope for the best.

This is yet another post for Blog Hop Wednesdays. This time I got to visit Charishma's blog - Cheri's Stolen Recipes. It is a blog she writes together with her mom. So I expected some traditional recipes and I got more than I wanted. Being a Mangalorean, she has posted a lot of traditional Mangalorean recipes. Every dish was awesome and I was literally drooling at the pictures. My husband and I were sitting selecting the recipes and we really had a tough time choosing one, since we had opened five to six tabs just of her Mangalorean recipes. Finally it was agreed that I make Chicken Sukka this time and the rest later one by one. Believe me, I'm not exaggerating!! Thanks Cherie for such awesome dishes :)

The original recipe be found here. I made very little changes and here is what I used. You are free to change the measurements to suit your taste buds.

Preparation Time: 1 hour
Serves: 3 to 4

Ingredients:
Chicken - 1 kg

Cloves - 4
Cinnamon - 2 small sticks
Onion - 1 thinly sliced, 1 finely chopped
Turmeric - a pinch

Cumin seeds - 2 tsp, roasted
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp, roasted
Coriander seeds - 2 Tbsp, roasted
Pepper corns - 20, roasted
Red chillies - 5, roasted
Garlic pods - 4 (with skin)

Coconut - 1 cup, grated
Cumin seeds - 1
Garlic - 2 pods

Salt - to taste
Oil - to saute

For seasoning:
Shallots - 4 big, finely chopped
Ghee - 2 Tbsp
Cashews - a few

Method:
Cut the chicken into grob pieces. Wash and clean with salt and turmeric and keep aside.

In a wok on medium flame, heat some oil. Add the cloves, cinnamon, thinly sliced onions and turmeric and saute till the onions turn soft. Now, add the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, pepper corns, garlic pods and the red chillies one by one and saute for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let it cool down. After it is cooled, blend this spice mixture to a coarse paste with little water.

Dry roast the coconut with cumin seeds and 2 garlic pods. Preserve this aside.

Heat a wide bottomed pan and add cleaned chicken to it. Now add three fourths of the spice mixture, salt and 1 chopped onion to it, mix and cook with the lid closed for about 10 minutes.

Blend the rest of the spice mixture with the coconut mixture, again to a coarse paste, with enough water. Now, add this to the chicken, close the lid again and cook again until the chicken is well cooked and soft.

For seasoning, heat the ghee and saute the finely chopped shallots and cashews till light brown. Add to the curry and switch off the flame. Chicken Sukka is now ready to be enjoyed.

Verdict:
Just Fingerlicking good!! The relatively clean plates after the meal stand testimony to the taste of the curry. At first, I was quite surprised by the number of red chillies Cherie has used in the recipe, but however later realised that she has used the mild spiced ones. I was still apprehensive, yet I found that the coconut added reduces the heat of the chillies and increases the taste of the curry multifold.

I have observed that in many of the dishes, she has not used any pre-prepared curry powders. Instead, she roasts and blends the spices freshly before using in the curry. Of course it might be time consuming. But, believe me, it is really worth the effort. I could really feel the freshness of the spices in the curry. The taste reminded me of the curries my mother prepares. My mom blends spices every time for most of the curries in a traditional stone grinder (Ammi in Tamil) even to this day.

Note:

• I did not have the mild spicy Kashmir red chillies. So, I was a little conservative with the use of the red chillies.
• A combination of boned and breast pieces of the chicken would be fine for the dish.
• I blended the spices in an electric blender. I recommend blending in a stone grinder for better results.

Garnish the dish with fresh coriander leaves and serve hot with roti or steamed rice.Sending this as an entry to Blog Hop Wednesday-Week 9 event by Radhika of Tickling Palates.

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Broccoli Coriander Curry

Last few Sundays have been quite busy for me. I had been cooking something specifically for blogging. Waking up on a Sunday morning, the next thought would be what to cook for the evening (Iftar), what are the things I have at hand and how to get it to blogging. I would keep watch over the sky to see if it is cloudy or sunny. After the usual cleaning works, I would happily start cooking, then arrange the items and shoot... It is all such fun, you know.

If at all I have a little bit of that enthusiasm when it comes to writing the post. Sigh... After all these, I would not have the slightest inclination to write the post on Sunday itself and would tend to procrastinate. Weekdays have never been better. After a tiring day at work, the body and mind just wants to relax rather than sitting up with the laptop. I don't know how many of you feel the same. But, I, the lazy goose, am still learning to be better organized :)

Now, coming to last week's work. I found a few pods of butter beans in the farmer's market. I was more than excited. I absolutely love those creamy crunchy butter beans I have tasted in India. Those I found here had beautiful purple patterns. I thought of trying some different curry with them rather than a stir fry. I had some ideas in my mind and was determined to give a try. I put the butter beans in a pressure cooker and started preparing the curry in parallel.

The curry was developing exactly like I wanted it to be. After some time, I opened the cooker only to find the beans overcooked. Ooooppss... It was a disaster :( They turned out to be so mushy that they would not survive the stirring with the curry. Nevertheless, they tasted good and I just added some ground pepper and saved them aside. Ok, I learnt a lesson. Now, what to do with the curry, it is indeed good!!

An idea sparked suddenly on my mind. I had some frozen broccolis. Just added them to the curry and cooked along. The end result was very tasty and it made up for all the distress I had a little while ago. This is the story behind this curry. Now, let's get straight to the recipe.

Cooking Time: 30 mins
Serves: 2 to 3

Ingredients:
To grind:
Coriander leaves/Cilantro - a small bunch
Cashew - 10 pieces
Onion - 1 big or a handful of small shallots
Green chillies - 2

Cinnamon - 2 small sticks
Cardamom - 3 pieces
Cloves - 3 pieces
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
Broccoli florets - 400 g
Coconut milk - 3 tbsp

Method:
Wash and chop the coriander leaves. Chop the shallots/onion and green chillies finely. Take all these along with the cashews in a blender and blend to a smooth paste adding very little water.

Heat oil in a skillet. Add the cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. Now, add the ground paste and sauté till the raw smell of onion fades off. Now, add the ginger and garlic paste to it and sauté for a few more minutes.

Add the cut and clean Broccoli florets, stir and cover the skillet and cook for about 5 minutes in medium heat. Give a stir again, add the coconut milk and cook till the florets are cooked, but still crunchy. Give a final stir and switch off the heat.

Garnish with coriander leaves or nuts and/or a dash of cream and serve hot with steamed rice or roti.

Notes:

• Instead of coconut milk, you can use about 3 tbs of grated coconut. If so, you can grind it along with the coriander leaves and shallots.
• In my humble opinion, shallots give a better taste to the dish than onions.

As I said, this curry originated out of the blue in my mind. So, feel free to adapt it to your taste buds with various other veggies and ingredients too. We had this curry with Roti and later with Rice too. It was very creamy, tasty and aromatic. We were glad that we had a simple, tasty yet healthy vegetarian dish. Hope you like it too :)

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Vaazhaipoo Usili

Hello readers, it's almost 2 months now since my last post. We went for vacation to India and hence could not blog. Right now, it's very cold here in Frankfurt, though there is no snow. Either because of the vacation mood still lingering in my mind or because of this moody winter, I don't know... but I feel lazier to do things. With great effort, I'm writing my first post of 2011. By the way, wish you all a very happy new year :-) !!!

This time, I tried a vegetarian recipe. One of my favourite veg side dish that my mom used to cook is Vaazhai poo thuvaram. The flower of banana, like the other products of the plantain tree, has a very high nutritional value. It has a high fibre content, rich in Vitamin A and C and is also considered very good for women with menstrual disorders.

The challenge lies in the separation of the edible parts of the flower and cleaning them. Each petal of the banana flower must be open and the individual flowers inside should be collected. In each individual flower, the thickest solid stamen must be removed along with the white layer covering around and they must be discarded. The rest of the flowers can be chopped and put inside diluted butter milk for some time.

Since I was busy doing this, I forgot to take pictures... For those who are new to cooking with banana flower, please refer to the pictures in vaazhaipoo-banana-flower-poriyal to get an idea, which parts to discard.

After you are finished with this heroic, patience demanding job, yo!!! Ready to make a tasty dish out of them...

Though my mom usually makes thuvaram with this, which tastes heavenly, I just wanted to try a different recipe and tried Solai Achi's recipe. You can find the recipe here and I followed it exactly.

 
It came out excellent. A very tasty healthy dish...

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