Pumpkin & Raisin Bread




Pumpkin, grated – ¾ cup
Wheat flour – 1 cup
Flour – ½ cup
Yeast -1 ½ tbsp
Hot water – ¼ cup + ½ cup
Sugar – 1 heaped tbsp
Salt – ½ tsp
Olive oil / Veg oil – 2 – 3 tbsp + 1 tsp
Butter – 1 tsp
Milk – 1 tbsp

Ingredients to sauté the pumpkin

Veg Oil / Butter / Olive Oil – 1 ½ tbsp
Salt – ¼ tsp
Chilly flakes – 1 tsp
Garlic, grated – 4 cloves
Mixed Italian spices – 1 ½ tsp
Raisins, finely chopped – 10

To sauté the pumpkin


Heat oil in a non-stick pan . Add the grated pumpkin, chilly flakes, salt, garlic and oil and saute for a minute and a half. The pumpkin would have reduced to 3/4th its quantity. Add the chopped raisins, stir for few seconds and turn off heat. Add the mixed Italian spices immediately and stir well. Let it cool.

before baking
In a bowl mix the wheat flour and flour. Add the sautéed pumpkin and mix it with the flour to make crumbs. Make a well in the middle of the flour mix. Add the sugar, salt and yeast. Pour ¼ cup hot water. Stir it gently and cover it. Leave it for 5 – 7 minutes. The yeast would have come on top. Start kneading the flour with the yeast mix and then gradually add the oil and the ½ cup water until a dough is formed. Add 1 or 2 tbsp flour if the dough is sticky. Knead the dough for 7 – 10 minutes. Pour 1 tsp oil over the dough and spread it thoroughly. Cover the dough with a wet cloth and leave it aside for 1 ½ hours. The dough would have doubled. Press down the dough.





Grease a baking tray. Place the dough in the middle of the tray. Flatten it gently. Use a dough cutter or knife to draw lines over the dough. Leave it aside for half an hour. Apply milk on top of the dough and bake it at 170 C for 22* minutes. Apply butter as soon as the bread is taken out of the oven. Serve hot or cold with butter or tomato sauce.

* Baking time may differ depending on the oven used. Check the bread with a skewer or tap the bottom of the tray to get a hollow sound to check whether the bread is baked..

Chilly Fried Rice with Peanuts & Veggies





I prepared this chilly fried rice with inspirations from Chinese, Thai and Schezwan cuisine. Though the title boasts of many ingredients, this is a simple preparation.....hope you will try and enjoy this!


the recipe

Long grain cooked rice – to serve 8

Chopped or julienned vegetables

Cabbage – ½ cup
Carrot – 1 or 2
Celery – 3 stalks
Spring onion bulb – 4
Capsicum – 1
Onion – 1

Ginger paste – 1 tbsp
Garlic paste – 1 tbsp
Chilly flakes – 2 tsp
Soya sauce – 3 tbsp
Tomato sauce – 1, 2 or 3 tbsp
Sugar – 2 tsp
Salt – to taste
Veg Oil – 3 – 4 tbsp
Vegetable stock or water – ½ cup
Peanuts, roasted & slightly crushed – 5 tbsp
Spring onion shoot chopped – 4 shoots

the method
Heat oil in a wok or wide pan. Add the vegetables and onion and stir well in high heat. The vegetables should remain crispy and partially cooked. Add the crushed peanuts (Put the peanuts in a grinder jar and grind the roasted peanuts for 2-3 seconds). Stir for a while and add the ginger garlic paste. Stir till the raw smell is gone. Add the chilly flakes. Add soya sauce and sugar and stir briskly for 10 seconds. Add adequate salt for the vegetables & rice. Make space in the middle of the pan and pour the vegetable stock. Add the cooked rice in one shot. Mix all the ingredients. Add the tomato sauce. Toss the rice well. Sprinkle the spring onion shoot. Serve hot with tomato sauce or a side dish. We had this with Prawn Ball Curry (recipe to be posted soon).

Vegetable Stew – Kerala Style (without coconut milk)






Vegetable stew has a prominent place in a Malayalee breakfast. It goes well with appam (hoppers), idiyappam (string hoppers) or chappati. You can have this vegetable stew with puttu (steamed rice cake) or whatever you like.

When I mentioned a Kerala style, I wanted to imply that stew of any kind in Kerala is usually prepared with oodles of coconut milk . Since we are in the age of busy lifestyle, grating coconut and extracting milk is a tedious task. Though coconut milk or coconut powder is readily available in the market, I wanted to create something that comes in even more handy. Therefore this vegetable stew is gravied with milk, a dash of rice flour for thickening and a pinch of sugar to bring in the sweet taste which the coconut milk would have added to the stew. This is a quickie recipe which can be prepared in about 30 minutes.

the recipe

potato – 2
carrot – 3
beans – 12
oil – 1 tbsp
onion – 1
green chilly -1 or 2
garam masala – ¼ tsp
salt – ½ tsp

for seasoning

oil – 1 tbsp
ghee or butter (optional) – ½ tsp
onion – 1
curry leaf – 1 sprig
cinnamon – ¼ inch piece
cloves – 3
cardamom – 4 medium sized

other ingredients

milk – ½ cup
rice flour – 1 -1 ½ tbsp
sugar – a pinch
raisins, fried – 4 tbsp
cashew nut or almonds, julienned – 2 tbsp
pepper powder (white or black) – ½ tsp
turmeric powder – 1/8 tsp
salt to taste




the method

In a pressure cooker add 1 tbsp oil and sauté 1 chopped onion and green chilly. When the onions turn translucent, add the chopped vegetables and salt. Saute for two minutes. Add garam masala and stir for few second. Add 1 ½ cup water and pressure cook the vegetable for 2 whistle (as per Indian standard pressure cooker). Turn off heat.

In another pan, heat the oil and ghee. Add chopped onion and curry leaves. Add the whole spices, turmeric and stir well. Add the cooked vegetables. Bring it to boil. Mix the rice flour in 4-5 tbsp water at room temperature. Pour it into the stew and stir. Make sure that the rice solution does not form lumps. In medium heat keep stirring and bring it to boil. Add sugar. Turn to low heat and add milk. Check salt. When bubbles are seen at the side of the pan, turn off heat (overboiling will curdle the milk). Add the fried raisins and almonds. Serve hot as you please.

Soya Chunk Pulao



Soya Chunk pulao is a one pot meal for any time of the day. It is quick to prepare and very tasty. The only accompaniment you need is a salad.

the recipe

Basmati Rice (long or short grain)  – 1 ½ cup (around 600 – 700 gms)
Cinnamon   - ½ inch piece
Cloves – 3
Green cardamom – 4
Black cardamom  (optional ) – 2
Oil – 2 tbsp
Water – 3 cup

Soya chunks – 200 gms

ingredients for the green paste

Green chilly – 2 or 3 (adjust to taste)
Coriander leaves – 1 ½ cup
Mint leaves – 1 cup
Garlic – 10 – 12 cloves
Ginger – 1 inch piece

Grind all the ingredients into a fine paste.

other ingredients

Oil – 2 tbsp
Onion – 2
Garam masala – 1 ½ tsp
Turmeric – ½ tsp
Chilly powder – ¾  tsp
Pepper powder – ½ tsp
Tomato – 2
Carrot, chopped- 1
Curd – 4 tbsp
Salt to taste
Raisins and cashewnuts, fried – as much as you need
Ghee (optional) – 2 tbsp





the method

Wash the rice 3 – 4 times. Drain the water and keep it aside for about 15 minutes. This is to slightly dry the rice.

In a heavy bottom pan, add 2 tbsp oil and the whole spices. When the spices stop sizzling, add the rice. Use a wooden spatula and fry till the rice turn translucent. Keep it aside.

Soak the soya chunks in adequate hot water (boiling hot) for 15 minutes. Squeeze the water from soya chunks and wash it in fresh water. Keep it aside.

Heat a pressure cooker and add 2 tbsp oil. Saute the chopped onion till light brown. Add the turmeric, powder, garam masala, pepper powder and chilly powder. Stir for few seconds and add the tomatoes and carrot. Stir till the tomato turns soft. Pour the green paste. Stir well and add the curd. Stir in the cooked soya chunks and stir well for about a minute or till the soya is fully coated with the masala. Simmer for minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the rice and mix well. Add 3 cups water. Add salt. Add the fried raisins and cashewnuts. Pour the ghee. Close the cooker and cook till the 1 whistle blows. Turn off heat. Open the cooker after 20 minutes or when the pressure is fully released. Soya Chunk Pulao is ready. Serve with onion and tomato raita.



Chilly Tomato (Chinese)



Just before posting this recipe, I googled to check whether there is any similar dish already. After the googling I just felt I should a clue to the title. Because there are many other chilly and tomato combinations that is not Chinese.

Chilli tomato is like a chilly gobi or a chilly chicken which is very suitable for a side dish. The inspiration to prepare this recipe is from the fast food joints in Kochi that serve chilly tomato with parotta….. We had this with chapathi.

the recipe

Tomato – 3
Capsicum – 1
Green chilly – ½ or 1 small
Onion – 1 big
Chilly powder – ½ tsp

Pepper powder – 1/8 tsp
Soya sauce – 1 ½ tbsp
Tomato sauce – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Sugar – 2 pinch
Oil – 2 tbsp

Garlic – 4 cloves

Method

Cut the tomato into half. Scoop out the seed and flesh in the inside and keep it in a bowl..
Cut the tomato into cubes and place it in another bowl.


Cut the onion, capsicum and chilly into juliennes. Chop the garlic.

Heat oil in a pan and the garlic, followed by onion and green chillies. Saute for about a minute and add the capsicum and the scooped out tomatoes. Saute for a minute. Add salt and chilly powder. Add the cubed tomato. Turn to high heat and sauté till the tomatoes are just cooked. Pour the soya sauce and sauté briskly. Add sugar immediately. Stir for about 5 seconds and add the tomato sauce. Add the pepper powder. Turn off heat. Serve hot with fried rice, noodles or chapathi.



Spicy Brinjal and Potato Stir Fry

Brinjal is one of my favourite vegetables. Growing up in the hillstation Valparai we had our own patch of vegetable garden and we use...