Have you come across this situation… What if you could eat one of the food items you like very much only once in a year? It’s difficult to even imagine such a thing in this era of instant gratification, right? Well, this particular recipe belongs to that category. You can make this only once a year on Maundy Thursday, in remembrance of Passover. You can read more about it’s significance here.

As a child, I always used to wonder why these grownups were making so much fuss about cooking this? I mean, the preparation of this Appam and Paal is taken very seriously, at least at my place. It’s usually done by the eldest female member of the family. The mood in the kitchen would be completely different from normal days. The Appam and Paal is prepared with extra care and caution. The preparation would start around noon time and once the batter is ready, a small prayer is said while placing the Cross on the batter. By evening time, the whole family comes together for prayer and cutting the Appam.

On a regular basis I like my space in the kitchen. I like to move things in my own pace and everything remains where I keep it, yep I’m a bit of control freak when it comes to my space ;) Ok, what I was trying to say is, how-much- ever I like my space in the kitchen, every year when I make this by myself, standing alone in the quietness of my kitchen, I cannot help but wish, there is total chaos in my kitchen with people and dishes all over the place! Strange isnt it, how emotions can affect your normal self?

Though I’m making it since 2005, every year without fail, I’d be calling my Amma and Tesschechy (my aunt), at least 10 times while making this. I’ve become one of those fussy grownups! By trying to be extra cautious I become extra clumsy :( I tend to have ‘n’ number of doubts every year, may be because it’s made only once in a year or may be because I’m weighed down by its importance, sigh!

So, last year I thought enough is enough and decided to write down each and every detail about it and also take step by step pictures. I wanted to share with you the step by step pictures and the updated recipe. The qty of the ingredients remains the same. There is a small change in the method. However I’ve kept the old post too, if in case you’re used to that recipe :)

Again, even if all the details are in place, I’m sure I’ll be calling or What’s – apping Amma this year too, you know just to make sure that I’m not alone in the kitchen on this day :) After all, no man is an island!

Here you go with the step by step pictures…

Combine salt and roasted rice flour. Add boiling water gradually and using a wooden spatula mix the dough. Add water till the dough comes together. Using your hands (be careful the dough can be very hot), knead together until you get a smooth and soft dough…

Drain the soaked ural dal and grind it into a smooth paste by adding 1/4 cup plus 2 tbspn water…

Grind coconut with garlic, small onion and jeera with 1/2 cup water, until everything is combined well…

Add urad dal paste and coconut paste to the dough. Combine everything well. The consistency of batter should be same as that of Idli batter…

Transfer the batter to a well greased (I use coconut oil for greasing the tin) steaming tin. Place the cross made with palm leaves on the middle of the batter. Steam in appachembu/steamer for 25-35 minutes…

Melt jaggery with a little water. When it is completely melted, strain it…

Add 3 cups medium thick coconut milk and stir continuously and when more than half of it is evaporated, add thick coconut milk and stir well…

For thickening the paal, take 1 or 2 tbsp rice powder and mix it with hot water and add to paal and cook for a few minutes…

I’m sure you’ve seen a variety of Tiramisu recipes by now. I’ve also posted a Tiramisu cake recipe earlier. However this is a no bake version. Whenever I’m pressed for time to think about recipe ideas for dessert, I make this. This is good enough for a crowd and also it’s too easy to put together. I’ve made this “n” number of times and without fail, every time, I was rewarded with big happy smiling faces licking their spoons :)

Btw, how’s Easter preps going on? All set?

Jose and I wish you and your loved ones a Happy and Blessed Easter! May the Risen Christ Bless you!

I’ve put together a party menu for Easter, you can see it here.

Here you go with the step by step pictures…

In a mixing bowl, with a manual whisk, whisk mascarpone cheese with icing sugar, vanilla essence, Baileys Irish Cream (if using) and 3 tablespoons of the espresso syrup until blended…

With an electric mixer whisk the whipping cream until soft peak (do not over whip)…

With a spatula, fold in 1/4 of the whipped cream to the mascarpone mixture. Fold in the remaining whipped cream to the mascarpone mixture…

Spread a layer of the cake in the pudding dish / individual dessert bowl. Brush the cake with espresso syrup to moisten it. Spoon over half of the filling over the moistened cake layer. Spread evenly. Repeat with another layer of moistened cake and spoon over the remaining filling. Spread and smooth the top. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, best left overnight…

Recipe adapted from here:

Please read the “notes” section before you proceed with the recipe.

Hellooo, it’s been sometime right? Well, there is no particular reason for this break, let’s just say, I was feeling lazy ;)

Happened to cook chicken after a long time, say 2-3 months. Since it’s been such a long time, I wanted to make something traditional, and zeroed in on this recipe. This curry has a very rich and creamy gravy with a nice flavour coming from the masala and coconut milk.

I’ll go straight to the recipe this time and we will catch up in detail in the next post, ok?

If you are interested in more Chicken recipes, please check out our Chicken ebooklet.

Recommended side dishes: Palappam, Idiyappam, Kallappam, Puttu, Vattayappam, Ghee Rice, Chapathi

Here goes the recipe…

Marinate cleaned chicken pieces with salt, pepper powder and vinegar. Grind together ingredients listed from coriander powder – water, to a smooth paste…

Heat oil and add sliced onion. When it turns golden – dark brown, add crushed ginger garlic and green chilli. Cook for 3-4 mins…

Add ground masala and cook till oil starts appearing, say 2-3 mins. Add sliced tomato and mix well…

Add marinated chicken pieces, salt and cubed potato. Mix well.  Add medium thick coconut milk…

Mix well and bring it to a boil. Reduce flame and cover and cook chicken till it’s done…

Add thick coconut milk and stir well. Continue to cook on low flame for 5-7 mins and remove from fire. Add the fried small onion and curry leaves…

Recipe adapted from Vanitha Magazine

Do you like it when others take you for granted? Do you tend to take others for granted? Have you noticed that there is always an aura of negativity surrounding the phrase “taking for granted”, be it people or things? Do you feel like you are answering a “psychology” questionnaire, instead of reading a write up on a  food blog? Well, I got you there ;)

If you ask me, my immediate response to the first question would be a definite “no”. I dont like anybody taking me for granted, having said that… there are times when I feel that I’ve been taken granted by “others” and I feel ok with it. It depends on who the so called “others” are. If it’s done by people who are dear to me, I overlook it. If you dont make some concessions with your loved ones, well what’s the point of having such relationships? But then,  you need to clearly define the “others” group, otherwise be prepared for a bumpy ride.

It works both ways for me, the way I dont mind taking it for granted, I sometimes tend to do the same with them. I do that only with those people whom I believe, that no matter what I do, they will be there for me. Ok, if you are wondering why I’m going blah blah with psycho babbles, here you go.. you might have noticed that I wasn’t posting for quite sometime. Not only that, I also didnt reply to the comments and mails for sometime. My inbox was kinda flooded and I actually felt so guilty about it. But then, the thing is for the past one month or so, I somehow developed a kind of computer aversion, if you can call that. I dont know why it happened, I couldnt sit in front of the comp for more than 10 mins at a time, even that too felt strenuous!  May be I’m just going through one of the “phases”. I always have diff phases, more about that later.

Though I didnt post anything new here, I tried many new recipes and clicked pics too. So just the other day when I was going through these pics, I felt sad. I was thinking.. what’s the whole point of having these pics if I cant share it with you? So that triggered this post, hopefully my “computer aversion phase” phases out soon..

Before going to the recipe,I’m really sorry, if you felt that I was taking you for granted without replying to your mails and comments. I hope, you know that, I treasure your feedback and support very much.

Now coming to the recipe, finally! This is one of the most requested recipes… I’ve been on the look out for a good recipe of Chana masala for a long time. Came across a few but it called for spices which I dont use on a regular basis. During our last trip home, Jose’s mom made this curry. The nice masala smell coming from the kitchen woke me up from my afternoon nap and lead me straight to the kitchen. I wasted no time tasting it. The curry has a very good flavour. What I like the best is it doesnt call for any unusual ingredients unlike the other recipes I came across. I was very happy with the consistency too. So here ends my search for a good Chana Masala recipe. Hope you’ll also enjoy it.

Here is the recipe..

Heat oil in a deep and wide pan. Add crushed ingredients. When it browns, add all masala powders and mix well…

Add chopped tomatoes and salt, cook till tomatoes becomes soft. Add cooked chana with left over stock and mix well…

Bring it to a boil and reduce flame to lowest. Cook for 10 mins…

Add tomato puree and coriander leaves. Mix well, cook for another 5-7 mins…

It’s been sometime I’ve posted an egg recipe, right? So I’m making up for the lost time by posting a biriyani recipe. Honestly, I was a bit skeptical about it. I was worried whether it will end up like having ghee rice with omelete on the side. Well, it turned out to be a wonderful biriyani in every sense! What I liked best is the cooking time is less compared to other biriyani recipes. So if you’ve a craving to eat homemade biriyani, look no further.

Hope you’ll also enjoy this biriyani. May be you can try this recipe over the weekend, what say?

Here you go…
Heat oil in a frying pan and pour in half the egg mixture and make an omelet. When cooked, remove from fire and cut into bite size pieces. Repeat the step with the remaining egg mixture…

Heat oil and fry onion. When it becomes golden brown, add crushed ginger, garlic and green chilli. Fry till it gives out an aroma…

Add tomatoes and salt and fry for a few more minutes. Add garam masala and fennel powder…

Add coriander and mint leaves and omelet. Mix well…

Heat ghee and add spices. Fry for a min and add chopped onion. When onion appears transparent, no need to brown it, add crushed ginger, garlic and green chilli. Stir well till it gives out an aroma. Add rice and stir for five mins…

Add salt and boiling water to cook the rice…

Spread one layer of rice first and spread a layer of masala on top of it. Repeat the same.The top layer should be of rice. Bake in the pre heated oven or using stove top method…

Recipe adapted from Ummi Abdulla’s “The Epicure Cookbook”

So, it was my b’day last Friday. Another year older (cant help it) and wiser (I dont think so, but let’s pretend that’s the case). Tell me something… when you were growing up, did you take any major decisions on how to and how not to behave based on how the grownups around you were behaving. Like, if and when I get married, I’ll be an “ABC” type of spouse, instead of a “XYZ” type, those kinda things, got it?

Anyways, among many other decisions, one such decision of mine was to always be graceful and not to worry about the increasing numerical value of my age. Back then, I was more like… age is just a number and it doesn’t matter. Looks like in my case age and wisdom is inversely proportional!

Ok, that part hasn’t changed, I still believe age is just a number and so on, but my only concern is just saying it out loud. It’s all good in my head, but the moment I say it out loud, wait a min… I’m not able to say it loud, that’s the problem. I suddenly feel tongue tied or words desert me when I’ve to say it and when I recover from that state, I’d start tip toeing around the subject, see definitely not wiser. But since I don’t like to challenge age old saying and beliefs and also for your sake and my sake, let’s just say that I became wiser by a pinch.

Wiser or not, I did bake a b’day cake for myself for a change. Usually, I don’t bake cake for my b’day and also it’s not a big deal, we both just go out for dinner some place nice and that’s it. Since this time, it fell on a weekend, our friends came over for lunch and we had a great time. About the cake, it wasn’t anything fancy in looks, but taste wise, it was a “killer” cake. Well that’s the exact word our friends used to describe the cake. If you go through the ingredient list, you’ll know why. It’s just one of those recipes, where the ingredients do the majority of the work and you just need to facilitate it. I had a Red Velvet cake mix with me and was looking for an occasion to bake it. How I ended up with a box cake is a different story all together, but that led to this cake, so I’m happy.

Sadly, my cake pictures didnt turn out that well, but I’m going to share it with you anyway. Apart from this cake being sinful, the qty is big enough to feed a crowd. So it will be a while, before I bake this again and I didnt want you to miss this super dessert recipe. If you are planning a get together or a potluck party, this is a must try, trust me.

Recipe adapted from here

Now that I already shared the dessert recipe of my b’day party with you, here is the appetiser recipe. Coming to think of it, I always look forward to the appetisers and desserts, the most, in any party. I’ve a soft corner for short eats, that explains my love for appetisers.

I’m always on the look out for good appetiser recipes. Jalapeno Cheese Balls at Trader Vic’s Restaurant is one of my fav appetiser. I started with that in mind and ended up with this. Ok, I’ve to tell you something.. this is not for faint-hearted. This is one rich and sinful appetiser, but I’m not sorry about it, for once! It will be a hit with kids and adults alike. This is one of the must try recipes, if you like these kinda food. Now, please dont tell me you dont like these kinda food, it breaks my heart, honestly..

This is great if you are entertaining a big group, you can make it in advance and just fry it up on the day of the party. I always get mails asking recipe suggestions for kids parties, this recipe works best for such parties and also if you are looking for some fried goodies to keep you warm during the pouring monsoon, look no further.

Again, I dont have the step by step pictures of this one, but it’s a simple one. You can easily manage without the pics ;)

Please read the “notes” section before you proceed with the recipe.

I wanted to post this cake recipe before this month ends. MM completes 8 years this month! Though I said the previous statement without any drama, trust me, lots of drama happens behind the scene, all the time. Be it in the kitchen, photo session, maintenance… As I’ve said before, though the site is in my name, it’s very much a joint venture between Jose and myself. I manage the front office and he is in charge of the back office. So you can imagine, how it works out when husband and wife works together ;)

One of the things that we always have a conflict is, Jose wants me to be proud about the site, in a good way. Sometimes it happens that when I’m asked whether I’m working, I tend to say I’m unemployed or jobless, depending on my mood and as a result some people tend to look down upon me. Ok, now if I start talking about that topic, it will take ages, so let’s come back to what we were saying, hhmm, yeah be proud about my work. He keeps asking me why am I downplaying the whole thing and so on. So, to stop his bickering, I told him, come this June, I’ll not only be a proud owner, but may be flaunt it a lil bit ;)

You see, I was all set to start throwing around my weight, not so much, may be the size of a paper weight, as starters. I started practicing my make believe celebrity style at home too. I almost perfected it, then something happened. I got a mail! A mail from some agency saying that they will make me and my small blog a celebrity and they want me to do audition also for that! Here I’m all set to flaunt my celebrity status in Utopia and it took no time to bring me back to  reality where I’m asked to audition to become one. Sigh! Should I say that my paper weights got crushed into fine dust by a road roller :(

Though I’ve given up the idea of “flaunting my blog”, I’ve started saying that I’m the “author” at MariasMenu :) An author without readers is like a Red Velvet Cupcake without the cream cheese icing, it just doesn’t feel complete. It’s only because of YOU, I can call myself an author. I know I test your patience and tolerance level at times, with the delay in posting new recipes or getting back to your mails and comments, but you put up with me ever so kindly.

Thank you for being there for MM :)

Now about this cake, this is one of the best Chocolate cakes, I’ve baked so far. I baked it twice in a month’s time, once for one of our friend’s anniversary and other for a friend’s b’day. The cake was a hit with both of them, if I say so myself. I loved the texture of this cake, it’s a bit dense but in a good way. The cake by itself isnt sweet, so it calls for a grand icing. The Nutella icing complemented the cake perfectly. It’s very much a celebration cake, ideal for birthdays, anniversaries or any special occasion or you can just bake this cake and make an ordinary day an extra ordinary one ;) If you like chocolate cakes, this one is for you. I made praline only for one cake. The cake pic given above is the one I made for our friend’s anniversary.

I want you to bake this cake so badly, so I shamelessly went and asked one of them to give me a slice to take home, so that I can take a pic to share with you ;) I wanted you to see the sliced cake, to get an idea about the texture.

Finally, the recipe…

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl…

In another bowl, with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes…

Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined…

Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with water and buttermilk, beating on low speed until just combined; scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat on medium-high speed just until no traces of flour remain, about 30 seconds; do not overbeat…

Divide the batter evenly into 2, 8 or 9-inch round pans that have been greased and floured. Bake for about 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean…

Place a cake on the serving plate. Moisten the top and sides of the cake with coffee syrup. Place some icing on the top of the cake and spread it. Sprinkle the hazelnut praline, if using…

Place the next cake on top of this. Moisten the top and sides with the coffee syrup. Place some icing on top…

Start spreading it on the top and sides. Sprinkle the remaining hazelnut praline on top…

Cake recipe from here and Icing recipe from here

Please read the notes section before proceeding with the recipe

Here’s a simple and refreshing recipe for summer time. These days I’m on the look out for recipes which are different from the usual kind which I make at home, like curries, but mostly using ingredients which I already have. One of the things that I’ve learnt over the years, is to substitute. Yeah, I know it’s a pretty common sense kinda thing to do, but I never used to do it when I started cooking. If a recipe called for say 10 gms of an ingredient which I rarely use, I used to go n buy the 100 gms packet, just because the 10 gms isnt available and bin the rest of 90 gms, if I get around to make it. Otherwise the whole thing will end up in bin during my cupboard cleaning spree, sigh! Still there are  times, when I go n buy those 100 gms, knowing fully well that I’ll use only 10 gms of it. But I’ve trained myself to decide whether it’s worth it or not. This only happens with expensive ingredients, there is no point in over analysing and wasting your time over a few cents, at least in my view.

So coming to this recipe, one of our friends gifted us a carton of Ratnagiri Alphonso Mangoes . At first I thought we will just eat it as is, because those Mangoes are so good that you dont feel like adding anything to it, out of the fear that you may spoil it. We did just that with the whole lot, except for a few. I kept looking for a recipe using Mangoes, with minimal ingredients. I wanted a recipe that highlights the freshness and taste of the mango. After some research I zeroed in on this recipe. When I saw the pic of this salsa, I was sold. You could feel the freshness of the mango in that pic.

Salmon is something that we both like. As I said before, I dont usually do much experiment with Salmon also. Just grill it on stove top with a simple marinade of lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper. When we have salmon, I usually make some simple sides like mashed potato or stir fried veggies. So for a change, after seeing this recipe, I decided to go with the same combo, even when I had some doubts about how mango and salmon works together. I even kept some mashed potatoes ready, if in case the mango salmon combo backfired. Honestly, I was a bit surprised at how it paired so well! Somehow the whole thing together just turned out perfect!

If you dont eat Salmon, may be you can just try the salsa, it’s very much capable of holding on it’s own. It’s a very refreshing and a perfectly balanced dish with a wonderful flavour from the sweetness of mangoes, heat from the chilli,  and a hint of acidity from the lemon juice.

Recipe from here

Do you remember, last week when I told you about buying  large qty of  ingredients and binning most of it? Well, it happens in the case of this particular recipe. I rarely make chaat at home. Coming to think of it, we don’t eat it from outside also often, hhmm… Surprising, since both of us like chaat. I think the reason is somehow our minds fail to recall it  and because of that we dont crave for it. As they say, out of sight, out of mind. I think it’s very true in today’s scenario, where you are constantly fed with tons of information in the form of pics, videos, articles etc; knowingly or unknowingly. Sometime ago, I read an article about “leading a life without internet for 25 days”. You can read it here.

I was really surprised to find out how much my life depended on the internet. We had a blackout recently and I was completely lost for a min! Blackouts are a very rare occurrence here. I was hoping for the power to be back on soon, but it felt like ages. I grew restless and to add salt to the wound, my mobile battery drained out! After a few mins of panicking, I decided to face the “powerless” situation. I made myself a cup of coffee and sat near the window, just watching the world go by. It took me sometime to stop being restless and calm myself. “Being in present moment” is something I find very difficult, say if I’m going for a head massage, rather than enjoying the massage, I’ll be worrying about it getting over soon or if I’m listening to a playlist, rather than enjoying the current song, I’ll think about the next song to come, ggrrr :(( Have you ever felt like that?

Anyways, where were we… yep, chaat. So like I said, even though I make this very rarely, I buy and keep the small puris like it’s going out of stock! If you make and keep the sweet chutney ready, you can make this in no time, if you’ve all the ingredients available. This is my fav chaat item. When I say it’s my fav, I mean it.

Once when we went to Sanjeev Kapoor’s restaurant here, we went for buffet instead of al a carte. I’m not a buffet person at all, but that day since the rest of the gang were in a mood for a buffet, I joined them. At the risk of sounding like a weird kinda person.. let me tell you.. all I had that day was dahi puri from the whole spread, that too under the death glares shooting from a particular pair of eyes ;) Sometimes it drives Jose crazy when I put on an unusual show… so now I’m confused! Did I have dahi puri that day out of love for puri or simply to irk him ;) Well, one thing for sure, I didnt even bother to taste anything else, so let’s assume it must be because of my love for dahi puri.

To enjoy the dahi puri to the maximum, you need to get the whole flavour in one bite. The sweetness and tanginess of Tamarind sauce, spiciness from the green chutney, softness from the potato, the coolness from the yogurt and the crunch of the puri. It’s like a flavour explosion inside your mouth!

So here you go…

Recipe from here

This is one of my “go to” recipes for a lazy day in the kitchen. For the past two weeks, almost every other day was a lazy kitchen day. Yeah, it was a mini vacation for us. We didnt travel anywhere, for a change we decided to stay back in Bahrain. Surprisingly we had a great time, catching up on some of our favourite TV shows, movies and books.

For me the highlight of any holiday, is staying away from kitchen as far as possible. But since we were here and since it was Ramadan time and hotels were closed during day time that wasn’t feasible. However I used all my energy to make plans to ensure that cooking is kept to bare minimum ;)

Anyways, here you go with the step by step pictures for this super easy recipe…

Cook the noodles as per packet instructions and keep aside…

Heat oil in a wok or a deep and wide pan. Scramble the eggs and keep aside. In the same pan, add more oil if required, add chopped onion and garlic…

When onion becomes soft, add rest of the veggies, except spring onion. Add salt. Cover and cook till the veggies are done. Once the veggies are done, add pepper powder and the sauces. Mix well and increase the heat to maximum for a min or two, if you like the smoky taste…

Reduce heat to the minimum and add scrambled eggs, spring onion and noodles. Mix well. Cook on low flame for a min or two. Serve hot…

So the other day I woke up with a weird craving… I wanted to eat something that looks pretty! Ok, that didnt sound too shallow inside my head.. well, the mind wants what it wants right? It happened on one of those days when we got up around 11.30-12 in the afternoon. Remember we were on vacation? While my internal debate was going on about what kind of pretty food I should eat, there was someone who was sitting next to me impatiently, ready to eat anything edible, pretty or not.

When I think of pretty food, the first thing that comes to my mind is desserts, but I didnt feel like eating sweets. The pressure started building since the impatient man’s tolerance level started dropping. If anything I’ve learnt over the years, there is only a very fine line that separates a hungry man from an angry man. Suddenly a plate of stacked pancakes appeared in my mind from no where. See, a little bit of pressure is always good for you..

Anyways, once I decided what to make, everything went on smoothly. It not only looked pretty, tasted great too. Well, I’m sure this will be featured regularly in our breakfast menu. It’s super easy to put together, ingredients are easily available, great texture and not to forget easy on eyes too ;)

So here you go..

Recipe adapted from here

The other day when I was going through the site, I noticed something… it’s been sometime I’ve posted a Kerala recipe. So, I’m posting this very basic and pretty straight forward Kerala style stir fry recipe. Well, before going to the recipe, I’d like to share something else with you..

Recently I was asked to share some details about Kerala breakfast food and also my feelings of being a Malayali, for a UK based magazine called Good Things. I’ve posted the article sometime ago here, I’m not sure whether you saw it. Anyways, you can see the published version here.

So coming back to our recipe, this is one of the most common side dish for a Kerala style oonnu / lunch. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of this particular veggie. When anybody asks me whether I’ve a preferred veg choice for lunch side dish, my usual reply is anything is ok, except achinga. The thing is.. I tried eating it 2-3 times, but every time I had a pokey feeling inside my mouth, well that’s what happens if you under cook this veggie. Off late, I’ve discovered that my taste appreciation is changing and it’s becoming more accommodating too.

Here you go with one of the easiest side dish recipe for lunch…

Heat oil in a pan and crackle the mustard seeds and add curry leaves. Add crushed small onion and garlic…

Fry it for 2-3 mins, till the raw smell goes and onion starts browning. Add chilli powder and salt. Fry for a min or so. Add coconut bits (if using) and mix well…

Add achinga and mix well. Sprinkle water and cover and cook for 5-7 mins…

I consider myself an easy going person, especially with my friends. So years ago, when a close Gujarati friend of mine acted very formal one day, I was a bit confused. She was like, I hope you don’t feel bad if I ask you something and that got me all the more curious. So after all the formalities and playing around, she finally asked me “Maria, don’t you get fresh milk in Kerala”? For a moment, I was like.. WHAT??? I was wondering where this question was coming from, does it have anything to do with Amul, since she is from Gujarat, so I was all set to say that though we dont have Amul, we have our own Milma, Keralam Kani Kandunarunna Nanma’(The goodness Kerala wakes up to) or so they say..

Seeing the confused look on my face, she got a bit worried. She was like… the reason why I asked is whenever we go to the airport, we see all the Keralites buying big packets of Nido Milk Powder from Duty free!!!

Well, that explains everything… cant blame her, a Malayalee coming home from Gulf or “Gelf” as they call it, feels incomplete without a Nido packet and Tang for that matter. I didn’t know how to explain our obsession with Nido and Tang, so I told her it’s kind of a ritual for a Gulf Malayalee, just like going to Lulu supermarket on Fridays.

I was pretty impressed with her observation, because it was kinda spot on and I’m also guilty as charged. The only difference is, I buy a different brand of milk powder :)

It’s true that the stereotypical Gulf Malayali of the 80′s and 90′s, with Rayban “cooling” glass and gold bracelets have transformed to a more sophisticated and polished version, but there are still some rituals that stood the test of time.

If it’s about Nido milk powder in a duty free bag during the outbound trip from Gulf, it’s about an oil drenched Horlicks bottle of pickle on the return trip. Yep, we all need a Horlicks bottle of pickle to take us home away from home.

Also, these days, I’ve seen that even if it’s not homemade pickle, people tend to buy at least one bottle of ready made pickle, though most of the local brands are available here, may be there is something about packing a pickle bottle from your hometown. If it was a basic necessity for surviving the hostel mess food during your student days, it becomes a prized nostalgic possession that gives you the taste and scent of your home, during your life as an expatriate.

How-much-ever, I want to be poetic and eloquent about the nostalgic memories of homemade pickles, there are some bad memories associated with it. We’ve lost two suitcases, to pickles and that too not ours. The oil from somebody else’s pickle seeped into our suitcase and spoiled the suitcase and some of our clothes too. So I’d say it’s all good being nostalgic and losing ourselves in the taste of home, but please make sure it doesn’t come at someone elses’ expense.

So, shall we go to the recipe now? The thing is I got this recipe from Vanitha magazine and they’ve named this Manga Curry. After tasting it, I thought it’s same as pickle and it’s kind of instant, except for the 1 hour marinating time, so I named it Instant Mango Pickle. Be it pickle or curry, it’s very easy to make, tastes good, stores well and not time consuming at all. Good enough reasons to make this right?

Here you go with the step by step pics…

Marinate the mango strips with salt and turmeric powder for 1 hr. Add chilli powder, fenugreek powder and Asafoetida to the marinated mango strips…

Mix well. Heat oil in a pan, when it’s becoming smoking hot, switch off the flame. Add mustard seeds,dry red chilli and curry leaves to this.Fry it for a min or so…

Add this to the mango mixture. Stir well for 2 mins or so. Make sure the raw taste of chilli powder isnt there.In the same pan, boil 1/4 cup water along with vinegar and add to the mango mixture. Stir well…

My Appa, has this habit of filing Newspaper cut outs. If an article seems interesting to him, or if he thinks it could be of useful to others, he files them. So, he usually keeps all cooking related cut outs for me. It can be recipes, eating habits or write ups about various food culture etc;

Nowadays, it has become one of my holiday rituals to go through these cut outs. Apart from the foodie articles, he also keeps the cut outs of new boutiques in and around Cochin, for me ;)

Sometime ago when I talked to him, he said reading an article about sambar. That’s when he asked me, what all veggies I add while making sambar. I started the list with carrot and he immediately interrupted me by saying, “you don’t add carrot in sambar!”. His explanation was carrot is not a traditional Kerala vegetable, so it’s not added. He went on and on about using only traditional Kerala vegetables in sambar.

He continued to give me a lecture about how “people like you” are adding all those “foreign vegetables” to sambar these days and taking away the traditional taste of sambar and all those things. Whenever I talk to Appa, after 5-10 minutes of our usual small talk and what’s going on, we manage to get into an argument.

That has become our normal way of talking these days ;) He will somehow bring up a topic that will get me all fired up, sometimes I take his bait and sometimes if I don’t have the energy, I tell him that we will discuss it later on.

Dont get me wrong, even if we tend to get in heated arguments, every now and then, we end our arguments by hugging out each other. The thing is Appa loves to argue, have you heard about the book called “Argumentative Indian” by Amartya Sen? When I saw that book, I just bought it even without turning a page to see what it is about, I had to buy it for Appa, because that title fits him perfectly ;)

Ok, back to what happened that day after our discussion on veggies in Sambar, I ended my case saying, “it’s my sambar and I add the veggies I feel like eating and you are always free to make your own version”.

He also got all fired up and said he could make his own sambar!

Later on, whenever I called him, the first thing I asked was whether he made his “indigenous” sambar. It went on for sometime. After a month or so, when I was on my usual call home, Amma told me ” di, our sambar expert had a wonderful sambar today from a wedding”. I was like, not this sambar business again and that’s when she told me what happened.

Here’s what happened – they went for this wedding and was having a sadhya. Appa liked the sambar so much, he kept on having it and telling Amma, this is how you make sambar!

Suddenly he bit into something crunchy and sadly his ideal sambar was no longer ideal. Yep. He actually bit into a dried shrimp! My Appa being pure vegetarian was shocked to see dried shrimp in sambar and called the caterers immediately to check with them. Looks like the caterers were kinda surprised to see Appa’s reaction, because they were like “yeah we add dried shrimp powder in all the curries to enhance the flavour, we add it to Aviyal also” !!!

Anyways, by the time Appa took the phone to talk to me, he was kinda recovered from the shock and was finding it really difficult not to laugh. Sheepishly, he knew it was my golden chance to strike back about sambar and yes – I made good use of the opportunity ;) But honestly, I felt bad for him. I think one should respect other’s choice when serving food. What do you think?

But let me tell you one thing, I’ve observed that people are very selective when it comes to Sambar, especially vegetarians. I think how vegetarians feel about Sambar and Aviyal is very similar to how non vegetarians feel about their Chicken Biriyani. Everybody has their own favourite version. So, are you also particular like my Appa, about the veggies that you use in Sambar?

Coming to this recipe… I’ve followed my old sambar recipe and instead of adding ready made Sambar powder, I’ve used roasted coconut with spices. I was a bit skeptical whether the roasted coconut taste will stand out and Sambar will end up as Theeyal, but it worked out well. There was only a mild hint of the roasted coconut and wasnt overpowering at all. Though it’s a bit time consuming compared to the other Sambar recipe, it’s well worth effort and the flavour is really good. Also, if you are looking for a Sambar recipe which doesn’t use ready made Sambar powder, this is a good option. I think this Sambar is more common in Northern Kerala.

You can see the other Onam recipes here

Here is the recipe…

Heat oil in a pan and add coconut. Roast it till it starts changing colour. Add sliced small onion (3), chilli and coriander powder, fenugreek seeds, asafoetida and chana dal. Keep roasting till the coconut becomes a rich dark brown colour.  Let it cool completely and then grind to a smooth paste…

Wash the toor dal and pressure cook it with 2.5 cups water for 4-5 whistles on high flame (refer notes). Keep it closed till pressure drops, around 15-20 mins. Open the pressure cooker and mash the dal nicely with a wooden spoon or a whisk…

Add vegetables, salt and 2 cups of water to the mashed dal and cook till the veggies are 3/4th done. Soak the tamarind in 2-3 tbsp hot water and make a pulp. Add the tamarind pulp to the dal and veggies…

Add 1/3 cup hot water to the ground coconut paste and mix well. Add this to the dal veggie mix. Stir well. Let it cook for 5-7 mins…

Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds. Add sliced small onion(5), dry red chilli and curry leaves. When onion becomes golden brown, switch off the gas and add it to the sambar…

Onam is almost here… My FB wall is filled with Onam related posts, mostly pictures of Onasadya and Pookalam. I was hoping to celebrate Onam in Kerala this year, but it didnt work out. It’s been more than 12 years that I celebrated Onam in Kerala. I miss the Payasam melas the most. During Onam season, you can see many make shift Payasam stalls where you get to taste piping hot Pal Payasam, Parippu Payasam etc; The thought itself makes me miss home…

For the past few years, I’m seeing so many different recipes for Payasam be it in Kerala based Magazines, newspapers or blogs, it’s like any ingredient can be turned into a payasam. I’m all for innovation and discovering new recipes and tastes, but when it comes to food during festive season, I’m a bit conservative. I prefer the traditional tastes, for Onam I like Pal Payasam or Parippu Payasam. It’s the same for Christmas and Easter too. If I dont get to eat Appam and Stew for Christmas and Easter breakfast, it doesnt quite feel like Christmas or Easter, I feel something is missing. What about you? Do you like to try new recipes during festive season or go with the tastes that you grew up with?

I’ve posted recipes of Carrot Payasam, Pineapple Payasam etc; but come Onam and Vishu, it has to be a traditional payasam. I’ve already posted Parippu Payasam recipe, using Cherupayar parippu (mong dal), but I’ve been getting requests for Kadala Parippu payasam. Though Kadala Parippu Payasam is comparitively new to me, it’s one of my favourites. It’s not surprising considering the fact that I love the combination of coconut milk and jaggery, add some mashed dal and ghee to it, even better!

Wish you and your loved ones a Happy Onam! Hope this festive season fills your body and soul with yummy tastes and wonderful memories!

You can see the Sadya recipes here

Here’s the recipe…

What do you like to do the most when you visit a new place? Sight seeing, trying out the local food or doing all sorts of touristy things? I’m sure each one of us has something special to do, that you may say “it’s my thing”.

Well, “my thing” is seeing people ;) Yep, I love to simply observe people, their emotions, expressions, imagine their back stories etc; Whatever I do, I try to do it with utmost concentration, sometimes, I get lost in it.. so when I tend to watch people, I do that also with complete focus, so much so that Jose often complains that I’m staring at people!

I love to explore a new place by walking around. That’s what we did when we went to New york, two years ago. Since it was a last min kinda trip, we didn’t have any clue about what we were going to do. We just booked our hotel and flight tickets two days before traveling. After resting at the hotel for a while, we got out and started walking aimlessly. We walked for half an hour, ended up in a coffee shop for the next one hour. Coming to think of it, that’s all we did there, walking and eating. I practically lived on desserts for the 10 days, we stayed there. I had cakes for breakfast, pies for lunch, some sort of dessert for dinner or may be a sandwich at times.

The portions there was huge, so we used to box it most of the time. Because of the jet lag, I used to get up at 3 in the morning initially. I still remember getting up at 3.30 in the morning and eating double chocolate cheesecake, needless to say I reached my record weight gain after that trip!

Ok, so coming to our recipe, I first had pumpkin cake during that trip. Though I came across many pumpkin dessert recipes including cakes, I never got a chance to taste them. Actually I never had any pumpkin dish other than Erissery, so somehow I always connected pumpkin with curry based dishes. I was very excited to try the cake for the first time and I loved it. While we were there in New york, I made it a point to eat it once in a day kind of, since pumpkin cakes aren’t very common in this part of the world.

As soon as I came back from the trip, I started searching for canned pumpkin here, but it wasnt available. But from last year onwards, I see it in almost all supermarkets. I went and bought 3-4 cans, yeah I’ve a bit of hoarding issue.. Searched for a similar recipe and I was overwhelmed with the number of recipes available. After shortlisting many recipes, I ended up with this one. I always like plain cakes with some kinda topping. I prefer these kinda cakes to iced cakes. Btw, it’s called a coffee cake because it goes well with a cup of coffee. If you look in the ingredients list, there is no coffee and I was a bit confused. Yeah that’s when I realized a coffee cake is a cake, often cinnamon-flavored, with a drizzled white icing or crumb topping, and usually eaten with coffee. Yep, I didnt know that. I’m sure you know better :)

If you can get hold of canned pumpkin, please do try this cake. It’s very moist and the crunchy topping is best! I’ve also mentioned the substitute for canned pumpkin in the notes, if you cant get hold of canned pumpkin.

Before, I go to the recipe, I want to share with you one more tidbit from our US trip. Since we stayed pretty close to Times Square and since I love watching world go by, I dragged Jose every night to Times Square, just to go and sit on those steps. After our trip, when we reached Bahrain, one of my aunts asked “so what you liked most about your trip”? I was all excited and told her about our night trips to Time Square and how you can see so many different kinds of people coming together and blah blah.. For a moment, she was like.. is that it? Then she said “if all you wanted to see was people moving around busily, you could as well go and stand near the Kacheripady bus stand in Cochin, why should you spent all this money and go to US”!!!!

If in case, you noticed, I’m posting after a small gap. I was away on a short trip, more about it later :)

Anyways, here you go with the recipe…

In a small bowl, combine sugars and cinnamon for topping. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in pecans/walnuts; set aside…

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition…

Combine the sour cream/yogurt, pumpkin and vanilla; mix well…

Combine dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream/yogurt mixture. Beat on low just until blended…

Spread the batter into two greased and floured 8-inch round cake pans. Sprinkle with topping. Bake at 325 degrees for 40-50 minutes (mine took 45) or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean…

Recipe from here

Do you like watching cookery shows? Well, if you are here reading this post, then it’s kinda given that you like watching cookery shows, so that was kinda dumb question. Ok, I’ll ask you another question.. do you have a favourite cookery show or you just watch whatever is running?

I generally put on the lifestyle channel and if I find something interesting, I’ll watch. I do not have a fav cookery show as such, but I’ve a soft corner towards “Eat Street” show. It’s mostly about street food in different parts of the world. It’s not about fancy presentation or techniques, it’s about simple but flavourful food. I really like how they combine different flavours and most of the time it’s easy to put together also. Since they mostly show street food in and around US, some of the ingredients and flavours are not familiar to me.

However one dish that was repeatedly shown in different episodes was Pulled Pork Sandwiches. It’s pork being slow cooked in a flavour filled marinade and then shredded and mixed with some sauces and salad. Though I dont eat Pork, every time I see how that sandwich is made, I end up craving one. That’s how I ended up with this recipe. I’ve seen pulled beef sandwiches also, but I since I dont have the patience for slow cooking beef, I decided to go with chicken.

Honestly, I’m not a chicken fan, I eat chicken very rarely, only if I cant resist the taste. Also I do like dishes where the meat or fish is well coated with some kind of sauce, making the meat more flavourful. This sandwich does exactly that. I really enjoyed making as well as eating this. You can make this as a main dish or as a starter. It’s really good for a weeknight dinner, if you are pressed for time. You can make the filling in advance and refrigerate for 3-4 days. Putting together the sandwich hardly takes any time. Sounds like a winner, right?

Check out here and here for more Chicken recipes.

So here you go..

Here’s the recipe..

Wash and clean the chicken breasts. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and place in a heavy pot with the onion, garlic and just enough water to cover (about 1-1/2 cups). Add the barbecue sauce, vinegar and chilli sauce and bring to a boil…

Reduce the heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Remove the chicken from the sauce and shred with two forks…

Boil the sauce, skimming occasionally, until reduced by half, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper…

Add the shredded chicken and heat through. Make sure the chicken pieces are coated well with the sauce…

Recipe adapted from here

I cook for two people on a daily basis. When I’m calling guests also, I make sure not to call more than 10-12 people. What I’m trying to say is I’m not into wholesale cooking, hhmm coming to think of it, I’m not a “group” person. I’m more of a one to one person. I was also removed from a whatsapp group recently for being inactive, wait a min… does it make me sound like a sad person??

Ok, we got diverted from the topic… I wanted to tell you that I’m kinda clueless when it comes to cooking for a large group of people. When you send me mails and comments asking about the measurements for cooking for 25-30 people, I’m literally stumped! All those permutations and combinations make me exhausted. So you can imagine my situation, when I was asked to cook for a potluck party of 30 people. I volunteered to make Erissery. I thought it’d be a better idea to decide how much to buy, once I reach the shop, so when I see the pumpkin, I’ll have a clearer picture.

Reached the shop with a clean slate of mind, checked out the pumpkin from a distance, nothing, stood close to it and looked from different angles, still nothing and finally took a piece in my hand, as if holding the pumpkin will lead to automatic display of the magic figure, absolutely nothing!!

Well, let’s try walking across the aisle. Walking is supposed to stimulate clear thinking, good idea! Felt some small tremors and my mind started to play around the number 2.5. Well, something to start with, so went back, round it off and took 3 kg. Started checking other items on the list, but felt restless, went back to the veg aisle and got 1.5 kg more, feels good! Went to the cash counter, standing in the queue, something didn’t feel quite right. Went back again to the veg aisle…

All you need to know is that I bought 90% of the pumpkin available in the shop!

I should’ve gotten my cue when the staff at the veggie counter asked “haa chechy oru nooru perkku sadya undakkanullathundallo, entha paripadi”? (Hey sister, are you making feast for 100 people?). Ok, you might be wondering why I didn’t ask somebody who had experience cooking for large groups. I agree, that’s what people with common sense do.

I’ve a theory… there are certain things, you need to experience yourself or make the mistake yourself to learn something new. Do you agree with me? That day felt like a good opportunity to test my theory and I did learn a new lesson, ask for help when in doubt. Well, I kinda knew that, just wanted to reinforce that ;)

Needless to say I used very little of what I bought, and I never like to waste food :) Whoever visited us that week got a statutory return gift, you don’t need to host a party to give return gift right? I always used to wonder why people take all the effort to make things like squash and jam at home. Now I know why.. there’s only so much you can distribute without raising suspicion ;)

Though I had to make this Pumpkin Halwa, more out of necessity, than out of desire, it turned out well. All is well that ends well, right?

I loved the colour of this halwa and also liked the flavour combination of pistachio, saffron and cardamom. Though the halwa looks rich, it’s light on your tummy.  It’s a good recipe to try if you like this kind of sweets/ desserts.

If you are looking for some easy and simple sweets to make for Diwali, check out the recipes here.

Wish you and your loved ones a Happy Diwali!!

Here’s the recipe…

Heat ghee in a deep and wide pan. Add grated pumpkin and stir. Cook on low flame for 7-8 mins, till pumpkin shrinks and becomes a little mushy…

Add hot milk and bring to a boil. Reduce the flame to low and cook till the milk is almost dried. Stir in between…

Add crushed cardamom and condensed milk and mix well. Cook for another 5-6 mins, till the condensed milk is dried and the mixture starts leaving the side of the pan. Add sliced pistachios and saffron milk (if using), mix well and remove from fire. Serve warm…

I love everything about this sandwich. What’s not to like, Bread, Eggs, Melted cheese and Butter, yum! It’s good for anytime of the day, be it for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, or even as a snack.

This is also my go to recipe on days when I dont feel like cooking, but at the same time, feel guilty for ordering from outside. I think I’ve listed enough reasons why I like this sandwich, so here you go with the recipe..