Karappam / Masala Paniyaram

Here's a very simple snack with your leftover idli batter to add some excitement to your tea time. With or without chutney they are sure to taste good bringing more smiles to everyone in the family.

Ingredients
Left over Idly batter: 1 cup
Onions(finely chopped): 1/3 cup
Green chillies (chopped): 2-3
Ginger(finely chopped): 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves: a few torn up
Coriander leaves: a few torn up
Cumin seeds: 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida: a pinch
Salt to taste
Pepper powder to taste

Mix all the ingredients except for the batter nicely. Then, add it to the idly batter. Mix well while checking for the salt and spice levels.
Heat oil in a unniappam pan, pour out the batter into the little pockets.Turn it to evenly cook on both sides and become golden brown.













Serve hot with any kind chutney for your evening cup of tea.

Idli

Idli is no doubt the most staple part of a breakfast routine in every South Indian home. Soft and tender, these steamed rice cakes make a healthy yet very filling meal while the batter can last to make idlis for a week long. Its all about the softness that distinguishes a good idli to a bad one, so here's our no fail idli recipe.

Ingredients

Idli Rice: 1 cup

Urad Dal: 1 cup

Sona Masoori Rice/ Raw ponni : 1 cup

Fenugreek Seeds/Uluva: 1 teaspoon

Leftover Cooked rice: 1/4 cup

*Its most convenient, if you soak in the morning to be able to grind in the evening.

*The most important thing while making the batter is water consistency. The batter for idli should be semi solid while batter for dosa will be liquidy.

Soak the idli rice and sona masoori rice with fenugreek seeds in water for a minimum of 8 hours. Also soak the urad dal in water for the same time.

First grind the urad dal into a smooth batter without adding much water. Then grind the soaked rice while adding the cooked rice to make it a smooth batter. Do a final grind of both batters or hand mix it until very smooth. Keep another 8-10 hrs for it to ferment. With the temperature being so cold all the time we leave the batter in the oven with the oven lights on. Batter rises up as it ferments and is filled with air bubbles. Add salt to the batter before you make the idlis. Grease the idli moulds with a little oil and pour the batter into it and steam it in the idli cooker for about 10 mins. Your soft and supple idlis are ready to be served with hot sambar or chutney.

Pottukadala Chutney

Like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a match made in food's heaven, idli and chutney is the duo from our side of the world. With the growing popularity of chutneys and diversity in ingredients, here's one more to add to the collection.

Ingredients
Grated Coconut: 1/2 cup
Green chillies: 1-2
Ginger(chopped): 1/2 teaspoon
Garlic (optional): 1/2 teaspoon
Pottukadalai / Roasted Bengal gram: 1/2 tablespoon
Peanuts: 2 teaspoons
Tamarind pulp: a pinch
Coriander leaves: 2-3 leaves
Water to grind
Salt to taste

Seasoning
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves
A few dried red chillies

Grind all the ingredients to a fine paste. For seasoning, heat some oil and splutter mustard seeds. Add the dried red chillies and curry leaves. Mix well into the chutney and serve with dosas or Idlis.

Sabudana Khichdi

This popular snack made of tapioca pearls originates from Maharashtra and is mostly eaten around religious fasting days. This recipe blends the flavors of peanuts, green chilies and cumins into these soft little starchy balls making it an easy fix for any of those ravenous moments.

Ingredients
Sabudana/Tapioca pearls: 1 cup
Potato (finely cubed): 1/3 cup
Green Chili (Sliced): 2-3
Peanuts: 1/4 cup
Jeera/Cumin seeds: 1 1/2 teaspoons
Turmeric Powder: a pinch
Coriander Powder (optional): a pinch
Coriander Leaves: handful
Curry Leaves: handful
Salt to taste
Sugar: a pinch
Oil

* When you soak sabudana use water to sabudana at a ratio of 1/2 : 1 cup (note that sabudana shouldn't be completely drowned in the water, it should be just enough to hold it)

* If it is soaked in too much water or for too long the sabudana will powder up when you touch it and will result in a very mushy khichdi.

Soak the Sabudana for 3-4 hours till it fluffs up. Mix the sabudana with a pinch of salt and sugar. Heat some oil in a kadai. Add the curry leaves, cubed potato with a pinch of turmeric and coriander powder. Sautee well. Meanwhile do a rough grind of peanuts, green chillies and cumin seeds. While potato is almost cooked, add the sabudana and gently toss. Add the ground peanut mixture. Sautee well. Adjust the salt levels. Take it off heat. Add a drop of lemon juice and cut up coriander leaves. Serve hot.


A big thank you to Shahana of "Me n My Apron" for nominating us for Kreativ blogger award.

Rules for accepting this award:

1) Thank the person giving the award
2) Copy the award to your blog
3) Place a link to their blog
4) Name 7 things people don't know about you
5) Nominate 7 bloggers
6) Place a link to those bloggers
7) Leave a comment letting those bloggers know about the award

7 things people don't know about us:
We love food (whether making it/eating it)
We love to shop.
We are big movie buffs.
We are very loud.
We love traveling.
We love the rains in Seattle.
We are very clumsy while cooking.

We would like to pass this award to:

Vazhayila
Kaipunyam
Will O wisp
Mirch Masala
Sankeerthanam
Malabar Spices
mydiversekitchen

Mixed Bean Salad

With the new year setting in and an attempt to make our eating habits more healthy here is a recipe for a simple bean salad. Another reason to win over your taste buds is that the dressing brings out true Indian 'Khatta-Meeta' (tangy-sweet) flavors.

Ingredients
Garbanzo Beans/ Kabuli Chana: 1/2 can
Red Kidney Beans/Rajma: 1/2 can
Red Onions (chopped): 1/2 cup
Colored Bell peppers (green/red/yellow): 1/3 cup
Tomato (chopped): 1/3 cup
Cucumber (chopped): 1/3 cup
Green chilies (finely chopped): 2-3
Coriander leaves: Handful

Sauce/Dressing
Tamarind Pulp: 1/4 cup
Tomato Ketchup: 2 tablespoon
Lemon Juice: 1 teaspoon
Chili Powder: 1 teaspoon
Sugar: 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste

* We used the canned beans for convenience sake as it comes pre-cooked. However if you are using raw beans, soak them overnight and pressure cook until they are soft. Make sure they don't get over cooked.
* Use firm tomato over the mushy ones as it tends to make salad soggy.

Open the cans and drain out the beans in a colander and rinse it thoroughly. Meanwhile chop the onions, tomatoes, cucumber, bell peppers and green chili. Put it in a bowl add the drained beans and give gentle mix. Throw in a pinch of salt and some coriander leaves. You can make this ahead of time and keep it refrigerated.

To make the sauce grind all the ingredients listed under sauce/dressing and pour over the salad just before serving. Enjoi it as a meal itself or just another side.

Fairy Bread

Fairy bread, a popular Australian origin party snack is sure to impress your lil ones and the best part is that it hardly takes any time or ingredients. Great recipe to include your kids while making it.

Ingredients
White Bread: As needed
Butter: just enough to spread
Colorful Sprinkles: just a little
Sugar (Optional): a sprinkle

Spread the butter evenly on a slice of white bread. Sprinkle the colorful beads on it. You can cut them in any fancy shapes you like. For those who like it a lil sweeter, just sprinkle a pinch of sugar on it. Give it your kiddos and we bet they'll only want more....

Marble Cake

Marble cake gets its name because of the swirly effect created by the two colored batter. A very light delicious cake that takes hardly any time to make, can be a great accompaniment for teatime.

Ingredients
All purpose flour: 1 cup
Eggs: 2
Unsalted butter : 1/2 cup or 1 stick
Sugar: 1 cup
Vanilla essence: 1 teaspoon
Cocoa powder: 1 tablespoon
Baking powder: 1 teaspoon
Milk: 1/4 cup

Beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one by one and beat well until ivory. Add milk, vanilla essence and beat well. Meanwhile sieve the all purpose flour and baking powder well. Slowly add the flour in small portions and mix well into a very smooth batter. Butter a baking dish and pour 3/4 of the batter into this dish. Add cocoa powder to the remaining batter and mix well.

Now gently pour the cocoa batter and make swirls to give the marble effect.

Preheat the oven at 350° F and bake until center comes out clean. Slice after the cake is completely cooled down and serve these spongy bites.

Sending this recipe to Mahima's Cakes and Cookies event
To Cakes n Cookies Event hosted by Sara of Sara's Corner
To Dil Se for the event Show Me Your Cake

Njandu / Crab Roast

Hope the new year and the new decade has kick started and continues to bring in happy and fun-filled times for each one of you.

After a long realxed holiday season, we are back with our first entry for the new year with our favorite seafood delight-Crabs. The crab roast is so popular in Kerala that it is one entree that you would find on a menu card ranging from a star hotel to the local toddy shop.

Ingredients

Crab (Cut & cleaned): 4-5 medium ones marinated in turmeric, chilli, salt and pepper powder.
Onions (finely sliced): 1 cup
Tomatoes (pureed): 1/4 cup which is approx 1 tomato.
Green chillies (slit): 6-7
Ginger (finely sliced): 1 tablespoon
Garlic (finely sliced): 1 tablespoon
Curry leaves: handful and more
Chili powder: 2-3 teaspoons
Coriander powder: 1 1/2 teaspoons
Chicken masala: 2 teaspoons
Pepper powder: 1/2 teaspoon
5 spice powder: 1 teaspoon
Oil to fry

Heat some oil in deep pan. Add the finely sliced ginger, garlic, green chilies, curry leaves and saute. When ginger and garlic starts to cook, add the finely sliced onions. Sprinkle some salt as it helps to take off the moisture from the onions and quickens the frying. Keep sauteing till the onions get golden brown. Add all the dry spices (chili powder, coriander powder, pepper powder, chicken masala and 5 spice powder) and stir well. Make sure the masala doesn't get burned. Now add the tomato puree and mix well. Add the marinated crabs and saute well. Adjust the salt and spice level to your liking. You know the crabs are cooked when its meat turns into a whitish color. Take it off from heat and tear up a few curry leaves and serve hot. It goes superbly well with hot hot porottas.