Cabbage Poriyal /Stir Fry Indian Style

One of my lunch menu : fish curry (click here), fish fry (click here), cabbage carrot poriyal and vendaika (okra/ladies finger) poriyal.

Let's look at cabbage/carrot indian style.

Ingredients

Cabbage cut into thin slices
shredded carrots
onion - sliced
ginger garlic paste
green chilly - sliced
curry leaves
mustard seeds
turmeric
fennel powder
salt
oil

Method

Heat oil, when it is hot, add in mustard seeds, let it splutter.
Add in onion, saute for a few seconds till soft, add in curry leaves, green chilly and ginger garlic paste.
Fry for a few more seconds.
Saute in turmeric powder, fennel powder and salt
Add in cabbage n carrot and mix well.
Cook till the cabbage is soft.
Remove from fire and ready to serve.


Enjoy


Sathiarani

Fried Instant Noodles

It is getting into winter.  The chillness tend to make you munch something all the time.   You seem to be looking something spicy.  This is what happened to my hubby, keeping asking is there something that he can have for his tea time.  Normally I had a quick one with egg and bread - but he was looking for something different hence, I decided to make fried noodles with instant noodles.

Quick and easy to prepare.  I used Maggi brand that was brought all the way from Malaysia.



Ingredients

3 packets of instant noodles - cooked as you would and drain
*3-5 red chilli - deseeded
*2-3 shallots
*1-3 clove of garlic
*2tbs - anchovies or dried shrimps
vegetables of your choice - carrots/cabbage- shredded
spring onion - if you wish, not in stock so did not put in
salt to taste
soy sauce
2 eggs


* - blend into fine paste

Method

1.  Heat oil in a wok
2.  Whisk egg lightly
3.  Cook in wok, scrambled it big pieces
4.  push aside the scrambled egg, with the remaining oil, saute the grinded paste, till aromatic.
5.   Add in vegetables and cooked till soft
6.  Add in noodles, salt, soy sauce mix it well .
7.  Ready to serve

you can opt out anchovies or dried shrimps


Try them spicy on a cool evening with a hot lemon tea...Heaven

Enjoy

Sathiarani

Farmer's Market and Palak Chicken

Farmer's market operates only during winter season.  This time it started from first week of December 2013.    It is an effort by Qatar government to get the farmers to sell their produce directly to end users.  There are really good - the only setback is that we need to get them in bulk and we normally go there in a group of 4 to 5 and split amongst ourselves.



Farmers Market buying spree

Palak is a vegetable that comes under the spinach family basically it is called Indian Spinach.  I have never cooked this type of spinach.  So when we saw loads of greens at the farmer's market, I decided to get them.  Haleema, who accompanied me to the farmer's market shared a recipe which she usually make.


Spinach - Palak

Palak Chicken
source : Haleema Rahman

Ingredients
500gm chicken breast
1 tbs ginger garlic paste
1 tsp of turmeric powder
salt to taste
1 bunch of palak
1/4 cup of water
1 small sized tomato
1 big onons
2-3 green chillies
1 tsp fennel powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
2 tbs butter

Method
1.  Wash and chopped coarsely spinach.
2.  Wash and cut into bite size chicken.  Marinate with ginger garlic paste, salt and turmeric powder and shallow fry till cook.  Set aside.  Do not over cooked the chicken though.
3.  In a deep pan, put in spinach, chilli, chopped tomato and onions. Add in water and season with salt and cook till soft and spinach.
4.  Let it cool and blend (or if you have a hand blender - it works great) till fine and smooth
5.  In a different pan, heat butter, add in chicken, stir well and add in to the blended spinach.
6.  Season with salt if you require and serve with hot steaming rice or chapatis.

Enjoy





Sathiarani

Top 10 Health Benefits Of Cauliflower

Top 10 Health Benefits Of Cauliflower

Pandan Chiffon Cake

During my recent trip back home during the summer, I bought myself 2 tube pan for making chiffon cake.  But then while packing I realized that I am hitting overweight, so had to leave the pans and a few others, hoping someone would be able to bring it down on the next opportunity.  True enough I got my goods not long after and finally made them.

As the name calls Pandan Chiffon Cake, it calls for pandan juice but I did not have sufficient pandan leaves to make juice so I ended with the no so natural pandan essense.

I was really surprised at the outcome as this was the first time I made them.  They turned out perfectly well which is not only moist and soft, they had a nice pandany aroma.  Lets look at some of the pictures that I have taken before you look at the recipe courtesy of www.nyonyafood.rasamalaysia.com




Meringue



Chiffon Cake

Now that you have seen the pictures lets look at the recipe.  You should try them - it is not difficult at all. 

Pandan Chiffon Cake
courtesy of  www.nyonyafood.rasamalaysia.com

Ingredients
Step 1
8 medium egg yolks
58gm fine sugar
60ml pandan/screwpine leaves juice (made from blending 6screpine leaves with 60ml water
89gm corn oil or olive oil - I used corn oil.
142gm self raising flour

Method
1.  Beat egg yolk and sugar lightly with a hand whisk till sugar dissolve.
2.  Stir in pandan juice and corn oil
3.  Fold self raising flour into egg mixture.
4.  Set aside

Step 2
Ingredients

8 egg whites
142gm fine sugar
pinch of salt

Method
1.  Beat egg whites till frothy.  Slowly add in sugar and pinch of salt while beating at high speed.
2.  Beat until the egg white is stiff and shining but not dry - about 3 minutes.

Step 3
1.  Preheat oven at 175C
2.  Use a spatula and gently fold egg yolk mixture into the egg white(meringue)
3.  Pour into an ungreased 25cm tube pan
4.  Bake for 40-45mins
5.  Once cake is cooked, removed from oven immediately and invert pan onto wire rack.  Let it cool before removing cake from pan.  Use a butter knife to go around the pan to remove the cake from the tube pan.

Have fun trying out!

Sathiarani

Banana Coconut Cake

What do you do when you have a few bananas that is slowly turning into brown and no longer appetizing.  You make a cake out of it.  Its recommended to use bananas that have really turned brown and sort of mushy.

I wanted something different instead of the usual bananas and nuts or chocolate chips. I found this recipe and at baking.food and it was definitely worth to make them.  I made mine using a 10" springform tube pan just similar to the picture shown below. You get this beautiful sweet aroma when the cake is being baked.

As I made this cake for a friend who just moved into a new house,  I took the big piece and left the little one.  I had time to indulge on it 2 days later, not only it was still moist and soft, it was delicious and awesome.  My soon to be teenager son had one bite and decided to ask for more.



Courtesy of Mr Google.



The dark brown line that divides the cake is a mixture of brown sugar, desiccated coconut and spices.

This is what you get when you used this type springform - a big piece and eenie weenie cute one
Banana Coconut Cake
source :  www. baking.food.com

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe banan
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1tsp baking soda
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup grated coconut - I used desiccated coconut
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp tsp ginger powder

Directions
 1.  In a small bowl, mix the coconut, brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger.  Set aside
2.  Grase and flour a 9" tube pan.
3.  Cream butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs 1 at a time
4.  Add bananas, buttermilk and vanilla.
5. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Beat into banana mixture toblend. 
6.  Pour half of the batter into the tube pan.  Sprinkle with half of the coconut mixture.  Add remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining topping - which I forgot to do.
7. Bake at 175C for 50mins or till done.  ( I reduced my temperature to 160C as the pan that I used was dark coloured and cooked for an hour)


Sathiarani



Sweet Potato Kheer

A simple desert that was shared by my cousin, Laavan.  I always like to try something new and this kheer definitely caught my attention when he posted on his FB.

Traditionally in North India kheer is made of rice, served as a meal or as desert.  My first time making kheer was the day after my wedding.  I was told that before I can venture further into the kitchen, I am supposed to prepare kheer and serve to the guest, friends and families who were to support us during our wedding preparation and so I did.  Since then I have made a few times although I always preferred making ponggal - south indian version of rice desert.

So when Laavan posted his picture of sweet potato kheer, I thought I should try them since it was not the traditional rice kheer.  I checked and find out that this kheer is a traditional of Goan. My cousin's recipe has white sugar but I wanted to clear my stock of jaggery so I used that instead.

Sweet Potato Kheer
Source : Laavankumar Nyana Sekaran - Johor Bahru

Ingredients

0.5kg sweet potato 
2cups of sugar (I used jaggery)
2 cups of water
2-3 crushed green cardamons
5tbs of ghee
500ml of coconut milk (I used canned coconut milk)
1/2 cup of sago - washed (I used only 6tbs only)
a pinch of salt

Method

1.  Wash, scrap the outer skin and cube the sweet potato
2.  Heat a pan and add ghee.
3.  Add in the cardamom, stir a bit and add in the cubed potato, mix well
4.  Add in the water and sago and cook till the potato is soft and tender.
5.  Add in the sugar (jaggery), a pinch of salt and mix well
6.  Add in coconut milk and stir well and cook till it thickens.
7.  Make sure to stir every now and then so to avoid sticking to the pan.
8. Serve warm

Sathiarani

Coconut Cake

I tried a few newbies for my pot luck party.  Sweet Potato Kheer - this was shared by cousin brother, Coconut Cake shared by Anita (which also shared her Moroccan Spiced Chicken), Chiffon Pandan Cake and Chinese Style Prawn Fried Rice.

Now lets look at Coconut Cake which Anita shared on her FB.  Not only it is easy to prepare, it was also fantastic especially when it was still warm and definitely a big wow from my guests.

Lets look at the recipe

Coconut Cake
Source - Anita Muthukaruppan, New Zealand

Ingredients
250g butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2.5 cups flour
0.5 cups desiccated coconut
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup coconut cream

Method

1.  Preheat oven to 160C
2. Cream butter and sugar till fluffy.
3. Mix in eggs one at a time.
4. Sift flour & baking powder into a separate bowl. Stir in coconut.
5. Alternate folding in flour mixture and coconut cream (I warm the coconut milk with pandan leaves just as suggested by Anita) into cake batter until incorporated.
6. Pour into tin and bake for 1-1.5 hr.

 

 

Sliced Coconut Cake

 

Note from Anita : For a Malaysian twist, warm coconut milk with a 2-3 bruised pandan (screwpine) leaves, and leave to infuse for 5-10 min before adding to batter


Sathiarani

Natural Healthcare Guide: Simple Home Remedies for Cracked Feet

an article worth to share especially for those with cracked heels.

Natural Healthcare Guide: Simple Home Remedies for Cracked Feet:

Hot water, excessive scrubbing, extreme weather changes and wrong kind of footwear can take a toll on your feet. Want to have smooth feet? Make a concoction of kitchen ingredients and opt for the right kind of pedicure.

Keep your body hydrated: Drink lot of water, green tea, fruit tea to keep you hydrated.

Moisturize feet after taking bath. First dry your feet and then apply vaseline and coconut oil. You can also use banana pulp to give back moisture to feet. Leave the pulp for 15 minutes and then rinse off.

Regularly soak your feet in lukewarm water with a few drops of lemon and jojoba oil. Then you can lightly scrub off the dead skin. Lemon is slightly acidic which helps take off the dead skin. Now massage your feet generously with glycerin and wear light socks.

Use masks made of kitchen ingredients. “Mix two tablespoons of avocado paste with half a cup of mayonnaise, and two tablespoons of oatmeal. Apply this foot mask for half an hour. Wash it off with cold water and pat dry and see the magic.

Try and share your experiences…

- See more at: http://www.naturalhealthcareguide.com/2013/07/simple-home-remedies-for-cracked-feet.html#sthash.e91cmsgb.dpuf

Drumstick Pulp Rasam

I was just jayblogging when I chanced upon Priyas and what caught my attention was this Drumstick Pulp Rasam and my brained zoomed to delicious drumstick soup that I had at Anjappar recently. 

It was really delicious and I was actually surprise that we can make soup of drumstick. Normally I had cooked them with sambar, sardine curry or just simply drumstick masala with egg .

Priyas Versatile Recipes - Everyday's Cooking (http://priyaeasyntastyrecipes.blogspot.com)  is a great page with loads of recipes just waiting to try and enjoy.   I knew I have stock of drumstick in my fridge so that's it, and I always have ready stocked of boiled toor dhall.

I tried and was very happy with the result. It was a good combination with sambar and cabbage fry.

Drumstick Pulp Rasam
Source : http://priyaeasyntastyrecipes.blogspot.com/2014/01/drumstick-pulp-rasam.html
copy and paste from Priya's page

Ingredients Required

1/4cup Toor dal (cooked)

2 nos drumstick big and tender ( I used 3 as mine was slender looking drumstick)

1tsp Rasam powder

1no Tomato (crushed) - I blend instead

Few curry leaves

2nos Garlic cloves (crushed)

1tsp Lemon juice

Few coriander leaves

3nos Dry red chillies

1tsp Mustard seeds +Urad dal

1/4tsp Asafoetida powder

Oil

Salt

 

Method

1. Cut the drumsticks as one inch pieces.
2. Cook the sliced drumsticks with enough water until they turns soft.
3. Drain the water and scoop out the pulp from the cooked drumstick and keep aside.
4. Now take this drumstick pulp,crushed tomato,cooked toordal,curry leaves, crushed garlic cloves, coriander leaves,salt and rasam powder  in a bowl.
5. Add enough water to make it thin.
6. Heat the oil, lzt splutters the mustard seeds,urad dal, add the asafoetida powder,dry red chillies, fry until they turns brown.
7. Add immediately the already prepared drumstick-dal mixture to the tempered spices, once the rasam starts bubbling put off the stove.
8. Add the lemon juice and give a stir, serve with rice.

Sathiarani

My Version of Chicken Noodle Soup

I made this for yesterday night's dinner.  another simple and quick to prepare.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients
1 packet of rice noodle
5 clove of garlic
thumb size ginger
1 tbs of black pepper
2 tsp of white pepper powder
1 tsp of cumin powder
3 medium sized thigh - skin removed
roughly chopped celery leaves
6-7 baby carrots - halved
a handful of cauliflower florets
salt to taste

Saute (A)
1 cinnamon stick
2-3 cardamons - bruised
2-3 cloves
2-3 aniseeds
1 tsp of fennel seeds
Sesame oil for saute

Garnishing
shredded cooked chicken
fried taufoo
finely chopped celery leaves
finely chopped spring onions

How to do

1.  Wash and toss chicken.
2.  Grind or pound ginger, garlic and black pepper.
3.  In a pot put some water enough to make soup add in chicken and the grinded ginger garlic and black pepper.
4.  Add in white powder, cumin powder roughly chopped celery leaves and let it boil till the chicken is cooked.
5.  Removed the chickens from the soup, removed the chicken from the bones, and put back the bones into soup, add in the carrots and cauliflowers and cook al dente.
6.  Heat  a pan, heat sesame oil, and sauté ingredients (A) till aromatic and pour over the soup.
7.  Shred the chicken pieces. and set aside
8.  Preparing the noodles : - In a pot, add cold water, and noodles, cook till it is soft.  Remove from fire and strain it and ready to use.

To prepare - Dish out some noodles into a bowl, pour hot soup over it and garnish it with taufoo, shredded .

 

 

Enjoy

 

Sathiarani



Chicken Lemongrass Noodle Soup.

I did this recipe a long time ago but some how never got to post it - maybe because I could not find the pictures that I took for this.  I have been wanting to try this recipe for sometime and finally did it. I also learn to make the perfect way to soften the rice vermicelli from http://www.tiffinbiru.com/2013/05/mi-sup-ayam-berserai-untuk-che-mat.html.  thank you very much

My children's verdict  - delicious, must do again, Mine - surely a kepeer, simple and quick to do, hubby's - ate with no comment so it's an A ok...

Lets look at the recipe.

Chicken Lemongrass Noodle Soup...

1/2 kg of chicken cut to bite size
4 potatoes cleaned and cut into 4 and soak in water
a handful of celery leaves - chopped roughly
1 tbs fried onions
1 Maggi Chicken cube
1 packet mix spices for soup (I did not used this)
Water
Salt to taste
1 packet of rice noodle

Ingredients to grind (A)
6 onions
4 cloves garlic
1½ inch ginger
1½ fresh turmeric
1 tbs full black pepper
2 candlenut - slice finely

Ingredients for sauté (B)
1 cinnamon stick
5 cloves
1 star aniseed
3 cardamons
3 lemongrass - bruised lightly

Other ingredients (C)
Dried noodles
Taufoo - fried an slice
Bean sprout , remove ends, wash and drain
chopped celery leaves
Hot Spicy Soya Sauce Sambal

How to prepare:

1.  Soup preparation - Cut chicken into bite size, wash and toss.
2. Heat oil, sauté all in (B) till aromatic.  Add ingredients from (A) and fry till the oil separates. 
3.  Add in the chickens, mix well, add enough water.
4.  Let it boil and  reduce the flame.
5.  Add the chicken cube and roughly chopped celery leaves and fried onions. 
6.  Continue cooking till the chicken is soft, Add water if necessary. 
7.  When chicken is cooked, add in potato and cook till soft. 
8.  Add salt to taste. Let it cook for a few more minutes and remove from fire.

How to prepare the noodles -  Put enough water in a pot, put in the rice noodles in, and let it cook till soft. Once cooked, drain and ready to use.

To dish out - Dish out the cooked noodles into a bowl, Pour in the soup together with the chicken and potato. Garnish with finely bean sprouts, fried taufoo, chopped celery leaves, spring onions and fried onions.

Serve hot with hot spicy soya sauce.

Enjoy just like we did


Sathiarani

 

Anita's Morrocan Spiced Chicken

This recipe is courtesy of Anita - hence the post title - Anita's Morrocan Chicken.

Anita and my brother are classmates and we all live in the same neighbourhood back home and she currently resides in New Zealand.  She shared this recipe over the FB and I always like simple and easy recipes.

I love the smell of paprika when it was baking.  Lets look at the recipe.

Morrocan Spiced Chicken

Source - Anita Muthukaruppan

Ingredients
1 heaped tbsp good smoked paprika
1 heaped tsp ground cumin
Salt and black pepper to taste
2-4 tbsp olive oil
12 chicken drumsticks
6 medium potatoes cut into 1-2cm slices - I omitted this as I ran out of potato

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C

2. Mix everything in a large baking dish until combined and coated.

3. Bake for 45min-1hr until cooked. Turn chicken after 30 min & mix potatoes once/twice during cooking

4. Eat with couscous/rice or just by itself. Yummy.
 
For a nice twist, add grated zest of one orange and juice of one orange into marinade. Even more yummy.

Enjoy

Sathiarani

பொங்கல் வாழ்த்துகள் - Ponggal Wishes

 

 

Wishing you and your family a beautiful and wonderful ponggal celebration

 

My quick version of ponggal rice.

 

Ponggal Rice

 

Ingredients

 

3/4 cup of rice

2 cups of water

a pinch of salt

2cups of fresh milk

1 cup of water

1 cup of jaggery

½ cup brown sugar 

2-3tbs ghee

a handful of cashew nuts - quarted

5 tbs of golden raisins

 

Method

 

1.  Wash and soak rice for about 10 mins.

2.  Pressure cook rice with 1.5cup of water and salt till 4-5 whistles

3.  Heat pan, melt ghee, roast cashew nuts till brown and add raisin

4.  Boil milk with water, add jaggery and brown sugar.  Stir till jiggery and brown sugar dissolves.

5.  Add the cooked rice and roasted cashew, raisins, ghee into milk and stir till mix thoroughly.

6.  Ready for serving.

 

 

 

Sathiarani

Chocolate Indulgence Cake

I made this cake during in December.  Just did not have the time to post it.  This recipe was shared by my nephew, Darrshaan, loves to bake and cook just like his dad.  He is currently on school break before his results are out in March so his mum, my second sister, enrolled him in baking classes.

 

I can tell that he enjoys the classes.  One such is Chocolate Indulgence Cake.  My daughter, who was back on Christmas break and I surely enjoyed making this cake.  We made 3 cakes, 2 for my birthday gathering and one for her to celebrate her friend's birthday.

 

And the review was great.  Definitely a keeper.

 

You bake the sponge cake, make the mousse and ganache and then assemble and you get a wonderful cake.  I used Dr Oetker's  white chocolate and dark chocolate.  Pricey but worthwhile.

 

 

Chocolate Indulgence Cake topped with strawberries and surrounded by Kit Kat and final touched with a ribbon.

Chocolate Indulgence Cake

 

Chocolate Sponge Cake

 

150gm self raising flour

180gm castor sugar

40gm cocoa powder

20gm ovallete

6 eggs (Grade B)

1tsp of vanilla essence

75ml water

95gm melted margarine (I used butter)

 

How to do:

 

1. Lined and greased 9"round pan.
2. Pre-heat oven 180°C
3. Mix all ingredients except butter in a mixer
4. Beat in high speed until fluffy for 7minutes
5. Add in melted butter and mix softly till well mix
6. Pour into pan and bake about 30mins or till done.

Filling :White Chocolate Mousse

200gm  white cooking chocolate
100ml fresh milk
2 egg yolks - whisked
60gm castor sugar
2 egg whites - beat till fluffly (meringue)
250ml whipping cream - beat till stiff
2½ tbs gelatine
50ml warm water

How to do:

1.  Stir gelatine and warm water. Set aside.
2. Heat up using double boiler till it dissolves.
3. Beat egg yolk with sugar  till fluffy.
4. Melt white chocolate.  Add in whipping cream and meringue.  Add in milk and mix thoroughly. 
5. Pour into the egg yolk mixture.
6. Pour the gelatine mixture and mix well.  Ready to use.

Filling : Dark Chocolate Mousse

200gm  dark cooking chocolate
2 egg yolk - whisked
60gm castor sugar
2 egg whites - beat till stiff - meringue
½ tbsp of butter
250ml whipping cream - beat till stiff
2 tbs gelatine
50ml warm water

How to do:

1.  Stir gelatine and warm water. Set aside.
2. Heat up using double boiler till it dissolves.
3. Beat egg yolk with sugar  till fluffy.
4. Melt dark chocolate.  Add in whipping cream and meringue.  Add in milk and butter and mix thoroughly. 
5. Pour into the egg yolk mixture.
6. Pour the gelatine mixture and mix well.  Ready to use.

Top Glaze: Chocolate Glaze/Ganache

150gm dark chocolate
150gm heavy cream
50gm butter

How to do:

1.  Dissolve cooking chocolate with double boiler.
2. Add warm cream and butter, mix well.
3. Glaze over cake

How to assemble the cake.

1  Cut the cake into four layers.
2.  Spread white chocolate mouse evenly and leave for a few minutes in fridge.
3.  Take out, put the next layer of cake and spread evenly dark mouse, place in fridge for a few more minutes so it sets
4.  Place next layer, spread white chocolate evenly and top it with the final layer of cake.  Leave it in fridge for a few more minutes till it sets.
5.  Place cake on a wire rack and pour the ganache over the cake. decorate and let it in fridge till serving time.

Sukanya Amma's Potato Fry

Sukanya, one of my neighbour in my housing compound brought this for our mini pot luck gathering.  I definitely enjoyed it very much.   It has a crispy like taste and definitely easy to make.  Of course what next - definitely you get to share her recipe with me.

Try them and see if you enjoy them as much as I did.  My daughter made this as well and she too find it easy and nice.  Good combo with rasam, sambar or the like.

Sukanya Amma's Potato Fry
Source - Sukanya
Ingredients

3-4 potato
1tsp of turmeric powder
3tbs curry powder - I used Kashmir curry powder
2-3 of vegetable oil

Method

Quarter the potatoes and slice it - not too thin or too thick
Marinate with turmeric and curry powder for a few minutes.
Heat oil in a heavy pan/wok
Once the oil is hot, add it the potatoes and coat will with oil.
Let it cook on slow fire.
Keep stirring the potatoes so that does not stick to the pan.
Ready when the potatoes are cook.

Enjoy