Pizza Quesadilla..my son's recipe..

Quesdilla is one of my son's favorite dishes. Its mexican of course. He found an easy way to enjoy it and also gave a fine name to it too.
Its basically an easy microwavable dish that requires a couple of tacos , some shredded cheese, a little Marinara sauce and some pieced chicken/ turkey breasts.

Ingredients:

1: Tacos: 2 each for each Pizza quesadilla

2: Marinara sauce: a few spoonfuls to spread on the bottom taco

3: Shredded cheese: any kind

4: Chicken/ turkey breast slices: 2-3 torn into pieces and spread on the top

Take a taco and spread some marinara sauce on top and add enough shredded cheese on top of the sauce. Then take the chicken/ turkey slices and tear them into small pieces. Randomly place them on top of the cheese. Using sausages or chicken cubes or chicken pieces or bacon or any meat would be perfect too.

Now place the other taco on the top and microwave for 46 seconds on high or until the cheese melts and then cut into slices and enjoy your pizza quesadilla. Its a perfect snack that anyone can make for after school or after work especially.

Tuna Spring roll..

We all love spring rolls at home and when I saw a packet of spring roll wraps I had the idea of making some spring rolls from Tuna as I had some tuna in stock already at home. Only, the ones I made had fillings similar to the puffs I usually made at home. In short, I had wrapped out the spring rolls in an Indian look and taste.

I opened a can of Tuna in water and strained the water away and put it aside first. Fresh fish always tastes better. You could also use chicken or any other meat.

Ingredients : 

1: Tuna: 1 can

2: Onion : 1/2 an onion diced

3: Tomato : 1

4: Potato: 1 large peeled and cut or mashed
   ( microwaved inside a grocery bag is fine )

5: Bell pepper (optional): 1/2 diced

6: Garam Masala powder: 1 Tsp

7: Cumin powder: 1/4 tsp

8: Chilly powder: 1 Tsp

9: Salt : to taste          

10: Oil: 2 tbsp

11: Cilantro : a few sprigs cut

You do need enough oil later to deep fry the rolls.


I first poured the oil into a heated pan and added the onion and fried it a bit, then added the bell pepper, tomato and the mashed potato, and later the tuna. Stirred all these around a bit and added the garam masala, the chilly powder, and cumin powder. I then cooked all these ingredients well and added then added the salt and cilantro and turned off the heat and let the filling cool down a bit.

Meanwhile, I had let the wrap stay out of the freezer for a few minutes so that it would be easy to peel each away as needed.                        

Peel away each wrap and take a small scoop of the filling and place a few inches away from any corner. Wrap that corner over the filling and the wrap in the sides and fold them around the filling, slowly rolling the wrap around and making it a perfect roll. As you near the farther end of the last corner to be rolled, moisten your fingers with a little water and touch the tip, the corner and seal the wrap in well. Make as many spring rolls as needed and then when you are ready to deep fry them do so and enjoy. You can store the rolls in the fridge or freezer and use as needed too.

This is the pic of the wraps in my first attempt, do bear with me..I assure you I have become an expert in rolling them perfectly well now..will post a pic of the perfect ones later..  :-)

Red n Hot Spicy Mackeral Curry

I made this curry yesterday as I had some Indian Mackeral in store in the fridge. I had also made some tapioca and rice to go along with it. This is quite a real spicy curry and the color itself denotes the degree of heat it contains. You always can adjust the amount of chilly powder according to your taste. This is one way of making fish curry with Kudampuli or Kerala tamarind or Gambooge.

Ingredients: 

1: Mackeral or Sardine                                            -  Mackeral-4 cut into small pieces
                                                                                    or a bunch of Sardines

2: shallots                                                                - 7-8 in no.s

3: Tomato:                                                                - 1 diced

4: Garlic                                                                   -5 no.s

5: Ginger                                                                  - an inch

6: Green Chilly                                                          - 2 split

7: Red chilly Powder                                                - 2-3 tbsp

8: Coconut                                                              - 1 cup ground to a paste

9: Turmeric powder                                                - 1 tsp

10: Kudampuli or Gambooge                                    -  3-4 pieces soaked in water

11: Fenugreek or Venthayam                                   - 1 tbsp

12: Salt                                                                 - to taste

13: Curry leaves                                                  - 1-2 sprigs

14 : Oil                                                                - 3 tbsp

                                                         Kudampuli or Kerala Tamarind or Gambooge

Cooking Instructions:

Take the red chilly powder and turmeric powder and add a little water to it and make it into a thick paste and keep aside. Now, either pound the garlic and ginger together or coarsely grind them and set aside. Meanwhile, take the Kudampuli and soak it in half a cup of water and keep aside.

Once the onion and green chilly is cut, add oil to a pan and heat it. Add the fenugreek/ Venthayam and let it slightly brown. Now add the pounded ginger and garlic and stir until the raw smell is gone.

To this add the sliced onion/ shallots and the split green chilly. Stir it around for a bit and mix in the tomato.
When you have nicely fried all the ingredients, add the chilly paste into the pan and stir it around well.
Cook it until almost all the water is gone and you can almost see the oil straining out of the mixture.

Now add all the tamarind/Kudampuli along with the water into the spicy mixture and stir it well and add some salt to it.

On the side, take the shredded coconut and grind it into a fine paste and add that too into the curry and let it boil and cook all of it very well.

Check for spices and salt and then add the pieces of Mackeral or the whole sardines to the curry and cook it again for some time until the fish is fully cooked. Before turning off the stove, add the curry leaves in. This red, hot ,spicy fish curry goes totally well with Kappa or tapioca.

Kale.. again, made another way

I tried this way of making the kale almost like I had cooked the red spinach. This was very much liked @ home too. It is good with just plain rice or just as it is.

Ingredients: 

1:  A bunch of Kale                                      -  1

2: Garlic                                                       - 4 pieces

3: Onion                                                       - 1/4 cup

4: Raw rice                                                  - 3 tbsp

5: Turmeric Powder                                      - 1 tsp

6: Cumin seeds                                            - 1 tsp

7: Mustard seeds                                          - 1 tsp

8: Urad Dhaal                                               - 1 tsp

9: Channa Dhaal                                           - 1 tsp

10: Salt                                                           - as required

11: Oil                                                           - 2-3 tbsp


Cooking Instructions:

Thoroughly wash the kale leaves and chop them into little pieces discarding the tough stems.
Heat the oil in a deep pan and add the mustard seeds and let splutter. Then add the dhaals (lentil) and cumin seeds and as the cumin seeds splutter, add the raw rice and let it fry a bit. To this add the cut kale and mix it in with enough salt and the turmeric. Thoroughly stir it around a bit and then close the pan with a lid and cook the kale covered with the lid for about four minutes. Do watch the kale, do not let the leaves turn dark, they should be green even when soft and cooked. Now,  remove the lid and cook the kale the remainder of the time until the leaves are really soft. If you want, you can mix in a bit of coconut just before turning off the stove.
Remember to cook the kale well but also be careful not to lose the green color.
Enjoy your kale with steaming rice.

Cheera Thoran/Keera Poriyal/ Indian green n red spinach dish

                                              Cheera Thoran or Keera Poriyal


This side dish that goes very well with cooked rice and with any curry was one I used to get a chance to savor quite often back in my mother's house. There is the green variety of Cheera, the red and a mix of both the colors in the same spinach type. All three are quite tasty when cooked.

I remember my mother usually making the dish with the red/purplish variety of Cheera/spinach. We used to get real crazy about the red Cheera/spinach because, as we mixed it with the rice, it used to turn the white rice all red or rather a dark pink or purple in color, almost like when you add the beets, which appeared to our childish minds quite exciting and enticing to eat . I sorely miss the red spinach here and it was just by chance that I happened on the same spinach at the local Chinese market, the one that was a mix of both green and red.

Separate the leaves from the stem and thoroughly wash and rinse the spinach. Chop the Cheera /spinach leaves and the softer stems if any into small pieces and set aside.

Ingredients :

1: Chopped Cheera/spinach: 2-3 cups

2: Grated coconut: half  cup

3: Green chilies: 3 no.s

4: Cumin seeds: 1 tbsp

5: Turmeric powder: 1 Tsp

6: Garlic pods : 3 no.s

7:  Dry Red chilly: 2 no.s pieced ( for garnish)

8: Mustard seeds: 1 Tsp

9: Shallots (small red onions): 4-5 pieces chopped

10: Urad dhal: 1 Tsp

11: Channa dhaal: 1 Tsp

12: Curry leaves: 2 -3 sprigs

13: Oil (any edible kind, coconut oil is: 2-3 spoons
     better for this dish)



You can also use raw rice ,(any variety) for garnish instead of the dhaals.

                                                          Cooking Directions


First grind the grated coconut into a coarse paste with the green chillies, cumin seeds , turmeric powder, garlic and some curry leaves without adding any water.

Now mix this coconut mixture well with the spinach and add enough salt and keep aside.

Heat a tava/ wide pan with some oil and add the mustard seeds and let splutter. Then add the dhaals/ rice and let it fry then add the red chilly pieces along with the curry leaves. After a few seconds add in the shallots and let them slightly brown and then add the cheera/ spinach mixture and mix in and check for salt.

Close the pan and let cook for 2-3 minutes and then take away the lid and open and let the cheera cook .
Stir the mixture around to get it all cooked well but be careful not to overcook the cheera as it could burn and would not savor well.

Enjoy your cheera Thoran with steaming rice.

Dosa-Waffle, the classic waffle with an Indian flavor..

My kids love Waffle any day like any other kid and until recently it is been the frozen kind that I depended on to satisfy them mostly. I had started making waffle from scratch last year and they thoroughly enjoy eating it, the crispiness and the freshness are too good. One of these days while I'd been feeding the kids this waffle for breakfast, which usually is on days that are relaxed, my husband who is not a waffle lover, requested me to make him a waffle out of the Dosa mix, which is ground rice and urad flour that is thoroughly mixed with salt and left to ferment and rise before storing in the fridge. The grinding of the rice and Urad dhaal is done with a wet grinder, after soaking both separately for 3-4 hours.

                                               This is both the regular waffle mixture and dosa mixture  ready to be cooked


Why not try making waffle with this mixture, I thought and we were all very surprised, satisfied and happy with the outcome. Now its become dosa waffle days for us rather than regular waffles, as the Dosa waffles are way tastier and much more crispy. Do try it.

                                                          Dosa-waffle
Ingredients:

1:  Dosa flour: 1-2 cups or as needed

Kitchen electrics:

1: Waffle maker                                      

Just heat up the waffle maker and spray or wipe the inside with some butter or oil. As the orange light turns on and it is ready for the batter to be poured and spread, scoop a spoonful of batter and spread it evenly on the waffle maker and close the top lid.

Leave it to cook and wait until the light that denotes the waffle is ready to turn on.
Now, take out your hot, crispy dosa-waffle and enjoy it with any chutney or sambar. As you all know waffle is best eaten with a side of sweet syrup, not this one though. This waffle is best eaten with anything that goes with idli or dosa.

My kids ate it with some red coconut chutney and it is best if eaten while hot and crispy.

                                                         The Regular waffle

Tapioca/ Kappa puzhukku or Yuca, a Kerala recipe

This is another staple I have seen in my mom's kitchen in my childhood days. My mother, I remember cooked tapioca in many different ways and we had it with either fish curry or chicken curry, along with rice of course, and sometimes even with coconut chutney that was freshly ground and rolled out from the grinding stone.

Ingredients needed:

1:  Yuca/ Tapioca/ Kappa                        :  2- 3 pieces

2:  Coconut shredded: 4 tbsp

3: Dry red chilly: 3-4 no.s

4: Curry leaves: 1-2 sprigs

5: Mustard seeds: 1 Tsp

6: Urad dhaal: 1 Tsp

7: Turmeric Powder: 2 tbsp

8: Oil, coconut preferred
   but any edible oil will do: 2 tbsp

9: Salt  : to taste

Method:

Yuca has to be really boiled twice to get the natural toxin that this root contains totally out of it.

So, after cleaning the yuca off its outer coverings (the brown and the thick white or pick layer beneath it), cut the Yuca/ tapioca into cube-shaped pieces and thoroughly wash them and put aside.

Take a fairly large pan with a deep bottom and fill it with water and start boiling it adding some salt and turmeric powder to it. Into this water put all the yuca pieces and let it boil. Now take the pan from the stove and drain the water completely from the yuca and again fill it with fresh water and boil again adding some salt and turmeric. By the time this water boils, the Yuca should be cooked into soft pieces. Drain the water completely and put aside.

To garnish, take another pan and heat it up and then add the oil into it. When the oil is heated up, add the mustard seeds and let it splutter. Then add the urad dhaal, the red chillies as pieces, the curry leaves and then the coconut. Stir all of these for a while and add some salt before mixing in the cooked Yuca. Mix it all very well together and check for salt before serving with fish curry or chicken curry.

                                                Red Hot Fish curry

Mushroom stir fry or Koon mezhukkuperatti

I made this stir fry as a side for rice. I had been trying to re-create the taste of the mushrooms I usually picked, from around the property surrounding our house as a kid, along with my siblings just after a fresh bout of rain. That taste of the fresh, large mushroom, made with a little fresh coconut oil, is still a tantalizing, never-forgotten taste for me. The store-bought mushrooms that I used were not as tasty but it was somewhat of a parallel.

Ingredients:

1: Mushrooms: 1 Packet

2: Shallots/Onions: 5 no.s / half an onion sliced into small pieces

3: Red dry Chilly : 3- 4 no.s

4: Turmeric powder: half tsp

5: Salt: to taste

6: Coconut oil/Olive oil             :  2 tbsp

7: Curry Leaves: 1 sprig

8: Mustard seeds: half tsp

Method:

Wash the mushrooms and slice them into small pieces. Add the oil to the pan / Tava and let it heat up. When hot, add the mustard seeds and let them splutter. Now add the red chilly pieces and curry leaves and then the onion pieces in that order. Stir the onion mixture and let it get transparent. Now add the pieces of mushrooms and mix in enough salt for taste. You will see that water from the mushroom drains out helping it to cook in its own juices. Do not close the pan at any time but cook the mushroom mixture by stir frying it.

Once all the water has drained and the mushroom is cooked, check for salt and use it while hot with rice or as a side for Chappathi. You will see its good to be relished just alone too.

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Mullu murukku...(snack)

This is a favorite snack of South India, made mainly from rice flour. You require the

Sevanazhi or the special press or contraption with the different chips to make this snack. 

Ingredients:

1:  Rice flour: 2 cups

2:  Urad flour: 1 cup

3: Sesame seeds:
   (black or white) : 1-2 tbsp

4: Butter: 1/2 a stick or 50 gms

5:  Jeera/ cumin seeds: 1 Tsp

6: Asafoetida/hing: 1/2 tsp

7: Salt: to taste

Mix all the ingredients with melted butter and enough salt an bring it to a soft, thick dough with the smooth consistency to squeeze through the Sevanazhi. It's somewhat like a cookie press. You got to put the right kind of chip in and fill the press with the dough and close it.

Heat enough oil in a pan and when it comes to a boil, squeeze the handle of the press and move it around to create a spiral. Stop the flow when you get 3-4 spirals and make several small ones directly into the boiling oil.

Turn the Murukku around as it starts browning and cooks both sides. Take care not to burn the little spirals. This is a sure treat anytime.

Coconut chutney for Dosa or Idli made the Tamil way

Coconut chutney made in the traditional Tamil way is a must for Dosa or Idli along with Sambar for the family.I would like to share the recipe here, its a quite common one, if you like it try it in your kitchen to go with Dosa or Idli.

Ingredients :

1: Coconut, fresh ( frozen, shredded works well too.

    Just need to thaw if frozen)                                          -   1 Cup     

2: Pottukadala/ roasted bengal gram                                -  1/4  cup

3:  Green chilly                                                                  -  6 or 7 or as required for taste/ degree of heat

4: Ginger                                                                          - a small piece, an inch long

5: Coriander leaf/Cilantro                                                  - a few sprigs

6: Curry Leaf                                                                    - 2 sprigs        

7: Garlic                                                                           - 1 piece

8:  Salt                                                                             - to taste

9: Urad dhaal                                                                  - 1 tsp

10: Mustard seeds                                                            - 1 tsp

11: Oil                                                                             - for garnish

    Method: 

Grind all the ingredients from 1 to 8 adding enough salt to taste with a small amount of water to make into a paste with chutney consistency.

Put the chutney in a bowl and heat a Tava or a pan, adding 2 tbsp oil to it for garnishing. when the oil heats up, add the mustard seeds and let them splutter, then add the urad dhaal and curry leaves and fry them for a few seconds and take off the stove. Pour this garnish over the chutney. This chutney does not need to be heated or warmed before garnishing. One point to be kept in mind is this is best used fresh and maybe good until the next day. 

The fresh coconut chutney

Dosa / Idli Podi or Powder

  

This is a favorite of mine from very younger days. I remember oftentimes going on trips with my family in the family Ambassador car and one of the things that I fondly remember is my mom packing up lots of Idlis and this powder or Podi along with some fresh edible coconut oil to add to it before mixing it up and feeding us, stopping the car on the wayside somewhere. We used to use banana leaves as makeshift plates too. This can be made and stored in airtight boxes for future use.

Idli coming off fresh from the steam

   

 Ingredients:

1: Toor Dhaal                                             - 1 cup

2: Channa Dhaal                                         - 1 cup

3: Urad Dhaal (Black/ white)                        -1 cup

4: Ellu /sesame seeds(black/white)               -2 spoons

5: Dry red chilies -100 gms

6: Curry leaves                                           -2 sprigs

7: Hing / perumkayam/ kayam                    -2 -3 small pieces or 1 tsp powder

8: Salt                                                        -to taste

 Method of preparation:

First, dry roast the sesame seeds and put aside, then one by one dry roast the each Dhaal(Toor, Channa and Uraad) separately and put aside to cool. Now dry roast the Hing/Kayam if you are using the hardened form and add the red chillies and curry leaves and dry roast them too.

Let all the ingredients cool down. Then grind all these ingredients in a mixer/grinder one by one along with enough salt and put them in a large bowl and mix them all well together. Let the powder cool down before storing it away. Enjoy this powder as a side for idli/ dosa adding coconut oil or gingelly oil or any edible oil to it and mixing it up. A tip to remember about grinding the Dhaals, try not to make a too fine powder of it.

 I roast them all together, as I add one cup each of the Dhaals at a time and reduces the number of chilies to balance the heat as you can see in the picture.