Aapam

This is a lacey crepe made out of fermented rice batter which is  very popular in Kerala and Tamilnadu. In Kerala they usually serve it with some kind of curry. In Tamil nadu it is  always eaten with thengapaal i.e.sweet coconut milk flavoured with a bit of cardamom powder. But I think the best combination is either vegetable stew or mutton stew and coconut milk; nothing can beat this taste.


Ingredients:

2 cups basmati or long grain rice

a fistful of cooked rice

1 cup water or coconut water

2 tsp urad dal

1/2 cup coconut milk

a pinch  baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

Method:

Wash and soak the rice and urad dal for an hour and grind it along with a cup of coconut water and  cooked rice to a smooth batter. Add coconut milk, baking soda, salt, sugar and mix it well using your hands.This will help the batter to ferment faster. Leave the batter at room temperature for  atleast 10 hours.

(Tips:To make it ferment faster, add 2 tbsp of nicely fermented dosa or idli batter to this and leave it near the heating vent. This way the batter will be ready in 3 hours.)

When you are ready to make aapams, add a pinch of baking soda again to the batter; it should be of pouring consistencey (little bit thicker than butter milk).

Heat a small nonstick frying pan and add a ladle full of batter, swirl it all around to coat the edges and the remaining batter will settle at the bottom of the pan. Close it with a lid and wait for 2 or 3 minutes.The stove should be on medium high heat in order to get that lacey browned edges.Open the lid and run a spatula around the edges and lift the appam, the center should be fluffy and soft and the edges should be crispy and brown.(You need to add a pinch of soda after every 3 or  4 appams, to get the center soft).The best combination to eat this with is stew (vegetable or meat) and sweet coconut milk.

Afghani Grilled Chicken

I got the inspiration  to make this from the chicken I ate in a local dhaba in Muscat, Oman. My cousins took us over there and we ordered varieties of kebabs and tikkas, served with hot Malabar barottas. I liked this particular chicken from their platter, which has no artificial colours or spices added to it . Believe me, this chicken tastes really good. It is tender, moist and  juicy.You should try this at least once. I hope you'll like it.

Ingredients

1st group ingredients

1 whole chicken (cut into half, clean and make deep slits on it)

1 cup vinegar

2 tbsp  ginger, garlic, green chilli paste

salt to taste

1 tsp sugar

2nd group ingredients

a fistful of almond (soak this for 10 minutes)

1 tbsp of whole black pepper corn

3 green chillies

1/2 inch cinnamon stick

2 cloves

1 cardamom

1/2 cup of fresh cream

ghee for basting

Method:

Apply the first group of ingredients to the chicken and let it soak and marinate in the vinegar for at least  3 hours in the refrigerator.

Grind the 2nd group of ingredients to a fine paste except cream and ghee.

Remove chicken from the fridge, discard just the vinegar and apply the 2nd group paste all over the chicken. Now apply the cream and it is ready for grilling.

Preheat your outdoor grill (I prefer outdoor grill, but you can also try your indoor grill) and place the chicken on the hot grill, cook on all sides over medium heat (patience is very important at this point). Baste the ghee while it is cooking and also towards the end. It'll take approximately 30 minutes to cook. Remove from the grill and let it rest for 5 minutes, then cut into desired pieces. Enjoy your Afghani grilled chicken with a nice hot butter Nan.

Paneer Manchurian

Whenever we go to Mayuri Indian cuisine we have to order this as an appetizer.The paneer is very soft and this is my daughters favourite dish from their menu. So I gave it a try and it came close to that, but she never agrees to that  .

1^st group Ingerdients:

2 cups  cubed paneer

2 to 3 tbsp cornstarch+1 tbsp rice flour

1tsp ginger paste

½ tsp garlic paste

2 tbsp soy sauce

1tsp chilli garlic sauce

1 egg white or 3 tbsp water if you omit egg white

Salt to taste

½ tsp sugar

2^nd group ingredients

½ cup  cubed onions

½ cup  cubed green bell peppers(capsicum)

3 or 4 chopped green chillies or jalapeno peppers

1 tsp chopped ginger

1 tsp chopped garlic

2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

2 tbsp chopped spring onions

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp chilli garlic sauce

Oil for deep frying and sauteing the vegetables

Method:

Mix the 1^st group of ingredients, except paneer and make a batter. (consistency should be like the dosa batter).

Dip the paneer cubes in this paste and deep fry till golden brown.Keep it aside.

Heat 3 Tbsp of oil in a wok. when it is hot, add the 2nd  group of ingredients, except coriander and spring onion and cook for a minute. Add soy sauce and chilli garlic sauce and  toss the  fried paneer. Sprinkle coriander leaves and spring onions . Serve this hot as an appetizer.

Light Brioche Burger Buns

Adapted from Comme Ça restaurant in Los Angeles, via the New York Times

Makes 8    4 to 5-inch burger buns

3 tablespoons warm milk
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs(you can omit eggs and instead add 1/4th cup water)
3 cups bread flour
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Sesame seeds (optional)
1. In a glass measuring cup, combine one cup warm water, the milk, yeast and sugar. Let stand
until foamy, about five minutes. Meanwhile, beat one egg.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flours with salt. Add butter and rub into flour between your fingers,
making crumbs. Using a dough scraper, stir in yeast mixture and beaten egg until a dough forms.
Scrape dough onto clean, well-floured counter and knead, scooping dough up, slapping it on
counter and turning it, until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. The dough will be on the sticky
side so it can be a bit messy, but keep in mind that the more flour you knead in, the tougher the
buns will get. Try to leave them tackier than you would a round loaf.
3. Shape dough into a ball and return it to bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a
warm place until doubled in bulk, one to two hours.
 4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using dough scraper, divide dough into 8 equal
parts. Gently roll each into a ball and arrange two to three inches apart on baking sheet. Cover
loosely with a piece of plastic wrap lightly coated in nonstick spray and let buns rise in a warm
place for one to two hours.
5. Set a large shallow pan of water on oven floor. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with rack in
center. Beat remaining egg with one tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns. Sprinkle
with sesame seeds, if using. Bake, turning sheet halfway through baking, until tops are golden
brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Gulab Jamun

This is our all time favourite dessert. I wanted to master the art of making this mouth-watering dessert. I tried buying those ready made mix, but it  either breaks apart or is very hard . So I browsed  through blogs, YouTube and tried many recipes , everything was a flop. Then I remembered eating this a long time back at a Bangladeshi friends house. So I quickly called her and got the recipe and tried it right away. Trust me, this recipe is "the perfect one" and you can't go wrong with it, if you follow this faithfully. Thanks to Bulu bhabi for sharing this  recipe. When my husband returned from work I surprised him with this and he said with a nod "mmm...not bad", that’s what he always says when he enjoys the food.


Ingredients

2 c nonfat dry milk powder

½ cup all-purpose flour

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp baking powder 

      

For syrup:

3 cups sugar

6 cups water

Few drops rose essence

Oil for deep frying

Method:

Combine flour, milk powder and baking powder and mix well. Add whipping cream and knead it to soft dough. Roll it into marble size balls.

Heat oil in a deep pan on medium heat. Drop this ball and fry it evenly till golden brown. Drain it into a paper towel. Bring these to room temperature.

In another saucepan, add sugar and water and the essence and bring it to a boil. Drop these fried balls in the simmering syrup. And allow it to simmer for another 5 minutes, the balls will double in size. Switch off the stove and serve it after 2 hrs.

Pepper chicken

I like to thank my sister who lives in  UK for sharing this recipe.

Ingredients:-

1lb chicken
½ lb onion finely chopped
2 cups pureed tomatoes (preferably canned)


2 tsp pepperchicken masala (dryroast 2 tsp jeera, 1 tsp fennel seed, 1 tsp coriander seed, few cloves ,cardamom and cinnamon, 1/4 tsp mustard seeds and grind it along with 2 tsp whole pepper corn to a fine powder)


a few sprigs  of curry leaves
chopped coriander leaves
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

½ tsp each of jeera and pepper  pwd to sprinkle at the end


Method:

Heat oil, add onion and saute it till lightly brown. Then add ginger garlic paste, saute for 2 minutes; add chicken and ½ tsp turmeric pwd and 1 tsp chilli pwd.When the chicken is half cooked ,add tomato puree and let it cook fully. 10 mins before removing from fire, add the pepper chicken masalas, jeera pepper powder, chopped curry leaves and coriander leaves.

Paneer Burji

I got this paneer recipe from YouTube.I made some improvisation and it came out really good. I prepared this for my neighbours and they enjoyed it a lot.

First stage ingredients:

1 cup crumbled paneer

½ c onion

½ green bell pepper

½ tomato

2 tbsp cashew

½ c cream

1 tbsp ginger and garlic chopped

1 tsp tandoori masala

1 tsp red chilli pwd

1 tsp coriander pwd

1 tsp fennel pwd

1 tsp kasoori methi

second stage ingredients:

2 tbsp finely chopped onion

¼ tomato

2 green chilli

1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves

2 tbsp butter

Method:-

Heat oil, add all the above ingredients except paneer and cream. Saute it till the onions are

cooked and slightly brown. Switch of the stove and add cream to it. Cool this and grind this

to a fine paste. Store this in a container, u can use this for many other recipes.

Heat a pan with a tablespoon of butter; add finely chopped onions; add green

chillies ,tomatoes and let it cook for awhile ; add crumbled paneer and then the gravy

that we made already. Let it simmer for a while. Switch off the flame. Sprinkle chopped

coriander leaves and a small cube of butter and serve with bread or roti.