Malai kofta

Ingredients:

For kofta

Potato - 1 medium
Carrot - 1 medium
Paneer - 1/2 cup, grated
Cashews - 2 tbsp, chopped finely
Corn flour - 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

For Gravy

Onion - 1 big, chopped
Tomato - 2 big chopped
Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tsp
Milk - 1 cup
Cashews - 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Kasoori methi - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

For koftas

1. Peel and pressure cook the potato and carrots with about 1 cup of water for 2 whistles. Drain the water and mash it up.
2. In a mixing bowl, add the mashed potato & carrot, grated paneer, cashews, turmeric powder, red chilly powder,salt and corn flour. Mix well and make a dough. Form small lemon sized balls with the dough. If your not able to form balls, adding a tbsp more of corn flour or bread crumbs to it.
3. Deep fry the balls in medium-high heat taking care not to break the koftas.

For the gravy

1. Soak cashew in 1/4 cup hot milk for about 30 minutes and grind to a smooth paste.
2.Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan. Add onions and saute till it starts to change colour. Now add ginger garlic paste and fry for another 2 minutes.
3. Now add the tomatoes and fry till the tomatoes are soft and mushy.
4. Allow it to cool down and grind it to a smooth paste.
5. Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. When the cumin seeds splutter, add the onion-tomato paste along with 1/4 cup water. Add turmeric powder, red chilly powder,coriander powder, garam masala and salt.
6. Cover and cook for 5 minutes till the gravy thickens. Now add the cashew paste and milk. Mix well and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Then add kasoori methi.

Assembling and serving

1. Before serving, heat the gravy for 1 or 2 minutes. Transfer it to the serving bowl and add the koftas. Garnish it with grated paneer and coriander leaves.

Serve hot with Naan/Chappathi/Pulao.

Wholewheat eggless pancakes

Ingredients

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Milk - 1 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Butter - 2 tbsp


Method:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and mix well. Mix in all the wet ingredients. Whisk together until well combined. Do not over mix. Set aside for 5 - 10 minutes. Add  more water if required.
2. Heat a skillet or pan on medium-high heat. When hot add about 1/4 cup of the batter onto the skillet. Cook till bubbles appear on the surface of the pancake. Now flip it over and cook till both the sides turn golden brown.

Ada Pradhaman

Ingredients:

Ada - 1/2 cup
Grated Jaggery - 1 cup
Thin coconut milk - 2 cups
Thick coconut milk - 1 cup
Dry ginger powder - 1/4 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Thin coconut slices - 2 tbsp
Raisins and cashews - 2 tbsp
Ghee - 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Soak ada in hot water for 30 minutes. Then wash it in cold water and again boil water and cook ada in it till it becomes soft. It will take another 15-20 minutes.
2. Heat ghee in a pan and fry the coconut slices, cashews and raisins . Keep aside.
3. In a heavy bottom pan,melt jaggery in half a cup of water and strain it. Return the melted jaggery to the pan and boil it. Now add the cooked ada to it along with 2 tbsp of ghee.  Cook it in medium flame for about 15 minutes or till the mixture thickens, stirring occasionally.
4. Next add the thin coconut milk and cook till the mixture thicken, stirring occasionally.
5. Now add the ginger powder,cumin powder and cardamon powder. Mix well. Add the thick coconut milk , Mix well and switch off the stove.
6. Garnish with the fried coconut slices, cashews and raisins.

Sweet potato Paratha

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Sweet potato - 1 medium
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Cut the sweet potato into halves and pressure cook for about 1 whistle. Allow it to cool slightly  and peel off the skin and mash it up.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the wheat flour, salt and red chilly powder. Mix well. Now add the mashed sweet potato and mix well . Knead to form a soft dough, adding water little by little. Coat the dough with a tsp of oil and set aside for 30 minutes.
3. Make small balls with the dough and roll it into parathas.
4. Heat a tawa, transfer the parathas and cook till both sides turn golden brown. Drizzle little oil /ghee on both sides. Serve hot.

Eggless Pancakes

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 cup
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Sugar -1 tsp
Milk - 1 cup
Vegetable oil - 1 tbsp
Water - 1 tbsp
Butter - 2 tbsp,melted
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Method:

1. Combine all the dry ingredients and mix well. Mix in all the wet ingredients. Whisk together until well combined. Do not over mix. Set aside for 5 - 10 minutes.
2.  Heat a skillet or pan on medium-high heat. When hot add about 1/4 cup of the batter onto the skillet. Cook till bubbles appear on the surface of the pancake. Now flip it over and cook till both the sides turn golden brown.

Source: Egglesscooking

Gothambu Dosa/Whole wheat dosa

Ingredients:

Whole wheat - 1 cup
Water - 2 cups
Salt to taste

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl, add wheat flour and salt. Mix well. Add water little by little to form a semi-thick batter. Whisk it well so that no lumps are formed.
2. Heat a tawa and pour a laddle of the batter on it. Spread the batter with the laddle in circular motion.
3. Drizzle some oil on top of it. Cook on medium flame till both the sides turn golden brown.

Repeat the process till all the batter is used up. Serve hot with sambar or chutney!


Notes:

1. The batter shouldn't be too watery, otherwise you wont be able to spread the batter easily.
2. Do not grease the pan with oil before pouring the batter. You will find it difficult to spread the batter if the pan is greased with oil.

Creamy Tomato soup

Ingredients:

Onion - 1 medium , roughly chopped
Tomatoes - 3 medium , roughly chopped
Garlic - 2 pods ,chopped
Carrot - 1 small, roughly chopped
Pepper powder- 1/2 tbsp or to taste
Salt to taste
Olive oil - 2 tsp
Chicken/Vegetable broth - 1 can or 2 cups
Fresh Cream - 1 cup
Croutons to serve

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan.Add the onions and fry until it becomes soft and starting to turn golden brown. Then add garlic and fry for another 1 or 2 minutes.
2. Now add the chopped carrots, tomatoes and vegetable/chicken broth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Allow the soup to boil in low flame for about 15-20 minutes.
3. Allow the soup to cool down and transfer it to a blender and puree it. Return the pureed soup back to pan.
4.  Boil the soup and mix in cream. Then simmer it for another 15 minutes.

Serve hot along with homemade croutons!

Milk Peda

Ingredients:

Milk powder - 1 cup
Condensed milk - 1 cup
Milk - 2 tbsp
Saffron - 2 -3 strands
Pistachios - 6-7 chopped
Ghee - 2 tsp

Method:

1.  Soak saffron strands in warm milk .
2.  In a heavy bottom pan, add milk powder, condensed milk , saffron milk and ghee. Mix well so that no lumps are formed. Now switch on the flame and boil the mixture.
3. Keep stirring it continuously until the mixture becomes thick and start to leave the sides of the pan. Now switch off the stove and allow the mixture to cool down for 10-15 minutes.
4. Apply some oil or ghee to your hands and make small balls or pedas out of the mixture. Flatten the balls slightly and make a dent at the center with you thumb. Decorate it with the chopped pistachios.

Carrot thoran/ poriyal

Ingredients:

Carrots - 3 medium
Grated coconut - 1/3 cup
Green chilly - 2
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Dry red chilly - 1-2
Curry leaves - 1 sprig or 5-6 leaves
Salt to taste


Method:

1. Peel and cut the carrots into small pieces. Then chop these pieces finely. If you don't have a chopper, you can peel and grate the carrots.
2. Heat oil in a pan.Add mustard seeds, urad dal and dry red chilly. When  the mustard seeds splutter add the curry leaves followed by the chopped/grated carrots.
3. Add turmeric powder, salt and around 1/3 cup water. Mix it well and close the kadai. Cook it for 10 -15 minutes on medium flame or till the water is fully absorbed.
4. Meanwhile crush the coconut and green chilly in the chopper or mixie.
5. Once the carrots are cooked completely, add these crushed coconut to it and mix well. Cook it for another 1-2 minutes and switch of the flame.

Serve it as a side dish for rice!

Koova Payasam - Thiruvathira special

                              Koova payasam is a traditional Kerala recipe.It is mainly prepared on the day of Thiruvathira, in the malayalam month of Dhanu along with Thiruvathira puzhukku and broken wheat upma..

Ingredients:

Koova Podi/Arrowroot powder - 1/4 cup
Water -  1 cup
Jaggery - 1/2 cup grated (I used the dark
Coconut - 3-4 tbsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Ripe Plantain / Ethapazham - 1/4 cup , cut into small pieces
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp (Optional)

Method:

1. Take a heavy bottom pan, Add all the ingredients except cardamom powder.Mix well.
2. Boil the mixture in medium heat, stirring continuously. After about 10 minutes, the mixture starts becoming thick. When the mixture has turned dark brown and the consistency is semi thick, remove it from fire .
3. Garnish it with cardamom powder. This is optional. 

Christmas fruit cake/ Kerala Plum cake

WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR !!!

My first post of the year is Christmas fruit cake or Plum cake. Plum cake is one of mine and my husband's favorite cake. This is my first attempt in baking plum cake and it was a huge success. The whole cake was finished that day itself :)

The recipe is a combination of many other recipes like Yummyoyummy, edible garden, marias menu... The recipe list seems to be very long, but believe me its not that difficult and the taste is worth the effort :)

Ingredients:

To soak dried fruits & nuts
Dried fruits - 2.5 cups
Nuts - 1.5 cups
Orange Peel - 1 tsp
Apple juice/Wine/Rum - 1 cup

For spice powder
Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp
Nutmeg powder - 1/4 tsp
Clove powder - 1/4 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Dried ginger powder -1/4 tsp (Optional)

For caramel:
Sugar- 1/2cup
Water - 1 tbsp
Hot Water - 1/4 cup

For cake batter
All purpose flour - 2 cups
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 2 cups
Butter - 1 cup or 2 sticks ( at room temperature)
Eggs - 4 (at room temperature)
Vanilla essence - 2 tsp

Method:

Soaking the fruits and nuts
Roughly chop all the fruits and nuts. You can use any dried fruits and nuts like raisins, cranberries, dates, cherries, cashews, almonds or pecans. Soak all these fruits, nuts and orange peel in apple juice/wine/rum in an air tight container. I used apple juice here. Soak it for atleast 24 hrs to 1 week.

Caramelize the sugar 
1. Heat sugar with 1 tbsp water in a heavy bottom pan on medium heat. The sugar will first melt and slowly turns  into golden brown. Heat it for somemore time until the colour changes to dark brown. Now add the hot water to the caramel and heat it for another 2 minutes so that the sugar doesnot crystallize. Set it aside and allow it to cool down.
Note: Be very careful and keep safe distance while pouring water into the caramelized sugar.
          Donot stir until the sugar has melted completely and the colour has changed to golden brown.

Preparing the cake batter
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease two 8" cake pans or one 9x13" pan with butter and a sheet of parchment paper.
2. In a mixing bowl, sift together all purpose flour,baking soda , baking powder, salt and spice powders.
3. Drain the soaked dry fruits. Reserve around 2-3 tbsp of the juice/rum/wine. Add 1/2 cup of mixed flour to this so that the fruits and nuts are completely coated with flour. This will help prevent the fruits and nuts from sinking to the bottom of the pan.
4. In another mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar until creamy for around 3-4 minutes with a n electric hand mixer. Now add eggs one by one, beating after each addition. Beat until the mixture is creamy and fluffy.
5. Add the flour mixture to this and beat until incorporated. Now add the vanilla essence and mix well.
6. Mix in the cooled caramel and dried fruits and nuts and gently fold in with a wooden spatula. Lastly add 2-3 tbsp of the reserved juice/wine/rum to this and mix well.
7. Pour the batter into the greased pans and bake for around 1 hr , until a tooth pick inserted at the center comes out clean. The baking time can vary from around 50 min to 1 hr 15 min, depending upon the oven. Allow the cake to cool for 10 -15 minutes.

Enjoy the Christmas fruit cake!! Happy holidays!!