Meal-maker/Soy chunks curry

When I saw the dry soy-chunks at the Indian store, it reminded me of the curry my mom's aunt used to make for us when I was a small girl. The below is my attempt to recreate that recipe. While it doesn't do justice to the original, it is still a good recipe.

For those who don't know, Soy chunks are an excellent source of protein and should be part of the menu in any vegetarian house. (Not that non-vegetarians won't enjoy it as well!)

Nutrela Soy chunks: I packet( 7 oz. or 400 gms)
Onion: 2 small or 1 big
Ginger-garlic paste: 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
Chilli powder: 2 tsp
Cumin powder: 2 tbsp
Meat masala: 8 tbsp
Oil: 2 tbsp+  2 tsp
Salt: to taste
Curry leaves: 2-3 sprigs
Water: 1 cup

Cooking the Soy chunks
You could follow the instructions on the packet. But I use a pressure cooker instead. I find that this results in bigger more moist chunks overall. Cook the soy chunks in water with a tea spoon of salt for 1 whistle. Drain the excess water. Squeeze the chunks, a few at a time, to remove any excess water in them. Keep them aside.

Heat oil in a skillet and add the sliced onions and the ginger-garlic paste. Add a dash of salt, so that it'll brown on you faster. Once it gets to light brown, add the turmeric powder, chilli powder, cumin powder and 5 tbsp of the meat masala and saute until the raw taste is gone. Add the curry leaves and mix well.

Add the cooked soy chunks to the above masala and mix well.Add more salt if needed, at this point, and add the water. Cover and cook for some time(about 10 min), just so that the masala can penetrate into the soy chunks. After all the water has evaporated, move the chunks to one side of the skillet. Pour the remaining 2 tsp oil to the skillet and also the 3 tbsp meat masala. and mix well. Mix everything so as to coat the new masala on every piece. Cook on a low flame so as to get it nice and crisp on the outside.

I like to eat this with chapathis, rice or just by themselves. I hope you like them as well.

Kid-friendly vellayappam

I got this basic vellayappam(വെള്ളയപ്പം) batter recipe from Aswathy, a very close friend of mine.

I try to make it in different shapes, in addition to the traditional round, to make it more appealing to the kids. 

Batter recipe


Idli rice/raw rice : 4 cups
Coconut milk : 400 ml can
Sugar : 3/4 cup(this is for the kids- if you want it less sweet, feel free to reduce it to 1/4 cup)
Active dry yeast: 1 tsp

Soak the rice for 2-3 hrs. Start grinding the rice in the mixer. When it's about coarse ground, take out 3 tbsp and keep aside in a saucepan. Now add the coconut milk in small batches to the rest of the rice and grind it to a  fine paste. Transfer to a large utensil or vessel ( it needs a lot of room to ferment and rise).

On a low flame, heat the 3 tbsp ground rice kept aside in the saucepan with half a cup of water. Keep stirring until it becomes a thick. Add this to the rice and coconut milk batter along with the yeast and sugar. Mix well until the yeast and sugar are uniformly distributed. Keep it in a warm place for 10-12 hrs(or longer is needed) until you see bubbles on the top.Once you're ready to make vellayappms, adjust the consistency to your preference, by adding water . If the batter is tight, you get thick ones. If you prefer really thin ones, add water to make the batter loose.

If it' sweet enough, serve it as such. Otherwise, you can serve it with milk and sugar. Adults can always eat it their favourite accompaniment.

If you're making it for the kids, just pour the batter and close the lid for it to cook.Don't spread it around and it'll come out like a pancake . Small kids(especially with not many teeth, like my younger son)  and slighly bigger small kids (like my elder son,who does not like crisp edges) will love to eat it.

Just be creative -I've tried making 'flowers' (my husband thought it looked like the 'Starfish' from the Spongebob Squarepants cartoon!)

Technique to make 'Mouse' shaped vellayappams


Pour a big ladle of the batter into the appachatti. Make one average round and wait for it to start setting.Tilt the chatti to make one ear and come back to the starting position. Then to the other side of the head to make the other ear.

Try experimenting with other favourite cartoon characters and have fun!

My banana bread

I've tried and tested many recipes from many websites I've found online. This turns out good every time.


Banana Bread Recipe

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS
3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of Salt
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour (മൈദാ)

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Yield: Makes one loaf.

This is the link to the recipe.
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/banana_bread/

But sometimes I like to give it my own twist.

 For people who aren't sure how much a 'pinch of salt'(in the recipe) is, I would recommend using salted butter and skipping the salt as such.

You can try adding different nuts each time you make it- it would taste slightly different every time. Or if you have kids(especially below 2-2 1/2 yrs) eating this, you can stick to the recipe and make it completely nut-free.