Crab Roast

Crab meat is very hard to extract from the shell. But my son really likes it and so I decided to go through the trouble of extracting it after a long time. 

Difficulty level: Easy

Preparation time- 10 min

Cooking time- 10 min

Ingredients 

Crab - Cleaned & meat separated- 1/4 cup

Onion - cut into thin strips- 1/4 cup

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Chilly powder - 1 tsp

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

Oil - 2 tsp

Salt -to taste

Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Make sure you clean the crab and separate the meat. Heat oil in a skillet, add the ginger garlic paste and saute well. Add the sliced onions, sprinkle some salt and saute until the onions turn light brown. Add the spices and curry leaves and cook for a minute until the raw taste of the spices have disappeared. Add the crab meat, add salt to taste and mix well. Cover and cook for 7 -10 minutes on a low flame. Serve warm with roti or rice. 

Immunity Booster Series-1 Moringa Stir-fry ( മുരിങ്ങ ഉപ്പേരി)

There is always a need to boost one's immunity for healthy living. Here is a series of recipes to keep your immunity up.

People have talked on and on about the benefits of Moringa. It is a miracle food. Here I have made one of the easiest stir-fry you can have using minimum ingredients.

Difficulty level: Easy
Preparation time: 30 min
Cooking time: 15 min

Ingredients

Moringa leaves (washed & stemmed) - 3 cups
Oil - 1 tsp ( I use Extra virgin coconut oil, but you could use any neutral vegetable oil)
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Dry red chillies - 2-3
Shredded coconut(optional) - 1 1/2 tbsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Heat oil in a pan and splutter the mustard seeds. Once done, add broken dry red chillies and the sprig of curry leaves. Add turmeric powder and red chilly powder and saute for another minute. Add the moringa leaves, sprinkle salt on top, mix everything well to get all the spices uniformly distributed . Cover and cook on medium-low flame until the leaves shrink and gets cooked all the way through, about 10 minutes. Mix well and sprinkle the shredded coconut, if you decide to add that in. It is completely optional and even without the coconut the dish tastes great. Let cook for another 2-3 minutes. Serve warm with rice or roti.

Quick Kesar Malai Laddoo

Happy Diwali everyone...

During these odd times, nobody wants to spend hours in the kitchen preparing Diwali sweets. I am in the same boat and hence came up with a laddoo, so instant ( when you compare it to the rest of the sweets usually prepared for Diwali), you would never believe how easy this is with no compromise on the taste.

Difficulty level: Easy
Preparation time: 10 min
Cooking time: 2-3 min


Ingredients

• Milk powder- 1 cup
• Ghee( clarified butter)- 1/ 4 cup plus 1 tbsp, and a couple of drops to grease your palm to make the laddoos
• Cashews- 12-15
• Raisins-25
• Granulated sugar- 1/4 cup
• Cardamom- 3 pods
• Saffron- a few strands

In a skillet, heat 1 tbsp ghee(clarified butter) on medium-low heat and roast the cashews until they turn golden brown and put aside. To the same ghee, add the raisins and fry them until they puff up. Keep aside. Add the rest of the ghee and allow to melt completely. Turn off the stove and after 3-4 minutes add the strands of saffron. This will allow the flavors to infuse into the ghee slowly.

While the ghee cools completely, powder the sugar and the seeds inside the pods of cardamom into a fine powder. Also crush the roasted cashews using a mortar and pestle or a food processor (just pulse it a couple of times). In a mixing bowl, add the milk powder, powdered sugar, crushed cashews, roasted raisins and mix well. Pour the saffron-infused ghee on top and mix well using a spatula. Once it is thoroughly mixed, grease your palms and roll the mixture into small lemon-sized balls. This yields 14 such laddoos. The number may vary depending on the size of your balls. It stays fresh at room temperature for 3-4 days.

Oreo Fudgy Brownies

Oreos are a kids' favorite and a lot of the adults I know love it too. I have incorporated Oreos and marshmallows to the brownie to make it all the more chewy. It is a fudgy, chewy, brownie goodness which will make you go back for more. 

Ingredients

1 cup butter, melted
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon vanilla
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup mini marshmallows
30 Oreo cookies coarsely chopped

Preheat your oven to 350°F/175°C. Line 9×13 pan with foil and spray with nonstick spray. Set aside. In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Mix on medium speed until combined, about 1 minute. Add in salt and the cocoa powder and mix on medium until combined, 30 seconds to a minute. Turn the mixer to low and add in the flour until incorporated. Mix in the chocolate chips and mini marshmallows. Spread half of the batter into the pan. Top with the Oreos and spread the remaining batter on top.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until the centre is almost set. It can stay fresh in an airtight container for about 3 days..I doubt this will remain at the end of the 3rd day anyway...

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