Pepper Fritters( മുളക് ബജ്ജി )

I love spicy food. This was, actually, one of my favorites dishes when I was pregnant. The first time I ate this was at the Thrissur Pooram  Exhibition (a major event in my hometown similar to a state fair). This is one of the staple foods sold there and I used to go to the exhibition just to eat them. In India, they use a special pepper which we get in our part of the world. But here in the US, I use either the Hungarian peppers or Banana peppers to make this.

Difficulty level: Easy

Preparation time: 5 min

Cooking time: 20 min

Makes: 18 pieces

Ingredients:

Hungarian peppers: 3,big

Besan( chickpea flour): 1 1/4 cups

Turmeric powder: 1/8 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil: for deep-frying

Cut the peppers into three pieces width-wise and then each in half, lengthwise. So each pepper will give 6 pieces. De-seed them completely, or if you are brave enough leave some seeds behind. 

Make a thick batter of besan with turmeric powder and salt, adding enough water. Dip the pepper in the batter and deep-fry until golden brown. Serve hot with tomato ketchup or chilli sauce or chilli chammandhi.

Mysore Pak ( chickpea sweet bars)

This is one of the most popular sweets of South India. This sinfully rich and decadent sweet needs just three ingredients - Besan (Chickpea flour), Sugar and Ghee. In spite of the simplicity of the ingredient list, it is still not easy to get the soft, smooth texture. There are really no short-cuts to getting the melting-in-the-mouth consistency, especially no cutting back on the ghee. Or you will end up with a hard yellow sweet block.

This recipe is from mother's aunt, who is one of the greatest cooks I have ever known.

Ideally, all the ingredients have to be of equal proportions. But if you don't like it reaaally sweet, reduce the sugar to your taste. But, it tastes best when made this way.

When I was chatting with my brother a few days ago, he mentioned how he felt like eating this. So here is the recipe as my dear sister-in-law had wanted.

Difficulty level: Medium

Preparation time: 10 min

Cooking time: 30min

Makes: 34- 35 pieces

Ingredients:

Besan (Chickpea flour): 2 cups, sifted

Ghee (clarified butter): 2 cups + for greasing the dish to set

Sugar: 2 cups

Heat sugar and 1 cup water until it boils. Continue doing this until it gets to one-string consistency. Reduce heat. Pour the ghee and flour in a steady stream (or add in batches) while stirring continuously. Cook until the ghee starts leaving the sides of the pan, mixture starts to thicken and turns to become porous and golden color. Immediately pour into a greased dish and level it out with a spatula. While it is still hot, cut into diamond shapes.

Paneer pudina tikkis (cottage cheese patties with mint)

My neighbour once mentioned that she had never tried Paneer before. She was doing a garage sale and so I decided to make her some snacks for tea. I decided to make her Paneer tikkis with pudina (mint leaves) and cilantro (coriander leaves). Both the mint and cilantro were fresh from my backyard vegetable garden.

The original recipe, from Tarla Dalal, called for only pudina but I decided to add some cilantro as well, for a change.

Difficulty level: Easy
Preparation time: 10 min
cooking time: 10 min
Makes: 10 tikkis/ patties

Ingredients:


Grated Paneer: 1 1/3 cup,without pressing down
Mint leaves: 2 tsp, finely chopped
Cilantro: 2 tsp, finely chopped
Corn starch/ corn flour: 2-3 tsp
Green chillies: 5-6, finely chopped
Salt to taste
Oil: for deep-frying
Chat masala: to sprinkle while serving(optional)

Mix all the ingredients except for oil and chat masala well. Make 10 balls of the same size. Flatten it a bit to form patties/ tikkis. Deep fry them in medium hot oil until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel. Serve hot sprinkled with chat masala. Goes well with tomato ketchup.

Vegetable Noodles

The inspiration for this came from the buttered noodles my son has at school. I decided to make it a bit more healthy and filling.

Difficulty level: Easy
Preparation time: 10 min
Cooking time: 5 min
Makes: 2 toddler servings

Ingredients:


Noodles: 1/2 cup cooked, according to package instructions
Carrot: 1/4 cup grated
Cooked vegetables: 1/4 cup (cooked in lightly salted water)
Butter/ clarified butter(ghee): 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder: 1/8 tsp
Salt: to taste

Heat the butter/ ghee in a skillet and add the turmeric powder. Saute for a minute and add the grated carrots. After a minute, add the rest of the veggies. Saute for a minute before adding the noodles. Sprinkle salt,if needed, at this stage. Use two wooden stirrers to mix the whole thing well. Serve warm.

Masala Curry

This is one of my brother's favorite dishes. It is traditionally made with either potatoes or bread-fruit (കടച്ചക്ക) and is a great complement to rice. My husband likes it with chapathis though.           

Difficulty level: Medium
Preparation time: 10min
Cooking time: 20 min
Makes: 2- 3 servings

Ingredients:


Potato: 1 small, cut into small pieces and half-cooked with some salt & turmeric powder
Shredded coconut: 2 tbsp
Oil: 1 tsp + 1 tsp
Whole red chillies: 4
Asafoetida: 1/8 tsp
Coriander powder: 5 tsp
Turmeric powder: a pinch
For tempering: Green chillies: 2, cut in half, lengthwise
Onion: 2 tbsp, finely chopped
Curry leaves: of 1 sprig

Heat 1 tsp oil and roast the coconut until light brown and keep aside. In the same  skillet, saute the red chillies and saute until they turn slightly pale. Add the asafoetida and coriander powder. Continue sauteeing until the raw taste has gone. Cool completely and grind this together with the roasted coconut to make a fine paste.

Transfer the ground paste to a skillet along with the half-cooked potatoes and about 3/4cup water. Cover and cook for 5 min. Allow excess water to evaporate, if needed. Remove from the fire and add the tempering (heat 1 tsp oil and saute the onion, green chillies and curry leaves, until the onion turns light brown) on top. This curry with slightly thick gravy can be served hot with rice or chapathi.

Stuffed Capsicum/ Bell pepper

I have seen this being made in many different ways, with a variety of ingredients. Here is my version.

I used among others, a mixture of corn, edamame, carrots and broccoli for the veggie-stuffing. You can use some of the top part of the capsicum to dice, to be used in the stuffing. Also note that the baking time may vary as each oven is different.

Difficulty level: Medium
Preparation time: 20 min
Cooking time: 20 min
Makes: 3 servings

Ingredients:


Bell peppers/ capsicum: 3
Potatoes: 250 gms, cooked with salt and cut into tiny pieces (You can also grate it), I used purple potatoes to get some contrasting colors
Boiled veggies: 1/2 cup
Onion: 1/2 of a medium, cut into tiny pieces
Capsicum: 2 tbsp, finely chopped
Oil: 2 tbsp+ 2 tbsp
Garam masala: 1 tsp
Cumin powder: 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder: 1 tsp
Pepper powder: 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder: a pinch
Grated cheese: 2 tbsp + 1 tbsp for topping

Pre-heat oven to 325 degree F.

Cut the capsicum in to halves &  remove the seeds completely. Use only the bottom half for this dish. Place on a baking dish, bottom side up and drizzle 2 tbsp oil uniformly on top. Bake for 15 min.

In the meantime,  heat 2 tbsp oil in a skillet. Saute the chopped onion and capsicum until the onion turns light brown. Add the spices and veggies and mix well, until the raw taste of the spices have gone. Switch off the flame and keep aside. After it is slightly cool, mix in the grated cheese.

Fill the roasted capsicum halves with the stuffing and add some grated cheese on top. Transfer the baking tray back to the oven. Bake for 10- 12 min, until the capsicum is completely cooked.

Variation: You can press down the filling, add a layer of bread crumbs and then sprinkle some gated cheese before you bake it for the second time. This can be served as an appetizer.

Chicken Puttu/ Steam-cake

I have seen this concept being used in many recipes, by a lots of people. But this particular one is the result of my experiments.

Difficulty level: Medium
Preparation time: 20 min
Cooking time: 10-11 min/ puttu
Makes: 7-8 long puttu

Ingredients:


Puttu podi/ puttu mix: 1 cup, moistened according to package instructions
Shredded coconut: 1 cup
Salt, warm water: as needed

For the chicken layer:

Chicken: 325 gms, cut into 1/4" pieces
Onion: 1/2 of a medium, cut into 1/4" pieces
Meat masala: 4 tsp
Chilli powder: 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder: a pinch
Curry leaves: leaves of a sprig
Oil: 1 1/2 tbsp
Cumin: 1 tsp
Salt, water: as needed

Heat the oil in a skillet and saute the onion. Once it turns light brown, add the spices and curry leaves and saute well until the raw taste of the spices have gone. Add the chicken and mix well, adding enough salt. Add about 1 cup water, cover and cook until completely done (about 10 min). Remove the lid and allow excess water to evaporate. But make sure you have some gravy left to be used a curry with the puttu later. Separate some chicken (drained of the gravy) from the curry and keep aside (It shouldn't be too dry just not drenched in gravy).

Now, to make the puttu, add about 1 tbsp shredded coconut to the long puttu-maker. Add about a handful of the puttu mix, then 2 tbsp of the chicken (from the chicken kept aside), then 1 tbsp of the coconut, continuing the same pattern until you get to the top(a word of caution:.Don't fill the puttu maker to the top. Sometimes, the puttu has a tendency to rise and you may end up having to clean, more than normal). Steam them for 9-10 and serve them hot, with the chicken curry you made.