Red pearl onions in grated burnt coconut (Ulli Theeyal)

Ulli Theeyal (Ulli : Onion commonly associated to red pearl onions or small onions or shallots and Theeyal (pronounced:Thiiyyal) : refers to burnt coconut or dark brown coconut caused  due to roasting).

G'Gina's Kitchenette will still feature more vegetarian recipes to help you in the kitchen throughout the Lenten season. Also my vegetarian friends/readers are happy to see more vegetarian recipes being shared from my Kitchenette.

Easter is less than a month away! Hope your Lent sacrifices are going well.

Ulli Theeyal has always been one of my favourite dishes that mum cooks! As you may have guessed, yes this is another one of my Mum's recipes <3

My kid loves this dish so I am almost certain that your kid would too. I had to reduce the quantity of chili powder to cater to her taste buds.

What you need:

• 200 gms of Red pearl onions / small onions / shallots (Kunjulli), sliced finely
• Flesh of 1/2 a medium sized coconut, grated
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2" ginger, chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds (optional - mom doesn't use for this recipe)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 4 long dried red chilis or 1/2 tbsp of red chili powder
• 1/2 tbsp of coriander powder (I use the powdered version as it was made out of roasted coriander seeds - you could use about 2 tbsp of coriander seeds instead)
• 1 gooseberry-sized : Tamarind pulp (soaked in lukewarm water and strained)
• A sprig of curry leaves
• * Oil - A drizzle
• Drinking water
• Salt to taste

The Make:

Serves : 3-4 adults | Preparation time: 10 minutes | Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

1. You have two options, either dry roast only the coconut gratings on medium-low heat in a wok or wide pot taking care to even brown the coconut until dark brown (not black). The second option is to dry roast the coconut gratings with the fenugreek seeds, dried red chilis and coriander seeds in case you are opting for these two ingredients instead of the powdered version.

2. Cool the dry roasted ingredients and grind well in an electric grinder with a tad bit of water to a smooth paste. You could also use a mortar and pestle in case have one.
3. Using the same wok, heat the oil on medium high and splutter the mustard seeds.
4. Lower the heat and add in the curry leaves.
5. Next add in the sliced onions, ginger and garlic and fry until the onions are golden brown.
6. Add the turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder (if you opted for the powdered version instead of the dried red chilies and coriander seeds) and saute well for a minute on medium heat.
7.  Next add the tamarind water, mix well and allow it to boil.
8. Once the water comes to a boil, toss in the ground coconut mixture, salt and stir well. Lower the heat and allow it to simmer for about 2-3 minutes until medium consistency is reached (it should neither be to watery nor too thick).

Serve hot with piping hot rice.

Note:
*Oil : You can choose any cooking oil. For this dish, it would taste extra special if you used Coconut Oil

Three spotted (swimmer) crab in spiced coconut gravy

Happy New Year 2015 dear readers! It has been close to a year since my last blog post (sounds a bit like a confession at church - 'Forgive me Father it has been close to a year since my last confession!'). Jokes apart, I must apologise to you my dear readers for not having to hear from me. 2014 was quite a roller coaster ride with the best and worst seen! It was definitely a year full of changes and challenges. Thankfully we survived the bitter ones with the Grace of Our Lord! I also thank you dear readers for the numerous emails, messages, calls, texts and IMs to check in on me and motivating me to return to G'Gina's Kitchenette.

I lost my dear grandma in August of 2014 and as you may have noticed a lot of my previous blog posts and posts/tweets refer to grandma's influence in my cooking. So what started as what may have been a writer's block, saw me through a whole heap of events including a physical move of G'Gina's Kitchenette to a new location. I am not sure if you know that I also run a Tourism business ICare Holidayz which thanks to word of mouth from dear friends and family has been doing fairly well in 2014. I also work in my field of specialization which is Human Resources. Our recent relocation in 2014 has not been easy on my little one or us as a family owing to a lot of circumstantial changes. We hope for the best and a resolve in 2015. So among all this my recipe creations were on a hold from being shared!

I was contemplating on what to begin with as although the writing had ceased for a while, the cooking cannot! So there are a lot of new recipes I have tried and tested time and again which I hope to share with you soon. I thought I would begin with Mum's recipe which was liked a lot by my grandma as well. I am hoping I can be regular with my blog posts as often as possible to compensate for the 11 months silence. I dedicate this recipe to my dear grandma who I am sure is in Heaven's Abode praying and looking over us.

This recipe has always been welcomed by family, friends and relatives. And I am certain you would love the same.

You need:

• 1 kg of fresh three spotted swimmer crab, washed, cleaned and halved
• Cleaned hard shells of the crabs, air dry the shells (Mom does not incorporate this in the original recipe)
• 4-5 green chilies (depending on how spicy you like it)
• 2 large tomatoes, quartered
• 1/2" ginger, diced
• 2-3 cloves, garlic (*optional - mom does not use)
• 1/2 cup of drinking water
• 1/2 of a medium sized coconut, grated
• 1/4 tbsp of red chili powder (I use Kashmiri Chili powder)
• Salt to taste
• Oil to fry the hard shells

The Make:

Serves : 4 adults | Preparation time: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: 40 minutes

I normally get my crab cleaned at the vendor's place itself. This time, I got the hard shells cleaned as well. Garlic is not required but you can add a few cloves.

1. Grind the coconut gratings, green chilies, ginger, garlic (optional) ,chopped tomatoes, red chili powder and salt with a little water as required to grind the mixture for a minute on high to medium speed.

The ground mixture should be thick enough to leave a circle in mix when stirred with a ladle.

2. Next heat oil to fry the hard shells in a wok and add the air-dried hard shells, taking care to ensure that the shells do not have traces of water to avoid the splutter. Once the shells turn orange, strain off the oil and on to kitchen towel.

3. Drain off most of the oil leaving just 1 tbsp of oil in the wok. Next add in the ground coconut mixture to the oil on medium-low heat. Cook for 2 minutes or until the coconut mix leaves the sides of the wok.

4. Add the crab halves to the coconut mixture and cover the crabs with the coconut mix. Saute for 3-5 minutes.

5. Add a tad bit of water if the coconut mixture is too dry. This will help the cooking process and avoid drying or even getting burnt.

6. Cook for about 20-30 minutes taking care to saute in between to avoid the coconut getting burnt. 

7. Serve with the hard shells on top on in the shells with piping hot /steamed rice.

Bon Appetit!

Beef Roast/Beef Dry Fry - Beef Ularthiyadu/Olaythiyadu - Hubby's Special!!

Anup made one of his mom's recipes for Beef Ularthiyadu which translates to Beef roast or Beef dry fry. He made this when Uncle Soman, Aunty Anne, Anu and Rohit visited our home on a weekend a couple of months ago. It was definitely amazing as we pretty much wiped the dish clean :)

I was only the helper this time just to get the spices ground or for the dicing and the clean up after. This is all him and his mum :) My MIL makes the best beef and cutlets by the way. Of course I love my mom's but they both are aces in their own way.

What you need:

• 1 kg Beef, diced into cubes (washed and cleaned in 1/2 tbsp turmeric powder and 2 tbsp vinegar)
• 1 coconut, sliced finely into squares
• 2 onions, finely diced or 1 cup of red onions, chopped (red onions are preferred)
• 1 sprig of curry leaves (washed in vinegar and turmeric and air dried)
• Ginger-garlic (10 cloves of garlic and 2 tbsp of ginger - chopped finely)
• 2 tbsps Coriander powder
• 2 tbsp Chili powder
• 1/2 tbsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Garam Masala
• 1-2 tsps of Pepper powder
• 11/2 tbsp of cooking oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp+ drinking water

The Make

Cooking Time: 1 hour | Preparation Time: 10 minutes | Serves 6-7

1. Drain the cleaned beef in a colander until all the water is completely drained.

2 . Meanwhile, fry the coconut in 1/2 tbsp of the oil till golden brown and add a pinch of turmeric. Set aside.

3. Add 1/2 tbsp of the oil to a wok and splutter the mustard seeds.

4. Add 1 of the diced onions and saute till golden brown. Then add the ginger and garlic and saute for a minute or until the garlic is slightly brown.

5. Make a paste with some water of some of the dry spices (11/2 tbsp of coriander powder, 11/2 tbsp of chili powder, 3/4 tbsp of Garam Masala and  1/2  tbsp of salt).

6. Add the masala paste to the wok and saute until the masala is cooked or leaves the sides of the wok.

7. Cook the raw beef with the prepared coconut, cooked masala and curry leaves in the pressure cooker for at least 45 minutes (5-6 whistles).

Tip: Make sure you have added enough water to cover half the beef content. It does not have to cover the entire beef content as this a dry fry.

8. In the wok, heat the remaining oil and saute the remaining diced onions till golden brown.

9. Next add in the remaining coriander powder, chili powder, garam masala and the pepper powder and cook the masala.

10. Lower heat to low and add in the cooked beef and fry till the residual water gets absorbed.

Serve hot with a flatbread of your choice - Paratha, chappatis or rotis, appam or rice.

Tip: You can subsitute with chicken or soya chunks. Soya chunks actually work really well with this recipe!

Bon Appetit!

Milk Hoppers or PaalAppam

I have an earlier post on KallAppam (Toddy Pancakes). This recipe is not too far from it other than the fermenting agent. PaalAppam batter can also be used to make a sweet dish called 'Vattayappam' (Steamed Rice and Coconut Cake), a Keralite popular make with left over batter from the Milk Hoppers. I will try and post this recipe soon. You can make Vattayappam later in the day  as a Tea Time snack or the next day after making the Milk Hoppers.

To make these Milk Hoppers,

You need:

• 4 cups of raw rice or Basmati rice (long-grained rice)
• 1/2 cup of fresh grated coconut
• 5-6 cups of filtered water
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp yeast
• 2 cups of cooked rice
• 2 tbsp of cooking oil

The Make
Makes 15-20 hoppers | Preparation Time: 8-10 hrs (soaking and fermenting time) | Cooking Time: 20 minutes

1.  Soak the rice for 4-6 hours in the water.

2. After the waiting period, in batches, grind the soaked rice with some of the water in which the rice was soaked and the portions of the cooked rice and grated coconut.

3. Next add the yeast to some lukewarm water and sugar and dissolve. Allow to stand for 2 minutes and add it to the batter. Give the batter a good mix and cover and allow to rest. Grease the pan you plan to use the next morning and cover.

I did the grinding of my batter this evening and will allow it to ferment overnight. You can chose to make it in a few hours (3 hrs) of grinding.

4. After the resting period, add the salt to the batter and mix well and get ready to make those hoppers.

5. Wipe the pan with a paper kitchen towel. Heat the non-stick pan or an Appam Chatti (Hopper Pan with lid) on high and once it reaches the desired heat, lower the heat and lightly grease the pan with a kitchen paper towel dipped in oil (hold the oil in a small bowl for easy use and keep the towel dipped in). Use the same paper towel to wipe the pan between making hoppers.

6. Take a rounded ladle with about 1/2 cup quantity of batter and pour in the center of the pan and in a clockwise direction spread the batter to form a nice round circle or flower ring circle.

7. Cover and cook for about 2 minutes on medium-low heat. Uncover and place the hopper on a serving plate or in a casserole dish. You can also choose to serve as you make if your guests/family enjoy the crispy wings of the hoppers. You can also break an egg in the center of the poured out appam batter which can be had as is without any gravy/accompaniment.

8. Repeat till the batter is used up or as required. For the leftover batter, you could refrigerate and reuse even the next day to make more Milk Hoppers or make a sweet dish 'Vattayappam' (Steamed Rice and Coconut Cake).

Serve hot with Eggs in Coconut Milk or Chicken Stew or Vegetable Stew! Enjoy!

'Beef Fry in Roasted Coconut Gratings' - A Twist of Beef Ularthiyadu/Olathiyadu (Beef Dry Fry/Beef Roast with Fried Sliced Coconut) and Beef Varathuarichadu (Beef in Fried coconut gratings)

Ok this dish was inspired by the fact that I had only grated coconut but wanted to have Beef Dry Fry and not in a thick gravy. I also wanted to extend both the traditional Beef Fry and Beef in Fried Coconut Gratings to a new level. I call it 'Beef Fry in Roasted Coconut gratings'. The result: It was good! Amen to that!

Beef Fry in Roasted Coconut gratings

You need:

• Beef: 1/2 kg
• Coconut gratings: 1/2 cup
• Ginger-garlic: crush and dice 1" ginger and 5-6 cloves of garlic
• Onion: 1 medium sized or 4-6 shallots (small onions) diced
• Pepper powder: 1/2 tbsp
• Chili Powder (Kashmiri): 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves: 1 sprig
• Coriander Powder: 1/2 tbsp
• Tumeric Powder:1/2 tsp
• Meat Masala or Garam Masala: 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
• Coconut oil or Cooking oil: 1 tbsp
• Cilantro/Coriander leaves - 1 sprig finely diced (optional)
• Vinegar: 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste

The make:

Cooking Time: 40 minutes| Preparation Time: 15 minutes| Serves 4 adults

Beef Fry in Roasted Coconut gratings

• Cook the cleaned beef with half the ginger-garlic, pepper powder, turmeric powder, meat masala/garam masala (you can also had 1/2 tbsp of meat masala and 1/2 tbsp of garam masala)  and salt in a pressure cooker. Add water to cover, slightly above the beef. This should take about 30 minutes. Once it is done, strain the soupy water (reserve it for stock  and store in a glass jar and refrigerate).
• While that is going on, almost 10 minutes to completion, heat a large skillet or clay pot and add the coconut gratings and half the curry leaves. Allow to slightly brown (not burn). Set aside.
• Add oil to the same skillet, splutter the mustard seeds and toss the remaining curry leaves. Add the diced onions/shallots, follow with the remaining ginger-garlic and allow to become slightly brown.
• Add the Chili Powder, Coriander Powder and vinegar, mix well on a medium flame. Cover and allow the spices to cook for about 2-3 minutes.
• Uncover and add the cooked beef with about 1/3 cup of the reserved stock and mix well. Cover and allow blending for about 5 minutes. 
• Next add the roasted coconut and curry leaves. Mix well and allow blending for another 5 minutes or until dry (no gravy)
• Turn off the flame and garnish with diced coriander leaves on top. Serve with rice or flatbread of your choice. If you allow some gravy (using the reserved stock), then this dish would also go well with Appam.

Nadan Pazha Manga Curry (Traditional Keralite Ripe Mango Gravy)

You may be wondering why I opted for 'ripe mango' curry when I could just eat the mango as is. The answer is we (me and 'A') simply loved it when we had it last at my mum's place. My mum's part-time maid cooks up a mean mango gravy(mmmm...my mouth waters when I just think of it). To top it 'A' got a neat batch of mangoes from his dealer as they do along with a jar of Andhra mango pickle (delicious!)  every year before the monsoons. I saved four of these that were naturally semi-ripened. This curry is best cooked with firm ripe mangoes. I believe its called Nadan Manga (literally translated Country Mango) or 'Chandrakaran' as I recently learnt on an image search in Google. My parents have a nice tree in the front yard that delivers some lovely raw (which we have as a starter with coconut oil, salt and chilli powder -  I know! We cousins and (I recently learnt) my aunts(dad's sisters) have this tradition where we sit around in a circle with a platter full of cut and marinated raw mangoes which is gone within seconds) and ripened mangoes. P.S. for those of you not from India, pre-monsoons are the best time to have the best supply of mangoes and its a game with kids too where they have mango-plucking and eating contests, etc.

Nadan Pazha Manga (Mango Curry)

Of course my mum dearest told me how to make this one but since I didn't have that type of mango here in Hyderabad, I tried it with the ones I got in this batch.

Mangoes I used for this recipe

I also added my own twist (as I always do - always wanting to experiment) to it to get the right outcome. I suggest if you are taking semi-ripened ones you follow through with the 'mash' process that I went through. If you are doing it with the smaller ripened version, avoid the 'mash' process.

You need:

• 4 semi-ripened (or firm fully ripe) mangoes (mum used the ripened version of Chandrakaran) -skinned and retained in full
• 6 cloves of garlic - chopped
• 2 " ginger -chopped
• 1 sprig of curry leaves (mum didn't add this)
• 4-6 green chilis (depending on how spicy your chillis are - mine were not the spicy kind) or kandhari (chilis of kerala - super exquisite for this recipe - I didn't have any :-( )
• 1 tsp turmeric
• Salt - to taste - about 1 tbsp should suffice
• 1.5 cups of grated coconut
• 4-6 shallots (small onions)
• 1 tbsp cooking oil or coconut oil

The make:

Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes| Preparation Time: 10 minutes|Serves 4-6 adults

This is how I made mine since I used the semi-ripened version. Since I did not follow the traditional route that mum follows, mine took longer to make (as mum says you always have to follow complex ways). 

Ginger, Garlic and Chilis with my pestle

1. First soak your curry leaves in lukewarm water (remember I mentioned in my last post that since there are a lot of chemicals sprayed on leaves and veggies these days, I make sure I soak them in lukewarm water with vinegar, turmeric and salt before using. In this case just lukewarm water).

2. Grind the coconut, garlic, green chillies or kandhari and ginger. I reserved half the chopped ginger and crushed them with my manual pestle and diced it fine. Set aside. I did this because I always feel that mango has a good flavour with ginger. (I like this combo so much that I found AVON had one of its shampoo products with mango and ginger. I very much liked it and so did my hair. Alas, I never found it again. Wish I bought a few bottles:D I know I am silly. I go by  flavours and smell a lot). Mango-ginger also has a cholesterol lowering function. (Mum did not set aside any ginger by the way)

Ground mixture of coconut, chilies and ginger-garlic

3. Take the mango in a pot with salt and water (enough to just cover the half of the mangoes (as it would be bobbing over the water. Do not add too much water or else you would not get the right consistency for the gravy). Cover and boil for 10-15 minutes until the mangoes are soft,first on a medium flame then lower flame to avoid it boiling over. (If using the fully ripe mangoes, you need only 7-10 minutes.

Mangoes set to boil with salt

4. In a separate skillet or flat pan, add the oil and heat. Splutter the mustard seeds and then add the drained curry leaves. Add the ground mixture, turmeric powder, crushed ginger and saute on a medium flame.

Sauteing crushed ginger, turmeric with the ground mixture

5. Next you would normally add it to the boiling mangoes, allow to mix in for 5 minutes and then turn off. But because I took the semi-ripened version, I took out one mango at a time on a plate and then using a knife, I knived out the sides of the mango and then added it back to the pot along with with its seed (still having some of the mango flesh on it). You can also do this with a wooden spoon. My mangoes were too large to do that with the risk of burning myself. Repeat for each of the 4 mangoes.

6. Then I added the ground mixture to the pot containing the prepared mango and left it on for 5 minutes allowing it to just bubble and turned off the heat.

Mango Curry ready to be served

7.  Serve hot with rice and your favourite dish (in our case it was Ayla Fish Curry). Some people also adds spices such as chili powder, cumin powder etc when doing their saute but I think that would not be as authentic with the coconut as with just the green chilies or the kandhari chillies. That is just my personal view.

'A' thoroughly enjoyed his lunch today with a good combination of dishes! Good luck and hope you enjoy it as much as we did! Bon Appetit!

Tender Coconut Chokolat Delight

I made this recipe last year and I remember my little one was awake when I was making it however when I plated up she was fast asleep! When I was serving my husband his dessert plate, suddenly we heard a patter of feet and she came running and sat on his lap. The plate was done in a matter of few minutes and all I heard her say was mmmm...to the very end. I also got a special kiss before she went back to bed....and that was recognition enough for me :)

Tender Coconut Chokolat Delight

This recipe was creation from a distant memory of my childhood but was a lot different from what I tasted at my Granduncle and GrandAunt's home. There was no chocolate or coconut grating in that recipe. Neither was flour, etc used. I still need to ask my uncle how they made that recipe and I will make and try to post it soon after.


You need:

• 2 cups of tender coconut pulp/extract (or extracts of 2 small tender coconuts) - diced into strands,squares or any medium sized shape as you like
• Tender coconut water  - half a cup would do
• Sugar - Either small granules or powdered sugar (prefer the former) - 1/2 to 1 cup depending on your taste 
• Cocoa powder(unsweetened) or cooking chocolate(semi sweet) - 4 tbsp or melted to fit half a cup or ½ cup honey
• Flour - about half a cup - diluted in lukewarm or boiled water brought to room temperature
• Grated coconut (1/2 of a normal coconut, not tender coconut) - 1 cup
• 15-20 grams unsalted or slightly salted butter - 1/4 cup - this would depend if you were going for the sweeter variety of the dessert then I would adopt the unsalted butter  - I used the slightly salted variety
• Walnuts(optional)  - about half  palmful or 5-6 walnuts skinned and diced and/or cashews(again optional) - about 3-4 diced
• 1 tbsp of honey or powdered sugar

The make:

Cooking Time: 40 minutes| Preparation Time: 15 minutes| Serves 4

Prepared Coconut gratings on top 

Just before going into the blast freezerr

1. Soak the tender coconut pulp in its own juices. Set aside.
2. Take the coconut milk extract ( http://gginaflavorspalatte.blogspot.in/2012/05/coconut-milk-extract.html). *Note: 2nd milk only 1 cup is needed not 1.5 cups as mentioned in the link.The coconut grating would still have some of its milk intact. Strain and using a spoon lightly press the coconut in the strainer. Set aside separately both the first and 2nd milk.
3. Heat a non-stick pan with half the butter and when it starts changing colour add the grated coconut(of which the milk has already been strained) and lightly toss around till a light golden brown shade arises(takes about 5-10 mins on medium flame).  Add the buttered coconut grating to the honey/powdered sugar and mix well. Taste and see if its to your liking, else add more honey or sugar as needed. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl mix the cocoa or melted chocolate (always melt the chocolate in a double boiler) with the sugar and the rest of the butter and mix well (no granules should be present and you should get a smooth mix), add the first milk and mix well. *Note: If using chocolate, take the chocolate, in a small steel bowl, and place it a slightly bigger bowl filled with water, allowing the small bowl to stand in the bigger bowl and melt over medium flame. Turn off as soon as the chocolate melts and you get a smooth mix.
5. In a separate non-stick vessel add the second milk on medium heat, when slightly warm, add the chocolate mix and blend well. Blend in diluted flour and stir well for about 5-10 mins. Add in the (optional) walnuts/cashew nuts or both (you can glaze the nuts in some butter separately on a pan also if you like before adding it in).  
6. Lastly add the tender coconut (with its juices) to the above and mix in for about 5 mins or until heat bubbles arise. Turn off the heat and leave aside to cool for about 15 mins. Then plate it up in small serving dishes(souffle cups or pudding cups) and put it in the blast freezer(or high temp freezer) for about 20-30 mins and then top it with the prepared grated coconut. Use a cling film to wrap the cups over a serving tray so as not to have ice crusts appear on top.

Tip: If you do not like Coconut grating much, then you can also use chopped pistachios instead.

Served and tasting begun

Plating up:
You can plate up on a dessert serving plate. Lightly using a serving knife or the back end of a spoon undo the edges of the prepared choco delight and then overturn it on the plate. You will see that the grated coconut acts both as a garnish on the outer ring and as a crunch/flavour addition to the dessert. You can also add choco sauce prepared from scratch or Melba sauce for garnish and added flavour. As a flavour addition sliced mangoes, lychee or peaches would be great!

Bon Appetit…