Stir Fried Yam (Chena Mezhukupuratti)

"A pan full of Yam" - Chenna Mezhukuparatee/ Sauteed yams

Onions can make you cry but this dish had me crying even before I peeled the onion. Why? Because this dish was prepped by mum when she visited in February 2015. I have almost no clue of how to peel and cut every root vegetable possible. And Dad and Mum used to grow these root veggies in their yard. Yam is one such root veggie that Mum and Dad carried with them to our home in Chennai. This was when they were visiting us for the first of the two times at Chennai, before Mum passed away.

She prepped this dish and asked me to cook half of it and refrigerate what I didn't need right away and so I did. When we were moving from Chennai, I need to clear up my fridge and I came to the container in the freezer and decided to have it on Saturday 27.6.2015.

This dish was physically prepped by Dad and Mom and finished off by me (after Mum passed away). The yam itself was homegrown. When Mum was prepping the dish for me, little did I know that only a few weeks away would Mum leave us for her Heavenly Abode.

I had first chosen to share this dish after New Year  as most homes would have been dialing down the extravagant meals after the festive season. I know of homes that go completely detox or purely vegetarian after all the indulgent weeks have gone by. But now with the Lenten season in, it seems apt to post this recipe.

I do not think I have consumed as much yam in my lifetime as I did while we were moving from our home in Chennai as I needed to use the prepped yam and would not let a morsel of it go to waste. Mum must have had a good laugh. Miss you Mum.

So since I didn't know how to skin the yam, Mum put Dad on the task as her skin was quite sensitive to it. Then Mum did the initial cooking of the yam and asked me to store the excess in the freezer and use as required. This root vegetable can actually be precooked and stored in the freezer even up to 6 months. I would not recommend it as the fresher your veggies are, better is their nutritional value.

So to make this simple recipe,

You need:

• Mustard seeds -  1 tsp
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig
• Onions - 1 medium size, sliced
• Green chilies -1-2 nos slit
• Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tbsps
• Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Elephant Foot Yam/Chenna - skinned and sliced - cut into long 1/4" sticks
• Coconut oil - 1 tbsp

The Make:
Preparation Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Serves 4 adults

1. Boil the yam in water with shake of salt, turmeric and some pepper powder.
2. Splutter mustard seeds in heated oil over medium heat in a non-stick pan or wok. Then add the curry leaves. Lower heat to medium-low.
3. Saute onions, green chilies, ginger garlic paste, turmeric, Coriander pwd and salt. 
4. Toss in prepped yam and saute for 10 minutes making sure to not have the yam stick or burn against the pan.
5. You can also leave out the green chilies and add a tablespoon of chili powder after tossing in the yam. Another alternative is to add pepper instead of the green chilies or chili powder. You can also add some jeera/cumin powder. 

Hope you enjoy this dish with a nice steaming bowl of rice and your favourite gravy.Serve hot with rice or chapatis.I went all out and added this as a mash in the centre of my dosa. I even tried it in some white pasta. 

Okra curry - Mum's recipe

I always, always loved Mum's Okra curry. I miss it lots now! The other day as I was stewing thinking of what to make for lunch the following day, my thoughts treaded upon mum's okra curry and I found myself yearning for it, then teared up.

I then felt a convincing voice/thought that said, "Oh you can make it from memory! After all how many times have you witnessed this make?"

So I ventured on making Mum's Okra curry (Vendakya curry).

It turned on somewhat quite close to what she made but what would I not give to taste her make one more time. Sigh! Sorry dear readers the grieving process from losing your mum esp. one who has inspired your cooking/baking, etc is tremendous that I am quite unsure if I would ever come out of this. Love you Mum and miss you loads.

You need:

• 500 gms of lady's fingers/okra, chopped
• 1 tbsp of red chili powder
• 1 tbsp of coriander powder
• Salt to taste
• 1 large onion, diced lengthwise
• 2 medium sized tomatoes, chopped finely
• 1/2" ginger, chopped finely
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig
• Drizzle of oil
•  Up to 1 cup of drinking water or 1/2 cup drinking water & first and second milk of half a medium sized  coconut.

The Make:
Preparation Time: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes | Serves 3-4 adults

1. In a non-stick pot, drizzle some oil and once warm, add in the mustard seeds. Allow to splutter.
2. Then toss in the curry leaves on medium low heat.
3. Add in the onions and saute on medium heat until the onions are translucent. Next add in the ginger and garlic and saute for a minute. Then add the spices and salt and saute well for another minute.
4. Next add in the okra and saute well.
5. Add in the tomatoes stir well until the tomatoes have softened and the stickiness of the okra disappears. This would take between 3-5 minutes.
6. Add about half a cup of water and stir well. Check to see if the okra is almost fully immersed in the gravy, else add another half cup of water or the second milk of the coconut gratings.
7. Cover and allow the okra to fully cook and flavour the gravy over the next 15 minutes. Then lower the flame and add in the first milk of coconut gratings. Allow to warm up and turn off the flame.

Serve hot with piping hot rice or your choice of roti. Bon Appetit!

Ghee Chapattis - Indian wholewheat Flatbread topped with clarified butter

Chapattis are well-known around the world now! I even read an article in the newspaper a while ago on a debate as to which country has the ownership of this flat bread!! We all know the answer to that right? #India

I am not doing justice to the images in this blog post. I will add more photos later.

A lot of commercial mixes of Chapatti flour secretly add refined flour (maida) to add softness to the flour. It really isn't required! You can make your own multigrain flour. You can even have it milled to ensure that there is no refined white flour in the mix. A mix of whole wheat:bajra(pearl millet):oat:ragi(finger millet):psyllium husk or isabgol:soya in 2:1:1:1:0.5:0.5 proportion. You could also add Maize or Channa Dal which is a kind of a dried pulse.

You need:

• 2 cups of whole wheat or multigrain flour ('Aata' /chapati flour)
• 1 cup of lukewarm drinking water
• Salt to taste
• Ghee/clarified butter (1 tsp per chapatti)

The Make:
Makes 7-8 chappatis depending on the size | Preparation Time (including standing time): 20 minutes | Cooking Time: 15 minutes

1. In a fairly large bowl, add the lukewarm water and add in the flour and salt.
2. Knead the flour into a smooth dough. Add water if required.
3. If the dough gets too sticky, add a shake of flour taking care not too add too much or it would end up being too floury.
4. Cover the bowl and let the dough stand for 15 minutes. If you leave it longer say like an hour or more, it tends to get softer.
5. Divide the dough into 8 balls and roll out the dough using a rolling pin into a perfect or almost perfect medium sized round using some additional flour as required. It helps to keep the flour in a small ramekin or bowl on the side as you roll out the dough to help dip into the bowl in case of sticky sides.
6. Heat a pan/tawa and lower the heat on medium-low and carefully place the rolled out dough circle on the Tawa. Allow it to cook and rise which takes about  a minute to a minute and a half of each side. Flip to cook the other side. You can also take the cooked chapati and toss over the medium flame directly on both sides to give it a rustic look and flavour.
7. Add a tsp of ghee on each side and set aside in a covered chapatti casserole.

Serve hot with your favourite side dish Rajma Masala, Aloo Jeera, Methi Chicken Curry.

Smoked Brinjal/Eggplant - Baingan ka Bharta (Punjabi style)

I grew up around cosmopolitan cultures in Dubai, UAE and had good Punjabi friends. Of course, once I got married I met a lot more Punjabi people who are my husband's friends and are now very good friends of mine as well.

I have always loved Punjabi food. Lassi and Punjabi samosas top that list for me :)

This recipe comes after trying out the several variants of Baingan ka Bharta. I love the Punjabi variant thus far. The eggplant is first roasted before being mashed.

You need:

• 4 medium sized brinjals/eggplants
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 medium sized onions, sliced finely
• 2 tbsp garlic paste
• 1" ginger, finely grated
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped finely
• 2 green chilies, chopped finely (or sliced if you don't want it spiced)
• 2 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped
• Some coriander leaves for garnish
• Oil - 1 tbsp or as required
• Drinking water - as required
• Salt to taste

The Make
Preparation time: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes | Serves 3-4 adults

1. Roast the eggplant on all sides either on the gas top or on your grill or in your oven. The resultant eggplant's external skin would be charred and the flesh internally would be soft.
2. Once all the eggplants are roasted, set aside to cool. Once cooled, peel of the skin and coarsely mash up the softened flesh of the eggplants.
3. Heat oil in a non-stick pan or a wok and splutter the cumin seeds.
4. On medium-low heat, add the onions and fry till translucent. Next add the garlic, ginger and green chilis and fry for a minute.
5. Add the chopped tomatoes, powdered spices, salt and saute well. Allow the spices to cook for about 3-4 minutes or until the spices leave the sides of the wok. Add a drizzle of water if required.
6. Next add the mashed eggplant,chopped coriander leaves, cumin powder and mix well. Cook for a minute.
7. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or chapattis or your favourite rotis and yoghurt.

Hope you enjoy this dish as much as my husband and I did! :)

Bon Appetit!

Muringaella Thoran (Drumstick tree (Moringa Oleifera)'s leaves with coconut gratings)

Somehow it is becoming increasingly difficult since Lent started to write my recipe creations. There is a lot of challenges I experience during Lent and quite unexpected too. I guess that is what happens in the spiritual world with a battle between Good and Evil! So it is probably but natural that a lot of these challenges and unwanted concerns arise during the season of Lent. How you deal with it is probably a test of your faith.  Also, I seem to have a lot going on at once and hence the delay in sharing this way too simple recipe.

You can prep this dish when you are free or even whilst doing another activity that does not involve using your hands. You can even get your toddler/little ones to assist. They will definitely enjoy doing so and you can have some fun time with them as well while prepping for the dish.

These  leaves came from my parents' garden. I have always loved the drumsticks' tree leaves. And as mentioned in an earlier blog post we grew up in a villa which had this huge Moringa Oleifera tree growing in our front yard garden! These leaves are rich in Vitamin B, C, Provitamin A, Vitamin K, Manganese, Calcium and yes Protein!! Remember overcooking these leaves as with some other leaves as well would kill some of its nutrients. So it is normally cooked on medium-low heat of up to a maximum of 60°C.

Prepping the leaves requires either some old newspapers or a 'Muram' which is either a bamboo or plastic tray. It looks like this. I have the plastic version and will share the photo soon. So you basically you take the drumstick branches and gently tap it on the newspaper or the Muram and the leaves fall off the branches and stems.

You need to make sure to discard the thinner stems as well as it can get in the way once you cook it and tends to taste more bitter than it should. Also its quite stringy so you really cannot chew your way through it. I have photos of version#1 for you where I experimented cooking the thinner stems. It was a pain to get them out of the cooked dish. So make sure you painstakingly discard the stems prior to cooking.

This is mum's recipe <3

You need:

• 5 cups Drumstick leaves, washed clean and separated from branches and stems*
• Half a small coconut, grated *
• 1/2 tsp of Turmeric powder 
• 1/3 cup Split Pigeon Pea (Toor dal/Tuvara dal), semi-boiled (optional but adds more texture and flavour and not to forget added protein!)
• 1/2 cup Red pearl onions/shallots/small onions
• 1 medium sized onion, finely diced
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• Salt to taste
• Water to sprinkle
• 2 Green chilies, chopped finely
• 2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera/jeerakam)
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• Cooking oil

The Make:

Preparation time: 5 to 10 minutes | Cooking time: 15-20 minutes  | Serves 2 adults

1. Set the washed and separated leaves aside on a colander to drain.

2. Next using a mortar and pestle or a grinder, crush the coconut gratings, garlic, cumin seeds and pearl onions with only a sprinkle of water not more.

3. Transfer the drained Moringa Oleifera leaves and crushed ingredients to a large bowl and add the salt, green chilies and turmeric powder.

4. Add the drained semi-cooked split pigeon peas to the bowl.

5.Splutter mustard seeds in oil a large deep bottomed pot or wok and add the curry leaves.

6. Next add the sliced onion and fry for about a minute or until translucent.

7. Lower the heat to medium-low and add the drumstick leaves with the ground mixture blend and saute slightly. Cover and cook for not more than 15 minutes or until the leaves are cooked and no residual water present. The leaves turn to a nice dark green colour as well.

Serve hot with steamed rice.

*Note:
Since we eat very less coconut in our diet, I restricted it to half of a small coconut you could add more as you require and in proportion to the quantity of drumstick leaves. So for 3 cups of drumstick leaves, I added 1/4 cup of coconut.

Bon Appetit!

Lemon Rice with Paneer

Lemon Rice has always been one of my favourites since childhood. We had a live-in maid growing up and her name is 'Aleyamma'. She often made lemon rice. Though I never liked rice much, a heap full of lemon rice always brought a smile to my face and she made it sooo well. She was quite young so was more like a friend to us. She never hesitated making lemon rice for me whenever I asked as I was such a poor eater back then. I guess I always loved the tangy flavour of the rice and anything salted or tangy found its way in my good books back then.

Ever since I got married, my husband who has always followed all the Orthodox Christian lenten practices, had inspired me to follow the same. So that is 50 days of lent before Easter, 14 days in August before the Feast of Assumption of Our Blessed Virgin Mary, the 7 days before Mama Mary's birthday in September and the 24 days before Christmas.

I wanted to incorporate some protein in the Lemon Rice itself as I was not much in the mood for cooking. I had made some paneer which was in the freezer. So eureka moment I just thought of combining the two.

This is a super simple recipe so I recommend this for a lazy last day of the week or even a busy mid week meal.

You need:

• 2 cups of  Cooked long grain or Basmati Rice
• 1 cup of Paneer, cut into bite size or small cubes as preferred
• A sprig of  Curry leaves 
• 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
• 2 whole dried Kashmiri Red Chilies, hand torn into pieces ( I left it whole as my toddler is anti-spice eater)
• 1 tsp grated Ginger
• 1 clove of crushed Garlic (optional)
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp Lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp Urad dal (split Black Lentils)
• 1 tsp Chana dal (split Bengal Gram)
• Salt to taste
• 1.5 tbsp Oil
• Mint leaves, minced (optional)
• Yoghurt (optional)

**(If you look at the minimal background carefully you can see my little one's angry birds' drinking glass! She was all ready to have her yellow rice. She loved it and her expressions reminded me of mine when I was as young as she was! Smiling from ear to ear ;-) )

The Make
Preparation time: 5 minutes | Cooking time: 15-20 minutes (includes rice cooking time) | Serves : 4 adults

1. In a flat non-stick pan, drizzle and heat some oil. Add the paneer pieces. Pinch and spread some salt over the paneer cubes. Fry until lightly browned on both side.
2. Heat the oil in a large wok or non-stick pan and splutter the mustard seeds.
3.. Next add the curry leaves, followed by the Urad dal, Chana dal and saute well for a minute on medium-low heat.
4. Next add the crushed garlic, ginger, red chilies and saute for a minute.
5. Add the turmeric powder and slowly fold in the rice, taking care not to mash the rice on medium heat for about 2 minutes. Continue tossing.
6. Add the prepared paneer cubes and fold in and leave on heat for a minute folding well.
7. Add the salt, lemon juice and fold occasionally for another minute on medium-low heat.

Serve hot with a cup of yoghurt with some mint leaves on top on the side.

Duck Roast Gravy (Tharavu Roast curry) - A Christmas Savoury delicacy

In the spirit of the festive season, I am trying to bring to you as many recipes as possible to help you prepare for your big Christmas lunch or dinner! If you are a member of my Facebook page, you would have seen some of the posted recipes related to Christmas. If you have not yet seen our facebook page, please visit here and 'Like' the page so as to have it bookmarked. Spread the word with your family and friends as well.

Duck roast is often taken as an option to the western Christmas tradition of Turkey Roast especially in Christian families in the South of India in the state of Kerala. Duck Roast would often be accompanied with Appam,  either 'KallAppams' (Indian Toddy Pancakes) or 'PaalAppams' (Milkhoppers). You could also serve this with Kappa Vevichathu (Tapioca Steamed and Fried) or Rice of your choice or Rice Iddiappam (which looks like miniature rice noodles). Hopefully I will post the Kappa Vevichathu recipe very soon :) Although Duck Roast is normally accompanied with Appams or Fried Rice even during Christmas.

I hope you enjoy this creation of mine. Sorry I don't have better pictures of the process as this was taken way earlier than I had intended to start this blog. I will definitely upload better pictures should I try this again. Hope you are having a great Christmas season!

I meant to post this recipe last week but my system decided to have some technical issues at about the same time. It is resolved now so hope I get time (amidst all the baking and cooking) to post as many recipes to Christmas and even the New Year 2014 to help you design your dinners/lunch/desserts :)

You need:

• 1 kg Duck, cleaned well (soak for at least 20-30 minutes in turmeric, salt and vinegar), fat removed, skinned and cut into medium pieces*

These ingredients are required for the Marinade:

• 2 tbsp Red chili powder
• 2 tbsp Coriander powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• Salt to taste

Remaining ingredients required for the recipe:

• 2 roughly torn  long dried red chilies
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• 6-8 green chilies, slit lengthwise
• 2 tbsp of cooking oil (although you should use coconut oil if you want it to taste as close as possible to the traditional version)
• 2-3 large purple onions, diced finely
• 10-12 small red onions, diced finely
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 medium-sized tomatoes, finely sliced
• 1" ginger, finely diced
• 6-8 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 3-4 tbsp Garam Masala
• 1/2 tsp  Turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp Coriander powder
• 3 tbsp of Red Chili powder
• Coconut milk - 2 extracts : 1st extract 1 cup and 2nd extract 2 cups. You can try the Homemade version here as I did for this recipe. Just make sure to adjust the water accordingly as required for this recipe.
• Salt to taste

*Optional: you can leave a few pieces with skin on possibly the wings or even portion of the legs/breast

The Make:

Preparation Time: 20 minutes | Cooking Time: 1 hour | Serves: 5-6 adults

It is best to leave a few pieces with the skin on and you can opt to take it out later to add some flavour of the duck fat in the dish. I have tried it without as well and I can vouch for the former. You can take off the excess oil off the top of the finished dish. Make sure before marinating to drain out any water content from the duck meat.

Marinate the duck meat for 4-6 hours. You can choose to do it for longer or lesser. The more you marinate the duck meat, the more flavourful the end result. I ended up marinating my Christmas duck roast for 8-10 hrs. I had a huge banquet of dishes for this particular Christmas :) Trust me not a drop of the gravy was left to the next meal let alone the next day.

1. Heat the oil in a clay pot or deep-bottomed wok or even a pressure cooker and splutter some mustard seeds.
2. Toss in the curry leaves, red onions, dried red chilies, ginger and garlic and saute well for 2-3 minutes.
3. Next add the diced purple onions and saute till translucent.
4 .Toss in the green chilies and saute till the onions turn lightly brown.
5. Add the marinated duck meat and salt. Cover and cook for 40 minutes on medium-low heat. If you are using the pressure cooker, make sure to add enough water to just about cover the meat or about a cup lower as the duck fat would also release making the gravy very watery. It should cook for about 5 whistles on medium-high. You would have half-cooked duck meat at this stage using either of the methods.
6. In a bowl, mix the turmeric, red chili, coriander powders and garam masala and add the 2nd extract coconut milk bit by bit mixing well.
7. To the half-cooked duck, add the 2nd extract spiced coconut milk on low heat and mix well. Cover and cook until the gravy has just thickened and the meat cooked.

If the duck meat is of good quality it would be soft and tender.

8. Lastly but more importantly add the thick 1st coconut milk extract and mix gently. Bring to almost a boil and set aside.

Serve with hot Appams or Fried Rice or Kappa any other flatbread/rice of your choice.

Bon Appetit! Tis' the season to be jolly falalalalalalala....Seasons Greetings all!

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!

Cottage Cheese with Green Peas (Paneer Matar) - Hubby's Special!!

One night, on returning from work, Anup returned with groceries (though I clearly remembered I didn't ask for anything we needed) and announced that he decided to make us dinner. Of course we weren't told what it was until he wanted to know where I had stowed away some of the ground spices.

Paneer Matar

You need:

• 500 gms cottage cheese (paneer), cut in cubes
• 2 medium sized tomatoes, diced
• 150 gms green peas, pre-cooked
• 11/4 tbsp Garam Masala
• 1/2 tbsp Red Chili powder
• 2 green chilis, diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin (jeera) seeds
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• Salt to taste
• 1 sprig Coriander leaves, chopped (optional) 

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

1. Heat the oil a non-stick, deep-bottomed skillet. Add the cumin seeds and allow to lightly brown.

2. Saute the onions and when translucent, add the ginger-garlic paste.Allow to cook for a minute.

3. Next add in the green chilis and saute for half a minute.

4. Next, stir in the tomatoes and spices. Cover and cook for a minute.

5. Add the cottage cheese cubes and saute well, making sure not to break the cheese.

6. Next add in the cooked peas and cover for about 5 minutes.

All ingredients added in

7. Add the salt and top with coriander leaves.

Paneer Matar ready to be served

8. Serve hot with roti, naan, chapati or any other flatbread

Paneer Matar with Roti

Needless to stay we were pampered that night with a delicious dinner enjoyed both by our toddler and me. Special note to Bachelors: This is a very easy make and a must try! Bon Appetit!

Diced Mango Pickle (Kadu Manga Pickle) - Mummy's Recipe

With Good Friday soon approaching, I would like to share with you what would be our main meals throughout the day. We normally have gruel (Rice soup), a veg mix of green gram and green banana, mango pickle and Pappad/Pappadum (Fried cracker).

Diced Mango Pickle

There are several ways to make this accompaniment. However I would like to share the delicious make that my Mum creates.

You need:

Kanthari or Bird's Eye Chilis

• 5-6 medium sized raw, green mangoes, diced in small pieces
• 6-8 cloves of garlic, diced
• 1" ginger, diced and crushed
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 2-3 tbsp of red chili powder
• 2-3 small chilis / Bird's eye Chili (kanthari) - * optional
• 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
• 1 tsp of Fenugreek(methi/uluva) seeds powder
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• Salt to taste
• 3 tbsp or more of Sesame oil (Ellaenna) - ** some people also use coconut oil
• 1-2 cups of filtered drinking water/boiled, cooled water

The Make:
Makes 1 large jar or 800-900gms | Preparation Time: 20 minutes | Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes

1. Heat the oil in a large wok and splutter the mustard seeds. Next add the curry leaves and allow to stand for less than a minute (do not brown).
2. Add the garlic, ginger and other dry ingredients except the mangoes and simmer for 3-4 minutes. You will find that the spices leave the oil and is cooked.

Simmering the spices

3. Turn off the heat and add the mango pieces and stir. After it becomes lukewarm, add the boiled, cooled water. Taste to see if the seasoning is sufficient, else add more salt.

Adding the mango pieces to the spices

4. Cover and set aside for 4-6 hours or till evening if prepared in the morning.

Diced Mango Pickle

5. Bottle the pickle in a pickle jar or bottle jar and set aside for 2-3 days. Check if there is enough oil else top with oil as pickle needs to have some extra oil for preservation.

Jarred up!

6. You can use after 3 days and refrigerate after Day 3.

Serve as an accompaniment with gruel, rice, roti, other flatbreads.

Mummy's Mango Pickle recipe

* Note: Bird's eye Chili or Kanthari is the spiciest Chilis in Kerala, India and is known to reduce cholestrol levels if used with care. I got some from my Aunt Anne's home so decided to toss it into the mix.

Pickle powder

You can get a store bought version but why not make one to suit your taste. Let me know how yours goes!

Pickle powder

You need:

• 12 Dried Red Chilis
• 1 tsp Mustard seeds(yellow or white)
• 1 tsp Turmeric powder
• 2 tsp Fenugreek seeds
• 1/2 tsp Asafoetida
• 2-3 tbsp Mustard oil

The make

Cooking Time: 2 minutes| Preparation Time: 2 minutes

• Dry roast the dried Red Chilis, Mustard seeds, Turmeric powder, Fenugreek seeds and Asafoetida for about 1-2 minutes.
• Grind the dry roast with Mustard oil.
• Bottle in a clean, dry jar and keep it in a dark, cool place.