Cabbage Potato Masala

     

                                                                                                                                       Serves 4
Preparation:

• Wash and cut the vegetables.

• Grind the dry masala.
• Heat a large, heavy bottomed pan, add oil. When the oil starts to boil add the aniseeds, coriander and sesame seeds respectively.
• When the seeds start spluttering add the cut vegetables and the ground masala.

• Mix well. Press down the mixture lightly, cover and cook on a low flame; till the potatoes are well cooked.
• Stir in between for even cooking and to avoid the vegetables getting burnt.
• Serve warm with rice/roti/dosa.
• Garnish with coriander leaves.

Ingredients:

Cabbage shredded - 2 cups
Onion chopped - 1/2 cup
Potato - 1 medium size (cubed)
Green chillies - 4 (Slit)
Ginger - 1 teaspoon (cut into thin strips)

For Masala:

Red chilly powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 1 1/2 tablespoon
Fennel seeds/Aniseed - 1/2 tablespoon
Asafoetida/ Hing - 2 pinches

For seasoning: 

Oil - 2 tablespoon
Aniseed - 1/2 teaspoon
Coriander seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Sesame seeds - 1/4 teaspoon

Aaloo Paratta

                                           

                                           Makes 5 medium size Parathas  


Preparation:

Make a dough using Wheat flour, oil, salt and enough water in the consistency of chappati or Roti dough. Keep aside for 30 minutes.Divide the dough into 5 equal parts.

Filling: Mash the potatoes well. Add all the other ingredients and mix well. Add salt to taste. Add lime juice.  Divide this into 5 equal parts.

Smear oil on a roti maker. Place a ball of dough on it and roll out slightly. Place a ball of the filling in the centre of the small roti and cover the filling from all sides. Smooth the joints, apply little oil all over this and roll it out gently.

Heat a tawa, smear little oil/ghee and cook the parathas. Flip and cook on both sides. pour little ghee/oil on the paratha while cooking.

Serve hot with pickle and curd/yogurt. Garnish the paratha with butter (optional).

Ingredients:

Wheat Flour - 1 1/2 cups
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Oil - 2 tbsp
Water enough to make a dough

Filling:

Potato (boiled and mashed ) - 1 cup
Onion (chopped ) - 1/3 cup
Green chilly (finely chopped ) - 1 OR Red chilly powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Ginger (finely chopped )  1/4 teaspoon (optional)
Turmeric - a pinch (optional)
Coriander leaves ( chopped ) - 1 tablespoon (optional )
Lime juice - 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste

Oil - 1 table spoon ( for rolling out the parathas)
Ghee/ oil - 2 - 3 tablespoons ( for cooking the parathas ) 

Parippu / Dal Kerala Style

                                                 

Preparation:

Roast the moong dal carefully, without changing the colour, stirring continuously for a minute.
Transfer the roast dal into a pressure cooker. Pour 2 cups of water and cook. 2 whistles. Remove from stove and keep aside for sometime or until it is safe to open the lid.
                                     

Grind together coconut, cumin, garlic and turmeric.
Add the ground mixture into the cooked dal. Add salt to taste. Bring to a boil and remove from flame. Transfer to a serving bowl.

Seasoning:

Heat Ghee in a pan. Add shallots, mustard, red chilly and finally curry leaves. When the mustard starts spluttering, pour the seasoning over the prepared dal.

Serve hot with rice and pappadams. Also suitable for Rotis.

Ingredients:                                                          4 Servings

Moong Dal / Split green gram - 1/3 cup
Water - 2 cups
Grated coconut - 1/3 cup
Cumin seeds - 2 pinches
Garlic -1 segment
Turmeric powder - 1 pinch
Salt

For seasoning:
Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
Ghee - 2-3 teaspoons
Whole red chilly - 2 - 3 (each cut into 2 or 3 pieces)
Shallots 2 - 3 (chopped)
Curry leaves - a few

Cutlet Veg

Ingredients:                                                                                                  Makes 10 cutlets

Preparation:

Heat a pan. Add 11/2 tablespoon oil. Add the mustard and fennel seeds. When the seeds start spluttering add the onions and and saute.
When the onions become translucent add ginger garlic paste and stir on medium flame.
Add green chilly, stir for a few seconds and add the carrot.
Stir for a few seconds and add the mashed potatoes, turmeric powder and salt. Stir and mix the ingredients well.
Now add the crushed pepper, coriander leaves and lime juice. Stir and remove from the stove. Let it cool.

Meantime beat the eggs.
When the veg mixture is cool, divide it into 10 equal parts. Shape each piece into a cutlet.
Heat oil in a deep fry pan. When the oil starts boiling, dip each cutlet in the beaten egg, roll in the breadcrumbs and deep fry to golden brown. 

Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Ingredients:

Cooked and mashed potatoes - 11/2 cups
Onion (finely chopped) -1/2 cup
Carrot (grated) - 1/3 cup
Green chilly (finely chopped) - 11/2 tablespoon
Ginger- garlic paste - 1/2 tablespoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Black pepper (crushed) -1/2 teaspoon
Coriander leaves (chopped) - 11/2 tablespoon
Lime juice/Vineager  - 1 teaspoon
salt to taste
Oil - 11/2 tablespoon
Mustard - 1/4 teaspoon
Fennel - 1/4 teaspoon
Oil - 1 cup (for frying the cutlets)
Egg -1 (lightly beaten)
Bread crumbs - 1/2 cup

Greek Moussaka Veg.

                                               

Ingredients:

Base:
Eggplants - 6 (medium size)
Oil / Olive oil - 2 table spoon

Veg Sauce:
1.Minced vegetables - 500 grams (boiled and mashed chickpeas/ green peas, softened and minced soya nuggets, zucchini etc.)
2. onions - 2 medium finely chopped
3. Bell peppers - 1 finely chopped
4. Garlic - 4 cloves ( grated )
5. Tomato puree - 1 cup
6. sugar - 1 teaspoon (optional)
7. Red wine / water - 1/2 cup
8. Pepper powder and salt to taste
9. Oil /olive oil - 1/4  cup  (preferably pomace)
10. Tomato sauce - 2 tablespoon
11. Spices: Oregano - 1/2 teaspoon; cumin - 1/2 teaspoon; cinnamon - 1/4 teaspoon

Bechamel sauce:
1. Milk - 2 cups
2. butter - 1/4 cup
3. Flour - 1/4 cup
4. All spices - 1 teaspoon
5. Egg yolk - 1
6. Parmesan / Cheddar cheese - 100 grams

Potato Layer:
Potato - 6 medium sized ones ( cut into 1/4 inch rounds )

Preparation:
Eggplant:
Take a saucepan of water and add 1/4 cup salt into it.Cut the top and bottom ends of the eggplant and cut 1/4 inch rounds.Drop them in salt water and set aside for 30 minutes. In the meantime we can prepare the vegetable sauce.After 30 minutes, take out the eggplant slices from salt water and dry each piece using a kitchen towel.

Heat a shallow fry pan, add 2 tablespoon of pomace olive oil / oil and cook the eggplant slices on both sides until they are golden brown. Keep aside.

Veg Sauce: 
Heat a heavy bottomed pan, add olive oil / oil and fry the onions till it becomes translucent.

Add bell peppers and saute for a couple of minutes.

Add grated garlic, tomato puree, tomato sauce, pepper, salt and the powdered spices. Fry for 3 minutes.

Add sugar only if you want, not necessary.

Add minced vegetable mixture and combine well. Fry for 5 minutes on medium flame.

Add red wine / water and cook on high flame until it boils. Turn down to medium high heat and keep it covered and stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens and oil separates.

Potatoes: 
Add the sliced potatoes in water with half spoon of salt and boil for 5 minutes on medium heat until the potatoes are just cooked. Do not overcook the potatoes.

Drain and keep aside until all the components are ready.

Bechamel Sauce: 
Heat milk in a sauce pan. Bring down the flame once it is boiled. Let the milk be on flame till the butter and flour cooks.

Heat the butter in a heavy bottomed pan on low heat.

When the butter melts completely and shows up bubbles add the flour little by little, stirring continuously, to avoid any lumps.Keep the flame low. Let it cook for a couple of minutes. Keep stirring.

Add the hot milk slowly and continuously into the butter-flour mixture while stirring continuously. Add salt and all spice. Mix well.

Keep stirring on medium flame until it thickens up a bit. Switch off the stove.

Whisk the egg yolks in another bowl.

Add about half a cup of the hot sauce into the whisked egg yolks and mix well. Here we are tempering the yolks to not cook up and scramble.

Now add this egg mixture into the hot sauce while stirring well. Keep this back on the flame and cook until it thickens up a bit.

Assembly and Baking:

Bring and keep all the things you need together: Baking dish, Egg plant, potato, veg sauce, bechamel sauce, grated cheese. Since i couldn't get parmesan/cheddar cheese, i used Mozarella.
1. Butter the baking dish. Arrange the eggplant slices overlapping and covering the base. Sprinkle  some grated cheese over this.( If you prefer to use potatoes as the base you can do that and the egg plant slices can be layered over the first veg sauce layer)
2. Add half of the veg sauce over the egg plant layer and spread evenly.
3. Arrange half of the potato slices on top of the veg sauce layer.
4. Add the remaining half of the veg sauce layer over the potato layer.
5. Layer the remaining potato slices over this.
6. Now pour the bechamel sauce over this potato layer and smooth out.
7. Sprinkle the grated cheese on the top as the final layer. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degree C for 20 - 25 minutes until the top is golden brown.
8. The top layer is bubbly in the oven and it is soft while it is hot. It will set when it cools down. Cool on wire rack and serve while it is just luke warm to get clean slices

Unniyappam

                                                                     

Unniyappam is a kind of fried muffin popular in Kerala.

Ingredients:                                                                                       Makes 23 pieces.

Rice Flour / Whole wheat flour - 150 grams
Jaggery - 100 grams
Very ripe Robasta Banana - 1 (medium size )
Water - 1/4 cup
Cardamom Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Sesame seeds - 1 teaspoon
Fried Coconut bits - 1 tablespoon
Oil or Ghee for frying

Preparation:

Add 1/4 cup water to the jaggery and melt it thoroughly on a very low flame. Let it cool. Pass through a sieve to remove impurities.

Mash the banana thoroughly.

Mix together the flour, melted jaggery, mashed banana, cardamom powder, fried coconut bits and sesame seeds. Make a thick batter, if more water is needed you may add, so that you get an idly batter consistency. Let the batter rest for 2 hours. 6 - 8 hours give best results.

Heat oil in an appam patra. Just when the oil starts to boil drop a spoonful of batter into each depression. After a minute flip and cook the unniyappams on medium flame.You can flip again, until they are evenly cooked.

Serve warm.

Note: Unniyappams made with Wheat flour are softer.

Note:  If you cook on high heat the centre of the unniyappams will remain raw. If the oil is not properly heated the unniyappams will absorb more oil.

Appam patra can be purchased online too.

Onion Pakoda with Whole Wheat flour

Ingredients:
                                             

1.Whole wheat flour - 1/2 cup
2.Onion chopped - 1
3.Chilly powder - 1/2 teaspoon
4.Green chilly (finely chopped ) - 2
5.Curry leaves ( chopped ) - 3 - 4 leaves
6.Cumin seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
7.Oil - 2 teaspoon
8.Salt  to taste
9.Water
10.Oil - 3/4 cup ( for frying )

Preparation:

*Mix together the first seven ingredients. Add salt to taste. Add little water and make a very thick and smooth batter. Keep aside for 10 minutes.

Heat oil in a deep fry pan. Drop spoonfuls of the batter and deep fry on medium flame.

Serve hot with tomato sauce.

*Note:  I usually mix wheat flour, a pinch of salt and water into a very thick batter and keep it covered for 6 - 7 hours. Then add all the other ingredients and make the pakoda.  The batter should be of dropping consistency, not pouring. So that the pakoda absorbs very little oil and is tastier