Nadan Chicken Cutlet – Kerala style Chicken Croquettes

 

Hello my Dear Wonderful People!

How are you all doing? Happy Valentines day! A day for love, a day to be loved and a day for love to be loved! Yup.. Its one whole day when we get to show our special people that they matter to us. And unlike many people, I absolutely love the idea of having this day. No it doesn’t not mean that we can’t show love on other days, and if you see it like that then I feel sorry for you. If you giving me another chance to show you how much you mean to me and you make it mandatory on the 14th of every Feb then I am taking it! Cause you know what? no matter how hard I try, some days, I forget to tell you how much you mean to me. Somedays I try but I might not be able to get to you cause you were having a bad day. But today I am going to take that day. Also maybe 20 years from now, this day might not mean as much as it does today but so what? Today is what matters right?

So on this special day, I decided to make my husband his favourite deep fried snack. These cutlets. I do not make them often, infact the last time I made them was close to a year ago. Simply cause they are deep fried and they involve quite a few steps. But once you make them, you could make a large batch and freeze them and use them as and when you want. That is what I did this time 🙂 This recipe is from my grandmother and her cutlets are out of this world. These little bites of heaven are perfect for a evening snack or a great side for dinner time. There are many variations to these cutlets, some people add cashews to the meat and some others fry the meat and add rice flour. My recipe is quite straightforward. Boil / cook each part of the recipe. Combine , dip , coat and fry! FINISH!

 

Ingredients :-

1. Chicken – 500 gms ( boneless)
2. Potatoes – 4 large
3. Onions – 3 cups ( chopped fine )
4. Green Chillies – 10 ( adjust to taste)
5. Ginger – 4 inch knob
6. Garlic – 14 cloves
7. Turmeric Powder – 2 tsp + 1 tsp
8. Coriander Powder – 4 tsp + 1 tsp
9. Garam Masala Powder – 3 tsp
10. Pepper Powder – 2 tsp
11. Fresh Coriander Leaves – 1 cup ( chopped)
12. Mint leaves – 1 cup (chopped)
13. Salt – 1 tsp + 2 tsp + 1 tsp ( adjust to taste)
14. Oil – 2 tbsp + more for deep frying
15. Eggs – 2 ( beaten )
16. Bread Crumbs – 1 cup ( more according to shape of cutlet)

Instructions :-

1. Peel potatoes and boil till soft. Set aside
2. In a pressure cooker add the chicken pieces. Then add 1 tsp turmeric powder + pepper powder (2 tsp) + Coriander powder 1 tsp + 1 tsp salt. Pressure cook the chicken for 3 whistles. ( If you do not have a cooker, just use a pot and boil the chicken till cooked well.)
3. Once the chicken is cooked, open the cooker and look for water. If there is excess water, cook the chicken on high flame till all the water has evaporated. Same for when cooking in a pot. Once all the water has evaporated, set aside to cool down
4. Then in a blender, blend the chicken to form a coarse paste. Make sure not to grind it too much. You want some chucks of chicken to remain
5. In a large flat bottom pot, add 2 tbsp of oil. Once the oil is hot. add the onions and fry till golden brown. During this time in a mortar and pestle add the ginger + garlic and green chillies. Crush to form a nice coarse paste
6. Add the ginger paste to the onions and fry till the garlic looses its raw smell
7. Then add the rest of the turmeric powder + coriander powder + garam masala powder. Give it a good mix and fry till the masala has cooked well into the onion mixture
8. Set aside to cool. During this time lets get our assembly line ready 🙂
9. In one plate add the boiled potatoes + the onions spice mixture. Add the fresh mint and coriander
10. Mix with your hand to evenly distribute all the ingredients. Then add the ground chicken
11. after you have mixed the chicken with the rest of the spiced potato mixture, make small patties of equal size and set on a large cookie sheet or plate
12. Now with one hand dunk the patties into the light beaten egg mixture and then into the bread crumbs to coat evenly
13. Set aside in a large plate ready for frying!
14. In a large wok or Khadai, heat oil
15. Once the oil is hot ( on medium heat) fry the patties till golden brown
16. Reserve on kitchen paper to drain excess oil
17. Serve right away with ketchup!

Advertisement

Ari “Rice” Muruku – Deep fried, crisp and with a touch of spice!

 

 

Hello My Dear Wonderful Readers!

How are you all doing today? So my next recipe for the season is the Rice and Urad Dal Murukku. In case you have never had these before, let me tell you, this is the Indian version of a deep fried snack that comes in a number of variations that is a staple at your 4 o clock tea / coffee. Yes, we love to have a little some thing to “bite into” every evening. But of late these savory snacks have been reserved only to be savored during festivals such as Diwali etc. So I decided why not make a batch of these pinwheels. They are really easy to make but you do need a “Murukku Maker / Press” The theory is the same as a piping bag for cream, just that the mixture is tighter and thicker so you need a little more force when squeezing them.

These murukku makers are available in both brass and stainless steel. I have the brass one and they come with various ends / nozzles just like your piping tips. Best enjoyed with a cup of tea or coffee these Murukku’s can last 2 – 3 weeks if kept in an air tight container. Make sure to use a good brand of oil. I used rice bran oil and you are sorted for a long time 🙂

Ingredients :-

1. Rice Flour – 3 cups
2. Urad Dal – 6 tbsp
3. White Sesame Seeds – 1 tsp
4. Black Sesame Seeds – 1 tsp
5. Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp
6. Pepper Powder – 1/2 tsp
7. Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp ( more if you like it pungent )
8. Salt – to taste
9. Oil – 3 tbsp
10. Oil to fry
11. Water to bind ( depends on the quality of the rice flour)

Instructions :-

1. Heat a heavy bottom Khadai and fry the urad dal till they start turning golden brown. Make sure to stir continuously or else the dal might burn
2. Once they are ready , add into a blender and powder to a fine powder
3. In a large plate/ even your kitchen counter, drop the rice flour, urad dal powder, salt, white and black sesame seeds, pepper powder and asafoetida. Give it all a nice mix with the tips of your finger to spread the ingredients evenly
4. Then add the 3 tsp of oil and mix into the mixture till they almost resemble  bread crumbs
5. Finally add water little bit at a time to make a nice tight dough. Remember all you need is the dough to come together
6. Take small portion of the mixture and run it through the murukku maker to see if you are able to make nice round circles. If you find that the circle keeps falling or breaking then you need little more water in the dough
7. Once you have your dough ready, heat oil in a khadai ( enough to be able to deep fry these wheels)
8. Cut a baking paper into equal sqares and at the back draw circles of equal size. you can use these as a stencil to make all your murukkkus
9. Now attach the start tip to the murukku maker and fill the barrel with the rice flour dough
10. Slowly make round shapes of the murukku on your prepared baking paper
11. Start from the inside and go round towards the outside
12. Once you reach the outside, pinch the end towards the murukku
13. Once you oil is nice and hot ( make sure the oil is always at medium flame not too hot and not too cold)
14. Fry these in batches of 2 – 3 depending on the size of your khadai. Wait til they turn golden bown on both sides. Keep turning them when in the oil for even browning
15. Lay them on kitchen paper tower to soak up the excess oil
16. You Murukku is ready! Store in an air tight container

Sundal – Chicken pea salad with fresh Coconut, mustard and curry leaves

 

Hello my wonderful readers!

It has been so hot in Bangalore I can not begin to describe the heat! When I moved to Bangalore, I remember even in March some morning we would have to wear sweaters to school. But given the heat now, its hard to believe there was a time like that.

This recipe is actually a “Prasadam” also. Ok now a Prasadam is an offering that s made to good and then distributed in a temple or any religious place, between the devotees. Even a fruit or flower offered to god, can be considered a Prasadam. In many home in India, this recipe is made every day, using various kinds of pulses, nuts etc (like peanuts, green gram etc) We make this dish during the summer months, cause unlike many indian dishes, this is low on heat, spice and it is considered a salad. I love how easy it is to make this dish and its easier to polish off 😛 Ok now if you are using chickpeas from the can, then you do not need to soak it overnight and pressure cook it. I buy 2 kilos of these grams every month ( the dry version) So it basically goes into this, or hummus or a North Indian Channa Curry.

Ingredients :-

1. Chickpeas – 1 + 1.2 cup – (if using dried – soak over night and pressure cook for 4 whistles)
2. Coconut Oil – 3 tbsp
3. Black Mustard Seeds – 1 tbsp
4. White Urad Dal – 1 tbsp
5. Dry Red Chilli – 4
6. Curry Leaves – 2 steams
7. Fresh Grated Coconut – 3/4 cup
8. Salt – to taste
9. Green Chillies – 3 (slit into two)
10. Lemon Juice – half of one lemon  ( optional)

Instructions :-

1. In a heavy bottom wok / Khadai heat oil
2. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds. When the seeds begin to pop, add the urad dal and dry red chillies
3. When the chillies puff up, add the curry leaves
4. Then add the chicken peas ( if canned drain the water and use)
5. Add the green chillies, coconut and salt
6. Mix well to cover the chickpeas well
7. Turn off the flame and squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the chickpeas and mix well
8. Serve right away

 

Coconut Rice with a Red chilli, Curry Leaf and Gram Tempering

Hello my Dear Wonderful Readers!!

How are you all doing today? So this is what I made for our dinner last night. It is so simple and hardly takes any time. If you have any left over rice, you can use that too. I make a new batch of rice everyday so I can add that to my sons diet. Rice is a staple at my place. It could be fermented like in Dosas and Idilis, or plain rice and Pulav/ Pilaf or just various kinds of flavoured rice. Its not really the best thing to have a lot of rice in your diet and trust me I know that, but its just the easiest thing to cook when you can’t spend too much time in the kitchen. One question I get very often is how do I cook my rice? Now heres the thing, cooking rice purely depends on the type of rice!

If you are using a good quality Basmati rice, then one cup of rice with 2 cups of water is perfect! But if is red rice, or any kind of wild rice, its a whole different story. We make a lot of red rice at home, but that involves soaking the rice for one whole night and then using tons of water and then draining out the excess water! Its a long procedure, but personally I love the flavour of red rice. Back in my village we always have red rice. Ah the taste of red rice and avial!

My son loves it too!! We make Kanji – ( rice cooked in lots of water) and have it with Payar (green gram curry) with Papapdam and pickle. It is just the simplest dish on this planet and yet the most healthy and power packed meal ever!

Ok so back to this recipe. This recipe is super simple!! All you have to do is make the tempering and mix them both! Finished!

Ingredients :-

1. Basmati Rice – 1 cup  ( soaked for 15 – 20 mins)
2. Water – 2 cups
3. Salt – 1 tsp
4. Coconut Oil – 4 tbsp
5. Dry Red Chillies – 6
6. Mustards Seeds – 2 tbsp
7. Urad Dal – 1 tbsp
8. Channa Dal – 1 tbsp
9. Cashew Nuts – 10
10. Curry Leaves – 15 ( cleaned and dried)
11. Asafoetida – a pinch
12. Salt – to taste ( for the final dish)
13. Fresh desiccated coconut – 1 cup

 

Instructions :-

1. Pour 2 cups of water into a large dish with a lid. Once the water comes to a boil, add the soaked rice and salt. Stir gently and cover and cook for 10 mins
2. Then using a spoon, take one grain of rice and check if the rice is cooked. If so, turn the flame off and set aside
3. In a large wok / Khadai, heat coconut oil
4. When the oil is nice and hot, add mustard seeds. When the seeds begin to crackle, add the dry red chillies, asafoetida, urad dal, channa dal and cashew nuts . Fry till the urad dal turns a light golden yellow
5. Then add the curry leaves and stir
6. Then add the coconut and the cooked rice
7. Stir well to combine all the ingredients
8. Add salt according to taste and your dish is done!
9. Serve right away with your choice of curry or just with yogurt and popopdams

 

Nadan Mutta Roast – Egg roast the Malayali Way (Kerala style)

Hello my Dear Wonderful Readers!

So this week has been full of ups and downs, and I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am that it is coming to an end!! My camera and my phone died on the same day, my husband falls sick the next and then it got a little better and now I am just exhausted! So I really did not have time to invent or go through my recipe library. So this one is my simple Kerala style egg roast. It is so easy to make and this is my husband’s favourite egg recipe! The key ingredient is onion. Roast the onions well and you will add the most amazing flavour to the eggs.

I love curry leaves! In fact, I prefer them to coriander leaves. They just add so much more to a dish. This is partly because of my Malayalee roots. We add curry leaves to everything!! including our drinks. Ohh!! There is this drink called “Sambharam” (“flavoured buttermilk”) which is the best thing to beat the heat during these hot summer afternoons. I will have to make a post about that! Its just butter milk and a few spices with curry leaves but it is so good and refreshing (also good for hangovers, no kidding!!).

If you look at it, the traditional “Sadhya” is the most perfectly balanced meal  ever! It starts with rice and a green gram curry, move to sambar, and finally the yogurt based curry. All the way you have a array of vegetables and pickles to go along with it. Ok maybe the 4 different “Payasams” are not that healthy, but hey! How many people make it every day! My mum is a “Payasam” expert!! She can whip up a payasam in no time and it will taste just like the ones they serve you at the temples. Yes I do think that the real ingredient is love!! I may have digressed a little bit here. lol.

Ok so back to this recipe. This is your ideal week night,”I do not want take out, I do not want to make any thing too complex”, “Oh I want some spicy egg based side” – kind of dish.

Ingredients :-

1. Hard Boiled Eggs – 6 -7
2. Onions – 5 large – julienned
3. Turmeric Powder – 1/4 tsp
4. Chilli Powder – 1 tsp
5. Pepper powder – 1/2 tsp
6. Coriander Powder – 2 tsp
7. Garam Masala Powder – 1 + 1/2 tsp
8. Curry leaves – 14
9. Coconut Oil – 3 tbsp
10. Green Chillies – 4 ( slit into two)
11. Water – 1 tbsp + 1/2 cup (optional)

Instructions :-

1. In a large heavy bottom kadai / wok, heat oil
2. Once the oil is hot, add the onions and half of the curry leaves  and fry till golden brown
3. Then add the turmeric, chilli, pepper, garam masala powder and coriander powder and give it a nice mix. Add 1 tbsp of water to the mixture. This will prevent the spice powders from getting burnt
4. Now add the green chillies and the eggs.
5. Season with salt and give it a good mix. Mix gently so as to not tear the boiled eggs but make sure to coat the eggs well with the onion masala
6. Cover and cook for 5 min
7. Garnish with the remaining curry leaves and serve with hot Rotis or Rice

 

Beetroot and Carrot Thoran – Stir Fry with Coconut and Curry leaves

Hello My Dear Wonderful Readers!

How are you all doing today? How has the week been so far. I can’t not wait for this week to end. It has been such a landslide of incidents! From my husband falling sick, to my camera dying on me during a shoot, to my phone falling from my hand and losing its display. It has all been one eventful week. My son has on the contrary been so understanding and cooperative. I think children just know when some thing is wrong and its not them just misbehaving 🙂

Now coming back to the recipe. “Thoran” is basically any vegetable (or sometimes meat)  that is cooked on high flame almost like a stir fry and is accompanied with freshly grated coconuts and a variety of tempering. In this recipe, the tempering is made up of Urad Dal- Black (gram without the skin), red chillies, loads of curry curry leaves, mustards seeds fried in a little bit of oil. This is what gives the entire dish its wonderful fresh yet spicy taste and aroma.  “Thoran” can be made with all kinds of vegetables but the spices used for different vegetables vary. For some you could use garlic and cumin seeds and others may require other spices.

In the coming weeks,  I wanna make a conscious effort to share more Malayali cooking on my blog. Also I firmly believe that pure coconut oil is a very healthy alternative to refined oils like sunflower, peanut and mustard. But thats just me 🙂 What you should know is that this dish is the perfect, light, accompaniment to a bowl of hot rice and maybe a dal or sambar.

Ingredients :-

1. Beetroot – 3 cups ( chopped)
2. Carrot – 3 cups (chopped)
3. Shallots – 6 (chopped fine)
4. Coconut Oil – 3 tbsp
5. Urad Dal – 2 tbsp
6. Dry Red Chillies – 4
7. Mustard Seeds – 1 tbsp
8. Fresh Desiccated Coconut – 1 cup (packed)
9. Salt – according to taste
10. Turmeric Powder – 1/2 tsp
11. Curry Leaves – 10 – 14

Instructions :-

1. In a heavy bottom wok, heat oil.
2. Once the oil is nice and hot, add the Urad dal. When the Urad Dal turns from white to light yellow add the mustard seeds
3. This way you will fry both the Urad dal and the mustard seeds cooking and popping at the same time
4. Now add the red chillies and the curry leaves
5. Once the leaves have fried well, turn off the flame and with a slotted spoon, spoon out the the mixture. Make sure to drain out all the oil in the same wok. Set the curry leaves tempering aside ( we will use it at the end)
6. Now turn on the flame again and when the oil is nice and hot add the shallots. Once the shallots are translucent add the beetroot. Give it a quick mix
7. Cover and cook the beetroot till they are cooked half way through
8. Then add the carrots and cover and cook till they are both cooked well. ( I find that beetroot takes a little longer than carrots to cook thats why I use this method)
9. Finally open the cover and add salt and turmeric powder
10. Give it a good mix cook for 2 mins on high flame
11. Then add the fresh coconut and turn off the flame
12. Just before you serve add the curry leaves + urad dal tempering on top of the beetroot and carrots and give it a quick mix
13. Serve with hot rice and dal or sambar