Cooking Is Easy

Kappa or tapioca is malayalee's comfort food at least for the old generation. Kappa curry, kappa fry, kappa and fish, meat kappa, kappa biriyani.....the list is endless. Personally, I like boiled kappa and green chilly chutney as a tea time snack. Ingredients: Kappa: 1 kg. Water. Salt. Method: Clean kappa and put it in cooker with water and after 2 whistle switch off fire and (cooking depends on the type of kappa) put cooker under running water and let the steam go. Put in 1 tsp salt and let it boil for a min. Strain the water. Serve hot with chutney. For the chutney: 10 to 15 green chilies (can add more if u like it really hot) 1 onion/10 shallots. Salt. Coconut oil: 1 tbsp. Method: Grind coarsely green chilies and shallots either in a stone grinder or in chutney bowel of mixer. Mix with salt and coconut oil. Serve with hot kappa.

Snakegourd is one vegetable that is available all throughout the year in Kerala. It is not one of my favorite veggie, but after tasting this at one of my friends house I instantly gave it a try.

I wanted to make a short crust pastry which had a chocolate topping on it, so I searched Google and I finally landed in Edible Garden Toblerone Candy Bar and instantly I knew I had to make this. But what about the Toblerone??; living in Calicut (kerala) and that too on the outskirts of the city has this kind of disadvantages. So Toblerone is out of the list and I finally made up my mind to top it with chocolate sauce and sprinkle it with caramelized nuts (fortunately I had some leftover). I love to alter a recipe to my taste and availability of ingredients in my kitchen. This sure was a huge success with my kids. Ingredients: Salted butter: 1 cup (room temperature) Powdered sugar: 2/3 cup. Flour: 2 ¼ cup. Homemade chocolate sauce: 1 cup.(scroll down for recipe) 2 tbsp: caramelized cashew nuts. Method: 1. Cream butter and sugar. 2. Put in the flour. 3. Mix with finger tips until it resembles bread crumbs. 4. Press firmly on to a greased tray with the back of ...

  The word biscuit literally means “twice cooked”; originally they were baked first and then left to dry out in a slow oven. A cookie is a small flat-baked treat, usually containing fat, flour, eggs, and sugar. In most English speaking countries the most common word for this is biscuit. A general theory of cookies may be formulated this way. Despite its descent from cakes and other sweetened breads, the cookie in almost all its forms has abandoned water as a medium for cohesion. In the cookie, the agent of cohesion has become some form of oil. Oils, whether they be in the form of butter, egg yolks, vegetable oils or lard are much more viscous than water and evaporate freely at a much higher temperature than water. In America , a cookie is described as a thin, sweet, usually small cake. By definition, a cookie can be any of a variety of hand-held, flour-based sweet cakes, either crisp or soft. Each country has its own word for "cookie." What we know as cookies are calle...

One late afternoon I was surfing TV channels and I came across a cookery show and the guy was presenting dhaba items. The one that caught my attention was bread pakoda and today evening I decided to give it a try and believe me Homey and kids gave a thumbs up sign. Fortunately I had some boiled potatoes in my fridge. I got 3 sets of pakodas with this recipe. This does not actually call for any exact measurements, all you need is some bread slices, boiled potatoes, and bengal gram powder. How it is made : Bread slices. Potatoes: 2. (boiled and smashed). Chilly powder: ½ tsp. Coriander powder: ½ tsp. Coriander leaves chopped: Little. Salt to taste. Butter to spread: Optional For the batter: Bengal gram powder (kadalapodi): 4 tbsp. Chilly powder: ½ tsp. Coriander powder: ½ tsp. Ajwain: ½ tsp. Salt to taste. Method: Make a loose batter with bengal gram powder and add chilly powder, coriander powder, ajwain, and salt. The batter should be loose...

Amma makes this pananjeen thoran and I used to love to have it with rice. Now my son likes it so much that whenever I get sardine fish eggs it tops my menu list of that day. It is easy to make, but make sure you wash it thoroughly with a teaspoon of vinegar. Amma used to beat the fish eggs in the small chutney grinder, but as it is a tiresome job to clean it afterwards I prefer to smash it with my hands. Always add ½ a tsp of raw rice powder to it. How amma makes it: A handful of fish eggs or about ½ cup. 2 tbsp coconut oil. 4,5 shallots. 1/4 cup coconut grated. 3 green chilies chopped. 1 spring curry leaves. ¼ tsp pepper powder. ½ tsp rice flour. Method: Put the cleaned and drained fish eggs in a bowel and mash it with your finger tips until almost no lumps are there. Then put in the scraped coconuts, chopped green chilies, salt,  chopped small onions, pepper, rice powder, curry leaves, and salt. Mix nicely with hand. Heat oil in a pan and put this mixture into it and stir we...

Kichidi is not so common in South India as in  North India . It is a wholesome meal rich in carb and protein and very good for children. My sister-in-law Dolly loves to have kichidi any time of the day. So you could say my mom-in-law is an expert in it having lived in Haldwani, Nainital for a long time she is an expert in North Indian cuisine. This is such an easy-to-make meal that even budding cooks, working moms would love this recipe. Kichidi can be had as a brunch to start off a lazy Sunday. This post is dedicated to Dolly. Ingredients: Raw white rice: 1 cup. Tur dal (sambar dal): 1 cup. Hing: ½ tsp. Onion: ½ sliced. Jeera: ½ tsp. Turmeric powder: ¼ tsp. Red chilly or red chilly flakes: ½ tsp. Ghee or refined oil: 1 tbsp. Coriander leaves. Salt to taste. Method: Soak rice and dal together in water for ½ hour. Heat a pressure cooker and put in ghee and when it is hot put in the jeera and let it crack, simmer the fire and add the red chi...

I been wanting to make jam cookies for a long time. Finally today I am into that-cookie-making-mood. I used mixed fruit jam; you can top it with any jam or even chocolate sauce. I managed to get a pic of the soft dough, after rolling the dough into small balls press into the center with your thumb so that jams can be filled into it. When putting into the tray give space between cookies as they tend to spread out during baking. How I Made Them: Maida: 200 gm. Dalda: 100 gm. Powdered sugar: 100 gm. Baking powder: 1/4 tsp. Egg: About 1/2 beaten egg. Vanilla: 1tsp. Salt: A pinch. Mixed fruit jam. Method:    I creamed dalda and sugar well with my electric beater and added vanilla to it. Next, I mixed the maida with baking powder and a pinch of salt and again mixed with beater. Then I added little beaten egg and mixed with my hand to make it into a soft dough. I made them into small  balls and put them on the greased baking tray and I th...

I am going to be healthy in this post. Ada is a favorite among malayalees and whenever I make ada it takes me back to my school days. Amma used to make this as an evening snack and it is so healthy unlike other bakery snacks. My kids love ada so yesterday I made ada as an after school surprise. It’s been quite sometime since I baked something though demands for a cookie or a cake is arising on and off. Coming back to ada, it is healthy as it is of fine rice powder, jaggery, and coconut. The best thing about Ada is there is no oil in it. Plantain or banana leaves is needed for this which is so readly available throughout Kerala. Rice powder which is used for pattiri or idiyappam should be used. Just boil water and pour it into the rice flour like you make pattiri and mix well with a spoon. When it is cooled mix with hand and make it into medium sized balls. I have created a collage for better understanding. So let’s get healthy. Ingredients: Rice flour: 2 c...

  My friend, Priya Warrier send me a bottle of green chilly pickle. Green chilly is one thing that is available around the year. When I tasted it was the hot and sweet type and I fell in love with it and rang up Priya for the recipe. I must warn everybody who is health conscious because of the amount of oil in it….but it is really worth it.

Bitter-gourd and carrot pickle, is an easy low calorie pickle, which is also very easy to make. Pickle is a no no for most of us as it is high in oil. So how about a pickle that has very little oil. Most people can’t stand the bitter taste of bittergourd and usually avoid it in our daily diet. Bittergourds are very low in calories but dense with precious nutrients. It also helps diabetic and toxemia conditions. So I guess u can call this a healthy pickle. So lets get started. Author: Nisa Homey. Yield: 1 Horlicks bottle. Ingredients: Bittergourd: 2 medium size.(preferably the dark green one). (cut into thin slices). Carrot: 2 medium size. (cut into thin slices) Green chilies slit: 10 to 15. Garlic: 3 pods (cut into thin slices) Ginger: 2 inch.(cut into thin slices) Mustard Seeds: 1 tsp. Turmeric: ¼ tsp. Vinegar: 1 cup. Curry leaves. Salt accordingly. Sugar: 2 tsp. Oil: 1 tbsp. Method: 1.       Mix the bittergourd an...

I know its been a while since I posted something…….with onam holidays and kids at home kept me on the toes 24/7. I made a chocolate brownie for Homey’s birthday and thought I will share it. Its amma’s age old recipe, it has curd and soda powder in it. As it was hubby dear’s birthday I topped it with chocolate satin icing, cashew nuts, and chocolate noodles. This is easy to make if using an egg beater.