Cooking Is Easy

Aloo-gobi/Potato-cauliflower curry is an every day Punjabi curry dish....perfect with roti, bhatura , or naan.

Ethakka appam or pazham pori as it is known towards North Kerala is an all time malayali favorite. It is an easy to prepare filling snack. Banana is dipped in maida and sugar batter and deep fried .....yum! For the batter: Maida: 1/2 cup. Raw rice podi: 2 or 3 tbs. Sugar: 2 tbsp. Method:  Take 2 ripe bananas. Deskin and slice ripe banana into half; again slice each half into thin slices and keep aside. Mix all the batter ingredients to a smooth and fine paste. Dip each banana slice into the batter. (see that the banana is fully coated with the batter). Put it into hot coconut oil and deep fry. Strain into paper towels and serve hot with chai.

Aval nanachathu is an all time favorite of malayalees. It is a traditional snack which is healthy and filling. Jaggery and freshly grated coconut is mixed into the aval with 2 or 3 cardamons. You can have this either mixed with ripe plantain or on its own. There is no need for salt as there is slight salt in the jaggery. This is an excellent snack for kids as well as adults which can be prepared in 5 min.   Ingredients : Matta(brown) rice flakes: 250 gms. Freshly grated coconut: 1/2 cup or as needed. Jaggery  grated: 1/2 cup or as needed. Cardamons: 2 or 3. Method : In a wide vessel put in the riceflakes, coconut scraping, jaggery, and cardamons. Mix well with hand as it will release the moisture from the jaggery and coconut. Serve by mixing ripe plaintain into the aval or by itself. Note: Can also be made with white rice flakes/flattened rice/poha. It is best to be made with dark brown jaggery than the whitish ones.

What's for dinner?, what's for lunch?, what's for breakfast? these questions are something which never cease form my mind. Homey and myself loves traditional kerala dishes, but with kids it is different. My 9-year-old son says it is not fashionable to have traditional food, he says "amma why can't you make chicken stripes, burgers, shawarma (that is the present craze of Calicut, everywhere you can see shawarma stalls), noodles, broasted chicken etc etc." Well.....making him have healthy food is becoming a task for me.....and he finds lots of excuses for not having....like his friends will tease him or even his teacher told him that chicken contains more protiens than any vegetable!!!....kids these days are more clever!!!. He likes red gram very much so I tricked him into having this with the red gram. Ingredients: Raw banana or plantain: 1/2 kg. Red gram: 1/2 cup. Green chilly: 2. Shallots: 2 or 3. Coconut scraped: 1/2 cup. Turmeric: A fat pinch. G

I got this idea after seeing cake pops at Bakerella  and moreover Cheriyan's birthday is coming up and I wanted to make something creative and kid friendly for his birthday party. So I wondered why can't I make choc pops with my very own homemade chocolates . ...and it is easy too I mean no baking and chocolates can be made in 15 min and so the problem was the lollipop sticks.....and then I saw  Swapna's cake pops .....the lollipop sticks problem was solved by bamboo skewers. I made the chocolate  and spread a little on a greased plate to cut out and wrap in colorful foils. The rest I rolled into balls greasing my hand with butter. I inserted the bamboo skewers while still warm and left it to cool. . And brushed them with butter and rolled them in sprinkles. Even wrapped some of them in colorful foils.....to give a colorful look for my son's birthday party. This one is really easy to make .....just make the homemade chocolate and roll them...put i

These days it is very difficult to make children have vegetables and this is a daily struggle for most mothers. My way of making sure that my kids have some vegetables is in the form of vegetable cutlets. Nidhi loves fried cutlet with tomato sauce or rolled in roti or sandwiched in bread or to have with rice...

Amma used to make this easy and simple Netholi fry.....I love the crispiness of the fry.....to have with hot rice....Anchovies are a good source of calcium, protein, and omega-3 fatty acids. This is a huge hit with kids because of its crispiness when fried. 

Oats porridge is one of the most healthiest breakfast for both the young and the old. It is so easy to prepare that it can be done in less than 5 min. Good for weight management, managing cholesterol etc etc. This is my very own Indianised porridge version . It has very less calorie. No milk or cream or even sugar. So a healthy meal for all those weight watchers. It is best to have it while still hot and serve with an achar/pickle or can have it by itself. Well... what better way to keep your family and you healthy. I am sending this to Eat Well Live Well   event going on in Taste of Pearl City.. How to make oats porridge: Oats (any brand): 3 heaped tbsp. Scarped coconut: 3 heaped tbsp. A fat pinch: Jeera. A fat pinch: Salt. Water: 200 ml (1 cup) Method: Put all this together in a saucepan and bring it to boil. Simmer for about 3 to 4 min and switch off fire and cover with a lid for a min. Serve hot with pickle or by itself. Have a healthy day....healthy heart.....

I have been cooking Indian for a long time and my kids wanted something non-Indian for a change, so I surprised them with this Spanish omelette as it can be made in 5 min provided you have an Amul cheese slice, bacon, and a boiled potato ready.

The moment I saw pineapple jam squares recipe on Vanitha I had that urge to make it as soon as possible. I made a slight variation to the recipe because I personally do not favor coconut on a sweet dish. So instead of that I topped it with preserved pineapple (you can also put stewed pineapple). Ingredients: Dalda or vegetable fat: 1/2 cup. Powdered sugar: 1/2 cup. Egg: 2. All purpose flour: 1 1/2 cup Baking powder: 3/4 tsp. Pineapple jam : 5 to 6 tbsp. Pineapple preserve or stewed pineapple: 5 to 6 tbsp. Method: Mix dalda and sugar nicely. Add beaten egg to this and mix well. Sieve flour and baking powder and mix well and make it into a soft dough. Spread it into a greased tray. Spread pineapple jam on top of it. Bake for 20-30 min or till done. While still hot spread pineapple preserve on top and cut into squares while still warm. Note:  The original recipe calls for 1 cup grated coconut, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, milk 2 to 3 tbsp, and a 3/4 of vanilla esse

Last weekend was rather hectic for me as I went to Kottayam to attend a betrothal and I met one of my amma's aunt (whom I am seeing after a decade as she is in US) and she told me that she follows my blog and that she even prints out my recipes ...wow that was some encouragement and I was in high spirits the whole day. Later that day I happened to visit my cousin Ponnu who married recently and was excited to treat me with her new cooking skills. So I surrendered to her skills and she lavished me with this crumb fried fish...so soft and juicy. Anything crumb fried needs bread crumbs; which won't be available in my kitchen and I am lazy to powder the rusk or toast the bread and powder them etc etc etc. So Ponnu traded a little secret with me that evening...when you are out of bread crumbs stock...just shred some plain bread pieces with yours hands into the small mixer grinder and (chutney bowel) and give it a grind ......Voila!!! bread crumbs are ready.

Fresh beans is a rarity in Calicut unlike in Coorg where only fresh veggies were available. So when I saw those pretty tender beans in the market I bought it without a second thought and even the carrots were fresh I mean like the ones you get in Coorg. I made up my mind then and there that it is going to be beans and carrot thoran with hot rice for dinner today.

Last weekend I went to Focus Mall here in calicut with my kids and took them to the food court there. Both of them happened to see chicken spring rolls and immediately ordered them which created a huge crater in my pocket :) and they did not have their fill too and wanted more. I had to promise them that I will definitely make for them the very next day. Chicken spring rolls was one of my favorite snack, I remember in my early teens I had them first at the Trivandrum Club in Thiruvanathapuram (the place I stayed for 23 years and did my schooling and college, my parents and brothers are settled there though we are basically from Kottayam). I still remember the first crunchy bite into that spring roll dipped in tomato sauce.....and amma had to learn it. Making pancakes and making filling, rolling, frying etc etc makes one stay away from making spring rolls. But it is actually not that difficult. You can always make the filling a day before and keep. The batter can be made instantly

Nadan peas curry is one of the easy-to-make-curries. It is ideal to have with pottu, appam, roti etc. I usually make with dried peas (which has to be soaked overnight) than frozen peas which are available in the supermarkets; the reason is that I always have dried peas in my kitchen. How to make nadan peas curry:

This is an all time favorite tea time snack. Amma used to make this as an after school snack when I was a kid. If you have boiled potatoes in the fridge bonda can be prepared quickly…..when unexpected guests arrive or as an after school surprise for kids. Amma used to make this with potatoes but you can also add boiled carrots......spice up your imagination here. How to make bonda: 2 boiled and smashed potatoes. 1 green chilly chopped. A little bit of grated ginger. ½ onion chopped. Curry leaves. A pinch of turmeric powder. Salt to taste. For the batter : Bengal gram flour (kadalamavu): 1 cup. Red chilly: ½ tsp. Asafoetida: 1 fat pinch. Salt. Soda powder: 1 fat pinch. Water to mix. Method: Make a thick but loose batter enough to coat the lemon sized potatoes and keep aside. Mix all the ingredients with the smashed potatoes and roll into lemon sized balls and keep aside. Take each potato balls and dip into the batter and see that

I love just about anything that is homemade and I don’t like to spend money on tinned preserves. I mean when you can make preserves at home why make a hole in your pocket. Most fruits can be preserved at home and pineapple is the one I preserve most because I need them for puddings, cakes, and top it on tarts etc etc. I have not added any artificial colour, preservative etc when I made this. The best part is it stays upto a year if kept in a fridge (my fridge is actually a storehouse for all those jams and preserves I make). I had preserved pears and figs in the same way as I preserved this pineapple. How to preserve pineapple: Pineapple: 2 medium sized pineapple, chopped. Sugar: 2 to 2 1/2 cups. (it varies depending on the sweetness of the fruit.) Method: Chop the pineapple into cubes. Put in the sugar and keep aside for about an hour. Put it into a steel pan and bring it to boil. Simmer it till it becomes little thick or 1 string consistency. Store in bottles and keep in fridge

Chembu ularthiyathu is a one of Homey's fav. Here is how I make it. You will need: Chembu: 1/2 kg. Red chilly flakes: 1 tbsp. Onion: 1. Turmeric: A fat pinch. Curry leaves and salt. Water. Oil. Method: Clean and wash chembu, cut it into small strips and keep aside. In a heavy bottomed pan and heat oil. Add the sliced onion and fry until light brown, add the chilly flakes, turmeric, curry leaves and saute for a min. Add the chembu and salt, mix well. Add little water and cover and cook (if you overcook it will be all mashed up, so better cook 3/4). Open lid and stir for sometime add little more oil if needed. It is better to stir on low flame till it is very much fried. Serve hot with rice.