Minty Vegetable Cutlets

These Minty Vegetable Cutlets can be served as a starter or as a side item to your main course. Try them am sure you will like them.

Bunch of Mint Leaves – chopped fine
Bunch of Coriander leaves- chopped fine
Potatoes – 3 large – boiled and grated
Paneer – 1 cup grated or mashed
Green Peas – boiled
Carrot – grated (fine)
Green chillies – 3 -chopped fine
Turmeric -1/4 teaspoon
Red Chilly powder – ½ teaspoon
Aamchur Powder – 1 teaspoon
Chat masala – 1 teaspoon
Garam masala – ½ teaspoon
Garlic powder- 1/2 teaspoon
White pepper powder- 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Eggs –  2 – beaten
Breadcrumbs
Oil for frying

Add all ingredients together (except last 3).  Mix and knead till you can form balls from the mixture.  Flatten them with a butter knife and shape to small rectangular or round shapes.  Dip in egg and then in bread crumbs.   Shape and dip in egg and breadcrumbs and lay all on a flat platter.  Keep in refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.   Shallow fry in hot oil.  Remove on absorbent tissue.  Serve with mint chutney or hot garlic sauce.

Kofta Biryani

Owe this recipe to Shireen Anwar of Masala Mornings. Tried it recently and got a good review from my resident tasters . There are three steps involved.

1st Step – for the Koftas/Meatballs :
-750 grams mince meat (Either chicken or beef), double minced, washed and drained dry of all water.
-1 teaspoon garam masala
-1-1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds (substitute with 8 cashewnuts if not available)
-1 tablespoon desiccated coconut
-1 tablespoon gram –roasted and ground
-1 large onion ground
Add above to the meatballs and marinate for 15-20 minutes. Then add 2 bread slices soaked in 2 tbsps of milk, squeezed dry and added to meatballs. Add 1-1/2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon chilly powder, 1 teaspoon all spice powder, 1 tablespoon curd, chopped green coriander, 2/3 green chillies chopped very fine, chopped mint leaves. Mix and form balls.

Meatballs - waiting for dunking in spiced masala

Take a pan that will accommodate all the meat balls in one layer. From the above mix -I got about 42 meatballs.

In the pan add little oil and add the ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute or two.  Then add 1-1/2 teaspoon chilly powder, 1-1/2 teaspoon coriander powder, 1 teaspoon roasted jeera powder, ½ cup fried onions (slice onions and deep fry till brown), 3-4 tomatoes chopped fine.  Fry all till you get a thick masala.  Season with salt and add any other spices if you need it more spicy. Add the meat balls in a single layer, cover and let the balls cook till they are done.   Say 15-20 minutes. Do not stir the meatballs or they will break. When done garnish with garam masala powder (1 teaspoon) and keep aside.
2nd Step – for the Curd Mixture :
-Take 1-1/2 cup thick curds. Add a pinch of yellow colour, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg powder, ¼ teaspoon mace, ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder, a handful of plump currants, a small bunch of green coriander leaves and mint leaves, chopped fine, few green chillies, salt to taste. Mix and keep aside.

3rd Step – for the Rice
½ Kg rice – boil with salt, bay leaves, few cardamoms. Boil till ¾ done…. drain in a colander, fluff it up and keep aside.

In a large pan add a layer of rice, top with the meatballs (which will have a thick masala by now); layer with curds mixture, then some fried onions and another layer of rice. Add little ghee or butter, dotted here and there on the top layer of rice. Keep on a slow simmer for ½ an hour on a tava or keep in a hot oven for 30 minutes, till the rice grains are cooked. Garnish with the crispy fried onions, chopped coriander/mint leaves and serve hot with a raita and green salad of your choice.

Kappa Meen Curry

Kappa or Tapioca is a staple food in Kerala. It is served in different forms accompanied with Fish Curry, Beef or with Chilli Chutney.   I have a few friends from Kerala at work and they always carry their lunch to work.   Once in a way they share their lunch with me and I had the pleasure to taste this Kappa Meen Curry.   I managed to get the recipe finally and tried it out at home.   

 If you like spicy food,  then this is for YOU.

For the Kappa  (Tapioca side-dish)    :

1 large Tapioca  Washed, peeled and chopped into cubes
½ cup grated coconut
4 green chillies finely chopped
2 shallots (malbari onions) chopped
½  tsp turmeric
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon coconut oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
3-4 red chillies
1 spring curry leaves

Add salt and ¼ tsp turmeric and water and cook the tapioca in a pressure cooker (or boil in a vessel till soft)

Crush coconut, onions, green chillies and ¼ tsp turmeric and little salt in a pestle (or grind coarsely in a blender).

When the Tapioca is soft and all the water has evaporated, add the coconut mixture and cook for a further 2 minutes.   In a pan heat coconut oil, add mustard seeds, dry chillies (torn) and curry leaves and then pour into the tapioca mixture and mix.  Serve with fish curry.

Meen (fish)  Curry :

7-8 sardines gutted and washed thoroughly  (soak with salt & turmeric and then wash again-this removes the fishy smell)
6-7 pearl onions thinly sliced
3-4 green chillies slit
4 garlic cloves
2” piece ginger cut into thin slices
2-3 sprigs curry leaves
½ tsp fenugreek powder
2-3 small pieces of tamarind  or kokum
2 tsp red chilly powder
¼ tsp turmeric power
2 tbsp coconut oil
Salt to taste
1 ¼  cup water

Soak the tamarind/kokum  in water.

Heat oil in a pan,  when medium hot throw in curry leaves, add onion, ginger, green chillies, garlic and sauté.  Add turmeric powder and chilly powder and sauté.  Then add powdered fenugreek and then add the tamarind/kokum water and bring to boil till gravy thickens.  After it comes to a rolling boil add the fish, cook for 5-6 minutes.  Before putting off the fire, take some oil in your palm and crush some curry leaves in the oil and add to curry.

എങ്ങനെയുണ്ട് കപ്പ-മീന്‍ കറി

എങ്ങനെയുണ്ടായിരുന്നു  കപ്പ-മീന്‍ കറി

പുഴുക്ക്

(That translated means…please do enjoy your Kappa and Meen Curry special).

Punjabi Samosa and Potli Samosa

If you are having a party sometime soon, do make these cute Potli Samosas. Easy to make and so tasty that your guest will be licking their fingers. If you think they are too much of a bother, then try the ‘Punjabi Samosa’.  I made the ‘Potli Samosas’  recently for a friends party and they were a super-duper hit. Serve with the sweet and spicy date sauce…..or with any plain tomato ketchup. Either ways they taste great.

For the Crust
2 cups Maida
1/2 cup warm corn oil
1/2 teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain)
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fine semolina
Water to knead (about ¼ cup)

Samosa Filling

3 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 cup green peas (I used frozen)
4 potatoes (boiled in water with salt, pealed and cut into cubes)
Cumin seeds 1 teaspoon
Fennel seeds/saunf -1/2 teaspoon
Green Chilly – 2/3 chopped fine
Coriander leaves – a small bunch chopped
Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder -1/2 teaspoon
Mixed spice powder
Red Chilly Powder –coarse – 1 teaspoon or more as per your spice liking
A pinch of hing
Salt to taste

For the Crust :
Heat Oil and allow to cool a little. Add all the ingredients (except water & oil) to a bowl. Add warm oil and mix with a spoon till it resembles bread crumbs. Then rub with fingers till it is well mixed (this is important). Then add water little by little –you may not need all of it, till a soft dough is formed. Knead for 5 minutes. Cover with a plastic wrap and keep aside till you finish making the filling.

For the Filling :

Heat oil, add the cumin, fennel and mustard seeds and wait till they splutter. Then add green chillies and sauté. Add the other spices and mix. Add Peas and then add chopped potatoes and mix. Add salt to taste. When cooled add chopped coriander leaves.

You can either the Punjabi Samosa or Potli Samosa with the same crust recipe given above.  I made two batches, used one for the Potli Samosa and one for the Punjabi Samosa. Got about 10 Punjabi Samosas and 22 Potli Samosas. I used large Potatoes so the filling was enough for both.

For the Potli Samosa –
Make small lemon sized balls. Roll and cut into a circle with the edge of a steel tumbler. This ensures that all are the same size. Use your left hand and hold the thumb and index finger together. Put the dough circle over your formed fingers and depress the dough into the circle formed with the fingers. Add a teaspoon of filling and press the edges together. Then with your right hand pinch at the neck of the potli to seal the edges. Form all this way and keep aside for frying.

For the Punjabi Samosas, make ten to twelve balls out of the dough.   Roll into a medium circle. Then cut each circle into a semi-circle. Form a cone and put in a tablespoon or more of filling. Seal all the edges, using a little water, if required. Form all the samosas and keep in a plate. Fry 2/3 at a time and drain on paper tissue. Ensure that the samosas are fried on a slow flame till golden brown on all sides. Drain on paper tissue and serve hot with green chutney or Tamarind/Date Chutney. Recipe for Tamarind Date Chutney given below.

Tamarind Date Chutney :
½ cup Tamarind ½ cup dates, 1 tablespoon red chilly powder 1 tablespoon chaat masala 1 teaspoon sugar 2 cloves of garlic, Little ginger Lemon juice 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 2 green chillies Few coriander seeds for garnish Salt to taste Boil dates and tamarind with sugar, red chillie powder and ½ cup water. Cook for 5-8 minutes. Blend together all the remaining ingredients (except coriander leaves). Add to the date/tamarind mixture and mash well. Add salt to taste and more spices if needed. If required you can sieve the mixture. I did not, and felt it was not required.

The Potli Samosas are a great finger food for small parties and get-togethers.

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

Madison Square Garden can seat 20,000 people for a concert. This blog was viewed about 68,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Madison Square Garden, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Beef Special

A Happy New Year to all our readers.   May the New Year usher in happiness, good-health and peace for you and your family.  Please excuse the short break in posts as I was busy with an assortment of things.   The busy schedule still continues;    but I did  not want to leave our food-blog unattended, so here goes.   Do take a minute to leave in your comments;  it helps to keep us motivated to give you more recipes and give our best.

This is a beef recipe which I do fairly often.  You can increase the spice content if you like, but I prefer it rather mild.  Do try it and let us know how you like it.

1 kg tender beef cubes, 3” piece ginger, 1 pod garlic, 8 big onions, 3 tablespoons jeera, 4/5 pieces 2” cinnamon, 10 cloves, 10 cardamoms, 6-8 pepper corns, 3 tablespoons bafat powder or 3 tablespoons chilly powder, 2 cups curds, 3 bay leaves, 1 flat tablespoon mixed spice powder, (extra cinnamon, cardamoms and cloves for frying whole – few). Cut and wash beef till water runs clear. Drain on a colander so that all water drains out. In a large non-stick vessel, brown the beef in small batches and keep aside. Grind the ginger and garlic to a fine paste. Grind the jeera, cinnamon, cloves, cardamoms, peppercorns and bafat powder to a fine powder. Cut the 8 onions into fine slices. In the same vessel that the beef was fried and which has a residue of oil/ghee, add the bay leaves and the extra cinnamon, cardamoms and cloves and fry for a minute. Then add the sliced onions and required salt and fry till the onions are golden (this is important). When lightly browned, add the ginger/garlic paste and fry for sometime, then add the powdered spice dry powder and stir for sometime. Add the beef and any juices left behind and keep frying till the meat is nicely fried and oil/ghee starts glistening. Add curds, 1 tablespoon at a time, till all the curds in incorporated. At this point check the seasoning and add if anything required. Test if the meat is cooked; and depending on this add a little water and cook till beef is tender. By now you should have a thickish gravy. Garnish with the mixed spice powder and coriander leaves and fried potatoes (optional).  Serve on a bed of garlic rice.

Happy Birthday Rhea – Fondant Cake

Dear Rhea,

This cake is made specially for you on the request of your Mom.  I wonder if it looks anywhere near Selena Gomez, your favourite Singer,  but I did try.  {Btw Devon laughed and said Mom she does not look like Selena at all}.

 Hope you had a wonderful day with lots of gifts.  The next time we meet,  will give you your birthday gift.  Have a wonderful day and eat lotsa cake.

“It’s been said and done,

Every beautiful thought’s been already sung
And I guess right now here’s another one,
So your melody will play on and on,
with best of ‘em
You are beautiful, like a dream come alive, incredible
A centerfold miracle, lyrical
You’ve saved my life again
And I want you to know baby
I, I love you like a love song, baby I, I love you like a love song, baby I, I love you like a love song, baby
And I keep hittin’ re-peat-peat-peat-peat-peat
I, I love you like a love song, baby I, I love you like a love song, baby I, I love you like a love song, baby
And I keep hittin’ re-peat-peat-peat-peat-peat ke. ”

Happy Birthday Again ! And your ‘Name-plate’ was edible too…made with sugar icing.
XOXOXOXO…from all of us at Bring On The Chef In You