Quick and Easy Fish Fry

Kerala is popular for its delicious fish fries. Any household in the state or any reputed hotel on the roadside other than a vegetarian one, would provide you with tasty varieties of fish fries for the afternoon meals. The fish which i have chosen for frying is Barracuda or Sheelavau.


Ingredients

• Fish   - 6 pieces
• Chilly powder- 1 1/2 tsp
• Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Onion paste   - 1 tsp
• Salt

Method

1. Clean fish well 
2. In a plate, mix all the ingredients- Chilly powder, pepper powder, turmeric, ginger garlic past, onion paste and salt.
3. sprinkle some water to this and mix well to form a paste
4. Make small cuts on the fish so that the masala gets inside the flesh
5. Apply the masala on the fish 
6. Heat a pan, pour oil and add the pieces of fish one by one, giving independant space for each one
7. Deep fry for 5 mnts. Turn the other side after 5 mnts
8. Take the fried fish and place it on a tissue paper so that excess oil can be absorbed into it
9. Serve hot with onions 
10. Enjoy!!

Vegetable Pulao- The Indian One Pot Meal

When you feel like eating something special that takes only a small amount of time, i would recommend you try the all time favorite Vegetable Pulao. You can add a lot of vegetables in a pulao and make it yummy. Usually I find that many people add potatoes in pulao. I have never tried adding potatoes, but I think adding potatoes can add more taste to the pulao. You can serve the pulao with your favorite Paneer curries or vegetable curries if you are a pure vegetarian. If you are a non vegetarian, then you may try serving pulao with chicken curries of your choice. This is a healthy and extremely tasty one pot meat that will be loved by all, and can be cooked within minutes.

Ingredients (Serves 5-6)

•  Basmati rice - 2 cups
• Vegetables   -  2 cups (include 2 carrots, 10-15 beans, 1 potato)
• Onions         - 2 large
• Green chillies  - 3
• Coconut milk  - 2 1/2 cups (You may even substitute coconut milk with water)
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 1/2 tsp
• Cinnammin  - a small piece
• Cardamom  - 1
• Vegetable oil - 
• Ghee   - 1 tbsp
• Salt

Method

1. Soak Basmati rice for half an hour
2. Cut vegetables and keep aside
3. Heat a pressure cooker, add vegetable oil and add the cloves and cardamom 
4. Now you may add the diced onions with green chillies and saute for five minutes.
5. To this you can add ginger garlic paste and saute well 
6. Add the soaked rice and vegetables to the cooker
7. Add sufficient salt and finally add the coconut milk or water for the rice to cook
8. You may close the lid of the pressure cooker and cook for 15 minutes in low flame OR you may put the weight of the pressure cooker and wait for 1 whistle in low flame.
9. After the rice is cooked, add ghee and mix carefully
10. Serve hot with vegetable curries, paneer curries or chicken curries.

Mac Cheese and Chicken- The One Pot Meal

Macaroni when cooked with the right ingredients can give you the perfect taste, and baked macaroni with cheese and chicken is a one pot meal that can fill your tummies right away. Parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese can be used together with chicken to prepare this one pot meal. You can even try out three cheese varieties in this dish to make it more yummy. I think you must avoid mozzarella cheese, as it tends to stick around the macs. Here i have used only cheddar cheese. This is a yummy delight if cooked with great care and lots of love.

Ingredients (Serves 4-5)

• Macaroni  - 250 - 300 gms
• Chicken    - 150 - 200 gms
• Onion       - 1 large
• Black pepper powder - 1 tsp ( or more as per your taste)
• Milk        - 150 ml or 1/4 cup
• Cornflour  - 1 tsp
• Butter       - 2 tsp OR Cream     - 150 gm (I have used butter here)
• Ginger garlic paste- optional (if you prefer to cook chicken with it)

Method

1. Boil water in a vessel and add some salt to it.
2. Add macaroni to it and wait till it cooks
3. when it gets cooked, strain and keep aside
4. Heat a pan, add oil  and add diced onions
5. Saute onions till golden brown
6. Now add ginger garlic paste (optional), pepper powder, Boneless chicken pieces and salt. Add a quarter cup of water.
7. Close the lid and allow the chicken to cook well. You may add herbs if you prefer to. Italian herbs are the best ones to be added. (Optional)
8. When the chicken is cooked, remove it and keep aside.
9. In the pan, add some butter and melt it.
10. Now you may add the cornflour to the melted butter. With a spatula, heat the cornflour.
11. Add milk immediately and cook it it thickens. If it thickens too much you may add a bit of water.
12. If you are adding salted butter, prefer not to add salt to the cornflour mix. If it is unsalted butter that you use, add a bit of salt just for the cornflour mix/white sauce.
13. Take a greased baking tray (glass) and add macaroni, chicken pieces and the white sauce.
14. Mix well and check if you have added right amount of salt.
15. Grate cheese and you may add luxurious amount on top
16. Switch on the microwave and bake for 5-10 mnts in full power till the cheese melts completely.
17. Serve hot and Enjoy!!

Soft Appam - A Temptation from God's Own Country

 

Appam is a typical Kerala style bread that is usually made for breakfasts. It is a fact that Appam is a special bread usually cooked during almost every major Christian occassions or celebrations. Christmas or Easter Breakfast without Appam in Christian families cannot be imagined. The popular curries that accompany Appam are Mutton Stew (You can Check for the recipe in Foodomania), Beef Stew, Chicken Curry, Peas curry (Recipe available), Beef curry or with Vegetable Stew.

To make soft fluffy Appam is a real challenge. But with the help of certain ingredients, you sure can make it fluffy and soft. Actually Appam is loved by everyone at home. You sure can try this out and make your family happy too. The batter for Appam as given below can serve 6 people for 2 days. It has to be refrigerated so that it does not sour out.

Ingredients 

• Pachari or Raw Rice or White rice -    6 Glasses (Nazhi)
• Uzhunnu  (Urad Dal)          - 2 tsp
• cooked rice      - 3 -4 tbs 
• Coconut (grated)-  2 large
• Soda powder     - a pinch or two
• Sugar                - 2 tsp while grinding  and 2 tsp while cooking
• Yeast                - 1-1 1/2 tsp
• Coconut water and water for grinding

Method 

1. Clean the rice and Urad dal (2 tsp) and soak it in water for 3 hours.
2. Grate coconuts
3. Do not throw off the coconut water
4. Put the grated coconuts in a vessel
5. In a 5 tbs luke warm water, add the yeast and let it bubble
6. Add 2 tbs of sugar, Yeast and cooked rice to the vessel with grated coconut and mix well
7. You may now drain off the water from soaked rice
8. In a mixer grinder, grind a portion of soaked rice and coconut mix with coconut water or water
9. similarly, grind all the remaining rice and grated coconut
10. If you prefer to use the batter for later use, you may keep in the refrigerator
11. The batter has to ferment a bit. So it would be advisable to take the batter out of the refrigerator half an hour before you make Appams
12. When you plan to make Appams, add a pinch or two of soda powder to the batter and do add two table spoons of sugar too for a slight sweet taste (Sugar can be avoided)
13. After half an hour, you may heat an appam pan 
14. Pour a large spoonful of appam batter to the hot pan
15. Swirl it to form a large circle
16. Close the lid and let it cook in slow fire
17. Take it out if you feel it is fully cooked
18. Serve hot with any kind of Stew or curries of your choice.
19. Enjoy!!

Watermelon juice

Summer always makes us thirsty and we have great craving for something cool to drink. What is better to quench your thirst than a glass of pure Watermelon juice, in a hot summer. The thought of drinking this wonder drink can make us cool. Watermelon is a really tasty fruit that is mostly consumed during the summers. When we are preparing watermelon juice or watermelon crush, care should be taken to de-seed the flesh of the fruit or choose those with little seeds so that you can enjoy the yummy taste of the fruit without the seeds irritating you. Enjoy this cool summer special drink this summer and say bye to the hot sun!

Ingredients

Watermelon - 1 large
Lemon    - 1 large
Sugar      - as per your taste

Method

• Cut the watermelon and de-seed it
• cut it into smaller pieces 
• Put these pieces of watermelon and lemon juice in your mixer grinder or juicer and switch on.
• You can strain it if you want.
• Pour into a vessel and add sufficient sugar
• Pour into tall glasses and serve chilled

Mulaku Baji

Mulaku Baji is an all time evening snack of the people of Kerala for years. You can still see people crowding around the street shops for tasting a mulaku baji while moving around. In short, Mulaku baji is a popular street snack loved by all in Kerala, India.

Ingredients
Bannana Pepper (Chilly)- 6 nos
Besan (Kadalamavu)-  2 cups
Chilly powder  - 1 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida    - 1/4 tsp
Soda powder - 1/4 tsp
Water
Salt
Coconut/Vegetable oil- For frying

Method

1. In a bowl, add besan, chilly powder, soda powder, salt, asafoetida and small amount of water
2. Mix well to get a not so thick or not so free flowing consistency.
3. Let the besan mix rest for half an hour or more.
4. After half an hour, you will find the mix rising up a bit
5. In a hot pan, add oil for deep frying
6. Put a slit in the chilly making it half, but not cutting it deeply to separate it into 2.
7. You may slightly apply a pinch of salt to the slit of the chilly or you may dip it in salt water so that the chilly picks up sufficient salt.
8Dip the chilly into the batter and deep fry
9. Fry till the batter turns light brown.
10. Serve hot with chutney or with tomato sauce.

What is Gluten free diet?

Gluten free has become a common term these days. It can be seen that at least a small group of people prefer to eat a Gluten free diet. But unfortunately, most of us are not aware of the fact as to what Gluten is.

Gluten is actually a protein that is mostly found in Wheat, Barley, Oats, Rye and Triticale. Gluten, in some people causes allergic reactions. This type of reaction is called gluten intolerance. Gluten sensitivity causes in people the disease known as Celiac disease. People suffering from this, often have to avoid gluten and have to follow a diet that is free of gluten.

The protein named gluten has the qualities of glue. It is usually found in bread, cereals and pastas too. Usually, breads and cakes get that fluffy nature because of gluten. It also helps in binding the dough.

Common foods rich in Gluten

·         Wheat contains gluten. This is the reason why most food we eat contains gluten. Cakes, cookies, waffles, pasta, biscuits, all have large amount of gluten in them.

·         Cereals are also found to be filled with gluten. Barley is yet another grain like wheat that has gluten content in it.

·         Baked food items and those foods that help in thickening are sumptuous in gluten. Hence foods like ice-creams, sauces and puddings tend to have gluten content.

·         Processed foods too have gluten in them. Pizza, salami, soups and lots of other such food contain gluten in them.

Foods that do not have Gluten

·         Rice

·         Dairy products

·         Fruits

·         Vegetables

·         Tapioca

·         Arrowroot

·         Potato

·         Soy flour

And the list goes on and on.

The market today has a lot of gluten free products like gluten free biscuits, cakes, pastries, cakes, breads and cereals. So now that you people are familiar with gluten free diet and also about the term gluten free, you might not get confused with gluten free with something related to weight loss.

It is a fact that people consuming gluten free food
tend to lose weight simply because they are avoiding those foods that tend to increase weight, and not because food free of gluten do not stimulate weight loss. When we skip our regular diet, we tend to lose weight and people have the misconception that gluten free products help in loss of body weight.