Avocado paste sandwich

Ingredients:
Avocado – 2 No’s
Onion – 1 small
Ginger Garlic paste – ½ tsp (this is optional)
Basil leaves fresh - few chopped nicely
If you are using dried basil leaves then 1tsp
Salt as required
Oil – 1tbs

Preparation:
Remove the outer skin of avocado and grind it to a fine paste or smash it nicely using spoon of fork. Chop onion nicely, chop into very small pieces. Heat oil in a pan, add ginger garlic paste, sauté until raw smell goes away, then add the chopped onion and fry until it changes its colour, then add the avocado paste and sprinkle salt and mix well. Leave it for 5 to 6 minutes. Finally add basil leaves and remove from fire. Let it cool

Toast the bread and spread it to make sandwich.

Coriander chicken curry/ Cilantro Chicken

Ingredients:
Chicken – 1 lb
Onion – 1 large
Tomato – 1 small
Coriander leaves/Cilantro - Handfull
Yogurt/curd – 2 tbs
Green Chilies – 3
Ginger paste – 1tsp
Garlic paste – 1tsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Red chili powder – ¼ to ½ tsp
Coriander powder – 2 tbs
Garam masala – 1tsp
Fennel powder – 1tsp
Salt and oil as required

Preparation:
Clean the chicken, cut into small pieces. Grind coriander leaves and yogurt by adding little water (if required) to a fine paste. Marinate the chicken pieces with this.

Heat a pan, add some oil and sauté onion, green chilies and tomato, and let it cool for sometime. Then grind it to fine paste. In the same pan add ginger garlic paste and sauté until raw smell goes away. Then pour the ground paste into it add turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and mix well, add some water to it and allow it to boil. Then add the marinated chicken piece, cover with lid and let it cook. Stir occasionally. When done, remove from fire.

Serve with Vegetable pulav, Idiappam

Pineapple Kesari

Ingredients:
Pineapple - 3/4 cup
Sooji/Rava - 1cup
Sugar -1 1/4 cup
Water - 2 cups
Ghee - 3tbs
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp (Optional)
Cashew - few

Preparation:
Cut the pineapple into slices, remove the eyes and the center part and cut into small pieces. Heat 2 tbsp of ghee in a pan. Fry cashew nuts and keep aside. In the same pan fry Rava also,Boil water add pineapple pieces, you can add the colour now. When cooked, add the fried rava gradually stirring continuously, so that no lumps are formed. Mix thoroughly and continue to stir. Once rava is cooked add sugar,cardamom powder and remaining ghee and cook for sometime. When done remove from fire and garnish with fried cashewnuts.

Let it cool for sometime and serve.

Note: You can also use canned pineapple and the sugar syrup. If you are using the canned pineapple and the sugar syrup then you should reduce the sugar quantity.

Chicken & Sweetcorn Soup

Ingredients:
Chicken stock - 3 cups
Chicken - 1 breast fillet
Egg - 1
Sweet corn - 1/4 cup
Cornflour - 2tsp
Pepper - 1/4 to 1/2tsp
Soy sauce - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Butter - 1/2 tsp

Preparation:
Wash the chicken breast and dice into small pieces. Heat a pan add butter to it and saute the diced chicken for few minutes and keep aside.

Heat a deep bottom pan and add the chicken stock & corn and allow it to boil. When it starts boiling nicely add the chicken pieces. Dissolve the cornstarch by adding little water and add to the soup, stirring until the mixture thickens. Reduce the heat,break the egg to it and allow it to heat through without boiling for about 1 or 2 minutes. When done season with pepper and soy sauce to taste.

Serve hot.

Jangiri

Ingredients:
Urad dal - 1 cup
Sugar - 2cups
Water - 1 cup
Color - 1/2 or 3/4 tsp
Oil for frying

Preparation:

Soak urad dal in water overnight. Wash it thoroughly and grind it to a fine thick paste adding little water now and them. Do not add more water as it will become very liquid. You can add the food color while grinding. Transfer the batter into a zip lock and make a small hole in the ziplock to make jangiri.

Heat oil in a deep vessel. Start making circles with the batter into the oil without breaking to make jangiri. You can make 3 to 4 jangiris at a time. Fry till it turns golden color and becomes crispy. Meanwhile make sugar syrup.

To make sugar syrup:

Add 1 cup of water to the sugar and keep it on low flame to get the required consistency. You can add cardamom, rose water and some saffron to the syrup if you want.

Remove from the oil and transfer it in the sugar syrup. Let it be in the syrup for a minute or two, then remove from that. Keep repeating the process until the batter is over.

Serve hot or store in a container.

Note: If you want jangiri to be more crispy, you can add  1 tbs of rice flour to the batter. This is optional.

Pineapple Pachadi

Source: Old Magazine

Ingredients:
Pineapple (Ripe) - 1 cup
Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Coconut - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 3 No's
Ginger - a small piece
Curry leaves - 1 twig
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
Oil & salt as required

Preparation:
Peal off the skin and cut pineapple into small pieces. Take some water in a vessel and cook it, add green chillies (slit lengthwise) ginger, turmeric powder and salt.

Meanwhile grind the grated coconut by adding little water to fine paste. When the pineapple is cooked and water gets almost evaporated add the ground coconut paste and allow it get cooked for few minutes. Finally add the yogurt and mix well.

In another pan heat some oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add curry leaves and pour into it. Serve with steamed rice. You can have potato fry along with this. It will be a nice combination.

Fish Curry - Malabar style

Ingredients:
Fish - 1 Tilapia
Onion - 1/2 (Chop finely)
Coconut - Grated 3/4 cup
Raw Mango - cut into small pieces (10 pieces)
Green chilly - 2No's
Curry leaves - 1 twig
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1 to 2tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek Powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt & oil as required

Preparation:
Cut the fish into 5to 6 pieces, clean it up and keep aside.

Grind coconut adding little water to fine paste. Heat oil in a pan or Meen chatti add mustard seeds, when it splutters add chopped onion and saute for some time, untill raw smell goes away. Then add tumeric powder, chilly powder and cut mango pieces, add little water and allow it to boil. When it starts boiling nicely add the coconut paste and mix well, then add the fish pieces. Let it get cooked for few minutes, add curry leaves when nice aroma comes add fenugreek powder and remove from fire.

Serve with rice, chapathi.

Rice Noodles

Ingredients:
Noodles - Cooked Rice noodles - 1 bowl
Spring onion - 1 cup chopped
Carrot - 1/2 cup chopped
Chicken - 1 cup
Egg - 1
Ginger garlic paste - 1tbs
Soy sauce - 2tsp
Worcestershire sauce - 1tsp
Salt to taste
Butter or oil

Preparation:
Break the rice noodle and boil in water, when cooked, drain the water and keep aside. Boil the chicken adding ¼ tsp salt. Mean while chop carrot & spring onion and keep.

Heat butter in a pan, scramble the egg and keep separately. In the same pan add ginger garlic paste and sauté for some time. Then add carrot and sauté it followed by chicken and rice noodles. Add Soy sauce & Worcestershire sauce & mix well. Finally add spring onion & scrambled egg and remove from fire.

Serve with tomato ketchup or any other sauce.

Note: Worcestershire sauce contains salt, so when you add salt, taste and see & add accordingly

Mango Pickle

Ingredients:
Raw Mango – 4nos’s
Mustard seeds – 1tsp
Chili powder -3 tbs
Asafetida – 1 tsp
Vinegar - 2tbs
Salt as required
Oil Gingley oil (sesame )

Preparation:
Wash the Mangoes, wipe with a towel, cut into small pieces and keep aside.
Heat oil in a pan & add mustard seeds, when it splutters add asafetida and sauté for a minute or two. Then add the cut mangoes, chili powder, salt and mix well. Add the remaining oil, allow it to get cooked. Stir occasionally. Finally add vinegar, mix well and remove from fire.

Allow it to cool & transfer it in a container.

Strawberry Jam

Recipe from my Sister

Ingredients:
Strawberry - 2lb
Sugar - 2lb

Preparation:
Wash strawberry & dry with paper towel and put it in a bowl.Add sugar to it & keep it for 7 to 8 hrs. Sugar will get dissolved and red watery juice will be formed.

Take a pan & heat it. Add the strawberry & the dissolved sugar and cook on low heat. Keep stirring. When it gets cooked some froth will start coming, we have to keep removing that.

After sometime, it will start getting thick. When the water evaporates and it starts becoming sticky. Remove from Fire .

Let it cool for sometime and transfer it in a container.