Walnut & Dates Cake

Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 2 cups
Egg - 4
Butter – 1 ½ stick
Sugar - 2cups
Vanilla Essence - 2tsp
Baking powder - 3 tsp
Milk - 1/4 cup
Dates - 1 cup (I used baking dates)
Walnut - 1/2 cup
Salt - a pinch

Preparation:
Take a large bowl add butter and sugar into it and beat till smooth with cake mixer. Then add eggs and beat until fluffy. Sift flour, baking powder & salt and add to this along with milk, dates and walnut and vanilla essence. Blend all the ingredients to get a smooth batter. Preheat the oven to 350 degree c. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake. When it is done, remove cake from oven, and allow it to cool, cut into slices and serve.

Bell Pepper Rice

Ingredients:
Rice - 1cup - Basmati rice
Bell Pepper - Chopped 1 cup
Onion - 1/2 sliced
Egg - 1 or 2 (your choice)
Oil - 2 tbs
Salt as required

Preparation:
Cook the rice and keep aside.
Wash the bell pepper, and chop into small pieces.

Cut onion into thin slices. Heat oil in a pan, and sauté onion for few minutes, then add the chopped bell pepper and sauté it. Add salt now and mix well. Then break the eggs into it and scramble nicely. Finally add the cooked rice to it and mix well and remove from fire. Transfer to a plate and serve

Orange Cake

Ingredients:
All purpose flour – 2 cups
Egg - 3
Butter – 1 stick
Orange juice – ¾ cup
Sugar – 2 cups
Baking powder – 2 tsp
Vanilla essence – 2 tsp
Salt – a pinch
Orange Zest – 1 orange zest

Preparation:
Take a large bowl add butter and sugar into it and beat till smooth with hand or cake mixer. Then add eggs and beat until fluffy. Sift flour, baking powder & salt and add to this along with orange juice, zest and vanilla essence. Blend all the ingredients to get a smooth batter. Preheat the oven to 350 degree c. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake. When it is done, remove cake from oven, and allow it to cool. Then spread whipped cream on top and between layers and decorate with orange and serve.

Chocolate Sandwich

Ingredients:
Milk – ½ cup
Chocolate – 1 big ( I used Hershey's milk chocolate)
Butter - ½ stick
Bread – 4 slices
Preparation:
Take a deep bottomed vessel, pour milk and boil it. When it starts boiling, add the chocolate. When the chocolate melts, start stirring. When it thickens (like thick sauce), remove from flame and allow it to cool for sometime.

Meanwhile, grate some chocolate and butter and keep it aside.

Take the bread and apply the chocolate sauce on the bread. Keep one slice on top of the other. Take a pan, apply some butter and toast the bread.

After toasting the bread, decorate with grated chocolate and butter and serve.

Mango Lassi

Ingredients:
Yogurt – 1 cup
Mango – ¾ cup chopped mango (or) mango pulp
Sugar - 2 tbs. You can add more or less your choice
Milk - ¼ cup(optional)
Water – ½ cup

Preparation:
Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Keep it in refrigerator and serve chill. When you serve you can add ice cubes or add a scoop of ice cream on top if you want.
Note: If you want lassi to be thick or thin adjust the ingredients slightly more or less.

Chicken Stew

Ingredients:
Chicken – 1lb
Potato –2 medium sized
Onion - 2
Ginger - small piece
Green Chili – 4(slit lengthwise)
Cardamom - 5
Cloves - 3
Cinnamon - 2 stick
Coriander powder - 2tbs
Black pepper - few
Coconut milk thin - 1 1/2 cup
Coconut milk thick - 1/2 cup
Oil - 4 tsp
Salt as required

Preparation:
Wash chicken and potato nicely,peel the outer skin of the potato & cut into small pieces and keep aside. Heat oil in a pan on medium flame & sauté cinnamon, clove, black pepper & cardamom for 2 to 3 minutes. Add chopped onion, green chilly, ginger and fry until onion turns transparent. Then add potato and fry for few minutes. Now you can add coriander powder and salt followed by chicken pieces mix well reduce the heat and allow it to get cooked. When it is half done add thin coconut milk and cook for some more time. Finally add thick coconut milk, simmer the flame and leave it for a minute and remove from fire.

Serve with Rice, Chapathi, Appam.

Beetroot Halwa

Ingredients:
Beet root - 3No’s
Milk – 3 cups
Sugar 1 ½ cup
Ghee – 2 tbs
Cashew nut & Raisin – few

Preparation:
Wash the beetroot, peel of the skin and grate it nicely. Take a large pan, pour the milk into it and add the grated beetroot and cook on low flame. When the beetroot is cooked add sugar and keep stirring. When it starts getting thick add ghee and mix well. Mean while roast cashew and raisin by adding little ghee and keep aside. When the beetroot starts leaving the sides garnish with cashew & raisin and remove from fire.

Allow it to cool and serve. This is the best way to make kids eat who don’t like vegetables.

Note: Make sure that you add sugar only after the beetroot is cooked because sugar will not allow beetroot to get cooked.

Aval Vilayuchathu

Ingredients:
Aval - 2cups
Jagery - 1/4 cup (I used jagery powder)
Coconut - 1/4 cup
Water - 4 tbs
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Raisin - few
Sesame - 1/4 tsp (This is optional)

Preparation:
Take a pan add jagery and water to it, bring it to boil on low heat to make syrup. Meanwhile take a bowl put aval into it and sprinkle some water and mix well and keep, this will make the aval soft.

Add the grated coconut to the syrup and saute. Then add the aval and cardamom powder and mix it well until the aval is coated nicely with the syrup. Add raisin and remove from fire. Allow it to cool and then serve.

This is nice evening snack.

Ethapazham Halwa (Plantain Halwa)

Ingredients:
Plantain - 3 No's (Nicely riped)
Sugar - 1 1/4 cup
Water - 1 cup
All purpose flour -2tbs
Ghee -1/4 cup
Nuts -1/4 cup

Preparation:
Steam the banana's and remove the outer skin & the black layer inside. Mash the bananas nicely with hand or make it to a paste in food processor/blender.

Take a large pan, add cup of water to it and boil, when it starts boiling nicely, add the mashed banana and sugar and keep on stirring. When it starts to boil and starts becoming thick add ghee little by little followed by all purpose flour by mixing it in water. Keep on stirring the mixture. When attains a thick consistency ghee will start to ooze out. At this stage add nuts mix well and remove from fire and pour into a greased pan. Allow it to cool and cut into desired shapes.

Peach Pulisery

Source: My sister

Ingredients:
Peach – 3 No’s
Grated coconut - ½ cup
Yogurt – 2 cups
Water - 1 cup
Green chili – 2 No’s
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Red chili powder – ¼ tsp
Curry leaves – 1twig
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Cumin - ½ tsp
Salt & oil as required

Preparation:
Wash and peel the outer skin of the peach and cut into chunky pieces, if its small peach then you can just add whole peach.

In a pan add one cup of water and put peach, chili powder, turmeric powder, green chili, salt and cook till peaches are cooked and it becomes little thick. Grind coconut into a fine paste using little water and add to the peach mixture, stir and cook in low flame until it starts to boil, you can see some bubbles in the edges. Blend yogurt & cumin and add in the mixture and simmer for one or two minutes and remove from fire.

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and when mustard splutters add curry leaves and fry. Add this to the peach gravy and mix well.

Serve with rice. You can have papad, potato fry along with this. It will be a nice combination

Varutharacha Kozhi curry

Ingredients:
Chicken – 1 whole chicken
Onion – 2 medium size
Grated coconut – ¾ cup
Garlic – 10 pods
Ginger – small piece
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Roasted Coriander & Chili powder - 2 tbs
Curry leaves – 2 twigs
Salt and oil as required

Preparation:
Cut the chicken into small pieces, wash nicely and keep aside. Grate the coconut and fry in a pan until brown and grind it to fine paste. In the same pan add the chopped onion, ginger, garlic and sauté until raw smell goes away. Add the roasted coriander chili powder, turmeric powder, salt and chicken, mix well and cook until the chicken gets cooked. Finally add the ground coconut and cook for few minutes. Add the curry leaves and remove from fire.

Server with Chappathi, steamed rice, bread, parotta

Beet leaf thoran

Ingredients:
Beet leaves - 1 bunch
Grated coconut - 2tbs
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 twig
Salt & Oil

Preparation:

Wash the beet leaves nicely and finely chop the leaves along with the stem into small pieces.

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add the beet leaves red chili, turmeric powder, salt and saute and cover with the lid. Do not add any water. Once the leaves get cooked add grated coconut and curry leaves and mix nicely. After few minutes remove from fire.

Serve with steamed rice.

Sarkara Varatiya/Upperi - Plantain fry in jagery syrup

Ingredients:
Plantain - 3Nos (Raw)
Jagery Syrup - 3/4 cup
Cardamom Powder - 1tsp
Ginger Powder - 1 1/2 tbs
Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp
Sugar (I used brown sugar) - 1 tbs
Oil for frying

Preparation:
Peel the outer skin of the banana, and cut into small thick pieces. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry them on low heat until they become golden brown and crispy.

Mean while make the jagery syrup. Add little water to the jagery and heat it up to make syrup, when the syrup starts becoming sticky consistency add cardamom powder, ginger powder and cumin powder and mix well and remove from fire. Now add the fried banana pieces to this and stir nicely so that he jagery gets coated well. Leave it for 2 to 3 minutes and then sprinkle sugar. When the sugar gets coated nicely, allow it to cool and sore it in an airtight container.

Egg Rice

Ingredients:
Rice (I used basmati rice) – 1 Cup
Egg – 2 Nos
Onion – 1 small
Tomato - 1 small
Bay leaves – 3
Cinnamon – 1 stick
Cardamom – 3 Nos
Curry leaves – 1 twig
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Red chili powder – ¼ tsp
Salt and oil as required

Preparation:
Wash the rice nicely, cook and keep aside.
Chop onion and tomato into small pieces. Heat a pan adding required oil and put bay leaves, cinnamon and cardamom. Then add the chopped onion and sauté for a while, when the onion starts changing its color add tomato pieces to it. Now you can add salt, red chili powder and turmeric to it. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes until tomato gets cooked, then break the eggs into it and scramble nicely. Finally add the cooked rice to it and mix well and remove from fire. Transfer to a plate and serve.

You can have pickle/ salad as side dish.

Oatmeal Payasam

Ingredients:
Oatmeal - 1/2 cup
Milk - 4 to 5 cups
Brown sugar - 1 cup (if you want it sweeter then add an extra 1/4 cup)
Ghee/Butter - 2tbs
Raisin & Cashew nut - Few
Cardamom - 5 Nos

Preparation:
Heat a pan, add one tbsp of ghee fry cashew nuts and raisins and keep aside. In the same pan, pour the milk and later when the milk is about to boil add the oatmeal and keep stirring, allowing it to cook. When it starts getting thick add brown sugar and cardamom powder or whole cardamom. Finally garnish with raisins and cashew nuts and remove from fire. Allow it to cool and then serve.

Note: Don’t reduce the quantity of milk as it will become very thick. If you want you can add extra ½ cup of milk.

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.