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.