Broccoli Potato mix in coconut..

Potato 6, pressure cooked, peeled and chopped into 1cm. cubes. Frozen chopped broccoli, 1 lb., onion large 1, chopped, garlic cloves 7, finely chopped, salt to taste.
 Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp., grated coconut 2 cups, cumin powder 1/2 tsp., gently squeeze the powders and the coconut with hand and keep aside.
Coconut oil 2 tbsp., black gram splits 1 tbsp., mustard seeds 1 tsp., dried red chilli 2, broken into 2 each, curry leaf a sprig.
Heat oil in a shallow wok, drop black gram splits, allow to brown, drop in mustard seeds, allow to splutter, add dried chilli and curry leaves. Add onion and garlic, sauté till tender, drop in frozen broccoli, combine well, add salt to taste. When broccoli is tender add potato, combine well. Saute the mix, add coconut mix, combine well, adjust salt. Transfer into a serving bowl. Serve with rice or chapatti.

Traditional Mayan Dishes at Merida, Mexico.

In a Traditional Mayan Restaurant

 Merida is a cultural city in Mexico. The tropical country resembles to our country India.

Mayan Chicken Fajita

 In the restaurant we got a feel of our grandma's home. The love and care made us eat more. Truly delicious.

Mayan Chicken Soup

Mayan Beef Fajita

Mayan Chicken

A little foodie news in the Cruise...

The cruise

 Lot of delicious food in the cruise. It was a five day cruise. All of us were very happy. But when we got an offer that if we need something of our own taste we all jumped in joy. Then the next four dinner was with our own delights such as chicken biryani, chicken curry, beef fry, fish curry, fish fry, sambar, thoran, pulissery, raita, papadum, pickles, jeera rice and shallot rice.

Ready for dinner at the cruise

 The lucky part was the manager, Raj, and one of the chef, Jojo, was from our 'God's own State' Kerala, India. The main chef, Alapadi Rao, was also Indian. The dinner part was a real lottery to us. Thanks to the team.

Kerala fish curry meals at the cruise

Delicious food at Mr Sanchos, Cozumel, Mexico.

It was a great feast we had at Mr Sancho's, Cozumel, Mexico.

Sea food was the highlight for me. The whole fish fry rated the top by me. The sea food taste the fresh catch. The platters were highly nutritious and well balanced. The dishes cater our individual taste. I wish to be once more time at this beautiful beach resort.

Beef fajita

Chicken fajita

Grilled tiger prawns

Shrimp Quesada

Grilled Barramundi fillet

Coconut Shrimp

Whole fish fry

Chicken mint biryani

Whole chicken 1, cut into medium pieces. Onion 2, garlic cloves 7, ginger 3 inch piece, all thinly sliced, lemon juice 1/4 cup, salt to taste, mint leaves 2 handful, finely chopped, bay leaves 7, cinnamon sticks 4, biryani masala 2 tbsp. Combine all the ingredients and keep for two hours. Pressure cook for 2 whistle. Allow to cool down. Take the chicken pieces and keep aside.
Basmati rice 21/2 cups, see the balance chicken juices in the cooker and make it to five cups and cook the rice in pressure cooker for a whistle. Allow to cool down and mix with chicken pieces, serve hot with pickles and papadum. Very easy to prepare, no extra oil needed. Tasty and healthy.

Tapioca mutter stew

Tapioca 2 kg., peeled, cubed into 2 inch pieces, cooked in enough water with salt. Drained out the water and keep aside.
Onion 2, cubed, garlic cloves 12, sliced, ginger 4 inch piece, thinly sliced, green chilli 7, silted, bay leaves 7, cinnamon stick 4 inch piece, cardamom 2, salt to taste. Cook the ingredients in a cup of water and add frozen green peas 2 cups, allow to cook, then add cooked tapioca into the mix. Combine well, add 3 cups of coconut milk. Mix well and allow to bubble. Garnish with chopped spring onion. Excellent with chapatti, appam and idiyappam.
This was prepared in connection with a vegetarian dinner.

Veppilakatty (Curry leave chutney)

Curry leave separated and cleaned eight handfuls, dried red chilli 25, shallots 12, thinly sliced, black gram splits 2 tbsp., white rice 2 tbsp., tamarind a gooseberry size ball, salt to taste, grated coconut 10 cups. Dry fry all these ingredients in a pan till golden colour. Add 2 tsp. of hing powder into the mix. Combine well and
allow to cool. Grind in a mixer. Chutney is ready. Can store in room temperature for a month.
Excellent with rice along with yogurt and papadum.
Good for dosai and idly.

Moringa leaves in grated coconut

Moringa leaves 3 handful, cleaned, washed and strained.
Finely grated coconut 1 cup, turmeric and cumin powder 1/2 tsp. each. Combine these ingredients and squeeze with hand and keep aside.
 Onion 1, garlic cloves 4, both finely chopped, coconut oil 2 tbsp., mustard seeds 1/2 tsp., dried chilli 2, broken into 2 each.
Heat oil in a shallow pan, drop in mustard seeds and dried chilli, allow the seeds to splutter, add moringa leaves, sauté it till tender and cooked. Add coconut mix, combine well, adjust salt. Serve with rice.
Grow drumstick plant in your backyard and enjoy this delicious and nutritious dish.

Moringaleaves and Dal

Moringa leaves ( drumstick plant leaves ), two handful, turmeric powder 1/3 tsp., salt to taste, coconut milk 1/2 cup, coconut oil a tbsp.
Moong Dal splits 1/2 cup, onion small 1, garlic cloves 3, both chopped, pressure cook the ingredients in a cup of water with salt to taste and keep aside to cool down. When pressure is gone add drumstick leaves, turmeric and salt into it, combine well and cook in low flame. When cooked add salt to taste and coconut milk. Allow to bubble. Add coconut oil and serve with cooked rice or chapatti.
So easy to prepare and nutritious with vitamin A, iron, minerals and proteins. Also rich in fibre.

A fresh salad for Lunch

Purple and white cabbage, carrot, jicama , sliced thinly 1 cup, sprouts of baby broccoli few, blue berries half handful, strawberry 3, quartered, honey 1 tbsp., salt a pinch. Combine well and have it for lunch twice a week. The crunchy, fluffy, sweet and sour taste is awesome.

Carrot egg Omlette

 Hen's egg 2, grated carrot 1/2 cup, shallot paste, garlic paste 1/2 tsp. each, salt to taste.
Whisk all the ingredients in a bowl. Heat a pan, brush with ghee, pour the egg mix and prepare the omelette. Kids love this fluffy omelette and we can assure the veggies in kid's meal. Try with different vegetables like grated zucchini, chopped spinach, grated cabbage etc.
Our grandchildren love this omelette. Please try and enjoy!

Red chilli Salmon curry

Salmon cubes 4 lbs., shallots 12, ginger 3 inch and garlic cloves 5, both finely chopped.
Kashmiri chilli powder 3 tbsp., turmeric powder 1/2 tsp., coriander powder 3 tsp., fenugreek powder 1/3 tsp., coconut oil 2 tbsp., salt to taste, gamboge 12 cloves soaked in 2 cups of water, scallion 3 sprigs, chopped. Coconut milk 2 cups.
Heat oil in a wok, drop in onion, garlic and ginger, sauté till tender, add the curry powders, salt and sauté for 30 seconds and the gamboge along with the water, allow to boil and add the fish pieces, one by one, allow to boil and cook. Swirl the wok frequently to mix the contents. Add the coconut milk, allow to bubble, garnish with scallion and serve with hot white rice.

Cabbage and Sweet Pepper with grated coconut

Cabbage large 1,  red sweet peppers 6, onion 2, garlic cloves 10, ginger 2 inch, all finely chopped. Scallion a stalk, chopped.
Grated coconut 2 cups, turmeric powder 1tsp., chilli powder 1 tsp., salt to taste. Squeeze with hand the ingredients and keep aside.
Coconut oil 4 tbsp., curry leaf 2 sprigs, urd dal 2 tbsp., mustard and cumin seeds 1 tsp. each, dry red chili 2, broken into 2 each.
Heat oil in a wok, drop in urd dal, sauté till light brown, drop in mustard and cumin seeds, allow to splutter, drop in red chilli pieces and curry leaves followed by onion, garlic and ginger, sauté till aroma spreads and add cabbage. Sauté till it is tender and add sweet pepper. Combine well, add salt to taste. Add the coconut mix to the veggies, mix well, adjust salt and allow to remain in low flame for two minutes. Garnish with scallion chops. Combine well and serve with hot rice and plain yogurt.

A grand feast for dinner....

 A grand dinner for our abroad friends with some of our delicious Indian dishes.

Dishes of spicy prawn from extreme left to chicken biryani in the extreme right

My daughter invited her friends  of her office team and their families . We were with her in USA for a short stay. She gave me the menu to get ready for the eve. It was a cross section of dishes of South India. Cooking is my passion. I love to treat our loved ones with delicious food. There are spice lovers and non spice friends. So I need to prepare accordingly.
Appetizers were Samosa with mint chutney, Dal vadai, Masala Dosai with coconut chutney and Chicken sausages. We had our snacks outside in our deck. So no photographs. Sorry for that. At 8.30pm we all came inside to have the grand dinner. When they saw the display, started to take photographs. after getting the pictures I thought to share in my blog.
The dishes were
 Appam with Lamb stew and Mint egg.
 Tapioca mix with Fish curry.
 Chicken biryani with Cucumber raita, Mango pickle and Papadum.
Plain rice with Yogurt yam curry, Chicken vindaloo, Cabbage in grated coconut, Plain yogurt and Prawn fry, (both spicy and non spicy)
Kid's dinner was Pizza, Garlic bread and Chicken wings.
To our surprise majority enjoyed the dinner with sharing the recipe. Spice lovers had chicken vindaloo and the spicy prawns. It was a great evening to have them as our guest to taste our food. Thank you all for spending a lovely and beautiful evening with us and Good luck!!!

Happy Ona Sadhya

Ona Sadhya with all items

2016 Onam for us was in USA. Thiruonam was on Wednesday, so a working day. Our daughter and son in law both were working. Son in law is working in another State and so he was not able to come home. We made a plan to celebrate Onam. If there are some one to enjoy we can prepare Sadhya. Invited friends from our daughter's office for lunch and our Ona Sadhya was really grand.
Thank you all our friends and your family for making this Onam delicious and great.
I prepared twenty five items and were served in banana leaves in our traditional style. Each curry on rice has it's own sides to go. Since our invitees were not Malayalees it was a great pleasure for us to explain the way of having Sadhya. The due interest to learn and enjoy the Sadhya by our guest really thrilled us. We were really honoured and blessed with your presence for making our Onam in USA beautiful. Thank you, my dear daughter for making the event great and grand.


Happy Onam

A lovely Salad

Mango (less sour) 1, cucumber 1, carrot 2, sweet peppers 3, (orange, yellow and red colours), all sliced thinly. Lemon juice 3 tbsp., honey 2 tbsp., salt to taste.
Combine well. Lovely dish to substitute even lunch.
If you prefer add some fruits or nuts like almonds/ cashews/ raisins.

Simple Mediterranean Biryani with chicken

This simple lunch we had in the food court at Abu Dhabi during our transit stay to USA. I love biryani. So grab this simple Mediterranean  biryani.
Our biryani is a whole dish with chicken and rice with beautiful taste of our own spices and condiments.
Here it is totally different. The rice was so soft and scented with saffron. Of course the rice was slender and correctly cooked.
The chicken curry was too mild. Because of the light sauce in the curry it went well with the rice. Pickle and papadum doesn't seems to be an essential items as in Kerala biryani. Even though I can't rate it equal to our biryani the plus point was it is so good while travelling with the required spices and condiments.
 I loved it and hope can have it in my return trip.

Carrot with scallions

Carrot 2 lbs., grated, Onion 1, grated, garlic cloves 4, finely chopped, turmeric powder 1/2tsp., chilli powder 1/2 tsp., grated coconut 1 cup, coconut oil 1 tbsp., red chilli 2, mustard seeds 1 tsp., urd dal( black lentil splits) 2 tbsp., cumin seeds 1/2 tsp., salt to taste, scallions 2 stalks, chopped.
Heat oil in a pan, drop in urd dal, allow to fry, add mustard and cumin seeds, allow to splutter, add red chill followed by onion and garlic. Sauté till tender, add turmeric and chilli powder, add carrot and combine well. Allow to cook in low flame, add salt and coconut. Mix well. Adjust salt. Add scallion and again mix well. Serve with rice.

Green veggies in coconut oil

Baby broccoli a bunch, snow peas a handful, asparagus a bunch, all sliced, onion 1, garlic cloves 6, both thinly sliced, coconut oil 2 tbsp., salt to taste.
Heat oil in wok, drop in onions and garlic, sauté till tender, add the veggies and salt combine well and allow to cook in medium flame. When cooked serve with rice, grilled fish or chicken.

Mushroom and snowpeas in a curry

Button mushroom 1lb., sliced, snow peas a handful, sliced, onion 1, ginger garlic paste 1 tsp., salt to taste, coconut oil 3 tbsp., chicken masala 1tbsp., coconut milk 1/2 cup.
Heat oil in wok, drop in onion, sauté till tender, add mushroom and snow peas, sauté till tender, add ginger garlic paste, salt and chicken masala, sauté till aroma spreads. Add 1/4 cup boiling water, allow the veggies to get cooked. Add coconut milk, allow to bubble, adjust salt and serve with chapatti.

Chicken vindaloo

Boneless chicken 2lbs. Marinate the chicken in salt and 1/2 tsp. turmeric powder and keep it refrigerate for an hour.
 Dried red chilli 10, garlic cloves 10, ginger 1 inch, shallots 10, cloves 6, cardamom 2, cinnamon stick 2 inch, pepper corns 12, cumin 1tbsp.,mustard seeds 1 tsp., salt to taste, vinegar 1/4 cup.
Soak the spices and condiments in the vinegar for about half an hour. Grind it and make a paste.
Coconut oil 1/4 cup. Heat oil in a shallow pan, add the spicy paste, sauté till aroma spreads. Add chicken pieces, combine well and allow to cook in medium and then low flame. When the juices from the chicken thickens and the oil starts to separate. it seem to be done. Adjust salt and serve with hot rice.
 

Simple Egg Roast

Eggs 8, boiled, peeled and silted.
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp., lemon juice 2 tbsp., salt to taste, red chilli 2, sliced diagonally, curry leaf 2 sprigs, coconut oil 1tbsp., garlic paste 1 tsp.
Heat oil in a pan, drop in curry leaves, allow to splatter, add salt, turmeric powder, red chilli and garlic paste. Sauté till aroma spreads out. Add the eggs, roll over, add lemon juice, roll over and over. Serve into a bowl. Garnish with the curry leaves and red chilli in the dish on the top to make the presentation beautiful. Excellent as an evening snack.

Brunch idea at a restaurant in Queensland

home made scones

 A delicious brunch we had at a mountain restaurant at QLD. It was a nice day when we started. After an hour we reached the beautiful reserve area, there it was raining. With our grandsons it was not possible for trekking. So what's next? Thought of spending some time having a chit chat. Then we found a family ran restaurant which serves homemade foods. Yes these are the dishes we had.


scone with jam and cream on it

With the fluffy cream and jam it was so delicious.


Steak

The steak was juicy and nicely cooked hot and crispy chips on lettuce leaves.

steak sandwich
 

The steak sandwich was a wholesome meal.
Kids all time favourite sausage roll was yummy. It was a great thing for me to taste all the western dishes.

sausage roll

Egg and Onion

Eggs 8, boiled and peeled, and silted, onion3, thinly sliced, curry leaf a sprig, pepper powder 1 tsp., salt to taste, coconut oil 2 tbsp.
Heat oil in a pan, drop in curry leaves, onion and salt, sauté till tender add pepper powder and eggs.
Sauté till eggs are light brown here and there.
Excellent delicious dish with breakfast.

Soul Food for a Feast....Kerala vegetarian Sadya.

This is a Kerala Onasadya prepared at Australia for our friends. Ready to serve.
The items from extreme right to left going on a zigzag way are Moong Dal curry ( parippu), Beetroot in yogurt(pachadi), Avial( mixed veggies), Sautéed beans(mizhukkupuratti), Sambar, ( Toordal veggie curry), ginger curry,(inchikoottan), pulissery, ( yogurt), Okra in yogurt,(vendakka pachadi), palada pradhaman,( rice flakes kheer), banana coated with jaggerry, ( sarkarapuratti),little gourd in coconut,(kovakka thoran, Rasam, mango pickle, lime pickle, cooked rice, pappadum, banana chips and parippu pradhaman(moong dal kheer).
  We serve this in banana leaves in Kerala. But served on plates because there were no banana leaves.

Cabbage with scallions

Cabbage small 1, onion 1, garlic cloves 3, ginger 1 inch piece, all grated, salt to taste, scallions 4 stalks, chopped.
Coconut oil 2tbsp., salt to taste, turmeric powder 1/2 tsp., mustard seeds 1/2 tsp., urd dal (black lentils) splits 2 tbsp., dried red chilly 2, broken into 2, grated coconut 1 cup.
Heat oil in pan, drop in mustard seeds, allow to splatter, add red chilly, add urd dal, allow to fry, add the grated veggie mix and salt, sauté till tender, add coconut, combine well and add scallions, reduce flame allow to remain for 3 more minutes. Serve with rice.

Sauteed zucchini with onin and scallions

Zucchini 2, cut into small pieces, onion 1 sliced, scallion 3 stalks, chopped, salt to taste, coconut oil 2 tbsp.
Heat oil in pan, drop in onion, sauté till tender, add salt and zucchini, sauté till cooked, add scallions, combine well and allow to remain in low flame for 3 minutes. Serve with rice.

Suateed Okra and capsicum

Okra a handful, split half and cut into 2 inch lengthwise, red capsicum 1,  onion small 1, garlic cloves 3, all thinly sliced, salt to taste, coconut oil 2 tbsp.
Heat oil in a pan, drop in onion and garlic, sauté till tender, add salt and okra, sauté till tender, add capsicum, sauté till cooked. Serve with rice.

Carrot cucumber salad in lemon juice

Salad cucumber 2, carrot 2, both chopped, cilantro chopped, half handful, lemon juice 3 tbsp., chilly paste 1 tsp., salt to taste.
Combine the ingredients and serve. Have it before lunch or if you prefer can substitute for lunch. Can serve along with lunch too.

Snapper wrapped in banana leaf

 Snapper fillets, 600 grams.
Pepper powder 2tsp., lemon juice 50ml., salt to taste, ginger and garlic paste 2 tsp. each. Mix the ingredients, marinate the fish and refrigerate for 2 hours. Heat 2 tbsp. coconut oil in a pan and light brown both sides and keep aside.
Onion 2, garlic 6 cloves, ginger 2 inch piece, tomato 2, all finely chopped. Coconut oil 3 tbsp., chilly powder 2 tsp., salt to taste.
Heat oil in a pan, drop in onion, garlic and ginger, sauté till tender, add tomato, sauté till tender, add salt and chilly powder, sauté till cooked. Add fish pieces and cover with the thick gravy.

 Cut banana leaves into medium pieces. Stew the leaves. On the leaves place the fish piece with gravy. Wrap each pieces and tie up with banana strings.

 Heat a frying pan, place the wraps and fry both sides.
Serve with rice and vegetable salad. The flavour of the banana leaf is so nice and to have rice in the leaf is very delicious. It is a traditional and ethnic way of cooking.