Potato Stew

Happened to see this special recipe in one of my old "Friday Recipe" collections and luckily the only vegetable remaining in my fridge was potato. This is a simple dish which goes well with Appam .
I am sending this to Sia's 'Ode to Potato'.

Ingredients

1 onion ,finely sliced
1 onion,finely chopped
2 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1" fresh ginger,finely chopped
2 cloves garlic.finely chopped
4 green chillies,finely chopped
1/2 tomato.finely chopped
2 potatoes,finely chopped
6 tbsp coconut milk powder
1 tsp pepper powder
4 tbsp oil
Salt,to taste
Method

Heat oil in a saucepan and fry sliced onion until brown.Drain and keep it aside.In the same oil, saute cloves, cinnamon, chopped onion,garlic,ginger and green chillies.When the onion is translucent add half the tomato.Stir for a minute and add potato and enough water .Allow the potato to cook. when the potatoes are done ,add coconut milk powder,pepper powder,fried onion and coriander leaves.Stir well to ensure that there are no lumps and serve hot with rotis,aapams or plain rice.

Baby Potato Fry

Today morning I got a call from my son’s Abacus teacher and inform me that today there is no abacus class. That was good news for me. Actually Thursday evening is only time to sit peacefully in front of computer as Friday and Saturday are holidays for my kids. I decided to use that time to post one recipe, But what to post? I scanned all my memory and got one .This I cooked on my lending time. That time I made lot of experiments on vegetarian items .This one also is the output of such an experiment. The original recipe is from Friday Magazine.

Ingredients

12 baby potatoes, boiled with salt and turmeric powder and peeled
1tsp mustard seeds
1tsp coriander seeds
6 red chilies
2tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp Bengal gram (chana dal)
Curry leaves, a few
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 cup finely chopped onion
1tsp ginger-garlic paste
2 tomatoes, chopped
6 tsp oil

Method

Heat 1 tsp oil in a wok and splutter mustard seeds. Add red chilies, coriander, chana dal, curry leaves and 1 tsp cumin seeds. Stir till chana dal is golden brown. Cool and coarsely grind. Keep aside.
Heat 2 tsp oil and sauté onion till soft and transparent. Add ginger-garlic paste, salt and tomato. Fry on slow heat till tomato is soft and it becomes a smooth mixture. Add ground masala and stir in potato. Gently mix to ensure that the masala coats the potato well. Keep aside for an hour. Heat oil and splutter remaining cumin seeds. Add potato along with the masala and sauté till the potato turns golden(I didn’t wait for that)..Serve hot with chapattis.

Chicken Mappas

I got this recipe from one of the old friday magazine .The orginal recipe was duck mappas and I made an experiment on chicken and comes out well.This goes well with chappathi , appam or boiled rice

Ingredients

1 Kg chicken
50 gms ginger, julienned
50 gms garlic , julienned
50 gms onion., julienned
50 gms shallots sliced
1 tsp garam masala
1tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp chilli powder
salt ,to taste
3 tbsp oil
1 cup coconut milk

Method

Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces.In a pan ,heat oil and saute ginger and garlic.Add the sliced shallots and julienned onion.Add chicken ,garam masala,vinegar,coriander powder,turmeric powder and chilli powder and mix well.Add a cup of water and leave to cook till the chicken is well done .Add coconut milk and allow it to boil for about five minutes.
Garnish with fried curry leaves.

Nut-and -chocolate Brownies

Ahhh,Easter Memories! For me that is not a single day celebration,the whole Holy Week,the week between Palm Sunday and Easter
Maundy thursday brings back memories of my cousins ,Aunt and Uncle,We all got together first in my house and celebrate the pesaha by cutting the Appam ,I remember my dad (elder person)used to cut that after prayer and dips that in Pesaha Paal(Jaggery Sauce) and gives to other members in the order of age.After that ,we all will go to Aunt's house and the same thing will repeat there.
Its the time of year again for Easter!My warm Easter wishes to all of you with a sweet choco treat !


Ingredients

300 gms dark chocolate
150 gms butter
3 eggs
250 gms Castor sugar
250 gms cashew nuts ,chopped
75gms flour
2tsp vanilla essence
25 gms cocoa powder

Method

Melt chocolate and butter in a pan.In a bowl ,beat sugar and eggs till sugar melts and combine with the chocolate butter mixture.Stir in chocolate and butter mix.Sift in flour and cocoa and add gradually to the mixture.Add cashew nuts and Vanilla essence.Bake in the oven at 150degree C for 35 minutes or until crisp on top.Leave to cool in the cake pan before cutting into blocks.These cookies can be frozen up to three months.
Note:-
Melt chocolate slowly , as overheating will ruin the flavour and the texture of the chocolate.
Avoid overheating:dark chocolate must never be heated at more than 49 degree C.
Never allow the water or steam to come in contact with melted chocolate,as it will stiffen the chocolate mixture.
Do not cover chocolate after it's been melted and while it's still warm,since the condensation will stiffen the chocolate.

Chocolate Brownie Hearts

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and all are running out to make something special...
There is an old saying"the best way to person's heart is thru the stomach" So my Choclate Brownie Hearts is a way to your heart.....
This recipe is from this week's Friday magazine and let it goes as a Valentine gift for all of you..>


Ingredients

100 gms each,butter and chopped dark choclate
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup each,plain flour and sifted coca powder
icing sugar,for dusting

Method

Prehear oven to 180 degree C/350 degree F.
Line a 24cm x 16cm baking pan with non-stick baking paper.
Place butter,choclate and caster sugar together in a small saucepan and stir over alow heat until melted and smooth.Remove to a bowl,cool slightly then beat in eggs until well combined.Add flour and coco powder and stir until well combined.Spoon into prepared pan,level the top and cook in the oven for 8-10 minutes until the edges are firm and the centre is just set.Cool completely in pan.Once completly cooled carefully remove brownie from pan and use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out four shapes for serving
Serve hearts dusted with icing sugar.

Tip:

To Achieve a perfectly strait line when dusting the heart with icing sugar use a piece of paper to cover one half of the heart and a steady hand ,then liberally dust.Carefully pull away paper.
Add a couple of handfuls of fresh raspberries to the brownie batter,then carefully fold through spooning into prepared pan.
Can add chopped nuts into it ,to make a wounderful taste.