Chemmeen Biryani a.k.a Kerala Prawns Biryani

One of the advantages of living in the coastal band of India is fresh seafood at cheapest price. For hardcore seafood lovers like me, this is also the factor that gives us the courage to bear and live through the perennial humid summers of South. And the situation gets even better when you do not have to slog much going to mid-week and Sunday markets to buy your portion but all you got to do is to step out of your kitchen door to buy your pick from the fish lady. Ah, how convenient it is!

Well, the lady here comes every Tuesday and Friday and she comes loaded with prawns and other seafood varieties. For this reason, by now I must have tried making prawns biryani some 4-5 times. Yesterday I wanted Pradeep to buy coconut on his way back home for making cherupayar curry and as soon as he reached home he asked me in a very (cute) excited way "Why did you want me to buy coconut? Are you cooking prawns". Unfortunately I had to let him down yesterday but offered him prawns biryani today for lunch. I have kept my word and now hungry and waiting for him to show up.

This recipe is adapted from here and I have twisted it to suit our taste preference. As mentioned already, I must have made this almost 4-5 times, and every time it tasted different but tasty. But there was one day I remember preparing it just for me and I am still trying to figure out what change I made that day, because it tasted just out of the world. I will have to keep perfecting this till the time I come across, may be you can call it a blunder, I committed the other day. :-)

Ingredients:

For the Rice

Basmati rice - 1 cup, washed, soaked for 15 minutes and drained

Ghee/oil - 2 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Juice  of 1/2 a lime (large)

Water - 2 cups

For the Prawns Masala

Prawns - 1/2 Kg, size as you prefer, cleaned, and de-veined, marinated at least 1 hour with salt, ginger, garlic and green chili mix along with chili powder and 2 tablespoons of curd

Whole spices - 1 teaspoon, mix of cardamom, cloves, cinamon, whole pepper and cumin seeds

Onion - 1, medium, thinly sliced

Curd - 3 tablespoon

Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon

Coriander leaves - a few springs

Mint leaves - a few springs

Pepper powder - 1 teaspoon

Oil - 2 tablespoon

Biryani masala - 1 tablespoon

For Garnishing

Onion - 1 small, thinly sliced

You may also add cashews and fried grapes (I personally do not prefer these in my rice)

Preparation

1. In a deep wide mouthed pan, heat oil and add whole spices. To this add the marinated prawns and shallow fry it until cooked. Keep aside.

2. In the same pan, add ghee and add the drained rice. Fry in medium heat for 3-5 min. Add 2 cups of water, and salt, cover tight and cook until 80% done.

3. While the rice is cooking, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pressure cooker. Add the sliced onion (for prawns masala) and fry until almost brown. Add coriander powder and pepper powder, followed by shallow fried prawns and curd; cook for 5 minutes. Add the herbs (coriander and mint leaves), mix well to combine. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl.

4. When the rice is 80% done, layer rice and the prawns masala in the pressure cooker (you can do this is a steamer too). Sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon biryani masala after the first layer and the other 1/2 tablespoon as a topping to the final layer. Squeeze the lime juice over it. Cover and cook in medium heat for  5-8 minutes. Remove from heat.

5. Open a few minutes before serving. For garnishing, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan and fry onions until crisp and brown. Spread this over the rice.

6. You may serve this with some meat gravy or raita. I personally enjoy biryani (of all variety) with some tasty pickle. :-)

Indian Tricolour Rice - Best January 26th Recipe Cook & Click Contest Entry for iFood.tv

By now I have repeated it many times that I do one of the coolest jobs - working for a food website and that too by operating from home! (I definitely cannot ask for more)

So recently my website arranged a cook and click contest for celebrating Indian Republic Day and this was my entry for the contest.

My humble attempt at using Indian Flag colors in a dish. Please find the recipe for Indian Tricolour Rice here. 

Velvet Cake with Cheese Spread Frosting (Pre-Valentine's Day Therapy)

Valentine's day is a beautiful concept; a day reserved to rediscover your love! But the day doesn't really mean much to me or we never celebrate it, as everyday together is a treat filled with mix of feelings and that itself is a celebration :-) 

However, this time, three days prior to the day, I decided to give Pradeep a pre-valentine's day therapy! Wondering what it means? Well, my plan was simple, let him do what he enjoys like watching his favorite soaps together, cricket and yes, never to miss out good food! 

- Day 1, February 11th, 2013, I made him with Mushroom Lasagna with Creamy Sauce for dinner and it was my first attempt at lasagna. It tasted superb but I added only 3 layers to see how it comes out and it definitely can be perfected and hence did not put up the pic or the recipe. 
- Day 2, February 12th, 2013, was his simple comfort food day. Andhra Sambar, Kerala Fish Fry and Andhra Pickle with plain steamed rice. He totally ended up licking his fingers!
- Day 3, February 13th, 2013, was more like an event round up I would day :-) I made this wonderful cake with even wonderful frosting for him, which we managed to finish off within few hours of making it. I have named it Velvet Cake with Cheese Spread Frosting, because the red color did not come out that evident. And another thing that makes this cake very special - this is my first frosting attempt !

Ingredients:

For the Cake -

Egg - 1 whole

Relish sugar - 6 tablespoon

Dark chocolate chips - 1/2 cup (optional)

Dry Ingredients

All purpose flour - 1 1/4 cup

Baking soda - 1/4 teaspoon

Baking powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Salt - 1/2 teaspoon

Cocoa powder - 1 tablespoon (I believe this is what meddled with the color. Use 1/2 tablespoon and see)

Wet Ingredients

Olive oil - 180 ml

Buttermilk - 120 ml (in room temperature)

Red food colouring - 1 tablespoon

White vinegar - 1/2 teaspoon

Vanilla extract - 1/2 teaspoon

For the Frosting - 

Cheese spread (softened) - 6 tablespoon (the original recipe called for cream cheese, which I did not have)

Salted butter (softened) - 50 gram

Vanilla extract - 1/4 teaspoon

Relish Sugar - 12 tablespoon

Preparation:

For the Cake

1. Sift together the dry ingredients.

2. In big enough mixing bowl, beat together sugar and egg until page and creamy in medium speed. This will take about 10 minutes.

3. To this add the wet ingredients one by one, beating to combine after every addition.

4. Add the sifted flour mix, in parts, beating well to combine. If using chocolate chips, add 1/4 cup and fold in at this stage.

5. Pre-heat over at 180 degree celcius. Line a square baking dish with butter paper and careful pour the cake batter into it. Shake the dish to allow the batter to even out. You may sprinkle some dark chocolate over the batter.

6. Bake in the over for 20 minutes.

For the Frosting

7. In a mixing bowl, mix together cheese spread, butter and vanilla extra using electric beater until well combined and creamy. To this add the powdered sugar and beat again to combine.

8. When the cake is ready and cooled, carefully spread a thick layer of frosting over it. Sprinkle with leftover chocolate chips (if using)

9. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours and enjoy with your valentine! :-P

Chicken Salami Spinach Breakfast Frittata

Frittata has always been my favorite - probably it was one of those weird sounding foreign dishes I got right at the first go or because of the ease of preparing it. To those who are new to this name - it is nothing but a glorified version of omelet! Yes, that simple it is!

During our Singapore days I used to experiment quite a lot with frittatas; mainly because Pradeep had to leave only around 8 AM and that gave me ample time to think and act. After shifting to Vizag, I hardly cook breakfast; well I am not to be blamed here but his working hours. Anyway, it has been a while since I cooked this dish at home and  breakfast being the best time to serve this, last week I attempted one. Or it could be that I was just waiting for the right set of ingredients to make another glorified version of this omelet! 

Yes, it definitely had all my favorites and here goes the list.

Ingredients:

Eggs - 2 lightly beaten

Potato - 1 large, thinly sliced

Carrot - 1 small, finely chopped

Capsicum - 1 small, finely chopped

Plum tomato - 8-10, halved

Chicken salami - 15-20 slices, cooked as per instruction

Spinach -  1 cup, leaves alone

Milk - 100 ml

Cheddar cheese - 1/4 cup grated

Pepper - 1/2 tablespoon

Italian herbs - 1/2 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Olive oil - 3 tablespoon

Preparation:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wide mouthed deep pan and dry roast carrots and capsicum with a pinch of salt until cooked but tender. Keep aside.

2. In the same pan, add rest of the oil to coat and place the sliced potatoes neatly so as to cover the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over it. Let it fry in medium heat.

3. When the potatoes are browned, mix together milk and eggs, pour over it.  Put the dry roasted veggies. Cover and cook until 3/4th cooked.

5. Arrange the cooked salami to top the frittata. Sprinkle the spinach leaves and plum tomatoes. Cover and cook until done the egg mixture is done.

6. Sprinkle cheese, pepper powder and Italian herbs to finish. Switch off when cheese has melted

7. When cooled, slice the frittata (it will look more like pizza) and enjoy with ketchup! 

Fusilli Pasta Soup

Call it best of both worlds - I love fusilli pasta and he loves tomato soup! Such a warming soup for a cold night :-)

Well, it has been 17 days since I posted something new here! That would be the 2nd longest break, since I tried putting together this blog. A lot has been happening and of late, I have not been cooking much, mostly because I was unwell and yes, as they say - all is well that ends well! As long as I am back and determined to keep the blog going, I will cook and click.

Today Pradeep has an official party to attend (I envy him whenever he gets to attend a party without me, coz I so miss good food!). The party would get over around 9 and he was kind enough to mention that he would be totally stuffed by the time he gets back home and that he would prefer a light dinner! Anytime! :-) I am so happy when I do not have to do elaborate cooking. Now what would that be? Soup definitely, but with what? I had a bit of fusilli pasta lying in my kitchen cupboard; that will not suffice me for any main dish. So I went ahead with my search for pasta soups and as usual bumbed into one, which apparently is an Italian favorite, called Zuppa. Yes the name definitely sounds interesting and the ingredients list is a lot more interesting, in the sense, it just uses very basic stuff that an avergae cooking enthusiast will easily have in her kitchen cupboard. Although I did not have 2 ingredients what the original recipe suggested, I think I could pretty well manage a tasty soup out of what I had.

I have spoken about my love for fusilli pasta; do not know if I admire the shape more or the end product after I cook it. It's been a while since I promised Pradeep a tomato soup, and it so happens that now is the time! :-)

Ingredients:

Fusilli pasta - 1 Cup
Onion - 1 small, roughly chopped
Garlic - 6 cloves, roughly chopped
Dried chilies - 2, roughly chopped
Olive oil - 2 tablespoon
Tomatoes - 2 medium, pureed
Fresh cream - 1 tablespoon
Italian herbs - 2 tablespoon
Freshly ground pepper - 1/2 tablespoon or as per taste
Salt to taste

Preparation:

1. In a mortar or blender, coarsely grind together the onion, garlic and chilies. Keep aside.

2. In a wide mouthed pan, heat olive oil in medium flame. Saute the groud mixture, add the tomato puree, pasta and about 4 cups of water. Increase to high and let it boil.

3. Once pasta is cooked, lower the flame to low, add the fresh cream, stirring to ensure the soup doesn't boil further. Cook for another 5 min

4. Add salt, pepper and the herbs; mix well to combine.

5. Serve warm as it is or if you may wish with homemade croutons.

100% Wholewheat Banana Bread

Bananas being the tropical fruit available all year round is a must entry in our weekly ration. Well, I can have it for a day or two in a week, but I am not too much of a fan to go bananas over bananas! :-) So often I make them into breakfast smoothies and whatever is left, I give it away to my maid. Yesterday again I came across the case of over ripe bananas and I was at a loss. I didn't want my maid feel that we dispose off everything that we do not want on her, so I sat and searched for some recipes using bananas. 

I have made banana bread/cake before and it turned out pretty well and I had something similar in mind this time as well. However, as I am deliberately trying to make healthier versions of my favorite dishes, I was quite adamant on finding a wholewheat banana bread recipe. To cut it short, I managed to find and bake one and this definitely is a keeper.

Ingredients

Ripe banana - 3 medium, sliced

Wholewheat flour -  1 3/4 cup + 4 tablespoon cocoa powder (I was falling short of 4 tablespoons from the box I keep my wheat flour and hence adjusted with cocoa powder and it did help)

Baking powder - 1 teaspoon

Baking soda - 1/4 teaspoon

Salt - 1/2 tablespoon

Olive oil - 1/4 cup

Brown sugar - 6 tablespoons

Egg whites - 2 

Yogurt - 8 tablespoons

Cinnamon powder - 1 teaspoon

Dark chocolate chips - few tablespoons for garnishing (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven at 180 degree Celsius. Line a loaf pan with butter paper and grease with olive oil

2. In a mixing bowl, beat together sugar and olive oil using an electric mixer, until well combined.

3. Add the eggs and beat to combine. Add bananas, yogurt and cinnamon powder. Mix well by beating using the mixer.

4. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add this to the mixing bowl in portions, beating to combine after every addition.

5. Transfer the batter to the loaf pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips and bake in preheat oven for 1 hr 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

6. Serve warm for breakfast or as snack.

Kodampuliyittu Varutharacha Njandu Curry (Crabs in Roasted Coconut & Kokum Gravy)

Seafood is definitely my favorite; particularly those cooked in Kerala style, I can go totally crazy and can keep having them in all 3 meals of the day. Talking about seafood reminded me of our trip to Korea. Pradeep was sweet enough to take me to South Korea for 8 days vacation in the wake of 2011. It even coincided with my birthday that year and although it was not pre-planned, given his convincing skills he made it sound like a birthday present too! (these men have their way to twist things the way they want.) As it was January, the places we visited were all snow clad and on some days the temperature even went to minus degree. For this reason most of the food they served were steamboat sorts. One fine day the guide took us to a specialty seafood steamboat restaurant and even we were excited. But when they actually unveiled the seafood spread, I and Pradeep sort of looked at each other because we were not familiar with anything we saw there on the table. Whatever I saw there was exotic and I felt ashamed to have been from a coastal city and settled in another that I have never seen half of the things from the ocean. There was a group which even tried live octopus and that was totally uncalled for. By the end of it all, we said bye-bye to the restaurant owner and the guide (no, we did not eat a thing) and walked up to the nearest 7-11 store bought a few cups of noodles and had our dinner. So my point was, when I say I love seafood, I do not mean the exotic kind!

Yesterday from the fish lady I bought crabs and anchovies. The crabs were just medium in size but I bought it. This was the 2nd time I was cooking crab curry; the first time it was too watery although it tasted good. This time again I was worried about the same issue because I did not have an earthen pot, because such dishes call for earthen pots so that the gravy reduces well and gives the right consistency. Anyway, I just went head following the recipe I saw here (minus the homemade garam masala part)

Before you even get started, preparation is a little elaborate, but the end result is well worth the time you spend. 

Ingredients:

For the curry

Crabs - 6 small or 4 large ones, cleaned and legs separated (I have no clue how to clean any of the seafood varieties including fish, my maid does it for me)

Onion - 1 medium, finely chopped (original recipe calls for shallots)

Green chilies - 3 large, sliced lengthwise

Ginger - 2 inch piece, crushed

Garlic - 6 cloves, crushed

Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Red chilly powder - 1 teaspoon

Ground pepper - 1 teaspoon

Salt - to taste

Kudampuli (kokum) - 5 pieces

Curry leaf -  1 spring

Garam masala - 1 teaspoon

For the roasted coconut mix

Coconut - 1 cup, grated

Onion - 1 medium, chopped

Curry leaf - 1 spring

Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Chilly powder - 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon

Cumin seeds - 1/4 teaspoon

Olive oil - 1 tablespoon

For tempering

Coconut oil - 2 tablespoon

Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Curry leaves - 6 leaves

Onion - 1 small, finely chopped

Dried chilies - 2, halved

Preparation:

1. In a pan heat olive oil and roast all ingredients for the roasted coconut mix. Start by adding the coconut, curry leaf and onions and stir fry it until the coconut turns brown and gives out a nice flavor. This will take about 10 min in medium heat. 

2. Add turmeric powder, chilly powder, coriander powder and cumin seeds and roast for another couple of minutes. Switch off and let this cool.

3. Heat up a heavy bottomed pot (earthen pot is ideal) and add the cleaned crabs along with legs (you can crack the legs for easy eating) chopped onions, green chilies, garlic, ginger, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, ground pepper, kudampuli, salt and curry leaf for making the curry.

4. Add water enough to cover the ingredients in the pot, bring to boil and cover and cook for nearly 10 minutes in medium heat.

5. In the meanwhile, grind the roasted coconut mix into a smooth paste with 5 tablespoons of water. 

6. Open the crab curry and add the roasted coconut and spice mix. Stir to combine, cover and cook for another 6 minutes.

7. Add the garam masala and let it cook open for another couple of minutes until the gravy thickens. Adjust salt and seasoning at this stage. Transfer to serving bowl when cooked.

8. Heat up coconut oil in a small pan. Splutter mustard seeds and add curry leaves, onions and chilies. When the onions are nicely browned, pour this over the cooked crabs.

9. Serve with steamed rice.