Cherupayar Stew

Finally … here i’m with my posts after a long break..thank you guys again for not losing the patience.

I’m almost settled in my new place,but haven’t started much cooking.Anyways I’ve found some recipes in my draft which i dont want to miss.These are the recipes which i’ve tried from my dear fellow bloggers.

This cherupayar stew is adapted from RP’s workshop and i must say it tasted great with puttu.Thanks RP.

Ingredients :-

Whole Moong Dal(Cherupayar) – 1/2 cup
Grated coconut -3/4 cup (You can use unsweetened coconut powder available in Indian stores)
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds (Jeerakam) – 1/2 tsp
Green chillies – 4 (Use it according to your spice level)
Shallots(Ulli) – 2 or 3
Oil – as needed
Salt – to taste

For popping :
Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Red Chillies – 2 or 3

Method:-

Cook moong dal in a pressure cooker adding salt and just enough water, until it turns soft.Now grind together coconut,cumin seeds,green chillies and shallotsto a smooth paste.Add one cup of water and grind it again.Now extract the coconut milk using a sieve.Add this extracted coconut milk into the cooked moong dal and let it boil in a medium flame.Simmer for 2 more minutes and switch off the stove.

Now heat oil in another pan and pop mustard seeds,curry leaves and red chillies.Pour the seasonings into the curry.Mix and serve hot.

Achaari Baingan

This one is for my love of  eggplants, and it is taken from Ashwini’s Food For Thought.Try out this and i must say you’ll fall in love with this.Thank you dear Ashwini.

Ingredients :-

Eggplant diced – 1 large
Cumin seeds (Jeerakam)– 1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds (Perumjeerakam) – 1 tsp
Nigella/Kalonji – 1/2 tsp
Tomatoes chopped – 3 medium sized
Ginger-Garlic paste – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Red Chilly Powder – 1 tsp
Coriander Powder – 1 tbsp
Salt – to taste
Oil – as needed

Method :-

Put the eggplant in a bowl of cold water,wash them and drain the water.Then pat dry them with a towel.
Heat oil in a pan and fry them in medium heat until they turn reddish brown.(Ashwini says that pan frying eggplants doesn’t make much difference in taste,even though the original recipe calls for deep frying method.And I too did pan frying here, following Ashwini.)You can fry them in bataches if the pan cannot hold them together.Drain them into a a tissue paper.

Heat another pan and add little oil into it.When hot,add cumin seeds and allow it to splutter.Now add nigella seeds and fennel seeds and fry for a while.Then add chopped tomato and ginger-garlic paste and saute for a minute.Add coriander powder,turmeric powder,chilly powder and salt and stir well.Cook it for 3-4 minutes
or until gravy thickens.Add the fried eggplant into the gravy and mix gently.Simmer for 1 more minute, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis.

Blueberry Muffins

Now some freshly baked muffins from Elise’ Simply recipes.This recipe is very simple and definitely a keeper.

Ingredients:-

Blue berries – 1 and 1/2 cups
All purpose flour – 3 cups + 1 tbsp(only if using frozen blueberries)
Baking powder – 1 tbsp
Baking Soda -1/2 tsp
Unsalted butter softened – 10 tbsp
Sugar -1 cup
Eggs – 2 large
Plain Yogurt – 1 and 1/2 cup
Lemon peel grated – 1 tsp
Salt – 1/2 tsp

Method:-

Preheat oven to 375°F.Take a bowl, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy.Now add one egg,beat it and add the other.Beat it again until they are well incorporated.Now beat in grated lemon peel.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.Add 1/2 of the dry ingredients to the beaten egg-sugar mixture,and beat it until just incorporated.Now beat in one third of yogurt ,beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients,beat in second third of yogurt,beat in remaining dry ingredients and then the remaining yogurt.Do not over beat, beat it until they are just incorporated.Fold in the blue berries.If you are using frozen berries, defrost them first, drain the excess liquid, and then dust them in 1 tbsp of flour.

Coat a standard muffin pan with vegetable oil sprays or butter and distribute the muffin dough equally among all cups.Bake until muffins are golden brown,about 25 to 30 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted at the centre comes out clean.Allow it to cool for 5 minutes,remove from the pan and serve hot.

Hariyali Murg

This is my second entry to GBP Summer 2007 event hosted by Deepz,featuring mint leaves from my patio garden.This recipe is adapted from Kodali’s kitchen,its a chicken dish that posess a strong minty flavour with an appealing bright green color.

Ingredients:-

Chicken cut into small pieces – 1 kg
Red onion sliced  – 2 medium sized
Garam masala powder – 1tsp
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Bayleaf – 1
Salt – to taste
Oil – as needed

To prepare marinade :
Poppy seeds – 1 tsp
Green chillies – 10 – 15(use according to your spice level)
Fresh grated coconut – 2 tspn
Ginger Garlic paste -1 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Mint leaves – 10 – 15
Coriander leaves -a small bunch

Grind all these together to make a fine paste and keep it aside.

Method:-

Add salt to the prepared marinade,mix well and marinate the chicken pieces for 1 hr preferably in a refrigerator.Heat oil in a pan, add bayleaf and curry leaves into it.Fry it for few seconds and add the onions, fry  until it turns into a golden brown color.Now add the chicken pieces and fry till oil seperates.Check for the salt and add around 1 cup of water and cook until the gravy becomes thick.Finally add garam masala powder and simmer for few more minutes.Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice/rotis.

Cracked Wheat Mango Cake

Here’s another recipe which i’ve tried out recently.I found this in Krishna & Arjuna’s World and this seems very innovative and interesting to me.Somehow I messed up my first attempt and cracked wheat didn’t cook well . So next time I didn’t want to take a risk and so precooked the wheat before mixing it with the other ingredients.The cake came out pretty well and i loved every single bite of it especially with that mango sauce as a topping.

Thanks again to Krishna & Arjuna.

Ingredients:-

For Cake:

Cracked Wheat cooked until water is absorbed- 3/4 cup
Egg whites – Of 3 large eggs
Granulated Sugar – 1/2 cup
Unsalted Butter(In room temperature) – 1 stick
Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp
Baking Powder – 1 tsp
Mango Pulp – 1 cup
Almonds chopped – 1 tbsp

For Mango Sauce :

Mango Pulp – 1/2 cup
Sugar – 3 tbsp
Water – 3 tbsp

Method:-

Preparing the Cake :

Beat together egg whites and sugar untill it gets fluffy.Add rest of the ingredients and mix well.Preheat oven to 350 degrees and pour the cake mixture into a greased pan.Bake it for approx 30 min or until a tooth pick inserted at the centre comes out clean.Allow it to cool well,cut into squares and serve with mango sauce.

Preparing Mango Sauce :

Heat sugar and water in a pan until the sugar is melted,add mango pulp into it,mix well and switch off the heat.Allow it to sit for few minutes.Mango sauce is ready to be served.Pour a spoon full of sauce over the cake piece,decorate with almonds and serve.

Note :Krishnarjuna suggests ricotta cheese or yogurt instead of butter for a lower fat version.