Banana & Chocolate Cream Pudding

Banana & Chocolate Cream Pudding 

 

AVIYAL

AVIYAL

Stuffed Chicken Makhin

Stuffed Chicken Makhin

KERALA STYLE PEARL FISH(KARIMEEN) FRY

KERALA STYLE PEARL FISH(KARIMEEN) FRY

Ingredients for Karimeen Pollichathu Recipe
Pearl fish(Karimeen)- I kg (4 to 5 nos) Black pepper(crushed) - 10 nos Button onions(Kunjulli) - 5 nos Whole red chillies(Kollamulaku) - 10 nos Ginger - ½" long Garlic pods - 1 no Turmeric powder - ½ tsp Red chilly powder - 1 tbsp Salt - As reqd Curry leaves - 2 stalks Coconut oil - 1 cup Aluminium foil - A roll For the Gravy: Button onions(Kunjulli) - 1 cup Red chilly powder - 1 tsp Salt - As reqd Curry leaves - 2 stalks
Preparation Method of Karimeen Pollichathu Recipe
For cleaning the Pearl fish: 1)Pearl fish comes with a coating of thick scales which has to be sliced off with a sharp knife, keeping the head and tail intact.  2)Rub the fish on rough surface( on a cutting board) with salt and clean inside out.  3)Wash with clean water and soak them in curd/lemon juice to get rid of the any bad smell of the fish.  4)After half an hour, take the fish out of the curd/lemon juice and wash in clean water.  5)Make slits through the fish diagonally.  For preparing the masala: 1)Grind together black pepper, small onions, red chillies, ginger and garlic into a coarse paste. 2)Add red chilly powder, turmeric and salt and little water to make the masala to a paste form. 3)Rub it all over the fish inside out.  4)Keep the curry leaves pasted to the fish too.  5)Refrigerate it covered for about half an hour for the masala to absorbed into the fish.  6)Take out and fry in coconut oil on both sides, until it turns dark brown.  :- Serve hot on a plantain leaf. For making the gravy: 1)Take out the excess oil from the above frying pan.. 2)Heat up the remaining masala dust and oil. 3)Fry half-cup button onions along with curry leaves. 4)When they turn light brown, pour the gravy over the fish.

Indian Style KFC

Indian Style KFC (Southern Fried Chicken)

If you were to do a search on the Internet for "Southern Fried Chicken" you would probably find all sorts of controversial debate about the history of this dish - and how it should be cooked. It seems that it probably originated in the southern USA (obviously) - but by Scottish settlers in the 19th century. Whereas the English generally preferred to boil, bake or roast their chicken - the Scottish apparently used to like to fry theirs.

Anyway - regardless of the history or the method - here is the Route 79 21st Century London Indian style method of cooking KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken). It's really simple and only takes around 40 minutes in total.

These are the ingredients:

For the batter:

6 to 8 chicken thighs - skinless (MAKE SURE THEY ARE SKINLESS AND ARE THIGHS - see a previous recipe on chicken for the reasons why.)
A bit of plain flour (say a couple of tablespoons)
Same amount of cornmeal (coarse version - otherwise known as polenta)
And whatever spices you have at hand - e.g. garam masala, tandoori masala - whetever.
Some salt and pepper
One egg - and a glug of milk

Ingredients

What you do first is to prepare the coating for the chicken - which is in two parts: the spicy flour is just a combining of the flour and cornmeal with a mixing in of a couple of heaped teaspoons of spices each - e.g. garam masala, tandoori masala, chille powder - and then a teaspoon or two of salt - and some crushed black pepper too. The second part of the coating is the liquid bit - just beat an egg and add the glug of milk and beat it some more.

Then you simply coat the chicken pieces in the egg/milk mixture. By the way - you don't need to do this at all - I just find that it comes out better. If you do this - then don't be afraid to get your hands "dirty" - just pick up the chicken pieces with your fingers and turn them around a few times in a dish to ensure that they are well coated.

The next step is to coat the pieces in the spicy flour. Once again - use your hand: pick up each chicken pice - dip it into the spicy flour mix bowl - turning over several times and then arrange onto a flat plate ready to be fried in the next stage. Whilst you are coating the chicken you might want to heat the oil (4 or 5 tablespoons) in the largest frying pan you've got. Also put the oven on 200 celcius - so that it preheats whilst the chicken is frying.

Now add the chicken pieces to the frying pan - if the oil is hot - the pieces should start sizzling stratight away - and some of the chicken juices may start to evaporate - that's fine. Just let them stay still in the frying pan for around 5 mins - and then turn them over - and leave them frying for another 5 mins.

Then finish the chicken off by taking them out of the frying pan and putting them into the hot oven - for a further 25 mins or so - turning halfway again.

We love to eat ours with a fresh salad of tomato, cucumber, carrot and raddish - with a vinaigrette dressing. And don't be a pansy: Eat with your hands! (I have seen some people eat chicken like this with a knife and fork!)

Indian Style KFC.

French-Style salad with samosas

Route 79 French-style Salad

Yep - this is a salad that can be used as an accompaniment for somosas - or chicken wings - or whatever you like. It's my very own attempt at a French-style salad comprising fine green-beans, potatoes, tomatoes and roasted peppers.

Here's what you start with:

Ingredients used in this salad

Basically - it's the following quantities:

150 grams of fine green beans
4 capsicums (peppers) in different colours - e.g. red, green, yellow, orange etc.
Some cherry tomatoes
Some "new" potatoes - I always use "Jersey Royal" potatoes at this time of year - as they are especially delicious!

Start by roasting the peppers. Slice them lengthways into 3 cm-wide slices - and lay them out on a baking tray whilst you preheat the oven at 230 Celcius. Drizzle some olive oil over the peppers right there on the tray. Then stick in the oven for about 20 mins - turning over halfway.

Whilst the peppers are roasting - chop the cherry tomatoes into quarters ( or halves if they are particularly small) and also chop the green beans in half too.

Boil the green beans and rinsed potatoes in two separate saucepans - until they are softish. Not too soft - but soft enough to bite into pleasurably. Make sure you turn over the roasting peppers at some point.

When the potatoes are boiled - drain them - and lay them out on a plate to cool - and chop them in half.

When the peppers are fully roaste (and burnt around the edges) place them immediately into a plastic bag (e.g. sandwich or freezer bag) and seal it up and let it sit on the worktop for around 10 minutes. This will loosen the skin from the peppers so that they are easy to peel off.

Peel off the skins from the peppers using your hands - and discard. Then chop the resultant pepper fleshes into bite-sized pieces.

After the potatoes, green beans and peppers have all cooled off - mix them into a bowl with the cherry tomato quarters - and stir in some of your favourite salad dressing - which in my case is French vinaigrette - but with a balsamic vinegar twist!

Place the bowl in a fridge for around half hour - and then your salad is ready to serve: perfect with spicy hot chicken wings - or samosas - or whatever you like!

French-Style salad with samosas

Mutter Paneer

Mutter Paneer

Mutter Paneer is a delicious curry of peas and home-made cheese cubes (paneer). Once again - it's a Punjabi dish - and is extremely tasty when served with roti - or pitta bread: you can choose! And again - it's really easy to make. Just get the following ingredients together:

Ingredients used for mutter paneer

1 packet of ready-made paneer cubes from your local Indian shop - about 500g
2 medium onions chopped finely
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
A generous bowl of frozen peas

The usual chunks ginger, chillie, garlic from your freezer (thawed of course)
2 (heaped) teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons salt
3 (heaped) teaspoons garam masala
1 and a half teaspoon of haldi (turmeric)
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 pinch of cumin seed if you have some

Heat up a couple of tablespoons of veg oil in a frying pan until hot and then add the cube sof paneer and fry until golden brown - turning over frequently to ensure even browning.

When the paneer cubes have browned - place them onto a plate lined with kitchen paper so that the excess oil is absorbed away. In the meantime - get a large-ish pot and heat some vegetable oil in it until hot - and add the pinch of cumin seed and wait until it splutters.

Then add the chopped onions and fry until goldeny-brown. After which add the ground dry spices and fry some more for about 5 mins gently.

Then when the spices are infused int he onion mixture - and the oil begins to separate from the onions - add the tin of chopped tomoto - and stir around on highish heat for a few mins.

After about 5 mins of simmering tomato-onion-spice mixture - add about 4 small glasses of water to the pot - and bring to simmer. Then add the previously-fried cubes of paneer to the pot and let it simmer for a few minutes more.

Then add the bowl of frozen peas - mix it about and simmer with the lid partially on for about 20 mins - stirring occasionally. The paneer cubes - which started out as "stodgy" plain cheese pieces should by now be of a texture a bit like sponge - and should have absorbed the masala flavours too.

When the "soup" in the pot is of the consistency that you prefer - simmering with the lid off to let some water evaporate - then just stir in some freshly chopped coriander leaf if - and switch the flame off - put the lid on - and then go and prepare some pitta bread or toast - or whatever - to accompany the mutter paneer.

Mutter Paneer

Rajma

Rajma (Kidney Beans Curry)

Kidney beans make an excellent nutritous basis for a vegetarian dish - and this is a popular Indian method for cooking them. Called "Rajma" - the kidnet beans are cooked either on their own - or in this Punjabi variation - with potatoes.

Ingredients as follows:

2 tins of drained red kidney beans in water (preferably no salt added)
2 medium sized potatoes - chopped into bite-sized chunks
1 tin of plum tomatoes - chopped - or a ready chopped tin of tomatoes
2 smallish onions - finely chopped
Some chopped fresh coriander leaf
Some chunks of garlic and ginger pulp from your freezer
2 teaspoons of garam masala
1 teaspoon haldi (turmeric)
1.5 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
1 teaspoon of red chillie powder

Ingredients for Rajma

Fry the chopped onions in about 2 tablespoons of oil until slightly golden brown. Then toss in the garlic and ginger pulp - and fry for a few minutes more.

Add all the ground spices in one go - and "dry fry" for a few minutes. Add a little more oil if necessary.

Then add the tin of chopped tomatoes - and fry for some more time - until you start to see the oil separating from the mixture.

Then add the potato chunks and give it a good stir around. Add a glass of cold water and bring to the boil - and let it simmer with the lid on for about 10 minutes. this will partly-cook the potato.

Then add the drained tins of cooked kidney beans. (MAKE SURE THEY ARE ALREADY COOKED KIDNEY BEANS - as these beans are poisonous if not soaked in water overnight before cooking!). Then add some more water - perhaps a couple of glassed - and bring to boil and let simmer for around 20 minutes - with the lid off - so that the water slowly evaporates.

When it's of the consistency that you like - stir in the chopped coriander and simmer for a few mor minutes.

At this point you can switch off the heat - and put the lid back on whilst you go prepare some rice or some some roti - or naan/pitta bread - or even toast. Best served with a cool side-salad - and a glass of your favourite red wine!

Rajma!