Loved it

Off for a while

I will not be blogging recipes in this blog for a while as I want to do something for my daughter.
New recipes can be found under
http://yayamma.blogspot.com
Sarah

Orappam

What is Orappam?
I don't know how to describe it. Once when we had lots of extra coconuts at home, Ammachi made orappam for me and the process was long. She had to manually squueze the coconuts to get the milk, manually pound the rice to get the flour and as she didn't have an oven and she had to burn coconut shells and place them on top of the pan to bake the Orappam. I have only eaten it once as a child.
I have modified Ammachi's version of Orappam. I don't have the patience to manually squeeze coconuts or make molasses syrup. Instead I use canned coconut milk and brown sugar.
Ingredients
2 cups of rice flour
2 cups of brown sugar
2 eggs
I can of coconut milk(400ml)
2 tbls spn ghee
2 tbl spn coconut oil
1/2 t spn cake Jeera/caraway seeds
1/2 t spn cardomom powder
1/4 tspn nutmeg powder
10 cashews broken in to pieces

Take 6oz of of coconut milk and add 2 oz of water to it and boil it along with the broken cashews for 10 minutes.

Beat the egg and add the rest of the coconut milk, brown sugar, rice flour, spices and the ghee. Mix well. Add the boiled coconut milk along with the cashews.

In a thick bottom pan, heat the above mix on medium heat, stirring often. It will get lumpy as you cook and that is ok. Once the mix forms a thick lump( ie, there is no more liquid) put in to a 7 inch buttered cake pan. Level the top with a spoon.

Pour the coconut oil on top.

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F( 170 C). bake it for about 20 minutes till the top is golden brown
Take it out of the oven and cool for 10 mints. Cut it in to slices and serve

Boiled fruit cake

Didn't get time to soak the fruits in rum? Still want to bake a Christmas cake?
Well this is my favourite, easy fruitcake.. where you get to boil the mixed fruits!!

Ingredients
150gm butter or margarine
175 gm sugar
1/3 cup water
175 ml milk
250gm raisins
125 gm sultanas
125gm dates(chopped)
50 gm mixed peel( optional)
250gm plain flour
1/2 tspn cardomom powder
1/2 tspn cinnamon powder
1/4 tspn cloves powder
1/4 t spn nutmeg powder
2 eggs
1/2 tspn sodium bicarbonate

In a sauce pan, boil the sugar with the water. When the sugar has melted, add the butter/margarine, milk and the fruit, heat slowly till the butter has melted, continue heating on med heat for abt 10 mints.( the fruits now look plump and cute!!). remove from fire and cool

Sift the soda, spices and the flour together.( honestly, I never sift the soda and the spices with the flour, I just add that in to the cooled fruit mix and mix it well..I don't have a sieve!.)

Once the fruit mix is cooled, add the flour, and the eggs and mix well.

Pour in to a lined( outside and inside) 7 inch pan

Preheat oven to 150 degrees C(300F)
Bake for about 1 hr, till a tooth pick inserted in to the center of the cake comes out clean.( cooking time varies, according to the type of the oven).

Hint; If you are using the convection part of the microwave to bake a cake, keep a plate (oven proof) full of water under the turn table. This ensures that, the cake will remain moist, during baking

Christmas cake icing

I have been wanting to update my recipe blog, but I never get the chance to do so.. I wish a day had more than 24 hours!

I just finished icing my christmas cake today. I haven't made the rose flowers yet.!!( will upload the photo later)

The process of Icing a cake sounds a lot complicated. In reality it is one of the easiest thing to do.

I usually use marzipan as a base coat and Royal icing as a top coat.

Marzipan( Almond icing)
100gm almonds ground
1 cup icing sugar
3/4 cup castor sugar(fine)
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp lemon juice

In a bowl, mix the lemon juice and the egg yolk, add the rest of the ingredients and knead well till it feels smooth and nice. Sprinkle icing sugar on a kitchen board and roll the almond icing to 1/4 inch thickness( I find it easier to roll the icing, when I sprinkle some icing sugar on top of the almond mix and then roll).
I do cover the whole cake with the almond icing, so it is easier for me to do the royal icing. But you don't have to do it. You can cover just the top of the cake and not the side
Some people apply 2 to 3 spoons of apricot jam over the cake, before placing the almond icing, so the almond icing would stick to the cake. I hate apricots!


Next layer is the Royal icing. It is one of the easiest icing.. this is how you do it
1 egg white
1 tsp lemon juice
2 to 2 1/2 cup icing sugar

First thing to do is sift the icing sugar.. so that there are no lumps

In a fairly big bowl, mix the egg white and the lemon juice using a fork. ( you don't have to beat it so much.. just simple mixing will do)
Now add the icing sugar one spoon at a time (do not add too much of sugar at one time, you will get a lousy icing..I am telling you that from experience!!), in to the egg lemon juice mix and keep stirring, keep adding the icing sugar till you get the fairly stiff icing..
(I dip a spatula in to the icing and lift a bit of icing up and check if the icing forms a peak).
Apply the icing on top of the marzipan layer and smoothen the surface.

See, I told you, it is simple!!

The cake above was the one I baked for my daughter's birthday.The top coat is royal icing and the dancing girl was made with Plastic icing..

Christmas Recipes: Christmas Cake

At home, My mother always baked the 123 cake. We, the kids always had to pray and hope that one of the cousins would come for a visit and bring a fruitcake along...and when someone did bring a fruitcake, ah! it felt like winning a lottery. It was a well known rule that I get to eat the icing( especially the iced flowers).. Luckily my sisters never really fancied the icing..

I started baking the christmas cake when I was 17 yrs old. I soaked the fruits in rum and followed the 123 cake recipe. Well, I didn't know then that there was such a thing as fruitcake recipe.
My 123 fruitcake was much better than drinking the batter my oldest sister served as a cake!( she tried to bake a cake in a toaster oven..it did really look like a cake. with a nice brown crust on top. But we couldn't cut it)

Finally one day I found my mother's recipe book among the junk she was throwing out and was surprised to see that she did have a Christmas cake recipe and she never once baked a cake using that recipe.
Amma gave her recipe book to my oldest sister as she is the eldest and have the right to the family heirloom..My sister lost that recipe book, however I still have the recipe for the christmas cake from her recipe book.. I copied most of the recipes, because I knew, I would never get the book. I follow that recipe to this day..

Ingredients

1.5 kg mixed fruits(raisins, almonds,cashews)
1 cup rum
rind of 1 lemon
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
250gm butter( room temperature)
1 tbspn treacle/caramel
5 eggs(room temperature)
2 cups of flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon, cardamom, cloves each
1/4 tsp nutmeg


Soak the fruits in rum for atleast 24 hours( longer the better)

Before you bake the cake, take a 9 inch round pan. Line the inside and the outside with baking paper.

Cream the butter and sugar well

Add one egg at a time along with a tbl spn of flour from the 2 cups you have meassured for the cake

Mix the rest of the flour, fruit mix, spices, caramel together in another bowl

Add the creamed butter, sugar egg mix in to the fruit mix and stir using a wooden spoon

If the mix looks too dry add 1/4 cup rum to the batter

Preheat oven at 150 degrees

Pour the batter in to the lined cake tin and bake for about 2 hours, till you insert a wooden skewer in to the cake and no batter sticks on the skewer.

Note: I don't use any raising agents with this recipe and cooking time varies according to the oven you use.

Christmas recipes

Every year on the first day of Nov, I soak the fruits for the christmas cake. You may ask Why Nov 1st?
2 reasons.
The first one: Kerala celebrates Kerala day on that day and being a malayalee I celebrate Kerala day
The other reason is, it is the perunnal(festival) of Parumala Thirumeni, patron saint of Jacobite Christians.
I usually soak 1.5 kg of mixed fruit in 2 cups of rum.

I bake the cake on the 1st of december and from then on, every week I pour a tbl spn of rum on top of the cake till Christmas..( did I tell you, my kids are normally well behaved and extremely sleepy after eating the christmas cake??)

This year, I am taking my oldest daughter through a culinary journey of the Christmas of my childhood..
I remember having vattayappam, pal appam, stew, orappam, kuzhalappam, achappam and ofcourse Christmas cake every christmas as a child.
Join me as I make all the wonderful goodies and celebrate another year of peace and happiness

Chicken Kali Mirch

I still have a jar of pepper that I plucked and dried when I was 18 years old..
We had 2 pepper wines in the house we stayed and it was full of pepper. Amma didn't have time to pluck it or dry.. I was home after the 1st year MBBS exams and because I had nothing to do, I plucked all the peppers from both the wines, dried them and completely forgot about it.
When I got married and was leaving for Malaysia, Amma gave me a big jar of pepper.. She told me
"This is the ones you plucked and dried"
It felt very special especially because I harvested it all by myself and I carried that jar of pepper, where ever I went. It had come with me to the jungles of east Malaysia, to the beautiful Penang island, to English country side, to the land of windmills, to the busy Mumbai and finally to Canada.
It is still half full!
This recipe too was given to me by a Sufi friend

250gm boneless chicke
2 onions (med size)chopped fine
1 tsp ginger and garlic paste each
1 tomato chopped fine
50 gms cashew
1/4 cup milk
4 tbsp Mawa( optional)
1 tbsp pepper powder( yes 1 tbsp)
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp cream to garnish

Soak the cashew in the milk for 10 mints and then grind
Heat oil, add the ginger garlic paste, fry till lightly browned
Add the onion and keep stirring till the onion is light brown
Add chopped tomato, fry till the oil separates around the side
Add the chicken pieces and fry till the chiken is light brown
Now add the ground cashew and mawa if using. add 1 1/2 cup water, cover and cook on low heat till the chicken is done and the gravy is thick
Just before serving sprinkle the pepper and gently stir to mix it.
Garnish with cream.
My kids take this chicken curry with Roti for School lunch

Baghdadi Kheema

This is my kids favourite Kheema.. it is easy and yummy
This recipe came from a prominent Sufi family in Mumbai. I was invited to their house for a party and was served this dish. They were kind enough to share the recipe.

1/2 kg mince( the original recipe calls for mutton and I can't stand the smell of mutton. We use Pork or Chicken)
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tspn garam masala
2 tspn Kashmiri Chilli powder/paprika
1 bay leaf
1/2 tbsp ginger and garlic paste each
1 onion chopped
1 large tomato chopped
5 almonds
5 cashew
1tbl spn dessicated coconut
2 tbl spn oil

1. Grind the almond, cashew and the dessicated coconut with 2 tbls spn water
2.Heat oil in a wok
3.Add the bay leaf, ginger and garlic paste, fry for a minute
4. now add onion and fry till the onion is light brown
5. now add the mince and finely chopped tomato and fry till the water is evaporated.
6.add the chilli, turmeric and garam masala, salt. and the ground almond cashew mix.Keep stirring over med fire
7.when the oil begins to seperate at the edges, break the eggs in to the meat, keep stirring to scramble it well.
8. serve garnish with coriander leaves

Chocolate pudding

This is my favourite chocolate pudding recipe. 12 years ago, I was at the Dr's office waiting with fingers and toes crossed as I had missed my periods for 2 whole weeks. I was too nervous and I found this magazine on the side corner. Nervously I flipped though the pages and I found this recipe. I wanted to copy it, but before I could do it I heard my name being called. I walked in to the Dr's room with the magazine in my hand(ofcourse I didn't even know I was holding something in my hand). I saw the 2 lines on the preg test kit and all I remember is walking down the road from the clinic almost floating all the way home. Only when I reached my home, did I see that I still had the magazine in my hand. I called the clinic to tell them that I have their magazine and the telephone operator laughed... she told me I can keep the magazine. I lost the baby.. and still have the magazine..Every time I think about her.. I make the pudding.. Today is one such day


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

Sift
75 gm self raising flour
25 gm cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt

Beat together
125 gm butter at room temp
125 gm sugar

Add 2 eggs, one at a time with a tbl spn of the sifted cocoa flour mix. Beat well.

Finally fold in the flour, add 1 tsp vanilla essence and 2 tbsp milk.

Pour the above mix on a greased casserole.

Now is the fun part.. Which tells you how courageous you are

Mix 50 gm brown sugar, 25 gm cocoa and 25 gm white sugar. Sprinkle on top of the pudding mix in the casserole

Mix 2 tsp nescafe in 225 ml water(cold to room temp). Pour it over the pudding mix... Yes pour it

Chuck in the oven and bake for 40 mints.. During cooking time, the liquid will sink to the bottom of the pan and forms a yummy chocolate sauce.. Enjoy

Baileys' Pie

The original recipe came from Company's coming recipe book. It required Kahlua and graham crackers. Both I didn't have. I had Baileys and I made this using ParleG biscuit

1 packet of parle G biscuits
6 tbl spn maragarine(cold)
1 tbl spn cocoa
4 tbl spn sugar

Place the biscuits in a large ziplock bag and seal. Using a rolling pin, crush the biscuits. Remove and add the rest of the ingredients, mix well. Line a pie tin with the crumb mix and bake it for 10 mints at 350 degrees. Remove and cool.

Filling

30 large marshmallows
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup coffee( 1 tbl spn of nescafe in 1/4 cup water).
1/4 cup Baileys

1 cup whipping cream

In a heavybased sauce pan, place the marshmallows, milk and coffee, heat on med heat, stirring often till the marshmallows melted. Remove from heat and add the baileys. Cool for 10 mints

Whip the cream, fold in to the cooled mix. Pour over the biscuit base, chill for 1 hr before serving.

Pistachio kulfi

Most of the readers of my blogs tell me that, I have a good memory. Although I do remember most of the things that happend in my life, I also block things out. I used to go to somewhere in MG road, Bangalore to eat kulfi with someone I loved very much. After his death, I have never gone there. This morning I thought of him and remembered the kulfi. I just can't remember the location or the name of the shop..
To remember a friend is to remember the good times you have had and that includes a good serving of kulfi.

Ingredients

100gm of shelled pistachios.( I didn't have unsalted ones, so I soaked the salted ones and removed the skin)
2 white bread slices, crust removed
1 carton whipping cream(1 lit)
4 tbl spn condensed milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 t spn cardamom powder.

Powder the bread to crumbs in a food processor and add the rest of the ingredients and blend, till it is thickend. Freeze in kulfi molds for 3 hours.

Channa/Chole & Bhatura

After the butter chicken, I still had left over of half a can of tomatoes. I wanted to finish it off. So last night I decided to make chana Bhatura. We have dinner at 6.30pm( I still follow the Malaysian style of eating dinner early). There was not much time to soak the chickpeas, so I used canned chick peas to make the channa/chole.

I follow Madur Jaffrey's recipe for Bhatura

Ing
Plain flour: 400gms
Semolina: 100gms
baking powder:1/2 t spn
Baking Soda: 1/4 t spn
Salt: 1 t spn
Yogurt: 2 tbl spn
Sugar: 2 t spn
Ghee: 2 tbl spn

oil for frying

In a bowl, mix the plain flour, semolina,baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In another bowl, mix 3/4 cup of water, yogurt and sugar together
make a well in the centre of the flour, add the yogurt mix and knead well
Cover and keep aside for 15 mints
After 15 mints, knead the dough again and add the ghee. Knead it well till all the ghee is incorporated well in the dough.
Cover and keep the dough in a warm place( i keep in the oven with the indicator light on) for 45 mints.
Roll the dough and deep fry..Makes about 15 bhaturas

Chole/ Channa

Chickpeas:I can(wash and drain)
Grind the following( not the tea bag)

Tomatoes in can:1/2 a can
Onion:1, peel and cut in to chunks
Ginger: I inch piece
Garlic:2 cloves
greenchillies:4
kashmiri chillli powder:1 tbl spn
Coriander powder: 1 tbl spn
Cumin powder: 1/2 t spn
Garam Masala:1 t spn

Tea bag:1( make a cup of strong tea with the tea bag)
Oil:1 tbl spn
Cumin seed:1/4 t spn
Coriander leaves to garnish

In a pressure cooker, heat the oil, add the cumin seed, when it finish spluttering, add the blended stuff, cook till the oil floats. Add the chickpeas, and the tea. Cover and cook for 10 mints.
Before serving, Garnish with coriander leaves

The tea gives a nice brown colour..

Onion Rings
Slice 1 onion in to fine rings, add 2 tbl spn vinegar, 1/2 t spn sugar, 1/4 t spn salt. Add a drop of pink colour if you have. Mix well and keep it aside for 10 mints. Drain and serve along with Channa and Bhatura

Butter Chicken

I was planning to post the rest of the payasam recipes that I have collected over the years. However, I managed to make the best Butter chicken after a long time. We had a bbq on sunday and there were few left over tandoori chicken. No I don't make my own tandoori marinade.. I use Patak's.. If any of you have the perfect tandoori recipe, do post it..
Some of my fellow bloggers have asked me why I never post the pictures.. Simple..By the time I get the camera ready, my kids would have finished the food!

This is my Butter chicken recipe

Tandoori chicken pieces: 500 gms.( cubed and deboned)
Butter:4 tbl spn
oil: 2 tbl spn

Cream: 100 ml
Coriander leaves to garnish

Blend all of the following together along with 1/2 cup water
Tomatoes in can: 1/2 can..(I used heinz chunky tomatoes)
Onion: 2. peel and cut in to chunks
Ginger: 1 1/2 inch piece..peel and cut in to small chunks
Green chilli:4
Kashmiri Chilli powder:2 tbl spn
Cumin powder:1/2 t spn
Garam Masala: 1 tspn


Heat the butter and oil together( so the butter won't burn).. when it is hot, add the blended stuff and keep stirring till the oil floats on top. You may need to top up the water as you cook. When the oil floats, add the cubed boneless meat..boil for another 5 mints. Take it from fire, add the cream and garnish with coriander.. It is simply superb..

payasam

What is onam if you don't have payasam? Of all the payasam in the world the best would be what is served in Ambalapuzha temple. Whenever our neighbour went there, he would send his son to our place asking Ammachi, if we want the payasam. Ammachi would give him a steel container and 10Rs( which is a lot of money then). Around 3pm, I would sit on the parapet wall, to listen to the sound of the bus arriving and wait for the neighbour. Just as he reached the road that bifurcates, he would give one steel container to his son and I would run all the way down the road to meet the son half way. I was so worried that, the son would steal a bit of my payasam and drink, that I ran faster than PT Usha. I used to grab the container from his hand and run back home shouting a small thank you. When I reached the huge jack fruit tree, I would stop and look for Ammachi, if she isn't standing near the vernada, I always opened the container and drank a few mouthful of payasam..if she was there, I would sigh and hand her the container..

Pal payasam

Basmati rice" 1/4 cup.
Sugar: 1 1/2 cup
Milk" 2 lit
evaporated milk: 1/2 can
Cashew nuts: 12, fry them in a spoon of hot ghee.
cardomom powder: 1/2 t spn.( sift the powder, so there won't be any big black pieces of seed or the husk)

Wash the rice well and drain. when the rice is almost dry, put in a blender and pulse it for 3 seconds, till the grains are crushed a bit.
Boil the milk, keep stirring for 20 mints to reduce the milk and thicken it slightly, add the rice and the sugar, reduce the flame and cook till the rice is done.
When the rice is cooked, add the evaporated milk and the cardomom powder and boil for another 2 mints. Take it off from fire and garnish with the fried cashew nut. Enjoy

Waffle; the best recipe ever

I love to eat waffles with Kaya(traditional malaysian custard/jam made out of coconut milk) and butter. I have always made waffles with baking powder and somehow it never tasted like the Malaysian waffle(especially the shop in Semua house, Jln TAR). This morning I tried making waffles with yeast and so far this is the best recipe I have ever tried.

Ingredients

2 cup milk
2 t spn yeast
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 cup oil
1/4 t spn salt
2 eggs.

Method
Heat milk to blood heat and add the yeast and a tbl spn of sugar. When the yeast is frothy, add the eggs, oil, rest of the sugar,salt and the flour and mix well. Keep aside for 30 mints in a warm place.( I keep it in the oven with the indicator light on)
You can make waffles in a preheated ordinary waffle iron or belgian waffle iron. I prefer to make waffles in the cast iron waffle maker.

Biriyani: Vegetarian

There are so many types of Biriyanis..most of them with meat and being suriyani Christiani, We always had mutton/chicken biriyani at home. Till I went to India, I didn't even know there is such a thing as Vegetable Biriyani.
This recipe was given to me by a Hyderabadi classmate who claimed that it is the original Nawabi Biriyani recipe from the Hyderabad palace. She told me it is the best and I thought, hmmm veg biriyani? Tasting good? From the royal palace? That is a joke.. Anyway to make the long story short, I made this biriyani and have made it again and again and again.. It is simple superb..And i did tell my classmate my initial thoughts and the final outcome.. She said only one sentence
"I told you!!"

So here I am sharing my favourite vegetable Biriyani..Do try it and let me know

Ingredients

Basmati Rice: 2 cups

potatoes: 200 gms
Carrots: 150 gms
Cashews: 50 gms
slivered almonds: 50 gm


Ghee: 2 tbl spn
Cloves:4
Cardomom: 3
Cinnamon: 1 inch stick
Bay leaves: 2

Onion: 100 gms
ginger: 25 gms
garlic: 25 gms
green chillies:6 split lengthwise
Turmeric powder:1 t spn
Chilli powder:1/2 t spn

Yogurt: 1 cup
Mint leaves: One handful(only the leaves sans stems)
coriander leaves: one handful(discard the stems)

1. Wash the rice and cook in 5 cups of water and sufficient salt till it is 3/4 done and drain. Set aside
2. peel and cube the potatoes and carrot. Slice the onion finely. scrape the ginger and peel the garlic and make ginger garlic paste.
3. Heat the gheee in a large casserole (with lid), add the cloves, cinnamon,cardomom and bay leaves. Fry for a minute, add the sliced onion, fry till the onion is lightly browned. Add the ginger garlic paste and the green chillies, almonds and cashews, fry for 2 mints and now add the cubed potatoes and carrots and half cup of yogurt. Add salt and mix well, cover and cook till the vege are cooked.
4:preheat oven to 350 degrees
5: Mix the other half of yogurt with finely cut mint and coriander leaves
6. When the vege is cooked and the gravy is thick, take the casserole off from the fire
7. Layer some rice on top of the vege in the casserole, sprinkle the yogurt, coriander, mint mix on top, layer the rice, again the yougurt mix. The top layer should be rice.
7. Place a wet kitchen towel on top of the rice and cover the casserole with aluminium foil and place the lid on top.
8. Bake for 20 mints.
9. Before serving, gently mix the vege with the rice.

I like to eat this biriyani with cucumber raita.

Green blog project

LG's green blog project... When she first blogged about it, I said sorry, I won't be able to join. Sim(b)ly because, I am a serial plant killer. The only plant that ever escaped was my money plant, that too because I put in a vase with water not soil!..

Although everyone in my family knows about my condition..and never let me go anywhere near their garden, my kids never give up.
My youngest got 3 bean seeds for me on mother's day, she planted them, watered(flooded the pot) every day. They were so keen that they lifted the plants out of the pot each day to see how long the roots have grown.. Two beans gave up their fight for survival. This one in the photo.. is a fighter..she is not giving up. She wants to be part of the green blogger project. So far there are three beans.. and I should make a dish with that!!!!!!!!!.. now that is going to be fun.

Further detail about the project or want to chew LG's brain.. contact her at
greenblogproject AT gmail DOT com

Mango Curry

During the summer months, we always had this curry at my home. My grandmother had a special mango tree, behind the cattle shed. Only the mangoes from that tree would be used to make this curry. She refused to share the seeds of that mango tree with anyone. That tree was her pride and joy. I would pester Kutten( out farm help) to climb the tree and pluck mangoes for me, when ever Ammachi goes to the market. Unripe ones, I ate them with salt and chilli powder. The ripe ones.. ah there was a joy in eating a pazhutha nadan manga.. without peeling and cutting it.. Just like Mowgli used to do..in the jungle book...

Mangoes:2 big ones. preferably semi ripe. Peeled, and cut in to cubes
Green Chillies:6 split in to 2
water: 1 cup
Boil the mango pieces with the green chillies in 1 cup of water.

Mean while Grind the following in to a fine paste

Coconut: 1 cup freshly grated
Cumin powder: 1/2 t spn
Garlic: 1 clove
Turmeric: 1/2 t spn
Shallots: 2( can substitute with 1 tbl spn of onion)
Seeds from 2 dried red chilli.

When the mango is cooked, add the ground masala along with another 1/2 cup water. Cook for 10 mints on low fire. Remove from fire and pour the tadka over it.

Tadka
Coconut oil: 1 tbl spn
mustard: 1/4 t spn
Shallots(onion) sliced fine: 1 tbl spn
Dried red chilli: 2 broken in to one inch pieces
Curry leaves: 1 sprig.
Heat oil in a wok, add the mustard, when it finished spluttering add the shallots, when the shallots brown lightly add the dried chilli and curry leaves and fry for another minute. Pour over the curry. Serve with Rice..

Butter Prawns

Most of you who have read my blog would know I am extremely allergic to prawns.. but the mysteries of life is such that, I would give birth to a son, who would stop in the sea food section of the market and won't budge an inch till I buy, prawns and crabs of all kinds. He says 'if only girls were like prawns'.. What he meant by that, I never tried to find out.. Ignorance is a bliss, especially if you are a Malayalee mother, who is forever in a confused state as to how to raise a Malaysian, malayalee son in Canada.

Here is an easy simple, fattening recipe, that makes my son's eyes go all dreamy. It takes 5 mints to prepare and 5 mints to cook.

Ingredients

Prawns( bigger the better!!!) : 150 gm( cleaned and deveined)

Ginger and garlic paste: 1 t spn each

Butter: 1 tbl spn

pepper powder: 1/2 tspn
oyster sauce:1 t spn
soy sauce:1 tspn
Chicken stock granules:1 t spn
Corn flour: 1 t spn
water: 3/4 cup.

Dissolve the chicken stock, oyster sauce,soy sauce and corn flour in the water.

Heat a wok and add the butter, when it melts add the ginger garlic paste and stir fry for a minute till it is lightly browned, add the prawns, stir continuously, when the prawns are turning to pink colour add the water with all the sauce mixed. Keep stirring..When the sauce is thick, sprinkle the pepper powder. Take it off from fire and serve hot with rice.

Note: I do add a bit of extra butter(2 tbl spn) when I cook for my son..( love the look on his face, when he eats the buttery buttery yummy prawns!!)