Egg Rice

Another quick dish for those busy days, when there is no time to spend in the kitchen and you don't feel like feeding your kids with the restaurant food. 
Ingredients
2 cups cooked basmati rice(cooked with enough salt)
1 egg
3-4 cashewnuts
5-6 shallots, sliced thin
1 green chilli, slit lengthwise
few curry leaves
1/4 teaspoon crushed red chili
1/4 teaspoon crushed pepper
1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
1-2 tablespoon oil/ghee
salt

Method

• Heat oil/ghee in a deep bottomed pan. Add the sliced onions and fry until golden in colour.
• Add the cashews, green chili and curry leaves and fry for a minute or until the cashews are slightly roasted.
• Move this to a corner of the pan. Break the egg into the middle of the pan and scramble it, adding the crushed red chili and pepper.
• Mix the scrambled egg with the cornered onion masala.
• Add the ketchup and mix well. Now add the cooked rice and stir contionously for 2-3 minutes. Add salt if needed.Your quick egg rice is ready to be served. 

Soya Mutter Kadi

Ingredients

1/2 cup soya chunks

1 cup boiled green peas

2 medium onions, chopped

2 medium tomatoes,chopped

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

a pinch of asafoetida

3 cups curd

1 cup water

4 table spoon basen

6 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

2 teaspoon ginger-chili paste

1 teaspoon garlic paste

2 tablespoon oil

Salt to taste

Method 

• Pressure cook soya chunks with some salt until the cooker gives off 2-3 whistles and keep aside.
• Wash under cold water and squeeze out the water from the soya chunks.
• Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a pan and splutter cumin seeds.
• Add asafoetida,ginger-chili paste,garlic and onions and saute until the onions turn translucent.
• Add tomatoes,chili powder,turmeric,coriander powder and saute for 5-10 minutes on low flame.
• In a bowl,beat curd,besan and  milk until smooth and add to the above mixture.
• Add soya chunks,green peas,salt , water and bring to a boil.
• Cook on medium flame for 2-3 minutes.
• Turn off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves.
• Serve hot with plain rice/roti.

Egg Chettinad

 Ingredients
4 -5 eggs, hard boiled
2 onions, medium sized, chopped
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 sprigs curry leaves
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 cup thick coconut milk or grind 2-3 tablespoons of grated coconut into a fine paste
salt
 To roast and grind
3 dry red chillies
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon fennel/perumjeerakam seeds
1/4 teaspoon fenugreek/methi/uluva seeds
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
2 cloves
1/2" cinnamon
1 green cardamom
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 green chillies
few cashew nuts

 Method

• Make slits on the boiled eggs and keep aside.
• Dry roast all the ingredients under 'roast and grind' for 1-2 minutes.
• Once cooled grind the roasted ingredients with a sprig of curry leaves, by adding little water into a fine paste. Keep this aside.

• Heat oil in a kadai and splutter the mustard.
• Add the chopped onion and remaining curry leaves. Saute until translucent.
• Add the chilli powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder. Fry for a minute.
• Add the chopped tomatoes. Mix and cover and cook until the tomatoes turn mushy.
• Now add the grinded masala. Saute well and simmer on low flame for 10 minutes or until oil layer comes up.
• Add 2 cups of water and salt. Bring to a boil.
• Add the eggs and cook for 5-6 minutes or until the gravy thickens.
• Pour the coconut milk or coconut paste. Mix well. Once it starts to boil, remove from the flame and serve hot.

Cheera Kootan / Curried Red Spinach

Ingredients

2 bunches red spinach/ cheera, chopped

1/2 cup cooked and mashed tuvar dal

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon chilli powder

1 cup grated coconut

1/4 teaspoon cumin/jeera seeds

For tempering

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1/2 teaspoon mustard

2-3 shallots, sliced thin

2-3 whole red chillies(broken into pieces)

1 pappad, torn into bits

few curry leaves 

Method

• Add the chopped spinach into the cooked dal.
•  Add 1 cup of water, turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt. Cook until the spinach turns soft.
• Grind the coconut and cumin into a fine paste.
• Add this to the  dal and spinach. Mix well and cook on a low flame for 5 minutes.

For the tempering

• Heat oil in a small pan. Add the mustard seeds. 
• As the mustard starts to crackle add the whole red chillies, shallots, pappad pieces and curry leaves.
• As the pappad puffs up and the onions start to turn golden, remove from flame and pour this onto the spinach curry.Close with a lid for 3-4 minutes so that the aroma lingers in the curry.
• Serve with rice.

Coffee-Walnut Layer Cake

  We celebrated our 9th year of togetherness last week.It just seems like yesterday, that we whispered "I Do".To celebrate this occassion I thought of giving my husband a surprise by baking a special cake.To add a dash of humor,I filched a line from a popular Malayalam movie song, which has been scripted on the cake.Those words bought a 1000 watts smile on his face...

Ingredients(For one cake)

1/2 cup walnut pieces, roughly chopped

225 grams powdered sugar
225 grams unsalted butter
200 grams plain flour
4 teaspoon instant coffee powder mixed in 1 tablespoon boiling water
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
4 large eggs
2 tablespoon milk
 A pinch of salt

For Butter cream coffee Icing
350 grams icing sugar
175 grams unsalted butter
2 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee powder
Plainwalnuts or caramelised walnuts to decorate.

Method
For The Cake

• Preheat oven to 180 degree celcius.
• Grease two 9"baking tray with butter and flour and keep aside.
• Powder walnut  in a grinder to a fine nutty powder.
• Sift flour,baking powder,baking soda and salt and keep aside.
• Using a mixer,beat butter and sugar until soft and fluffy.
• Add eggs one at a time and beat after each addition.
• Pour coffee mixture and give a good stir.
• Add the flour mixture and stir slowly until the ingredients are well combined.
• Finally add milk and mix well.The mixture should be of dropping consistency.
• Transfer the mixture to the baking try and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
• Allow the cake to cool completely for icing to be done.

For Icing

• Beat butter and icing sugar in a food processor and  make a smooth icing.
• Add 4 teaspoon instant coffee powder mixed in 1 tablespoon boiling water and blend well.
• Place one cake upside down and spread half the icing on top.
• Place the second cake on top of that in such a way that the two falt sides of the cake meet in the middle.
• Cover the top with the remaining icing.
• Decorate with plain or caramelized walnuts.

 Recipe Source:Nigella.

Mohanthal - Diwali special

Ingredients
1 cup gramflour/besan
1/3 cup ghee
1/2 can condensed milk
1 tablespoon milk
chopped pistachios for garnishing
Method

• Add the milk to the besan and mix with your finger tips to crumble it slightly.
• Heat a non-stick pan and melt the ghee. Add the besan to the ghee and cook stirring continously on a medium low flame until the besan turns light brown in colour.
• Now add the condensed milk and mix until puffs slightly and forms a thick paste.
• Spread this onto a greased tray , pressing well to form an even layer. Sprinkle the chopped pistachios on top.
• Once it cools cut into desired shape and serve.

The original recipe of Mohanthal uses khoya also. Here I didn't use khoya but still it tasted great.