Plain Dosa (Lentil Pancakes)

Dosas (Singular - Dosa) or Dosha are thin and crispy lentil pancakes mainly prepared using a lentil or a combinations of few lentils and rice. The most popular one is this plain dosa which is prepared using Urad (Black) lentils and rice and is almost always served along with sambar, potato masala and a chutney or few chutneys- a favorite South Indian breakfast and sometimes a tea time treat. Sambar is one of the most popular south Indian curry which is a medley of assorted vegetables and have its own distinct and characteristic taste. Dosa served along with potato masala well known as ‘Masala Dosa’ is a world famous South Indian breakfast that you would come across any south Indian restaurant. Chutneys of different flavours are also a favourite accompaniment to these dosas and are usually served alongside. They are mainly coconut based dips, flavoured with different ingredients like chillies, coriander, mint, curry leaves etc. and are seasoned and tempered in different ways. Some of the chutneys can be really hot even for the Indian taste buds, so you might need to be a bit cautious if you are sensitive to heat.

If anyone have’nt had Dosa yet, I strongly recommend that you should. Because these pancakes are not only enjoyed by Indians but by people all across the globe. That reminds me the rush that used to occur at a stall in One of Abu dhabi’ s popular shopping centre where they used to sell Indian street foods like Vada pavs, Vada, pav Bhaji, panoi puri and Dosa. Their food is finger licking good and their queue is as big as their fame. During my university my friends hailing from Oman and UAE had dosas from there and they had told me how much they loved them and they wanted to learn how to make them. Well, that was the time when I didn’t know even the basic of cooking.

Every time I prepare dosa at home, my hubby would ask me if I had posted the recipe of dosa yet. He normally doesn’t bother about me posting a recipe but whenever I prepare dosa’s he used to ask me to post the recipe and give hints on how to shoot pics. I didn’t bother about it because almost anyone would know how to make this dosa and you would find numerous recipes on net as well all of them which are similar or almost same. But since he kept asking, I thought why not post it now? This is my mothers recipe and her ratio is 3:1:1 that is Raw rice: Urad dal: cooked Rice. Fermentation may differ depending on particular region’s temperature. It is very easy to prepare. There are number of recipes that you can make with this dosa batter like egg dosa, vegetable Oothappam, onion oothappam etc. Last weekend I prepared Egg dosa and it came out real good. I would try to post them if it interests anyone probably later. Now to the recipe:

Plain dosa

Serves 3

Ingredients:

1 cup Raw rice (Pachari)

1 cup Cooked rice

1/3 cup Urad Dal

½ - ¾ tsp Fenugreek seeds

Salt to taste

Ghee- as required

Preparation:

1. Wash rice and soak it for about 3 - 4 hours along with fenugreek seeds.

2. Wash urad dal and soak it separately in another bowl for equal amount of time.

3. Grind rice + fenugreek using ¾ cup of water until the mixture is smooth.

4. Separately grind urad dal in ¾ cup of water until smooth as well.

5. Combine both batters, add salt and mix well. Cover and keep in a warm place (for eg: Kitchen counter) for about 8-10 hours or overnight to ferment. This time may increase or decrease depending on the temperature and climate of the place.

6. Once the batter has fermented, give it a good stir.

7. To cook dosa, slightly dip a kitchen paper or a muslin cloth or even a coconut husk in coconut oil or ghee and lightly grease the dosa pan by rubbing the pan with oiled kitchen paper.

8. Pour a ladleful of batter onto the centre of the pan. Lightly spread the batter using back of the ladle in a spiral motion starting from the centre and ending outside. The heat should be set to low while pouring and spreading the batter and then increase to medium to cook dosa. Spreading dosa at medium or high heat will be difficult and cooking them on high heat will burn them. So adjust the flame accordingly.

9. Cover and cook till it turns golden or golden brown on the edges. Lightly apply ghee all over if you prefer and serve along with Chutney, Sambar or potato Masala. Leftover batter is said be stored in fridge for upto a week.

Spicy Grilled Chicken

Last weekend sun was shining with all its glory, so we ended up having BBQ at our friends place. We had loads of fun with guys grilling meat, veggies and bun and ladies gossiping and eating them. Kids were just running around and playing without wasting their time eating. After all that grilling was done men sat down to watch the footie. Apart from all that hungama, food was just amazing. We had some kebabs and burgers; lamb chops and chicken wings marinated in a spicy marinade as mains. We very much loved the meal and among them, the lamb chops were outstanding. Here is the re-created version of that one in my kitchen, but using chicken instead of lamb. I would love to try it with lamb, but I am not sure if lamb would come out well in the oven. Well, has anyone tried grilling lamb pieces in the oven? Does it cook well? And how long would it take to get cooked, without using any tenderizer? Any suggestions are much appreciated. Let's get on the recipe, now. It's quite simple to prepare and tastes quite good as well.

Spicy Grilled Chicken
Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 Large leg portions (around 700g)

Marinade:
½ Tbsp fresh ginger puree
½ Tbsp fresh garlic puree
4 Tsp Kashmiri Chilli powder *
1-2 tsp Lime juice
½ tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Few teaspoons of water
1-2 Tablespoon of oil
Lemon slices to serve.

Preparations:

1.Wash chicken thoroughly and drain in a colander to remove excess water. Make deep gashes on to fleshy parts of leg and thigh portions of chicken to penetrate the marinade through.

2. Mix all ingredients for the marinade with just enough water to make a smooth paste. Rub the marinade thoroughly all over the chicken and deep down the gashes. Sprinkle oil all over the chicken and lightly rub in.

3. Transfer it into a bowl, cover using a cling film or foil and chill it over night or for a minimum of 2 hours.

4. Bring the marinated chicken to room temperature before cooking and Preheat the oven 10 minutes prior to grilling. Place the chicken on foiled tray and grill on medium heat for around 35-40 minutes turning once or twice in between. I Grilled (at 3) one side for 15 minutes, flipped the chicken over and cooked the other side for another 15 minutes and flipped again to cook for some more time. To ensure that chicken is fully cooked, poke the chicken on several parts until you see clear juice oozing through the poked area. If not, cook it for some more time. Make sure you don’t over cook your chicken as it can become really dry. Chicken prepared can be baked or even fried in oil. But the results may vary slightly depending on how you do it. Grilling gives it a slight smoky flavour.

Squeeze plenty of lime juice while serving if preferred. This can be used as a side dish fo rchappathis, Indian naan breads or rice dishes.

Notes:

Instead of using chilli powder aby itself, you can use a mixture of paprika and Kashmiri chilli powder. Or if you want it real hot, use the regular chilli powder. Paprika gives it a real good colour and a milder heat. I used 3 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder and a teaspoon of paprika powder here.

Pineapple Jam

Pineapple jam is one of my favourite Jams. Simplest of it can be made without any spices, just sugar, lime juice and pineapple. But to add an extra depth you may opt for some spices of your choice. I have used whole cinnamon and cloves which was inspired by Shn of Mishmash. Long back she had posted a stunning pineapple jam recipe and the drool worthy pictures were stuck in my brain. Making of jam was in my mind ever since. Recently I spotted some huge pineapples on offer and they smelt heavenly. I just grabbed one didn’t think anything else other than this pineapple jam. I love pineapple flavour, may it be in juice, desserts, cake, jam or even curries. But like many other fruits, I am not keen on eating pineapple as it is. Adding a bit of sin to the fruit makes it more appealing and tempting!

You may add or reduce sugar depending on the sweetness of the fruit. My pineapple was quite sweet, and I added the amount of sugar as given in the recipe below. It was perfect for our taste. But I have come across recipe that calls for equal amount of sugar as the fruit, so if your pineapple is not sweet enough, feel free to use more. You may also puree your pineapple to get a spreadable jam or leave it slightly chunky by chopping it fine to get a chunky jam, however you may prefer your jam to be. Here the picture of jam displayed on the ramekin is the chunky pineapple jam and on the toast is the finer version of it which is prepared from pureed pineapple. I preferred the latter one better because it had a spreadable consistency.

Pineapple Jam

Almost Fills a 1/2 litre Jar

Ingredients:

750 g very finely chopped pineapple (3 cups)

500g (2 1/3 cups) regular white sugar

2 tsp (10 mls) lime juice

4 cloves (optional)

4 small pieces of cinnamon stick (optional)

Few drops of yellow food colour

Preparation:

1. Mince the pineapple finely or puree in a processor depending on the texture you want your jam to be. You can also leave it slightly chunky if you like your jam that way.

2. Tip the minced/pureed pineapple in a cooking saucepan. Add in sugar, lime juice, cinnamon and cloves. Leave it aside for 3-4 hours or until the sugar has completely dissolved.

3. Place the saucepan on heat, bring to gentle boil and simmer for around 35-50 minutes until it is thick and syrupy; depending on the pan and mode of heat used. Make sure you stir every while because the sugar can easily burn. Add few drops of yellow colour and stir.

4. Meanwhile sterilize the jar and lid in boiling water for 8 -10 minutes.

5. To check the doneness of jam, spread a tablespoon of jam on a cold plate and return the plate to the freezer and chill for a minute. Run your finger through the jam and if you see it wrinkling as you pull, then the jam is ready. If not continue cooking until you reach that ‘wrinkle’ stage. Jam will get thicker and stiffer as it cools down, so make sure you don’t make it really thick. Wait until the jam is completely cooled. Once it is completely cooled it will be easier to judge the consistency of jam you require. (Read notes on how to fix if you overcooked or undercooked your jam). Fish out the whole spices and discard them using a sterilized fork or spoon.

6. Let the jam cool down completely before transferring into a sterilized jam jars. You can use this jam on jam drop cookies, toasts, puddings etc.

Notes:

1. Take care not to include the central stalk of pineapple.

2. If at all your jam gets cooked beyond the required time, and you ended up in candy like jam or very stiff jam that is difficult to spread, don’t panic. Just Pour 4 - 8 Tablespoon (1/4 cup – ½ cup) of water to the jam and bring to gentle boil. Stir well and simmer for 3-4 minutes until the jam reaches a ‘jammy’ consistency.

3. Unlike soft fruits like strawberries and raspberries, pineapple does not break down considerably on mashing. So you may need to mince it to your suitable preference before you prepare it. Well, I pureed it half through cooking when I realized that it doesn’t get mashed on mashing. The texture will be fine and of spreadable consistency on pureeing.

4. Some people likes the flavour of Star anise. You may add half of whole start anise along with other spices. It gives a strong flavour, so be cautious.

Nadan Kozhi Curry (A simple Kerala Style Chicken Curry with Fried Potatoes)

Ingredients:

1 Kilo Chicken cut into medium size pieces

2 ½ large onion finely chopped (340g, 2 ¾ cups)

8 large flakes of garlic minced (2 good Tablespoons)

1 ½ inch fat piece of ginger minced (1 heaped tablespoon)

3 small tomatoes, chopped fine (240g, 1 ¼ cups)

1 large potato diced to 1-1 ½ ”(250g, 1 ½ cups)

2 1/2 – 3 rounded Tbsp lightly roasted coriander powder

1 ½ tsp black pepper powder

¼ tsp turmeric powder

½ tsp Garam masala

4 green chillies, slit lengthwise

A handful of curry leaves

¾ - 1 cup thick coconut milk

Salt as needed

Oil- as needed

4 small pieces cinnamon sticks

3 cardamom pods

5 cloves

½ tsp fennel seeds

Preparation:

1. Wash chicken and drain.

2. Heat a large saucepan to medium heat and add few tablespoon of oil. When hot, add diced potatoes and cook until it turns golden on all sides. Drain on kitchen paper and reserve.

3. In the same pan, add cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom and fennel seeds and sauté for around 30 seconds until it leaves aroma. Add onion and salt and sauté till it is completely soft and starts to turn golden. Add ginger and garlic and sauté for a minute until the raw smell goes off.

4. Add tomatoes and slit chillies, cover the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes until tomatoes goes completely mushy.

5. Add coriander powder, pepper powder and turmeric powder and sauté for couple of minutes.

6. Add chicken pieces; mix well until it is evenly covered in masala. Add 1/3 cup of waterif requied, cover the pan and cook till chicken becomes tender. (You may omit adding water here, if the chicken is added to the curry without completely being drained.)

7. Add coconut milk, fried potatoes, garam masala and curry leaves and cook for 3-4 minutes until all flavours are well blended. Serve hot with rice, chappathi, coconut rice, Neypathal, poori, Pathiri etc.

Kalakand Made Easy (Microwave Version)

Shab's Cuisine finally exceeded 1 lakh hits, yesterday and here is a decadent sweet to celebrate this small milestone- Kalakand. The counter was uploaded somewhere last year, so the count should be for an year or more. When it comes to Kalakand, it is a popular Indian sweet traditionally made from ‘Chenna’ and ‘Khoya’ and sweetened with sugar. ‘Chenna’ is typically ‘paneer’ (Indian cottage cheese) which is un-ripened cheese prepared by curdling milk either by adding lime juice or acetic acid. On the other hand, ‘Khoya’ is very thick milk reduced by heating milk over a prolonged time. Prepared ‘Paneer’ or ‘chenna’ is then cooked along with ‘Khoya’ until it reduces into doughy and lumpy texture. It is then sweetened with sugar, flavoured and garnished with nuts. The whole process takes a painful amount of time with lot of stirring and constant watching! Quite a time consuming affair, isn’t it? You can watch this traditional preparation of Kalakand at manjulaskitchen. She explains it beautifully there and I got the above information through her video. She has tempted me enough to try the traditional version at home, well, some time later.

Once I started blogging, I was astonished to see the recipes of so many Indian sweets on net and some of them were easy and pretty straight forward! I Had bookmarked some recipes and kalakand was one among top ‘to try’ list. Recently Kalakand appeared on few minute wonders which inspired me even more. So gathered all the ingredients, went ahead and made it without further thinking. For the amount of ingredients given here, it makes huge amount of kalakand, so you may try halving the recipe. I froze the leftovers for later use, which can be thawed just before eating.

Here is a quick version of the exquisite Sweet, easy to do and something that takes considerably less amount of time compared to the original one. Here, the recipe uses ricotta cheese which is an Italian cheese. Freshly prepared paneer may be used instead of ricotta, but you may need to adjust the cooking time accordingly depending on the moisture content. I would say this Kalakand preparation is really good in taste and texture, perfect to soothe your sugar cravings, but it is slightly different from the shop bought ones. It's taste was something like a cross between a Peda and Kalakand, which are both really good but texture was just perfect.

Kalakand (A Popular Indian Sweet made easy)

Serves 20

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups (650 g) Ricotta Cheese

2 * 397g Condensed milk

1/3 cup Cream of wheat/Rawa/semolina (5 Tbsp,sharp)

1/3 cup – ½ cup white granulated sugar

2 tsp Butter or ghee (Clarified butter)

¾ tsp cardamom powder

Chopped almonds to garnish

Chopped pista to garnish

Preparation:

1. In a large 2 litre microwave safe bowl, tip in ricotta, condensed milk, sugar, Cream of wheat and butter or ghee and stir until it is thoroughly combined.

2. Place this bowl in Microwave at cook it at high power for 3 minutes. Take it out, stir well and put it back in for another 3 more minutes. Take it out and stir well again. Do it few more times, but you can increase the time up to 5 minutes and stirring in between, for a total of fifty minutes. Here my Microwave oven is 800 Watts. Ovens with more or less power, cooking times may be changed accordingly. Make sure you keep an eye on it constantly as it may spill out if you are using a small pan. Cook the mixture until you get a slightly stiff mixture, which is something like a very soft dough. Add cardamom powder and mix very well.

3. Tip in the mixture in an oiled dish and spread evenly. Sprinkle some chopped pistachio and almonds on top and press gently. Let it come to room temperature and then chill it in the refrigerator until slightly firm and cut into squares of 2 ½ inches. Makes 16-20 pieces.

Notes:

1.You may replace ricotta with chenna or freshly prepared paneer. Adjust the cooking time depending on microwave oven. Cook until it all the liquid had evaporated and the mixture starts getting lumpy and doughy

2. You may also cook it on the hob using a heavy base saucepan, on a moderate heat if it is convenient, with constant stirring to avoid burning.

Cherry Crumble Cake with Cinnamon

For the last couple of weeks the weather has been perfect, all bright and sunny and I just was in mood for baking something fancy. That is when I spotted this lovely Cherry cake at Mowie’s delicious blog and instantly fell in love with it. This cake was cooked the next day I saw at his space and is one of the best cakes that I had in recent times. I very much like the look and taste of it.  Mowie's recipes are simply superb and his photography is just beyond words - stunning, marvellous, creative and what not! The cake looked like a huge one for my small family, so as usual I halved the recipe and baked it! I don’t really know if halving has made any difference in flavour or taste, but it came out well and you can see the result - A perfectly baked cake, that’ so pretty and elegant. The golden crumble and the bright red cherries added an extra chic to the cake. One thing I would like to put in notice is that I would like my cherries to be slightly immersed in the batter rather than resting on top. So I might try pressing the cherries gently into the batter, just halfway through, so part of the cherries go down the batter and part of it stays on top. Here you go, an amazing recipe, that’s definitely a keeper. Please Visit Mowielicious for the original recipe and inspiring photography.

 

Cherry Crumble Cake with Cinnamon

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

160 g (1 cup) Plain Flour

100 g Unsalted butter, at room temperature

160g (around ¾ cup) Castor sugar

2 Medium eggs

1 Tsp Baking powder

4 Tbsp (1/4 cup)Milk

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

150g Cherries, pitted and halved (1 cup)

Extra sugar to sprinkle

For the crumble:

75g (8 Tbsp/ ½ cup ) Plain flour

50g Cold Butter

40g (2 ½ Tbsp) Castor Sugar

2 Pinches of Cinnamon powder

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius 10 minutes prior to baking. Grease and line a 7” round pan and keep it aside.

2. Whisk the butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until light and creamy.

3. Add eggs one by one and mix well after each addition.

4. In a separate bowl sieve together flour and baking powder.

5. Fold this flour mixture gently into the wet mixture. Do not over mix. Add milk and mix gently until just combined.

6. Pour this batter into the prepared pan and level the surface.

7. Top with cherries and sprinkle some sugar all over until evenly covered.

8. Combine all the ingredients for the crumble with hands until it resembles bread crumbs. Sprinkle it all over cherries evenly covering them.

9. Bake it in the centre rack of the pre heated oven for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean and the crumbs turn golden. Serve warm or cold.