Vazhakai Chips ( Raw Banana Chips)

Raw Plaintain Chips

Ingredients:

Raw plantain-2

Chilli powder- 2 tbsp(adjust according to your taste)

Salt- 1 1 /2 tsp

Asoefotida- 1/4 tsp

Oil- for deep frying.

Chips slicer

Method:

Mix the chilly powder,salt and asoefotida and keep the mixture ready to sprinkle on the hot chips .

Peel the raw plantain keeping the top intactso you can hold it and slice in the chips slicer to save your fingers from being sliced.Keep it soaked in a bowl of water to avoid darkening.

Keep the slices soaked in water in a bowl till you fry it in oil..

1. Fry the slices in hot oil and initially the slices stick to each other.

1. Don't stir with a ladle trying to separate the slices as it'l stick to the ladle.allow it to cook then it'l separate.

1. Fry till the sides start to brown.Drain and take it out of oil onto tissue,wait for 2 minutes so the tissue absorbs some of the excess oil.

1. Sprinkle a teaspoon of the chilly powder salt mixture and shake the chip so it coats evenly.

1. Allow to cool completely and transfer to a airtight container.

1. This lasts for a month crisp and tasty..but if it's left without being munched by gluttony snackers like me...

Enjoy these crisp and easy homemade chips..

Muslim style Mutton Biriyani (Bai biriyani)

Muslim style Mutton Biriyani.  (Bai biriyani)

This recipe holds a special place in our household and I've not gone wrong in this as I've made upto 3 kg for a big crowd as well as 250 gms and the end result is just showered by compliments -that's what is required end of it...got this recipe from one of our friend( a authentic Muslim).She said they don't add any colours like even turmeric is not added and they just sprinkle red food colouring mixed in milk/water at the final dhum process.

The process involves cooking and mixing and finally put the entire setup on drum,where you can do iron your stovetop with another big vessel of boiling water kept over the biriyani vessel's lid- care should be taken to place a very firm lid so no steam escapes and can hold the vessel containing water so it does not topple and make a mess...believe me this recipe is sure a keeper

Muslim Bai style Mutton biriyani

NOTE:

1.Chop onion,tomato and clean mint and coriander and wash clean,grind all the required pastes,extract lime juice.

2.Clean the mutton and cook for 2 /3 whistles in the pressure cooker if you find it tough.

3..Wash and soak rice in clean water before getting ready with the process.

4.Measure water for rice in the ratio- 1:2.5 cups rice:water ratio....just check if rice is old/new...if old-add 1/4 cup extra for each cup of rice so for 5 cups of rice- you;l need 12,5 cups water...if the rice is old-itz 1/4 cup extra so 1.75+12.5 cups water=13.75 cups totally.

Ingredients:

Mutton- 1 kg(5 cups standard measuring cup)

See raga samba rice/ basmati- 1 kg

Big onion- 250 gms Slice thin

Tomato- 250 gm chopp fine

Coriander leaves- 1 cup( the cup you use to measure rice)

Mint leaves- 1 cup- must be loosely packed

Ghee-100ml

Oil- 100ml can use olive oil,gingerly oil/ refined oil.

Lime-1/2 

Curd- 100gm

Green chillies-5 nos

Salt to taste

Red chilli powder- 5 tsp(adjust accordingly as this will be hot as my family prefers this )

Seasoning:

Cloves- 5 nos

Cardamom- 5 nos

Cloves- 5 nos

To grind:each separately

Small onion- 100 gm

Garlic-100 gm

Ginger- 100 gm

Spice mix-(cloves-10 nos,cinnamon-10 pieces each 1 inch size,cardamom-10 nos)

Method:

1.Heat a big vessel with the ghee and oil,when piping hot add the whole spices given under seasoning and fry for a minute careful not to burn.

2.Add the thinly sliced big onions and salt and sauté till it turns golden brown.

3.Add the small onion paste and fry till it is brown and this gives the unique colour and flavour to Muslim Bai biriyani.

4.Then add the ginger paste and fry carefully as it will stick keep stirring till raw smell disappears.

5.Add the garlic paste and fry till raw smell disappears.

6.Add the curd and the mutton pieces and the whole green chillies and tomato and red chilli powder washed cleaned mint and coriander leaves and fry till it all blends well and oil separates,add a glass of water from the measured quantity of water and cover and cook till meat is 3/4th cooked.

7.Add the measured water and juice of lime and mix well careful not to crush the mutton,Check for salt at this point it should be a bit more so when you add rice it'l be alright.
8.Cover and bring the water-gravy mixture to a rolling boil and add the washed soaked rice without water and mix well at the same time you should not break rice..
9.Mix well as it cooks it'l become thick and tend to get burnt in the bottom,so be watchful and you need to mix from down.
10.Now cover with lid and keep a big vessel of boiling water over the lid and reduce flame to minimum and leave the arrangement undisturbed for exactly 5 minutes and remove the boiling water vessel after 5 minutes and mix the rice from bottom till evenly mixed up switch off the stove and cover immediately with the lid and keep the boiling water vessel over the lid and leave for 30 minutes on dhum..This is stove top dhum method where they put charcoal on the lid when they make on fire..
11.Serve after 30 minutes fluffing up rice ...Enjoy !!

Do msg me if you have any doubts...

Mushroom Biryani

Mushroom Biriyani

Ingredients:

Seeraga samba rice/basmati rice- 1 cup(I used see raga samba)
Onion- 1 sliced thin
Tomato-1 small chopped
Coconut milk-1cup(I used milk instead of coconut milk)
Water 1:2 rice:water ratio in cups I used 1cup water as I add 1 cup milk
Lime-1/2
Ginger garlic paste- 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Mushroom-clean thoroughly and slice into half if small and into 4 if big..

To season:

Cloves,cardamom,cinnamon- 2 each.

To grind(sauté in a tsp of oil and grind):

Small onion- 5 to 6 nos
Green chilli-2 or 3 according to you taste
Jeera-1 tsp
Pepper-1/2 tsp
Cinnamon-1 1" piece
Cardamom-2 nos
Cloves-2 nos
Coriander leaves- a small fistful
Curd- 2 tablespoon

 Note: you can grind the ginger garlic with the above masala.

Method:

1.Heat a pressure cooker with ghee and oil,fry spices add the sliced onions and sauté till golden brown.
2.Add the tomato and fry till mased well,mix in the ground masala and fry well till raw smell disappears and oil separates.
3.Add the sliced mushrooms and fry till they shrink add the measured water and milk and add salt and mix well.
4.Squeeze the lime and bring the water to. Boil add the washed and soaked rice mix well,check salt.
5.Pressure cook placing pressure valve and reducing flame for 5 minutes.
6.Fluff up with a fork once pressure is released and serve hot with onion raitha.

Banana walnut muffins

Banana Walnut Muffins

Ingredients:

Overripe banana- 3 nos

Butter/ cooking oil- 1/3 cup(have tried with rice bran oil and sunflower oil)

Maida/all purpose flour- 1 1/2 cup

Baking soda- 1 tsp

Vanilla essence- 11/2 tsp

Egg-1 no

Milk- 1/8 cup(to adjust batter consistency) use as required

Sugar- 3/4 cup

Salt-a pinch(ignore if using salted butter)

Walnuts/almonds- for garnish

Grease the muffin pan or line with the paper liners and keep it ready,preheat the oven and then proceed with the steps below.

Method:

1. Peel and mash banana in a bowl and keep.

2. Sift flour,baking soda and salt at least twice.

3. Take the butter/oil and sugar and cream till sugar dissolves add in the egg and vanilla essence and beat till pale yellow add the flour and soda mix in portions and mix till everything is incorporated DON'T OVERBEAT.

4.Add few spoons of milk and mix if the mixture is too thick..

5.Spoon the prepared mixture into the prepared liners till 3/4th filled (as it'l further rise on baking) garnish with the chopped nuts and bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes at 180 degrees ,check with a toothpick ..

6.Allow to cool and then serve ..

Egg Burji

Ingredients:

Eggs-2 nos

Big Onion- 2nos

Tomato-1no

green chilly-1 small

garlic-2cloves

turmeric powder-1/4 tsp

chilly powder- 1/2 tsp

jeera- 1tsp

oil-2tsp

salt to taste.

curry leaves- few sprigs

milk-1/8th cup(Gives a soft texture to the scramble)

Method:

1.Chop the onion,tomato,green chill,garlic into fine pieces and keep seperately.

2.Heat oil fry the jeera seeds add the chopped onions and salt and fry till slightly starts turning golden brown,add the curry leaves,tomato and garlic and green chilli and fry well till mushy and cooked well add the red chilli powder and turmeric and stir well so that it will not get burnt.

3.Break the eggs one by one and add and stir and scramble it.when it gets cooked sprinkle the milk and allow to cook till all the moisture is gone and dry..

4.Serve with hot rotis as a sidedish or any rice .

WItch finger cookies

WITCH FINGER COOKIES

Ingredients:

Unsalted butter-1cup

Flour-2 3/4 cup

Salt-1/4 pinch

Baking Powder-1tsp

Vanilla extract-1tsp

Food colouring of your choice-i've used green and some made plain

Whole blanced almonds-(soak in water for 30 minutes and peel and split into two halves)-30 nos

Sugar-powdered-1 cup

egg-1no

Sift the baking powder,salt  and flour so they are evenly distributed.

Peel and split the almonds and keep it ready.

Method:

1.Take the butter in a wide bowl add the powdered sugar and beat till creamed well.

2.Add in the egg and beat well,inbetween add the essence and mix well.
3.Add the flour little by little and mix well
4.It will be a sticky dough keep mixing till all the ingredients are incorporated well.
5.I divided the dough into two parts and added 2 drops of green liquid food colour to one part.
6.take the dough on a parchment paper just roll and cover it and keep refrigerated for 30 mins,this helps in moulding the dough as it will be sticky.
7.After 30mins minimum take the dough pinch 1tsp or a small marble sized piece and shape into fingers by first rolling inbetween your hands like a rope..roll it really thin as it'l expand when you bake(my fingers are fat).
8.Then make knuckle impressions with a fork.Press a almond piece for the nails and carefully transfer to a greased baking tray and bake for 10 to 15 mins at 160 degrees..the above measure yielded 45 cookies..

Adhirasam

This sweet recipe calls for simple ingredients though but one of the trickiest I have tried...it must have been some 15 occasions (before my wedding) I've tried this and wasted all the flour and jaggery...but only once I've got it right and the day Raks kitchen posted this recipe on her blog for Diwali I was waiting to try and was so nervous..wanted to take step by step pictures but was too stressed up till I tested it was not separating in oil.

                    

Just followed the recipe blindly thanku tonnes as this was the first time I understood the jaggery consistency and got the results the last one time I got it rite I think it was all luck..
I am so happy and just patting myself now I got it rite and my hubby loves this sweet..so I can try the same quantity and this yielded some 18(though some were big and some were small) so this will be on my list for Christmas...
So I am tagging you and passing on my wishes for a very happy Diwali to you and your family Raji!

Ingredients:

Raw rice( ask for maavu pacharisi)- 1  1/2 cups
Paagu vellam- 1 cup( grated/crushed)
Sukku(powdered dry ginger)- 1/4 tsp
Sesame seeds(white )- 1 tbsp
Cardamom- 2nos
Oil- to fry
Oil/ ghee-2tsp
Milk- 2-3 tbsp( to make the dough pliable so to shape into balls and pat as the next day my dough
was dry and so just added milk &oil and made it soft )


Method:

1. Wash the rice and soak in water for 2-3 hours.
2. Take the soaked rice in a colander and spread on clean cotton towel/ cloth for 30 minutes.
3. Powder the rice though it is bit damp in the mixie in two batches along with the cardamom.
4. Sieve it if you feel it's grainy..don't run the mixer for long as it will heat up the flour and the dampness will be lost.take the powdered flour in a vessel with the powdered ginger,sesame seeds and keep aside.
5. Nowtake the jaggery in a vessel and add water just to immerse it and boil to it's dissolved and filter to remove any impurities.
6. Then keep the filtered jaggery on a medium flame and keep a small vessel near the stove to check the syrup consistency from time to time.
7. Boil and keep checking in 2 minutes first it will dissolve and then u'l get a thin streak in the water that dissolves on touching .further boiling the syrup gets thick and u'l reach soft ball when a little syrup is poured in the water it forms a ball on the bottom and can be taken in hand it will form a soft ball then this is the consistency..switch off the stove,remove from heat.
8. Now add the flour little by little to the jaggery and keep mixing as u add and till all the flour is added and you get a smooth soft dough now mix well evenly and transfer to a airtight vessel and keep ,at least for a day before making adhirasams.
9. Next day take the dough and add few spoons of milk+oil and knead till you get a soft pliable dough
 And divide into balls and take a greased ziplock and pat each ball into adhirasams of your desired size and shape.
10. Heat oil in a kadai and when hot slip the prepared adhirasams and it will puff like poori then flip over and cook over medium flame and when cooked press it in between two slotted ladles to remove excess oil and put on a kitchen paper as you fry one by one.
11. My adhirasams were crisp as soon as I made and got soft later..the critics (hubby and daughter)at home reviewed it as the best for a first success after so many failures.. Am so thankful to raks for the crystal clear instructions and step by step pictures...