Mutton Chettinad

Always wanted to prepare chettinad curry, was looking for an authentic recipe. One Sunday my friend Reena sent me Chicken Chettinad for lunch, it was so delicious that I, asked her for the recipe.  She sent the cook book of Rakesh Sethi. After a few weeks prepared it for our get - together but with mutton and it tasted awesome. So here is the recipe...

Recipe Source - Rakesh Sethi Cook book

Ingredients

1 Kg Mutton
4 Onions  - sliced
5 Tomatoes  - chopped
Juice of 2 Lemons
4 Tablespoons Coriander leaves - chopped (optional)
Salt to taste
1/2 Cup  Oil 

2 Sprigs Curry Leaves

For the masala - grind to paste 

1/2  Cup Coconut - grated
6-8 long Dry Red chillies (I used Bedgi + Kashmiri)

3 Tablespoons Poppy seeds /Khus Khus
5 cloves
2 inch piece Cinnamon
4 green Cardamoms
1 Star anise / Phoolchakri
2 Tablespoons Fennel seeds / Saunf

1 Teaspoon Black peppercorns
2 inches Ginger
6 Garlic flakes
2 Teaspoon Oil
1 Teaspoon Garam Masala powder
2 Teaspoons Turmeric powder 

Method
Wash and drain the mutton pieces  on a colander.

Heat little oil in a pan and roast the dry red chillies, poppy seeds, green cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon, fennel, star anise and grated coconut till the lightly golden in color.  Grind to a coarse paste along with ginger & garlic.

Heat oil in a pressure pan and fry the onions till golden. Toss in the curry leaves and fry for a few seconds and then add the ground paste and saute for some time. Add the chopped tomatoes and the turmeric powder and fry for a couple of minutes

Add the mutton pieces, mix well and cook for 5 minutes on a medium high flame. Add salt to taste and 1 cup water, . Cover & cook till done.  When the cooker cools open it and check if mutton is done add the lime juice and garam masala powder . If you want more gravy add a little extra water to achieve the desired consistency.

Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot with rice or chapathis.

Linking this to Valli's 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge: May -- Week 4.

Labels : Mutton, CCChallenge, South Indian

Aloo Triangular Sandwich

I make this sandwich very often for breakfast. This is the type of sandwhich which you get on the streets of Mumbai.  This is perfect for breakfast or as an evening snack.

Have this sandwich with a glass of milk/ coffee, it makes a wholesome breakfast that can keep you filled for long time. Try this for your kid’s lunch box, they will sure love. 

Sending this post to Srivalli's Kid's Delight event,  host of the  month Sandhya  -  theme Snacking all the way.

Ingredients

8  Slices  Whole wheat or White bread
2 Tablespoons  Butter

For Filling
2 Large - Potatoes - boiled and finely chopped
1 Medium - Onion
2 Green Chilies

2 Tablespoon Capsicum  - Chopped
2 Tablespoon Coriander Leaves - chopped

2 Teaspoons Oil
1/2 Teaspoons Cumin Seeds

1/2 Teaspoons Mustard Seeds

1/2 Teaspoons Turmeric Powder

1/2 Teaspoons Red Chili Powder

1/2 Teaspoons Garam Masala Powder  - optional

Salt to taste

Method
To Prepare the filling

In a pan heat oil, add mustard, cumin seeds, let it splutter. Add onion, green chili and saute until onion become soft and light brown. Add the capsicum, turmeric, red chilly , garam masala powders, salt and  mix well. Add potato,  mix well, cook for 2-3 minutes on medium flame, add coriander leaves mix well, take off the  flame and allow masala to cool.

To Prepare Sandwich
Apply butter on a side of bread, now apply thick layer of potato masala on same side and level stuffing, cover it with another bread. Heat a stove Sandwich toaster and grease it well with butter.

Place a sandwich on it and place it on medium flame for 3 minutes on one side then flip the toaster and keep it again for 3 minutes.  Open and check to see weather the bread has become brown and crispy or as you like your sandwich to be, repeat same for another batch. Serve warm with ketchup, sauce or green chutney.

As you can see in the pic, I have this stove toaster that cuts the sandwich into four.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#52.

Labels:  Sandwiches, Blogging Marathon, Kids delight, Healthy snacks

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes - Eggless

Have you eaten Ice Cream Cupcakes without the ice cream? These are adorable cone cupcakes which are decorated with a simple vanilla frosting to look like.

When looking through my recipe files I found these adorable ice cream cone cupcakes pic. I was so thrilled and decide to make these.

When I made these and put them in the oven they tilted a little and some of the batter fell on the foil, nevertheless they still had enough of cake to bite into.

When  my beta and daughter seen these,  their first question was, Wow ! shall we eat this, they could not believe that there is cake inside it. They loved the idea of ice cream cone and cupcake together. 

Ingredients
100 Grams All Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking soda
50 Grams Butter
65 Grams Condensed Milk
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence
1/2 Teaspoon Orange color
2 Tablespoons Water or milk as required to make a dropping consistency

For the Frosting

50 Grams Unsalted Butter
150 - 200 Grams Icing sugar
1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla essence
A few drops of blue color


Method

Sieve the flour, baking powder and soda, keep aside.

On a round cake tin take four sheets of foil, cover and seal the tin. Then make a small cross to fit the cone.

Whisk the butter and condensed milk together till light and  fluffy.  Add the essence and flour a spoon at a time and continue whisking till all the flour is incorporated, add the color and mix well, if necessary add the  milk to make it a dropping consistency. 

Take each ice cream cone and fill them with the cake batter , with the spoon handle just lightly press it so that the batter reaches the bottom, tap with on hand to level it . Place the cones into the cross of the tin and bake at 150 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes.

For the frosting

Sieve the icing sugar and keep aside.

Whisk the butter till light and fluffy. Add the essence and keep adding the icing sugar till it reaches a spreading consistency. Divide the batter in two parts. In one part add a few drops of blue color and mix it well. 

After the cone cupcakes cool, pipe the frosting and add  sprinkles on top.  

I had tough time frosting these ice cream cone cupcakes as the frosting was melting because of the hot summer in Mumbai.

Sending these super cute Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes to    Preeti 's and Srivalli's blog anniversary event.

Labels : Cakes, Kids delight, Eggless

Akoori / Scrambble eggs - Parsi Cuisine

Scrambble eggs with toast butter for your perfect Sunday special breakfast.   . It is best served with chapatis, parathas or just toasted bread.

Ingredients
4 eggs
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh coriander
2 green chilies, finely chopped (as required)
1 medium tomato, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons ghee.

Method

Break eggs into a bowl and beat a few strokes till whites and yolks are well blended. 

Heat ghee,  fry onion in it till soft but not brown. Add coriander, chillies and tomato and fry till well blended. Cook for 3 minutes. Remove pan from fire.  Add the eggs, salt and 
return pan to fire and cook slowly stirring all the time mixture is consistency of soft scrambled eggs.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#52.

Linking this to "Come, join us for Breakfast"


Labels:  Egg, Breakfast, Healthy, Blogging Marathon, Parsi Cuisine, Come join us for Breakfast 

Vegetable Dhansak With Brinjal Pakoda - Parsi Cuisine

The Parsis of India are Persian Zoroastrian immigrants who settled on the west coast of India (Gujarat) around the 7-9th century . Parsis,  when they came to India from Persia, settled on the West coast of India in Gujarat , picked along the way the tradition of stews, gosht (meat) and dry fruits from Iran. They devoured the fish available on the coast and upped the sour content in their food with red vinegar / tamarind to balance the sweetness of Gujarati cuisine. That is how the Parsis, influenced by their history, founded their own distinct cuisine.  Hence, it's interesting to see that many Parsi meat preparation lean towards Persian cooking techniques ( slow cooking ), often bringing together a combination of meat, vegetables and lentils with Indian spices.

Dhansak is a popular dish, Dhansak is made by cooking meat with a mixture of lentils and vegetables. This is served with caramelised brown rice, which is rice cooked in caramel water to give it a typical taste and colour. The dal cooked with meat and vegetables served with brown rice, altogether is called dhansak. 

In Parsi homes, dhansak is traditionally made on Sundays. I have prepared a Vegetable Dhansak and served it steamed Rice and Fried Brinjals. This delicious wholesome dish was our Sunday Lunch.  This recipe was given to me by my friend.

Ingredients

For the Home made Dhansak Masala
1 Stick Cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon Mustard seeds
1/4 Teaspoon Sesame seeds
1/4 Teaspoon Fennel seeds
1/8 Teaspoon Fenugreek seeds
1/8 Teaspoon Nutmeg
1 Teaspoon Heaped Coriander seeds
1/4 Teaspoon Cumin seeds
1/2 Teaspoon Black Peppercorns
2 Green Cardamons
1 Big Brown Cardamon
1/2 Teaspoon Shahjeera / Caraway seeds
1/2 Teaspoon Cloves
4 Petals Star aniseed

1 Bay Leaf

Method for the Masala

Dry roast all the above spices for about 2 minutes.  Cool and grind to a fine powder.    Keep aside. The masala can be stored for 6 months.

Ingredients for the Dhansak 

1/4  Cup Toor dal
1/2 Cup Moong dal

1  Large Onion - chopped
1  Potato -  cut in cubes
1/4 Cup White Pumpkin - cut in cubes
2 Small Brinjals  -  cut in cubes 

1 Carrot - cut in cubes
1/4  Teaspoon Turmeric powder

1 Teaspoon ginger garlic paste

2 Tablespoon Oil
1 Tablespoons Dhansak Masala -  homemade
1 Teaspoon Chilly powder

1 Tablespoon Jaggery Or Sugar
1  Tablespoon Tamarind paste

Salt to taste

1 Cube of  Vegetable soup
2 -3  Cups Water

 Method

Wash the lentils and cook them in a pressure cooker till done.

 In a big wok , heat oil, add the onions and ginger garlic paste,  saute till the onions turn  pink, then add all the vegetables and saute till  for 2 minutes. Add  turmeric, soup cube,  salt, lentils,  dhansak  masala, chilly powder and water. Cook on low flame for an hour stirring in between so that it does not burn at the bottom. After an hour add the tamarind paste, jaggery and  check the consistency of the dhansak,  add water if necessary and let it boil  again on slow flame for 10 - 15 minutes.  Garnish with chopped corainder and serve hot with steamed rice, Kachumber salad and Fried Brinjals / Brinjal Pakoda.

Fried Brinjal / Brinjal Pakoda

Ingredients

1 Big Round Black Brinjal / Eggplant

1/2 Teaspoon Dhansak masala

1 Teaspoon Chilly powder

1 Cup Gram flour / Chick pea flour

2 Tablespoons Rice flour

Salt to taste

Oil for shallow frying

Method

Cut the Brinjal into round thick slices and keep aside.

In big flat plate mix the dhansak masala, chilly powder, salt, both the flours and mix well.  Add water to make a  very thick paste.  Take each slice  apply the paste on both sides and keep aside for 5 minutes.

Heat oil in frying pan, arrange the brinjals , keep on  medium flame till one side is nicely fried and turns reddish brown.  Flip  and fry the other side, in the same manner.  Serve hot with steamed rice and Dhansak and Kuchumber.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#52.

Labels : Masalas, Vegetables, Parsi Cuisine, Blogging Marathon, Homemade, Complete Meal