Pavakka( Bitter gourd ) Thoran

Ingredients:

• Bitter gourd 1 big
• Ginger small piece
• Coconut 1/2 cup
• Shallots 5 to 6
• Green chilly 5
• Curry leaves
• Salt

Finely chop the bitter gourd. Add grated coconut, sliced shallots, curry leaves and chopped ginger into it. Heat oil in a kadai and add the bitter gourd and rqd amount of salt into this and cook it in low flame.

Ethapazham Puttu

Ingredients:

• Ripe plantain 2
• Sugar 1 Tbsp
• Rice flour 2 cup
• Coconut 1/2 grated
• Water as rqd
• Salt as rqd

Cut the ripe plantain into small cubes. Mix it with sugar and little coconut. Keep it aside. Mix together required amount of water and salt. Sprinkle this salt water slowly over the rice flour and mix well. Continue this process till the flour becomes wet and smooth. Do not use too much water. (The perfect stage to stop the process is to take a handful of wet flour in the hand, just press it and open the fist. If the flour remain as a solid chunk without breaking or splitting apart, you can stop the process.) Add little grated coconut into the prepared flour and mix well. (To make soft puttu, just grind the wet flour in a mixer.)

For preparing puttu, put a layer of grated coconut into the puttu kutti (puttu maker) followed by the plantain mix and rice flour and then again a layer of plantain and finally a layer of grated coconut. Steam it fo 5 to 8 minutes until the steam passes from the top of the puttu kutti. Serve it hot.

North Indian Fish Fry

Ingredients:

• Fish 5 to 6 pieces
• Ginger-garlic paste 2 Tsp
• Asafoetida pdr 1/4 Tsp
• Chilly pdr 1 Tsp
• Lime Juice As reqd
• Salt
  

Mix together ginger-garlic paste, salt, turmeric pdr, chilly pdr, asafoetida and lime juice to make a paste. Marinate fish with this paste and keep it aside for an hr. Fry it.

Vellarikka( Cucumber ) moru curry

Ingredients:

• Curd 1 cup
• Shallots 4 to 5
• Vellarikka 1 cup
• Garlic 2 to 3 pods
• Green chilly 3 to 4
• Turmeric pdr 1/2 Tsp
• Cumin seeds 1/4 Tsp
• Fenugreek seeds
• Mustard seeds
• Curry leaves
• Coconut
• Water
• Salt
• Oil
  

Cut cucumber into medium pieces (cubes). Cook it with little water, salt, turmeric pdr, sliced chilly, shallots and garlic. Grind together coconut, turmeric pdr, cumin seeds and rest of the chilly, shallots and garlic. Add this grounded mix into the cooked vellarikka. Beat the curd using required amount of water and pour it into the above prepared mix. Add salt and boil it in low heat for few minutes. Season it with mustard, fenugreek, shallots and curry leaves.

Cherupayar (Moong Dal) Mezhukkupuratty

Ingredients:

• Moong Dal 1 cup
• Shallots 5 to 10
• Garlic 5 to 10 pods
• Crushed dry chilly 2 Tbsp
• Turmeric pdr 1/2 Tsp
• Garam masala 1/2 Tsp
• Mustard seeds
• Curry leaves
• Water
• Salt
• Oil
  

Soak dal for 2 to 3 hours. Clean and cook it with little turmeric and salt. Crushed dry chilly, shallots and garlic. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard. When it splutters, add the crushed shallots and garlic. Saute till it turns golden brown. Reduce the heat and add the dry chilly, curry leaves, turmeric pdr, garam masala and salt. Mix it and add the dal. Cover and cook it for another 5 mins.

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• Unsweetened cocoa pdr 1/4 cup
• All purpose flour 1 1/2 cup
• Granulated sugar 1 cup
• Baking soda 1 Tsp
• Baking pdr 1 Tsp
• Salt 1/4 Tsp
• Melted unsalted butter 1/3 cup
• Lemon juice or vinegar 1 Tbsp
• Vanilla essence 2 Tsp
• Warm water 1 cup

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. In an ungreased pan, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa pdr, baking pdr, baking soda and salt. Then add the butter, warm water, lemon juice and essence into the dry ingredients and mix it well using a fork. Bake it for 35 minutes. Remove it from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool.

[Courtesy: JoyOfBaking.com]

This is my entry to the

Hearts For St.Valentine's Day Contest.

HAPPY ONAM TO ALL........

Avial

Ingredients:

• Yam 1/2 cup
• Snake gourd 1/2 cup
• Raw Banana 1/2 cup
• Cucumber 1/2 cup
• Drumstick 1 to 2
• Beans1/4 cup
• Carrot1/4 cup
• Pachaayar 1/4 cup
• Ivy gourd(Kovakka) 1/2 cup
• Chilly 5 to 6
• Turmeric pdr 1/2 Tsp
• Curd 1/2 cup
• Curry leaves
• Cumin seeds 1/2 grated
• Coconut
• Salt
• Oil

Cut vegetables into long pieces (length wise). Grind together coconut and cumin seeds and keep it aside (just grind it once, do not make it into a paste).Cook the sliced vegatables with salt, curry leaves, chilly, turmeric pdr and little water. Add the grounded coconut mixture into this and mix well. Cook it for few minutes. Remove it from fire and add the curd. Combine well. Finally pour coconut oil over the curry and garnish with fresh curry leaves.