Badam Milk

Ingredients:

• Almond : 20
• Chilled milk : 2 cup
• Sugar : 2 Tbsp
• Vanilla essence : ½ Tsp

Soak almond in hot water for 30 mins, then peel off the skin and keep it aside. First grind the almond with little milk into a fine paste and add the rest of the ingredients into a mixer and beat it well. Serve it cold.

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Chicken Stew

Ingredients:

• Chicken : 1 kg
• Potato : 1 big
• Carrot : 1 big
• Onion : 3 big
• Ginger 1.5  Tbsp
• Green chilly : 5 to 10
• Crushed pepper : 2 Tsp
• Cardamom : 3
• Cloves : 4
• Cinnamon : 5 small pieces
• Semi thick coconut milk : 2 cup
• Thick coconut milk : 1 cup
• All purpose flour : 2 Tsp
• Curry leaves : few
• Salt : as rqd
• Coconut oil : as rqd

Clean and cut the chicken into medium size pieces. Heat oil in a kadai and add crushed whole spices. Fry it for a couple of minutes and add cubed onion, sliced green chilly, ginger and curry leaves. Saute till the onion becomes translucent. Then, add the chicken pieces along with the cubed vegetables and salt. Saute the chicken in high flame for a few minutes and pour the semi thick coconut milk into this. Cover and cook well. On another pan, heat little oil and add all purpose flour and stir well. Then, add little water into it and mix quickly to form a thick paste. Keep it aside. When the chicken  is fully done, pour the thick coconut milk and combine. Check the salt at this moment. Reduce the flame and add the above prepared flour paste into the cooked chicken and mix. When the stew starts to thicken, switch off and remove it from fire. Serve it hot with palappam, bread or idiyappam.

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Unakka Irachi Chathachathu

Ingredients:

• Dried beef : 10 pieces
• Dry chilly or green chilly : 5 
• Curry leaves few
• Shallots : 10 
• Garlic : 10 

Clean and cut the beef into thin pieces and marinate with salt. Dry the marinated beef in sun till it is void of the water content completely and turns dry. Occasionally, flip the beef pieces so that all the parts get equally dried. This process takes 2 to 3 weeks. [Alternately, you can also buy Beef Jerky from the supermarket.] You can store the dried beef in a clean container and can use it for a long period of time.

Shallow fry the dried beef in oil for a couple of minutes. Crush it well using a mortar and pestle and separate it well using hand or just crush once using a mixer/blender and keep it aside. Crush shallots, garlic and chilly separately. Heat oil in a kadai and add crushed shallots, garlic and curry leaves. Saute till it becomes light brown and add the  chilly. Roast it well and add the crushed beef. Combine all the ingredients and stir it for a few mins.

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Beatty's Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• Sugar : 2 cup
• All purpose flour : 1¾ cup
• Cocoa pdr : ¾ cup
• Baking powder : 1 Tsp
• Baking soda : 2 Tsp
• Salt : 1 Tsp
• Buttermilk : 1 cup
• Hot coffee : 1 cup
• Vegetable oil : ½ cup
• Vanilla essence : 1 Tsp
• Egg : 2

Preheat the oven to 180° C. Grease two 8 inch cake pans and keep it aside. Sieve flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, combine buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla essence. Slowly add the wet ingredients into the dry one and mix well. Then, pour the hot coffee and mix. Transfer the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake it for 35 to 40 mins. Transfer it to a wire rack and cool it well before decoration.

For the whipped cream layer:

• Bluebird whipped cream : 1 packet
• Vanilla essence : 1 Tsp
• Cold water : 90 ml
• Pwd sugar 1 Tbsp
• Cocoa pdr 2 Tsp

Chill the mixing bowl and whipping blade for 15 mins. Then pour the cold water into the cream mix and beat it at low to medium speed for few mins. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat till it reaches thick. Cover and chill it for 15 mins. Layer the cooled cake and fill it with this cream. Then refrigerate it for 1/2 hr.

For the ganache topping:

• Baking chocolate (at room temp) : 200 gm
• Fresh cream : 200 ml

Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Heat the fresh cream till it starts to boil and pour it over the chopped chocolate. Mix it well until it melts completely. Cool it to the room temperature and refrigerate it for 10 mins.

Recipe Courtesy: foodnetwork.com

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Gobi Manchurian

Ingredients:

• Cauliflower : 1 big
• Maida : ½ cup
• Cornflour : ¼ cup + 1 Tbsp
• Kashmiri chilly pdr : 1 Tsp
• Chopped ginger : 1 Tbsp
• Chopped garlic : 1 Tbsp
• Onion cubed : 2 med
• Capsicum cubed : 1 big
• Tomato sauce : 2 Tbsp
• Chilly sauce : 1 Tbsp
• Soy sauce : 1½ Tbsp
• Sugar : ¼ Tsp
• Water
• Salt
• Oil

Clean and cut the cauliflower into medium pieces and dip it in salt water for ½ an hr. Then, drain it and keep it aside. Mix water with cornflour and keep it aside. Combine maida, cornflour, chilly pdr and a little salt. Make a thick paste out of this using a little water. Dip the drained cauliflower pieces in the above prepared batter and deep fry it. Transfer it into a bowl. Heat oil in another pan and saute the ginger, garlic and onion for 3 mins. Then, add the cubed capsicum and saute it. Pour the sauces into it and mix. Heat it for a few mins and pour the cornflour mix into this. When it thickens, add  the fried cauliflower and combine it with the sauces. Sprinkle a little salt and sugar and stir it. Remove it from fire.

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Palappam

Ingredients:

• Raw rice : 1 cup
• Grated coconut : ½ to ¾ cup
• Cooked rice : ½ cup
• Instant yeast : ¼ Tsp
• Sugar : 3 Tbsp
• Water
• Salt

Soak rice for 2 to 5 hrs. Then grind it with grated coconut and the cooked rice using required amount of water. The batter consistency should be thinner than the dosa batter. Add yeast into the batter and mix well. Keep it  overnight  in a warm place to ferment.

Once it is fermented, add the required amount of sugar and salt into the batter and stir it well. Then keep it unstirred  for ½ hr. Next, heat the appa chatti and pour a big round spoon (thavi) full of batter into it. Then spread the batter by rotating the appa chatti. Cover and cook it for 2 to 3 mins. When the edges turn brown, remove it from the pan and serve it hot with veg or non-veg curry.

Some curries which may go with palappam are Vegetable Stew, Creamy Cashew Chicken, Nadan Chicken Curry, Traditional Chicken Roast, Beef Curry, Fish Molly or Egg Roast.

An alternate method of preparation of Palappam is also given here.

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