Sankara Fish curry

Ingredients:

Sankara fish pieces - 4
Tomato small - 1
Tamarind - Small lemon size
Garlic - 6 cloves
Onion - 1
Red chilli powder - 1 1/2 teasp.
Corriander powder - 1 teasp.
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teasp.
Pepper - 3/4 teasp.
Oil - for seasoning
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teasp
Cummin seeds / small jeera - 1/2 teasp.
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
Methi / Fenugreek - 1/4 teasp.
Curry leaves - as needed
Salt - as needed

Procedure:

• Wash the fish pieces using turmeric powder and salt.
• Cut the tomato into small pieces and grind to get the pulp.
• Make a thick tamarind pulp and add tomato pulp to it.
• Add red chilli powder, corriander powder, turmeric powder and salt to this.
• Smash pepper and curry leaves.
• Put the frying pan on the stove and add oil.
• When the oil gets heated season with mustard seeds, jeera, methi and add asafoetida.
• Add the smashed pepper and curry leaves, onion and garlic and saute well.
• When you get a nice flavour add tomato and tamarind pulp and allow it to boil very well.
• When it boils to the maximum, simmer the stove an add the fish pieces and cover the pan with a lid.
• It will take approximately 7 minutes for the fish to get cooked.
  
  

Note:

• If you don't have ashes for cleaning the fish, use wheat flour, oil and salt for cleaning.
• When you refrigerate the fish pieces add red chilli powder, salt and turmeric powder.
• While cleaning / applying masala it is important that the fish should not be chill.
• If you wish ground coconut can be added.
• It will give a nice effect if seasoning is done with 'vadagam'.

Learnt from: Mrs. Jothy, my mother-in-law

Snakegourd Puttu

Ingredients:


Snakegourd - 500 gms
Small onions - 150 gms
Garlic - 4 cloves
Green chilli - 5
Sauf - 1/2 spoon
Cinnamon - 3 pieces
Curry leaves - for seasoning
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Roasted channa dal - 50 gms
Oil - 100 ml
Salt - as needed

Procedure:

• Cut or scrap the snakegourd into small pieces.
• Add salt and turmeric powder and mix well.
• Add oil to the pan. Once it gets warmed, season cinnamon, sauf and curry leaves.
• Add nicely chopped onions, green chilli and cloves and saute well.
• Squeeze the water from snakegourd, add to the pan and saute.
• Add little salt and cover the pan.
• Don't add water. It has to get cooked only in the oil.
• After it gets cooked, add roasted channa dal powder and fry for some more time.

Bittergourd Fry - 1

Ingredients:

Bittergourd (big) - 3 pieces
Onion - 1
Garlic - 4 cloves
Oil - 6 teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 3 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt - as needed

Procedure:

• Cut the bittergourd into 3 to 4 cubes.
• Add turmerc powder and salt and mix well.
• Steam the bittergourd till it gets half-cooked.
• Add oil to the frying pan and when it gets heated, add the bittergourd pieces and red chilli powder and saute well.
• After 2 to 3 minutes add nicely chopped onion and garlic and saute well.
• Fry till it gets golden brown colour.

Note:

Small onions can be used to make it tastier.
Red chilli powder can be added as per your taste.

Learnt from: Sunitha, my friend

Mutton Chilli Chukka

Ingredients:
Mutton - 250 gm
Ginger Garlic Paste- 1 tablespoon
Red chilli powder - 2 tablespoon
Turmeric powder - 1 tablespoon
Oil - 3/4 cup
Salt - as needed

Procedure:

• Cut the mutton into small pieces; add turmeric powder and salt and leave it for 30 minutes and then clean the pieces.
• Add turmeric powder, ginger garlic paste, salt, red chilli powderto the mutton pieces and mix well.
• Pressure cook till the pieces get cooked three-fourth.
• Add oil to the frying pan, when it gets heated, add the pieces and fry till they get dry.

Note:

• If it is lamb, then half cook it.
• Add red chilli as per your taste.
• This dish needs more oil to make it tastier.
• Garam masala can be added, if needed.

Learnt from: Mrs. Padma, my mother

Carrot Peanut Fry

Ingredients:

Carrot - 4
Peanut / groundnut - 1/2 cup (200 ml)
Red chilli powder - 2 tablespoon
Oil - 4 tablespoon
Salt - as needed

Procedure:

• Cut carrots into small cubes.
• Half cook the peanuts.
• Add oil in the frying pan and add carrot pieces and saute well.
• Add red chilli powder and salt when carrot changes colour.
• Sprinkle little water and boil the carrots. (the pan should not be covered)
• Add peanuts and fry till it gets golden brown colour.

  Learnt from: Lakshmi, my friend                 

Toordal Dosa

Ingredients:
Boiled Rice - 1 1/2 cup (200 ml)
Raw rice - 1 cup
Toor dal - 3/4 cup
Urad dal - 2 tablespoon
Red chilli - 10
Salt - as needed

Seasoning:

Mustard seeds, urad dal, oil, hing / asafoetida, curry leaves

Procedure|:

• Soak rice and dal for almost 3 hours and grind ; the consistency should be that of dosa batter.
• Season mustard seeds, urad dal; add one pinch of asafoetida and salt and mix with the batter.
• Add more water and loosen the consistency of the batter. (like that of wheat dosa)
• After the dosa tawah gets heated considerably, (just like wheat dosa) pour the batter from the edges towards the centre of the tawah.

• When the upper surface gets reddened, turn to the other side.

Note:

If you need crispy dosa, loosen the consistency of the batter.
If you need it thick like adai, thiocken the batter's consistency.
If you prefer, 2 tablespoon scraped coconut can be added.
Dosa can be made immediately after grinding; fermentation is not needed.

Learnt from: Mrs. Padama, my mother

Coconut, Raw Mango Chutney

Ingredients:

Raw mango - 1 (Medium size)
Scraped coconut - 4 tablespoon
Groundnut - 3 tablespoon
Green chilli - 4
Red chilli - 1
Jeera powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - as needed

Procedure:

• Peel the skin of the mango and cut it into small cubes.
• Roast the groundnut and puff the skin off.
• Add mango, coconut, groundnut, green chilli, red chilli, jeera powder, salt, little water and grind well to make a fine paste.

Learnt from: Samaiyal Samaiyal. Vijay TV

Potato Jackfruit Seed Masala

Ingredients:

Potato - 3
Jackfruit seeds - 25
Big onion - 2 (small) / 1(big)
Scraped coconut - 3 tablespoon
Red chilli powder - 2 teaspoon
Corriander powder - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Big jeera - 1 teaspoon
Oil - 4 tablespoon
Cinnamon - 2 small pieces
Cloves - 2
Garlic - 2 small cloves / 1 big clove
Chopped corriander leaves - 1 tablespoon

Procedure:

• Boil and peel the skin of potatoes and the seeds. (Seeds must be half-cooked)
• Add oil to the frying pan and season cinnamon and cloves
• Add onion and fry till it gets golden brown colour.
• Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and corriander powder and saute well.
• Add little water.
• Add potatoes and the seeds, mix and saute well.
• Keep sauting at regular intervals.
• When three-fourth of the cooking is done, add ground coconut and big jeera paste.
• Crush the garlic clove, add and saute.
• Till the mix gets dried up, keep sauting.
• Add corriander leaves.

Learnt from: Mrs. Padma, my mother

Fried and Roasted Chicken

Ingredients:

Chicken - medium size pieces - 1/4 kg.,
Big onion - 2
Tomatoes - 2
Ginger garlic paste - 3 teaspoons
Green chilli - 3
Green corriander - for dressing

Oil - 100 ml.
Cinnamon - 2 small pieces
Cloves - 3
Red chilli powder - 3 teaspoon
Corriander powder - 3 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 2 teaspoon
Garam Masala powder - 3/4 teaspoon
Salt - As needed

Procedure:
 
Add turmeric powder, 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste, 1 teaspoon red chilli powder, 1 teaspoon corriander powder, salt to the chicken pieces and marinate for half an hour.

Take oil in a frying pan. Add chicken pieces three by three and semi fry the pieces till they are half-cooked in medium heat. Don't leave the pieces in oil for a long time. Keep the pieces aside.
 

In the same oil, (if you feel the quantity of the oil is more, you can take away some oil ) add  cinnamon, cloves and add onions, salt and saute well. When it gets golden brown colour, add ginger garlic paste. Add red chilli powder, corriander powder, turmeric powder and some more salt. Then add tomaotoes and the chicken pieces. Add as much water as needed for cooking the chicken pieces. Close the pan while cooking. Now and then, stir the content. Just 5 minutes before the dish gets ready, add garam masala powder.

Please note:

The taste and colour will be good enough, if tomato is added raw along with the vegetables or meat.
If you want the dish as thick masala, switch off the stove little earlier.

Learnt from: Fenilda, my friend

Tomato Tamarind Kuzhambu / curry

Ingredients:

Tomatoes - 3 small / 2 big (Make a paste using the mixie)
Tamarind pulp - pulp taken from tamarind of the size of a small lemon
small onions - 15
Garlic - 10 cloves (each cut into 2 small pieces)
Red chilli Powder - 2 teaspoon
Corriander powder - 3 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - as needed

For seasoning:

Oil (2 or 3 tablespoon) mustard seeds, urad dal, fenugreek, hing / asafoetida (kayam), red chilli pieces, curry leaves

Procedure:

Chop tomatoes into small pieces and grind them to make a pulp. Add tamarind pulp, red chilli powder, corriander powder, turmeric powder and salt. Kee a frying pan on the stove and add oil. When the oil gets medium heat, add mustard seeds, urad dal, fenugreek, hing, small onions, garlic and curry leaves and saute till it gets golden brown. Then add tomato and other ingredients and bring it to a boil. It has to boil nicely to take away the raw smell of the tomato pulp.

Learnt from: Shoba, my friend

An interest for cooking

I had thought cooking is a big issue till I started cooking. Infact, in the beginning stages I was rather confused. But, as time went on I felt that cooking is too simple a thing...rather simpler than what I feared. It is one of those things in life which seem tougher and tougher when you think about it, but gets simpler and simpler when you face / do in reality.

Gradually I understood that it is similar to the art of making new numbers by adding 0 to 9 in different combinations! It is a challenge of course, but a managable, an easier challenge!

Till I bade Good-bye to my sweet home (of course mother's place), I never ever thought about it as there was always some soul around to feed me..But once I got married this was thought as a big issue by my mother, and instead of me, she started getting nightmares. But my sisters-in-law and my mother-in.law and all others (except my mom) told me that it is a very easy task,...nothing to panic...I enjoyed again without learning anything in particular, but sort of knew the basic aspects.

Any person who is a lover of tasty food, will equally love cooking. But even today, I don't enjoy cooking much. But I am particular about the taste of the food, so I have gradually developed an interest in cooking.

I have created this blog, mainly to register whatever I have learnt and tried, so that I could refer to it whenever needed, and also to help my daughter, my grandchildren...(their luck or bad luck, I can't say) in the future if at all needed..