This is a fresh take on the banana pudding which I developed as a hot desert for a dear friend who was battling cancer and felt too cold to enjoy anything that was not warm. This has less sugar but the hot chocolate powder ( I used Cadbury’s Hot Chocolate) lends a lovely smooth, chocolatey flavour. The chocolate and banana go well together along with a sublet hit of nutmeg.
I like cooking with minced chicken when I want to cook fast and don’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen. This is a quick and easy recipe that uses bursting with flavour.
Ingredients
Chicken mince 500 g
Tomatoes 3
Garlic 4 pods
Green chillies 3
Red chili powder 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Garam masala 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves to garnish
Onions 2, chopped
Peas , frozen or fresh 1 cup
Coconut oil 2 tbsps
Method
Heat the oil in a wok. Add the cumin seeds and when they stop sputtering, add the onions and garlic. Fry for a few seconds.
Add the washed and drained chicken mince and cook till all the water evaporates and the chicken changes colour.
Meanwhile puree the tomatoes in a mixer grinder along with the green chillies.
Add this to the mince.
Add the spices and salt.
Add the peas. Add about 2 cups of water and cook on medium heat, stirring frequently.
Once the gravy thickens, garnish with coriander leaves and serve with buns or naan or rice.
I came up with this recipe when my sister wanted something savoury along with the cinnamon rolls that I had made for breakfast. It came out quite delicious.
Ingredients
All-purpose flour 2 3/4 cups
Sugar 1/4 cup
Butter 3 tbsps
Pesto 3/4 cup
Yeast 2 1/4 tsps
Milk 3/4 cup
Salt 1/2 tsp
Egg 1
Basil leaves, few
Olive oil 1 tbsp
Method
Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl.
Melt the butter in the milk in the microwave till the butter is melted and the mixture is warm, not hot. Add the yeast and leave for five minutes. Pour mixture into the dry ingredients.
Add the egg. Turn the mix onto a floured surface and knead for 3-4 minutes. Make into a ball of dough and place it in an oiled bowl. Cover with cling film and leave for an hour till the dough has doubled in volume.
Punch down the dough and roll it out into a rectangle. Spread the pesto and sprinkle with basil leaves.
Roll the dough into a cylindrical log. Slice into 1” pieces and place in a buttered tray.
Cover with cling film and let it rise for 60-90 minutes.
Bake in preheated 190 degree C oven for 30 minutes. Serve warm.
This is a light but filling soup, just right for winter. The cream and the puréed broccoli stems makes this ideal for a one-dish meal.
Ingredients
Broccoli florets 3 cups, blanched
Broccoli stems 2 cups, peeled, steamed and puréed
Onion 1, chopped
Fresh cream 200 ml
Milk 1 cup
All-purpose flour 2 tbsps
Salt to taste
Pepper powder 2 tsps
Garlic 12 cloves, minced
Olive oil 2 tbsps
Butter 30 g
Water 2 cups
Coriander leaves for garnish
Method
Add the olive oil and butter in that order to a heated pan. I use a wide and deep pan in which I can reheat the soup if needed. In this case, I used a pressure cooker as I was making this at a friend’s holiday home in the mountains and it tends to hold temperatures better.
Add the chopped onion and garlic and fry till they turn a light brown.
Add the broccoli florets and fry for a minute.
Add the flour and fry to a few seconds till the raw smell goes away. Add milk, stirring all the time. Add the puréed broccoli stems and water. Boil for four minutes.
Add the cream and let the bubbles appear. Keep stirring. Switch off the heat.
Serve hot, garnished with chopped coriander leaves.
The less sugar you consume, the less you want. Increasingly, I find desserts too sweet at restaurants. So I came up with this version that is delicious without being too sweet as I use dates and jaggery to impart the sweetness.
Served with custard
Ingredients
Flour 1 3/4 cups
Baking powder 1 tsp
Baking soda 1 1/2 tsps
Ginger powder 2 tsps
Sugar 3/4 cup
Jaggery 3 cubes
Dates 6, chopped
Fresh ginger 1” piece, chopped fine
Eggs 2
Yoghurt 3 tbsps
Salted Butter 125 grams, melted
Method
Mix the dry ingredients — flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger and sugar — in a bowl.
Heat half a cup of water with the jaggery cubes till they melt and become reduced to 2 tablespoons. Add it to the bowl.
Add half a cup of water to the yoghurt and beat well till blended. Add to the bowl.
Add the eggs, chopped dates and ginger. Add the melted butter. Mix well with a flat wooden spoon.
Preheat the oven at 190 degrees C and bake the pudding for 30 minutes till the surface is golden brown.
Test with a toothpick. It should come out with crumbs.
My husband loved mutton, especially the tender meat from a goat, and I came up with this recipe so that I could make it at a moment’s notice. The secret was that I would marinate the mutton and then keep it overnight in the refrigerator or even freeze it. This meant I could make biryani on call.
Ingredients
Mutton 1/2 kg, cut into cubes and on the bone
Basmati rice 3 cups, washed and soaked for 30 minutes
Tomatoes 2 large, chopped
Green chillies 2, chopped
Onions 2 large + 1, thinly sliced
Ginger 1”
Garlic 4 cloves
Mint leaves, a few
Cloves 2
Bay leaf 1
Cinnamon 1” piece
Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
Coconut oil 2 tbsps
Coriander leaves for garnish
Raisins 3 tbsps
Ghee 1 tbsp
For the marinade:
Yoghurt 1 cup
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Coriander powder 2 tsps
Chilli powder 1 tsp
Pepper powder 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Method
Marinate the washed mutton in all the ingredients and leave it overnight in the refrigerator.
Heat the pressure cooker and add the oil. Add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds.
When they stop sputtering, add the two large sliced onions. Sauté till they turn transparent.
Crush the ginger and garlic and add to the cooker. Sauté for two minutes till the raw smell disappears.
Add the marinated mutton pieces. Add the cloves, bay leaf, cinnamon, tomatoes and green chillies. Mix well. Add 1 and 1/2 cups of water and cook in the pressure cooker for two whistles on high flame. Reduce the heat and cook for five minutes. Switch off the heat and let the pressure cooker cool down.
Once the cooker is cool and the steam has escaped, open it and stir through once.
Drain the rice and add to the pressure cooker. Close the lid and cook for one whistle. Reduce the heat and cook for one whistle. Let the pressure cooker cool down.
Heat the ghee in a small frying pan and fry the small onion, sliced, till they are brown and crisp. Take care not to burn the slices. Take it out and fry the raisins in the same ghee for a few seconds. Take them out with a slotted spoon.
Open the pressure cooker and stir the remaining ghee in the frying pan through the fluffed up biryani.
Serve on a rice platter, garnished with the coriander leaves, fried onions and raisins. It goes well with a green salad, raita and pappadams.
I love all shelled seafood and prawns are my favourite. I have always made prawn biryani but my usual recipe is quite long and complicated. The other day, I wanted to make prawn biryani fast. And I came up with this recipe that can be made in less than an hour.
Ingredients
Prawns 250 g, cleaned, shelled and deveined
For the marinade:
Red chilli powder 1 tbsp Turmeric powder 1 tsp Pepper powder 1/2 tsp Salt to taste
If there is one variety of banana that I absolutely love, it is the Ethapazham or Nendrapazham, or plantain. It is great as a fruit, in curries and in desserts. This particular curry, Ethapazham Pachadi, is easy to make and is a fine balance of sweet and spicy.
Ingredients
Ethapazham or plantain 2, peeled and chopped
Red chilli powder 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
Grated coconut 3 tbsps
Green chillies 2
Cumin seeds 1 tsp
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Red chilli whole 1
Coconut oil 1 tbsp
Yoghurt 2 tbsps
Method
Boil the chopped plantains with red chilli powder, turmeric and salt in 1 cup of water.
Grind the grated coconut, green chillies and cumin seeds.
Mash the cooked banana.
Add the ground coconut mix.
Add the curry leaves and bring to a boil. If it is too thick, add some water.
Take it off the heat and add the whipped yoghurt.
Heat the coconut oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds and whole red chilli.
Raw Papaya Salad is a delicious dish available at all Thai restaurants and a favourite with most patrons. The mix of hot chillies with garlic, shrimps, tamarind paste and fish sauce makes for a riot of flavour, very pleasing to the palate. I have tried to make a vegetarian raw papaya salad that offers the taste without the shrimps and the fish sauce.
Ingredients
Raw papaya 1 small
Tomato 1 medium
Garlic 3 cloves
Chillies 6-7, really hot ones
Fresh cowpea (lobiya) 2-3, roughly broken into 2” pieces
Soy sauce 1 tsp
Olive oil 1 tsp
Rock salt to taste
Peanuts 1/2 cup, roasted
Cashew nuts 10, roasted
Tamarind pulp 1 tbsp
Lemon 1
Jaggery powder 2 tsps
Method
Peel and slice the papaya into thin strips. I cut it the way the Thais do by scoring and slicing the papaya. You can follow this video to learn how to do it right
Soak the sliced papaya in iced water for 15 minutes. Drain. This will make the papaya crunchy.
Crush the garlic and rock salt in a wide mortar and pestle. Add the chillies to the mortar. I used the Indian Bird’s Eye chilli, known as Kanthari in Kerala. In Singapore, I used Cili Padi. The spiciness of the chilli gives the salad its special flavour and a kick.
Add the soy sauce and olive oil to the garlic and chilli in the mortar. Add the jaggery and the tamarind pulp. I soak a lump of tamarind the size of a small lemon in some water overnight and squeeze out the pulp and use it.
Add the drained papaya to the mortar and pound gently.
Cut the tomato into thick wedges. Add the cowpea and tomato to the mortar and pound gently to get out the juices of the vegetables.
Squeeze the lemon juice into the salad. Add the lemon skin too and pound gently. Toss well and then remove the lemon skin from the salad and throw it away.
Add the crushed peanuts and cashew nuts and toss well.
Chills & Chillies 