Oats with poached egg

I got tired of eating oats with milk and sugar, so tried this indianized oats recipe which my mom used to make, gave a twist to it and enjoyed it so much! I added my own home made yoghurt (which had turned a little sour) along with fresh curry leaves and chopped cilantro. The Poached egg in the oats was just perfect, so lip smackingly yummy and really satisfying to have it in the morning as your first meal of the day. It was also a very nutritious and healthy breakfast.

Try this recipe.

Ingredients:
Quick cooking Oats -  1/4 cup  (cooking time -1.5 mins)
Onion chopped - 1 tbs
Ginger garlic paste - 1/8 tsp (optional)
Green chilly deseeded (optional) - 1 very small
Curry leaves or mint (fresh) - 4 or 5
Cilantro (chopped) - 1 tsp
Yoghurt - 1 tbs (optional)
Egg - 1
Salt to taste
Water - 11/2 cups
Olive oil - 1 - 2 tsp

Method: 
1.Put the olive oil in a sauce pan on medium heat.
2. Add the chopped onion, curry leaves and the green chilly. You may omit the green chilly if you don't want it or add half of it. I added a very small one after removing the seeds just for the zing. It wasn't hot for me.
3. Fry till the onions turn translucent. Add the ginger garlic paste - a little just for its flavor, then the whipped yoghurt. You can make it without the ginger garlic paste and yoghurt too and it still tastes good.
4. Now add the water and let it come to a boil.
5. Add the oats, salt and chopped cilantro and let it cook for 2 mins.
6. Break the egg first into a small bowl then slide it slowly into the sauce pan with the runny oats.
7. Simmer for 2 more mins till the egg is poached to your choice - half done, well done or runny. I like it with the center still runny but the sides slightly done. Add a tablespoon of some sour yoghurt and chopped curry leaves as a final touch and enjoy!

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Beef chilly garlic

Ingredients: 

For the marinade: 

Beef - 1lb

Garlic - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Red chilly powder - 1 tsp

Brown sugar - 1 tsp

Vinegar - 2 tsp

White flour - 1 tsp

For the Red Sauce:

Garlic - 1 clove minced (medium size)

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Brown sugar - 1 tsp

Vinegar - 4 tsp

Soya sauce - 2 tsp

Chopped green chillies - 1 (optional)

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Clean, wash and cut the beef into strips. Drain with paper towels and set aside.

2. Mix together all the ingredients of the first marinade except the flour and rub the beef pieces with it nicely. Set aside for 1/2 an hour.

3. Dust the marinated beef pieces with flour and deep fry them in oil till crisp. Drain on paper towels.

4. Meanwhile prepare the red sauce by combining all the sauce ingredients together.

5. Now toss the fried beef pieces in the red sauce and enjoy.

For Chilly garlic beef in glazed red sauce:

Follow the steps from 1 to 3

4. Heat 1 tsp of vegetable oil. Combine all the sauce ingredients with 1 tbs of ketchup and 1 tsp of hot chilli sauce (optional) and add to the sauce pan.

5. Dissolve 1 tsp of cornstarch in 1 tbs of water and add it to the red sauce to glaze it. Simmer till the sauce thickens a bit. If it becomes too thick add another tablespoon of water.

6.Toss in the fried beef.

7. Garnish with chopped spring onions and serve hot with rice or noodles. You may also add thinly sliced red and green peppers to it.

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Madrasi Vegetable Biryani

The pictures below show the vegetable biryani made at two different times with a slightly different technique. Adding the beetroot to the sauce colours all the vegetables and the rice as well, so it looks like beetroot colour all over. But if you layer the beetroot pieces on top of the rice it stands out like a jewel in the crown and makes the biryani more colourful and I prefer doing that. Also I feel a difference in flavour too though both are equally good.  I have shown both the methods below with pictures.

Ingredients:

Vegetable Oil - 1 cup

Cloves - 10

Green cardamoms - 10

Cinnamon sticks - 2 x 3"

Basumati rice - 5 cups

Onions - 5 medium to large size

Potatoes - 4 - 5

Peas - 1 1/2 cups

Carrot - 1large

Green beans - 2cups

kohlarabi - 1

Beetroot - 1 

Cauliflower florets - 2 cups

Plum tomatoes - 4 large 

Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 cup

Yoghurt - 1 cup

Saffron - a pinch

Cilantro - 2 cups chopped

Mint - 1/2 cup

Green chillies - 10

fresh lemon/lime juice - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Method: 

Peel, wash and cut potatoes into big chunks. Peel carrots, kohlarabi and beetroot, wash them and cut into thin dices and keep them aside separately. Cut beans each into 2 pieces. Separate cauliflower florets, wash, towel dry and keep aside. 

Deep fry all the vegetables separately except the beetroot as it colours the oil. 

Pre soak the basumathi rice for half an hour, after rinsing in several changes of water until clear. For golden sela rice, it has to be soaked for 2- 4 hours.

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a pot. Add the whole spices - 10 cloves, 10 green cardamoms, and 2x 3" cinnamon sticks. 

  

2. Peel, wash and slice 5 large onions and add them to the pot

.

3. Fry the onions on medium heat till they are golden brown.

4. Add ginger garlic paste, turmeric and red chilly powder. 

5. Add green chillies and tomatoes.

6.Turn over and cook till they soften a bit.

 7. Add yoghurt and mix well.

8. Add a few mint leaves. 

9. Add chopped fresh cilantro.

10. Meanwhile fry all the vegetables separately and the beetroot at the end, otherwise it will color them all. Do not fry the peas.

11. Add all the fried vegetables and green peas.

12. Sprinkle 1 tsp lemon juice, adjust the salt and mix all the vegetables well with the saiuce gently. 

13. Pre soak basumathi rice for 1/2 an hour. Bring a pot of water to boil. Add the basumathi rice and 2 -3tbs salt. Cook for a few minutes till the grains become just a little soft on the outside but still gritty when you press them between your index finger and thumb (you should keep checking from time to time). At this stage you should drain the rice to the last drop

14. Transfer all the contents of the pot (the sauce with the vegetables) to the roaster and place it in the oven preheated at 375 degrees centigrade. 

15. Immediately layer the drained rice on top of the sauce in the roaster simmering in the oven.

16. Add the fresh mint and coriander.

                                                                                                  

17. Add a pinch of edible orange food colouring on one side and mix it with a little rice as seen in the picture.

18. Sprinkle the coloured rice on top of the white rice. Add the saffron milk. Close the roaster lid and steam in the oven preheated at 375 degrees centigrade for 10 mins.

19. Remove from the oven when done and let it settle for 5 mins. Then open the lid and mix the rice with a round or flat spatula gently starting from the bottom and then folding in with the rice on top.

20. Mix well till all the white rice is coated with the sauce. Now close the lid and put it back into the hot oven for 5 more mins.  The vegetable biryani is now ready to eat. Serve hot with onion yoghurt chutney and enjoy!

Tips:

1.  It is very important to use good quality long grain basumathi rice which has been aged.

2 Adding the beetroot pieces along with the other vegetables to the sauce colours the rice and all the vegetables in it as you can see in the picture. If you want it coloured it is fine. But I prefer adding the beetroot pieces as a layer on top of the rice, which makes them stand out like a jewel in the crown.

Take a look at the pictures here after step 10:

11. Add all the vegetables except the beetroot pieces. Mix well

12. Add fresh lemon juice, mix well then transfer the sauce with the vegetables to a roaster and place it in the oven preheated at 375 degrees centigrade. 

13. Now top the vegetable sauce in the roaster with a layer of 3/4 cooked basumathi rice, then put all the beetroot pieces on top of the rice. 

14. Add another thin layer of rice over the beetroot pieces. Throw in some fresh mint leaves and lots of chopped cilantro. Colour a little of the rice in the corner of the roaster with edible natural food colouring and sprinkle the coloured rice all over the top layer which makes it look so decorative and colourful. Finally sprinkle a few drops of saffron milk (saffron dissolved in milk) here and there as the last finishing touch before closing the lid on the roaster. Let it steam in the oven preheated at 375 degrees centigrade for 10 mins. 

15. Remove the roaster from the oven when you get an aroma of the biryani which means it is done. Do not open the lid immediately as you could burn your face - it is steaming hot! let it sit for at least 5 minutes so all the juices get absorbed. Then wear your kitchen gloves and slowly open the lid little by little, while keeping your face away from it. Take a flat or round spatula and gently turn over the rice from the bottom to mix it. Start from one side of the roaster and as you turn the rice over the sauce from the bottom, mix well lightly and gently and enjoy!

As it is vegetable biryani you can mix all the biryani in the roaster, then reheat again before serving. With all the other biryanis it is not recommended. It is better to mix only as much as you want to serve, as there is a tendency for the meat pieces to break. But the foremost thing is to mix gently and carefully with a flat spatula. Also it cools down fast as all the steam comes out if you mix everything all at once. Everyone loves to eat steaming hot biryani, so we mix when we serve and keep the lid closed.                                                                                                    

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Trout & Green Mango Curry

As a child I always loved eating raw mangoes and also enjoyed them when cooked with fish or meat. Still cannot forget the taste of the fish curry with raw mangoes that my mom used to make for lunch on a hot summer day.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

Trout or any other fish filets - 1lb
Green mango - 1 large
Onion - 1 large
green chillies - 2-3 small
ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Cilantro - 1/4 cup
Vegetable oil - 2 tbs
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Clean wash and towel dry the trout or any other fish. Set aside.

2. Heat the vegetable oil in a sauce pan, fry the sliced onion to golden brown.

3. Add the ginger garlic paste, turmeric, red chilly and coriander powder and salt. Stir and mix well. 

4. Peel the green mango and cut into 4 quarters and add them to the onion masala.

5. Then immediately add the trout filets too along with the green chillies. Turn over the fish pieces gently to mix with the masala. Cover and leave it to simmer on low flame till the mango becomes tender and the fish is cooked. Sprinkle a little water if the sauce is too thick.

6. Taste the sauce and adjust the salt and let the sauce thicken a bit on simmer. When you start getting the  aroma, the fish is ready.

7. Garnish the trout curry with chopped cilantro and serve hot with boiled rice and enjoy!

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Red bell pepper & chicken meat ball curry

The sweetness of the red bell pepper in the chicken mince gives a new dimension to the dish. This is one of the chicken dishes which is quick and easy to make.

Here's the recipe:

 

Ingredients for the koftas (meat balls): 
1kg chicken breast cut into cubes
1 large onion chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped
1/2 a red bell pepper chopped
1 strand of cilantro
1 strand of parsley
1-2 small green chillies
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbs corn flour
3/4 tsp green cardamom powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp juice of lime/lemon
Salt as required

Ingredients for the curry:
1 large onion
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric
4 green chillies
A little cilantro and parsley chopped
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Salt as required.
Wholes spices (1/2" cinnamon stick, 4 cloves, 1bayleaf and 4 green cardamoms)

Yield: 15 Koftas

Method: 

1. Clean, rinse, towel dry the chicken breast, cut into cubes and keep aside.

2. Finely chop the onions, the red pepper,  cilantro, parsley, green chillies and keep aside.

3. Make ginger garlic paste.

4. Rub the chicken cubes with salt, lemon juice and leave to marinate in the freezer for half an hour.

5. Add turmeric, cumin, black pepper, green cardamom powder, ginger garlic paste, corn flour and all the chopped vegetables to the partially frozen marinated chicken.  Mince everything together in a mincer/grinder using the medium mincing plate. Sprinkle a little more salt for the vegetables before grinding.  It is easier to grind and get a good texture when the chicken cubes are a bit frozen.

6. Make round balls with the chicken mince. Set aside 2 tbs of vegetable oil for the curry and heat the remaining oil in a non-stick frying pan with a handle.

7. Shallow fry the chicken meat balls quickly, 2 or 3 at a time by turning and tossing them over. Remove them as soon as they turn opaque. No problem if they are still raw inside as they are going to cook in the curry. This way they remain soft. They would harden if you over cook them.

8. Meanwhile fry the onions with the whole spices to golden brown in the reserved 2 tbs of oil in a sauce pan. Add ginger garlic paste, turmeric, coriander powder and salt, stir for a few seconds,  then add thick yoghurt. Mix well to make a smooth sauce. You could remove the whole spices and the green chillies and use a hand blender or just mash the onions with the back of a wooden spoon. All depends on how finely you slice the onions and how gently and slowly you brown them on medium to low heat which helps them soften easily and blend in with the other ingredients to make a smooth sauce. In that case you don't require a hand blender at all.

9. Now poke the meat balls lightly with a tooth pick and gently drop them in the curry. Sprinkle 1/2 a cup of water around the sides of the sauce pan, cover with a lid and leave it to simmer for sometime till they get cooked completely. 

10. Add chopped coriander and when the sauce thickens and reaches the desired consistency remove from the stove. Garnish with some chopped coriander and serve hot with rice or chappatis. Enjoy!

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Tangy sweet bittergourd masala

Ingredients: 

Bitter gourds - 4

Onions sliced - 1 large

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - a few

Dried red chilies - 1- 2 small

Chopped Ginger

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp

Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp

Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Brown sugar - 1/2 tsp

Vegetable oil - 2 tbs

Cilantro - 2 tbs

Method: 

1. Scrape the bitter gourds lightly, cut them lengthwise into two halves, scoop out the contents and cut into thin juliennes and keep aside.

2. Heat the vegetable oil in a sauce pan, add the mustard seeds when they splutter add the dried whole red chillies, slit green chilies and curry leaves followed by the bitter gourd juliennes.

3. Add the dry masala - turmeric, cumin, coriander & garam masala powders. Mix well, sprinkle a little water, cover it with a lid and let it simmer on low flame for a few minutes, giving it a stir every one and then, till it is just tender. 

4. Add the sliced onions and chopped coriander.  Sprinkle some salt, lemon juice and lastly brown sugar, mix well, cover it with the lid and simmer for a few more minutes till the onions soften a bit.  Remove from the stove, garnish with chopped coriander and serve with chappatis or rice. 

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Lamb Suthriyan (Indian Pasta)

Suthriyan is a traditional muslim pasta dish made by the muslim community in Chennai. It is mostly made with lamb or shrimp and coconut milk. Whenever I make it here in Canada, it brings back to me vivid memories of my past of how we enjoyed eating Suthriyan at our family get togethers and picnics,  how we would all sit together around the pot of Suthriyan, heap up our plates and eat to our heart's content till we wiped off  the pot all clean. Oh, so delicious indeed were the lip smacking Suthriyan with the chunks of lamb melting in your mouth!

Suthriyan (indian pasta) are made with white flour and are available in the stores in Chennai. There is another kind of suthriyan made with chappati flour (finely ground wheat flour) which are made at home by rolling out flat breads, cutting them into diamond shapes and then drying them on a piece of clean cloth spread on the table or in the sun. These are a bit chewy and not as soft as the white suthriyan which melt in the mouth. 

Suthriyan should be first cooked in boiling water to which coconut milk is added before mixing in the gravy. This cooking technique not only enhances their flavour but also keeps them separate (does not make them stick  together in clusters) and helps them cook faster as well. If you add them directly to the gravy to cook them, they will not cook evenly and you will be left with some cooked and some half cooked ones. So it is sometimes better not to take short cuts.

The cut of lamb that you choose is also important. It is preferable to add a few pieces of lamb breast along with the lamb shoulder with the bones for this recipe. The excessive fat on the top should be trimmed off leaving the thick wedge of edible fat (which is hard and doesn't peel off) under which is the layer of soft meat on the bone and it should be cut into single short rib pieces. The soft and succulent shoulder pieces blend with the softness of the suthriyan pasta and melt in the mouth. The lamb breast is also soft and chewy and it adds more meaty flavor and taste. So delicious and yummy!

 Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

Lamb Shoulder  1.5 kg (Shoulder meat plus some pieces of lamb breast)

Suthriyan - 1 kg
Vegetable oil - 1 cup

Onions - 5 large (1lb) thinly sliced

Tomatoes - 4 large (400gm) quartered.

Mint leaves - 1/4 cup

Cilantro - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 6 whole
Fresh Lemon - 1/2

Ginger garlic paste - 200 gm
Yoghurt - 1 cup (3.5%) or home made from whole milk. 
Coconut milk - 2 cans ("Real Thai Coconut milk" or extract milk from 1 fresh coconut).
2 litres of Water for boiling Suthriyan

Cloves - 10

Green cardamom - 10

Cinnamon sticks - 2
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Salt to taste.

1 small sliced onion to sauté for garnish
Ghee (Clarified butter) - 2 tsp

1. Remove the skin, trim the fat, clean and wash the lamb pieces well and set aside.

2. In a pot heat the vegetable oil, add the whole spices - cloves, cardamom and cinnamon sticks to the oil followed after a few seconds by the sliced onions. Fry them on medium heat.

3. When the onions turn golden brown add the ginger garlic paste, turmeric and red chilly powders.
Mix the spices then add the lamb pieces and roast them in the masala till they turn opaque and harden a bit.

4. Now add the quartered tomatoes, whole green chillies, salt followed by thick whisked yoghurt, mint leaves and chopped cilantro. Mix well and pressure cook for 15 mins or cook on low medium heat for 45mins - 1 hr till the lamb is soft and tender. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon after the lamb is cooked and let it simmer.

5. Add 1/2 a can of coconut milk (reserve the other half for later) and leave to simmer on low heat till the sauce thickens a bit and the oil comes to the top (another 10 minutes).

6. Meanwhile bring to boil 2 litres of water in a big pot. Add the Suthriyan slowly little by little while you keep stirring gently to keep them apart. Add 1 tbs of salt and the 2nd can of coconut milk. Cook till just al dente. Switch off the stove.

7.  Now add the cooked lamb with the sauce to the cooked Suthriyan. Simmer on low while stirring  gently from the bottom of the pot to mix well and to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pot.  Add more chopped cilantro and the reserved 1/2 can of coconut milk, mix well and let it simmer for sometime. Adjust the consistency - simmer longer if too thin and if too thick add a little water. It thickens very fast so avoid cooking on high heat after adding the Suthriyan to the sauce.

8. The final seasoning is done with a tadka or tempering. Sizzle the sliced onion in hot ghee (clarified butter) till golden brown and pour it over the Suthriyan in the serving dish. Garnish with mint and cilantro. Serve hot with some mint chutney on the side. Enjoy!

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