Cauliflower Thoran

This will be my last post for the month of August 2012, let's say bye to August and say hello to September.

Ingredients:

250g Cauliflower (cut into small florets)

1 green chili(slit)

1 sprig curry leaves

1/2 tsp cumin seed

1/2 tsp mustard seed

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/4 cup grated coconut

1/4 cup water

1 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

In a pan, pour oil then add cumin seed, mustard seed, curry leaves and green chili saute for a minute. Now add the cauliflower, turmeric powder and salt, stir well then add water and let it simmer until water evaporates. Add grated coconut and incorporate well with the cauliflower. Now our Cauliflower Thoran is ready to be served.

Do try and let me know how it turned out.

Cucumber Pachadi

This dish is my husband's favorite, he just love any food with yogurt, we have this dish often back in mom's place. This is a simply dish with very less ingredients and very less time to prepare it. Let's see how to make this.

Ingredients:

1 cucumber(chopped small)
1/2 cup grated coconut
3 bird eye chili
1tsp mustard seed
2 dry red chili
1 sprig curry leaf
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tbsp oil
Sat to taste

Cut cucumber, remove the seeds and chop into small pieces, add some salt to drain the water from cucumber. Squeeze and drain water from the cucumber and keep aside.

Blend coconut and bird eye chili into coarse paste, add to the cucumber 

into a bowl. Add yogurt to this mixture.

 For tempering, pour oil in a pan add dry red chili, 

curry leaves and mustard seed. Pour this tempering ingredients to the cucumber mixture.

Now our Cucumber Pachadi is ready to be served. Do try and let me know how it turned out.

Mattan Eriserry/ Pumpkin Gravy

This is a must have dish for Onam, Mattan Eriserry. Mom makes this so perfectly it's so delicious and most importantly my brother's favorite since a small kiddo. My mom learnt this from my grandpa who hailed from Pattamby, Kerala. Mom said grandpa was a very good cook and he taught my grandma how to cook, grandma got married at the a very young age so she don't know how to cook.

This is a very simple and anyone can cook dish, let us see how to cook this my mom's style. This dish is prepared without garlic and onion.

Ingredients:

250g pumpkin chopped

1/2 cup dhall (soaked and drained)

1 tbsp chili paste

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 cup of grated coconut

1 tsp cumin seed

2 dry red chili

1 sprig curry leaf

1 tsp mustard seed

1tbsp oil

1 cup water

Salt to taste

Blend cumin seed and 1/2 cup of grated coconut into coarse paste with little water and keep aside.

In a pan, boil dhall, pumpkin, chili paste, turmeric powder and salt until pumpkin and dhall is cooked. Add coconut and cumin paste to pumpkin and let it simmer over a low flame.

For tempering, in another pan add oil, mustard seed, dry red chili and curry leaves until it crackle and add balance 1/2 cup of grated coconut until aromatic, do not burn the tempering. Add this to pumpkin mixture and mix well.

Our Mattan Eriserry is ready to be served. Do try and let me know how it turned out.

Onagosham/ Onam Festival

Thinking about Onam, first thing which will come to anyone's mind is Onam Sadhya with 16 varieties of vegetarian dishes, colorful flower kolam, new clothes and many more. For me it always reminds me of the fun we have while preparing this dishes, now being married and staying apart from parents makes me miss the whole lot of experience. 

I don't cook all those many dishes for my small family so I pick and choose according to our preference. This year I made only three dishes which is Mattan Eriserry, Cauliflower Thoran and Cucumber Pachadi. Let's view the picture of the dishes and I will write in my upcoming post the recipes of this dishes. Enjoy!

Pepper Chicken

My love for chicken is undeniable because I just love it ever since I was a child, every time I see any post on chicken dish I'm so tempted to try. Back in my hometown my dad used to rear chicken especially during festive seasons we do stock up to cook and serve to our guests. Nowadays even though tempted to rear chicken he can't because no one have the time to take care of these birds.

I still remember, dad used to rear roosters and young boys around our area will bring their rooster for it to fight with ours, that was very fun to see. Some will come and beg to buy ours since dad used to buy real good quality and suitable for fight.

OMG, I'm so carried away with my flash back let me come to reality, okay I'm back. I have cooked Pepper Chicken which was so delicious and finger licking good. I'm telling this not because I love chicken but it was really awesome.

Let's check how I made this.

Ingredients:

5pcs chicken drumstick

1 onion sliced

1 tomato chopped

1 bay leaf

1 sprig curry leaf

1/2 tsp cumin seed

1/2 tsp fennel seed

2 green chili 

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1 tsp chili powder

2 tsp coriander powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/4 tsp garam masala

1 tbsp ground black pepper

1/2 cup of water

2 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

A bunch of coriander leaves

In a pan, add oil, bay leaf, curry leaves, cumin seed, fennel seed and green chili saute for a minute, then add in onion and tomato fry until mushy. Now add in ginger garlic paste fry for another minute, add chili powder, coriander, and turmeric powder mix everything together until raw smell gone. 

Add chicken, salt, garam masala and black pepper mix well and pour water and let it boil until chicken is cooked. Once chicken done gravy should thicken, add coriander leaves and simmer for another minute.

Now our Pepper Chicken is ready to be served, garnish with coriander leaves. Do try and let me know how it turned out.

Mutton Curry

I hardly cook mutton for lunch or dinner because it is said that mutton increases the chances of getting high blood pressure, once in a while won't do any harm I guess. I have prepared Mutton Curry for lunch and it finger licking good, let's check how I made this.

Ingredients:

1kg mutton (boneless)

2 tbsp oil

2 onion sliced

2 tomatoes chopped
2 potatoes (cut into wedges)

1 1/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
3 pcs candle nuts

2 cinnamon stick

3 cardamom

3 cloves

2 star anise

2 bay leaves

2 sprigs curry leaves

2 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp ground black pepper

1 1/2 tbsp chili powder

2 tbsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 cup of water

Coriander leaves

Salt to taste

Wash and clean mutton keep aside, blend candle nuts with 1 tomato.

In pressure cooker, pour oil add cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, star anise, fennel seeds, cumin seeds and bay leaves saute for a minute. Now add in onion, tomato and candle nut paste which we have blended earlier and add salt, fry for a couple of minutes.

After that, add in ginger garlic paste, chili powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder and stir in well for 5 to 6 minutes. Then add mutton pieces and a cup of water, add in curry leaves and ground black pepper and close lid, until the mutton is perfectly cooked. I have added potatoes to make the curry thicker, you can potato when mutton is 3/4 cooked.

Our Mutton Curry is now ready to be served, garnish with coriander leaves. Do try and let me know how it turned out.

Moist Chocolate Cake

You must be thinking why do I post on chocolate cake when it's Onam today, I will be posting on Onam dishes tomorrow but let me share something else today. After so long I have baked a cake, it's yummy moist chocolate cake. It tastes so delicious and moist, best of all you don't need a mixer to prepare this cake mixture. Eager to know how I baked this cake, let's look at my recipe.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of all purpose flour

1/2 cup of cocoa powder

3/4 cup of  brown sugar

1/2 cup of butter

1/2 cup of milk

2 cold eggs (size AA)

1tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla essence

In a bowl, add butter, egg and sugar whisk well incorporating all the ingredients. Now add in cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and vanilla essence. 

Alternate milk and flour until finish and leave for 5 minutes before transferring into your preferred cake mould. I have used loaf pan to bake this cake, butter and sprinkle some flour on the baking pan before pouring the mixture.

Bake at 150 degree for 30- 40 minutes depending on the size of the cake mould or until the cake is perfectly baked. Insert a tooth pick to check whether the cake is baked well, a clean toothpick means cake is perfectly baked.

This cake can be served as it is or with some chocolate or white chocolate topping.

Do try and let me know how it turned out.

Custard Corn Pudding

This is one recipe mom always make for tea when I was schooling, I used to request this pudding every now and then, my mom makes it with full of love that's the important essence for a delicious dish. This dish doesn't take much time to prepare and the ingredients you need is everyday available.

Let us take a look at how I prepared this.

Ingredients:

1 cup of custard powder

200ml coconut milk

800ml water

1 cup sugar

1 can of creamy corn

A pinch of salt

1 tbsp ghee(optional)

In a bowl mix custard powder, coconut milk and water keep aside.

In a pan, pour ghee and custard mixture and stir constantly over a small medium flame. This mixture will thicken very fast so quickly add sugar, salt and creamy corn, stir to incorporate all the ingredients together. Once it thickens pour the mixture on mould depending to your preference. Let it cook and chill before serving. Now our Custard Corn Pudding is ready to be served.

Do try and let me know how it turned out.

Char Kway Teow/ Flat Noodle Stir Fry

Char Kway Teow is a popular hawker dish in Malaysia and Singapore, it's my family's favorite too. It's made of flat rice noodle cooked in a wok, this is a very simple dish and most importantly anyone can make this. Char Kway Teow is a complete meal and careful of the calorie, yea it is high in calorie so a small portion is very filling.

Usually this meal is stir fried with eggs, prawns, cockles, bean sprout, chives, chili paste and soy sauce but I as usual have altered this recipe according to my family's preference. We don't really prefer cockles so I have substituted chicken for prawn and cockles.

Let us look at how I have prepared this, to make things easy I'm going to give you pictorial step by step preparation.

Ingredients:

1 pack of kway teow/ flat noodle

250g chicken thinly sliced

3 eggs beaten

4 garlic diced

3 tbsp chili paste (onion+dry red chili+garlic)

1 cup of bean sprout

1/2 cup of chives

2 tbsp of dark soy sauce

2 tbsp of light soy sauce

Oil to fry

For chili paste blend until fine 1 onion, 10 pcs dry red chili and 5 garlic without adding much water.

In a wok, pour oil add diced garlic, stir for a minute add sliced chicken, 

chili paste and stir until chicken is cooked and gravy dries

Add in Kway Teow and mix well incorporating noodle 

with chicken and chili paste

Now add in chives, bean sprout, both the soy sauce and stir well, 

do add extra light soy sauce to adjust to your preference as we don't eat if its very salty

Pour in beaten egg at one side of the wok and scramble it 3/4, 

then mix in the noodle incorporating with the scrambled egg

After stirring everything, this is how the fried noodle should be

Our Char Kway Teow is ready to be served, enjoy!

Do try and let me know how was it.

I'm sending this recipe to Shama's Easy2Cook Recipes event FAST FOOD NOODLES

Carrot Raita

Ingredients:

1 carrot shredded
2 bird eye chili sliced
2 tbsp mayonnaise
A pinch of salt

Mix everything together, chill in the fridge and ready to serve with briyani, ghee rice, pilaf even plain rice. You can substitute mayo with plain yogurt.

Mushroom and Tofu Stir Fry

This is a very simple recipe, come let's check how to cook this.

Ingredients:

5pcs mushroom cut small
1 pack silken tofu
2 tbsp oyster mushroom sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
3 garlic chopped fine
1 tbsp groundnut oil
5 tbsp of water
1 tbsp corn slurry (1 tsp corn starch+ 1tbsp water)

In a pan, pour oil and add garlic saute a while be very careful not to burn the garlic. Now add in mushroom and silken tofu, scramble the tofu then add in mushroom sauce, light soy sauce, water. Let it simmer for 3 minutes and add corn slurry. Adding corn slurry will make the gravy thicken, now our Mushroom and Tofu Stir Fry is ready to be served.

Do try and let me know how it turned out.

Pepper Chicken Fry

While BW I saw this recipe in Sashi Recipes, it looked so mouth watering, being a chicken lover I can't resist trying this recipe. My husband and me loved this dish very much, it tastes so good and you won't just stop with one piece. Let's look at the recipe and how I made this.

Ingredients:

500g chicken cut small
2 tbsp oil
1 bay leaf
1 sprig curry leaves
1/2tsp cumin seed
1/2tsp fennel seed
3 green chili (slit)
3 onion sliced
3 tomato chopped
1 1/2tsp ginger garlic paste
2tsp red chili powder
2tsp coriander powder
1/4tsp garam masala
1/2tsp turmeric powder
3tsp pepper powder
1/2 cup water
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves

In a pan, pour oil and add in bay leaf, cumin seed, fennel seed, green chili, curry leaves and saute for a minute. Add onion and ginger garlic paste and fry till translucent, add chopped tomato and fry till mushy.

Now add chicken, turmeric powder, chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala, pepper powder and salt. Stir everything well and add water, cover and cook till chicken is perfectly done. Fry till oil separates and garnish with coriander leaves.

Pudina Choru/ Peppermint Rice

It's lovely Sunday again but Eidulfitri holidays is about to end. Students and working adults will start working tomorrow, for some it's going to be a blissful Monday and for some will be waiting for Friday because it's a public holiday for Malaysians it's our 55th National Day.

Mint is full of medicinal properties, peppermint calms the muscles of the stomach and improves bile flow which helps in fats digestion.  Usually mint is used mainly for chutney, curries, cakes, cookies, beverages, candies and many more. I have used mint to cook my rice dish today, this is a very simple rice recipe.

Let us look at the recipe and see how I made this.

Ingredients:

2 cups of rice (soaked and drained)

2 tbsp of ghee

1/2 cup of mint 

1 1/4 cup of water

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

1 cinnamon stick

1 bay leaf

2 cardamom

2 cloves

1 star anise

Salt to taste

Blend mint with 1/4 cup of water and keep aside.

In a cooker, melt ghee and add ginger garlic paste, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cardamom, cloves and star anise saute for a minute. Add in rice and fry in the ghee mixture until fragrant, now add the blended mint, water and salt. Cover and cook rice until fluffy and ready to serve.

I'm sending this recipe to  Anu's Healthy Kitchen event co-hosted by Reva Kaarasaaram "SYF&HWS - Cook With SPICES" Series Cinnamon

Tofu Sambal

Tofu or also known as bean curd is an important source of protein especially for vegetarians, it has very low calorie and suitable for people on diet. It can be steamed, fried, stir fried, curry, sambal and many more style of cooking. Today I have made Tofu Sambal, usually this is what we prefer to eat on vegetarian day, it tastes so good if served along with sambar, sothy or any non-spicy dish. Let us look at how I made this dish.

Ingredients:

4pcs firm tofu (cut into triangle)

2 onion sliced

20pcs dry red chili

5 garlic cloves

1 tbsp chili sauce

1 tbsp oyster mushroom sauce

1 tsp soft brown sugar

1 cup water

2 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

Shallow fry tofu and keep aside, do not over fry just until golden color. Blend fine dry chili, 1 onion and garlic with a cup of water.

In a pan, pour oil saute balance onion and blended chili mixture, boil until the chili mixture is perfectly cook and raw smell is gone. Now add chili sauce, mushroom sauce, brown sugar and salt until the gravy thickens, Once thicken add fried tofu and let simmer for 10 minutes so that the tofu will immerse in the gravy.

Now our Tofu Sambal is ready to be served. Do try and let me know how it tastes.

Drumstick Leaves Stir Fry

I love drumstick leaves stir fried, especially if served together with thick fish curry, wow the taste is so  delicious and unforgettable. I have fried this leaves with grated coconut, I just love it. Let's look at how I prepared this.

Ingredients:

2 cups of drumstick leaves
1/4 cup of grated coconut
1 onion sliced
3 garlic chopped
1 green chili (slit)
1 tbsp of salted water
1 tbsp oil

In a pan, pour oil add in garlic, green chili and onion saute for a minute. Now add in the leaves and stir in, it will quickly clump together, stir and spread it then add salted water, mix the leaves well. Add the grated coconut and stir in mixing the leaves with the grated coconut.

Our stir fry is now ready, do try and let me know how was it.

Pineapple, Cucumber Pachadi

Ingredients:

1 cup pineapple chopped
1 cup cucumber sliced
1/2 cup of sliced onion
1 tbsp of plain yogurt
A pinch of salt

Mix all the ingredients above, chill and ready to serve. Such a simple method of making pachadi, you can replace plain yogurt with mayonnaise. This pachadi is so tasty when served with Briyani, Ghee Rice or Pilaf.

Do try out this recipe and let me know how was it.

Chicken Keema

I have tasted Mutton Keema some time ago, when I saw this recipe in Bhavya's I bookmarked this recipe and planned for Sunday lunch. I made this but replaced chicken  for mutton, the next time I will try with mutton. It tastes so delicious I just ate with plain rice, so now let's look at how I made this.

Ingredients:

500g minced chicken

3 onions chopped

4 green chili

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp red chili powder

2 tsp coriander powder

5 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

Masala paste:

2 cardamom

2 clove

1 cinnamon stick

2 cashewnuts

2 almond

1.5 tbsp ginger garlic paste

2 tbsp curd

2 cups water

Marinate minced chicken with curd, ginger garlic paste, turmeric and salt for 20 minutes.

In a pan, pour oil add onions, green chili saute for a while and add marinated chicken, mix well and let chicken well cooked. Now add coriander powder and mix well allow it to fry for 10 minutes.

Then add chili powder, water and ground masala and cover to cook. Make sure the raw smell of the spice gone and water completely evaporated. 

Now our Chicken Keema is ready to serve, do try and let me know how it turned out.

Egg and Prawn Sambal

My family loves sambal dishes a lot, all sort of sambals are can be made egg, chicken, prawn, squid, anchovies, tofu and many more. The secret to get best sambal is proper cooking of chili paste until it's really dry and the raw smell gone. Today I have combined prawn and eggs for sambal, want to know how did I make this? Let's check my recipe.

Ingredients:

3 eggs boiled and peeled

250 g prawns shelled 

1 onion sliced

20 dry chili (depending on preference)

5 cloves garlic

1 small piece of shrimp paste

2 tbsp tamarind juice

1 cup water

1/4 cup oil

1 tsp brown soft sugar

Salt to taste

Blend dry chili, garlic and shrimp paste with 1/2 cup of water into fine paste. I like my sambal spicy so I have added 20 dry chili.

In a pan, pour oil add onion and saute for a minute, now add in the blended chili paste and pour balance 1/2 cup of water and let it boil and thicken. The oil will be floating at this moment, you can skim out the excess oil before serving but do not reduce the oil before everything cook as you won't be getting perfect sambal.

Add in egg and prawn, pour tamarind, sugar and salt accordingly. Do not over cook the prawns, just let it turn pink and its ready to be served.

Do try and let me know how it turned out.

Cendol Jelly

Cendol or known as worm like green jelly is a dessert well known for Malaysians, none dislike it as far as I'm concerned. This dessert originated from Indonesia, cendol is made of rice flour and green coloring (usually from screw pine leaves). It is easily available every where be it in small stalls or restaurants. I have used cendol to make jelly which is also a famous dessert among Malaysians. Let's look at how I made this.

Ingredients:

1 packet of jelly powder (20gm)

1 can of evaporated milk

2 cups of cendol

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of brown sugar (mix with 1/4cup of water)

1.5 liter water (follow the type of jelly requirement)

A pinch of salt

In a pan, boil the water required add in jelly powder and dissolve it completely. Now add in sugar and salt, strain the boiled liquid in another bowl or pan. Divide the amount to two parts, one part of mixture pour in a pan and strain in brown sugar and let it boil for 5 minutes. Pour this mixture in your preferred mould and let it cool for few minutes. 

In another pan add evaporated milk, simmer for 5 minutes and transfer to a bowl then add cendol. Pour this mixture to the brown sugar mixture that have been cooling, pour in slowly to avoid mixing white and brown part. The brown sugar part should be forming dry layer on top not too hard or the second layer won't stick to it.

Let this mixture cool for 30 minutes and put it into fridge to harden it, tastes good when served cold. After maybe an hour you can remove it from fridge and cut into smaller pieces. Now my Cendol Jelly is ready to be served.

Do try and let me know how it turned out.

My Very First Award

OMG, I was so excited when I received a message from Shama Nagarajan from Easy2Cook Recipes, she asked me to collect an award from her page. This is my first award after less than a month of blogging, I feel so much appreciated thank you Shama for the lovely award you shared.

Game Rules :- 

Rule 1: Post 11 things about yourself.

Rule 2: Answer the tagger's 11 questions.

Rule 3: Tag and pass the awards to 11 other bloggers.

Rule 4: Create 11 questions for the bloggers to answer.

Rule 5: Go to bloggers page and inform them about the awards.

Rule 6: No tagging back.

Rule 1:

11 things about me:

1.I'm a Malayalee born and bred in Malaysia.

2.I'm happily married to the man I fell in love 12 years ago and still so much in love with.

3.Family is always no. 1 to me.

4.I'm very simple.

5.I have high self esteem.

6.I have high sense of gratitude and humor.

7.I love shopping.

8.I love cooking for my family.

9.I love reading.

10.I love food especially my mom's cooking.

11.I am lovable.

Rule 2:

1) Who inspired to write a blog?

     

     My family inspired me to write blog, as I love cooking and baking things have
     been easy.

2) How your own cooking changed your eating habit?

    I can cook healthy and favorite meal for me and my family.

    

3) How Cooking gives you pleasure and happiness?

    When my family enjoy the meal I cook that's the real pleasure and 
    make me happy.  

4) Food and you ?

    We are best friends forever.

   

5) Positive and Negative feedback from your family for your food ?

    Both feedback I receive with open heart, it makes me improve to give the 
    best for them.

6) Which vegetable you love to cook daily?

     Sweet peas and carrot.

7) Will you pre-plan your menu for tomorrow's lunch/breakfast?

     Yes most of the time.

8) Any tips from your family kitchen to be shared?

    Cook from your heart and what family members love to eat, don't do it for the  
    sake of just cooking, this is what my mom always tells me.

9) Your most memorable recipe , most enjoyed recipe and from where you tasted it.

     My mom's chicken sambal, never tasted anything like that ever in any other place.

10) Most loved restaurant ? Review plz.

      Choon Kee Chinese Restaurant in my home town, the food is so tasty even after 
      30 over years it's still similar.

11) Blogging and you ?

      We are inseparable, this is where I can share what I have learned and polish 
      my cooking and baking skill.

Rule 3: 

I would like to share this award with :

1.  Shobana- Kitchen Secret.

2.  Thyaga Anna- Kari Leafs.

3.  Bhavya's Cuisine.
4.  Pachanti.

5.  Prem Anna-Easyfud.
6.  Sara's Kitchen.
7.  Sangeeta's Kitchen.

 Couldn't pass the award to another four friends because most of them have more than 200 followers.

Rule 4:

My questions for you:
1. Which is your best recipe?
2. Whose cooking you admire most?
3. What do you like in my blog?
4. Would you like to follow me and why?
5. Do you create your own recipes?
6. What's your best dish ever?
7. What's your favorite dish?
8. Idea for a perfect lunch?
9. What dish you make repeatedly in a week?
10. How do you react when some one gives you a negative feedback on your cooking?
11. What's your inspiration for blogging?

Rule 5:

DONE.

Rule 6:

Okay.

Nei Choru/ Ghee Rice

Eid Mubarak to all my Muslims friends all over the world, surely you all have prepared special briyani for your family today but I made Ghee Rice. I love making variety of rice for my family, to be precise I love trying out new recipes but this recipe I learnt from my mom many years back. This is one of my family's favorite, let's see how I cooked this.

Ingredients:

2 cup of rice soaked and drained

2 tbsp ghee

1 bay leaf

1 cinnamon stick

2 cardamom

4 cloves

1 star anise

A handful of raisin

A handful of cashew nuts

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

Few drops of yellow coloring

Chopped coriander

2 cups water

Salt to taste

Heat up rice cooker, add in ghee, ginger garlic paste, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cardamom, cloves, star anise and cashew nuts fry for a minute. Now add in rice and fry for a couple of minute, then add raisin, salt and chopped coriander. Finally add water and yellow coloring and close the lid of cooker until rice is perfectly cooked. Done, its very simple isn't it.

Our ghee rice is ready to be served, do try and let me know how it turned out.

I'm sending this recipe to Akila's Kitchen

Chicken Thokku/Spicy Chicken Pickle

It's Sunday again, time is flying without waiting for anyone. Today I have made Chicken Thokku, I have adapted this recipe from Spicy Tasty's Egg Thokku, I have substituted chicken for egg. Let's check how I made this.

Ingredients:

3 chicken whole leg (cut small)

5 onion chopped

2 tomato chopped

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

2 stalk curry leaves

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 bay leaf

1 cinnamon stick

3 cardamom

4 cloves

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 cup water

Salt to taste

Oil

Marinate chicken with 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and salt then fry until half cooked, keep aside.

In a pan, pour oil and add mustard seeds, let it splutter add curry leaves, bay leaf, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves. Add onion and little salt, cook til soft now add ginger garlic paste saute for a minute.

Add in tomato and cook til mushy, add chili powder, coriander, cumin powder and cook for 5 minutes.

Now remove from pan, let cool and blend into fine paste, make sure you remove bay leaf and cinnamon stick before blending into paste. Then add the paste into pan with bay leaf and cinnamon stick, pour 1/2 cup water and let simmer over medium heat.

Add in fried chicken into this mixture and add another 1/2 cup of water and let it simmer til the gravy thickens and oil ooze out.

Garnish with coriander leaves and now our Chicken Thokku ready to be served. Do try this dish and let me know how it turned out.

Calamansi Juice

Nice cold drink on a sunny day would be what I crave for, I had Calamansi lime in my fridge and it has been so long I didn't make this drink. It's extremely simple to make and real thirst quencher let's check out how I made this.

Ingredients:

15 calamansi lime

1/2 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of hot water

A pinch of salt

Ice cold water

Ice cube (optional, I didn't add)

In a jug dissolve sugar and salt with hot water, cut and squeeze calamansi lime into the sugar syrup and stir well. Now pour in the ice cold water and ready to be served.

Real thirst quencher......