Vendakka Curry (Ladies Finger/Okra in coconut milk)

Kerala cuisine is well known for its splendid flavor of coconut milk in almost every recipe you have. This is a simple dish that is had with its entire splendor in every household in Kerala.

Ingredients:

Lady’s finger (Vendakka) – ½ kg
Onion – 2
Curry leaves – A few
Coconut oil – As needed

Green chilies – 5-6 split lengthwise
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Coriander powder – 1 ½ tsp
Thick coconut milk – 1 cup
Thin coconut milk – 2 cups

Salt – As needed

Preparation:

The major step in preparing this dish is to get rid of the stickiness inherent in okra by sautéing it well in coconut oil for quite some time. Once you are comfortable with the stickiness part, add the onions (chopped), green chilies and curry leaves and sauté for another 5 minutes.

Now add the turmeric and coriander powder and sauté until the raw smell goes away. The next step involves addition of thin coconut milk (diluted) and mixing well on a medium flame. Cover this mixture and cook for about 5 minutes. Then, add thick coconut milk and remove the dish from the flame. This can be had with Moru kaachiyathu (yogurt curry) and rice.

I was never a big fan of this dish and I never used to try this combination with rice as my mother used to say. But finally one day, when I had it at home, I was like; I missed this taste for so many years.

Happy Thanksgiving Boys & Gals!!! All students go to your classes!!!

Jai Javan Jai Kisan!!!! Savala Kiriririri!!!

Stephen Nettooran

Joll of Rice with Rotisserie Chicken

This is a dish from Ghana/Nigeria. Amma used to make this when we were in Nigeria and even after we came back to India we continued to enjoy it. We got to taste it again this summer when my parents visited us and it took my taste buds down the memory lane.

This is a quick peek into that recipe along with some Rotisserie chicken we got from Walmart…. :-).

Ingredients:

Rice- 1 cup

Tomato- 2 sliced to small pieces

Onions- 1 sliced to small pieces

Chili Powder- ½ tsp

Salt to taste

Eggs-2

Maggie Taste maker- a pinch (optional)

Preparation:

Cook the rice and keep aside. First sauté the onions and then add the sliced tomatoes. Once well sautéed, add the chili powder and salt. Now add eggs and scramble them along with the sautéed mixture.

The next step is to add the cooked rice and mix well. A pinch of Maggie taste maker can be added for an extra punch in the end. I added the rotisserie chicken pieces to this and mixed them well.

Ningalku Ente Namovaakam

Nettooran!!!

Post # 25

With that last post from Hari, we have reached 25 posts!!!!!

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeee............

Quarter century !!!!!!!!!

Lets aim at half century and hope to see more exciting majboori dishes!!!!!!

Thanks to all our well wishers and a very special thanks to our better halves, Kairali Sisters

luv

Nettooran

Happy Thiruvonam!!!

Wishing all of you a very Happy and Prosperous Onam

-Majboori Brothers

Uppuma (Salt Mango Tree)

Uppuma, is one of the most popular and easy to make South Indian breakfasts. A vital source of nutrition to thousands of school children in Kerala, a staple food item to serve in mass gatherings, a face saver of all budding cooks;Uppuma has played the role of Aram Tamburan in Kerala cuisine. Behold our version…

Rava 3 cups
Onions 1 medium, finely chopped
Carrot ½ cup, cubed
Green chilly 2 nos, finely chopped
Ginger 1 tsp, roughly chopped
Mustard seeds ½ tsp
Dry red chilly 2 nosCurry leaves 2 sprigs
Salt requiredOil 1 TBSP
Water 4 ½ -5 cups

Method

Heat a wide pan at medium heat and roast the rava till a light brown color. Set this aside.

Heat another pan and add oil. Splutter mustard seeds followed by dry red chillies and curry leaves. Add chopped onions and ginger. When the onions turn translucent, add carrots. Cook this for few minutes and add water (amount of water depends on the consistency you want for the final product). Allow this to come to a boil. Now slowly add the roasted rava stirring continuously and making sure that its all soaked thoroughly. Add grated coconut and little butter mix well and cook to the consistency desired.

Majboori Brothers goes to China !!!

Sharing some of the delicacies we came across during our trip to
China this summer.Sorry there are no snaps of the Fried Bull frog
or the Scorpion Fry


Flavoured Dates

Beijing Duck

Fried Tofu

Fish Jelly

Menu of a Pure "Veggie" Restaraunt in Shanghai ...

Smiling Shrimp

Pressure Cooker Chicken Biriyani

Biriyani brings me everlasting memories of having the “Thalasseri Biriyani” (Kozhikode Biriyani) from Hotel Paragon (if I am not mistaken about the name of the hotel), Kozhikode. That happened when we were visiting our North Kerala friends during those wonderful undergrad days. That was an adventurous trip from Aluva to Kozhikode and then to Kasargod via Kannur, Mahi, Bakel fort……

This recipe is a fast number from one of the Kairali sisters, Chindus, combined with excellent photography skills from another Kairali sister, Achu. All the credit behind this post goes to both of them. I just took the time to type this one up and post it here. The contribution and support we have obtained so far from Kairali Sisters (our better halves) is just outstanding. Their encouragement keeps us on the tip of our toes………..

We also wish to congratulate Kairali Sisters on emerging 3rd from 8 2 other contestants, in the Sizzling Summer Photo contest conducted by www.spicytasty.com.

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice: 3 cups
Chicken: ½ kg
Onions: 4 chopped
Tomato: 4 chopped
Green Chili: 6 slit
Curd: ½ cup
Mint: ½ bunch
Coriander/Cilantro leaves: 1 bunch
Turmeric powder: ½ tsp
Coriander powder: 2 tsp
Cumin powder: ¼ tsp
Cloves: 4
Cardamom: 4
Cinnamon: 4
Ginger paste: 2 tsp
Garlic paste: 2 tsp
Cashew nut paste: 2 tbsp
Cuscus: 1 tbsp
Ghee: ½ cup
Salt: to taste

Method:

Marinate chicken with a little bit of every ingredient, except ghee for about 15 minutes. The longer you keep it marinated, the tastier it becomes. As the name suggests, we will be using a pressure cooker to make things easier.

In a pressure cooker heat 1 tbsp of ghee to fry the rice for 1 minute. Remove the rice and use the remaining ghee for frying onions till they turn light brown. Add the whole spices and sauté for about 2-3 minutes. Now, add the tomatoes and stir till the oil separates. Once the oil separates, add ginger and garlic paste, green chilies, coriander leaves, mint leaves and turmeric in that order. Stir this mixture for around 3-4 minutes. At this point, we can add cashew-cuscus paste (ground to a fine paste) to curd and further add this to the fried masala. Once you have sautéed this for another 3 minutes, you can add the marinated chicken pieces, salt and sauté further for 2-3 minutes. Now, add rice and enough water to pressure cook the contents till they are done. Once done, switch off the flame and leave it in the cooker itself for less than 15 minutes, so that it gets more cooked staying under the pressure. For added pizzazz you can use boiled eggs as well.

You can have Pappadam, Lemon pickle and Salad along with the Biriyani……….mmmmm!!!!!!, that makes a lot of difference………take it from me……..




I hope all of you find this recipe easy to make and will enjoy making it in your spare time.

More Majboori dishes are in the pipeline……Wait and see…..My number is double two double three……

Take it Easy!!!!!!!!!!
Nettooran Anado!!!!!!!!!!

Indian Coffee House Beef Cutlet

The Indian Coffee house we have back in Kerala is very famous for their beef cutlets with rose milk…………slurp!!!!. I also love the atmosphere around, especially the Indian Coffee house near Shanghumugham beach and the Spiral one at Thampanoor.

Thanks to my Amma for this very special beef cutlet made with beef and beef and beef and beef as the major ingredient :-) ……..Beef cutlet is my all time favorite and it goes well with almost any food, it can also be had as an appetizer.

Ingredients:

Beef: 1kg

Green Chilies- 10

Ginger- 1 piece (finger long)

Red Onions- 3

Potato-3-4

Curry leaves- a bunch

For the Garam Masala:

Cinnamon: 1 piece

Elachi- 3-4

Cloves- 3-4

Perum Jeerakam (Fennel seeds) - a pinch

Black pepper- 1 tsp

Cut the beef into small pieces and pressure cook them till it is cooked well. Then mince them into smaller pieces in a wet grinder. In the mean time, sauté the green chilies, ginger, red onions and curry leaves. Dry grind the ingredients for the masala and add this to the sautéed ingredients. Saute this mixture till they become golden brown. Now add the minced beef and mix on medium flame for 3 minutes. Further, add mashed potatoes, mix well with beef and switch off the flame. Shape the mixture into oval shaped pieces. After that , soak them in egg white and then further with bread crumbs. The last step is to deep fry them in oil till they turn brown.

Hope this Beef cutlet with thinly sliced onions and a little bit of vinegar will make your taste buds jump around with joy!!!!!!!!!!! (Tulli chadatte ennu)…Verum Vayattil Unniyappam :-)

Sasneham

Balboa Annan