Kitchen Corner-Try It

Orange Marmalade cake Buttery and citrus flavored marmalade cake, it was at instant hit and my family loved it.There was no specific recipe. I just used an ordinary cake recipe and gave extra flavor with orange juice, orange marmalade and wine.Adding wine is optional,I had some leftover after I made Christmas plum cake and so added into this cake.You can substitute it with buttermilk.I had actually prepared a orange syrup( orange juice and sugar) to drench cake layers,but the wine and orange juice had already made the cake moist and super flavorful so I did not use the syrup. Try this cake,you will surely love it. Ingredients Flour- 2 1/2 cup Baking powder- 1 1/2 tsp Salt - a pinch Eggs- 3 Sugar- 3/4 cup Butter- 1/2 cup Vanilla essence-1 tsp Wine- 1/2 cup ( or you can use 1/2 cup butter milk) Zest of one lemon Juice of one lemon Orange marmalade- 1/3 cup (I used the store brought one-use 1 tsp for the cake and rest to spread on top of the cake) In a m...

Kerala Vegetable Stew Today's recipe is a hearty Kerala style vegetable stew. Do you love stews? Most of us like a comforting bowl of soup with some rustic bread. They are thick, filling and hearty warming. Today's recipe is a very traditional, old fashioned recipe. It is extremely flavorful as the vegetables are cooked in creamy coconut milk. This creamy, rich stew with vegetables and coconut milk is served for breakfast. The beauty of this recipe is its simplicity. The locals refer to this as ishtoo, local slang for stew. It is a delicious accompaniment with appam,palappam or Kerala style laced pancake. It is mildly spiced stew with a touch of sweetness from coconut milk. Appam and vegetable stew is a classic combo that you will never get tired of eating. I grew up eating this, for me, this curry is absolute comfort homey food  Coconut is quintessential in Kerala cooking and also the coastal regions of South India. It adds a certain layer of flavor and richness to the...

Beans Cheruparippu Thoran/Beans and Moong Dal Thoran This is a delicious and healthy side dish for rice. It is stir fried beans with cheruparippu/moong dal and coconut. Ingredients Beans chopped- 2 1/2 cup Cheruparippu/Moong dal cooked- 1 cup Grated coconut- 3/ 4 cup Onion- 1/2 Green chilly -3 Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp Chilly powder- a pinch Cumin - 1/2 tsp Garlic- 2 pods Curry leaves- a few Mustard - 1/2 tsp Coconut oil- 3 tsp Cook chopped beans and moong dal/cheruparippu separately. Note; You can dry roast the moong dal till it is slightly golden and gets a nice aroma. This will enhance flavor and also keep it separated. Cook around 1/3 cup of cheruparippu with 1- 1 1/3 cup of water and a pinch of salt and keep aside.Use a wide mouth pot .Cook it till it is soft and still retains its shape and the dal remains separated from each other. Do not pressure cook itor it will get mashed up. Cook beans along with salt and green chilly and sprinkle some water....

Gothambu Payasam Today's recipe is gothambu payasam or cracked wheat payasam.It is a dessert made with winning combo..wheat,jaggery,ghee and coconut milk:). When ever it is celebration time like Vishu or Onam,I plan different types of desserts but end up making semiya payasam, because its my favorite and is real quick :) But recently cracked wheat payasam has gained importance in my list of delicious desserts.I had this payasam only twice and I love its taste.My mom makes certain snacks(nalumani palaharam) which combines wheat flour and jaggery. So I never had a doubt about the success of this recipe.It is a humble version of the rich ada pradhamam, yet its taste is irresistible.Try this,you will surely love it. Ingredients Cracked wheat/nurukku gothambu- 1 cup Jaggery ( powdered)- 2 1/2 cup (Adjust according to sweetness you prefer) Coconut milk thick- 1 cup Coconut milk thin- 2 cup Cardamon crushed- 5-6 Raisins and cashew nuts- a few Ghee- 3 tsp  Wa...

Chicken Shawarma Today's recipe is a home made version of chicken shawarma. Shawarma is a popular sandwich of the middle east and is a favorite fast food. No one can resist this delicious sandwich of spiced meat wrapped in pita bread and drizzled with a delicious and tangy yogurt based sauce.The source of inspiration is Dedemed in youtube. I combined some recipes and ended up with a marinade flavor which my family enjoyed .The original meat used in shawarma is slow cooked chicken very similar to rotisserie chicken.But you will get almost the same results if you thinly slice chicken and use a grill pan. In the spice mix I used a little of sumac ( it is optional). It is part of middle eastern cooking and has a tart flavor and enhances the taste of seafood,meat and salads.Sumac has a very inviting fruit tart flavor which you will love,but if you do not have sumac you can very well substitute it with lemon.You can use either chicken or mutton and your own combination of sal...

Ulli Puli/Sweet and Tangy Onion Curry Ullipuli/ulli curry is a tangy and spicy onion sauce with a touch of sweetness. The tangy taste is from puli/tamarind and the natural sweetness of pearl onions which is lightly enhanced by adding a little of jaggery, which is optional.It is a common sadhya recipe and is served as a thodu curry along with pickles like ginger, mango and lemon .It is very popular in central Kerala. The first time I tasted ullipuli was after my marriage. I first thought that it was inji/ginger curry as they looked very similar,but it tasted delicious. Give this recipe a try,you will surely love it. Ingredients Pearl onions/shallots thinly sliced- 3 cup Sliced coconut pieces- 1/2 cup Tamarind- lemon sized ball Green chilly- 3 Ginger chopped- 1 tsp Fenugreek seeds- 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp Chilly powder- 1 tsp Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp Asafoetida- a pinch Jaggery powdered- 2 tsp (optional) Curry leaves- a few Dry red chilly-2 Coconut oil-...

Samosa When it comes to deep fried snacks my favorite is samosa. There can be very few who can resist this spicy stuffed pastry. When ever I think of samosas I think of those street food vendors in India who sell the most delicious samosas ever.The taste of those samosa and the crispness and perfection of the pastry dough is really hard to recreate.  I tried making it several times and most experiments where disasters. I should admit that I learned it the hard way.The stuffing I have used here is a spicy and tasty potato peas combo.You can be creative with the filling There are different fillings both vegetarian and non- vegetarian,sweet and savory. Cooking time- 45 minutes Recipe Type- snack Cuisine - Indian Ingredients For the dough All purpose flour/maida- 1 1/2 cup Ajwain seed- 3/4 tsp Ghee/oil- 2 1/2 tsp ( use ghee for better results) salt to taste For the filling Potatoes- 2 medium Green peas- 1/2 cup Ginger chopped- 1 tsp Green chilly finely chopp...