Kitchen Corner-Try It

Kerala Snack Ottada- Rice Parcel in Banana Leaf Ottada is sweet rice flour parcels wrapped in banana leaves. There is nothing fancy about ottada, and it is one of the forgotten, traditional old-fashioned teatime snacks of Kerala. There is the smell of charred fresh banana leaves. You bite into crispy sweet rice and coconut filling flavored with chakkavaratti/ jack fruit jam. Jack fruit preserve is a staple in Kerala homes, but it is an optional flavor enhancer. Rice and coconut are important in all traditional Kerala snacks, and jaggery or palm sugar is the preferred sweetener. These traditional teatime snacks are simple, and it invokes nostalgic sweet childhood memories. Grandmother sometimes wraps it into neat parcels and place it on embers or burning charcoal. It will need lots of practice, so for a novice like me, the slow cooking on manchatti is the better option. Kerala delicacies like elaada, kozhukatta , and ottada are very similar to each other. Elada and ottada have t

Chicken Onion Pakoda Chicken onion pakora/fritters is a classic Indian tea time snack fried to crispy golden perfection. It is an addictive snack and is a pure joy to indulge in with hot piping tea. There are comfort and joy in munching sizzling hot spicy pakodas/ pakoras with masala tea during the monsoon rains with soulful music in the background. They are so addictive you will never get tired of eating them! Onion pakodas/pakoras are easy to make a snack, made with thinly sliced onions and gram flour/ chickpea flour. Onions and chickpea flour is a pantry staple, and it will be ready in under 15 minutes. I make them often, but adding chicken to onions was a game-changer. It tastes super delicious that everyone will go crazy over. It can be served as a spicy and yummy starter and is great for entertaining, movie nights, or a game-day snack. Use leftover cooked chicken for this recipe. If you are using raw chicken, use minced chicken or cut into thin slices. You can add cashew nu

Meringue Cookies Meringue cookies are crispy, light and is everyone's favorite. Kids will love this melt in mouth cookies.These are small mini versions and is raspberry flavored. There is no flour in this cookies and key ingredient here is egg whites and sugar and it is baked in a very low temperature so that the moisture of the egg whites dry out completely. Recipe source from here Ingredients Egg whites-4 Raspberry essence- 1/2 tsp Caster sugar-1 cup Cream of tartar-1/4 tsp vanilla essence a few drops Permitted food color - 2 drops (optional) Preheat oven to 200 degrees F and line baking sheet with parchment paper In a large bowl beat egg whites till it is frothy. Add cream of tartar and beat till soft peaks are formed. Continue running the mixer and slowly add sugar one tsp at a time Add food coloring and essence continuing beating until stiff peak form. Transfer mixture to a pastry bag or large zip-top bag fitted with decorating tip. Pipe shapes o

Fried Chicken  Biryani Today's recipe is yet another chicken biryani. I have already posted a Talasherry chicken Biryani and a Trivandrum style chicken biryani ....so you may ask why another? This biryani is slightly different from the usual method,the chicken is first fried and them added to the masala. The first time I ate this biryani was at a function back home, it was a Trivandrum style biryani,but the frying took the  flavor and taste to a new level. I tried to recreate the same recipe here and my family enjoyed. Try this..you will love it. Ingredients To marinate the chicken Chicken- 2 lb Turmeric powder- 1/3 tsp Chilly powder- 3/4 tsp Ginger garlic paste- 1 1/2 tsp Salt to taste Lemon juice- 1/2 lemon For the rice Basmathi rice- 3 cups Cinnamon- 2 -3 pieces Cardamon-2 Ghee- 2 tsp Few strands of saffron Rose essence- 1 1/2 tsp Salt to taste For the chicken masala Shallots- 1 cup (slightly crushed) Onion- 1 medium (chopped) Ginger garlic

Shaped Dinner Rolls  : Knot Roll  Baking Partners fourth challenge post- Shaped Dinner Rolls. Baking partners is the brain child of  Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen. This months theme is very interesting and part of holiday meals. Thanksgiving is approaching and Swathi suggested 7 types of dinner rolls  and sent us recipes with both with eggs and the egg less version. I selected and tried three shapes: Knot Roll, Clover leaf and the Rosette/Kaiser Rolls. For me this post was challenging as I have never baked dinner rolls and did not have a large mixer to knead the dough. So I tried the traditional kneading with hand method to knead the dough. I am so glad that I tried this recipe and it was real fun trying these different shapes. Of these the clover leaf was the easiest  and even my kid had such fun helping me make balls :)The rosette was slightly confusing roll.  Rosette rolls looked pretty good after they were formed, but I was disappointed in my first attempt. The

Boondi ladoo Happy Diwali to all my friends and readers!Wish you all a happy and prosperous Diwali....a year filled with prosperity, success and joy! I know every one are in a festive spirit and to celebrate Diwali I made these ladoos.Boodi ladoo is one of the most popular Indian sweet.It is part of temple poojas, festive occasions and a must for Indian weddings.  Boondi ladoo is one sweet that I never get tired of! Love this since childhood and I still enjoy this divine sweet. This is my first attempt to make them at home. For me the boondi making part was easy, but I guess shaping the ladoos needs more patience and practice. Try this for Diwali,you will surely love it. Ingredients Gram flour-1 1/2 cup Salt -a pinch Baking soda- a pinch Water- approximately 3/4 cup Syrup Sugar- 2 1/2 cup Water- 1 1/3 cup Food color- a few drops(Optional) Cardamon- 4-5 Clove crushed-2 Garnish Ghee- 3 tbs Cashew nut and raisins - a few Kalkandu/rock candy- 2 tbs(optiona

Rasakalan Kalan is a very popular Kerala dish served with rice. The recipe today is a unique version called Rasa kalan.Rasa means tasty and as the name suggest it is a tasty kalan. Usually kalan is made with raw plantain and yam and is cooked in a spiced yogurt sauce. But in rasakalan it is a medley of different types of vegetables which brings a wonderful blend of flavors. This is a new recipe to me and when I read about this, I,found it very interesting and tried it for Onam sadhya this year. It was truly wonderful and my family enjoyed.The yogurt sauce is spiced with black pepper or dry red chilly and the tangyness is from yogurt and raw mango. Try this recipe,you will surely love it. Recipe Source from here and here Ingredients Pumpkin, Cucumber, yam, Arvi (colacacia) Raw plantain cubed- 3 cup Drumstick - 8-10 pieces Green mango small- peeled and sliced- 1 Turmeric powder- 1/3 tsp green chilly 2 Pepper powder- 1/3 tsp Jaggery- a small piece Salt to taste T

Beetroot Mushroom Cutlet Today's recipe is a quick and delicious snack/appetizer....the good old favorite, vegetable cutlet with a twist. Cutlets are everyone's favorite and you get it everywhere in India.My  family enjoys vegetable cutlet,just as much as the love meat cutlet. Beetroot mushroom cutlet is one of our favorites. It has the beautiful color and the earthy sweetness of beetroot,the mild meaty taste of mushrooms and  aromatic spices. It is delectable and I am sure even non-vegetarians will find this interesting. Serve this with ketchep or with mint chutney and enjoy with a cup of tea. Ingredients Beetroot- 2 medium Mushroom cleaned and chopped- 1 1/2 cup Potato- 1 large Onion- 1 meduim Ginger-garlic paste- 1 1/3 tsp Turmeric powder-a pinch Chilly powder- 1/3 tsp ( according to spiciness you like) Pepper powder-1/3 tsp Garam masala-1/2 tsp Coriander leaves chopped-a handful lemon juice- 1/2 lemon salt to taste Egg white-2 Bread crumbs- 1 cup

  Pineapple Kesari Kesari is a very unique and popular sweet of South India with a soft melt in mouth texture.Adding fresh juicy pineapples makes it even more special. If you like the flavor of pineapple this sweet/dessert is irresistible. The chief ingredients are semolina/sooji,sugar and ghee.I first tasted pineapple kesari when I visited Udupi in Karnataka and fell in love with this. There it was served as a sweet for breakfast. Try this.you will surely love it. Ingredients Rava or Sooji- 1 cup Chopped pineapple- 1 cup Sugar- 2cup Water- 2 cups Warm Milk-1 cup Ghee-4 tbs Cardamon-6-8 few drops of food color Raisins and cashew nuts- a few Chop pineapple in small pieces and keep aside. In a pot bring water and milk to a boil. In a heavy bottom pan heat one tsp of ghee and fry cashews till golden brown and raisins till they puff and keep aside. In the same pan roast rava till it starts changing color to golden ,you can feel a nice roasted aroma. Remove a

Bread Upma Simple upma to use up all left over bread and  can be made in a jiffy. For me this is a quick snack,but you can serve it as breakfast.You can add any chopped vegetables to make it colorful and healthy. I had some left over minced stir fried chicken so I added that too.So it is that simple,all leftovers tossed together to make a quick delicious snack/brunch. Ingredients Bread- 8 slices Onion- 1 medium Ginger garlic paste- 1/2 tsp Cashew nuts- 6-8 Tomato sauce- 11/2 tsp Vegetables of your choice- 1/2 cup (here I used green peas, crumbled potatoes and left over mined chicken) Turmeric powder- a pinch Chilly powder- 1/3 tsp Garam Masala- 1/3 tsp Chopped coriander- a little Lemon juice- a few drops salt to taste Cut bread into small cubes. Grease a fry pan with little ghee and slightly toast it till golden brown and set aside. Heat oil in a pan and roast cashew nuts. Add chopped onions and saute till golden brown and then ginger garlic and saute till