Quick n Easy Prawn (Shrimp) Dry Roast

I love prawns for 2 reasons. One for the taste (obviously) and the other for its quick cooking time. Trust me this is the simplest, yet tastiest recipe I've come up with so far. I came up with this when I was cooking in a hurry one day and have stuck with it ever since. It takes less than 10 mins depending on how much prawns your cooking. No chopping onions or tomatoes or sautéing them endlessly. The best thing is you can make as little as 5 prawns too. 

Also, check out my recipe for Quick & Easy Chicken.

Ingredients:

• Prawns/Shrimps : Desired amount.
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 Tblspn 
• Salt - 1tspn (adjust according to amount of Shrimp)
• Chilli powder - 1 tspn (adjust according to amount of Shrimp)
• Oil - 2 tblspn
• Curry leaves - 1 strand (optional, but gives real good aroma) 

Steps:

• Clean and wash prawns. Drain water.
• Add the ginger garlic paste, salt and chilli powder to the wet pawns and mix well.
• Heat oil in a pan.
• When the oil is really hot, add the prawn mixture. Sauté, the prawns will let out moisture. Close and cook for 3-5 mins till the prawns are done. Don't over cook prawns, they will become like rubber.
•  Open lid, and reduce heat to medium high and let the water dry up. Occasionally sauté.
• When it dries up, you will find that the mixture sticks to the bottom, its good, we want it to. 
• Raise the heat, add a splash of water, it will loose the dried up mixture, scrape the dried mixture well and mix with the prawns and sauté. 
• Add curry leaves, turn off heat. 

Prawn (Shrimp) Dum Biriyani

This is an easy 3 step recipe. Fry Prawns, half cook rice, layer rice over prawns and cook.  I followed the Varevah chef's recipe. Have to tell you, he is a talker, I was not a big fan of his work becos he spoke too much before he started cooking. Half the time I would loose interest and move on. But my friend Subha recommended that I follow his recipe for chicken dum biriyani and it was a huge success. So I followed his recipe for prawn dum biriyani as well. 

Tips to know before you start:

• Soak rice half hour before you start.
• When cooking rice, salt water generously
• When frying prawns, do it in batches, we want to fry them so they have crispy out side and only half cooked, not boil and cook them fully.
• Use a heavy bottom pan. 

Ingredients:

• Oil - 4 Tblsn
• Prawns (shrimp) - desired amount
• Chili powder -  To taste
• Coriander powder - 1 Tspn
• Salt - To taste
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 Tblspn
• Basmathi Rice - 2 Cups (Soaked in water for half hour)
• Biriyani masala - 1 Tblspn (I would recommend North Indian brands, cos they are light and has whole spices in them)
• Coriander leaves - 1 cup
• Mint leaves - 1/2 cup
• Curd - 1 cup
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
• Cinnamon Sticks - 2
• Cloves - 4-5
• Fried onion - 1 cup (Store bought fried onions or sauté onions till dark brown and use them)
• Ginger garlic paste - 1Tblspn
• Green chillies - 3-4
• Cumin seeds - 1 tspn 
• Caraway seeds (Shahi Jeera) -  1 tspn
• Orange food colouring - 1tsp

Steps:

Fry Prawns:

• Marinate prawns with 1tspn of the following- salt, chilli powder, coriander powder and ginger garlic paste. 
• Heat couple of table poon of oil in the pan you plan to make the biriyani. When oil is hot, add 1 cinnamon stick and 1 tspn of cumin seeds.
• Then add prawns in batches and fry till they are crispy and brown on the outside ( No.4 in picture). 
• You can start cooking the rice simultaneously (No.3 in picture)
• Remove just the prawns from the pan and leave the oil in the pan to finish cooking the biriyani.

Cook Rice:

• When the prawn in marinating, Boil water in a large vessel.
• Drain water from the soaking rice. 
• When the water starts boiling, add, 2 tblspn of oil, caraway seeds, 1 cinnamon stick and couple of cloves.
• Salt generously. The water needs to be slightly salty when you taste the water. 
• Add the rice and cook till its 90 % done. 
• Drain rice.
• You will find that your rice will be done, about the same time you finish up with the prawns. So use the oil in the pan to do the next step.

Finishing:

• In the same pan used to fry the prawns, add a bit more oil if you need, and add Curd, green chillies  coriander leaves, mint leaves, biriyani masala, turmeric powder, fried onions and 1 tsp salt and sauté. (No.5 in picture)
• Stir in the fried prawns. Sauté for a minute or 2. (No.6 in picture)
• Add the cooked rice on top of the mixture. (No.8 in picture)
• Sprinkle a handful of fried onions, coriander leaves, and Orange food colouring over the rice. (No.9 in picture)
• Cover and cook over medium high heat for 7-10 mins.
• Turn off heat, gently stir the rice and mixture together. Cover again and let it rest. 
• As tempting as it might be to eat it immediately it tastes better if it rest for 15 to 20 mins. Trust me :)

Kerala Chicken Stew

Kerala is a state in the Southern part of India known for their beautiful cities and aromatic cuisine with coconut. My introduction to Kerala's cuisine and culture was through my Uncle who was born and brought up in Kerala. My aunt used to make Syrian beef and Kola puttu often because of his influence. But my real experience in tasting authentic Kerala cuisine was when we visited my uncle's family in Allepey, Kerala. His mom and sister were amazing people and wonderful cooks. It was then I first tasted chicken and beef stews, Pariappu biriyani, beef stuffed parotha and lots more. 

Honestly I had forgotten about the stew until today. Luckily I remembered it when I was wondering what I could do different with chicken rather than the usual curries. Chicken stew is real simple and tasty, hope you enjoy making it. I have made slight changes to the traditional recipe, usually it is very thin (watery), I just made it a bit thicker and added a bit more flavour by adding ginger garlic paste and coriander powder.

Ingredients:

• Oil - 3 Tblspn
• Cinnamon stick - 1
• Cloves - 5 or 6
• Bay leaves - 2 (Fresh or dried)
• Cardamom - 3
• Whole pepper corns - 1 tspn
• Chicken -  1/2 kg or desired amount
• Onion - 2, chopped
• Green Chillies -  6 or more, slit
• Ginger Garlic paste -  1 tblspn
• Potato - 1 Large or 2 medium ones, chopped into big chunks
• Carrots - 2 or 3, chopped in semi-circles
• Coriander powder - 1 tspn
• Pepper powder - 1 tspn
• Salt - 2 tspn or more
• Curry leaves - 2 strands
• Coconut Oil - 1 tspn
• Thin Coconut milk - 1 1/2 cups (just milk, use canned or squeeze out the coconut and use milk alone mixed with a little water)
• Think Coconut milk - 1/2 cup
• All purpose flour - 1 tblspn
• Water - as required 

Steps:

• Heat oil in a pan, when hot, add the whole spices. Then add the onions and green chillies and sauté well. Add salt.
• When onion slightly change colour, add the ginger garlic paste.
• Then add the coriander powder and sauté well.
• Next add the chicken and stir well. Then add the potatoes and carrots.
  
• Add the thin coconut milk and 1 stand of curry leaves and let it boil. When the broth starts to boil, lower heat, cover and cook till the the chicken and veggies are done, maybe 10 to 12 mins.(Your kitchen will be filled with wonderful aroma from the boiling coconut milk :))
• Add this point, add more salt if needed and add the pepper powder. 
• Once the chicken and veggies are cooked, dissolve the all purpose flour in 1/4 cup of water and add to the stew. Let it boil well. Add more water if the stew is too thick.
• Now add the thick coconut milk, stir and bring to a boil for a min or 2. Turn off heat add the coconut oil and one strand of curry leaves. Let it rest for a couple of mins before you serve.

Mango Salad

I love mangoes, I think most Indians do, after all India does have the best mangoes :) Here in Canada we get mangoes from California and Mexico, don't get me wrong, they are good, but they cannot compete with Indian mangoes when it comes to taste. If you have not tasted Indian mangoes you've missed something great, even the skin of Indian mangoes taste great.

I found some green Mexican mangoes the other day at the supermarket, they taste like half ripe Kili mooku (parrot- beak) mango, but have bitter skin. I remembered eating a salad made of mangoes long time ago and decided to make it. The mango salad is very refreshing and light. 

Ingredients:

• Mango - 1, thinly sliced. (Any variety of mango, that is firm and not too sweet will work) 
• Carrot - 1, medium size, thinly sliced
• Red Onion - 1/2, thinly sliced
• Red pepper (Capsicum) -1/2, thinly sliced. You can use green pepper if you cant find red.
• Coriander Leaves -  Handful, finely chopped.

Dressing:

• Lemon juice from half a lemon
• Ginger - 1/4 inch, finely grated
• Hot sauce/Chilli sauce - 1/2 tsp or more
• Salt - 1/4 Tsp
• Sugar - 3/4 tsp

Steps:

• Mix all the sliced veggies and mangoes together.
• Mix together the ingredients of the dressing.
• Combine the dressing and the salad well using your fingers. 
• Refrigerate for a while, it will bring out the flavours really well. Then serve.

Kadalai Paruppu (Channa Dal) Chutney

Kadalai Paruppu chutney is my all time favourite chutney. I think my mom first made this when I was in grade 5, from then on if my mom made this chutney I never missed breakfast. I have even taken idly and kadalai paruppu chutney for lunch to school. That's how much I like it :)

Ingredients:

To cook:

• Red onion - 1 sliced (Small red onion a.k.a pearl onions are actually great for this)
• Tomato - 1 Roughly chopped
• Kadalai Paruppu (Channa Dal) -  about 3 handful heaps (Sorry, I'm not used to measuring these, I just eye ball them)
• Ginger - 1/2 inch, sliced
• Dry Red Chillies - 3 or more as per taste
• Curry leaves - 1 or 2 strands (optional)
• Tamarind - 1/2 inch strip
• Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
• Oil - 1 tblspn
• Salt - 1Tsp

For seasoning:

• Oil - 1/2 Tblspn
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Ulundhu (Urad dal) - 1/2 tsp
• Dry red chillies- 2
• Curry leaves- 1 strand

Steps:

• Heat oil in a wok/pan, when hot lower heat to medium and add all the ingredients one by one, to cook.  
• Saute now and then to keep them from sticking to the bottom. (Add more oil if too dry).
• Cook till the tomatoes are nicely cooked. Turn off heat and cool a while.
• In a blender /mixer grinder, grind the cooked mixture to a paste by adding water slowly as needed. Grind to desired consistency.
• Transfer contents to a serving bowl, taste and add more salt if needed.
• Now season it. In the same pan, heat oil and when hot add the mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the rest of the ingredients. Turn off heat and add the hot oil mixture to the ground chutney. It will sizzle.
• Mix and serve with hot idlies or dosai.

Aloo Paratha - Potato stuffed Chapathi (Roti)

Aloo Paratha comes to your rescue when you really don't have the time or the mood to be chopping up veggies to make a curry for your Chapathi/Roti. Just some plain yoghurt (curd), raitha or pickle is enough to go with it to make a yummy meal. 

Here's what you will need

• Oil - As required 

For the Dough:

• Whole wheat flour - 1 cup, extra for dusting
• Warm Water- 1/2 to 3/4th cup
• Salt - a pinch

Potato Filling:

• Potatoes : 2 large one, or 3 small ones
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Coriander leaves  -  Handful, finely chopped
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• Chaat masala -  1/2 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1/4 tsp (optional)
• Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp or more (or use chopped green chilis)

Steps:

• Cut potatoes into big chunks, and place in a microwave safe dish and fill it 3/4th with water and microwave for 7 - 10 mins. Or you can pressure cook the potatoes. We want to mash them, not make it runny.
• Mean while, combine the flour with salt and add half the water and start kneading, gradually add more water as required. The dough must form a ball without sticking to your fingers. You can add more flour if you feel the dough is too sticky. 
• Lightly apply some oil on the dough and let it rest while you prepare the filling.
• Remove the peel from the cooked potatoes and mash it. Add rest of the ingredients in the potato filling list and mix really well.

Stuffing the Paratha:

Step 1: Dust your rolling surface and pin with flour.  Make a small ball of dough, slightly smaller than your fist. Roll it out slightly. Place a same sized ball of filling in the middle of the dough. (You can press the potato filling and compress it as much)

Step 2:  Bring all the edges of the dough to the top and pinch it to close.

Step 3: Take a few drops of oil in your palm and cup the filled dough ball between your palms, do not roll it between your palms, but gently cup them to make it smooth. Do the same with the remaining dough and filling. 

Step 4: Again generously flour the surface. place a filled dough ball and flour the top again. 

Step 5: Apply flour on your rolling pin and press in the middle, then roll once on top and then bring it to the bottom. Add more flour if its sticky. Turn the rolling surface around, do not flip the flattened dough it will crack, just turn the surface and roll the other sides gently.

Step 6 :  In a hot tava/ pan, lightly apply oil and place paratha. Again lightly apply oil on top of the paratha. Flip the paratha after a min and gently press the paratha, cook both sides till its light brown.

Inside the paratha

Cranberry Banana Oat Muffin

Last year during Christmas a baking ingredients company sent a free copy of a little recipe book using their products and coupons for the same to everyone in our city . It had some really nice and simple recipes, so I saved it and after 8 months tried one today. Its called a breakfast muffin, Its health and literally has everything you eat for a breakfast in it.  I made some changes to the ingredients, like swapping white sugar for brown sugar, oil for butter, added vanilla extract and adjusted the amount of Banana added. Don't worry if you can't find cranberries, you can substitute cranberries with raisins, it will be just as yummy.

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat flour - 1 1/4 cups
• Oats -1 1/4 cups (300 mL)
• Brown sugar - 2/3 cup (Taste batter in the end and add more if you like it sweeter)
• Baking Powder -1 1/2 tsp 
• Baking Soda- 1 tsp 
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• Egg - 1 
• Vanilla extract -1 tsp
• Banana - 2 mashed ( Original recipe calls for 2 cups of mashed banana, I'm sure it will be more than 2 bananas, I had only 2 at home, so added 1/4 cup of milk to add more moisture)
• Oil - 1/3 cup 
• Milk -1/4 Cup (You can avoid this and add more mashed banana)
• Dry cranberries or raisins -3/4 cup 

Steps:

• Sift the flour and combine first six dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Mix well.
• Beat egg, mashed banana, oil and vanilla extract together until smooth.
• Add banana mixture to dry ingredients. Stir, add the milk. Stir gently until well combined and moistened. 
• Stir in the cranberries or raisins.
• The batter will be thick.
• Line a muffin pan and fill it 3/4.
• Bake at 375ºF for 15-20 minutes based on your oven. You know your done when you insert a knife and it comes out clean