Karivepaku Chicken(Curryleaf chicken)

This recipe is from my MIL and one of our family's favorite chicken recipe.

I like the way it looks and the color - much different from most of the chicken recipes which are brownish red in color.

It has that authentic flavor and color. Tastes great with rice or roti.

The ingredients list might look pretty long, but if you have all the ingredients ready, the process is pretty simple.

Ingredients:

Chicken	1.5 lbs
Onions(medium-sized)	1
Curry Leaves	25-30
Oil	2 tbsp
Ginger	2-3 inches piece
Garlic	6 pods
Cumin seeds/Jheera	1 tbsp
Coriander seeds/ Dhaniya	1 tbsp
Cloves/Laong	4
Green Chillies	4
Cinnamon	1/2 inch piece
Turmeric powder	1/2 tsp
Dry grated coconut	1 tbsp
Black Pepper corns	1 tbsp
Salt	as required
Cilantro(finely chopped)	2 tsp
Lemon juice	1 tbsp

Procedure:

Finely chop the onions.

Chop the ginger in to small pieces.

Wash the chicken thoroughly with water and keep it aside to drain the water.

In a pan, dry roast ginger, garlic, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cloves and cinnamon. Let them cool. In the same pan dry roast the curry leaves until they turn little dry and become dark in color. Now add dry coconut and fry for few seconds and let them cool.

In a blender make a paste of all the roasted ingredients, pepper and green chillies. You can use a spice grinder to grind all the dry stuff and then add it to the ginger and garlic and blend in a blender.

Now add oil to the pan and fry th onions with lil salt until they turn golden brown.

Now add the chicken and cook until it is half done.

Add the prepared masala to the chicken, adjust the salt and mix until all the chicken is coated with the spices mix.

Cover the pan with a lid and let the chicken cook well with the spices.

When the chicken is well-cooked, turnoff the stove and add lemon juice. Garnish with finely chopped cilantro.

Suggestions: Vegetarians can substitute chciken with tofu or paneer.

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Home made salsa

We got take out from Chillies for yday's dinner. For appetizer we got some chips and salsa. The quantity of salsa was too less for the huge bag of chips. And ofcourse, we loved the salsa so much that, we ate salsa with chips and not chips with salsa :)
Within few minutes we completed the salsa and the huge bag of chips was just lying on the dining table.

Seeing those chips I thought why not make some salsa at home and finish those chips. Looked for some salsa recipes online and most of them required grilling the tomatoes and peppers and puree'ing them.
I did not have that much time and decided to try something simple. Instead of grilling I just cooked the tomatoes and peppers in pan and puree'd them. Added some diced green peppers at the end to make the salsa crunchy.

Well....my version of the salsa did not match the Chillies salsa, but it was not bad either.



Ingredients:

Tomatoes(medium - sized)	3
Bell pepper(diced)	1/4 cup
Black Beans	3 tbsp
Green Chillies	2
Corn	2 tbsp
Salt	as required
Black pepper	1/2 tsp
Cilantro(finely chopped)	2 tsp
Lemon juice	1 tbsp
Olive oil	2 tsp

Procedure:

Add olive oil to a pan and when the oil is heated, add the finely chopped tomatoes and green chillies. Cover the pan with a lid and cook them until they turn soft. Add 1-2 tbsp water if requited.

The tomatoes turned soft enough that I did not have to puree them. But if they do not turn soft and puree then in a blender.

Now add the lemon juice, pepper and salt.

Mix the corn, black beans and the raw diced bell pepper. Garnish with cilantro. Refrigerate for 30 mins before serving.

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Spicy Eggplant

Eggplant is one vegetable that can be cooked in some hundred different ways. This is one simple and easy recipe that can be made when your taste buds crave for something spicy.

Ingredients:

Eggplant	4
Red chillies	3
Cumin seeds	2 tbsp
Cilantro leaves(finely chopped)	2 tsp
Garlic	1 pod
Lemon Juice	1 tbsp
Oil	1 cup
Salt	as required

Procedure:

I used round small eggplants. But any kind of eggplant can be used for this recipe.

Cut the eggplants length wise in to half and deep fry them in oil and keep them aside.

For the filling, fry cumin seeds, garlic and red chillies in a pan without oil.

Then grind them in a spice grinder with sufficient salt and add this powder on the fried eggplant pieces.

Sprinkle lemon juice and garnish with cilantro.

Serve with hot steamed rice.

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Panakam and Vadapappu for Sree Rama Navami

Panakam in sanskrit means sweet drink. It is made by adding jaggery to water.

Vadapappu is a salad made with moong dal. Panakam and vadapappu are made and served to god on the festival of Sree Rama Navami.

Foodzone wishes you all a very Happy Sree Rama Navami.

Panakam:
Ingredients:

Jaggery	3 medium sized blocks
Sonti(Dry Ginger)	1/4 tbsp
Water	3 cups
Pepper corns	4
Cardamom/Elachi	2
Lemon juice	1 tsp

Procedure:

Add jaggery to the water and let it dissolve completely in the water.

Gently mash cardamom and pepper with pestle and add them to the jaggery water.

Add lemon juice and dried ginger. Serve chilled.

Vadapappu:

Ingredients:

Moong dal	5 tbsp
Carrot	1
Kheera/Cuke	1/2
Grated coconut	1/2 tbsp
Green Chillies	2
Cilantro(finely chopped)	1 tbsp
Salt	as required
Lemon Juice	1 tbsp

Procedure:

Soak moong dal in water for an hour.

Finely chop green chillies, Kheera and grate the carrot.

Drain the water from the moong dal and add the green chillies, grated carrot, cucumber and grated coconut to the moong dal.

Add salt and lemon juice.

Garnish with finely chopped cilantro.

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Egg fried rice

Ingredients:

Eggs	3
Basmati Rice	1 cup
Mint leaves	10-15
Onions	1/2 Large - sized
Cloves	3
Salt	as required.
Oil	2 tbsp
Cinnamon	small piece
Cardamom/Elachi	1
Ginger Garlic Paste	1 tsp
lemon juice	1/2 tbsp
Pepper	1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder	1/2 tsp
Green Chillies	3

Procedure:

Cook the rice with 1.5 cups of water and let it cool.

Cut the onions length wise.

Remove stems from green chillies and cut them length wise.

Finely chop the mint leaves.

Add oil to the pan and saute the onions  until they are golden brown in color. Add little salt while sautéing onions.

Now add ginger garlic paste, green chillies, mint leaves, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon stick and fry for 2 minutes.

Now break the eggs and add them to the onion mixture. Mix the mixture thoroughly and cook until the egg mixture becomes like scrambled egg.

Now add the cooked rice to the egg mixture and mix well adding more salt, garam masala powder and pepper.

Add the lemon juice and mix well.

Serve with raita.

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Spinach Rice

This is a simple recipe to make use of any left over spinach or left over rice.





Ingredients:

Cooked Rice: 1 cup

Carrots: 2

Spinach: 1 cup

Soy sauce: 1 tbsp

salt as required

pepper: 1/2 tbsp

oil

Lemon juice(optional) : 1/2 tsp

Procedure:

Finely chop carrots and spinach.

Heat oil in a pan, add the finely chopped carrots and spinach and let them cook well.

Now add the cooked rice, salt, soy sauce and pepper and mix well.

Add lemon juice and mix again.

Serve with raitha.

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Fruit Cake

First of all wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year!

This is a simple and an easy to make cake from my MIL.

We baked this for the new years' eve.

Do you make new year resolutions? I don't usually make any...but this year I want to try to eat healthy. Not really a resolution...but I just want to try! So keep checking for some healthy recipes...

Another thing I have in my mind is "Go Green" :) yes....save the planet! Well...the best place to start with is the kitchen. I want to use less paper( use cloth napkins in kitchen instead of paper towels) and use reusable bags for shopping.

Coming to the cake recipe....my MIL gave me this recipe that she used to make for my hubby n his sis when they were kids.  My mom too used to make this cake for us when we were kids.



Ingredients:

All purpose flour: 1  1/4 cup

Sugar: 1 cup

Butter: 1  1/4 sticks

Tuity fruity ( I got these from the Indian store)

Baking Powder: 1tsp

Eggs: 3

Vanilla essence: 1tbsp

Dry fruits( I used Almonds and Cashews)

Procedure:

Grind the sugar into fine powder.

Beat sugar, eggs and butter for 10 minutes and then add the all purpose flour and the baking powder. Beat until the flour is mixed well.

Add vanilla essence and beat for 5 minutes. Add Tuity fruity, almonds and cashwes and mix well.

Coat the baking pan with cooking oil spray and pour the cake mix.

Pre heat the oven at 450 degrees for 5 mins and then  place the baking pan with the cake mix and bake for 30-40 mins.

Check with a tooth pick or a fork to make sure the cake is baked well and the tooth pick comes out dry.

Let the cake cool and then cut into pieces.

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