Kongunadu Style Chicken Soup Recipe / Kozhi Rasam recipe

This is our family favorite Chicken soup and whenever my elder catches up cold or cough, first thing he asks me is "Mom, Why don't you make my favorite chicken soup?". This is spicy , but he finishes off the whole bowl with a wet napkin at his side ;).
Ingredients
1/2 cup small cubes of chicken(boneless,skinless).
3 cups of water.
1 clove
1 small cinnamon.
1 small size red onion finely chopped.
1 tbsp freshly shredded ginger.
3 garlic cloves finely chopped.
few curry leaves.
2 green chillies finely chopped.
1/2 tsp mustard seeds.
1/4 tsp turmeric powder.
3/4 tsp ground jeera.
1 tsp red chilli powder.(Add more or reduce as per taste)
2 tsp or more ground black pepper(as per taste).
coriander leaves to garnish.
Oil.
salt(as needed)

Method
1.In a sauce pan,heat the oil and once its hot add the mustard seeds,clove and cinammon.when it starts spluttering,add the onions,garlic,ginger,green chillies,curry leaves and turmeric powder and saute continuously until the onions turn translucent.
3.Now add the chicken and saute at low medium heat and cook for 2 more minutes.
4.Now add the water,red chilli powder,black pepper,salt and close the lid.
5.Let it cook until you could see hot bubbles at the top.Remember cook at low medium heat.Add the powdered jeera just before turning off the heat.
6.Garnish with coriander leaves and serve it hot.Add black pepper if needed.

Read the entire recipe here

Egg Dum Biryani Recipe

I have been making Egg biryani using this recipe for a while now and readers who were  following the previous recipe that was posted in the same page - it is now changed..Try this method :)

Ingredients:
2 cups Basmathi Rice.
For the Biriyani Masala
4 Eggs
1 large size thinly sliced onion
1 medium size tomato, finely chopped
4 whole green chillies
1 cup chopped mint leaves
2 1/2 tbsp or as needed Shan brand Pilau Biryani Mix or Bombay Biryani Mix
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
3 tbsp of plain yogurt diluted in water to make 1/4 cup on a whole
3/4 cup water
salt (as per taste)
1 tbsp lemon/ lime juice or white vinegar
4 tbsp Oil
For the layers
7 to 8 green chillies (whole)
food color - Orange
1/4 cup extra finely chopped mint leaves
For the fried onion
1/4 cup oil
1 large onion thinly sliced

Method
1.Boil Eggs, peel and make some slits on it.
2.Wash rice in water and no further soaking is needed. Cook rice immediately by adding 4 cups of water. The quantity of water needed may differ depending upon the quality of the rice. I have tried Royal, Shan and Tilda brand basmathi rice and I cook it the microwave by adding 2 portions of water to 1 portion of rice. And, it works excellently for my biriyanis and pulao varieties.
3. For the biryani masala
In a large non stick pan, add 4 tbsp. oil, once it is hot add the onion , green chillies (do not cut or make any slits)and saute frequently at medium flame, until it becomes light brown on the edges.
Add the mint leaves, tomato and saute until the micture becomes mushy all together.
Now, bring in the eggs and saute for few seconds. Then add the diluted yogurt, water,lemon/lime juice or vinegar,salt, turmeric powder, SHAN biryani mix and cook at HI flame until it becomes a thick gravy.  Switch off the flame.Be careful while adding SHAN biryani mix, as it has salt already in it. ( I have missed to take a picture which shows adding the ingredients from water, yogurt and others)- DO not miss to do that.
4. For the fried onions
Cut the onions evenly. That is the secret for evenly fried crisp onion. In a pan, heat 1/4 cup of oil and once it is hot, add the onion and fry on medium flame until brown and crisp on all the sides. Remove and drain over a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.
5.. For the layers
In a pot, add the biryani masala layer first without the eggs.
Second layer is the rice. Add a good quantity of the already cooked rice and drizzle some mint and whole green chillies. (The green chilli is for a good aroma it will give. So, do not cut or slit).
Third layer is the biryani masala again, with eggs this time.
Fourth and the final layer is the rice. Sprinkle food color over the rice. Drizzle again with some mint leaves and  whole green chillies.
Cover it with the lid.
Heat a Dosa Tawa ( I use an old Dosa tava, which I never use other than for Dum Biryani) at low flame. Keep the biryani pot over the tawa and let it stay for about 15 minutes.
Once done, gently stir and serve the biryani with raita and with some fried onions.

Notes

• All the quantity mentioned are measured using US standard measuring cups.

I missed to take a picture here, which is explained in the recipe....

Again, I missed to take a picture here - after adding the food color, add the last portion of mint leaves and green chiilies and then cover with the lid.

Fried Onions - Once onions are fried and turned crispy...drain the oil , I have almost all the oil that I have used to fry in the third picture.

Read the entire recipe here

Fried rice using Red Curry paste,Kitchen treasures and Cakes for display

I have already mentioned, that fried rice can be prepared in many ways.Here, is the second method and I simply love it!


Ingredients
2 cups Basmathi rice.
1 Big onion (thin sliced)
1 1/2 mixed veggies(carrot long strips,green peas,cubed red pepper/green pepper and cabbage long strips)
finely chopped green onions(optional)
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger & garlic.
1 tbsp or more Thai Red curry paste.
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce.
2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil.
Salt.

Method
1.Wash the rice and microwave it by adding 2 1/2 cups of water for 20 minutes in microwave(uncovered).Once cooked,using the spatula stir from bottom to top to make sure the rice at the bottom doesnt stick together.
2.In a wide and shallow kadai,heat the oil and add the onions.Fry them until they become translucent.
3.Add the ginger and garlic also.Saute until a nice aroma comes out.Now add the veggies and saute at low medium heat.first add the carrot and once its 1/4th done add the cabbage and peas,as they both gets cooked fast.
4.Once all the veggies are added,add 12 tsp of soy sauce and some salt and stir.
5.The veggies should not be overcooked.I cook it only until they are 3/4th cooked or a lil more.
6.Now add the rice,turn the heat little more low and stir until they are well mixed with rice.Add the red curry paste and remaining salt needed and stir well until they get mixed.
7.Add the chopped green onions and turn off the heat.(I omitted green onions as I didn't have it :) )
8.Serve it hot.

I couldn't find time to post these cakes,which I made in the wilton cake decorating classes.The final cake I made it on Diwali and it was my husband's birthday also.I was very happy about it.
This is a basket weave cake and flowers are made with royal icing.I was finding hard time in make the royal icing :) and i was not confident at all about the basketweave until I made it.I was happy seeing the cake without any flaws and that is what matters at the end :)



This is my first cake with fondant.With the instructors idea made this marbled texture.As usual,my hubby took the entire cake to the office,expect a slice for my kid,as we dont like cakes that much.And it seems nobody was willing to cut the cake,as it looked real cute.

Sorry, I could n't find the picture of the cake alone,must be somewhere in anyone the online albums,have no time to check that out.Please bear with this image:).As,my DH is not that fond of fondant,I had to stop with the buttercream icing.Atleast the single bite he eats should be his favorite on his day Right?


And coming to the Kitchen Treasure hunt by DIBS,I felt everything in a kitchen is a treasure :),but here are few from my kitchen

The idly,mini idly moulds,aapam pan and paniyaram pan.



The murukku press,the donut maker(have not used it yet),kolakattai mould and the mandoline.

The cakes pans I use,I mostly bake only round cakes,and I luv 'em all

These three spatulas,I use for icing a cake.The biggest one,the scooper,leveler,measurer cum spatula is the one I luv the most.

And the mathu,the wooden stick with round head,its just like a masher and the microwave egg boiler,which I use very frequently.


OMG,its a long post and nearly took 2 hours to type this post.I type very slow....ly...Catch you all in the next post.

Read the entire recipe here

Chicken Lollipop(Deep Fried)

Ingredients
Bread crumbs
Oil for deep frying.
For the marinade
3 Chicken wings(makes 6 lollipops)
Red chilli powder.(as per taste)
3 tsp All purpose flour
1 tsp Corn flour
1 tbsp dark soy sauce.
1 to 2 tbsp water.
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp Cumin powder
2 tsp Whole cumin.
1 tsp meat tenderizer(optional).
fistful of curry leaves.
salt(as per taste)
Red food color.

Method
1.Marinate the chicken with the other ingredients given under the marination list for atleast 1 hour.
2.Heat oil in the pan and when its piping hot,dip each one of the lollipop in bread crumbs and deep fry until its done.
3.Serve it with onion slices and lemon.

Read the entire recipe here

Winter warmer Soup

This is from one of the recipes from a cookbook,which my friend shared it with me.A perfect soup for this winter.

Ingredients
3 carrots scrapped and chopped
2 potatoes peeled and chopped.
1 lare beet
1 arge turnip
1 onion chopped
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp oil
6 cups water
3/4 tsp black pepper
2tsp red chilli powder
1 piece ginger chopped
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup yogurt.
1 tbsp heavy cream
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt to taste.

Method
1.Heat butter and add onion and fry until it turns translucent.
2.Add the veggies and stir for two minutes and reduce the heat and cook for 15 minutes or until done.
3.Add water,salt,black pepper,chilli powder and ginger.Cook for 15 more minutes.Grind and prepare a puree.
4.Sieve the puree and add milk and cook for few minutes.
5.Add yogurt,juice and heavy cream.Stir for 2 minutes.
6.Remove and serve hot with croutons.

Read the entire recipe here