Patrani machi

To make Patrani machi - Apply mint chutney to the fish. Wilt banana leaves. Put the fish in the banana leaves. Wrap. Shallow fry in oil till the fish is cooked (say 10 minutes). Alternately, You could also steam the fish.

Recipe for Mint chutney - Take equal quantities of grated coconut, mint leaves and, corriander leaves. Grind it to a coarse paste with a tsp of cummin seeds, 3 cloves of garlic, a couple of green chillis, lemon juice, and salt. This chutney is very tasty and is used in sandwiches or as accompaniments. It is not restricted to this recipe.

Beetroot salad

Boiled beetroot sliced up pretty added to garbanzo beans, tomatoes, onions, green chillis, cucumber, sprinkled with salt, and finally tossed in lemon juice. Quite yummy! You need to boil beetroot in plenty of water for at least an hour to get the right texture.

Dahi vadas

Method: Soak urud dal over night. Grind soaked dal with chopped onions, green chillis, and ginger. Make small flat balls and deep fry to make vadas. Soak the fried vadas in water for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, take curds in a bowl. Add sugar, red chilli powder, cummin powder, and salt. Stir well. You could add all kinds of chutneys to bring in more flavor. Finally, drain the vadas. Squeeze out all the excess water and place them in the spiced curds. Chill in the fridge for an hour. Enjoy.

Raagi (Millet) drink.

Recipe: Dry roast 1 tbsp of raagi flour. Mix the roasted raagi flour to a quarter cup of water to avoid lumps. Heat 1 cup of water. Add jaggery and sugar to the water. When the water comes to a boil, add the raagi paste to water. Cook for a few minutes. Add a spot of milk (to taste). Add cardamom. Enjoy! Very satisfying no guilt drink. Tastes so much like hot chocolate. Yummy.

Tea Sandwiches

Tea sandwiches are basically bread butter and one other ingredient sandwiches. People usually trim the edges. Boiled eggs, sardines, tomatoes, cucumber make good tea sandwiches

Cottage breakfast of Hashbrowns, pancakes, and fried eggs.

Recipe:

Pancakes: 1 cup maida, 1 egg, 2 tsps baking powder, 2 tsps melted butter, 2 tbsps sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, milk to make batter.

Process: Mix dry ingredients. Beat eggs with butter. Add milk and dry ingredients to get right consistency. Let it stay for 10 minutes. Pour on lightly greased pan. Do not press down otherwise the pancakes will not be fluffy. Turn. And cook till ready.

Hashbrowns: 1 potato, salt to taste.

Process: Grate potatoes. Season with salt. Some people add pepper. I did not. Squeeze out all the moisture. Make a ball. And place it on well greased pan. Turn a couple of times till well cooked.

Everyone knows how to fry an egg. Enjoy and top it up with tea or coffee.

Rawa porridge

Method: Heat up some milk. Add some roasted rawa, elaichi, and sugar. Enjoy!

Curd rice/maize

Curd Rice:

Ingredients: 1 cup warm cooked rice, 2 cup curds, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp chopped green chillis, 1/2 tsp chopped ginger, 1 tbsp cashew nuts, 1 tbsp raisins, 2-3 red chillis, 1 tbsp oil, 1 tsp yellow lentils, salt to taste.
Method: Mix the rice, salt, and yogurt in a bowl. Add green chills and give a stir. In a pan heat oil. Add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds begin to splutter add lentils. When the lentils become darker, add red chillis, cashewnuts, and raisins. Lastly add ginger and give it a quick stir. Pour this hot mixture in to the bowl of rice. Enjoy!

Curd-maize: The recipe is similar to curd rice but the broken maize gives the dish a nice twist.

Recipe: Soak the broken maize for a few hours (even overnight). Boil the maize till well cooked. Add curds and chopped green chilis. Season with salt. Do tarka of mustard seeds, curry leaves, broken cashews, chopped ginger, and raisins.

Watermelon salsa topped with sauteed prawns.

Recipe: Cut watermelon in to chunks. Add chopped onions and green chillis (or

jalapenos). A few spoons of lemon juice. 1 tomated chopped. Shake this bowl. Toss in some sauteed prawns and have fun!

Paneer Makhani

Recipe: Heat butter. Add bay leaves, cinnamom, cardamom, cloves. After a quick stir add garlic ginger paste. When the raw smell disappears, add tomato puree and green chillis. Add turmeric, chilli powder, garam masala powder, salt, sugar. Cover and cook till oil separates. Add paneer and crushed kasuri methi. When its almost done, add fresh cream and cook a couple of minutes more on low flame. Enjoy!

Dal dokli

Ingredients: Toor dal, raw peanuts, turmeric powder, mustard seeds, curry leaves, hing, cinnamon stick, cloves, chopped ginger, cashews, raisins, chopped green chillis, chopped tomatoes, jaggery, kokum, wheat flour, corriander leaves, salt, ghee.

Recipe: Make soft dough with wheat flour (of chapati consistency).
Soak dal (mostly toor dal, i also added channa dal) for half hour at least. Cook dal with some raw peanuts, turmeric powder and salt in pressure cooker till soft.
Heat ghee. Add mustard seed, curry leaves, hing, cinnamom stick, 2 cloves, ginger, cashews, raisins, green chillis, tomatoes. Saute and then add cooked dal with jaggery and one kokum.
While the dal is boiling again, roll out chapati dough. Cut in to strips and add to the dal. Cover and cook for 15 minutes or thereabout. Garnish with corriander leaves. Enjoy!

Kaju Katli

Recipe:

Ingredients: 3 cups Kaju, 1 cup sugar, less than 1/4 cup water, 1/2 tsp ghee. Method: Ground the cashews to a powder in a blender. Melt the sugar in water. Add the cashew powder. Stir away. Thickens in a matter of minutes. Stir in some ghee. Put it on a board. Roll it thin with a rolling pin. I use butter paper so I do not have to grease the board. Cut in to diamond shapes and enjoy! There is no one I know who does not like Kaju katlis.

Parathas

Parathas are stuffed bread made of wheat. The filling decides which paratha it is.
Method:  Make a soft dough with  wheat flour.  Stuff the fillings in to balls of dough. Roll out and place in a hot pan. When one side is done, turn over, apply ghee. Then toss it a couple of times and you have yummy parathas.

If you add maida to the dough, it will hold the stuffing better but is not as healthy nor tasty. Plus the tears in the pure wheat parathas only adds to its delicacy. Serve with pickles or raitas.

Aloo paratha:
Ingredients for the filling: Potatoes, turmeric, garlic, green chillis, mustard seeds, corriander leaves, salt, oil.

Method:  Heat ghee or oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds. When the seeds begin to splutter, add mashed boiled potates, garlic, chillis, turmeric powder, and salt. When the mixture is well cooked and has no lumps, add corriander leaves. 

Aloo gobi paratha:

Ingredients for filling: Cauliflower, potatoes, ajwain, minced ginger, minced green chillis, amchur powder, jeera powder, garam masala, corriander powder, turmeric powder, corriander leaves, salt,  ghee or oil.

Method:
Mince the cauliflower in a blender. Boil potatoes. Heat ghee. Add ajwain. After the seeds splutter add ginger and green chillis. Next add the minced cauliflower and all the dry spices. Add mashed potatoes. When done garnish with corriander leaves.

Karela Salad

Recipe:
1 big bittergourd, 1 medium onion (chopped), 2-3 green chillis minced, 1 big lemon juice, salt, oil, corriander leaves for garnishing.

Method: Cut the bittergourd in to thin rings. Sprinkle salt on rings and let it stay for 5-10 minutes. Fry these rings individually till crisp. Drain and transfer to a bowl. Add chopped onions, salt, chopped chillis, lemon juice, and give it a stir. Garnish with corriander leaves.

In this dish, the seeds and the pulp of bittergourd is eaten and hence there is no wastage. Enjoy!

Parippu Vadas

Ingredients: Channa dal, Red chillis, 1 large Onion, 1 inch piece ginger, Green chillis, 1 tbsp rice flour, Salt, Oil to deep fry.

Method: Soak channa dal for 1 hour. Grind with 3-4 red chillis to a coarse paste. Add onion, ginger, and green chillis. Add rice flour to get desired consistency and also to make the vadas crisp. Make small balls. Flatten the balls and fry on a medium flame till you are sure the insides are cooked. Drain the excess oil out. The vadas continue to cook and turns darker outside the oil.

Usually served with coconut chutney. I like it better with tamarind chutney. Malayalis just love this vada and so do I.

Pineapple-Prawns Fried rice

Ingredients: 1 tsp crushed garlic, 1 tsp minced garlic, 1 tsp ginger, 1 small onion diced, 1/2 cup prawns, 1 small capsicum, 1 carrot, 1/2 cup minced green beans, 2 green chillis minced, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 cup cooked rice, salt to taste.

Method: Saute the prawns. When semicooked, add capsicum, garlic, ginger, green chillis, and onions. After a few minutes add all the vegetables. When the vegetables are cooked, add pineapples. Cook for a minute. Add rice and stir. Add soy sauce and stir for another minute.

One of my favorite meals. Enjoy!

Hyderabadi Prawns Pulao

Ingredients: 2 cups basmati rice, 1 cup prawns, 3 cloves, 1 small piece cinnamom, 1 cardamom pod, 1 star anise, 3 bay leaves, turmeric powder, onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, curd, 1 bunch corriander leaves, 1 bunch mint leaves.

Method: Cook basmati rice with 3 cloves, small piece of cinnamom, 1 cardamom, 1 star anise, 3 bay leaves.

Apply turmeric powder and salt to prawns and then fry it til crisp. Keep aside. Saute onions, garlic, ginger and tomatoes. When, cooked add prawns and stir for some more time.

Transfer prawns and veggies to a vessel. Put a layer of rice. Cover with chopped mint, corriander leaves, and green chillis. Pour some curd. Cover with remaining rice. Cover the vessel with a lid. Cook on slow fire till ready to serve.

Cheers!

Fried Pomfrets

Ingredients: Pomfrets, Lemon juice, ginger, garlic, 1 onion, red or green chilis, salt and turmeric.

Process: Grind ginger, garlic, and onion with lemon juice. Apply paste with turmeric and salt to fish. Let it set for a couple of hours. Fry over a low flame. Add some pepper towards the end. The whole place knows that Pomfret is cooking because of the delicious smell. You can also add cummin powder to enhance fragrance. Enjoy!

Pomfret Curry

Ingredients: 2 Pomfrets, 3 small tomatoes, Fresh coconut milk from half a coconut, 2 green chillis, 1 tsp minced ginger, 1 tsp minced garlic, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp chopped curry leaves, 4-5 kokums soaked in small bowl of water, turmeric powder, salt, oil for cooking, 1 tbsp chopped corriander leaves.

Method: Apply turmeric powder and salt to fish. Let it stay for an hour or so.
Fry fish lightly and set aside. Heat 1 tbsp oil and add the mustard seeds. When the seeds begin to splutter, add ginger, garlic, and curry leaves. Stir for a few seconds the add the tomatoes. When the tomatoes are cooked add the soaked kokum with the water and let it come to a boil. Add fish and cook for three to four minutes. Add coconut milk and cook till desired consistency is achieved. Garnish with corriander leaves. Enjoy.
Fry the fish lightly.

Sheera

Ingredients:
1 cup sooji (cream of wheat)
2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)
1 cup sugar
2 1/4 cups boiling water
1 tsp cardamom powder
Few cashewnuts (broken pieces) and raisins

Process: Fry raisins and cashews for a few seconds in ghee. Add sooji to the pan and stir continuously till a nice aroma appears (for about 4 minutes). Stir in the sugar. Add boiling water on low flame. Add cardamom powder. Keep stirring for another minute. Sheera is ready. You could add a pinch of saffron powder with the cardamom powder if you happen to have it around the house to make it even better.

You can also play with flavors. For example adding rosewater instead of cardamom powder makes an entirely new dish. Real yummy. Enjoy!