Chicken Masala Pockets

Toady i made these delicious fried pockets filling with spicy chicken dry masala to enjoy a beautiful and lovely evening...

Ingredients

1. Maida/APF - 2 cups 
2. Salt - as needed
3. Water - as needed
4. Oil - for deep frying

For the filling

1. Chicken Boneless -250 gms
2. Turmeric powder - 1/4 Tsp + 1/2 Tsp
3. Red Chilly powder - 1 Tsp + 3 Tsp (according to taste)
4. Pepper powder - 2 -3 Tsp (according to taste)
5. Onion (Finely chopped)- 2 medium
6. Green chilly chopped - 3
7. Ginger-garlic paste - 2 Tsp
8. Fennel seeds - 1/2 Tsp
9. Garam Masala - 1/2 Tsp
10. Salt - to taste
11. Oil - 2 - 3 Tbsp

Preparation

It would be better if we make the filling first and keep it to cool.

Filling Preparation

• Cook chicken in a  kadai by adding 1/4 Tsp turmeric ,1 Tsp red chilly powder and salt with sufficient amount of water.Let it cook on a low flame till the meat is soft and all the water is absorbed. Cool it down and crush the cooked chicken in a chopper/food processor and keep aside.
• Heat 3 Tbsp of oil in a pan, add finely chopped onion and saute till onion turns pink to light brown . Add ginger-garlic paste and green chilly. Saute till the raw smells leaves.
• Now add 1/ Tsp turmeric powder, 3 Tsp red chilly powder, and and pepper powder . Saute for 2-4 minutes.
• Now add crushed chicken,garam masala and fennel seeds to it. Saute till the masala becomes dry and the colour changes to dark brown. Allow this to cool down well before filling.

For the pockets 

• Make a dough of the maida, salt and water. Keep it as you do for poori's or chapathi's. The dough shouldn't be too soft.
• Keep it covered for 10 minutes and pinch out balls as you do for chapathi/poori.
• Flatten them using a rolling pin. Fill in the prepared masala, as shown in the pics.

• Cover and seal all the sides properly, cut it using a pizza cutter or a knife or any cutter shapes you have.

• Deep fry them on both the sides until golden brown.

• Serve hot with ketchup or just as it is with your evening tea/ coffee. Chicken Masala Pockets ready... Enjoy!!!

Note

• If you wish you can use only wheat flour for making the dough or may use half maida and half wheat flour.

Chicken Roll | A Snack Recipe

Whenever i see others posting this recipe , i feel very tempted. Before when i used to see them displayed in bakery's i used to think how are they folding and filling inside it. They used to be really perfect to see and very tasty. I feel this kind of rolls are tastily made in Kerala (:D). I used to also buy and have it at home , my kids just love those.So they were like when is our home chef going to try these. So when all things were ready in my kitchen, i made and surprised my family and they were very happy. I served them for tea and got vanished just like that....i saw them licking the sauce later and they said "while making these you should make lots...hehhee....". I was satisfied...it is a very good snack for parties and small get together's... I enjoyed , hope you will also enjoy these..
A delicious starter that can be served for small or even big get togethers...

Ingredients

For Pancakes

1. Maida/All Purpose Flour - 2 cups
2. Egg - 1
3. Salt- as needed
4. Water - as needed

For the filling

1. Chicken Boneless -250 gms
2. Turmeric powder - 1/4 Tsp + 1/2 Tsp
3. Red Chilly powder - 1 Tsp + 3 Tsp (according to taste)
4. Pepper powder - 2 -3 Tsp (according to taste)
5. Onion (Finely chopped)- 2 medium
6. Green chilli chopped - 3
7. Ginger-garlic paste - 2 Tsp
8. Fennel seeds - 1/2 Tsp
9. Garam Masala - 1/2 Tsp
10. Salt - to taste
11. Oil - 2 - 3 Tbsp

For Coating

1. Bread crumbs - as needed
2. Egg beaten - 2 or 3
3. Maida - as needed (for the sealing and coating batter)
4. Water - to make a paste

Preparation

Making filling

• Cook chicken in a  kadai by adding 1/4 Tsp turmeric & 1 Tsp red chilly powder and salt with sufficient amount of water.Let it cook on a low flame till the meat is soft and all the water is absorbed. Cool it down and crush the cooked chicken in a chopper/food processor and keep aside.
• Heat 3 Tbsp of oil in a pan, add finely chopped onion and saute till onion turns pink to light brown . Add ginger-garlic paste and green chilly. Saute till the raw smells leaves.
• Now add 1/ Tsp turmeric powder, 3 Tsp red chilly powder, and and pepper powder . Saute for 2-4 minutes.
• Now add crushed chicken,garam masala and fennel seeds to it. Saute till the masala becomes dry and the colour changes to dark brown. Allow this to cool down well before filling.

Making Pancakes

• Make a thin batter as for making a usual pancake batter. 
• Heat a non-stick frying pan or tawa and make pancakes.

Making the rolls

• Take  a pancake. Place 1 Tbsp of the filling and fold from the sides and roll it.
• Stick the sides with the maida paste made with maida and water. Arrange all the rolls.
• Dip each rolls in the beaten eggs, and roll in the bread crumbs very carefully. 
• Heat oil for deep frying and when hot, make the flame to medium.
• Now deep fry each of the rolls to golden brown.
• Serve hot with tomato ketchup or any dip you wish.

Notes

• Do not make the pancake batter too loose, as later they might become hard.
• Adjust pepper powder accordingly for the masala filling.
• Make sure the masala is cool enough.
• Seal the sides proper;y, otherwise there is a chance for the masala to pop out.

Mothagam | Vinayaka Chathurthi Recipe

Happy Vinayaka Chathurthi

Ganesha Chaturthi is the Hindu festival celebrated in honour of the god Ganesha,the god of beginnings and wisdom.The festival, also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi. The festival lasts for 10 days, ending on Ananta Chaturdashi.

The main sweet dish during the festival is the modak, a dumpling made from rice flour with a stuffing of fresh grated coconut, jaggery, dry fruits and some other condiments. It is either steam-cooked or fried.I am making this for the first as for Ganesh chathurthi...Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients

1. Rice flour (Ready made idiyappam flour/ pathiri podi )-1 Cup [I used double horse brand]
2. Sesame oil / Ellannai  - 2 Tsp
3. Boiling Water   -  As needed
4. Salt   -  As needed

For Coconut Pooranam

1. Coconut  -  2 Cups
2. Jaggery   -  1 cup 
3. Elachi/Cardamom - 4

 

 

Preparation

• For the dough, add sesame oil to the dough. Add salt to boiling water and mix well using a wooden spatula. Make a smooth and soft dough. Keep covered.

• You can make equal sized balls and keep covered. 
• For the thenga pooranam, place grated coconut jaggery and elachi powder in a pan, with little of water. Cook on medium flame until, it starts leaving the sides of pan, switch off the flame. Keep it to cool and make poornam balls.

• Meanwhile, boil water in a steamer.
• Make small cups out of the dough,  place the poornam inside the dough and shape it as shown in the figure.

• Repeat and finish the kozhukattais and keep covered until steaming.  
• Arrange the mothagams on the steaming plate and cook for 20 - 25 minutes. Or until they are cooked. When cooked you will see that the mothagams are a little shiny on the outside.

 

 

Sweet Banana Rotti ~ Pazham Gothamba Rotti

Oh i am back from Kerala , after a small vacation... The weather there was so so lovely and moody... The rain was so beautiful ( I miss rains after being relocated to Bangalore)...I had a few posts in my drafts ... so let me start with those....
Usually when you hear the name 'ROTTI', the picture that will come to your mind is the 'ROTI'S'  we make. All of us make different kind of rotti's and innovate our own recipes. We usually make savory rottis, adding chopped onions, green chillies and curry leaves. Today i am sharing , a sweet version of the whole wheat rotti's using Kerala plantains . This was something i made , when my kids were small and they used to love this . I serve it with ghee and sugar for tea,  when they are back from school. So recently when here was ripe plantain's i made it again for tea and they were like, mummy we still remember the taste and smell of this rotti. So i thought , why don't i share it with my bloggers.. so here goes  the recipe.

Ingredients

1. Wheat Flour - 2 cups
2. Kerala plantain / Kerala banana - 4 nos (was about 1/4 Kg)
3. Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
4. Cardamom powder - 1/4 Tsp
5. Salt - a pinch
6. Sugar - optional (I did not use)
7. Water - as needed
8. Ghee - as needed

Preparation

• Peel and mash the bananas using a blender or a wooden spoon.
• In a bowl mix all the ingredients except ghee, using water into a thick batter. Check the taste of the batter, if sweetness is less, you can add sugar.

• Heat a pan/tawa on a medium flame, drizzle little ghee, now pour a ladle of batter and spread it using your hand (if not just spread using the bottom of the spoon). Cover with a lid. Let it cook for 3 minutes.
• Open the lid and drizzle oil on the sides and flip to cook the other. When you see light brown spots on top, stop cooking and transfer it to a serving plate, drizzle some generous amount of ghee...and Serve hot. (Tastes best) .

Notes

• The batter shouldn't be too thick nor too loose, should be spreadable.
• Add sugar only if the banana is less sweet.
• Should be eaten when it is warm.
• While serving you can drizzle ghee and sprinkle little sugar.

Linking this to Dish it out event hosted by Hasna of Kachuss Delights ; originally hosted by Vardhini of Cooks Joy"

Unnakkaya - A Malabar Ramadan Snack and My 150th post

With this post today,A Bowl Of Curry completes it's 150th post here.It was a journey with lots of interactions,friendships and   learning experience through valuable comments .I would love to thank each of my fellow foodies out there,for their valuable response and support !

It is Ramadan period, a holy month for Muslims all over the world.As all of you know it is the time when they fast and pray each day and break their fast in the evening. Each Iftar day they make delicious snacks, juices, and rice and much more.Each one differ in taste and preparation from one another.

Malabar cuisine is known for their rich,flavourful and exotic in all senses.Being from Malabar, i have tasted many for their recipes and have shared some of them like Chatti Pathiri,Kakkarotti , Pazham Nirachathu , Arikadukka . Today i am sharing one of the famous and a perfect snack from Thalassery, which will melt in your mouth from the first bite, "Unnakkaya". The name and shape of the snack represents elongated "Cotton Pods". When we think of preparation feel it is a long process, but i would say even a bachelor who loves cooking can give it a try. The steamed plantain is filled with mixture lightly sauted coconut , sugar, scrambled egg, elachi powder in ghee called "Pandam" and deep fried in oil. If you don't like or use eggs you can avoid eggs and make it pure vegetarian. Over to the recipe... 

Ingredients

1. Ripe plantains /Nenthrapazham - 5 
2. Grated coconut - 1 cup
3. Sugar - 3 Tbsp or as needed
4. Raisins -  2 Tbsp
5. Almonds /badam  roughly chopped - 4 Tbsp (You can also use cashew nuts)
6. Cardamom powder - 1 Tsp
7. Egg - 1
8. Salt - a tiny pinch
9. Ghee - 1 Tbsp
10. Oil - for deep frying

  Preparation

• Cut each of the bananas into half and also the stems at both the ends. Steam the bananas in a steamer until cooked soft. You can even microwave the bananas and cook. BUT DO NOT OVERCOOK THEM as later it becomes mushy and wont be able to roll it tight .
• After cooling it, peel off the skin and cut into half and remove the black seed thread.
• Now mash it using a wooden spoon or with your hand into a very smooth dough without any lumps. Keep aside.
• Beat egg with a teaspoon of sugar, 1/4 tsp cardamom powder and salt. Keep aside.
• Heat a tsp oil in a nonstick pan and scramble egg. Keep aside.
• Now heat ghee, fry the raisins, let it puff up , remove from heat and keep aside.
• Add grated coconut and saute for 5 minutes till the moisture is absorbed.
• Add sugar, cardamom powder, raisins, scrambled egg and almonds. Remove from heat and keep aside to cool.
• Grease your palm and take little banana mixture, about a lemon size and flatten it with your thumb, place a 2 tsp of the filling inside., seal the edges and roll into cylindrical shape with elongated edges. Shape the remaining the same way.
• Heat oil in a kadai/deep bottomed pan for deep frying. Deep fry each of them into golden . Fry both the sides.
• Drain on paper towel and serve them hot.

Check out the recipe for Pachamulaku Thengaa Chammanthi

Notes

• Do no overcook the bananas, it will become watery and will become difficult to hold.
• If you don't like or use eggs you can avoid eggs and make it pure vegetarian.

Check out for more Ramadan recipes

        

    

   

Noolputtu - Kerala Style Idiyappam - Steamed Rice Noodles...

Ingredients

1. Roasted Rice Powder - 2 cups (I used Double Horse)
2. Boiling Water - 1 1/2 to 2 cups
3. Salt - as needed
4. Grated Coconut - 1 cup or as needed
5. Oil - 1 Tsp

Preparation

• Boil water with oil and enough salt.
• Take the roasted rice powder in a bowl and gradually add the boiling water little by little. Mix with a wooden spatula.
• Add water till you get a smooth and soft dough (be careful the dough will be hot). The dough should not be too tight and it should not be sticky also.
• Boil water in the steamer.
• Grease the idli steamer with little oil. (it will prevent the Idiyappam from sticking) and sprinkle little grated coconut on these moulds.
• Fill the idiyappam maker with smooth dough and rotate the handle. 
• Fill the idli moulds with the noodles coming out of the idiappam maker.
• Once the steam comes from the steamer, place the filled idli moulds and steam the idiyappams for about 8 - 10 minutes. Cook on medium flame. Once done, take out the moulds and leave for 2-3 minutes.
• Serve hot with any curry.. or it can be best served with sugar and thick coconut milk.

.

Note

• If using home made rice powder, roast it well to the perfect.
• If using an ready-made , use the best quality one.
• Do no add too much water to the dough, as it will be difficult to get the dough out of the mould and strings will not be perfect.

Linking this to Healthy Breakfast at Nandoo's Kitchen and Priya's

Spicy Soya Chunks Fry - Meal Maker Fry

Ingredients

1. Soya Chunks - 200 grams
2. Turmeric powder - 3/4 Tsp
3. Red chilly powder - 3 Tbsp
4. Curry leaves -  4-5 Sprigs
5. Salt - as needed
6. Oil - for frying
7. Onion  for garnishing - cut into rings

Preparation

• Boil enough water to soak soya, add salt to taste.Add the soya chunks to the hot water and boil it for 2-3 minutes. (It will double in size).
• Switch off the flame and keep aside for 1/2 hour. Drain the water and wash under fresh running water, so that all the dirt goes. Now squeeze out the excess water completely, so that while frying it will not absorb oil.
• Cut them into halves.
• In a bowl ,combine turmeric, red chilly powder,salt and make a paste.(if needed add little water).
• Add the soya chunks to the prepared masala and mix well so that masala gets well coated. Keep it aside for at least half hour. The more the better.
• Heat 1/2 cup oil in kadai, when hot add curry leaves and marinated soya chunks , fry for a couple of minutes in medium heat until the soya chunks are dry and roasted. Fry them till they become golden brown in colour . Keep stirring in between.
• Drain in a paper towel.Fry the remaining.
• While serving garnish with onion rings and curry leaves.

Notes

• Adding curry leaves will give a good aroma and taste while frying.
• Also you can play with the spices you like . Mix it and fry it....
• Serve it chappathi or stuff inside any rolls..or simply munch it...

And here is Soya Chunks Fry prepared by Tanya who was so inspired by my Version ....though she is a budding food blogger she is really going well with her recipes ....Thanks so much Tanya for trying it out and happy that you and your family loved it..

Sending this to 1st anniversary celebration with giveaways ! of cook click n devour