Many of us may think it is impossible to prepare mango juice which tastes like Maaza or Slice. Even i  thought the same, before trying this mango juice recipe at home.Then i know that  it is absolutely wrong. You can try this simple mango juice recipe in home,  to avoid artificial or preserved bottled juice.

To make this mango juice, prefer to use any good variety mangoes which has very less fibers. Adding cardamom may dominate the mango flavour. So I have not added any flavouring. You can adjust the consistency of juice by adding required water.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Fresh ripe mango (I used banganapalli)  peeled and cut into chunks (I got 2 cups)

3 tablespoons Sugar

1 cup water

Few Ice cubes

INSTRUCTIONS:

Wash, peel and cut the mango into small chunks. Add this to blender and add sugar, water and ice cubes. Blend well to a smooth juice.

Strain the juice and add more water, if you want to dilute more.

Serve chilled with ice cubes.

Notes:

You can add honey or brown sugar instead of sugar.

Adjust the sugar, according to the sweetness of mango.

Kuthiraivaali sambar rice is a healthy, filling and delicious rice recipe made with the combination of vegetables, lentils and barnyard millet. It is a great lunch box recipe, which can be made easily without any hassle.

Now a days, I started to include more millets in our diet than white rice. Millets tastes excellent when making variety rice than just cooking as like white rice. Barnyard millets are the excellent source of fibre and very low in carbohydrates. This sambar rice made with millets is highly recommended for diabetic patients and weight watchers.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup Kuthiraivaali arisi (barnyard millet)

½ cup paasi paruppu (moong dhal)

10 pearl onions (shallots)

1 medium sized tomato

1 potato

1 drumstick

¼ cup chopped carrots

5 green chilies

3 garlic cloves

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

3 tablespoons sambar powder

2 tablespoons thick tamarind pulp (or 1 cup tamarind juice extracted from small lemon sized tamarind)

Salt to taste

Few coriander leaves chopped

½ tablespoon ghee

Required water

FOR SEASONING:

2 tablespoons gingelly oil (Indian sesame oil)

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

2 dry red chilly

Few curry leaves

A pinch of hing

INSTRUCTIONS:

Wash and soak the barnyard millet and moong dhal separately for 20 min.

In a pressure cooker, heat oil and add all the other ingredients given under “for seasoning”. Saute for a min.

Add in chopped onion, tomato, green chilly, garlic and saute for few min till the onion turns translucent.

Add chopped veggies, salt, turmeric powder, sambar powder and cook for a min.

Then add in tamarind pulp and required water (I mixed little water to the tamarind pulp already. So I adjusted accordingly).

When it is heated, add soaked moong dhal ,salt and cook it. When it comes to single boil, add in soaked millet and close the pan and cook it for 15 to 20 min on low flame. Check occasionally and mix well. Add water if required.

Turn off the flame and add coriander leaves and ghee.

Mix well and serve hot with appalam or vathal.

Pearl millet is the most widely grown type of millet and it has been the staple food throughout the Indian subcontinent since pre historic times.  Apart from offering excellent taste, these millets contain essential mineral and nutrients, which provide the body with a variety of advantages.

Now a days, In Tamilnadu there’s lot of awareness about the importance of consuming millets. Me too started including millets in my regular diet. Kambu puttu can be made just like the ragi puttu. I have used jaggery here. But you can also use sugar.

Here I have used homemade kambu maavu to make this puttu. You can use store bought flour too.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup kambu maavu (pearl millet flour)

½ cup grated jaggery

4 tablespoons grated coconut

6 to 7 fried cashews

Cardamom powder a pinch

Salt a pinch

Warm water

INSTRUCTIONS:

Dry roast the flour for few min. Set aside

In a mixing bowl, add kambu flour, salt and mix well. Now add warm water little by little and continue mixing by breaking lumps with the fingers. Stop adding water when you can hold the mixture firm in hand when pressed.

Transfer this to a idly cooker and steam cook it for 20 min on medium heat. Allow them to cool.

Melt jaggery in a bowl adding little water. Strain the syrup and again boil till it starts to become thick n frothy. Switch off the flame.

Add cardamom powder and mix this syrup with the steamed kambu maavu( add the required amount of syrup and mix well). Lastly add grated coconut,mix well.

Garnish with ghee roasted cashews and serve.

Serving Suggestion:

Serve this puttu with ripe banana.

Beat the heat with this refreshing watermelon sorbet. It can be made in two min using a simple blender. This sorbet looks lovely with vibrant colour. Here I used yellow watermelon, which is my favourite. But you can use red melon too. I didn’t remove seeds, just to make sorbet looks with contrasting yellow and black seeds. If you want to remove the seeds, yes you can.. Just make this cooling sorbet to enjoy the hot summer.

Pls note that this is not the traditional way of making watermelon sorbet. But here I have adapted some changes, so that any one can make this without hustle.

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups deep frozen watermelon chunks

1 tablespoon lemon juice

5 tablespoons powdered sugar

INSTRUCTIONS:

Put the deep frozen watermelon chunk into the blender and process the melon until it is completely pureed.

Strain the mixture using a fine strainer and remove the juice from it. Set the juice aside (Drink & Enjoy).

Add the strained mixture, lemon juice and sugar to the blender and process well for 1 to 2 min.

Pack into an air tight container and store in the freezer.

Serve chilled & Enjoy!!

Maasi is also known as Maldive fish. Maasi is nothing but cured tuna fish, traditionally produced in Maldives. It is a staple food in Maldivian and Sri Lankan cuisine, as well as southern districts of Tamilnadu like Pudukottai, Ramnad and Tirunelveli. We call Maasi as Maasi Karuvadu.  We usually make many delicacies using Maasi. Let us see how to prepare Maasi sambal. It is a heavenly accompaniment for Idiyappam or plain rice with rasam.

INGREDIENTS:

3 tablespoons Maasi (finely powdered)

3 big onions (thinly sliced)

3 small tomatoes

3 to 4 teaspoons red chilly powder (adjust acc.to your preference)

¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder

Salt to taste

TO TEMPER:

3 tablespoons gingelly oil (Indian sesame oil)

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon urad dhal

Handful of curry leaves

4 dry red chilly

A pinch of hing

INSTRUCTIONS:

Heat oil in a pan. Add all the ingredients given under “to temper” one by one.

Then add in sliced onions and saute till it turns translucent (you can also saute till it mashes. but i preferred it to be little crunchy).

Add red chilly powder, turmeric powder, salt and chopped tomato. Cook in low flame till the tomato mashes well.

Then add in the powdered maasi, mix well and cook for a min till the raw smell goes off.

Switch off the flame and serve with rice.

Keerai thandu is nothing but the thick and broad stem of Amaranth plant. The leaves are cooked like usual greens and stem (thandu) is cooked like vegetables. Usually people through away this stem, without knowing the nutrient properties of this. But this stem is also packed with goodness equally with the leaves.

This keerai thandu prawn curry is a delicious, super healthy food from my native. Since my hometown is a coastal village, we usually get fresh prawns with good quality, all the time. So we make this curry very often. This curry is prepared only the small prawns, because it tastes better than the big and older prawns. But here in Brunei, only big prawns are available always(they make dry prawns with small ones). This week when i suddenly noticed small prawns in a fish shop, i immediately bought that and prepared this curry on the same day. Also the amaranth stems shouldn’t be too young or too old. It should be the medium aged. With the coconut milk, it tastes extremely good and we loved that. Try this super delicious keerai thandu curry and enjoy.

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup keerai thandu (amaranth stem) cut into 1 inch size.

15 to 20 small prawns (cleaned)

2 tablespoons mochai (Hyacinth bean or field bean)

¼ teaspoons fenugreek seeds

15 pearl onions (shallots) sliced into two

3 to 4 green chilies

Few curry leaves

1 tomato (medium sized)

½ teaspoon red chilly powder

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

3 tablespoons fish masala

1 lemon sized tamarind

1 cup thick coconut milk (1st extract)

2 cups coconut milk (2nd + 3rd extract)

Salt to taste

Oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cut the keerai thandu into one inch length. While cutting, remove the fibers you get. Boil the keerai thandu for 5 to 7 min. Drain and set aside.

Soak the tamarind in 2nd+ 3rd extract coconut milk for 15 min and extract the tamarind juice from this and set aside.

In a pan(i used earthen pot), add two tablespoons of oil. When heated, add mochai and fry in medium flame. Dont burn this. Just fry till they splutter and turn brown. Then add in fenugreek seeds and saute.

Then add pearl onions, curry leaves and green chilies and saute till the onion turn translucent.

Add tomato and boiled keerai thandu and cook for a min.Turmeric powder, red chilly powder and fish masala goes in. Saute till the raw smell goes off.

Then add the tamarind juice extracted using coconut milk and cleaned prawns. Close the pan with lid and cook in medium flame.When this begins to boil well, set the flame low and add 1st extract coconut milk. Cook for few min and remove from flame.

Serve hot with plain rice and vegetable fry. Enjoy !!!

Baby corn manchurian recipe is a delicious manchurian recipe from the fusion of Indian and Chinese cuisine. It tastes heavenly with Fried rice and Noodles. Also pairs well with Naan and other roti varieties. Here i have deep fried the baby corns. But you can also toast the corns using little oil. You can also make gravy version or dry one, like i did here. Crispy baby corn and spicy sauces make it as a ultimate starter.

INGREDIENTS:

10 baby corns

FOR BATTER:

4 tablespoons maida

2 tablespoons corn flour

1 tablespoon rice flour

1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste

1 teaspoon red chilly powder

A pinch of cooking soda

Salt to taste

FOR SAUCE:

1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger

1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

1 green chilly finely chopped

1 onion finely chopped

½ red capsicum

6 to 7 cashew nuts

1 teaspoon red chilly sauce

1 teaspoon soya sauce

1 tablespoon tomato sauce

½ teaspoon pepper powder

1 teaspoon corn flour (dissolved in 2 tablespoons water)

Few finely chopped spring onion

Salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

Wash and chop the baby corns length wise about 2 inch size. Then steam it for 10 to 15 min. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients given under “for batter”. Then add water little by little and make the paste like batter. Add the steamed baby corns to this batter and marinate it for 30 to 45 min.

Deep fry the marinated baby corn pieces till they turn crispy & golden brown and drain on paper towels and set aside. Let us proceed to make sauce.

Heat oil in a kadai and add finely chopped ginger,garlic, green chilly and saute.

Then add in finely chopped onion, capsicum, cashews, salt and saute for few seconds. Then add tomato sauce, chilly sauce and soya sauce and cook. Dilute corn flour in water and add that to the above mixture. Let it boil till the mixture thickens.

Now add the deep fried baby corns to this sauce and pepper powder and mix well for few seconds and remove from heat.

Garnish with chopped spring onions and serve hot !!

Last week while i was checking facebook, i suddenly noticed that in Brunei, camel milk is available in some stores from last month onwards. Immediately i planned to buy and try something with that milk.  I wished to try  middle-eastern recipe and found this Muhallabiah through internet.

Muhallabiah is a classic, creamy milk pudding from Middle-East Asia and North-Africa. Though this recipe is usually prepared with cow’s milk, I tried with Camel milk. Muhallabiah fills the Ifthar table across middle-east. it is a simple pudding recipe flavoured with rose water or orange blossom water served with nuts or fruits and perfect light dessert. Try this silky, sweet recipe and enjoy !

INGREDIENTS:

½ litre Camel milk

4 tablespoons Honey

2 tablespoons cornflour or arrowroot

½ teaspoon rose water or orange-blossom water

Chopped pistachios or almonds to garnish

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix corn flour with ½ cup milk and set aside.

In a large, heavy-bottomed pan, boil the remaining milk over medium – low heat. Stir constantly.

When it begins to boil, reduce the flame and add corn flour milk mixture and continue stirring until the mixture becomes very thick. It may take around 20 min. Take care not to let the mixture to burn or stick to the bottom of the pan.

Remove from fire and add orange-blossom water (or rose water) and honey. Mix well and pour into the serving glasses.

Garnish with chopped pistachios or almonds and Serve !

Notes:

You can replace camel milk with cow milk or even almond, soy milk if u r a vegan.

Don’t add honey while boiling the milk. It may cause the honey to turn poison.

Garnish with rose petals (optional)

Hi all..today im gonna take you to the malabar coast, a region highly influenced by British, French and Arab cuisine apart from the local cuisine. Now we shall look how to prepare the famous malabar fish biryani. Very different from other biryanis, here we dont use any biryani masalas except garam masala. We can go for each step sequentially without any waiting time and complex marination. You can use either basmati rice or short grained rice (zeera samba or kaima rice).

INGREDIENTS:

4 to 5 slices of seer fish/ king fish

2½ cups basmati rice

Whole spices

FOR MARINATION:

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

½ teaspoon red chilly powder

½ teaspoon garam masala

Salt to taste

FOR GRAVY:

2 onions sliced

1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste

10 to 15 green chilies crushed

1 tomato sliced (medium size)

1 teaspoon garam masala

Small bunch of coriander leaves

Small bunch of mint leaves

3 tablespoons thick curd

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Salt

FOR LAYERING:

Handful of fried cashew nuts

Handful of fried dry grapes

Handful of chopped coriander leaves

Few saffron strands dissolved in 2 tablespoons warm milk

Golden fried onion

INSTRUCTIONS:

Wash and soak the rice for 30 min.

Marinate the fish for 15 min with the ingredients given in “for marination”. Then shallow fry the fish for few minutes on both sides. Keep aside.

In a pan, add 1 tablespoon of oil and add 4 sliced onions. Saute the onion till they turn golden brown. Keep aside.

In a cooker, add 2 tablespoons of oil and 2 tablespoons of ghee. When heated, add 2 cloves, 1 cardamom, small cinnamon stick, 1 bay leaf, 1 star anise. Then add in the pre-soaked basmati rice. Add 3½cups of water and cook the rice. Once done, keep it aside.

In another wide pan, add 2 tablespoons of oil and 2 tablespoons of ghee. Then add in 2 sliced onions and saute well till they turn translucent. Then add in ginger-garlic paste and crushed green chilies. Saute till the raw smell goes off. Then add 1 teaspoon of of garam masala and 1 chopped tomato.

Cook till the tomato mashes well. Then add in and saute the chopped mint and coriander leaves. Then add curd and lemon juice.

Now add the shallow fried fish, cover the pan and cook for few min. Then flip the fish and cook on other sides too.

When they are done, remove it from heat.

LAYERING:

On top of the prepared fish gravy, spread half of the cooked rice. On the rice, sprinkle garam masala

Few teaspoons of saffron milk

golden fried onions, fried cashews, fried dry grapes, chopped coriander leaves, one by one. Then repeat the same procedure for one more layer.

Cover the pan with a lid tightly. Keep this pan on a tava and place the tava on low flame. Cook it for 15 to 20 min. Make sure the steam does not escapes. Once done, remove from fire. Keep it closed for few more min.

Serve immediately with boiled eggs and onion raita.

Karandi omelette is nothing but the omelette made in “thaalippu karandi” or “tadka pan”. It is a very popular recipe in and around Madurai district, Tamilnadu. Thaalippu karandi is a small iron pan used to prepare the tempering for chutneys and curries. Traditionally, this omelette in iron laddle. But here is used non-stick laddle. The ingredients are same as like normal omelette. But since we cook using small laddle, this omelette looks pluffy and soft.

INGREDIENTS:

2 eggs

7 to 8 pearl onion (shallots) finely chopped

2 green chilies finely chopped

¼ teaspoon pepper powder

A pinch of turmeric powder

Salt to taste

1 tablespoon oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

In a mixing bowl, add eggs and beat for a min. Then add in finely chopped onion, green chilies, pepper powder, turmeric powder & salt. Keep aside.

Heat the laddle and add oil. Gently pour the egg mixture, close the pan with small plate and cook for few min in low flame.

Take the lid and gently flip the egg to other side and cook for few more min.

Karandi omelette is ready. Serve hot in banana leaf.

Notes:

Closing the laddle with small plate, helps to cook the center well.