Ven Pongal. Pressure Cooker Version

Ven Pongal is a very easy and comfort food and it is one of the most famous breakfast in South India. Even it is cooked at temples to offer to god and even during several puja/festival specially in Pongal festival it will be cooked in each and every house along with few more different varieties of rice dishes. If your not in mood to cook something spicy or heavy food then this is the best option to cook, because it is very lite on stomach and does not take time at all. But tastes simply awesome along with some coconut chutney..

Ingredient's to boiled rice.

1 cup rice

1/4cup split moong dal

4 cups water

Ping of hing

Salt to taste.

Ingredient's for tempering.

1tsp cumin

1/2tsp black pepper

2 green chillies (finely chopped)

10 curry leaves

2tbsp ghee.

Cooking Method.

Dry roast moong dal until slightly browned, set aside with raw rice. Pressure cook rice, moong dal, hing and salt with 4 cups of water for 3-4 whistles until mushy.

Meanwhile you can get ready with the tempering ingredients. In a frying pan add ghee when it is hot, add the rest of ingredients and fry for 2 to 3 minutes on a low flame.

Once the pressure releases, open and add the tempered items. Mix well, add more ghee if needed.

Serve hot with chutney of your choice and sambar.

Baked Tilapia Fish With Tomato Gravy/ Meen Pollichathu.

Baked Tilapia Fish With Tomato Gravy. This is a very famous kerala dish called Meen Pollichathu. Meen Pollichathu is basically fish covered with a spicy masala and wrapped in banana leaves and shallow fried. But since I did not find banana leaves here, so I wrapped it with foil paper and baked it to give a healthier touch. And I have made a little changes in masala too by adding more tomato's to have a little gravy. It is all up to us to add or remove the ingredients according to our taste and it taste as good as the traditional dish. This can be served with rice, roti and even as a side dish.

Ingredient's to marinate the fish.

1 Medium size Tilapia fish

1/2tsp red chilli powder

1/4tsp turmeric

1/2tsp coriander powder

1/2tsp ginger garlic paste

1/4tsp black pepper powder

Salt to taste

1tsp oil.

Ingredient's for the gravy.

1 onion, 2 green chilli, 2 large tomatos (finely chopped)

1/2tsp red chilli powder, 1/2tsp turmeric, 1/2tsp coriander powder

1/2tsp garam masala

1/2tsp mustard seeds

2tsp lemon juice

1tsp ginger garlic paste

10 curry leaves

2tbsp thick coconut milk

2tbsp chopped coriander leaves

Salt to taste

2tbsp oil.

Cooking Method.

Clean the fish. Make gashes on both the sides.

Add all the marinated ingredients into a mixing bowl and make a thick paste by adding little water. Then apply it nicely on the fish and set it aside for atleast 30 minutes.

In a tava add oil and fry the fish both the side for a minute or 2.

In a deep frying pan, add oil, when oil is hot, add curry leaves and mustard seeds, when they splutter, add onion, green chilli and fry to lite brown.

Add red chilli powder, turmeric, coriander powder, garam masala and ginger garlic paste and fry for 1 minute. Then add chopped tomato's, coconut milk, coriander leaves, lemon juice, salt and cook till the tomatoes are well cooked. Allow the masala to cool.

In a mean time pre-heat the oven at 200c for 10minutes.

Take a large foil paper, spread some masala on it. Place the fish over the masala and spread some more masala over the fish.

Fold the edges and secure. Then baked the fish for 10 to 15minutes.

Serve hot with Rice, Roti or as a Side Dish.

Cinnamon & Dried Plums Breakfast Muffins.

Cinnamon & Dried Plums Breakfast Muffins. This is best muffins to have for breakfast with a glass milk to start a day with lots of energy, since it has all the goodness of dried plums, butter, milk etc. I'm a huge fan of muffins and I really enjoy baking them more then a cake and I bake them quite often with different ingredients. This is a full proof recipe which I follow every time and I always get a best result. Do bake and enjoy..

Yeilds: 9 medium Muffins

Preparation time: 10minutes

Baking time: 20 minutes.

Ingredient's

1/2+1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup butter

1tsp vanilla essence

1tsp baking powder

1/3 cup sugar

1tsp cinnamon powder

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1 cup mix dried plums.

Baking Method.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line muffins tin with liners and set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together the flour and baking powder and cinnamon powder. set aside. 

In a another mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Add the eggs, vanilla and cream together until you get a smooth mixture.

Add the dry ingredients and dried plums, mix together and slowly add the milk and just mix everything to combine. DO NOT OVERMIX! 

Make sure you give everything a good stir with a spatula from the bottom to incorporate any bit that wasn't mixed.

Scoop the batter into your lined muffins tin, make sure it's only filled ¾ of the way up because they will rise. Bake for 20 minutes and let cool for sometime.

Serve for Breakfast with your favourite drinks.

Store them in a airtight container.

Mutton Kheema Pulao. (Pressure Cooker Version)

Mutton Kheema Pulao. This dish can be called Briyani or Pulao. I always love anything which is one pot-meal and gets cooked in no time. This dish takes no time when you cook in pressure cooker all you have do just put all the ingredients together and you have delicious pulao ready in 10minutes. I do prepare many other version but some how I always like this, very soon I would be putting other recipes also for kheema briyani. Do try and enjoy..

Ingredient's.

100gram mutton/lamb kheema

1 cup normal rice

1 small onion, 1 medium tomato (cut into julienne)

2 green chillies

1tsp red chilli powder, 1/2tsp turmeric

1/2tsp garam masala, 1tsp coriander powder

1/2tsp cumin

1tsp ginger garlic paste

1tbsp lemon juice, 2tbsp curd

2tbsp green peas

2tbsp coriander leaves and mint leaves (finely chopped)

2cups water

Salt and Oil to taste.

Cooking Method.

In a pressure cooker, add oil, when oil is hot, add cumin when they splutter, add onion and whole green chillies and fry for a minute. Then add kheema, red chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala and coriander powder and fry for 2 minutes, add tomato, ginger garlic paste, lemon, curd, green peas and salt, mix them nicely.

Now add rice and water, adjust the seasoning and close the lid and cook for 3whistle (1 in high flame and 2 in low flame) allow the pressure to go before opening the cooker.

Serve hot with Onion Raita.

Chicken Gyoza/ Pan Fried Chicken Dumplings/ Fried Chicken Momos.

Gyoza is the Japanese pan fried dumpling. First it is fried on one flat side to have a crispy skin and then water is added to steam cook. I can say this was the best dumpling I have ever cooked.It was awesome in taste better then a steamed or deep fried, because this dumpling had both the ways of cooking. I like it little darker in color when I fry but you can fry as you like..

Ingredients For Dough.

2 cups flour

Salt to taste

Water

3 to 4tbsp oil for frying.

Ingredient For Filling.

1/2 kg chicken mince

1/2cup chopped spring onion

2tbsp mince ginger garlic

1cup chopped cabbage

1tsp freshly ground pepper

1tbsp soya sauce

Salt to taste

3 tbsps oil.

Cooking Method.

Mix the flour and salt to taste and add a little water at a time to make a stiff dough and set it aside for atleast 30 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, add all the filling ingredients and mix them nicely.

Then divide the dough into equal-sized balls and roll into very thin circles of roughly 4" diameter.

Put a tablespoon-full of filling mixture in the center of each circle. Fold the edges over the mixture and pinch and twist to seal or fold the dumplings in half (into a semi-circular shape) and pinch the edges shut. Get as creative as you like with shapes, as long as you make sure to seal the edges well. 

Heat a thick frying pan and add 1tbsp oil, Place the dumplings on to frying pan and fry for 4 to 5minutes. Then add 1/2cup of water and close the lid and steam for another 7 to 8minutes or till the water is observed completely (in a low flame)

Serve hot hot with tomato sauce.