Nippattu.. A Spicy And Crunchy Snacks.

I think now this is the right time for me to take few days break from my blogging. As I have a very special thing to do in my life and which is going to change my life forever... I know you all must be thinking what it is. But I'm not going to disclose it now, you all will know very soon, even I'm also waiting desperately to give this news.. Every morning I get up by thinking that from today my holiday will start but it is getting postponed everytime, so I decided what ever happens, from today only my holiday is going to start... Now enough of this hiding business lets come to recipe :)

Nippattu.. This is one of the very famous snacks in South Indian, in every kannadiga families this is must on Ganesh festival. This was there in my to do list from ages and kept delaying to cook and as you all know tomorrow never comes, so I have given a small suggestion to myself that if I have to cook something I should cook it on the same day and never put it on my TO DO LIST. You can serve them with tea or a coffee and they even make very good time pass snacks while travelling..

Ingredient's.

1/2 cup rice flour

1 tbsp all purpose flour

1 tbsp fine sooji (rava)

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/4 tsp asafoetida (hing)

10 curry leaves (finely chopped)

1tsp red chilli flakes

2 tbsp dry roasted peanuts

2 tbsp soak channa dal

Salt to taste

2 tsp oil

Water as req to make stif dough

Oil for deep frying.

Cooking Method.

Prepare the mixture by adding rice flour, all purpose flour, chilli powder, sooji, asafoetida, peanuts, channa dal, curry leaves, chilli flakes and salt. Mix all together nicely.

Heat 2tsp oil and add it to the above mixture of flour and nuts. Keep aside for 2 to 3 minutes.

Then, add water little by little to make it a medium density dough.

Divide the dough into 12 or 24 pieces to make the Nippatu.

In a deep frying pan. Heat the oil on a medium heat.

Take the dough, make it into a small ball, then press it onto your palm to make a circle or you can also roll it on parchment paper (make sure you have greased the parchment paper first).

Once the oil is hot enough (check by adding a little dough to the oil, the dough has to come up immediately), add the flattened (Nippatu), one by one.

Fry it until it turns golden brown color on both sides.

Nippattu is ready.

Store them in a airtight container and Serve with hot cup of tea or coffee.

Chicken Kebab..

Chicken Kebab.. This is a easy recipe with very few ingredients which you can find easily at home and I have used curry leaves to enhance the flavour.. When ever I cook chicken kebab I always make it a point to change the recipe from the old one, sometime I add more ingredient or reduce what I have used in past. But this recipe has always stand out for the taste of curry leaves and it goes very well as a side dish with Briyani, Rice and Curry or even with Drinks.. If you have brine the chicken before then you can cook this right way or else it needs to be marinated for atleast 1 to 2 hours for the best result..

Ingredient's.

1/2kg chicken with bone (cut into medium pieces)

1tsp red chilli powder, 1/2tsp turmeric

1tsp coriander powder, 1/2tsp garam masala

2tsp lemon juice

1tsp ginger garlic paste

1/2tsp black pepper powder

2tbsp finely chopped curry leaves

1tsp finely chopped coriander leaves

1tsp cornflour

1/2 beaten egg

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying.

For Garnishing.

10 to 15 curry leaves

4 to 5 green chilli.

Cooking Method.

Wash the chicken thoroughly and pad dry with paper towel and set it aside.

In a large mixing bowl, add all the ingredients and chicken (except Egg and Cornflour) and give a good mix and keep it in the fridge for atleast 1 hour.

Then take a deep frying pan add oil and allow the oil to become hot. In a meantime take out the chicken and add cornflour and beaten egg and give a nice mix and fry the chicken till golden brown and crispy, on a medium flame.. Once the chicken done before taking out from the oil, add curry leaves and green chilli fry for another few seconds, then take out the chicken on to a paper towel.

Serve hot as a side dish with Briyani, Rice and Curry or even with Drinks..

Watermelon Juice..

Watermelon juice. A watermelon contains about 6% sugar and 91% water by weight. As with many other fruits, it is a source of vitamin C. The amino-acid citrulline was first extracted from watermelon and analysed. Watermelons contain a significant amount of citrulline and after consumption of several kilograms, an elevated concentration is measured in the blood plasma; this could be mistaken for citrullinaemia or other urea cycle disorders. Watermelon is mildly diuretic and contains large amounts of carotenoids. Watermelon with red flesh is a significant source of lycopene. Preliminary research indicates the consumption of watermelon may have anti-hypertensive effects... Source from Wikipedia..

Ingredient's.

1 watermelon 

2 to 3tsp sugar (if watermelon is not sweet)

8 to 10 ice cubes

1tsp lemon juice.

Method of Preparation.

Takw out flash from watermelon. Remove the seeds. Cut the melon into small pieces and put them into a mixer/blender, add Sugar, lemon juice and ice cubes blend it fine.

Serve cold.

Egg Maggi Noodles/ Egg Noodles

Egg Maggi Noodles.. Second post of the year with my favourite dish.. Maggi noodles are my weakness, if I have maggi at home I will never think of anything to eat at lunch or even dinner some times. That is the main reason my hubby never allows me to buy more then 2 to 3 packs of maggi noodles and sometimes I would be left with only noodles no masala because I love to eat more masala in my maggi.. While we moved from India to UK I had got a big pack of maggi noodles and used all of the masala packets but still I had one bar noodles left without masala and I use to forget to buy from store every time..This was the main reason to make this egg maggi noodles, Yesterday was the day to cook that pack and finished it asap other wise if my hubby would have seen it I'm keeping this pack from 6 months then that pack would have gone to dustbin with out even checking the expire date and I would have been banned for not touching maggi noodles for a long time..

Belive me, the maggi noodles had its own taste and by adding egg and vegetables this dish went to some other level of taste which I can describe by saying only one word AWESOME and this was the best left over noodles.I have used dark soya sauce but you can even use light but I prefer dark color as it gives a nice vibrant effect for the food..

Ingredient's.

1 pack of maggi noodles (with out maggi masala)

1 cup vegetables thinly slice (cabbage,beans,carrot)

1 celery stick, 2 spring onion (thinly slice)

1 small onion roughly chopped

2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)

1tbsp dark soya sauce

1 egg

2 tbsp oil

Salt to taste.

Cooking Method.

Boil the maggi noodles for 1 minute and rinse it with cold water and set it aside.

In a woke, add oil, when the oil is hot, add garlic and fry to lite golden brown, add chopped onion and stir fry for few sec, then add vegetables, celery and spring onion and stir fry for 2 minutes.

In the same pan, just move all the vegetable to one side and fry the egg then mix it with veggi and add soya sauce and salt fry for another 1 minute. Now add the maggi noodles and give quick stir on a high flame.. Try not to over cook the noodles..

Garnish with some spring onion green and Serve hot.

Basic Sponge Cake/ Vanilla Sponge Cake.

Happy New Year 2014 to all my readers and blogger friends.. I know i'm 1 day late to wish you all, what to do I was very lazy for 2 weeks because of my hubby's holidays and was not feeling like posting or doing anything.. Last 2 weeks it was like a honeymoon period for me, not much to cook or do household work, was just shopping, eating outside and roaming and for him also it was the best time to rest after a very hectic work schedule. This was the best new year I had after very very long time... Actually I had feeling that I would be doing this only once his holidays starts, because of that only I had baked this cake before and took the pictures, so when I bake it again on new year I don't have to take the pictures.. The cake had turnout very tasty and soft. I serve it with some whipped cream and fruits you can serve as you like..

Ingredient's.

1 cup all purpose flour

1tsp baking powder

2/3 cup melted butter

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1tsp vanilla essence

1/2 cup milk

1tsp lemon zest

1tsp lemon juice.

Baking Method.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Butter the round baking pan and keep it aside.

Stir together the flour and baking powder in a large bowl, set it aside.

Beat the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the melted butter and blend for another 1minute. Add the milk and vanilla essence in a small bowl and mix it well, then add it to the egg mixture and blend for another 30 to 40sec.

Add the dry ingredients and with the speed on low mix together slowly by making sure not to over mix. Mix everything with a spatula from the bottom to incorporate any bit that wasn't mixed.

Pour the batter into buttered pan and bake for 30 to 31minutes. Allow it cool before taking out from the pan, then cut and sprinkle some icing sugar on top.

Serve as you like..