Homemade Chettinad Fish Masala Powder | Fish Masala Recipe

Chettinad Fish Masala Powder is spice powder used to make fish fry or fish curry specially in Chettinad style or even we can use this spice powder for any fish fry or curry recipe. Made with fresh ingredients this fish masala powder works bring great magic to any fish recipe and using home made fresh masala is always better I think that's why you can see lot of spice powder that I have posted so far.

Idli Podi | Idli Milagai Podi Recipe for Idli, Dosa

Idli Milagai Podi, idli podi, chutney powder makes great side dish with idli, dosa, or with even adai, paniyaram too it's like if you like it you will eat it with anything, I use double the same as parupu podi too and some time eat with rice too, ya that's me. There are so many ways of making idli podi or milagai podi and this one is my most basic recipe that I endup making almost every time.

Raw Banana Chips | Kele ka Chips | Vazhakkai Chips | Navratri Vrat Recipes

Homemade Raw Banana Chips, Kachche Kele Ke Chips, Vazhakkai chips also known as Kerala Banana Chips is super easy chips to make at home, easier than potato chips and it's very quick too. Kela chips is also good for Navratri fasting or vrat as raw banana is allowed in fasting so it's great option for snack. Perfect with a cup of tea or coffee or serve as a side dish with bisi bela bath, sambar sadam, puliyogare etc too it's works wonderfully.

Mixed Millets Flour (Powder) | Sathu Maavu Recipe | Energy Mix Powder | Millets Recipes

Mixed Millets Flour, multi millets powder, healthy mix powder, millets energy powder or sathu maavu whatever we call it this is one amazing recipe with different types of millets to make one energy mix powder or sathu maavu as it's mostly known as. This is very easy recipe just take millets of choice and grind to make powder or flour.

Homemade Almond Milk | How to make Almond Milk

Homemade Almond Milk or how to make almond milk from scratch is easy way to make almond milk at home with step by step pictures and it's also less expensive compare to buying it. Making almond milk is very easy and similar to making coconut milk. This almond milk can be made with peeled almonds or unpeeled almonds too it's our choice. Normally I don't peel almonds and just blend blanched almonds but this time I peel the almonds, so you can do either way you prefer.

Homemade Masala Tea (Chai) Powder Recipe

Chai Masala or Masala Tea Powder is essential part of my pantry, chai or Indian tea is common beverage for us and we start our daily routine with a cup of masala, ginger, cardamom or ginger-cardamom chai/tea. I never make plain tea that's just not me and it's same habit in my parents and in-laws place too normally I make fresh ginger tea or some time I use ginger powder, if not this masala tea powder. The ease with masala tea powder is if we don't have fresh ginger at home then it comes very handy to have masala chai (tea) instead, make once and it will last for a long time.

Homemade Roasted Coriander Seeds (Dhaniya) Powder Recipe

Homemade Roasted Coriander Seeds Powder or Dhaniya powder is easy home made recipe to make fragrant coriander powder in no time.  Normally coriander seeds are not roasted before making powder which makes shelf life less and also the aroma we get by roasting it gets missing. If you make to have your own home made spice powder then this coriander seeds powder you will love too it's easy same like cumin powder or fennel powder.

How to Cut up a Pineapple | Anannasa | DIY Recipes

How to cut up a pineapple is what we going to learn today. I know most of you already know how to cut a pineapple but there are people whom doesn't know this easy trick or think cutting up a pineapple is huge and messy tasks.  It's quite easy and almost in no time we can cut up a pineapple to relish the fruit as it is or use for any of our favorite recipe.

Homemade Roasted Fennel (Saunf) Powder Recipe | How to make Fennel Powder

Homemade roasted fennel powder recipe is easy spice powder recipe which we can do in jiffy to have fresh, flavorful and aromatic fennel powder. Like I mentioned in roasted cumin powder recipe some times store brought spice powder gets spoiled very soon or get worms fast so I prefer homemade spice powder any day than buying these easy things. Everyone have their own favorite spice in kitchen like mustard seeds, cumin seeds etc for me personally must have spice is cumin and fennel seeds.

Easy Homemade Coconut Milk | How to make Coconut Milk

Coconut or coconut milk is not something that I use very often in my cooking and thus I stock coconut with me very rare and same goes with coconut milk too.  As coconut milk is more included in South Indian food like payasam, stews, and most of the Kerala cuisine calls for Coconut milk than in North India, we hardly use coconut milk in any of the North Indian Cuisine.

Lemon Pickle | Nimboo Ka Achar | No-Oil Lemon Pickle Recipe | Onam Sadya Recipes

I am a big pickle fan and off all the pickles I really like lemon pickle a lot when I didn't even start to cook I used to make lemon pickle how crazy that can be !! But then I stopped making it for some unknown reason though I still love lemon pickle or nimboo ka achar after all it's so difficult to say no to this tangy, spicy and tongue tickling pickle, I wouldn't say who can say no to this pickle cause personally I know few you do say no to lemon pickle.

Pappula Podi | Putnala Podi | Pottukadalai Podi Recipe

Pappulu, putnala, puttukadalai, dalia or bhuna chana dal with other so many names whatever we may call it it's one of essential ingredient in South Indian Cooking though we don't much focus, in North India we get warm roasted gram or bhuna chana as a snack or sometime make it as chat and relish it as such we don't it in recipes much. Split roasted gram comes from black gram dal after a long process of soaking and roasting the dal to remove the husk and crispy.

How to make Idli Dosa Batter using Mixie | Idli Recipe

Idli-dosa is synonyms for South India food or breakfast for many though I make it rare now a days and it goes same in my parents house too idli-dosa is made only once in blue moon so to own a grinder is out of question.  My mom used mixer, my sisters using mixer for grinding idli-dosa batter and I do same too though I gifted my sister a table top grinder but never thought of getting one for me so you can see I have plenty years of experience when it comes to idli batter in mixer starting from my mom trials. In fact I never used grinder so far in my life I don't know even how to operate a grinder, strange right?

Homemade Maharastrian Malvani Masala Recipe

Malvani masala comes from Malvan a town in the Sindhudurg district on the west coast of Maharashtra but being on coastal area in konkon malvani cuisine is infused from Konkani, Maharastrian and Goan cuisines and that's the reason most of the Malvani cuisine used coconut, coconut milk, tamarind, mango, kokam etc.  Malvani masala is like garam masala made in Malvan region and mostly used in non-vegetarian recipes but also used in vegetarian recipes too.  

Homemade Rasam Powder Recipe

Rasam is something that I make very rare as I have to make only for myself but since I like rasam a lot I do try to make it once in a while to satisfy my craving.  Like I mentioned in my sambar powder post, rasam powder too is not something that is used my parents place.  I started using rasam powder couple of years back only after a friend passed me some rasam powder to try and from that time I never miss rasam powder any more.

How To Make Yogurt | Curd | Dahi | Homemade Curd

I started to prepare home made curd after coming to Singapore since my sister and bil eat curd daily, I also learnt how to set curd properly from my bro-in-law, curd he sets are just too perfect.  So after my few trial and error I began to set curd properly which would be pass my bil standards.

In my parents or In-laws place curd is not set every day in fact in my in-laws place they don't set curd they buy mahi (buttermilk) if required to make any recipe.  When I visit my in-law place I will set curd and I have become popular one, setting up the perfect curd/dahi.  My in-laws love curd made by me when they are here that whenever I go back I have this duty.

Setting a liter or two liters of curd is different story but when you have to do this in huge amount say 12 to 15 liter then it's all together different game.  Last year I did this massive cooking for various function, one of which was to make curd from 15 liters milk and next for 12 liters, when I first heard it I was like how am suppose to do that and how will I know how much starter curd to use but I did manage and made just so perfect curd that when it went to the Halwai (cater) he asked from where the curd was purchased and aftermath it's big story let's not go, it will be more like I am going ga-ga over myself !

If you haven't started making your own curd/yogurt then you should try it as it's  fresh, healthy and of course economical.

Ingredients for Homemade Curd (Yogurt - Dahi)

Milk - 500 ml
Curd - 1 tbsp (as starter/jamun)

Method

1. Bring milk to good boil and set aside to cool.  Milk should be cool up to lukewarm temperature not hot or completely cold.  If you let the milk gets cold completely then the curd will not be set properly.  If the milk gets cold then heat again for 30 seconds in microwave or 1 minute in gas stove.

~ You can set curd in the same vessel you boiled milk or transfer milk to another bowl.

2. Add 1 tbsp of curd in milk and stir well to mix for around 1-2 minutes.  This is important step, starter curd to be mixed properly.

3. Cover the bowl and keep aside over night or for 6-8 hours in warm places for curd to set or around 12 hours in cold places.  Number of hours to set curd depends on your weather conditions and temperature.   Some times it takes around 24 hours to set curd too.

Our Curd/Yogurt/Dahi is ready, always keep in refrigerator if not curd will become sour.

~~ Note

• You can heat microwave for 30 seconds and then keep bowl in microwave for curd to set.
• Never disturb the curd while it's setting so no peak-a-boo please.
• If the curd is not set after 8 hours or over night keep it aside without disturbing, it will be set, the duration may vary so check in every few hours. 
• Few of possible cause for curd not to set properly
• Milk was cold or hot while mixing curd (starter/jamun)
• The curd you used for setting was not good or spoiled
• You used little curd as starter
• Weather conditions/temperature
• In winter keep milk little hotter than lukewarm while mixing starter curd.  You can also keep milk in microwave/oven with light on for warmth.
• If your starter curd is very sour then you new batch of curd will be sour too.  In this case you use 1-2 tsp of sour curd to set. 
• I normally test milk temperature with my clean finger. 
• If you are setting curd for first time try with small batch.  
• Some people use green/red chilli to set curd along with curd(starter) or even without.  I personally never tried that.

Here is how most of the North Indian like to eat curd with sugar :) 

Have a nice day ~~

Punjabi Chole Masala Powder Recipe

As I mentioned in my kitchen king masala post I love badshah brand for masala over any other brand and this punjabi chole masala is inspired from same too.  My sister gave me a packet of Badshah Punjabi Chole Masala which I really liked it and decide to make on my own with the ingredients mention in the packet.  Since I make garam masala and other masala my proportions always works.  

Badshah brand always use more spices then any other brand if you refer to the ingredients pack you can see and that's once reason there masala is always flavorful   Like any other recipe if you don't have a spice or two you can skip that though it's best to use all mentioned spices but don't let that one or two ingredients stop you from trying this.  One can use this chole masala as garam masala, it works great with almost everything and I do use this as garam masala too.

Ingredients for Punjabi Chole Masala Powder

{Shelf Life 3-4 months}

Cumin Seeds/Jeera  - 2 tbsp

Caraway Seeds/ Shah-Jeera - 1 tbsp

Dry Red Chilli/Sukhi Lal Mirch - 5

Turmeric/Haldi - 1 pieces {or Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp}

Coriander Seeds/Dhaniya - 1 tbsp

Black Peppercorns/Kali Mirch - 1/2 tbsp

Cloves/Laung - 10

White Sesame Seeds/Safed Til - 1 tbsp

Green Cardamom/Hari Elachi - 10

Black Caardamom/Badi (Mooti) Elachi - 4

Dry Ginger/Saunth/Sukku - 2 pieces {I used  Ginger Powder - 1/2 tbsp}

Dry Mango Powder/Amchur - 1 tbsp

Cinnamon/Dalchini - 5 sticks 1" each

Bay Leaf/Tejpatta - 2

Star Anise/Chakri Phool - 1

Nutmeg/Jaiphal - a small pieces or 1/2 tsp grated/powder

Rock Salt/Kala Namak - 1/2 tbsp [Not listed in picture]

Method:

1. Dry roast all ingredients one by one (except any powder form spice) and allow to cool.

~ Keep a lid handy when roasting sesame seeds as it will starts to pop. Don't have to roast powder like mango/ginger/turmeric/rock salt etc

2. Cool all the ingredients and grind into smooth powder using mixer/coffee/spice grinder.  Sieve powder masala, cool and store in air tight container.

Our flavorful punjabi chole masala is ready.

My other Homemade Masala & Powders

• Kitchen King Masala
• Dabeli Masala
• Garlic Powder
• Ginger Powder
• Sambar Powder
• Bisi Bela Bath Masala
• Vangi Bath Masala

Have a nice day ~~

Homemade Ginger Garlic Paste Recipe

Ginger-Garlic paste is used regular in Indian cooking, most of the curry calls for ginger-garlic paste and ofcourse we all love this one don't we? So did you ever wonder how to make ginger-garlic paste at home? Nothing beats fresh home made ginger-garlic paste.  I never really liked store ginger-garlic paste; not only they look dull but after a while it smell weird and perhaps taste too,  I always prefer to make my own paste or I freshly mince ginger-garlic, a habit which I am hooked too but then to cut short the mincing time I prepare paste and keep in fridge to make it handy on weekdays.

Most of you may already know how to make ginger-garlic paste at home as there is no rocket science involve in this but for those few people whom still prefer to buy it this recipe is for you, try at home and then you will never look back. I learnt this from my sister she used to make this in large batch over weekend and add turmeric powder+oil.  I follow same, turmeric powder & oil helps to keep paste fresh for longer time ie it's works as preservatives and doesn't get the paste color change after a while.

Though making ginger-garlic paste at home is easy, the only difficult or time consuming task is to peel garlic and if you happen to have Indian garlic which has small pods then it's more painful.  But here what I do, I normally do the peeling while watching TV, and it helps me in doing it with my own pace without realizing that I am doing any work, just be a little mindful of knife you are using in case to peel it.  For other useful tips on how to peel garlic read below.

Ingredients for Ginger Garlic Paste

Chopped Ginger - 1 Cup
Garlic Cloves - 1 Cup
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Rinse and peel ginger, chop in pieces.
~ You can use knife or peeler to do this job.
2. Peel garlic and chop if desire. [ Check below for tips to peel garlic]

3. Grind together ginger, garlic, turmeric powder and oil into smooth paste, check with a spoon if any garlic or ginger pieces left, if yes, give a run again.

4. Use clean, dry spoon and store in clean, dry glass bottle or box and refrigerate.

Shelf Life ~3-4 Weeks

Shelf life of this ginger-garlic paste can be 3 to 4 weeks or little more but I don't like to use it for long time so I always make this to last me for a month or less, which is the quantity I mention above.   Always use a clean, dry spoon to take out paste.

Notes ~

~ Always use clean dry spoon, if not paste may change color and get spoil soon.
~ Keep the paste in fridge always, don't let the paste sit on your kitchen worktop.
~ 1:1 ratio works best for ginger-garlic paste so try to keep the same.

Tips To Peel Garlic ~
These are tried and tested tips to peel garlic, during festive in my in-law's place we do ginger-garlic paste in large quantity and peel more than 1-2 kgs of garlic at one shot.
1. Soak garlic cloves in water for 30 minutes, garlic will get peeled easily.  Pat dry well peeled garlic before using.
2. In a large plate take enough wheat flour that can cover garlic cloves and rub between palm for 3-4 minutes, lot of garlic will get peeled and other you can peel off easily.  Clean peeled garlic in kitchen towel to remove excess flour.
~ This is my MIL method but I don't do this cause it involve to apply pressure while rubbing garlic & flour plus the garlic ends are little hurtful while rubbing.
3. Take a garlic clove and press it's head (top part) or tail (bottom part) on a flat surface or floor, little skin will out you can easily peel of garlic now.
~ It's one of the most easy method, only thing is some time the garlic pod will break if applied too much of pressure.
4.  Start peeling garlic clove head with a small knife.
~ It's again the easy method which normally I follow.


Hope you find the post and the tips useful.  Have a nice day ~~

Bisi Bela Bath ~ BBB

I love one pot meal, am sure most of you feel the same way and Bisi Bela Bath is one such wonder.  But the traditional way of making BBB is not really one pot meal wonder as it involves as of work ..or at least that's what I feel but then short cuts doesn't really match up to traditional taste. 

We have see many ways of making Bisi Bela Bath but for me I always hooked to Lakshmi'sBBB recipe.  Every time I try her recipe it comes out so well delicious.  Thanks LG for the wonderful recipe.  But I do make few changes to her recipe and here is my version.
 

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup
Pigeon Peas/ Toor Daal - 1 cup
Vegetables - 1 cup ( I used 2 cups of chopped carrot, beans, eggplant,  cauliflower, ivy gourd, peas)
Onion - 1 large
Green Chili - 3
Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup
Thick Tamarind Paste - 2 tbsp
Sambar Powder - 1 tsp [optional]
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Water
Cilantro - 2 tbsp chopped for garnish


For Tempering ~ 
Clarified Butter/Ghee - 2 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - few
Asafoetida - a pinch

For Bisi Bela Bath Masala ~ 
Channa Daal - 1 tbsp
Urad Daal - 1 tbsp
Coriander Seeds -  1tbsp
Poppy Seeds - 1 tbsp
Fenugreek/Methi Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Nutmeg Powder - 1/4 tsp
Red Chillies - 12-15 [ to taste]
Cloves - 4
Cinnamon - 1" piece
Cardamon - 1 [optional]

Method: 

For Masala ~

Roast all the daals until golden brown and all the other ingredients, once cooled grind into fine powder.  
~ You can add water too, but I don't so I store the powder and use later.

1.  Wash and soak dal and rice separately for 1 hour or more and pressure cook for 3 to 4 whistles separately too. 
~ You can also pressure cook the vegetables separately. 

2.  Chop onion and all the other veggies. Slit green chili.

3.  Heat oil in a pan add onion and chili, add few curry leaves too and saute until onion becomes golden brown.

4.  Add cauliflower, carrot and beans and saute for 2 -3 minutes followed by all other veggies and saute for 5 minutes in medium heat. 
~ If you boil or pressure cook the veggie then avoid this step.

 

5. Add prepared bisi bela bath masala and sambar powder (if using) stir well and cook for a minute.
~ I don't add all the BBB masala but just use 2 tbsp of it. 

6.  Add tamarind paste and bring to a boil, when masala gets cooked add salt and coconut.  Add water if required.

7.  Add dal and rice and mix well.  [if required move everything to large pot].

 8. Prepare tempering using the ingredients listed and add the tempering to rice mixture.  

 9. Check for salt, cover the pot/vessel and let it stand for 10 minutes. 

Serve with Raita & chips, pappad. 



I made onion and cucumber raita.  

Chop 1 onion, 1/2 cucumber, 1 green chili, Cilantro.

Beat 1 cup curd, add chopped onion, cucumber, chili, salt and mix everything.   Garnish with little red chili, cumin powder and cilantro .  

Enjoy hot steaming bisi bela bath :)

Have good day ~~