Chocolate Walnut Brownies

This one of my mother's great recipes! Very easy to follow and gives divine results!

Ingredients

• Eggs -2
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Butter - 1/2 cup
• Unsifted flour - 1/2 cup
• Cocoa - 1/3 cup
• Baking powder - 1/4 tsp
• Walnuts - 1/4 cup (chopped)

Method

1. Beat eggs in a bowl and gradually add sugar.
2. Blend in melted butter.
3. Combine dry ingredients - unsifted flour, cocoa, baking powder, chopped walnuts and add to egg mixture.
4. Stir to mix well.
5. Pre-heat oven to 180 deg C.
6. Lightly coat a square baking pan with butter, dust with flour to form a uniform coating.
7. Pour mixture into square baking pan and bake in oven for about 30-35 mins or till brownie starts to pull away from the edge.
8. Once brownies have cooled, cut into squares and serve with cream or ice cream.

 

Spicy Pork Roast - Kerala Style

This recipe is not for the faint hearted as it is very spicy. You can tone down the spice by reducing the amount of ground red chillies and black pepper. It can also be made with chicken and tastes just as good.

Ingredients

• Pork/Chicken - 1/2 kg
• Onions -  3 large 
• Mustard seeds - 2 tsp
• Dried Red chillies - 4- 6 nos
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Cloves - 8 nos
• Pepper(whole) - 2 tsp
• Vinegar - 3 tbsp
• Ginger - 2" piece & Garlic pods - 10 nos  or ginger-garlic paste - 3 heaped tsp
• Cinnamon powder -1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
• Salt - As reqd
• Oil to cook

Method 

1. Clean pork and cut into small pieces. If making chicken, cut into medium size pieces with bone.
2. Grind red chillies, ginger, garlic, pepper, turmeric powder, cinnamon powder, cloves and cumin seeds.
3. Grind mustard seeds fine with vinegar.
4. Marinate the pork/chicken with ingredients mentioned in 2 & 3 and salt as reqd.
5. Heat oil in a non-stick pan.
6. Fry chopped onions till transparent.
7. Add the meat.
8. Fry, till the meat is coated with the masala. About 5 mins is enough.
9. Pressure-cook till meat is tender. For pork, pressure cook for 28 mins after the whistle on low heat. For chicken 7 mins after the whistle on low heat.
10. Remove the meat from the gravy and shallow fry in oil.
11. Boil down the excess water in the gravy separately.
12. Roast meat on low flame till it browns.
13. Pour the thick gravy on the meat and let it simmer for a while.
14. Once meat is well coated with masala serve with rice, chapathi or paratha. Can also be eaten with appam.

Chicken Roast -Kerala Style

Ingredients:

• Chicken - 1 kg cut into small pieces
• Onion - 6 large sliced
• Tomato - 2 chopped
• Ginger - 1" piece
• Garlic - 8 pods
• Black pepper - 10 nos
• Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Curry leaves - a few
• Garam masala - 1 1/2 tsp
• Chilly powder - 2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 6 tsp
• Coriander leaves - a few
• Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp
• Cloves - 2
• Cardamom - 2
• Salt
• Oil

Method :

1. Take a non-stick pan and heat oil.
2. Add spices - cinnamon, cloves and cardamom.
3. Add sliced onions & curry leaves.
4. Grind ginger, garlic, pepper & fennel. Add to the onions and saute till onion becomes golden brown.
5. Add chilly powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, coriander powder and mix well.
6. Add chopped tomato pieces and salt.
7. Allow it to cook on low flame till tomato gets cooked.
8. Pressure cook chicken with salt and 1/2 tsp turmeric powder. Once the whistle blows, lower heat and cook for 7 mins.
9. Mix the pressure cooked chicken with contents of non-stick pan.
10. Dry up the excess water in the pressure cooker and pour the liquid over the chicken.
11. Cook on low heat till the masala coats the chicken.
12. Add garam masala and coriander leaves.
13. Roast the chicken on low flame till oil comes from the roast and chicken browns lightly.
14. Chicken roast is ready to eat!

 

Food! Need I say more???

My love affair with food started very early. I grew up in a family where food was ALWAYS important. We were either eating or talking about eating! From divine chocolate cakes to yummy biryani, our house was forever filled with the tantalising aroma of food.

My mother worked on the principle that the solution to anything was food! If I told my mum I had a bad cold, I would get chicken soup, if there was a reason to celebrate, I would get cake, if I was getting up early to study, I would get hot cocoa and if I told her I was sad, she would make me one of my favorite meals. Growing up, I was led to believe that once you had a good meal in you, you could overcome anything! That belief has helped me stay sane when life has not been pretty! It also probably explains why food plays such an important role in my life.

I come from a long generation of great cooks, my grandmother is a fantastic cook and so is my mum! I've heard that my great grandmother was a pretty amazing cook too. So I guess the passion for food is in the genes, and though i'm not in their league, I do love cooking!

This blog is a collection of recipes, some handed down from generations, others invented and still others are just recipes I've collected along the way from friends and family. Hope you find this useful. Let me end with one of my favorite food quotes.

"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. "

~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story