3 in 1 post : The Red Pulav, done the pressure cooker way with a quick side starter and spicy Pepper Chicken

Am I not really greateful to a dear friend of ours, a great cook by herself, who shared this great tip in making pulav in the pressure cooker. Its really easy, time saving, and the rice...they come out really well. Trust me!

Here, I have got the "beetroot & carrot pulav" which is by itself loaded with all the goodness of the veggies and has a great colour too. So moms, if your kids are not much into eating vegetables, get them this rice meal and sure, they will like it.

A quick starter pick, with baby tomatoes and cucumber..and...hot hot kerala style pepper chicken.

The Red Rice Pulav

You need :

Carrot - 1 big, grated

Beetroot - 1 big, grated

Spices (cloves, cumin, peppercones, bay leaves, cardamom) - few

Onion - 1 medium sized, cut small
Garlic - 3 , sliced small
Basmati rice - 3 cups, soaked in water for atleast an hour.
"BOILED" Water - 1.5 cups for each cup of rice

How to :

Add 2 tbs of olive oil in the pressure cooker and saute the garlic, onions and the spices.
Add the grated beets and carrot and cook till tender.
In the meanwhile, boil the required quanitity of water (here, 3*1.5 cups) and pour the "boiled water" into the pressure cooker once the veggies are done.
Now add in the rice, salt and a spoon of butter/margarine.
Close the pressure cooker and once the steam starts to pass through the nossle in a full straight path, put on the whistle and close the cooker.

Now this is the key - Adding in the rice to hot boiled water ..and....putting down the whistle while steam passes straight up. Let the cooker stay on the stove, (turned off) for about 30 minutes. The pulav will be done by then.

 It has a great colour, is healthy and tastes great too. You can do it with just carrot or beetroot alone. The carrot rice will be more orangish in shade and the one with beetroot alone gives a lovely purple colour. Sure the kids are gonna love it.

 

..and for the sides....there's this very quick tomato n cucumber starter picks and spicy pepper chicken done the kerala style.

Baby Tomato & Cucumber Picks with Chillie-Barbaque sauce dip

You need:
Baby tomatoes - red and yellow coloured ones - 6 each
Small sized cucumber - 2
Tooth picks

For the sauce - you need -
Barbaque sauce - 3 tbsp
Hot and sweet chillie sauce - 2 tbsp
Dried rosemary
Paprika powder - a pinch

Mint leaves - to decorate

How to

Cut the baby tomatoes into half.

Cut the cucumber crosswise about 1 cm thick and insert a slice in between the cut tomato as shown.

Join together using a toothpick.

Decorate with a mint leaf .

For the sauce, just mix all the ingredients together, and serve aside the tomato picks.

A quick starter in just a minute.

want something really hot and spicy ??

The kerala style pepper chicken really makes up for the mild and suttle flavour of the red Rice pulav.

You need:

Chicken, cut to medium size pieces - 2 kg

To marinate
4 to 5 tsp - Pepper chicken masala (available in Indian supermarkets)
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Other ingredients
Onions , chopped - 3 cups
Pepper chicken masala - 3 tbsp
Chille powder, Coriander powder - 2-3 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Black pepper powder - 1-2 tbsp
Green chilies, chopped - 4-5
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Garlic - 6-7 cloves
4 to 5 sprigs - Curry leaves
How to prepare Kerala Pepper chicken

Marinate chicken for 30 mins in a marinade made with mixing the said ingredients with little water ,ensure that chicken pieces get well covered in all sides with the marinade mixture.

How to :

Heat a pan & put marinated chicken into the pan ,no need to add water ,close with a lide & cook ,as chicken will leave water it will get cooked in that water ,cook till chicken turns tender ,drain the water from the cooked chicken & keep aside the chicken pieces .

Take another pan & heat oil.
When the oil is hot add in mustard seeds, ginger, garlic, green chillie, and chopped onions.
Fry till it turn brown, add the masalas and stir on low flame till the raw smells leaves and oil separates.
Now add the cooked chicken pieces , pepper powder and  mix well with the masala . Once the gravy is well blended,
Remove from heat & off the stove .
Garnish this black pepper chicken with coriander leaves.

Enjoy  !!!

Yogonana Snacks

A very easy, healthy and tasty snack for your kids just in a minute. Yo!!! for Yogonana !!!

You need:

Banana - cut in 3/4 inch chunks

Fruit flavoured frozen yogurt

Rice crispies

Small size bamboo skewers

 Well...you just really dont need any strict quantity or procedure to do it. Just insert the skewer into the banana slice, dip in the fruit yogurt, roll over in the crispies. Super easy, is it not ??

There you go...Yogo !!!

Fisn N Chips in tortilla Cones

An elegant sandwich cone of healthy sundired tomato and jalapeno whole wheat tortillas with baked fish fillet fingers and potatoes.

For the cones, cut the tortillas into half if small sized, or into three (at 120 degrees) if large sized ones. Apply a bit of the mayonnaise spread as below, onto one edge and close over to form a cone. Leave it as such for the ends to stick together.

Hot n Sweet Mayonnaise Spread

1/2 cup light Mayonnaise

1/4 cup Hot n Sweet chillie sauce

2 tbsp finely chopped spring onion greens

Pinch of salt

Pinch of fresh black pepper

Mix all the ingredients for the dip and keep aside

 

Flavored Potato Sticks

Store bought frozen potato sticks

1 tsp paprika

½ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp pepper powder

1 tsp mixed herbs

2 tsp olive oil

Salt to taste

Marinate the potato sticks with all the above ingredients . Set aside for 10-15 minutes and bake at preheated oven at 190 deg till crisp.

Fish Fillet Fingers

Cut the thawed fish fillet into strips

Coat them in flour mixed with salt, pepper powder and paprika powder

Dip them in a egg mixture

Roll them in bread crumbs

And finally bake them in a pre-heated oven at 190 deg for about 20 mins or till crisp and done.

To assemble

Apply the mayonnaise spread inside the cone. Take a piece of baked fish finger, few potato sticks wrap it with a fresh lettuce leaf and in it goes into the cone.

Sending them off to the below events : Cuisine Delights , Evening snack Recipes event @ My Culinary Creations , Kids Delight  and Mid week Fiesta @ Food Corner

Onion bajjii & flavoured potato sticks

A lovely snack /appetizer pallette for the guests, the onion bhajji with flavoured and baked  potato sticks. I have used the normal store brought frozen potato sticks here. Served with herbal dip on the side....perfect! Its sure to be liked by kids and adults alike.

Off to the recipe...

For Herbal Mayo dip/spread (mint-coriander chutney mixed with light mayonnaise) Makes a lovely dip and a spead for sandwiches as well. You need to take...

½ cup coriander leaves
¼ cup mint leaves
1 cloves of garlic
3 tbsp coconut
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 green chillie
Salt to taste
Light mayonnaise

Blend all the ingredients adding little water to a smooth consistency.Mix with mayonnaise.
For onion Bhajji
2 onions sliced
4-5 curry leaves finely chopped
2 tbsp coriander leaves (chopped)
Salt to taste
4 tbsp Gram Flour
2 green chilly finely chopped
Little water to bind them

Mix all listed ingredient s and add little water to make it crisp and take one spoon of the batter, deep fry in oil in small batches. Drain and keep aside.

  

Flavored Potato Sticks

Store bought frozen potato sticks
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp pepper powder
1 tsp mixed herbs
2 tsp olive oil
Salt to taste

Marinate the potato sticks with all the above ingredients
Set aside for 15 mins and then bake in pre-heated oven at 180 deg C till crisp. That it. Serve hot.

Got any leftovers? You can very well make the dip as a spead, the bhajji and the potatoes as the filling and wrap it round with a tortilla or chapathi to make a healthy sandwich.

Procedure
Heat the tortilla on a tawa for 1-2 mins on either side. I have here used the "cilantro flavored low fat healthy" variety of  tortillas.
Take it on a plate and spread the herbal mayo evenly.
Then place the fried onion bhajjis and a layer of baked potato sticks in the centre.
A lovely wrap is ready !

 Recipe adapted from http://authenticfooddelights.blogspot.com/ by Sushma Mallya. She has some beautifulll wraps and snacks out there.

Kiss n Hearts Combo and a Valentine's day sale

What more do you need for the Valentine's day than a heart full of love and if with a kiss......oh well ! all the more perfect. I know this has come after the V day, sorry was busy making these for others. 

A super easy  and super cute gift for the day.
Hershey's Kiss chocolate topped with heart shaped stickers inserted in with a half tooth pick. In pretty little boxes, off it goes.

Below are some of the items that I made (or assembled out, to be precise) for a Valentine's day sale.

 

                                             Scented rose flowers in a coloured crystal bed

 Cute little teddy's with a rose flower(artificial) with a Hershley kiss chocolate as a bud inside the flower.
 

The full platter.
 

Hope all of you have a great loving life ahead. God bless !!!

 

 

 

Hearty poke cake specially for Valentines

Heart shaped Thai Coconut Poke Cake

You need:

Eggs (white and yolk separate)  -    6 nos

Coconut milk  -    1.5 cups

Shredded coconut  -    7 tbsp

Sugar  -    1 cup

Salt  -    1/8 cup

Butter / oil  (melted)   -    1 cup

All purpose flour (maida)  -    2 cups

Baking Powder  -   4 tsp

Poking syrup

Condensed milk  -    1/2 can

Coconut milk -    1 cup

How to:
*  - Stir the shredded coconut with the coconut milk. Set aside to soak.
*  - Separate the egg whites from yolk. Place the white in small bowl. Yolks in a larger bowl.
*  - Beat egg whites with electric mixer until stiff (like whipped cream). Set aside.
*  - To the yolks add melted butter / oil, sugar and salt. Beat to smooth consistency.
*  - Stir baking powder with the flour (maida) and add this to the yolk mixture. Also add the coconut milk with the shredded coconut. Beat 1-2 minutes or till combined.
*  - Fold the beaten egg whites into the batter or use your electric mixer on low speed. (about 20 secs)
*  - Pre-heat oven to 180 deg C. Pour batter into a heart shaped pan and bake for 35 - 45 mins or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean off.
*  - Cool the cake and slice it horizontally into half.

Now thats my way to slicing a cake through the middle. Insert tooth picks all round and half height and cut right above it all thorough.

*  - Apply a layer of whipped cream and any fruit filling and top back with the cut layer.(optional)
*  - Using bamboo skewers, poke the cake at 1/2 inch distance through the entire depth.
*  - Pour the poking syrup over the cake, letting it to soak in. Leave it for few minutes.

To decorate, I have first coated the cake roughly with whipped cream and then sprinkled desicated coconut all over. Plain coconut for one half and red food coloured coconut towards one side to get a blended effect. Over it, I have places few heart shaped jelly gums and a love-teddy pair motif.

Cover the sides with ladys finger cookies and tie around with a red ribbon.

  

This was actually prepared for a cookery competition (cakes) organised by my husband's college allumini and that was my full arrangement. Did win the third prize in the category....but look what the judges have done....

Stabbed my heart right at the middles !!!! ooppssss....  :)

off it goes to Valentines day special events by Anzz Cafe

 Teena's Yummy Delights

 Srav's culinary concepts

 Zesty Palette

A very healty chocolate.

Mom had promised that she will give the Son chocolates while back from school, but the healthier variety. He was a bit sceptic at first, coz his school reader says chocolates are junk food and not healthy. But Mom was like...."you wait and see"....

Anyways, he was really happy to see this arrangement but had just one question the whole afternoon.

"But how did the strawberry get inside this chocolate ??

Mom : aabra kababra..hokus pokus...gili gili gilieee....

The answer never appealed to him anyways, and finally comes up with his own reasoning.

"I know how..its just how a toy gets inside a kinder" !!! ... and off he went.

 (you just cant beat kids thoughts at times.)

Strawberries dipped in melted chocolate. Sure, its something that every single foodie has tried out. The easiest n quickest means to make a lovely edible centrepiece.

and for a change....

.... thats our family, the chocolate-strawberry version.

Drew faces with the edible icing pen, and was not my little ones super excited! The three of them were around me while editing the picture, selecting the specs overlay for Dad n Mom, but a bit upset too, that I never gave them any hat. :)

 Off it goes to Valentines Special by Anzz Cafe, Chocolate Mela and  Anyone can cook event by Ayesha.