Brinjal Curry with sesame groundnut paste(Vazhudananga Kuzhambu curry)

Today i am posting a simple curry made with brinjal. It has  a very different taste from the ordinary brinjal curries and goes very well with chapathis..Do not worry seeing the long list of ingredients.. its simple :)

Ingredients:

Brinjal cut in cubes-1/2 kg
Onion finely chopped- 2 medium sized
Garlic,chopped- 4 cloves
Red chilli powder-1 tbspn
Turmeric-1/2 tspn
Garam Masala-3/4 tspn
Green chillies(split into 2)-3(adjust according to personal taste)
Tamarind- a lemon sized ball , soaked in water and squeezed
Jaggery or sugar -1 tbspn
White sesame seeds- 2 tbspn
Groundnut- 2 tablespoon
Coriander Leaves- finely chopped
Thick coconut milk-1/2 cup
Water-1 cup
Oil - 3 tbsp
Salt- to taste

Method

Grind sesame seeds ad groundnut together and keep aside.
Take  a thick bottomed non stick pan and saute the cubed brinjal pieces a tablespoon or two of oil till they turn light brown.Keep aside.
In the oil that is left or adding one tablespoon more oil,saute the onions and garlic till they turn light brown.
Add turmeric, red chilli powder and green chillies and mix well.
To this add the tamarind water and jaggery and stir well for about 2 minutes.
Then add the brinjal pieces,one cup water and salt let the  brinjal boil.
When the  water boils and begins to thicken, add the sesame groundnut paste and bring to boil again.
When it boils add the thick coconut milk.
Bring down the  flame and let it simmer.When the oil separates ,take off from stove.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with chapathis.

This curry has a hot ,sweet and sour taste ...u know the khatta meetha types... and we love it with chapathis..

Note:
You can try 1/4 th cup coconut cream in place of coconut milk.
I sometimes skip the garam masala.
You can also add cashewnuts instead of peanuts.

Recipe Source:Book-:Magic Oven by Dr.Lakshmi Nair.

Spinach Corn Balls

I love appetisers and when i saw this spinach corn balls on youtube i decided to try it. This has been lying in my draft for  a long time and  today i decided to post it.I wanted to post some recipe related to Christmas , but then that can wait .....my hands were itching to post and so decided to go ahead with this.
Perfect for the weather now too.Some spinach corn balls and  hot masala ya adrak(ginger) chai and that is wow!!!!:)

Spinach Corn Balls

Ingredients:

Spinach-cleaned chopped and drained- 1 bowl
Corn-boiled and crushed- 1/2  a bowl
Green chilli chopped or paste- as per taste
Crushed coriander seeds- 2 tspns
Gram flour - 2 tablespoon( to  bind)
Red chilli powder- 1 tspn
Chaat masala- 1 tspn( optional)
Salt to taste.

Refined oil to deep fry.

Method:

Clean the spinach and chop and keep aside to drain all water. A strainer will be useful here.
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.Roll into balls
Heat oil in a deep kadai and deep fry the  balls in this hot oil.
Take out into a kitchen towel so that excess oil can be drained .
Serve with tmato sauce or green chutney.
A cup of chai will be a superb accompaniment.

Enjoy the winters!!!  :)

Note :
Drain excess water from spinach .Oherwise  you will have to use more gram flour to bind the balls and that will spoil the flavour.
Experiment with  the masalas that go into it.




Recipe source-Sunita Minglani(Etv bihar)

Rice Cooker Vegetable Biriyani

I love Biriyani...totally totally love it.I specially love the nice Kozhikode Biriyani.(Kerala style).I never tried the Biriyani as I always had the impression that it is tough.But today I had to make a Biriyani and when I discussed with my mom ,she suggested that we try in our rice cooker .So I went ahead and did that.
Well I realized that making Biriyani is not tough!

Cooking time:30 minutes
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

Basmati rice -2cups
Water-4 1/2 cups
Mixed vegetables(beans,peas,carrots)- 1/2kg
Onions(sliced)-4
Bay leaf-1
Shah jeers-1/2tspn
Mint and coriander leaves(chopped)-2tbsp each
Ghee-5tbsp
Salt to taste

To be ground to paste

Ginger-3cms
Garlic-8flakes
Green chillies-4
Poppy seeds-2 tsp
Fennel- 2tsp
Coriander powder-2tsp
Chilli powder-1/2 tspn
Cloves-4
Cardamom-4
Cinnamon-5cms

Method

Pour water over the cooking plate in the cooker pan.Add the cleaned rice.
Cover and let it soak for 15minutes.
Switch on the cooker to rice cooking.
Add salt and diced vegetables.Cover lid.
Heat ghee in a Kadai.Add shah jeera and bay leaf.
Add sliced onion and fry till brown.Add the ground masala.Fry for 2minutes.
Add mint and coriander leaves.
Remove from fire and add contents to cooker pan.
Stir gently and replace ld.
When the Biriyani is cooked ,the switch will automatically move to keep war position.
Let thebiriyani steam for 10-15minutes.

Biriyani can be garnished with fried nuts raisins and boiled eggs(I dint)

Note:stir the Biriyani half way through cooking,that will distribute the flavors uniformly.

I used national rice cooker.