Bhindi salad

Slit small bende into 4 lengthwise.


Make a paste with cornflour, salt, turmeric and little water.

Heat oil and deep fry bende dipped in the batter till crisp.

Add chopped onions mixed with salt and vinegar and toss with crispy fried bhindi.

Kalli ghee rice and date chutney

Ingredients:

2 cups basmati rice, soaked for 15 minutes and strained

3 cups water

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 onion

3 c's

Ghee

Salt

Method:

Heat ghee and add the 3 c's, remove from fire when spluttered. Add sliced onions and fry till golden and crisp and remove from flame.

Add the rice and roast till rice grains almost crisp. Boil water and coconut milk and while boiling add to the rice, add salt, 3 c's and cook till done.

Garnish with browned onions.

For the chutney:

Ingredients:

1 cup browned onions
1 cup dates deseeded
4 to 5 short chillies
3 long chillies
Salt

Grind to paste

TJ's Wheat halwa

Ingredients:;

1 cup wheat flour
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
1/4 cup ghee

Method:

Heat ghee is heavy bottomed pan and add wheat flour, fry on low flame, don't allow to burn.

Add sugar and water, keep stirring till the mixture solidifies into a ball.

Podi yetti chutney

Ingredients:

100 gms dried shrimp

1 coconut grated

7 to 8 byadgi/ kashmiri chillies

3 to 4 short chillies

1 tsp jeera

1 small ball of tamarind

Salt to taste


Method:

Buy cleaned shrimp from supermarket instead of fish market, you dont have to spend time on cleaning.

Dry roast the shrimps until they turn crisp and change color slightly. Sieve it for the pwd to drain.

Dry roast coconut on low flame till golden brown.

Grind all other ingredients to a paste and mix with fried coconut and shrimp.

You can store this for months in freezer.

Chicken Delite

Ingredients:

1 chicken medium pieces
Chilli pwd
Tomato sauce
Soya sauce
3 big onions sliced
Ghee/ Oil
Cinnamon/ cardamom/ cloves (3 c's)

Method:

Marinate chicken in chilli pwd and the sauces overnight in the firdge if possible or else more than an hour at least.

Heat oil or ghee and add the 3 c's, when spluttered add add sliced onions. When almost brown add the marinated chicken and keep cooking on open flame. Lower the flame after a few minutes and keep stirring the chicken.

When cooked, add a little sugar for the glaze and vinegar for the zest.

Mango cheese cake

Ingredients 

• Crust,½ centimeter cubes  

 • Digestive biscuits  8 - 10 

• Butter  2 tablespoons 

• FILLING  

 • Skimmed milk  1 cup

 • Condensed milk  1/2 cup

 • Cornflour/ corn starch  1 tablespoon

 • Carrageenan (vegetarian gelatin)  1 tablespoon / or normal gelatin

 • Cottage cheese (paneer)  2 cups

 • Skimmed milk yogurt  1 1/2 cups

 • Mango pulp 2 cups

 • Mango essence  1 teaspoon

 • Sugar,powdered  1/2 cup

 • Topping  

 • Mango jelly  1 tablespoon

 • Mango,sliced 1

  Method : Crush biscuits to a coarse powder and put it into a bowl. Add butter and mix. Put this mixture at the base of a spring form pan (loose bottom pan) lined with greaseproof paper. Press the mixture lightly and place it in the refrigerator to set. Heat milk in a pan. Add condensed milk and mix. Dissolve cornflour in a little milk and add it to the hot milk. Cook stirring continuously till the mixture thickens. Set aside. Mix carrageenan or gelatin in a little water and heat in the microwave for one minute. Remove from the microwave and set aside. Take hung yogurt in a bowl. Add paneer and mix with a whisk. Add mango pulp and mix again. Add mango essence and the milk mixture. Mix again. Add powdered sugar and blend with a hand blender. Add the dissolved carrageenan or gelatin and blend again. Pour this mixture into the prepared tin over the biscuit layer. Refrigerate for two to three hours. Dissolve mango jelly in a quarter cup of water, bring it to a boil and cool. Put a layer of mango jelly on the set cheesecake. Chill until the jelly is set. Remove from the spring form pan and cut into eight wedges with a sharp knife dipped in hot water. Serve chilled with sliced mango fan.

Chef's Tip - Spring form pan is similar to a round shallow cake tin but with a removable base.

Charley's date n walnut cake

BUTTER    125 GMS

DATES  250 GMS - AFTER REMOVING THE STONES, CUT FINE

WALNUT - 250 GMS    

MAIDA   -  1 -3/4 CUP

SUGAR  -  1 - 1/4 CUP

EGGS   -  2

SODA BICARB  -  1 -1/4 TSP

MILK   -  1 -1/2 CUPS

VANILLA ESSENCE - 1 TSP.

METHOD:

KEEP THE MILK ON FIRE, ADD DATES AND SODA BICARB,  STIR AND MIX WELL.  NEXT ADD SUGAR, STIR TILL IT MELTS.

REMOVE FROM FIRE AND ALLOW IT TO COOL FOR 2 HRS.

SEPARATE EGG WHITE AND YOKE  -  BEAT THE WHITE.   MIX BUTTER & EGG YOKE WELL. ADD MAIDA LITTLE BY LITTLE, MIX WELL.  ADD THE DATE MIXTURE,  WALNUTS, WHITE OF EGGS AND VANILLA ESSENCE.  FOLD TILL ALL ARE WELL MIXED.  BAKE AS USUAL.

Kerala beef

Boil the beef with some ground ginger and garlic, turmeric powder, chilly powder, garam masala nd dry black lime powder.

If you do not have the dry lime powder, you can add some vinegar.

Cut big onions and fry till golden brown

Remove the onion nd then add the beef little at a time. Fry and remove.

In the remaining oil, add some coriander powder, chilly pd nd some ground ginger and garlic

Sauté well nd then add the beef nd sauté again

Finally add the fried onion to the above

You can also fry some curry leaves to the above

Felli red velvet cake

Ingredients

• For the Cake:
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1½ cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 tablespoons red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
• 1 (12-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• For the Frosting:
• 8 ounces (224 gms) butter, at room temperature
• 8 ounces (224 gms) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 4¼ cups powdered sugar (refer notes)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Make the Cake:
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
3. On medium-high speed, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to high and add the eggs. Scrape down the bowl and beat until well incorporated.
4. In a separate small bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, vanilla extract and red food coloring to make a thick paste. Add to the batter and mix on medium speed until completely combined. You may need to stop the mixer to scrape the bottom of the bowl, making sure that all the batter gets color.
5. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add half of the buttermilk. Add half of the flour and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl and repeat the process with the remaining milk and flour. Beat on high until smooth, about 1 minutes.
6. Again, reduce the mixer speed to low and add the salt, baking soda and vinegar. Turn to high and beat for another 2 minutes until completely combined and smooth.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, smoothing the top into an even layer with a spatula. Bake until a thin knife or skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes.
8. Remove the cake from the oven and immediately poke holes all over the top of the cake. You can use the end of a wooden spoon, a skewer, the tines of a fork, etc. Slowly pour the can of condensed milk all over the top of the cake, making sure to drizzle it evenly all over the top. Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting and decorating.
9. Make the Frosting:
10. Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the butter and cream cheese on high speed for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl down as necessary. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the powdered sugar until all is incorporated. Add the vanilla and mix to combine. Increase the speed to medium high and whip for a few minutes until the frosting is light and fluffy, scraping the bowl as necessary.
11. Spread the frosting evenly over the top of the cake and decorate as desired. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Notes

I used Duncan Hines brand cake mix. If you are using cake mix like me, bake the cake according to package instructions.

I had some left over cake batter and made 3 std size cupcakes with them. So if you want you can try this as cupcake as well, but making it as a single cake is easier and less messier.

I used Philadelphia Full Fat cream cheese spread for icing, I used butter at room temp and cold cheese to make icing. Also I used only 2.5 cups of icing sugar and 1 tbsp vanilla essence.

You can make the cake 2 days ahead and cover it with cling film and refrigerate. Though the cake is pretty moist straight out of the fridge, I kept it at room temp for 20-25 mins, before serving.

Ren beetroot

Ren Chix Mayo

Wheat banana cake

Gendha da adya

Doc Chix curry

Mangy pork

Ingredients:

Pork- 1 Kg cut into small cubes
Onions- 3 big cut into cubes
Garlic- 15 cloves or 2 pods ( slice them into half)
Green Chili’s- 2pcs slit them
Ginger- 1 ½ inches cut into slices
Bay leaf- 2 to 3pcs
Salt to taste
Vinegar- as per your taste
Tamarind- a lemon size soaked in warm water
Sugar- ½ Tspn ( optional)

Dry roast and powder with foll:
Kashmiri chili’s- 8
Dry long chili’s- 4
Pepper- 1 Tspn
Coriander seeds- 1 ½ Tbspns
Cumin( jeera)- ½ Tspn
Mustard seeds- ¼ Tspn
Garam Masala-( Cinamon sticks-2 pcs, Cloves- 5 to 6)
Turmeric- ½ tspn
(All dry ingredients to be well fried)

Method:
Wash the meat, drain well. Transfer the meat in a heavy bottom vessel & add salt, little vinegar & ¼ Tspn Turmeric powder. Mix well and let it marinate for ½ hr.
Add onions, garlic, ginger, bay leaves, tamarind juice to this along with the prepared powder. Mix it once again well and cook on medium fire stirring occasionally. You may add water if required. When fat appears on top, its an indication that the meat is cooked. At this stage, check for salt/vinegar. Add sugar and your dish is ready for serving w/sanna’s, appams or even plain rice.

Note:
a) If you need extra spice, you may add more long chili’s.
b) To get a darker color of the dish, ensure that you dry roast the chili’s and coriander until they really turn blackish.
c) For those who like to get a garlic bite, it is advisable to add the garlic when the pork is half cooked, rather than in the beginning stage.