Facebook fun

Been so busy.. It's so much easier to post recipes on My Facebook page rather than on my blog , so I've been ignoring the blog for far too long.. I've been so busy, cooking classes, orders, kids , home etc..
This recipe is my latest favorite which is easy to dish up and looks gorgeous in any avatar..

Drums of heaven
Or, chicken lollipops tossed in Shezwan sauce

Mix together
Egg – 1
Cornflour – 2 tbsp
Salt – to taste
Pepper – ½ tsp
Chilli sauce – 1 tsp
Soy sauce – 1 tsp
Vinegar – 1 tsp
Red color - a pinch ( optional)

Marinate 12 chicken lollipops in the above marinade for ten 15 minutes, then deep fry till golden brown.


Heat 4 tbp oil in a pan and add
Garlic -5 (chopped)
Ginger – 1″ piece(chopped)
Onion – 1( chopped)
Green chillies- 3(chopped)
Sauté for a minute.


Now add
Chilli sauce – 1 tsp
Soya sauce – 1/2 tsp
Tomato sauce – 1 tsp
Salt – to taste
Water 1 tbsp
And sauté again for a minute.

Turn heat off, add finely chopped 2 spring onions( this is optional )
And toss the chicken lollipops in the sauce.

Serve hot.

Ramadan is the time for fasting, abstinence , prayers and patience.. But when there are kids in the house fasting,churning out fancy foods for Iftar also becomes important. All three of my babies , J1(13),J2(10) and J3 (8) are fasting almost everyday with me and my husband , so I want to create food that they enjoy.. Along with that comes the problem of making it healthy too.. So I try mallumomos one day.. Then fruit whip another day .. Vegetable cutlets .. I even sneak veggies into the beef cutlets !! Today I made chicken fried rice, and to go with that, I made wok seared green beans with sesame seeds. They turned out yum!!

Beans stirfy with sesame seeds

Ingredients
500 gm green beans, trimmed
3-4 tbsp oil/ butter( I prefer butter)
3 tsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
1 1/2 tsp (packed) golden brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

Method
Cook green beans in large pot of boiling water until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Drain. Transfer green beans to large bowl of ice water to cool. Drain again. Pat green beans dry. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Wrap green beans in paper towels and enclose in resealable plastic bag. Refrigerate.)
Heat oil in heavy large wok or nonstick skillet over high heat. Add green beans and stir-fry until heated through, about 2 minutes. Add soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and pepper. Stir-fry until sauce reduces slightly and loosely coats green beans, about 2 minutes longer. Add sesame seeds and toss to coat. Transfer green bean mixture to bowl and serve.

Ramadan is here again.. And again I delve into my recipe books to create new and different foods to feed my family at Iftar .. But alas, it's never the exotic or different recipes that they enjoy more.. Rather , they are the age old classics.. Like samosas, pathiri , kanji.. As they say, old is gold !!
So I go back to that erachi kanji, which never meets my hubby's standards( given that his standard is laced with the taste of school memories and camaraderie ;-) I tweaked the original recipe which I had posted earlier on, this erachi kanji then , is the newer upgraded version ! Though hubby dearest still says.." it just needs something more.. " !!!!aaaargh!!


ERACHI KANJI
Mutton (boneless ) 100 gms
Ginger garlic paste a tsp
Finely minced onion 1
Minced green chilli 2-3
Tomato finely chopped 1
Oil 2-3 tbsp
Garam masala ( use freshly powdered for better taste)(3 cardamom 3 cloves1 tsp perumjeerakam/fennel1 tsp peppercorns 1 small piece cinnamon )2-3 tsp
Chilli powder 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder a pinch
Salt 1/2 tsp

Sauté these together in a pressure cooker till onions are soft, then add 1 -1/2 cups water. Close and pressure cook for three- four whistles, turn heat low and keep on simmer for ten minutes more. Turn heat off. When cooled, open cooker, and add
100 gms basmati or kaima rice( I prefer kaima/ jeerakasala rice myself.. Tastes better)if needed, add 1-2 cups water( so that the rice can cook, otherwise, u will end up itch a burnt mess!)
Pressure cook again for 4-5 whistles, then turn off heat. Cool, then open, and add
2-3 cups of coconut milk,
Finely chopped coriander and mint leaves1-2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Boil a minute, then serve hot with a dash of ghee on top.

No story.. No title .. Nothing.. Just a plain and simple recipe

Easy pancakes

.
450ml (16 fl oz) semi skimmed milk
150g (5 oz) caster sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250g (9 oz) plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder


1.
Place milk, sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla in the blender. Add flour and baking powder. Blend until smooth.
2.
Heat a lightly oiled frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the pan, using approximately 4 tablespoons for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Magic in the microwave !

I found this recipe online while searching for easy choclate cake recipes.. After reading through it, I was dubious.. A cake in 2 minutes ? And that too in a single cup ? This is too good to be true !! So I wrote it down dutifully.. And tried it out the next day. .. And I was awestruck !! It really worked !!
I just took a coffee cup, added all the ingredients, gave it a stir with a spoon.Kept it in the microwave .. Set for 2 minutes.. Shrugged to myself.. And pressed the start button. .and what do you know ? I had a little cake in my cup !!MAGIC!! Theres no other word for it other than that !

This is a perfect recipe for a cute dessert .. Or for those times you need to whip up a snack fast ... So go on.. Try zapping this up in your microwave and see the magic for yourself !!

Take a microwave proof cup.

Mix together :

3 tbs warm milk
2 tbsp cocoa
1 egg white
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp Maida
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp baking powder.
2 tbsp sugar

Add cinnamon or coffee powder 1/4 tsp if u want instead of essence.
Also , you could add a tsp of nutella for an even more yum taste !

Zap 2 minutes in microwave..

Serve hot with a scoop of icecream or a dollop of whipped cream