Friday, January 31, 2014

Neypathal or Ney pathiri



Deep fried rice roti ( Neypathal ) is one of the favourite traditional recipe of Malabar Muslims. This is one of the main items for iftar during ramadan. I mostly made this for dinner along with its combination currys pepper chicken, mutton korma, Prawns masala etc.... I made this by grinding soaked parboiled rice, instead of grinding rice we can make this with rice powder also. Take equal quantity of water and rice powder, boil the water and add rice powder into it. Mix well and off the flame, then add paste of coconut and cumin.
Pathal/Pathiri is normally roasted in a tawa / griddle, but Neypathal / Ney pathiri, as the name indicates, is fried in oil. If anybody hasn't tasted it yet, I would strongly recommend to try this one at least once. Yes it is that yummy !

Ingredients
  • Parboiled rice / Puzhukkalari : 2 cups
  • Grated coconut : 1 cup
  • Shallot : 4
  • Fennel seeds : 1 tbsp
  • Black cumin seeds : 1 tbsp 
  • Salt to taste
Method

Wash and soak the rice 4-5 hours. Grind it in a wet grinder with little water until to get a coarse mixture. Add grated coconut, shallots,  fennel seeds and salt into it while grinding. Do not need to grind it smooth. When you touch the ground rice, it should be really grainy.
After grinding, take this out into a clean cloth. Hang it for sometime, if there is excess water. If you can grind the rice using minimum amount of water that would be the best.
After removing excess water add black cumin seeds into it and knead it to make a smooth dough.



Take a big lemon size ball and flatten it using your fingers by placing it on a cloth or plastic sheet. You can do this with a chappathi press also. It should not be too thin. You can see the picture.


Heat oil in a pan, remove the pathiri carefully and put into hot oil. After sometimes it will float on top and puff up. If it  doesn't puff up, just slowly tap the pathal at the edges with the spoon until it puffs up. Flip it over and fry both sides until golden brown color.


Place it in a paper napkin to remove excess oil.
Serve hot !
Note :- Instead of hanging the ground mixture you can lay several layers of news paper or towels ( thick cloth ) and pour the batter in this cloth until it absorb all the moisture from the ground mixture and you get a soft rice dough that you can form into a ball.

This Recipe is part of the event "Flat Breads and Parathas" By Pari and this event hosted by Rafeeda.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

" My First Liebster Blog Award "

Friends, two weeks back I was honored with my First Liebster Award by Aara from Shweet n Spicess; I was very happy to receive the award. Thanks Aara for sharing this award with me.
Liebster Award is a kind of E-award given by one blogger to another. Also this award is given for those blogs with less than 200 members. The word Liebster means dearest/favourite in german, the purpose of giving these award is to encourage a new blogger and introduce them among other bloggers. I am happy to receive this award and get connected with all the other lovely bloggers!

What do you need to do when u receive the award?
  1. Pass the awards to others by nominating about 5-10 new bloggers who has less than 200 followers.
  2. Add the award logo in ur blog post.
  3. Thank the blogger who nominated u for the award.
  4. Answer the questions asked by the blogger.
  5. Frame 10 questions for ur nominees.
  6. Notify ur nominees by sending them a comment.
These are my answers to the question asked by Aara :-

    1. What did u understand with the concept of blogging?
Blog is an online journal where we can express our ideas and thoughts

    2. What are the things that changed after u started blogging?
I got more interested to try new recipes, to present it and became more interested in food photography.

    3. If you are a food blogger do ur family and friends support ur efforts?
Definitely they do.

    4. How is ur blog different from other blogs u came across?
Every blogs have their own specialities, some attract us with their write-ups, others with presentation style, and some with their photography skills. I am always trying to make my recipes simple and unique.

    5. Do u have virtual friends? How does it feel when u interact with them?
Yes, I have. That's lovely to interact with them.

    6. What is ur new year resolutions and why?
I never make a new year resolution. All days are new and special for me :-)

    7. One thing u can change about your self?
I really don't know

    8. One thing u always fantasy about u can have?
I am satisfied with all that god gifted to me, ha! I have a dream to open a boutique.

    9. 5 things u love the most?
Allah and Prophet
My pretty family
Reading books and surfing web
Trying new recipes
Outing and shopping with my family

    10. Blogging is a different World!! What if u were not a blogger? and what if u have to quit blogging anytime?
My boy wanted to see me as a blogger, my friends and my hubby's friends gave me compliments and asked about the recipe whenever I served them. These are the reasons for me to start the blog. Now I am also enjoying this a lot. So no plan to quit. If I quit blogging I will spend that extra time for chit chatting with my family.

    11.  Who inspire and motivate you to cook?
My hubby, I started cooking only after coming to Dubai. He always appreciated me on whatever I did, that made me confident.

My nominees are :-
I know that the most of the bloggers mentioned above are famous and active than me, but I dont know that they got this award anytime before. So congrats, my lovely  bloggers.

My questions to nominees are :-

1) How did you get introduced to blogging?
2) Any obstracles to blogging? how did you overcome them?
3) Apart from Indian food which is your most favourite food?
4) Your favourite dish from ur blog?
5) Any two recipes which you would like to try from my blog?
6) How you make your kitchen fresh and neat?
7) At what age did you get ur hands on cooking?
8) Your likes and dislikes?
9) How did u pick ur blog name?
10) Describe yourself and ur blog?

                  With lots of love.....

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Swedish Meatballs


We all know the Swedish meatballs from IKEA. Swedish meatballs are probably the most popular dish in Sweden. IKEA may have helped popularize this dish in this country. 

Ingredients
  • Unsalted butter : 3 tbsp
  • Onion : 1/2 cup finely chopped
  • White bread : 1 slice, torn into 4 pieces
  • Whole milk : 1/2 cup
  • Ground beef : 1/2 kg
  • Egg : 1 large
  • Salt : 1 1/2 tsp
  • Freshly ground black pepper : 3/4 tsp
  • Freshly ground nutmeg : 1/2 tsp
  • All purpose flour : 2 tbsp
  • Beef broth : 2 cups
  • Sour cream : 1/2 cup
Method
  1. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. When the foaming subsides, add onion and cook stirring occasionally, until softened, about four minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
  2. Meanwhile, place bread in a bowl and add milk. Let sit until the bread has absorbed the milk, about five minutes. Add the cooled onion, ground beef, egg, salt, pepper and nutmeg and beat with a mixer on medium speed until the mixture is light in color and appears sticky, about 5 minutes.
  3. Form the meat mixture into 1-inch balls, wetting your hands with water as necessary to keep the mixture from sticking, and place meatballs on a baking sheet.
  4. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan over medium heat. When the foaming subsides, add half of the meatballs and fry, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides and cooked through, about 8-10 minutes. Transfer to a clean serving dish ; set aside. Repeat with remaining meatballs.
  5. Sprinkle flour into the same pan and whisk, until the flour no longer raw tasting, about one minute. Slowly pour in broth, whisking as you do to smooth out any lumps. Cook until the mixture starts to boil and thicken, about three minutes.
  6. Reduce heat into low and pour sour cream. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Return meatballs into the pan until heated through, about 5 minutes. Transfer meatballs and sauce to the serving dish and sprinkle with parsley.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Carrot And Potato Thoran



This is one of my favorite recipe, a super hit in my family. I bet everyone will like this.
Ingredients
Carrot : 2 big
Potato : 1 
Green chilly : 2
Turmeric powder : 1/4 tsp
Ginger & Garlic paste : 1/4 tsp
Fresh grated coconut : 1/4 cup
Garam masala powder : 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds : 1/4 tsp 
Oil : 2 tbsp
Curry leaves
Salt to taste


Method
Cut potato and carrot in lengthwise very thinly.
In a pan heat oil, then splutter mustard seeds. Add curry leaves into it, after that add potato and carrot followed by turmeric powder and green chillies.


Close the lid and cook in low flame.
After 5 minutes add ginger garlic paste and salt, mix well and cover the pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes.
Open the lid and add scrapped coconut and garam masala powder. Stir fry for another few seconds.


Serve with rice.

Note : Do not add water, it will cause to loose the crunchy texture of carrots and potatoes. Always keep in low flame and stir in between.