Velan's Cuisine Extraordinaire

[NOV]

Do you want to make super soft chapathi?
You need a secret ingredient to make it tissue soft!






The secret ingredient is Olive Oil based spread -




Simply mix pure aatta flour with some of the spread above and make a soft dough with hot water.

Remember, no more than two times of flipping, when cooking.

So soft, even when kept in the fridge!

[mexicomeat]

I use pilsbury gold and I get super soft rotis with just water.

[NOV]

I use pilsbury gold and I get super soft rotis with just water.

well, you have havent tried this tip.... the chapathi is tissue soft!

[mexicomeat]

well, you have havent tried this tip.... the chapathi is tissue soft!

ok - will try it tonight and let you know

[NOV]

Cook cut potatoes and murungai in coconut milk (the secret ingredient). Add salt straight away. Once cooked, set aside.

In a little oil, fry the following in this sequence: kadugu (mustard seeds), sliced onion, curry leaves, ginger strips, chilly strips, tomato pieces.

Once they are cooked, add some chilly powder, stir and add the potatoes and murungai.
Stir nicely and then its ready to serve.

Goes well with white rice and chapathi.

[NOV]

Gather as many kinds of preserved dried fruits as you can: prunes, olives, peaches, plums, raisins, etc.

In some oil, add a pinch of cumin and fennel seeds (seeragam & perunjeeragam).

Add finely chopped onions and fry over low flame.
Add a spoon of ginger-garlic paste next.

Add pepper powder next, followed by a few spoons of sugar. Add a little water and cook over slow fire till sugar melts.

Add all the dried fruits and continue cooking.

Final product should be like below:



Serve at room temperature and keep remainder in fridge.

Goes very well with Briyani.

[mappi]

Kodai Kaala Kulfi

Around 8pm in the 90s Chennai evening, there will be a Bhai on a tri-cycle sounding a bell 3 times in regular intervals. Before him, on the tri cycle platform, will be a pot covered with a red cloth. Inside, it contains a treasure called Kulfi. Its awesomeness is limitless, while having a Kulfi under a tree during Kodai Mazhai.

Here is a simple a recipe. Firstly, let me knock out the basic question - the mould. You can can use any of the following if you don't have a Kulfi Mould :

1/ A tiny glass tumbler (like the one's they serve tea in a Moroccan Café). Put a tiny sugar-tea-spoon in the middle and freeze it.

2/ Tiny flower pots, those decorative ones. Just place a rigid stick in the centre before freezing it.

3/ Ice-cream mould (to make artifical colored/flavoured ice-creams - it comes with a plastic stick), as the one in the photo.

Secondly, to remove the Kulfi from the mould, place the frozen mould in warm water for about 3 to 4 minutes. By now the Kulfi should be removable by pulling the stick. If it still resists, take a knife and insert it to inner wall of the mould and do a full cirlce.

Ingredients :

Milk - 5 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Fresh cream - 3/4 cup
Almonds - 2 tbsp (soak it in hot water and peel the skin)
Pistachio - 2 tbsp (soak it in hot water and peel the skin)
Cashew nuts - 2 tbsp
Cardamom (powdered) -1/4 tsp flat
Saffron - couple of strands


1/ Grind peeled almonds, pistachio and cashew nuts with a little milk coarsely.

2/ Soak saffron in a tbsp of milk and keep it aside.

3/ Boil milk until it reduces to half the quantity. Keep stirring so that it does not get burnt.

4/ Add sugar and let it dissolve.

5/ Then add all the nuts, cardamom powder and cook for 3-4 minutes.

6/ After it cools down, add fresh cream and saffron. Mix well.

7/ Pour it into the moulds and freeze. It will take 6-7 hours depending on the freezer. If its an inbuilt freezer of a refrigerator, it may take time. Check the spec of more details.

[mexicomeat]

i made some cabbage kadalai paruppu kottu and murungai kai karakozhambu yesterday.

today, i made pepper chicken and muttai kozhambu. both turned out really good. I made it less spicy so that my 5 year old could eat. Recipe and photos below.

Muttai Kozhambu

1. Take a pan, add oil. Add sliced onion (1), sliced ginger and garlic and 3 kashmiri red chillies (the ones that are not hot, but give good colour) and a little bit of kadalai paruppu to ensure you get a thick gravy
2. add a bit of salt to help the onion cook faster. add sliced tomatoes (2). saute for a while till the tomatos are slightly done. add some coconut (i had frozen) to this and continue cooking.
3. remove from flame, grind this into a paste by adding some water.
4. clean the same pan, add oil. add curry leaves, mustard seeds, methi seeds, hing and cumin. then add the paste, salt and water.
5. add some chilli powder and coriander powder, some more water.
6. leave the pan alone for 10 minutes. I wanted the gravy to be bit tangy, so i added two frozen pieces of raw mango into the pan and removed the raw mango after 10 minutes.
7. set a slow flame, break 6 eggs into the gravy (dont mix them for the next 10 minutes as you want the eggs to remain whole)
8. stir after 10 minutes, switch off flame, garnish with coriander and enjoy.

Pepper Chicken
1. I used 2 breast chicken (500gm approx) and 2 thigh pieces (250gm approx). cut them into thin slices (see pic), removed fat, put them in a bowl, applied salt on the chicken generously and put the pan in the fridge for 30 min.
2. in the mean time, i finely chopped onion, ginger and garlic. I didn't want to use the store bought pepper powder, so I also made some fresh pepper powder during this time.
3. after 30 min, take the chicken out, add some water to the bowl and cook the chicken in the salt solution for 3 min - until the chicken changes from pink to white. switch off the flame, take the chicken out and add cold water to the bowl to prevent it from cooking anymore.
4. take a pan, add oil, onion, ginger, garlic and curry leaves.
5. when the onions change colour, add salt and dessicated coconut (i had frozen) and cook for 2 minutes
6. now add chilly powder, cumin powder, salt, dark roasted curry powder (or any meat masala will do) and pepper powder to the onions and fry for 30 seconds.
7. add chopped capsicum, fry for 1 minutes
8. add chicken, make sure that the masala is now coated on both capsicum and chicken
9. use two spoons of yoghurt to bind the masala to the chicken and capsicum
10. cook until there is no water left on the pan. add some more pepper powder (if you wish).
11. garnish with coriander and enjoy.

[rose75]

Where can we buy this Olive Grove in KL. thanks

[mappi]

Mexicomeat,

Muttai Kuzhambu super. I make it more like a template Kara Kuzhambhu and depending on the day, I add half-boiled eggs or drumstick/bringal or Vendakai (my fav.) or Sundakai ... some times just plain. I will try out you recipe (sans Meethi Seeds) on Sunday.

Pepper Chicken method is identique (but sans Capsicum).