BREAD UNNIYAPPAM (Bread banana fritters)

Unniyappam is a Kerala snack made with rice batter, jaggery & mashed banana; deep fried in special moulds. These are sweet little rice fritters which are fluffy inside and makes an ideal tea time snack.

Here instead of rice batter, I have used bread slices as we had a whole loaf left over from last week. Luckily, there were a couple of over ripe bananas too left in the fruit bowl.

BREAD UNNIYAPPAM (Bread banana fritters)

Ingredients

• 6 slices of bread - white meal, crust removed, made into small pieces and soaked in little milk
• 2 no.s of medium sized overripe bananas
• Jaggery - melted & strained - half cup
• 4 no.s of Cardamom - powdered
• Semolina/ Rava - 1/2 tbsp (Optional - added the semolina to get a bit of a grainy texture)
• Coconut bits & black sesame seeds - fry in ghee & set aside

Method of Preparation

1. Mix the ingredients listed from A to E with a small pinch of salt and mash well to form the batter. Add the fried coconut pieces and sesame seeds to the batter. 
2. Heat oil in the unniyappam mould, scoop the batter and drop in each hole of the mould and fry.
3. Flip each one upside down and fry till all sides are golden brown in colour. 
4. Make sure to cook in medium flame so that the inside also is cooked properly.

Once done, drain in a paper towel and serve warm with tea/ coffee.

WHEAT FLOUR UNNIYAPPAM / GOTHAMBU UNNIYAPPAM

Wheat flour & banana fritters/Unniyappam is a traditional and popular snack amongst Keralites. This slightly sweet snack is prepared with batter made of wheat flour, mashed bananas and melted jaggery. A special type of mould is used to make unniyappams.

WHEAT FLOUR UNNIYAPPAM / GOTHAMBU UNNIYAPPAM

Ingredients

• Wheat flour – 1/2 cup
• Banana – 1 small size
• Jaggery melted – 1/3 cup
• Rice flour – 2 tsp
• Rava/ semolina - 1/2 tsp (optional)
• Cooking soda – a pinch
• Cardamom powder – ¼ tsp
• Sesame seeds -1/2 tsp
• Coconut bits/thengakothu - 1 tsp 
• Salt to taste and oil to fry.

Method of Preparation

1. In a pan, melt jaggery by boiling it with little water. When completely melted, switch off the flame. Strain with a thin mesh strainer and remove impurities when it cools down. Keep it aside.
2. Heat 1 tsp ghee in a small pan. Add the chopped coconut bits and fry until golden brown. Remove them from ghee and now add the sesame seeds, wait for it to splutter and remove from ghee. Set aside to cool.
3. In a bowl, place the ripe banana and mash. Add the jaggery syrup and mix. Now add the whole wheat flour, rava, rice flour, Rava (if using), baking soda and a pinch of salt. Whisk to combine, adding water as needed to make a thick batter. Add the fried coconut bits & sesame seeds. Sprinkle in the cardamom powder and set aside to rest for upto 10 minutes.
4. Heat the unniyappam/paniyaram pan over medium heat. Pour about 1/2 tsp of the ghee oil mixture in each circle in the pan, now add a small ladleful of batter in each. Flip the unniyappam and cook until golden brown on the other side.

(Note: Maintaining the heat level at medium is important to ensure the paniyrams don't get too dark and the insides are cooked as well as the outside).

Serve hot with a cup of tea/ coffee ☕️

THENGA CHUTTARACHA CHAMMANTHI

This Chammanthi is made with dry roasted coconut and tastes different to the usual Chammanthi made with raw coconut. Chammanthi is a side dish prepared by grinding coconut with onion and chilly, and there are many varieties of it. 

This goes well with rice and yoghurt.

Thenga Chuttaracha Chammanthi 

Ingredients:

• Dry roasted coconut - made into small pieces 1 cup
• Shallots/Pearl onions – 5
• Ginger – 1 inch piece
• Curry leaves 1 sprig
• Dried red chillies – 5 or 6 no.s or 1/2 tsp chilli powder 
• (dried red chillies make it tastier)
• Tamarind – gooseberry sized, Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

1. Dry roast the coconut with shell in the gas stove, by carefully placing it on the flame. Turn it around with a tong till golden brown in colour. 
2. When it cools down, remove from shell and make slices of the roasted coconut. Alternatively, you can roast fresh coconut slices in a frying pan and sauté until light brown at medium heat. 
3. Fry the dry red chillies till they are crispy.
4. When the chillies & coconut cools down, grind it together with shallots, ginger, curry leaves, tamarind and salt. Sprinkle little water if needed.

Voila, Chammanthi is ready. 😋😋

BITTER GOURD IN YOGHURT

This is a variety dish popular in some parts of Northern Kerala. 

A very close friend of mine shared this with me today & I tried it straightaway. Needless to say that this dish was an instant hit.

BITTER GOURD IN YOGHURT

Ingredients:

• Bitter gourd /Paavakka 1no. (small)
• Ginger 1" piece
• Green chillies 1-2 no.s
• Thick sour yoghurt/curd 1 cup
• Salt to taste. 
• For seasoning - mustard, sliced onion, dry chillies and curry leaves

Method of preparation:

1. Clean, remove seeds and slice the bitter gourd. Cook this well with adequate salt. When done, let it cool. 
2. Grind the cooked bitter gourd with ginger & chillies to make a fine paste. The amount of ginger taken should be enough to match the bitterness of the gourd. 
3. In a bowl, beat the mashed mixture with curd, add salt if required. 
4. Splutter mustard in hot oil and fry onion, dried chilli pieces and curry leaves. Add this to the curd mixture.
5. It tastes better if left for sometime and chilled. We can have this with rotis, kuboos, rice etc.

TUNA & SPINACH THORAN

This is an easy thoran made using canned tuna. This is my go to dish when fresh fish is not readily available and you want to dish up something in a jiffy. 

Here I have used a small can of tuna flakes in spring water. 

TUNA & SPINACH THORAN

Ingredients:

• Tuna 1 can (250 gm)
• Spinach - chopped finely
• Grated coconut 1/4 cup
• Onion 2-3 no.s
• Ginger & garlic - 1/2 tsp (chopped)
• Green chilly 2-3 no.s
• Cumin - 1/4 tsp
• Turmeric & chilli powders
• Salt & oil. 

Preparation: 

• In a pan splutter mustard seeds, then sauté crushed chopped onion, ginger, garlic & green chilly. Sprinkle curry leaves. 
• To this, add the tuna flakes after draining the water. 
• After a few minutes, add the finely chopped spinach, stir on high flame. 
• Coarsely crush the coconut with cumin seeds, chilli and turmeric powders.
• Add the coconut mix to the pan and stir well. Check salt, add if required. 
• Stir constantly and when almost dried, remove from oven. 

Goes well with rice and/or rotis. 

MIXED FRUIT CUSTARD

A simple and healthy dessert which can be made in less time. You won't be left with the usual guilt about calories consumed after having this fresh fruit salad.

MIXED FRUIT CUSTARD 

Ingredients: 

• To make the custard: 2 cups fresh milk, 2 spoons of custard powder, sugar - as per your taste, vanilla essence 2 tsp.
• Fresh fruits and honey

Preparation:

1. Fresh fruits - Finely chop the fruits, keep them in a bowl, drizzle some honey, toss well, cover and refrigerate. You can use any available fruits, however it is better to avoid citrus fruits if you are keeping the mixed fruit salad for sometime. Here I have used apple, banana, grapes, mango, strawberry, raspberries, blueberries, red & green grapes, peaches. 
2. Vanilla custard preparation -  Mix the custard powder in half glass cold milk & sugar, make sure the powder dissolves completely. Boil the rest of milk in a pan using double boiling method (placing in a pan of boiling water). When the milk boils, add the custard & milk mix, stir well. Keep stirring till the custard is cooked and make sure it doesn't get lumpy. For thicker custard, add more custard flour to the cold milk (first step). Add the vanilla essence when you take it off the flame. Transfer the custard to a bowl and keep it to chill.

When serving, scoop the chilled fruits into bowls and then pour the custard over it and let it settle. Garnish with cherry, pomegranate pearls or any colourful fruit bits. Enjoy

This is a wholesome treat and you can add your kids' ice cream & jelly flavours...

(Note - Refrigerate the fruit and custard separately. Give a gentle whisk to the custard to remove lumps before serving. Make sure the fruits are not overripe)

MIXED FRUIT CUSTARD 

APOLLO FISH FRY

A very famous delicacy from Hyderabad. 

This dish is very popular and commonly served in bars and pubs. The marinated fish pieces are deep fried batter and then tossed with spicy sauces and served hot with garnishing.

APOLLO FISH FRY

Ingredients:

• Fish 250 grams - fleshy, thick & boneless 
• Marinade for fish pieces: a) Chilly powder 1 tsp, turmeric powder - a pinch, ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp, salt (b) Egg 1 no. (c) All purpose flour/maida - 1 tsp (d) Cornflour - 1 tsp 
• For the final preparation with fried fish pieces - ginger, garlic & green chilly - sliced into very small pieces, coriander powder - 1 tsp, red chilly paste - 1 tsp, crushed pepper - 1/2 tsp, plain yoghurt (curd) - 3-4 tsp, soya sauce, coriander leaves/cilantro 
• Lemon juice - 1 tsp, oil to fry

Method of preparation:

1. Take the fish pieces in a bowl, add salt, ginger garlic paste, chilly powder, turmeric, mix it well. 
2. Now add the beaten egg, corn starch, all purpose flour, mix this well and deep fry the fish pieces. Keep it aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan add chopped ginger, garlic, green chilly, curry leaves, chilly paste, coriander powder, salt, soya sauce (optional), curd, crushed pepper powder, chopped coriander leaves. Cook this for sometime, mix well.
4. Now add the fried fish pieces, toss well and sprinkle the lime juice.

Serve hot as a starter with salad or sauce on side.

Note: I used Gurnard fish fillets, very fleshy with no bones. Try to use thick fleshy fish fillets with no bones. 

KOVAKKA PEERA VECHATHU

Kovakka/ Ivy gourd peera othukkiyathu - This dish was usually made in our household during the Lent season, prior to Christmas and Easter. 

This vegetarian dish is prepared the same way as 'Meen/fish Peera othukkiyathu'.

KOVAKKA PEERA VECHATHU

Ingredients

• Kovakka (Tindora, ivy gourd) – 250 gm (sliced)
• Pearl onions
• Garlic 1-2 cloves
• Green chilies 2-3 no.s
• Curry leaves 2 sprigs
• Grated coconut – 1/2 cup, Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp, Chilly powder - to suit your taste, Cumin/ jeera - a pinch
• Cocums (kudam puli ) – 2 or 3 pieces
• Oil & salt - as required

Method of preparation

1. Soak the cocums (kudam puli) in enough water and tear it into small pieces.
2. Crush the grated coconut with the spice powders (chilly & turmeric), cumin, onions, garlic and green chillies. 
3. Mix this with sliced Kovakka (Ivygourd) & kudampuli in a claypot. 
4. Add salt, sprinkle little water, cover and cook in medium heat. Stir well in between. 
5. After 15- 20 minutes, remove the lid and add a spoon or two of oil, ideally coconut oil. 
6. Sprinkle curry leaves and remove from heat.

Mix well and serve with rice and gravy.

CABBAGE, CARROT & BEANS THORAN

Thoran is South Indian dish, a vegetarian fry in which grated & crushed coconut is added. This thoran is also called tri-colour thoran as it has white, green and orange colours. I like combining vegetables for thoran as it is the best way to get the kids to eat variety of vegetables and it looks attractive too.

The specialty of this dish is that it is made of homegrown vegetables. We have a small vegetable garden in our backyard and our kids take care of it. The cabbage, carrots and round beans used to prepare this dish are from there. Purely organic too.

CABBAGE, CARROT & BEANS THORAN

Ingredients:

• Half of medium sized cabbage - finely chopped
• 2-3 fresh carrots cleaned and grated
• Handful of green round beans - sliced
• Grated coconut - half cup
• Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
• Chilly powder – a small pinch (optional) 
• Green chilies 2 or 3 no.s 
• Pearl onions 2-3
• Garlic – 2 small cloves
• Seasoning - Mustard seeds – 3/4 tsp, Urid dal 1/2 tsp, Dried red chilies,Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Method of preparation:

1. Chop or grate the vegetables and get these ready. 
2. Crush the onions, garlic & green chillies, combine the grated coconut well with this mixture, turmeric powder and chilly powder. Mix well and set aside.
3. Heat oil in a deep frying pan, Splutter mustard seeds and add curry leaves & sauté the dried red chilies & urid daal. Add the crushed coconut mixture and stir for a few seconds till the raw smell goes. 
4. Now add the vegetables chopped & grated, and salt to taste. Mix well. Cover and cook till the vegetables are done. No water is required as there is adequate water content in the vegetables. Stir occasionally. When almost done, open the lid and cook till dry.

Remove from the oven, serve warm with rice & gravy

SPICY CHICKEN THORAN

This is a spicy side dish made with boneless chicken & grated coconut with spices.

SPICY CHICKEN THORAN

Ingredients & method of preparation:

• Marinate chicken cubes (bone & skinless) with Kashmiri chilli, turmeric, pepper & garam masala powders, ginger garlic paste, salt, lime juice, little oil. Leave it for half to 3/4 of an hour.
• Crush grated coconut with turmeric powder, pinch of cumin, one green chilly. 
• In a pan, cover and cook the marinated chicken pieces, there is no need to add water. 
• In a thick frying pan, splutter mustard seeds and sauté crushed pearl onion, ginger, garlic, dried chilly, a pinch of urid daal and curry leaves. To this, add the cooked chicken pieces. On top of this, add the crushed coconut. 
• Do not stir, cook it covered for a few minutes. Once the raw smell of the crushed coconut is gone, stir well and cook till dry, uncovered. 
• When done, sprinkle some dried red chilly flakes and remove from fire.

This dish goes well with rice and/or rotis. 

DATES CHUTNEY

DATES CHUTNEY: 

This is a sweet and spicy Chutney, which I usually serve with Biriyani. The combination of three different flavors, the sweet dates, spicy chillies and tangy tamarind, is sure to tickle your taste bud.

DATES CHUTNEY

Ingredients: 

• Dates - good quality, pitted & chopped 10 no.s 
• Pearl onions - 5 no.s 
• Ginger - a small piece finely chopped 
• Green chillies - 2-3 no.s, sliced 
• Tamarind - a small piece soaked in water and squeezed 
• Water, salt and oil

Method of preparation: 

1. Extract the pulp of soaked tamarind, strain and keep it aside. 
2. Heat oil in a pan, saute the sliced onions, ginger and green chillies. Add the sliced date pieces. Add the tamarind juice, salt to taste and water. Cook till the dates pieces are mashed and the mixture is thickened. 
3. When it cools down, serve with Biriyani or any special rice dishes. 

Note - For extra spiciness, you can add a little of Kashmiri chilli powder after sautéing the Onion and ginger.

CORNFLAKES LADDU

This Laddu can be made within a jiffy and the beauty is that the ingredients would be readily available in most of the households. 

In case if you are short of time to make or buy sweets for any occasion or need a quick snack, this could be a solution.

CORNFLAKES LADDU

Ingredients:

• Cornflakes - 2 cups
• Sugar - 1/4 cup 
• Ghee - 1.5 tbsp 
• Dessicated coconut/Freshly grated coconut - 2 tbsp 
• Nuts & Raisins - 1 tsp each 
• Warm milk - 2-3 tbsp

Preparation:

1. Powder the sugar in the mixie. Then slightly crush the cornflakes, take care not to powder it.
2. Roast the nuts and then the raisins in ghee.
3. Mix the powdered sugar and cornflakes, add the fried nuts and raisins along with the ghee.
4. To this add the grated coconut, then the slightly warm milk, little by little.
5. Mix well, take equal portions in your palm and roll into laddoos.

Cornflakes laddoos are ready.

SEMIYA KESARI/ VERMICELLI KESARI

Most of us would be familiar with Kesari or Sheera in which Rava/ Semolina is the main ingredient. This is a similar sweet made with Semiya or Vermicelli. It is easy to make, delicately sweet with a saffron flavour.

Ingredients:

• Semiya 1 cup
• Sugar 1/3 or 1/4 cup (adjust according to your taste) 
• Ghee - 2 tbsp
• Cashew nuts - 1 tbsp 
• Saffron threads - a generous pinch 
• Cardamom powdered - 1/4 tsp 
• Rose water 1/4 tsp 
• Food colour - Yellow or orange - optional. 
• Water - 1 cup (tweak according to the thickness of the Semiya)

Method of preparation:

1. Heat a spoon of ghee in a frying pan, roast the cashew nuts and set aside. Add little more ghee to the same pan, roast the broken Semiya in low flame till light golden in colour. Keep it aside. 
2. Take water in pan, add the saffron strands, cardamom powder, rose water and a pinch of salt and bring it to boil. 
3. Add the roasted Semiya to the boiling water and cook on medium flame till the water is absorbed. 
4. Now add the sugar and food colour, mix well and let the Semiya absorb the moisture from the sugar. 
5. When done, add a spoonful of ghee, stir the Semiya strands are dry and fluffy. 
6. Remove from heat and serve garnished with roasted cashew nuts. 

It can be served either hot or cold, it just tastes divine.

GRILLED MEATBALL KEBABS

Meatballs are always a tasty and easy meal to make if you have good quality ground meat. Most kids love meatballs and you can always try different variations adding fresh herbs and sauces to the mix.

These kebabs are made with beef meat balls alternated with colorful vegetables.

GRILLED MEATBALL KEBABS

Here is the list of ingredients and method of preparation 

Step 1: Make the meat balls

Ingredients: Beef mince 250 grams, soft bread crumbs 1/2 cup, one Onion & a pod of garlic - finely chopped, one egg beaten with a pinch of salt, Tomato sauce 1 tbsp, Soya sauce 1/2 tbsp, Coriander leaves - chopped, Salt if required.
In a bowl, mix all the above ingredients and roll it into small balls.
Step 2: Wash the bamboo skewers and soak them in cold water.
Step 3: Slice the vegetables you are going to use in the kebabs, try to keep the slices similar to the size of the meat balls. Throw in some colourful vegetables so the kids find it attractive. Here I have used yellow and green capsicums, onions and cherry tomatoes.
Step 4: In a fry pan, sprinkle or spray some oil and shallow fry the meat balls.Toss while cooking to ensure that all sides are cooked.
Step 5: Final preparation. 

• Now thread the vegetables and meatballs onto the soaked bamboo skewers, alternating between vege pieces. 
• Place these skewers on the grill, sprinkle a few drops of oil and grill over medium heat. 
• Serve hot with your choice of sauce. 

Enjoy 😀😀
(Note -- The meatballs are shallow fried first as the vegetables get cooked faster and over cooking them may lead to loss of nutrients. Chicken mince can also be used instead of beef). 

CHOCOLATE PUTTU (Steamed rice cake with chocolate)

A variety puttu (steamed rice cake) with a sweet twist.

Puttu is a popular Kerala traditional breakfast made with mixing either rice or white flour mixed with grated coconut and steamed in a mould.

Preparation:

• Mix white rice flour and grated coconut by sprinkling little water, with a pinch of salt. 
• Take the mould for puttu/ rounded puttu maker. 
• In the mould alternatively layer grated coconut, rice mix, then grated chocolate, alternate till the mould is almost full. 
• Steam the mix for a few minutes and serve with red cherry topping. 
• Here I have used Cadbury Flake chocolate bar.

Enjoy 

TANDOORI IDLY FRY

This is a spicy tea time snack made with left over idlis. Idly is a traditional South Indian breakfast made with fermented mixed dough of rice and urid daal, steamed in rounded moulds. 

To make this we need leftover cold idlis, Tandoori spice powder, oil to fry and sauce to serve with. 

TANDOORI IDLY FRY

Preparation:

1. Slice the idlis length wise. Sprinkle the Tandoori powder, put these in a box & shake well so that the mix coats well on the idly pieces. Leave this for upto 10-15 minutes. 
2. In a pan, shallow fry the idli pieces till both sides are crunchy & crispy. 
3. Serve hot with sauce. Note that if you leave it to cool, the pieces may lose crispiness. 

Other variations can also be tried with left over idlis:

• Sprinkle and coat with little chilly powder & garam masala powder and fry after sometime. 
• Fry the sliced idly pieces, sprinkle Chutney powder or chat masala while hot and serve. 

These can be served with sambhar instead of sauce.

MOONG DAAL SAMBHAR / TIFFIN SAMBHAR

This Sambhar is made with yellow moong Daal (green gram) and goes well with Idli & Dosa. Tiffin Sambhar is very light, watery in consistency, healthy and easy to digest. It is easy to prepare too. 

Ingredients:

• Moong Dal 1/2 cup
• Toor Dal - 2 or 3 tbsp
• Tomatoes - 2 medium sized ones
• Pearl onions/ shallots - 10 to 12 no.s 
• Green chillies
• Coriander leaves, salt to taste, a pinch of turmeric powder. 
• To sauté- mustard, cumin, Sambar powder 1 tsp, hing - a pinch, curry leaves, dried red chillies -1 or 2.

Steps of preparation:

1. Wash the moong and toor Dals well and cook in a pressure cooker adding adequate water, salt and turmeric powder. 
2. In a pan, splutter mustard followed by cumin in hot oil. Add the curry leaves and red chilly pieces. Now add the shallots and green chillies. When the onion turns slightly brownish, add the sliced tomatoes. 
3. When this turns mushy, add the Sambar powder and hing, stir well. To this, add the cooked Daal and water for the gravy. Leave it to boil for a few minutes and add salt if required. 
4. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves/cilantro. 

Note:

• As said before, Tiffin Sambar is of very thin consistency, so add water. If you plan to add vegetables like potatoes or carrots, cook the pieces along with the Daal. 
• Since this is full of proteins and nutritious, it is ideal to add this to kids' breakfast. 

TOMATO ONION CHUTNEY

This chutney is a bit tangy and spicy in flavour. This goes well with South Indian breakfast dishes like idli and Dosa. The aromatic flavours of sautéed Onion, tomato and dried chilly is something to be tried and tasted.

TOMATO ONION CHUTNEY 🍅🌰🌶

Ingredients:

• Ripe red tomato - sliced 1 cup 
• Onion - sliced 1/2 cup 
• Garlic - 2 no.s sliced 
• Whole dried red chillies - 1-2 
• Chana daal (Split chickpeas) 1 tsp 
• Grated coconut - 1 tsp 
• Mustard, Curry leaves, oil, Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

1. In a frying pan, add oil and fry the chana daal lightly. To this add the dried chillies, afterwards add the sliced onion and garlic, sauté well. Add a pinch of salt. To this add the sliced tomatoes and sauté till the oil separates. Leave this mixture to cool. 
2. When the mixture cools down, add the grated coconut to this and grind to a smooth paste. 
3. In a clean pan, heat oil and splutter mustard seeds. Add the curry leaves and sauté. To this, add the ground mixture, salt to taste and mix. Switch off the flame after two or three minutes. 

Tasty Tomato Onion Chutney is ready. Serve with Dosa or idli.