CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

 INGREDIENTS 

Semi sweet dark chocolate - 200 grams

Salted butter - 120grams

Granulated sugar  - 1 cup 

Eggs - 3 large

Vanilla essence  - 1 teaspoon 

Maida  - 1/2 Cup

Cocoa powder  - 1/4 Cup

METHOD 

Fill 3/4 th of a saucepan with water . Bring it to a boil . Reduce the flame and keep a clean bowl on the saucepan . Bowl shouldn't touch the water in the saucepan.

Add semi sweetened dark chocolate into the bowl and stir occasionally until the chocolate melts.

Add butter to this and melt it completely.  Use salted or unsalted butter. If you use unsalted butter add a pinch of salt to the brownie mix later.

Once the butter melts completely., switch of the flame and let it cool completely .

Grease a shallow bake tray with butter and line it with parchment paper. 

Meanwhile pre heat the oven.

In another bowl add Granulated sugar . Break open one egg and blend well . Add other to eggs and keep blending in between.

Sift in all purpose flour / maida into this egg sugar mixture and mix them well.

Add the melted chocolate and butter mixture and combine them together.

Pour the mixture into the baking tray. Shake and tap gently.

Bake in preheated oven at 180°c / 350°F for 30 minutes .

Let it cool before cutting. Serve as it is or serve hot with vanilla Icecream. 

PRAWNS FRY

 Prawns fry is a delicious appetizer.  Prawns are marinated with spices and shallow fried . Prawns are not just delicious but highly nutritious.  

INGREDIENTS 

• Prawns - 500grams
• Salt - to taste
• Pepper powder - 1 Tablespoon 
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 Tablespoon 
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 Teaspoon 
• Chilly powder - 2 Tablespoon 
• Corn flour - 3 Tablespoon 
• Coconut oil  - for frying 
• Curry leaves 
• Squeeze of half a lemon 

METHOD

1. In a clean bowl , add cleaned and deveined prawns . I'm  using tiger prawns,  you can use prawns or even shrimps.
2. Add salt to taste , pepper powder, turmeric powder, chilly powder, ginger garlic paste, corn flour and mix well.
3. Add squeeze of half a lemon and mix well .
4. Let the prawns marinate for minimum of 30 minutes in fridge.
5. Heat Coconut oil in a pan. Add few curry leaves and shallow fry the prawns on both sides till the prawns ate cooked . Do not overcook the prawns .
6. Serve it with pickled onion .

Pineapple pulissery

 Pineapple pulissery is a very popular kerala sadhya recipe,  very easy to prepare and delicious too. It is a curd based gravy which is tangy and sweet , best served with rice .

INGREDIENTS

• Pineapple- 250 grams
• water - 200 ML
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 Teaspoon 
• Salt - To taste
• Coconut grated - 1/2 cup
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 Teaspoon 
• Mustard seeds- 11/2 Teaspoon 
• Coconut oil- 2 Tablespoon 
• Dried red chilly- 3 
• Curry leaves - few
• Curd - 200ML

METHOD

Clean and chop pineapple into small pieces .

In a kadai  , add chopped pineapple along with water ,salt , turmeric powder and slit green chillies. Close the lid and cook it until pineapple is cooked. Do not overcook the pineapple.

 

For the gravy , grind grated Coconut, Cumin seeds , Mustard seeds with little water and make it a fine paste. 

Once the pineapple is cooked and the water is reduced. Add the ground paste and little water and cook for 15 minutes .Switch off the flame and allow it to cool.

Add curd to the Curry and mix well.

For the tampering, heat Coconut oil in a pan , add Mustard seeds,  dried red chillies and Curry leaves. Add this into the gravy and serve with rice.

CHICKEN BIRIYANI

 Chicken biriyani needs no introduction. This flavourful rice is everybody's favorite. There are thousands of recipes to follow , here is my version of a flavourful Chicken biriyani.

INGREDIENTS 

For Chicken marination 

• Curd - 250 ML
• Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon 
• Chilly powder - 1 teaspoon 
• Coriander powder- 1 teaspoon
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 teaspoon 
• Salt - to taste
• Fried onion - 1 cup
• Tomato- 3 chopped 
• Mint and coriander leaves - 1 cup
• Garam masala powder - 1/2  teaspoon 
• Chicken - 1 kg
• Green chilly- 6 slit

 

For the rice

• Rice - 700 grams
• Oil- 1 tablespoon 
• Caraway seeds - 1 tablespoon 
• Cinnamon- 1 " stick
• Green Cardamom- 3
• Cloves - 3
• Black Cardamom- 1
• Bay leaves -2
• Water - 2 litres
• Salt - to taste

To cook chicken

• Oil - 1 tablespoon 
• Ghee - 2 teaspoon 
• Caraway seeds - 1 tablespoon 
• Bay leaves - 1
• Cinnamon- 1 " stick
• Green Cardamom- 3
• Cloves - 3
• Black Cardamom- 1 

METHOD

Clean and soak rice in water for 30 minutes.

In a wide vessel , add curd, turmeric powder, chilly powder, coriander powder, ginger garlic paste, salt ,green chilly paste, fried onion ,chopped tomatoes, mint and coriander leaves chopped , garam masala powder, chicken pieces and slit green chillies . Combine them well and let it marinate for minimum of 30 minutes  to maximum of 12 hours in refrigerator. 

To cook rice , in a kadai heat oil , add Caraway seeds, whole spices and saute for 2 minutes. Add 2 litres of water ,salt to taste and bring water to a roll boil. Add the soaked rice and cook it till 80% done. Strain it and keep it aside.

To cook chicken , in a kadai add ghee and oil . Add the whole spices and Caraway seeds . Saute for 2 minutes , add chopped onion and cover the lid and cook till they become soft. Add the marinated chicken , cover the lid and cook till the chicken is tender.Layer the cooked rice and fried onion on top of the chicken. Add ghee and Saffron soaked in ghee on top of the rice .Cook it with closed lid in slow flame for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes , switch off the flame a d let it sit for 20 minutes before opening the lid and serve hot with raitha .