Happy's Cook: January 2017

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Broccoli Stir Fry Recipe | Indian Style Broccoli Stir Fry | Broccoli Poriyal

Hello everyone, hope you all are doing well. I am in India for a three week vacation and hence I am not active these days. Though I have many recipes in drafts, I am a bit lazy to blog. However, made my mind today to compose a simple and easy stir fry recipe. I cook broccoli once in a week, considering its health benefits. Apart from the stir fry, I make Paratha and Pulao using broccoli. Let us move on to the recipe:

Wheat Rava Sweet Pongal Recipe | Broken Wheat Sweet Pongal | Godhumai Rava Sweet Pongal | Pongal Special Recipes

Happy Pongal to all my friends and readers. Hope everyone is in the holiday mood and started with the Pongal preparations. I am travelling to India tomorrow and I am totally excited about the vacation. I have lots of plan for the vacation and I wish everything should happen. I have few recipes in drafts which I will be posting after I settle. Check out my collection of Pongal recipes and do share me the feedback if you try something. Making sweet Pongal with wheat rava is very new to me and I love it to the core. I have already posted Cracked Wheat Upma which is one of my favourites. Let us move on to the recipe:

Rava Pongal Recipe | Rava Ghee Pongal | Rava Khara Pongal | Sooji Pongal | Pongal Special Recipes

I was not ready with any new Pongal Special recipe until yesterday. Since we are travelling to India this weekend, I am in the process of cleaning my fridge and kitchen pantry. While cleaning I found a small pack of leftover Rava/Sooji and this recipe of rava pongal comes to mind, which I saw long back in a TV show by Chef Dhamu. Jany never tastes anything with Rava and hence I made this for Happy and me as our today's breakfast. It came out very well and we both liked it. Over the last few weeks, Happy was very fuzzy in eating food and this pongal came to my rescue today. If you are planning to try this recipe, please don't compromise in the ghee quantity. If the mentioned ghee quantity is reduced, then the pongal will be turned to a sticky gooey paste. According to Chef Damu's comment, the pongal should not stick to the pan while we scoop it and it should slide into the plate beautifully. I had it with Coconut Chutney and Filter Coffee. It goes well with Pongal Gotsu or Peanut Chutney too. Check out my Venn Pongal/Khara Pongal and other Pongal special recipes too. Let us see the preparation:

Vegetable Kurma Recipe | Mixed Vegetable Kurma | Veg Kurma for Chapathi/Roti | Hotel Style Veg Kurma for Chapathi | My 350th Post

Hope everyone is back from the Christmas and New year vacation. We had a great and memorable vacation here in Sydney. Also, most of the days my Kitchen was closed and I had a break from regular cooking. I have not tried any new recipe for the last 2 weeks and it was a much-needed break. I relished lots of new food from restaurants and I have plans to try few dishes at home. In a week, we are heading to India, for another long vacation. Hopefully, I will be keeping the blog active even during my vacation with the posts from my drafts. Today's post is about a comforting and rich veg Kuruma. I received many request from readers for this recipe and hence I thought of posting it. I will be posting Kerala-based vegetable stew too. Let us move on to the recipe:

Special Non-Veg Lunch Menu | Special Weekend Lunch Menu | Lunch Menu - 1 | Lunch Ideas

I am starting a Lunch Menu Series from today and hopefully, I will be posting the lunch ideas every Friday. Also, I will share both the veg and non-veg dishes as a part of this series. To start with, I am sharing a complete non-veg lunch that I prepared for Jany's Birthday last November. The menu has his favourite mutton, chicken and fish items that I make at home. However, you can tweak the items according to your personal preference. I have explained the steps I followed in preparing this elaborate meal. Making many dishes at the same time is a little hard work for me since I am not exposed in preparing an elaborate meal more often. With a lot of preparations, I achieved this end result and Jany was very much impressed😆💕 with this lunch on his birthday. Let us see the preparations involved in this menu:

Methi Thepla Recipe | Gujarati Methi Thepla | Fenugreek Paratha | Vendhaya Keerai Roti

I always like to explore stuffed parathas and all other kinds of parathas since Happy prefers it more than rice. I have already posted Aloo Paratha and Broccoli Paratha. To add on to this list, I am here with another interesting and healthy recipe. I love to add Fenugreek/Vendhaya Keerai/Methi in my cooking considering its health benefits. Whenever I see a bunch of fresh methi leaves in the supermarket, I grab it and mix it with the dough while making Chapathi. After coming to Sydney, I came to know about this Methi Thepla through few North Indian cooking groups. Also, I talked to a friend/teacher Nidhi in Happy's playschool and got the recipe. This goes well with curd and pickle, it can be packed for lunch box, picnics or train travel. Without further delay, let us move on to the recipe.

Kara Kuzhambu Recipe | Kara Kuzhambu with Brinjal & Drumstick | Gravy for Rice

In my hometown (Nagercoil), Kara Kuzhambu is not a common gravy for rice since we eat fish most of the days. Other than fish, we make Paruppu Kuzhambu, Sambhar and Mor Kuzhambu. Also, we make a special curry called Veran Curry or Thengai Kuzhambu to go along with fish kuzhambu made without coconut. However, Aachi who stayed with us in my childhood days for helping mum makes Kara Kuzhambu and many other similar curries. Though mum doesn't make it, I like this curry very much and used to ask the cook we had in Chennai for the recipe. I learned this recipe from her and I am making it quite frequently now.

Final pictures updated on 25/Jan/2021

Makkan Peda Recipe | Arcot Makkan Peda | Malai Kaajaa | Welcome 2017

Hello All, Wishing you and your family Happy Sparkling New Year 2017. May the new year be the best you have ever had. Yet, another milestone for Happy's Cook, yes!!, we have crossed 20,000+ Likes in Facebook page. I am really excited about this achievement and special thanks to everyone for the support. Do support me in the future and spread the page among your friends to help me reach more heights. To celebrate the special occasion and the new year, I am here with a sweet recipe. I followed the recipe from Rak's Kitchen and it turned out super awesome. This makkan peda is similar to Gulab Jamun with Khoya and stuffed with fruits, Nuts. It is famous in Arcot, a place in Vellore district of Tamilnadu and hence the name. Do check out my similar recipe of Bread Gulab Jamun and other Sweets too. Off to the recipe: