Happy's Cook

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Peanut Chutney Recipe | Groundnut Chutney | Verkadalai Chutney

My preference for food is changing over time. During my schooling, I never like chutneys as side dish for Idli, Dosa and I always go for Sambar. But after college I started loving chutneys and wish to try new chutney whenever I can. Already I have posted few other Chutneys like Coconut Chutney, Peerkangai Chutney, Tomato Chutney, Onion tomato Chutney and Kara Chutney in this space. Today I am adding one more chutney to my list, which is my recent favourite. Yes, I am presenting the delicious creamy peanut chutney with detailed steps here:

Nethili Meen Manga Curry Recipe | Anchovies Mango Fish Curry | Nethili Meen Kuzhambu

Nethili manga curry is an authentic south indian recipe that is loved by majority of seafood lovers. Whenever I get nethili, I usually fry it since Jany prefers it that way. But whenever I have mango in hand, I don't miss to prepare this curry. The mango is the main souring agent and it gives a divine flavour to the curry. The fish is high in calcium because we eat the bones too. Nethili fish can create gastric problem, so mom prefers to add ginger in the recipe for easy digestion.

Mom makes this curry very well, but I missed to get the recipe from her. But luckily mom had taught Vanitha akka to prepare this curry. Vanitha akka helps us with all our household works in native. Mom had moulded her as a decent cook for a period of 6 to 7 years. So whenever I have any doubt about how mom does a particular dish, I will immediately ring her. She helps me and explains whatever mom had told her about that. During our last visit, I asked dad to buy nethili fish and I tried it with the help of akka. It was super tasty and I didn't miss to click it. So here we go for mom's yummy nethili manga curry:

Coconut Fish Crisps Recipe | Kids friendly recipe

This post was lying in my draft for more than a year now. This is an unusual recipe in my kitchen, but it was a huge hit when I tried it. Once Jany and his friends got huge amount of fresh Vanjiram fish from a nearby beach. Apart from our usual fish curry and fish fry, he was asking me to try something new. I had no clue about his expectation and I asked him to give the recipe. He was googling and eventually came up with this recipe. It was from Laura Vitale's space, where she tried it with Shrimp. This super easy recipe turned out very well. Both Jany and Happy were fond of this coconut fish, which got vanished by no time. If your kid is a fuzzy fish eater, then you can try this and for sure they will love it. Already I have posted fish finger which is one of the kids favourite fish recipe. Onto the recipe:

Masala Dosa Recipe | Masala Dosa with potato filling | Breakfast Recipes

Masala dosa is one of my childhood breakfast recipe whenever I visit restaurants. Though I am not crazy about masala dosa these days, I try it once in a while. In home whenever I have some left over Poori masala, I make use of it to prepare masala dosa the next day. The masala dosa gives rich flavour, when you drizzle some ghee on top of the dosa along with some ghee fried broken cashews in the potato masala. If you are strictly on diet and feel guilty about its richness, don't go for more than one. :P Here we go for the step-by-step pictures:

Aappam Recipe | Appam Recipe | Appam without Yeast | Breakfast Recipes

Appam is a type of pancake made with fermented rice batter and coconut. It is a common food in Kerala. Since I am from a place, which is very near Kerala, it is quite common in our home too. During Christmas and Easter, mom usually make appam with mutton or chicken curry for breakfast.

The appam recipe which we follow is not the traditional Kerala appam. But it is similar to that and it tastes equally good. My mom in-law makes perfect spongy appam and this is her recipe. I have also mentioned few tips which I got it from her to make this appam. Every weekend I grind both Idli Dosa batter and Appam batter. I will preserve it for a week in fridge. Here, we go for the detailed recipe:

Idiyappam Recipe | Nool Puttu | Sevai | String Hoppers | Breakfast Recipes

Idiyappam is one of our regular breakfast recipe. Jany likes Idiyappam, only if it is paired with vegetable coconut stew (Sodhi) or any non-veg gravy. He hates having it with sugar and coconut. So I mostly make it on weekends and sometimes I make it for dinner. This is one of the healthy traditional breakfast recipe prepared by steaming the rice flour. The dough which we make use for preparing this idiyappam is similar to our Kozhukattai dough which I have posted here.

After I start cooking, mom taught me the preparation of Idiyappam. I still remember the day when she gave a chance for me to try pressing the idiyappam. After marriage whenever we go to native, mom makes this idiyappam along with mutton curry for the breakfast. Jany and I love to have her preparation, but Happy had not got a chance to relish in her dishes :(. Again, the plate I used for preparing this idiyappam was the one which mom owns. This idiyappam can be made in our normal idli mould. But she prefers making big sized idiyappam like in restaurants. Without much delay let us go to the preparation steps:

Homemade Idli Dosa batter Recipe | Failproof Idli Dosa Batter| Idli Recipe | Plain Dosa Recipe | South Indian Soft Idlis | Breakfast Recipes

Idli/Dosa is a traditional breakfast in south India. It is one of the healthiest and popular breakfasts. In my school and college days, I love only dosa and don't prefer Idlis at all. However, I started missing my mum's softest Idli during my PG hostel days. She makes fabulously soft idli and serves it with runny coconut chutney tempered with small onions(shallots). She says the softness of the Idli mainly depends on the quality of the urad dal used. Also, she never soaks the urad dal for more than 30 minutes and she skips the fenugreek seeds to get pure white Idlis. I follow her measurements(4 cups idli rice: 1 cup urad dal) religiously when I was in Chennai and it gives amazing results.

After we move to Sydney, the quality of the urad dal we get here is different and I didn't get soft idlis with this measurement. After so much trial and errors, finally, I have settled with (2 cups idli rice:1 cup urad dal) and a handful of Poha(Aval). This failproof Idli & Dosa batter is giving me the perfect sponge idlis.

I will explain both the measurements in this post and you can choose anyone based on the type of urad dal. The good quality urad dal will give the fluffy batter.