Keema Stuffed Idiyappam / Meat Stuffed String Hoppers

Idiyappam / Noolappam / String Hopper is a typical Kerala breakfast usually served with different types of curries or even with sugar. It can also be prepared with meat or vegetable stuffing. Since I had some left over Keema Masala, I used it as stuffing. You only need to make the stuffing ahead of time and you can make stuffed Idiyappam for breakfast or dinner quite easily. It can be eaten as is or served with egg roast or kadala curry.

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Pork Vindaloo Recipe

Pork Vindaloo, is a hot and spicy dish popular in Goa and also amongst Christians in Kerala. It’s a very spicy dish and is served on special occasions like Christmas, Easter, engagement and baptism ceremonies. Like in any other recipe there are many different versions of this recipe. Some recipes add fried potatoes towards the end of cooking; I did not do so but if you wish you can add cubed and fried potatoes towards the end of cooking.  Vindaloo tastes better when served the following day and it goes well with breads, Palappam, Vellayappam, Sannas and all kinds of Indian breads and rice.  And for those who don’t like pork you can substitute with Beef, Chicken or Lamb....

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Chicken with Bell Peppers

I have been making this for quite some time and it’s a Ree Drummond recipe. The original recipe is with Beef and here I used chicken instead, but I have tried beef also many times and both are equally good.... The main thing we love about this curry is that it goes with almost anything like rice, noodles or even with chapathi.....  It can be served as a side dish or as a main dish after mixing it with some noodles..... 

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Arabic Stuffed Zucchini in Tomato Sauce / Kousa Mihshi Recipe

Kousa Mihshi (Stuffed Zucchini) is an Arabic main dish and widely popular in this region. Minced beef / lamb is mixed with raw rice and spices and then stuffed inside the cored Kousa / koosa (marrow squash / Arabic zucchini) and cooked in tomato paste. I used minced chicken instead of red meat.... I got the basic recipe from my maid and then I searched on the net and made this dish to suit our taste buds.... While searching the net I remember reading on one site that you can make a vegetarian version of this dish by replacing the meat with chopped mushrooms, I never tried it though.... If you like zucchini you will enjoy this mildly spiced dish. Serve as a main dish along with some nice salad.... 

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Empanada Gallega ~ September 2012 Daring Bakers’ Challenge

Patri of the blog, Asi SonLos Cosas, was our September 2012 Daring Bakers’ hostess and she decided to tempt us with one of her family’s favorite recipes for Empanadas! We were given two dough recipes to choose from and encouraged to fill our Empanadas as creatively as we wished!

Empanada (or empada, in Portuguese) is a stuffed bread or pastry baked or fried in many countries in Western Europe, Latin America, and parts of Southeast Asia. The name comes from the Galician, Portuguese and Spanish verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread.The filling for empanada can vary, meat, chicken, cheese, fruit and vegetables. It is really up to your taste and preference and there is plenty of room for creativity. It can be served warm or cold. I chose to make individual sized empanadas instead of one big one and I used ground meat filling with some slight differences.

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Masala Chicken Fry

This chicken curry recipe I got from Mother in law and is a good side dish for Palappam, Vellaappam or even with some boiled rice and moru curry. Instead of chicken you can make this curry with beef or mutton too…

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Chicken Croquettes Recipe

These Chicken Croquettes can be made ahead of time and fried just prior to serving. Kids will love this as an evening snack / nalumani palaharam or in their tiffin box along with some ketchup or wrapped in chapathi or bread.... This recipe was shown on a Malayalam TV channel by Lakshmi Nair sometime ago.... I have been making this since then with some changes as I lost her original recipe... When I made this recently I thought of posting it here so it will be easier for me to find it instead of searching through a pile of books :).... Try this when you host a party next or for your kids....I am sure you will love it....  I made this with chicken but you can even use minced beef....

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Keema Masala / Stir-fried Indian Minced Meat Masala

Keema masala is very popular in Indian restaurants as a side dish with Maida Parotta or with chapathis... It can be made with chicken, beef or mutton mince.... Usually they add peas along with the mince; but I substituted it with carrots... Keema masala goes well with Indian flatbreads, Palappam or Vellayappam… Also this is great as a wrap inside chappathi, as a topping for keema dosa or can be used as a stuffing for Keema Paratha or stuffed buns or even as a stuffing for Idiyappam...Do try and if you get more ideas on how to use this, do let me know :).... 

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Erachi Unakkiyathu / Sundried Beef with spices & Unakka Erachi Chammanthi Podichathu (Thoran)/ Dry Beef Chutney Powder

Unakka Erachi or Sun dried beef is a specialty of Kerala cuisine especially among Kerala Christians but not as popular as unakka meen / sundried fish that is easily available in shops. My grandmother and aunt used to sun dry beef and we used to always get a share of it. With that mom used to make these awesome side dishes that goes very well with boiled rice and kanji (rice gruel) which is undoubtedly an ultimate comfort food. Also these Unakka Erachi side dishes are excellent as short eats with alcohol and Kallu (Toddy)..... I am sure if I have any male readers, they will totally agree with me on this :).....

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Lasagna

I had posted this Lasagna recipe during my early  blogging days. We had guests over this weekend and this was one of the dishes I made for them. While clicking pictures of other dishes, I thought of taking some pictures of Lasagna as my earlier pictures were really terrible ;)

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Sausage Rolls

Sausage Rolls

Ingredients:

2½ cups bread flour

3tbsp+2tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 large egg

½ cup milk

120g tangzhong (recipe below)

2 tsp instant yeast3 tbsp butter (cut into small pieces, softened at room temperature)

Method:

• Combine the flour, salt, sugar and instant yeast in a bowl of a stand mixer. Make a well in the center. Add in all wet ingredients: milk, egg and tangzhong. Fit the dough hook attachment on your stand mixer and begin mixing on medium speed and knead until your dough comes together and then add in the butter and continue kneading.  Keep kneading until the dough is smooth, not too sticky on the surface and elastic, about 18-20 minutes. Each mixer may vary. When the dough is ready, you should be able to take a chunk of dough and stretch it to a very thin membrane before it breaks. When it does break, the break should be form a circle.
• Knead the dough into a ball shape. Take a large bowl and grease with oil.  Place dough into greased bowl and cover with a wet towel. Let it proof until it’s doubled in size, about 40 minutes.
• Transfer to a clean surface. Divide the dough into six equal portions. Knead into balls.  Cover with cling wrap, let rest for 15 minutes.
• Roll out each portion of the dough to form a long rope.  Take a sausage and begin wrapping the rope around the sausage, starting at one end and ending up at the other end.
• Place each rolled sausage on a baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Let them rise until double the size, approximately another 40-60 minutes.
• Beat an egg and brush egg mixture on top to create shiny egg wash finish.
• Bake at 350°F / 175°C for approximately 30 minutes. The sausage rolls are best eaten hot, when the crust of the bread is crunchy.

 
Tangzhong 
Ingredients 

1/3 cup  bread flour
1 cup water

Method:

• Mix flour and water together and whisk until it is completely dissolved and no lumps remain.
• Pour mixture into a small pot and turn on medium heat. Begin stirring constantly as the mixture heats up. It will begin to thicken.  When the temperature of the mixture reaches 65°C, turn off the stove and take the mixture off the stove to let it cool. If you are continually stirring, the mixture will start to have “lines” and then it is done. (You will start to see lines around the same time the temperature reaches 65°C)

  

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Vegetable Stew

Today’s recipe is a vegetable stew that goes very well with Palappam, Vella appam, Idiyappam or even with bread! It can be easily converted into a non veg stew by adding egg, red meat or chicken…. I cannot say this is the traditional way of making stew in Kerala. Traditionally fennel (perum jeerakam) is not added in the stew…. I got this recipe got from my mother in law when I was a newlywed bride…. Mummy used to make stew like this and I followed the same method…. But in my home Amma’s stew was different and was whiter in color…..even amma also mentioned once that her stew is far different from mummy’s…but I never got a chance to write down the recipe from Amma:( :(

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Meatball Curry / Meat Kofta Curry

Saw this delicious curry at Sarah’s Vazhayila blog… made this a couple of time now and we all loved it… the only difference I did was I slightly fried the meat balls in a little oil in my Appakara / Kuzhi paniyarams chatty ….. The original recipe did not ask for frying the meat balls…. I just fried due to the fear of breaking the meat balls while cooking…..This delicious meatball curry goes very well with Palappam, Idiyappam, Chapathi, Puttu or even with bread!

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Homemade Pizza with Beef

I usually make pizza at home at least once a month, and I have tried several recipes for my pizza base. I was never fully satisfied with the results until I tried out this recipe from Annie’s Eats…. Never tried any other base after this one… it worked very well for me and please do check out her step by step instructions… I don’t have a stand mixer, so I knead the dough in my food processer… you can even knead with your hands too J…  also I don’t have a pizza stone with me… I use my pizza pan pre heated in the oven….. use any topping of your choice as desired…

Basic Pizza Dough
Recipe Source~ Annie’s Eats

Yield: enough dough for 2 medium pizzas or 4 calzones

Ingredients:
½ cup warm water
2¼ tsp. instant yeast
4 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting
1½ tsp. salt
1¼ cup water, at room temperature
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Method:

• Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle the yeast over the top.In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the bread flour and salt, mixing briefly to blend. Measure the room temperature water into the measuring cup with the yeast-water mixture. With the mixer on low speed, pour in the yeast-water mixture as well as the olive oil. Mix until a cohesive dough is formed. Switch to the dough hook. Knead on low speed until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, 1½-2 hours.
• Press down the dough to deflate it. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Form each piece of dough into a smooth, round ball. (If freezing the dough, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze at this point.) Cover with a damp cloth. Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no longer than 30 minutes.
• To bake, preheat the oven and pizza stone to 500˚ F / 260˚C   for at least 30 minutes. Transfer the dough to your shaping surface, lightly sprinkled with cornmeal. Shape the dough with lightly floured hands. Brush the outer edge lightly with olive oil. Top as desired. Bake until the crust is golden brown, and cheese is bubbling, 8-12 minutes.

Beef Topping
Yield~ enough topping for 2 medium pizza bases

Ingredients:
2 medium Pizza Bases
1 tin (400gm) peeled tomatoes (I used fresh tomatoes)
350gm lean, mined beef
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
25gm butter
¾ tsp mild paprika (can use Kashmeri red chilly powder)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground pepper
200 gm grated cheese ( I used low fat Mozzarella cheese)
3/4 tsp mild paprika to sprinkle on top
¼ each of dried Oregano, basil and thyme to sprinkle on top

Method:

• Cut the tomatoes in small pieces and drain them.
• Fry the chopped onion and garlic in butter until golden and add minced beef and fry until it crumbles and the meat has changed colour.
• Fold in tomato pieces, paprika, sugar, salt and pepper.
• Spread the mince on the two bases and top with cheese.
• Sprinkle with paprika, oregano, basil and thyme.
• Bake until the crust is golden brown, and cheese is bubbling,

• This Pizza is YeastSpotted

 

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