Pepper 'n Spice

  Prawns is a popular sea food.   The ingredients required to prepare this dish :   Prawns, deveined and deshelled - 250 g Onion - 1 Green chili - 3 Ginger - 1/4 inch Garlic - 3 cloves Tomato - 2 Salt - 1/4 tsp Garam  masala - 1/4 tsp Coriander powder - 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Water - 1/4 cup Clean the prawns under running water. Coat them with salt, turmeric powder, garam masala, coriander powder, salt and refrigerate overnight. Slice onion, chili, garlic, ginger and tomato into thin pieces. Toss in onion, ginger, garlic and chili into a pan, along with a splash of water. Allow them to soften, over 5 minutes. Add in the diced tomato. After a few minutes, throw in the marinated prawns. Let it cook on slow heat for 10 to 15 minutes.       Once the prawns is fully cooked, turn off the heat. Serve with roti and enjoy!

  Chicken can be cooked in different styles, but the traditional Indian one is the curry. Its flavors are augmented by the spices that are added.   The ingredients are... Chicken, boneless - 1 and 1/2 kg Onion - 2 large Ginger - 1/2 inch Garlic - 3 or 4 cloves Green chili - 2 Tomato -3 small Potato, peeled - 2 or 3 Salt - a pinch Pepper - a bit Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Garam masala - 1/2 tsp Coriander leaves - a few Method : Clean the chicken and chop into 1 inch pieces. Marinate with ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, salt, pepper and garam masala. Refrigerate overnight. Pressure cook the chicken with some water for a single whistle. Slice onion, ginger, garlic, chili and tomato into thin slices. Heat a deep-bottomed pan and throw in onion, garlic, ginger, chili and a splash of water. Saute for five minutes. Add in tomato. After a few minutes, toss in the spices; turmeric powder, salt, pepper and garam masala. Allow the spices to mingle with the onion melange. Add diced p...

From my regular grocery store, I bought multi-grain dosa batter and emptied it into a tall glass jar.                Break an egg into a bowl and sprinkle salt and pepper. Or else add a twist to the taste by including your desired garam masala or noodle masala. Whisk.               Heat up a flat skillet, add a dollop of olive oil, add 2 tablespoons of multigrain dosa batter and spread it into a thin layer with the backside of the spoon.     Sprinkle a teaspoon of the spiced egg onto the pancake batter on the pan and allow it to cook on medium heat for about 3 minutes. Flip sides and let it cook again until crisp.    Serve hot with coconut chutney !

From the local fish shop, I bought half a kilogram of sardines. They are long and silvery. It seems they are called so, because they are aplenty near the Italian island of Sardinia.   The fishmonger removed the head of the fish and cut a slit through its belly. After I brought it home, I washed them well under running water and scooped out any extra flesh inside the cut. Then I marinated the fish with salt, turmeric powder, chili powder, ginger powder and ground pepper. Finally I dumped it in a closed glass jar in the freezer. The next day morning, I transferred it to the fridge so that it would defrost by dinner time. All that is required now is a flat skillet and a bit of olive oil. Pan fry the fish on both sides until they are evenly done. Now it is primed for eating, alongside rice or Indian bread (chapati) and salad .

  This is an uncomplicated variation to the traditional coconut chutney availed as a side dish for dosa, idli and vada.   Ingredients needed are fresh shredded coconut, a few shallots, 2 or 3 green chilies, a bit of turmeric powder and a smidgeon  of salt. The special touch is added by incorporating roasted, split chickpeas (commonly called bengal gram in India). Throw all of these into a blender jar and blitz until you get a smooth textured chutney. Mine turned out in a shade of pale green, I guess owing to the chilies added.

  Ever wondered how to make a quick and easy breakfast, especially when you have woken up late and your first meeting is in half an hour. I know, just enough time to freshen and change from your pajamas into work attire. Well, I have a solution! Prepare an onion omelette and embed it between two slices of bread and toast. This hardly takes 5 minutes, as the toaster will do the rest of the work.   You will need an egg, half an onion, a pinch of salt and pepper, a teeny bit of turmeric powder and a drop of olive oil. Break the egg into a small bowl and add the spices. Slice the onion into small, thin strips and drop into the bowl. Whisk for a few seconds.  Heat a flat skillet and drizzle oil. Let it spread evenly around the middle of the pan. Pour in the whisked egg. Allow it to cook for a few minutes and flip sides with a spatula. Let the now underside cook too. Turn off the heat. Your onion omelette is ready. Keep it inside two slices of multigrain...

Appam is fermented rice flour. I got a refrigerated batter from our local shop. The print on the cover advised to add a bit of salt, a pinch of baking soda, a splash of water and a quarter spoon of sugar. I added and mixed the batter so that the additives are consistently distributed and left it covered on the kitchen island overnight.            The batter bubbled up and almost overflowed out of the dish. I gave it a good stir and kept a skillet to heat up. Then added a dollop of olive oil, shook the pan to spread the oil and dropped 2 tablespoons full of the batter onto it. I covered the skillet with a glass lid.         The bottom half of the appam cooked in about 3 minutes on slow flame. After flipping, I covered the appam again with the lid and let it cook for another 3 minutes. Your delicious sweet appam is ready to be eaten!        

A basic sponge cake has only flour, sugar and eggs. It depends on well whisked eggs as the leavening agent. (To enlighten; leavening agent is one that helps a cake to rise.) Victoria sponge cake has fat and a leavening agent added too, namely, butter and baking powder. It is named after Queen Victoria who used to like this cake with her tea. Victoria sponge cake takes after the pound cake, in that it uses equal measures of flour, butter, sugar and eggs. I follow the old-fashioned method of baking; which is to cream caster sugar and butter, mixing it well with beaten egg, then folding in flour and baking powder.  So let's dive into the recipe .. Granulated sugar - 250g Butter - 250g  or 156ml olive oil Organic brown eggs - 4 Vanilla essence - a few drops All-purpose flour - 250g Baking powder - 1/2 tsp Milk - 1/2 cup Nutmeg (grated) - a bit I cut down on the sugar to 200g and butter to 200g. So, the modus operandi.. Grind granulated sugar to a powder. Keep butter out of the ref...

 The esoteric thoran dish is a typical Malayali dish. It is prepared in all Keralite households and served with red rice. It is usually cooked in coconut oil. The important ingredient is coconut, freshly scraped. My dish differs from the staple salver with its exclusion of oil. Here goes the steps..   Constituents... Beans, haricot - 250g Coconut, grated - 100g Shallots - 2 Green chili - 1 Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp Salt - 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Water - 1/4 cup Recipe... Wash the beans well. Trim the ends of beans and chop into small pieces. Cast into a deep-bottomed steel saucepan along with water. Allow the beans to soften on slow heat for about 10 minutes. Slice shallots and throw into a small blender jar. Also, fling in green chili, cumin seeds, salt, turmeric powder, coconut flakes and a splash of water. Grind for 5 seconds. Separate some of the beans towards the sides of pan and spoon in the crunched coconut into the center of the pan. Cover the coconut potpourri w...

When one doesn't have eggs, you can still make your child's favorite breakfast. The leavening agent here is baking powder and soda. I also used demerara sugar instead of white sugar. Demerara sugar named so after the British colony of Demerara, which is now in republic of Guyana is made of 97-98% sucrose, as compared to 93% in white sugar. Hence it is healthier. This brownish tinged sugar is made from the first pressing of sugarcane.   ABCD's are... All-purpose flour - 1 cup Baking powder - 1 tsp Baking soda - 1 tsp Oat  milk, homemade - 1 and 3/4 cup Demerara sugar - 1 and 1/2 Tbsp Salt - a tad Olive oil, extra virgin - 1 and 1/2 Tbsp     The procedure... In a clean, glass bowl, add all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and sugar. Intermingle to combine everything. Add in the oat milk and give it a good stir. Heat up a flat-bottomed non-stick saucepan and drizzle a bit of oil when the pan becomes hot. Brush the oil to spread it across the pan. Add a tablesp...

 The essential contents are... Spinach - a big bunch Mint leaves - a big bunch Ginger - 1/2" Garlic - 4 cloves Green chili - 1 Lemon - 2 Water - a splash Salt - a smidgeon  The mechanism... Soak spinach and mint leaves in water with a bit of vinegar and salt for an hour. This helps remove pesticides. After that, wash well under running water. Break off and discard stem.  Peel ginger, garlic and mince them. Slice chili into bits.  Throw in spinach, mint, ginger, garlic, chili, salt, lemon juice and water into a blender and blitz for a minute or until all the leaves are crushed. Have a whale of a time, enjoying the chutney alongside crisp dosa.

 This dish was cooked by daughter. The fundamental elements are... Wheat noodles Green capsicum  - 1 Cabbage - 1 cup Onion - 1 Salt - 1/ 2 tsp Dark soy sauce - 1 tsp Vinegar - 1 tsp

  The elements of this uncomplicated dish are... Beans - 500g Drumsticks - 2 Onion - 1 Salt - 1/2 tsp Black pepper powder - 1/2 tsp Nutritional yeast - 1 tsp Turmeric powder - a smidgeon Water - 3/4 cup The modus operandi... Wash beans and drumstick well. Trim ends of beans. Chop into thin rounds. Cut open the drumstick and scrape out the insides. Microwave beans and drumstick seeds with some water and a tad bit of salt for 3 minutes. The vegetables will soften. In a deep-bottomed steel pan, throw in chopped onion and a splash of water. Let it cook for 5 minutes.  Fling in the vegetables. Allow them to soften on slow heat. Add in salt, pepper, turmeric powder and yeast flakes. Give it a good stir. Cook until the vegetables dry up. Platter and serve alongside rice or quinoa. Have a whaling time savoring the wholesome food.

 The building blocks of the steak... Chicken breasts - 500g Salt Apple cider vinegar Pepper (whole) Black pepper powder Chili powder Ginger garlic paste Olive oil - 1 Tbsp Wash chicken well under running water. Cut each breast into two halves lengthwise. Slash it on top many times. This is so that when it is heated, the insides will be cooked thoroughly.  Marinate with salt, vinegar, whole pepper, pepper powder, chili powder and ginger garlic paste. Store in fridge overnight.  In a nonstick pan, dribble oil. Place the steak pieces gently. Cook on low heat, turning often; for half an hour or until nicely browned on both sides. Savor as such or as a sandwich with tomato and spinach leaves. Recipe adapted from here  .

 The ingredients...... Brown chickpeas - 1 cup Onion - 1 Ginger - 1/2 inch Garlic - 4 cloves Nutritional yeast - 1 tsp Chili powder - 1/2 tsp Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp Garam masala - 1/2 tsp Salt - 1/2 tsp Tomato - 1 Water - for boiling chickpeas and cooking onion Spinach- 1 big bunch The recipe... Pressure cook chickpeas in water with little salt for 4 to 5 whistles.  Peel onion, ginger and garlic. Chop onion into thin slices. Mince ginger and garlic. In a deep - bottomed saucepan, fling in onion, ginger, garlic and a splash of water. Allow the onions to soften. Spoon in yeast flakes, salt, coriander powder and garam masala. Stir for a minute for the raw smell of the masalas to disappear. Add in roughly chopped tomato. Give a good stir so that the tomato blends in. Turn off heat. Wash spinach leaves well by soaking it in water with a dash of salt and apple cider vinegar for an hour. Clean well and break off stems. Throw in the masala mishmash,  spinach leaves and some w...

 Green peas belong to the legume family. Here is an unembellished recipe from a paper cutting I had saved long back. The nuts and bolts of the dish are... Basmati rice - 1 and 1/2 cups Water - 2 cups for cooking rice + 1/2 cup for cooking onions and peas Onion - 1 Ginger - 1/2" Garlic - 4 cloves Nutritional yeast - 1 tsp Salt - 1/2 tsp Green peas, frozen - 1/2 cup     The procedure...   Soak rice in water for half an hour. Wash rice and strain. Pressure cook with 2 cups water and a smidgeon of salt. Defrost green peas. Wash them. Microwave peas with little water and a pinch of salt for 3 minutes.  Peel onion, ginger and garlic. Mince garlic and ginger. Chop onion into thin slices. Heat a deep-bottomed saucepan and throw in onion, ginger, garlic and a splash of water. Cook for a few minutes or until the onions soften. Add in yeast flakes and salt. Stir well. Fling in the cooked green peas. Spoon in rice. The awesome dish is ready to be served.

  Cabbage is a pale, light green vegetable that needs very little cooking time. It is crunchy and can be eaten raw in salad dishes.     The elements of the simple platter... Cabbage - 1/4 kg Onion - 1 Ginger - 1 inch Salt - 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder - a tad Water - 1/4 cup The preparation method... Peel ginger and onion. Chop ginger into small bits. Cleave onion into 1/4" pieces. Cut cabbage also into 1/4" pieces. Fling in onion and ginger into a deep-bottomed pan along with water. When the onion becomes soft, throw in the cabbage and spoon in the spices. Allow the vegetable to cook in the remaining water and steam. As all the water evaporates, give the mishmash a good stir and spread it to the edges of the pan. Turn off heat. Plate it and serve hot!

           The elements are,, Noodles, dry - 250g Drumstick - 2 Capsicum - 1 Cabbage - 250g Onion - 1 Mint leaves - a small bunch  Salt - 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder - a tad Soya sauce - 1 tsp Red chili sauce - 1 tsp       The method,,  Cook noodles in boiling water with a pinch of salt.  Scrape drumstick insides and cook in little water and turmeric powder. Deseed capsicum. Chop into small cubes. Shred cabbage.  Slice onion into thin pieces. Soften it by cooking in boiling water.  Add in moringa seeds with a tad of salt and turmeric powder to cook in the boiling water. After a few minutes,  add in capsicum and cabbage. Then add in soya and red chili sauce. Mix well. Cast in cooked noodles and mint leaves. Mix. Enjoy!