Irachi Pathiri

Irachi Pathiri is a Malabar Muslim dish with chicken stuffed in flour pathiris/tortillas and deep fried. This is kind of a must try for us every year during Ramzan fasting days from the famous Zains hotel in Calicut. During those days Zains have all those yummy Malabar Muslim snacks available in the evening time and we make sure that we have at least a single visit there on one of those days.

Irachi Pathiri is not a heavily spiced snack, it is mildly spiced. But don't count the calories and fat when you have this. 😜
Here goes the recipe for Irachi Pathiri which yeilds 2  medium sized pathiris. 

Ingredients:

1. Chicken pieces - about 100gm
2. Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp 
3. Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
4. Turmeric powder -1/8 tsp
5. Salt to taste
6. Onion, chopped - 1/4 cup
7. Ginger, chopped - 1tsp
8. Garlic, chopped - 1 tsp 
9. Oil - for frying + 2 tbs
10. All purpose flour - 1 cup
11. Salt to taste
12. Egg - 1
13. Sugar - 1 tsp
14. Cardamom powder - 1 pinch
15. Ghee/ oil - 4 tbs

Method:

1. Marinate chicken pieces with salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder for 10 minutes.
2. Cook chicken in half a cup of water. 
3. Once chicken is cooked well, cool them and shred the chicken 
4. Knead flour with salt and water and keep it closed for 10-20 minutes 
5. Heat 2 tbs oil in a pan and sauté onion , ginger and garlic for 2 minute under medium flame 
6. Add the shredded chicken to the above and sauté it for 2 more minutes 
7. Roll the dough to 4 round shaped pathiris 
8. Spread chicken mixture on a pathiri 
9. Cover it with 2nd pathiri 
10. Apply a bit of water on the pathiri edges for sticking them together 
11. Seal the sides using a fork or with finger
12. Remove any trapped air by pricking the pathiri with tooth picks 
13. Heat oil in a deep frying pan  
14. Deep fry pathiris till they are cooked and golden brown
15. Keep them on oil absorbing tissues
16. Mix egg,sugar, salt and cardamom powder and pour it to a flat bottomed bowl or plate
17. Heat another flat pan with ghee in it
18. Dip fried pathiris in the egg mixture so that both sides have egg mixture on them. You may spoon the egg mixture on the pathiris or flip pathiris in the egg mixture instead of dipping it
19. Fry pathirus on the flat hot pan with ghee till the egg mixture on both sides are cooked and slightly browned.

Irachi pathiris are ready to be served!

Masala Biscuit

Recipe#18 from Mrs.K.M.Mathews series.

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour - 2 cups
2. Salt - 1/2 tsp
3. Garam masala powder - 1/4 tsp
4. Baking soda - 1/8 tsp
5. Baking powder - 1/8 tsp
6. Ghee in solid form - 50gm
7. Margarine - 50gm
8. Sugar - 2 tsp
9. Yellow color - a drop optional
10. Egg - 1
11. Cashew nuts, chopped - 1 tbs
12. Green chilli, chopped - 1 tbs
13. Ginger, finely chopped - 1 tsp
14. Coriander leaves, chopped - 1 tbs
15. Pepper, coarsely ground - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Mix ingredients from 1 to 5 and keep aside
2. Mix ghee and margarine well using a whisk
3. Add sugar and mix again
4. Add color and egg and whisk again to mix well
5. Add flour mixture to it and knead it (more like a crumbs texture now)
6. Add ingredients from 11 to 15 to the above and knead again
7. Make balls and roll the dough. (If dough cannot be made to a ball, add cold water in tsp, checking after each addition if dough is ready to be made to balls)
8. Cut the rolled dough using a cookie cutter or glass with sharp rim. (Instead of rolling I flattened the ball in my palm)
9. Preheat the oven to 350F Deg
10. Butter the baking tray and arrange cookies on it
11. Bake it at 350F Deg for 30 minutes until the biscuit top is slightly browned
12. Cool the biscuits in wire rack

Note:

1. Dough texture was too crumbs like and hence i had to add cold water though it was not mentioned in the book
2. It was not as spicy as i expected. If i am making it the next time, which i will do soon, i will add a tsp more of sugar and more spices
3. Also i will add a bit more cold water so that there is no cracks on the biscuit when i shape them
4. I have halved the recipe given in the book
5. And the book didn't mention baking heat or time

Sughiyan/ Green gram bean sweet snack

Sughiyan is a fried sweet snack made with green gram dal/cherupayar. It is a typical Malabar evening snack and my Dad's favourite. We never used to make this at home as me and my brother was not fond of it during our childhood. I think I have tasted it only once or twice before. Since Ramzan is coming up, I was looking for nombu thurakkal snacks and Sughiyan caught my attention. And, since we are relocating soon, I wanted to finish off all those grocery items in my kitchen store.

The below recipe yields sughiyan with a crispy outer shell and soft and delicious inside. It has that earthy taste from green gram dal, sweetness from jaggery and wonderful scent of cardamom.

Ingredients:

1. Green gram dal /Cherupayar- 1 cup
2. Jaggery - 150gm
3. Cardamom - 1 
4. Salt a pinch
5. Coconut, shredded - 1/2 cup
6. Flour - 1 cup
7. Turmeric powder or Yellow color - a pinch/ 1 drop ( optional)
8. Ghee/ clarified butter - 1 tbs
9. Oil for frying
10. Cashews and raisins - 10 each ( optional)

Note:

• This recipe give 10 medium sized Sughiyan
• Don't over cook green gram dal. Dal should be soft when pinched but it must retain its shape
• I have made sughiyan even without using optional items. It still tastes as good
• Turmeric or yellow color is added to get yellow color of the batter. It doesn't impact the taste
• Using unniyappam chatti for frying helps to retain the ball shape without breaking. And also helps to reduce the frying time and wastage of oil

Method:

1. Cook green gram dal in a pressure cooker till cooked. Don't over cook the dal. We don't want to mash it to paste. 
2. Take out the seeds from cardamom and powder it
3. Heat ghee in a pan.
4. Fry cashews and raisins in it
5. Add cardamom and coconut and give it a toss
6. Melt jaggery in half a cup of water and strain it through a fine mesh to remove dirt
7. Mix cooked green gram , salt and jaggery to the coconut mixture and cook it till the liquid is almost dried up
8. Switch off the flame and keep it for cooling
9. When it is still warm, make lime size or small balls out of it
10. Keep it in fridge
11. Take flour in a deep bowl 
12. Mix with a pinch of salt
13. Add water, around 1 cup to the flour and make a lump free batter
14. The batter shouldn't be too thick or thin. Consistency should be similar to dosa batter
15. If you are using turmeric or yellow color, add it to the batter now. I didn't use both 
16. Now heat oil in a kadai or unniyappam chatti
17. Dip each ball in the batter and fry it in medium flame
18. All sides of sughiyan should be fried well

Hot fried sughiyan with hot tea or coffee on a cool rainy evening with your family..mmm

This Recipe is an entry to The KitchenAid India Navratri Challenge for The Hub @ Archana’s Kitchen.

Unniyappam

Finally I made a very successful batch of appams today.  This is my third trial in making appams. In the first trial I made appam batter using puttipodi and baking soda + etc etc and it turned out to be a super flop. Second trial turned out better, but not the best. Third trial is the below recipe which I really liked. Patience is the key to success for appams, Give it time for soaking and fermentation to soft appams :)

Ingredients:

1. Raw rice / Pachari - 2 cups
2. Jaggery - 300gm
3. Cardamom - 1
4. Sesam seeds - 1 tbs
5. Coconut bits/ thenga kothu - 1/2 cup
6. Banana - 2
7. Salt to taste
8. Coconut oil/ghee - for deep fry
9. Clarified butter / Ghee - 2tbs

Appachatti

Note:

• I have soaked the rice in the morning at around 10am
• Made batter  at night around 8pm
• Made appams next day morning at 9 am
• I have use banas similar to robusta, palayankodan pazham is best suited for making appams
• Adjust Jaggery qty according to your taste

Method:

1. Soak rice in water for a minimum of 5 hrs
2. Melt jaggery in half a cup of water on heat
3. Strain it in a fine mesh top remove dirt
4. Strain the soaked rice and grind it with banana, cardamom, salt and melted jaggery.
5. The batter need not be vey smooth, similar to idli batter. (if you take little batter on your finger and rub with another finger, there will be few sand like particle you will feel., not many)
6. Batter should not be too runny, nor thick, similar to idli batter again
7. Keep the batter for fermentation for minimum 5-6 hrs.
8. Fry coconut bits and sesame seeds in ghee and keep aside, take care not to burn them
9. Heat appachatti(picture above) in medium to high flame
10. Fill half of each cup with coconut oil or ghee
11. Spoon the batter in to each cup upto 3/4 full and fry till brown on both side. You may use, spoon, fork or bamboo stick for flipping appams in appachatti (Take care not to burn appams. They will burn very fast if unattended. Adjust the heat accordingly)

This Recipe is an entry to The KitchenAid India Navratri Challenge for The Hub @ Archana’s Kitchen.

Paniyaram/ Fried Rice Lentil balls

 

 

Ingredients:



1. Idli batter - 1.5 cups
2. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
3. Curry leaves - few
4. Pepper corns - 1 tsp
5. Dried dry chilli - 1
6. Ginger, chopped - 1/2 tsp
7. Shallots, chopped - 1/4 cup
8. Carrot, shredded - 1/4 cup(optional)
9. Oil/Ghee - 1 tbs + for frying

 

Appa chatti or Paniyaram pan

Method:

1. Heat 1 tbs of oil for tempering
2. Splutter mustard seeds in it.
3. Fry curry leaves, pepper,ginger, shallots and dried chilli in the oil and switch off the flame
4. Mix the above and carrots with idli batter
5. Heat appa chatti or paniyaram pan
6. Fill 1/2 of each cup with oil
7. Once the oil is hot, spoon the batter in to each cup and cook till the paniyarams are browned(Flip over in between to brown both sides)

 

Serve paniyarams with chutney or sambar

Unnakaya/ banana fritters

 

I

Unnakaya is a malabar special evening time snack. Unnam means cotton in Malayalam. Kayu means fruit. Since the shape of unnakaya snack is that of cotton fruit, it has this name.
The option 1 given in the below recipe is the real unnakaya recipe. But I usually go with the option 2 as it is easier to make and tastier for my taste buds.

Ingredients :

1. Plantain, sweet and not too ripe - 2
2. Coconut , shredded - 5 tbs
3. Sugar - 2-3 tbs
4. Raisins - 10
5. Cashew nut , broken - 2 tbs
6. Cardamom powder - a pinch
7. Oil for deep fry

Note

• Plantains must be just ripe. It shouldn't be mushy at all
• I would like to keep unnakaya balls in fridge for at least 30 minutes before frying. 

Method:

1. Steam cook the plantains
2. Once cool, grind it into paste, don't add water for grinding.

Option 1

1. Fry raisins and nuts
2. Mix coconut with sugar , raisins , nuts and cardamom powder
3. Make a ball of plantain paste
4. Make a hole in the center and fill a teaspoon of coconut mixture in it
5. Close the hole well and slightly elongate the ball shape to form oval/ egg shape. 

Option 2

1. Mix coconut, sugar, cardamom powder, nuts and raisins to plantain paste
2. Make balls out of it

3. Fry unnakaya/ plantain balls in hot oil in medium to high flame till all sides turn light brown in color
4. Place the fried unnakaya in kitchen tissue to soak up the extra oil

Serve it warm

Stuffed Bun

Here is my first attempt to make stuffed bun. It is an easy to make snack or breakfast or even serve as dinner !

Ingredients:

For stuffing:

1. Potatoes, cooked - 1 big
2. Paneer - 1 cup
3. Onion, chopped - 1 medium
4. Ginger, chopped - 1 tsp
5. Garlic , chopped - 1 tsp
6. Green chilli - 1 or 2
7. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
8. Oil - 1 tbs
9. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
10. Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
11. Coriander leaves, chopped -1 tbs
12. Salt to taste

For bun

1. Wheat flour - 2 cups
2. Instant yeast - 1.5 tsp
3. Salt to taste
4. Italian herbs - 1tsp( optional)
5. Sugar - 1 tsp
6. Milk, warm - 1/2 cup
7. Baking powder -1 tsp
8. Olive oil/ coconut oil - 2 tbs
9. Chia seeds - 1 tsp (optional)

Method:

For stuffing:

1. Heat oil in a pan
2. Splutter cumin seeds
3. Sauté ginger, garlic, green chilli and onion in it
4. Add turmeric powder and give a toss
5. Mash potatoes and paneer
6. Once onion is translucent, add mashed potatoes and paneer and mix well
7. Add garam masala and coriander leaves to the above and switch off the flame
8. Once stuffing is in room temp make balls out of it using your palm

Note: The stuffing should be dry otherwise bun will be soggy
The above recipe for the stuffing is not much spicy, For a more spicy stuffing you may use the Cutlet Recipe mix for stuffing.

 

For bun:

1. Mix yeast in warm milk along with sugar for 5 to 10 min until you see some froth on top
2. Mix flour, salt, baking powder and herbs well
3. Knead the dough by adding milk and oil to the flour mixture
4. Keep dough in a bowl. Cling wrap the bowl and keep for 30 min for the dough to rise
5. Preheat the oven to 150degree Celsius 
6. Knead the dough again to release the air
7. Make balls out of dough and flatten it using your palm
8. Like stuffed parathas, keep a stuffing masala ball in to the flattened dough and close it properly
9. Brush the stuffed bun with oil and keep for 5 minutes
10. Brush with milk and sprinkle some chia seeds on it
11. Bake the bun for 20 to 25 minutes 
12. Once baked, move the buns to a wire rack for cooling

Note:
The buns can be served warm 

It can be stored in fridge for 1-2 days

White chocolate chip cookies -Thick and Chewy cookies

This recipe gives thick and chewy cookies similar to the subway cookies.

Ingredients

1. Unsalted butter, chilled - 1/2 cup
2. Egg - 1 large
3. Brown sugar - 1/2 cup
4. White sugar - 1/4 cup
5. Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
6. All purpose flour - 1 cup
7. Cake/Top flour - 1/2 cup
8. Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
9. Salt - 1/4 tsp
10. Baking soda - a pinch
11. Corn starch - 1 tbs
12. white chocolate chips - 1 cup

Method:

1. Sieve ingredients from 6 to 11 and mix well
2. In another bowl, mix ingredients 3 and 4 well
3. Cut chilled butter into small cubes and mix with sugar
4. Using a hand mixer, mix it in medium speed.
5. Once they are mixed well, add egg and vanilla
6. Beat it using the mixer until well combined
7. Add half of the flour mixture, mix well
8. Add rest of flour and mix well
9. Add chocolate chips and combine well by a spatula
10. Store the dough refrigerated over night
11. Before baking , make balls with the dough using your palm or ice cream scoop and place it in a baking tray with parchment paper on it.
12. Keep each balls apart, cover the tray with cling wrap and move the tray to freezer (so that it stays in freezer for a minimum of 20-30 minutes when oven is preheated)
13. Preheat oven to 175 Degree Celsius for 20 minutes
14. Move the baking tray to oven and bake for 12-15 minutes.
15. You might have to turn your tray in between, if cookies are browning on one side.
16. Once done, move the tray out and cool the cookies

Cookies will be harder towards the outer rim and softer in the middle :)

Chicken Cutlet

This is a Kerala style chicken cutlet recipe  

Ingredients:

1. Potatoes cooked and mashed - 3 medium
2. Minced chicken - 1 cup
3. Onion chopped - 1/2 medium onion
4. Garlic chopped - 1 tbs
5. Ginger chopped  - 1 tbs
6. Green chilli chopped -  2 medium
7. Coriander powder - 1 tbs
8. Chilli powder - 1 tsp
9. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
10. Garam masala - 1 tsp
11. Salt to taste
12. Oil to fry / roast
13. Oil for sauté - 1 tbs
14. Bread crumbs - 2 cups
15. Egg - 1

Method:

1. Heat oil for sauté in a pan
2. Add onion, ginger, garlic and green chilli and sauté for 3-4 minutes till the raw smell is gone
3. Add ingredients from 7 to 11 and sauté for one more minute in medium flame
4. Add minced chicken to the above and fry it
5. Once chicken is cooked, add mashed potato to it and mix well
6. Switch off the flame
7. Make small balls of cutlet mixture once the mixture reaches room temperature
8. Flatten the ball and make the cutlet shape
9. Heat oil in a pan for frying the cutlet
10. Break the egg to a bowl
11. Dip the cutlet in egg and then dip it in bread crumbs
12. Once the cutlet is uniformly coated with bread crumbs, fry it in hot oil till the cutlet is firm and both sides are browned
13. Repeat the same for the rest of cutlets
14. Cutlets are now ready to be served

Cutlets can be enjoyed best with ketchup!

Masala Chicken Fry

Ingredients:

1. Chicken, small pieces - 200 gm
2. Coconut oil - to fry
3. Coriander seeds - 2tbs
4. Dried red chillies - 4
5. Fennel seeds - 1.5 tbs
6. Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
7. Cloves - 4
8. Cardamon - 1
9. Cinnamon - 1/2 inch stick
10. Pepper - 6 seeds
11. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
12. Garlic chopped - 1 tbs
13. Ginger chopped - 1 tbs
14. Lime juice - 2 tsp
15. Curry leaves - 10-12
16. Green chilli - 4
17. Salt to taste

Method:

1. Dry roast ingredients from 3 to 10 in a hot pan for a minute in medium flame. 
2. Use a blender to powder the above spices. It need not be fine powder.
3. Add ingredients from 11 to 14 to the blender to get the masala in a thick paste consistency
4. Marinate chicken pieces with the above masala and salt for 15 minutes.
5. Heat oil in a pan
6. Fry green chillies and curry leaves in it and keep it aside on a tissue paper to absorb excess oil 
7. Fry chicken in the oil in medium flame and with lid on, until chicken is cooked through and browned outside. It will take around 5 minutes on each side.
8. Keep the fried chicken also on tissue to remove excess oil
9. Transfer chicken to a serving bowl and garnish with fried curry leaves and green chilli along with raw onion slices. 

Note : The above recipe for Masala chicken fry gives you a very spicy chicken fry. Reduce the dried red chillies used in masala if you want to make it less spicy. 

Baked Apples

Recipe on the way!!!

Monkey bread with gooey cinnamon caramel

This is a mouth watering dish for anyone with sweet tooth.

Ingredients:

For bread

1. All purpose flour - 3-4cups
2. Sugar - 3 tbs
3. Instant dry yeast - 2.5tsp
4. Warm water - 1/4 cup
5. Warm milk - 3/4 cup
6. Butter melted - 2 tbs
7. Egg - 2
8. Vanilla extract - 1tsp
9. Salt to taste

For coating

1. Brown sugar - 3 cups
2. butter melted - 1/2 cup
3. cinnamon powder - 1-2tsp

Directions:

1. Mix yeast in warm water and keep for 5 minutes or until it bubbles on top.
2. Add 3 cups flour, sugar, butter. egg, milk, vanilla extract and salt and mix well
3. *Knead it well for 5 minutes and keep it closed for 30-45 min
4. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon powder in  a bowl and keep aside.
5. Dough will rise in this waiting time
6. Roll the dough and make small balls(lime size) out of it.
7. Butter any 9inch or 10 inch baking tin
8. Dip each ball in melted butter and  then in sugar cinnamon mixture and arrange on the pan.
9. Wait for 1-2 hrs for the balls to rise again
10. After 2 hrs, bake it in oven at 175 Deg Celsius for 25-30 minutes
11. When  baking is halfway through, you may pour the remaining butter and sugar mixture on top.
12. After 25-30 min of baking bread should be well cooked. It will spring back when pressed.
13. Takeout of the oven and keep it for cooling
14. Once cooled, turn upside down so as to get gooey caramel on top

* During kneading, if you need more flour pls add it.
You may top the bread with sugar glaze or more caramel sauce or salted caramel sauce.. :)

Oats chocolate muffin

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/3 cup oats
• 1 tbs sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• salt to taste
• 1/4 cup black current jam( any jam)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup sweet or semi sweet chocolate chips/shavings
• 1/4 cup canola oil

For topping

• 1/2 cup melted sweet/semi sweet chocolate
• 1tbs butter
• 1/2 tsp instant coffee powder
• Icing sugar if chocolate is not sweet
• Milk (adjust milk and icing sugar to get the right consistency)

Procedure

• Mix all the dry ingredients.
• Beat egg , oil and jam.
• Mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients with a spoon or spatula. ( You need not beat it for long)
• Pour the batter in to muffin cups.(Use paper cups within to get clean muffins) Do not fill the batter to the top as the muffin will rise. Fill only 3/4 cup.
• Microwave for about 2 min.(Depends on your microwave, so check in between so that muffins don't burn)

For topping

• Melt chocolate and mix butter and coffee powder to it.
• Add icing sugar if you have used bitter chocolate.
• Add milk to get the consistency of cream.
• Dip the top portion of muffin in the chocolate cream.

Potato Cheese Puff

Ingredients

• 1 boiled and mashed potato
• 2 tbs shredded carrot
• 1 tbs chopped celery
• 1 chopped green chilli
• 2 tbs coriander leaves
• 1 tbs oil
• 1 tbs butter
• 2 tbs chopped onion
• 1 tsp chopped garlic
• 3-4 tbs shredded cheese
• pepper to taste
• salt to taste
• 1.5 cups wheat flour/plain flour
• oil to fry

Procedure

• Make a dough with flour, salt and water and keep aside.
• Saute onion, garlic, carrot, celery and green chilli (remove the seeds before using).
• Mix the above with mashed potato.
• Add salt and pepper according to taste and mix butter, coriander leaves and cheese with it.
• Make small balls of dough and roll it into small round sheets.(as if for poori)
• Spoon the filling on each sheet and fold it to form half circle.
• Seal the edges well so that the fillings won't come out on frying. You can use fork to give the design on the edges :)
• Fry the puff in hot oil.

Masala chickpea snack

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked chickpeas
• 1 tsp oil
• salt to taste
• 1/a tsp chilli powder
• a pinch of garam masala

Procedure

• Add all the ingredients except garam masala and microwave it for 1-1.5 min.
• If you are not using microwave fry the same in a pan.
• As a final touch add garam masala.

I served this with chopped onion , tomato and coriander leaves, mixed to the masala chickpea.
This is the easiest snack if you have cooked chickpea in the fridge..