Bitter gourd curry (പാവയ്ക്ക/കയ്പ്പ കറി)

An excellent change in taste! If you want to try something different, this is your recipe. What more, bitter gourd has got a very high medicinal effect too..
Ingredients for bitter gourd curry:

Bitter gourd : 1 bigger size
Onion : 1 medium size
Tomato : 1 medium size
Green chilli : 1 or 2
Turmeric powder : 1/4 teaspoon
Red chilli powder: 3/4 teaspoon
Coriander powder: 1 tea spoon
curry leave :4-5
mustard seeds: 1 teaspoon
cumin seeds : 1 teaspoon
coconut oil : 5 table spoon
coconut milk : 1 cup thin
Yogurt :250ml

1. Cut bitter gourd into thin slices with round shape. Cut onions into slices and slice tomato too. Cut green chilli vertically into 2 halves.
2. In a cooking pan, heat 3 table spoon of oil. Add bitter gourd and stir it well. Cook till bitter gourd becomes soft (Soft enough so that you can easly cut it with a spoon)
3. Add onions, green chilli and curry leaves to it, stir it well and allow it to cook for 3-4 minutes
4. Add curry powders and salt to it. cook it for another 1-2 minutes
5. Add tomato to it and cook it for another 2-3 minutes
6. Add thin coconut milk and let it boil for 2-3 minutes
7. Turn off the stove. In a different pan, heat 2 table spoon of oil and splutter mustard seeds to it. Add cumin seeds to it. Add the cooked bitter gourd curry to it. cook for 1 minute.
8. Turn off the stove and Add yogurt to it. Stir well and have your bitter gourd curry.

Beef ularthiyathu (ബീഫ് ഉലര്‍ത്തിയത്)

Another nice recipe with Beef. This requires a lot of patience, but at the end it worth. Lets go with the ingredients for spicy beef ularthiyathu

Beef :1/2 Kg.
Onion : 2 medium size
Tomato: 1 medium size
Green chilli: 1 medium size
Coriander powder: 2 table spoon
Turmeric powder: 2 tea spoon
Cumin powder: 2 tea spoon
Redchilli powder: 1 tea spoon
Black pepper powder: 1 tea spoon
mustard seeds : 1 tea spoon
Coconut oil: 2 table spoon
curry leave : 5-10 leaves
Salt : 2 teaspoon

Cut onions into slices and similarly cut tomatoes too. Cut green chilli vertically into 2.
Wash beef well. Mix all powders together and take half of the mixture and marinate beef for 1/4 hour.
Cook marinated beef in a pressure cooker for 10 minutes. Use little of water only
Heat oil in a frying pan, splutter mustard seeds, add onions to it and saute it. Add curry leaves and green chilli to it.
Once the onion becomes transparent, add tomatoes and cook it for another 2-3 minutes.
Add remaining mixture of powders to the pan, mix it and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add cooked beef to it and add a glass of water and salt to it. Cover it and wait till beef gets cooked well.
Once the beef is cooked, open up the pan and cook it in high flame so that excess water gets evaporated. Once it becomes semi gravy, turn off the stove and have you delicious beef ularthiyathu.

Tips:
Add a little of grated coconut just before turning off the stove and mix well. It will add a great taste.
If you want a pleasant smell to the curry, then add 2-3 pieces of cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamon seed and saute it before spluttering mustard seeds.

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I strongly protest against the plagiarism by keralsDOTcom. They steal contents from malayalam blog sites and publish it in their website without the knowledge of the author. The site contains advertisements that clearly shows they make money using the contents. Apart from this, they threatens bloggers very badly. Read more details here and here.

ബ്ലോഗ്ഗര്‍മാരുടെ കഴിവ് കൊള്ളയടിച്ചു കൊണ്ടുപോയി സ്വന്തം വെബ് സൈറ്റില്‍ ഇട്ട, തെറ്റ് ചൂണ്ടി കാണിച്ചപ്പോള്‍ നാലാം കിട തറ വേലകളുമായി മറ്റുള്ളവരെ ഭീഷണിപ്പെടുത്തുന്ന കേരള്‍്സ്.കോമിന്റെ കാടത്തത്തിനെതിരെ ഞാന്‍ ശക്തിയുക്തം പ്രതിഷേധിക്കുന്നു.

Egg curry (മുട്ട കറി)

This the first post from me for a curry with eggs. I thought it will be very complicated and is difficult to prepare an egg curry. After finishing this curry and having it along with paalappam, it became one of the most satisfied curry for me. Here we go with ingredients

Egg - 3
Onion - 2 medium size
Tomato - 1 medium size
Green chilli - 2 medium size
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tea spoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon
mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
coconut oil - 2 table spoon
Curry leaves - 4-5
Salt - 2 tea spoon
Thin coconut milk - 1 cup
Thick coconut milk - 1/4 cup (If you have no other way to prepare a coconut milk, grate coconut in a plate, take a part of it and put it in a mixer, add enough water and mix it to get thin coconut milk and add little water to remaining grated coconut and mix it to get thick coconut milk.)

Make boiled eggs (click here to see how o prepare boiled eggs). Cut each boiled egg into two vertically.
Cut onions into two halves and make slices of it. Similarly cut tomato too. Cut green chillies vertically into 2.
Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, after it stops spluttering saute onions in it. Add curry leaves and green chillies to it.
Add ginger garlic paste and tomato to it and cook it for another 2-3 minutes.
Add spice powders to it and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add thin coconut milk and salt, stir it well
Add boiled eggs to the pan and let it cook for another 5 minutes.
Add thick coconut milk, stir it and turn off the stove.

Chicken Ularthiyathu

I am not sure I can call this chicken ularthiyathu. But it is definitely a tasty stuff. A little patience gives a much needed tasty food. This one is a semi gravy dish.

Ingredients:

For marination:
Chicken :1/2 kilo. cut into small pieces (I asked the shopkeeper to cut it for curry)
Turmeric powder : 1 tea spoon
Red chilli powder : 1/2 tea spoon
Coriander powder : 1 tea spoon
pepper powder : 1 tea spoon
Cumin powder : 1 tea spoon
Salt : 1 tea spoon

For cooking:
Onion : 2 medium size
Tomato : 1 medium size
green chilli : 1 medium size
Turmeric powder : 1 tea spoon
Red chilli powder : 1/2 tea spoon
coriander powder : 1 tea spoon
pepper powder : 1 tea spoon
salt : 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves : 5-6
coconut oil : 2 table spoon

Mix all the ingredients for marination, marinate it on chicken and keep it aside for 15 minutes
Slice onions, tomato and green chilli
Heat oil in a frying pan and saute onions in it.
When the onions become transparent, add tomato and green chilli to it. Saute it again for 2 minutes.
Add marinated chicken and all powders to it. Add curry leaves and add 1/2 cup(around 100 ml) of water to it. Add salt and stir well.
Cover the pan. Stir it occasionally for the chicken to be cooked well.
When the chicken is almost cooked, remove the cover and cook it in medium-high flame and let the remaining water evaporate. (stir it occasional for faster result)
After the water gets evaporated and you have a semi gravy, turn off the stove and have your delicious dish.

Tips:
Add some grated cocunut just before turning off the stove, stir it and then turn off the stove. Great value addition!

Moru curry

Too lazy to make a curry? Yet you want to have a tasty curry for your rice? Then, yes moru curry will definitely a choice for you. Here we go with the ingredients:

Yogurt : 2 cups (Add little water if the yogurt is thick)
Onion : 1 medium size
Tomato : 1 medium size
Green Chilli : 1 medium size
Turmeric powder : 1 tea spoon
Red chilli powder : 1/2 tea spoon
Cumin powder :1 tea spoon
Curry leaves : 10-15 leaves
mustard seed : 1/2 teaspoon
Coconut oil : 2 table spoon.

Slice onion into 2 halves and make slices. Similarly cut tomato and make slices. Cut green chilli into 2 vertical slices.
Heat oil in a cooking pan. Add mustard seeds and wait till it stops spluttering
Add onion into it and fry till it becomes transparent
Add tomato, green chilli, curry leaves and cook it for around 2 more minutes
Add powders to it and cook it for about 1 minute.
Add enough salt to yogurt stir it well add it to the pan and again stir well for less than 1 minute.
Turn off and have your delicious moru curry.

Tips:
Dont heat yogurt for more than one minute.

Fish fry

Have you ever knew making a fish fry is very easy? To be honest, I never knew it is so easy until I tried it. Get the following ingredients and you are ready to make a yummy fish fry.

Fish(Any thing you wish) : 4-5 pieces
Turmeric powder : 1/4 teaspoon
Red chilli powder : 1/4 teaspoon
Salt : 1/4 teaspoon
Cocunut oil : 4 table spoon

Cut and wash the fish well.
In a bowl add the powders and salt, mix well and marinate the fish with this mixture. Keep it aside for 1/2 hour.
In a frying pan, heat oil and once it starts boiling, add all marinated fish to it. Turn over the fish frequently for it to be cooked uniformly on all sides.
Once it is cooked well and is soft enough to eat, turn off the stove and have your fish fry.

Kappa

Hmm.. I never thought it will be so easy to make a yummy kappa/kizhangu/tapioca vevichathu. All you need is

Kappa - 1/2 Kg.
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tea spoon
Red chilly powder - 1/4 tea spoon
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tea spoon
Coconut oil - 2 table spoon
Curry leaves - 4-5
Salt - 1 tea spoon

Peel kappa and cut it into small pieces.

Boil a cup of water in a cooking bowl. Add Kappa, turmeric powder, red chilly powder and salt to it. Wait till kappa gets softened. You can check it by pressing the kappa with a spoon or knife. Once it is softened, take it out of the heat, drain out the remaining water and keep it aside.

In another pan heat oil, splutter mustard seeds then add curry leaves and then add kappa. Mix it well. Turn off the stove and have your delicious kappa.

Tips: Adding grated coconut in third step, after adding kappa and before mixing it altogether, will add a great taste to the dish.

Beef curry

If you get some *good* beef, it is time to prepare some beef curry. ingredients goes like this:

Beef : 1/2 Kilo
Onion : 2 medium size
Tomato : 1 medium size
Potato :1 medium size
Green chilli : 2 medium size
Ginger garlic paste : 1 table spoon
Chilli powder : 1 table spoon
Turmeric powder : 1 table spoon
Corander powder : 1½ table spoon
Pepper powder :½ table spoon
curry leave :5-6
Salt : 1 table spoon.

Mustard seeds : 1 tea spoon
Coconut oil :2 table spoon.

Take ¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder and ¼ teaspoon of chilli powder and ¼ teaspoon of salt. mix it well and add meat to it. mix the meat with the mixture and marinate it well.
Cut the onions in to 2 halves and make slices. Cut the tomato and potato in similar way. cut green chilli into 2 pieces vertically.
Add marinated meat, sliced onion, tomato, potato and green chilli and curry leaves to a pressure cooker. Add 1½ glass of water. Add the remaining spices to it. Pressure cook it in medium flame for 15-20 minutes.
After the pressure cooker cools down, heat oil in a frying pan.
Add mustard seeds to the oil. after it stops spluttering, add the pressure cooked contents to it. let it cook under medium flame till the beef gets fully cooked.

Beef fry

Cooking a beef fry is very easy, but buying some good beef meat is very difficult in Indian cities. You never know whether the meat is fresh or genuine. My advice is to buy the meat only from trusted retailers.

Here we go with the ingredients for Beef fry:
Beef (cut into small pieces)- ¼ kg.
Turmeric powder- ¼ tea spoon.
Chilli powder- ¼ tea spoon.
Coconut oil-2 table spoon.
Curry leaves- 5-6 leaves.
Salt- ¼ tea spoon.


Wash beef well.
Mix the turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt. Mix the beef pieces to this mixture and marinate it. Keep it aside for 15 minutes.
Heat the frying pan, heat coconut oil in it and wait till it boils.
Add the curry leaves and beef pieces to the frying pan and stir well. Cover and let it cook well. Stir occasionally to avoid partial cooking.
Once the beef is cooked well (this may take 15-20 minutes), turn off the stove and drain out the oil and have your beef fry!

Tips:
Adding lengthy thin pieces of coconut meat along with curry leaves will give good taste to the fry.
Buy the beef only from trusted sellers. It will not be tasty nor good for health, if you don't buy good beef.

Ghee rice

Hmm.. yummy ghee rice. Lets see what is required to run a ship in your mouth!

Basmathi rice : 1½ cup (cup of 250 ml)
Cloves : 8
Cardamom : 6
Cinnamon : 2 lengthy sticks
Ghee : ¼ cup (cup of 250 ml)
Onion : 1 medium size
Salt : ¾ tablespoon.

Wash the rice well.
Chop onions finely.

Heat the ghee in a cooking pan, add cardamom, cinnamon and cloves to it. Stir till a pleasant smell comes from the spices.
Add the onion and stir till it becomes transparent.
Add 3 glasses of water and add the rice and salt to it.
Wait till water vanishes completely.
Turn off the stove and enjoy the ghee rice

Tips:
The ratio rice to water is 1:2
ratio for rice to salt is 2(cup):1(table spoon).
Adding cashew nuts will give a great taste to rice.

Mashed potato

An easy and tasty dish for break fast or evening snack! There is no complex steps involved in preparation of mashed potato. Here we go with the ingredients:

Sweet potato (madhura kizhangu) - ½ kg
Spring onion - 1 or 2
Ghee - 3 table spoon.
Milk - ½ cup.
Onion - 1 medium size.
Green chilli - 1 medium size
Garlic - 3-4 pieces.

Chop the onion and green chilli into small pieces.
Cut sweet potatos into 2 halves pressure cook it for 3 or 4 whistles
to soften the potato completely. Peel the potato, mash it and keep it
aside.
In a cooking pan, heat Ghee, add onions and garlic and stir till the onion becomes transparent.
Add spring onions, mashed potato and milk. Wait till milk is
completely absorbed by the potato.
Turn off and have your mashed potato.

Tips:
Adding 1/2 cup of fresh cream will give a great taste to the mash potato.
If sweet potato not available then parboil 3-4 garlic pieces along with the potatoes Salt and Pepper according to taste, to be added while cooking.

PS: A special thanks to my cousin Affan for helping me to learn and prepare this recipe and for this excellent collage!

Sooji (Uppumavu)

An excellent dish for the break fast and a very easy one. It wont take more than 15 minutes to prepare uppumavu. Lets go with the ingredients:

Sooji(rava) - ¼ kg
Onion - 1 medium size
Tomato - 1 really small size
Green chilli - 1 medium size.
Curry leaves - 4-5 leaves
Salt - 1 tea spoon.
Coconut oil - 2 table spoon.
mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon.

Cut the onion into 2 halves and make slices. Similarly cut the tomato. Cut the green chilli into small sizes.
Heat the oil in a pan, add mustard seeds.
When seeds stops spluttering, add onion and curry leaves and stir well till the onions become transparent.
Add tomato and stir it till the tomato gets partially dissolved with the onion.
Add 4 cups of water.
Wait till the water becomes warm, add salt to it.
Add rava to it. Wait for 1 minute for the water to be absorbed by sooji.
Turn of the stove and have your uppumavu.
Tips :
you may have to add more water to rava. It should look like a paste with no water visible directly (just after adding rava).
vegetables like carrot can be added with the onion to make the uppumavu taste better.
PS :A special thanks to my room mate and cousin Abdulla PP.

Chicken fry

I thought making a chicken fry is very difficult. But trust me, it is one of the easiest recipes you can ever have. All you need is the following ingredients:
Chicken - 8-10 pieces cut in medium size.
Red chilli powder - ½ tea spoon.
Turmeric powder - ½ tea spoon
Salt - ½ tea spoon.
Coconut oil - 2 table spoon
Wash the chicken well and then wash it in a salt water. Keep it aside to drain out the water.
Mix well the powders and salt without adding the water. Add the chicken pieces to it and mix it well again, so that the powders get stick to the chicken well. Keep it aside for15-20 minutes.
Turn on the stove, heat the frying pan and heat the oil in it.
Add the chicken pieces and mix it well in the oil.
Cover and let it cook well. Stir occasionally to ensure all pieces gets equal heat on every side.
Wait for 10 to 15 minutes and check if the chicken is cooked well. If yes, turn off the stove, drain out the oil from the chicken and have your chicken fry.

Tips:
Adding curry leaves to the oil before adding the chicken gives you a great taste.
Adding some lemon juice also gives a great taste.
PS: A special thanks to my room mate Athif Abdul Aziz.

Chicken curry

If you like patience in cooking, here is another recipe which tastes excellent. I am sure your patience will be paid by the taste! For preparing a chicken curry, you need the following ingredients.

Chicken - ½ kilo
Cloves - 4
Cardamom - 3
Cinnamon - 2 lengthy sticks
Onion - 3 medium size
Tomato - 2 medium size
Green Chilli - 1 medium size
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tea spoon
Turmeric powder - 1 tea spoon
Redchilli powder - 1 tea spoon
Coriander powder - 3 tea spoon

Coconut grated - ½ cup.
Coconut oil - 3 table spoon.
Salt - 1 tea spoon
Curry leaves - 5-6 leaves
Coriander leaves - 5-6 leaves

Cut the chicken into small pieces and wash it thoroughly. Then wash it once in salt water and keep it in a bowl to drain out the water on it.
Make a thick milk from grated coconut and keep it aside.
Cut the onions into 2 halves and make slices on it. Cut tomato in similar way. Cut green chill into 2 vertically.

Heat the oil in cooking pan; add cloves, cardamom and cinnamon to it. Stir it occasionally till a nice fragrance comes from the pan.
Add onions and curry leaves to it. Stir it occasionally till it becomes transparent in colour.
Add tomato to it and stir it for 1 more minute.
Add green chilli, ginger garlic paste, powders and mix it well.
Add the chicken to it. Don’t add any water, it will start coming from the chicken after some time. Stir it occasionally so that it will not stick to the bottom of the pan.
When the chicken is almost cooked, add 1 or 2 glasses of water (depending upon what amount of curry you need) and salt to it. Cover the pan and let it cook fully.
Once the chicken is fully cooked, add the coconut milk to it, stir it and let it boil for 2 more minutes.
Add the coriander leaves to the top of the curry, cover the pan and turn off the stove. Wait for 5 minutes and then have your chicken curry!!

Tips:
Initially you find it difficult to find out the correct amount of water to be added to the curry. For the first try, add 1½ glass of water and see the result and then adjust it in your next try.
As always, varying the amount of spice powders tastes the curry differently. Here you have to make sure that amount of coriander powder is more compared to the other two.

Chicken neettiya curry

This is the simplest recipe with chicken that I know so far. By the way, do you know why the name is so? Because you can add more water to this curry when there is a guest after you have finished cooking! Add more water, boil it and can still retain the same taste to it. Hence it is named as neettiya (extended) curry! See the ingredients required :

Chicken - ½ kilo

Potato - 2 medium size
Onion - 1 medium size
Green chilli - 1 medium size.
Tomato - 1 small size
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tea spoon

Turmeric powder - 1 tea spoon
Red chilli powder - ¾ tea spoon
Coriander powder - 3 tea spoon
Pepper - ½ teaspoon

Cocunut grated - ½ cup

Coriander leaves - 5-6
Curry leaves - 5-6

Salt - 1 tea spoon.

Cut the chicken into small pieces and wash it thoroughly. Then wash it once in salt water and keep it in a bowl to drain out the water.

Cut the onions into 2 halves and make slices of it. Similarly cut tomatoes and potatoes too. Cut the green chilli into small pieces.

Add all the ingredients except coconut and coriander leaves into a pressure cooker, add 1 glass of water and cook it for 1 whistle in medium flame. Then let it cool down naturally.

Open the pressure cooker and turn on the stove again. Add coconut to it and cook it till chicken is cooked well. Add coriander leaves cover the pan and turn of the stove and have your chicken curry.

Tips:
Remember, some water will come out of the chicken when it boils. So don't add too much of water, thinking that water will get evaporated!
If the gravy is very little add ¼ or ½ cup of water to it after adding the coconut and boil it.

Cabbage thoran

A very good healthy side dish for rice. The simplicity of this dish will force you to have it every time with rice. These are the ingredients required:

Cabbage : ¼ of a medium sized one.
Red chilli powder : ½ teaspoon
Turmeric powder : ½ teaspoon
Coconut oil : 2 table spoon
Mustard seeds : ½ teaspoon
Salt : ½ teaspoon

Cut the cabbage into small pieces
Add turmeric and red chilli powder into a bowl. Mix them and then mix the cabbage to it so that the powders get stick to the cabbage well.
Mix the salt in a very little of water and pour it to the cabbage and mix it again.
Turn on the stove and heat a pan. Add coconut oil to it and after sometime add mustard seeds to it. When it stops spluttering, add the cabbage to it. Stir it well initially and then stir it occasionally. When the cabbage colour changes to a semi transparent, turn of the stove and have your cabbage thoran.

TIPS: varying the amount of spice powders will change the taste of the thoran. Try different quantities and find out your own taste!

Curd salad

A highly recommended side dish for your rice and this is specially useful during summer. It won’t take more than 2 minutes to prepare a curd salad! All you need is the following ingredients:
Curd - 200ml
Onion - 1 small piece.
Green chilli - 1 medium size.
Salt - ½ tea spoon.

Cut the onion into small pieces and cut the green chilli into 2-3 pieces. Put every thing into a bowl, add salt and stir well. Have your curd salad.

Tips:
Always prepare curd salad for your rice especially if you are trying a new curry for the rice. You can peacefully enjoy your rice in case you have made a mess out of your new "curry"!

Velleri curry (cucumber curry)

Hmm.. Another easy stuff and a worry free preparation. Takes only 15 to minutes for preparation. My first attempt itself was a grand success and I see vellari, am tempted to buy it. and don’t blame me if you find this preparation is very similar to my previous curries. It is all like that! haa.. Before going too much of toppings, lets go with the ingredients:


Vellari ½ of a medium size (See the picture for velleri. Don’t confuse it with normal cucumber)

Onion 1 medium size
Tomato 1 medium size
Green chilli 1 medium size
Turmeric powder 1 table spoon
Red chilli powder ½ table spoon
Curry leaves 5-6
Mustard seeds 1 tea spoon
Coconut oil 2 table spoon
Grated coconut ½ cup.
Salt 1 tea spoon.

Cut the onions into 2 half and make slices. In the same way cut the tomato. Cut the green chilli into 2 vertically. Cut the vellari into small cubes of about 1 cm sides.

Add all these pieces into a pressure cooker, add 1 glass of water, spices and salt. Pressure cook for one whistle in medium flame and then let it cool down naturally.

In a separate pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds to it. Wait till it stops spluttering. Add the curry leaves and the pressure cooked contents to it.

Once the cucumber is cooked well, add the grated coconut and stir it to dissolve fully. Cover the pan and wait for 2 minutes. Turn off the stove, wait for 5 minutes and have your vellari curry.

Tips:
When you pressure cook the cucumber, some water will come out of it. So add minimal water to the cooker. Otherwise it will become a water curry.
Cucumber will get cooked very fast. So while cooking it in the pressure cooker, don’t go beyond 1 whistle. If you find it is not cooked well, then you have to cook in the pan for longer time, that is it.

Green Gram curry (Payaru curry)

Another vegetarian curry that is very tasty along with rice. This was another favourite curry for me because of the easiness to prepare and the taste of it. Here we go with the ingredients:

Green gram daal ½ cup. (cup of 250ml).

Onion 1 medium size
Tomato 1 medium size
Green chilli 1 medium size
Potato 1 small size
Turmeric powder ½ table spoon
Chilli powder ¼ table spoon
Coriander powder 1 table spoon.
Salt ½ tea spoon.
Mustard seeds 1 teaspoon
Coconut oil 2 table spoon
Curry leaves 5-6
Coriander leave 5-6

Cut the onion into 2 half and then make slices. Similarly cut the tomato and potato. Cut the green chilli into 2 parts vertically.
Wash the daal well and transfer it to the pressure cooker. Add tomato, onion, potato and spices to the cooker and add 2 glasses of water and add salt to it. Pressure cook the contents for about 5-7 minutes or till 3 whistle in a medium flame. Then turn off the stove and wait till the pressure goes off naturally.
Heat the oil in a pan and add mustard seeds to it. Wait till it stops spluttering. Add the curry leaves to it and the pressure cooked contents. Wait till the daal is completely cooked and you have a thick gravy in the pan.
Add the coriander leaves on top of the curry, cover it, switch off the stove and wait for 5 minutes. Have your delicious green gram curry.

Tips:
While cooking in the pan, don't cover it if you find the water in excess after the pressure cook. On the other hand, close the pan if you find the daal is not cooked well. If you find the water is less and daal is not cooked well then add ½ cup of water and cook it covered.

Daal curry

Daal curry was my favourite during the early days of my cooking career because it was the easiest curry to make and you dont have to worry any thing about the outcome. Still it will be satisfactory! So here we go...
ingredients:
1/2 cup of toor dhaal.
1 medium size onion.
1 medium size potato. (optional)
1 medium size tomato. (optional)
1 green chilli.
1/2 table spoon of turmeric powder.
1/2 table spoon of redchilli powder.
2 table spoon of coriander powder.
5-6 curry leaves and coriander leaves. (optional)
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds.
2-3 table spoon of coconut oil.
Salt to taste.

wash the toor daal well. cut the onion into 2 halfs and make slices.
Cut tomato and potato in a similiar way. Cut the green chilli into 2 pieces vertically. Add all these ingredients to a pressure cooker and add 1½ cup of water to it. Add all the spices and 1/2 teaspoon of salt into it. Pressure cook it for 2 whistle in medium flame and wait till it cools down.

After it cooled down, take another pan and heat the coconut oil in it. Lower the heat and add the mustard seeds and wait till it stops spluttering. Add the curry leaves to it and then add the pressure cooked contents to this oil pan and wait till dhaal gets cooked well.

Add the coriander leave on top of the curry, cover the pan and turn off the stove. wait for 5 minutes and have your dhaal curry.

TIPS:
1)Be sure you have toor daal with you. Other daals will take different time for cooking and will taste differently.
2)varying the spices will change the taste. Try out different quantities and find out your own taste.

Plane rice

This favourite food of a Malayalee is not that hard to prepare. But it takes some trial and error to find out what your taste is! Here I am going to explain how to prepare rice using 1 glass of rice. wash the rice thoroughly, then transfer the rice to a cooking vessel. Add 5-6 glasses of water to it. Add 1 tea spoon of salt to it and turn on the stove. After 15-20 minutes, regularly check whether the rice has boiled to a comfortable taste. Once it is done, turn of the stove and wait for 4-5 minutes and transfer the remaining water in the vessel to some other bowl. Now your rice is ready to eat.
Tips:
1)You can tune the amount of water required as you gain more experiences. It can be tuned in such a way that the water boils out or absorbed completely by the rice just after the rice is boiled to perfection.
2)Switch off the stove just before the rice is boiled completely and keep it in the boiled water for some time, so that it will boil completely from the heat of the water. In this way you can save your water and time.
3)Different rices need different amount of water and time to boil. Each rice tastes different. Initially try out different kind of rices and find out which rice suites your taste.

Scrambled egg (Kuthippori)

You need a lot of patience and care to make a scrambled egg. But your patience get paid in the form of a tasty dish. Lets see the ingredients:
Eggs 3
Onions 2 medium size
Green chilli 1 medium size
tomato 1 medium size
Garlic pieces 4-5
Pepper powder 1 teaspoon
Coconut oil 2 table spoon
Salt 1/2 teaspoon

Chop the onions into small pieces and cut the tomato into 2 halves and make slices from it. Then cut the green chilli into small pieces.

Beat the egg contents in a glass along with the green chilli pieces and salt and keep it aside.

Turn on the stove and heat your frying pan. Add 2 table spoon of oil in it. After the oil get enough heat, transfer the onion to the frying pan and stir it well till it become transparent color.

Add the tomato and the garlic pieces to it and continue stirring occasionally. After stirring for around 1 minute, tomato gets melted and the onion gets a reddish color. Then add the beaten eggs to it.

Wait for few seconds till the egg becomes semi solid and then scramble it and repeat scrambling it till it becomes a solid small pieces. Then add the pepper powder to it and scramble it again for few seconds. Turn off the stove and have your scrambled egg!!

Tips: It takes a while to expertise the scrambled egg. Many trial and errors required. Don't get disappointed if you don't get the correct proportion in the first few attempts.

Omelet

Another easy stuff.. You need just 2 eggs, one medium sized onion, green chilli, salt, pepper powder and 2 teaspoon of oil (preferably coconut oil). Chop the onion and green chilli into small pieces. Transfer the egg contents to a glass, add the chilli pieces, chopped onion and a half tea spoon of salt into it. Beat the egg thoroughly. Turn on the stove and heat the frying pan. Add 2 teaspoon of oil and spread it through out the pan. After a minute transfer the beaten eggs into the frying pan. After a minute or so, the contents become solid and carefully turn the omelet up side down and keep it for 15-20 seconds. Turn off the stove and add some pepper powder to it and have your omelet.

Tips: Oils makes it easy to turn over the omelet and it helps to reach the heat uniformly across the omelet. But too much oil is not good for your health! use it sensibly.

Boiled egg

It is very simple to make a boiled egg. This is included as a separate topic because it is an important step to lot of other recipes like egg curry and egg kuruma. This is how it goes: Take some water in your cooking bowl and immerse the egg completely in it. Turn on the stove and keep it in a low flame. Let the water boil gradually and wait for around 15 minutes. After that, turn off the stove and transfer the eggs to normal water to cool down. After it cooled down remove the shell and have your boiled egg.

Tips:
1) Use low flame to avoid the breaking of the shell and thus leaking.
2) Add 2 teaspoon of salt so that if the egg breaks due to heat, its contents will not come outside.
3) Cool down the boiled egg using normal water to avoid dark brown color on yolk.

French Toast

Don't be afraid of the name! I am not sure whether this is the right name for the item that I am going to explain the preparation. It is so because I haven't find any name in Malayalam for this item. I was in search of finding a name for it and some body told me it is French toast. I liked the name and it became a favourite item for me!

So here is what you require. A packet of sliced bread, 4 eggs, and some sugar. Break the eggs into a bowl, add 5 table spoon of sugar and beat it with spoon. Once the egg contents become completely yellow, turn on your stove and place your frying pan under medium heat. mean while, take a slice of bread and place it in the bowl for 2-3 seconds and let it soak up the egg mixture. Take out the bread slice and transfer it to the frying pan. After a few seconds, a small yellow layer is formed at the bottom of bread slice. now turn and cook the other side. after 5-10 seconds, take out the bread and repeat the process for another fresh bread slice.

Tips:
1) The more you allow the bread slice to soak the egg, the more tasty it is. But remember, after a certain level, you cannot pick up the slice because it will break into pieces. So adjust the time to optimize the taste and feasibility.

2)Use milk along with eggs. This will make it more tastier.

3) soak the bread slice only when there is space in the frying pan to cook. Don't keep the bread slice in the queue.

Bulls eye (kaalakkannu)

Bulls eye (kaala kannu) is very easy to make. All you need is an egg, little coconut oil and some pepper powder(kurumulaku podi). Place your frying pan on the stove and ensure that all the water drops are vanished under the fire. add 2 tablespoon of cocunut oil (or any edible oil) to the pan and leave it to get heat. ensure that the oil reaches maximum area in circular shape. once the oil gets hot, crack the egg and open it so that its contents falls on the oily area in the frying pan. one it is completely transfered, wait for a few seconds and let it form a soft white layer. once it is formed, turn off the stove and transfer it to the plate for serving. pour a pinch of pepper powder on it and have your bulls eye.
Tips:
Oil is used to prevent the bullseye from getting sticked to the pan and to get the heat uniformly every where. Keeping this to requirements in mind, minimize the amount of oil as much as possible. Minimum usage of oil is required because you may become a fan of excess oil which is actually not good for your health.

Milk tea

Making a milk tea is very simple. What is more exciting? you can make a tea of you own taste, which you wont get from any hotels. Take a cup of water and proceed as you did in making a cup of black tea. After adding the tea powder, let it boil fully. Then add a cup of Milk to the black tea. and wait again to boil the water fully. Once it is boiled fully, turn off the stove and take 2 table spoon of sugar in a glass and transfer the tea to the glass. Stir the tea till the sugar dissolves fully. Now you have a cup of Milk tea. You can experiment with different amount of Milk and find out what is your taste.

Tips:
Adding more milk makes the tea more healthy.
Different flavors of tea powder makes tea a different taste. initially try wih different flavors and find out your taste.

Black tea

I time to make a cup of black tea(english)/kattan chaaya (malayalam). Take a cup of water and boil it. when the small bubbles start appearing from the bottom of the boiling water, add a table spoon of tea powder. Wait till the water boils fully. once it is boiled, turn off the stove. Take a glass and add two table spoon of sugar in it. transfer the tea to the glass and stir till all the sugar dissolves in it. Now your precious black tea is ready. The amount of sugar/tea powder required varies from person to person. I would suggest you to find out your taste by experimenting with different quantities. Once you find out your taste, I bet you wont drink a black tea from a hotel.

Your ratings:
Got a very good black tea on the first try itself: Poor. because now you don't know what will happen if the tea powder is excess or sugar is lesser. This learning is important in your cooking career!

Got a very good result in second try: good. You have some bitter experience and you know how to avoid it!

Got a very good result in third try: Very good. You have more experience and I assure you it is going to help you very much in your career.

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