Pineapple Raita

We had chicken briyani the other night and it was so spicy. If the food is so spicy for me, then it would be way too spicy for hubby.  So before the dish is served, I decided to make some simple raita at the eleventh hour. :)) Well, raita is perfect and refreshing Indian condiment for any hot and spicy dishes. There are different types but I chose pineapple. Fresh pineapple taste terrific but I had some canned ones in hand. So here is my pineapple raita.. :))

Pineapple Raita

Ingredients:

1 cup pineapple chunks

2 cups plain yogurt

1-2 tsp sugar (or you can use the 1 tsp of the pineapple syrup)

1 tsp cumin powder

chopped coriander leaves or mint leaves (optional)

a dash of salt

black pepper to taste

In bowl, beat the yogurt till smooth. Add sugar and dash of salt. Stir well. Add the pineapple chunks, black pepper to taste and chopped coriander leaves. Transfer mixture into a serving dish and chill before serving.

My simple Keema (Indian-style ground meat)

Originally the word Keema is ground meat. It is typically made using ground mutton but can be made with any meat you prefer. I always used ground beef with potatoes and peas. This meat dish taste delicious over plain rice, bread, naan, prata or even chapatti. It could also be used as samosa fillings.

Ingredients:

500g ground beef (you can use any ground meat you prefer for this recipe)
2 tbsp vegetable cooking oil
1 medium-sized onions chopped fine
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp each of ground coriander and cumin, and chilli powder
1 tbsp garam masala or curry powder
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
150g frozen peas
100ml beef stock or water
Salt to taste
chopped fresh coriander (I used spring onions since I'm out of coriander)

Fry onion with garlic in vegetable cooking oil over a medium heat for 3 minutes or until softened. 

Stir in ground beef and diced potatoes. 

Add ground coriander, cumin, chilli powder and garam masala/ curry powder and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. 

Add beef stock or water. 

Season, cover and simmer for 13 minutes or until the potato is tender.  

Add frozen peas and simmer for 3 minutes. 

Serve sprinkled with chopped fresh coriander, accompanied by warmed naan or over plain rice.
 

Chicken Nasi Briyani

While I was talking to my mum, I asked her how she makes her Nasi Briyani... so with a pen and my recipe book next to me, I wrote down the recipe given to me.

Nasi is a malay word for Rice. Briyani or Biryani means fried or roasted. Briyani was brought to the Indian subcontinent by Muslim travelers and merchants. This dish is popular in South-East Asia and in Arabia and within many South-East Asian communities in Western countries.

This is my first home-made Nasi Briyani from scratch. The way my mom taught me different version, no roasted or in the oven at the last stage... I think its the faster version.. hehe... I used the regular white rice but it's better to use Basmati rice. Next time, I will make Beef Nasi Briyani using the Basmati rice with a different method.  

Ingredients:

2 cups of rice - soak at least 30 minutes
4 cups water
4 cloves
4 green cardamon
1 bayleaf
1 cinnamon stick
2 tbsp ghee (minyak sapi)
1-2 tsp of evaporated milk mixed with yellow coloring

Chicken Thick Sauce
2 chicken breast - cut in cubes
1/2 tsp minced ginger
3 cloves garlic
1 medium onion
1 tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
3-4 candlenuts (buah keras)
1/2 cup coconut milk or yogurt
1 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil
salt to taste
fried shallots (bawang goreng) 
1-2 tsp evaporated milk
yellow/orange food coloring


Think Sauce:

In a food processor, blend onion, garlic, ginger, curry powder and chilli powder until fine. Add candlenuts and press pulse about 2-3 times (just to make the candlenuts coarsely). Heat large saucepan on medium to high heat. Saute the blended mixture until the oil separates. Add chicken meat, and fry for 5-6mins, keep stiring so they do not stick to the base. Add coconut milk and continue to cook on medium heat. Turn off heat when the chicken is cooked.

Rice:

Heat ghee in a large casserole. Saute cloves, green cardamon, bay leaf, cinnamon till fragrance until nice aroma comes out. Add water to boil. Then add the soaked rice to boiling water. Cook rice as how you cooked your regular rice. (when the rice is cooked and is not shiny enough, add a little more ghee to the rice)

Layering:
In a the same casserole, remove some rice so that you have one layer of rice on the bottom. Sprinkle about 1 tbsp teaspoon of the colored evaporated milk on the rice. Sprinkle some fried shallots (bawang goreng). Put the chicken meat in the middle. Cover with rice and sprinkle another tablespoon teaspoon of the colored evaporated milk and fried shallots. Repeat the layers with the same order. Serve immediately.

The dish may be served with Acchar, Malay Pickle or Raita. (I didnt make any of those instead I made potato cutlet (bagedil).. hehe)

Notes:

• For the thick sauce, you could make it dryer or have some gravy like I did mine, in the picture. 
• If you do not have fried shallots, you can use red onions, slice very thinly and fried until golden brown.

Enjoy!

Roti Prata

Roti Prata is a pancake bread. This is a Singaporean and Malaysian (In Malaysia is it known as Roti Canai) Indian dish, an all time favorite suitable for breakfast, lunch, dinner or supper. Roti means bread in  Malay and Indian languages, while Prata means flat. Many Indian food outlets, serve not only plain prata or egg prata but many flavorings such as banana, chocolate, cheese, ice-cream, onion and a lot more. Roti prata is commonly served with curry or you can just have it with sugar, if you do not like curries.

After many unsuccessful attempts making roti prata, today, yess.. today, I managed to almost get it right. I need more practice to get that right texture and taste. It takes a lot of practice to be like a skilled prata man to transform the small, elastic dough ball into a paper-thin sheet prata. I don't think I can easily master the flipping and throwing part.. haha.. I found this roti prata recipe online. It was simple and easy to follow. Thanks Mama FaMi for posting the recipe. :)

Roti Prata/Roti Canai ( Mr. Niceghost33 from forum cari. com. my)

3 cups flour

1-1/2 cups water

1 tbsp margarine (I used butter)

salt to taste

2 tbsp condensed milk

1 tbsp cooking oil

extra margarine

1. Mix water, salt and condensed milk.
2. Sift the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Add the liquid mixture bit by bit if kneading manually or pour the whole amount into the flour if using machine.
3. Then add the cooking oil and margarine.
4. Knead to form a soft dough. Leave it covered with a damp cloth for 30 minutes.
5. Divide the dough into 10 portions and mold into balls.
6. Coat the balls all over with margarine so that the dough won't stick to each other. Leave to rest for 2 hours (minimum).
7. Spread one ball at a time on a smooth greased surface to form a very thin layer. Fold the four sides into the middle, flatten and fry on a hot pan with a little bit of oil. ( The picture above is not a flatten roti prata with folded sides. What I did was.... flatten the dough, pull the sides to get a thinner sheet, then rolled or bring the sides to the center to form a long dough, hold upwards and swirl the dough and flatten it again.) 

You can also check out Mama FaMi website for this recipe and step by step pics for Roti Prata. Since, I have to wait a few hours for the dough to rest, I should make more roti prata, save it in the freezer for future bites.. hehe.. I had this roti prata with fish curry. I will post on the fish curry tomorrow. :-)

Enjoy!!! ♥♥♥


here some kuih I made last Sunday. Made them in the morning to have them for lunch......

Tricolor pulao

Here it is.. I've made another Tricolor Pulao, and took a better looking picture this time. When I made this pulao the other time for the twins birthday, the picture was horrible that is why I didn't upload the picture here. I think this time, the picture looks better. hehe..

In this recipe, it said 1 onion. I'm not sure big or small one, and since we do not really like a lot of onion in our food so I only used half of the big onion for this recipe. I also added some raisin to give a sweet taste to this delicious vegetable pulao. I've used white long grain rice instead of the basmati rice. We were out of basmati rice at the moment. Basmati rice is a slender, long grain, and the name means fragrant. It has a distinctive and appealing aroma. I found out there is a secret for a perfect pulao!! Wash the rice thoroughly, then soak it briefly. Soaking before cooking softens and moistens the grains, enabling the rice to absorb moisture during cooking, and resulting a fluffier rice. :)

Here is the Tricolor Pulao recipe.

Recipe: Tricolor Pulao (from The world's greatest curries)
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

1 cup basmati rice, rinsed and soaked for 30 mins
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 dried bay leaves
4 green cardamon pods
4 cloves
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely diced
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/3 cup frozen sweetcorn, thawed
1/4 cup cashew nuts, lightly fried
2 cups water
1/4 tsp ground cumin
salt
1/3 cup raisins (optional)

Instructions:
Heat the oil in large pan or wok over a medium heat, and fry the cumin seeds for 2 mins. Add the bay leaves, cardamons, and cloves, and fry gently for 2 mins more, stirring the spices from time to time.

Add the onion and fry until lightly browned. Stir in the diced carrot and cook, stirring, for 3-4 mins.

Drain the soaked rice and add to the contents in the pan. Stir well to mix. Add the peas, sweetcorn, fried cashews and raisins.

Add the measured water and the remaining spices, and add salt to taste. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15 mins over a low heat until all the water is absorbed.

Leave to stand, covered, for 10 mins. Transfer to a warmed dish and serve.

Have a good day everyone! :)

Masala Channa (chickpeas) and my disappointed prata

Gosh, I have been wanting for Indian food. I love to eat Indian food. It could be hot and spicy but I can take the mild ones... I even cooked Indian food (which I haven't post the recipes yet.. I know, I delay but please be patience. hehe) for the twins party last week.

In Singapore, we have a lot of Indian/Indian-Muslim restaurants/food stalls (we call it mama stalls) that are open for 24/7. There are two types of Indian restaurants/food stalls: Indian restaurants/food stalls that doesn't have meat in their menu - vegetarians, and Indian-Muslim restaurants/food stalls that have mutton and beef, like mutton briyani, beef steak and so on.. Sometimes at home, rather than cooking, I would go to the "mama stall" and take-away mee goreng or prata. I grew up eating Malay food but I also eat a lot of Indian food too. I list some of my favorites; masala dosai, briyani, baturas, prata, rojak, mee & bee hoon goreng, fish curry, gulab jamun (dessert) and many more (probably in the future, I'll post some of favorite foods in my blog).... Malay food and Indian food have one similarities, they use a lot of spices in their food but I guess in other types of cuisines too. (Listing down my favorites Indian foods, making me hungry.. hahaha.. )

For dinner last night, I made some Masala Channa (Chick peas/) and prata. Unfortunately, for not using the right ingredients and method, my prata were much of a disappointment. :( If you take a bite of these, you must have a very strong teeth to bite and chew it.. LOL... Somehow I just couldn't get it right when I made prata or any type of Indian bread.. hmmm must work on it harder.. hahaha..

Masala Channa is a typical Calcutta street food known as ghughni. The wholesome taste of chickpeas laced with spices and tamarind juice, are enjoyed with flat breads such as chapatis and pratas. Somehow, my betta half doesnt like to eat chickpeas (now I know) but I love it.

Recipe: Masala Channa ( from the book-The World's Greatest-ever Curries)
Serves :4

Ingredients:
225g/1-1/4 cups dried chickpeas (I used canned chickpeas)
50g/2oz tamarind juice
120ml/1/2 cups boiling water
45ml/3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 inch piece of root ginger, grated
1 fresh green chilli finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander (I used fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped)
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp salt
225g/8oz tomatoes, chopped
1/2 tsp garam masala
chopped chillies and chopped onion, to garnish

Instructions:
1. Put the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with plenty of cold water. Leave to soak overnight. (I omit this step because I used the canned chickpeas)

2. Drain the chickpeas and place in a large pan with double the volume of cold water. Bring to boil and boil vigorously for 10 minutes. Skim off any scum, then cover and simmer for 1-1/2 - 2 hrs or until soft. ( If you used canned chickpeas, place the content in medium saucepan and heat until simmering while stirring)

3. Meanwhile, break up the tamarind pulp and soak in the boiling water for 15 mins. Use the back of the spoon to rub the tamarind thru a sieve (strainer) into a bowl, discarding any stones or fibres. (Leave out this step if you are using commercial tamarind paste in the place of the fresh pulp.)

4. Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan and fry the cumin seeds for 2 mins until they begin to splutter. Add the chopped onion, garlic, ginger and chilli and fry for 5 mins.

5. Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric and salt and fry for 3-4 mins. Add the tomatoes and tamarind juice. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 mins.

6. Add the chickpeas and garam masala, cover and simmer for about 15 mins. Garnish with chillies and onion. (I didn't garnish with chillies and onions on my chickpeas)


Hmmm... How I wish there is a "mama stall" in this small town...... sigh..... ;)

Have a good weekends everyone. :)