Karappinu eazhu azhaga

"Karappinu eazhu azhaga"

Crispus: "aano pappa? adhyathe azhagu edhaa? pls paranje pappa, pls pls!"

'surprised' Pappa: endhaa?

Crispus: "Pappa paranjille...karappine eazhu azhagaa ennu, so pappa 1, 2, 3,4,5,6,7, azhagugalum eniku paranju tharenam...ippo enikku 1st aadhyathe azhagu paranju thaa pappa!"

laughing aloud, a nearly cornered Pappa: "edee mole, karappinu aezhu azhagaa, onnum randum onnum illaa"

Truly concerned and now feeling -'let down' Crispus: Pls pappa adhyathe maathram paranjaal madhi, pinne ulla 6 azhagum njaan guess cheytholaam"...

Pappa 'given up' "Sulll" : "aaa, eniku adhyathethu ariyathilla..enikku urakkam varunnu!"

Ennu paranju Pappa immediately saught sharanam in uncalled for sleep right away with the appropriate snore...

the point was crystal clear to Crispus - Pappa KNEW it surely and wudnt tell her..

hmm maybe mummy might know... It sure would make Crispus happy to know she had aezhu azhagu...cant wait to find out what they were in the first place tho!

So off Crispus went to mummy..leaving behind a snoring pappa who perforce had to seek refuge from further probing knowledge enlightening questions from Crispus.

He smiled to himself thinking how mummy was to be Crispus' next victim...

Fast Fww... 76 yrs old now and pappa is yet to tell Crispus what 'aezhu azhagu' is or are...and Crispus still suspects...Pappa knows surely..

Psst..Any chance would u know Karappinu Aezhu Azhagu edhaa ennu?
If u do..pls adhyathe azhagu onnu paranju tharamo?
:)

Meatballs - for babies Big and small :)

Meatballs - Something to feed my toddler that was healthy and had meat, veggies and egg ..i researched and read and looked and asked and .....etc..etc
Finally i decided Meatballs are the best and I read somewhere in an organic cookbook that turkey was good for babies..and for the big babies too - heart healthy i heard..
but I and hubby Hated Turkey in any form..
so the meatball was meant Only for my son- so i decided to add fruit and veggies..and came up with my version and you MUST read the end result ... ;)

Recipe is here....

Ground Turkey- 1 lb
Apple - 1/4 minced
Button Mushrooms- 1/4 cup minced
Small Onion- 3/4 minced
Ginger, garlic minced - 2 Tbsp
Green chillies - 3 minced ( or how muchever hot u want it)
Salt - to taste
Pepper - to taste
Chicken Masala powder- 1 Tbsp
Lime juice- 1/2 a lime squeezed
Kasoori Methi (dried Fenugreek leaves) - 1 1/2 Tbsp
Egg - 1
Cilantro - 2 or 3 Tbsp minced
Bread Crumbs - 1/4 cup ( or enough to bind all this together)

Method:
Preheat oven to 400F.

• Mince all the ingredients that call to be minced in a small processor so that there wont be any lumps that will stick out of the meatballs while forming it.
• Mix all the above very well by hand in a deep bowl till all the masalas are well combined with the ground meat and form small balls approx 1'' size.
• Spray a Cookie sheet with oil and place the balls in a single layer on the sprayed sheet.
• Spray the balls once again with the oil and bake them at 400F for 20- 25 minutes.
• Ocassionally stir the balls around to get them evenly browned and at the end of 20 or 25 minutes they will be cooked through.
• If u want this done faster- preheat oven at 500F or set the broiler on and bake the meatballs for only 15 minutes.
• Do check for doneness..

Result:

Mine came out so Un-turkey tasting that me and hubby fell in love with it...all that turkey taste was masked - the mushrooms and apples and kasoori methi made all the diff i guess!

I made with 3/4 lb ground meat and got 33 meatballs.

the leftovers turned out into Kofta curry and a new creation- Kofta-Andaa Biriyani..

Ps..If u try this, Pls do let me know how it came out.
Bon Appetit!

Jeera Vegetable Pulao

Ellarum Blogging, enikkum bloggenam :(
but there was something quite not practical about blogging recipes, ende cooking ellam is on a 'moi chef par excellence' attitude...so everything had to look 'expert' like to me..who else alle?
ingredients eyeball, the color and aroma of the dish..literally eyeball :))
so an attempt at my nearly exact measurement recipe..starting with ende priyapetta Kochayn's Jeera-Vegetable Pulao.
The Pulao is jeera flavor dominant so i put this name..vere nalla creative names onnum thalayil illa...

Jeera -Vegetable Pulao

Ingredients
Basmati rice – 3 cups
Red Onions julienned (thinly sliced) – 2 big ones
Almonds- 20-30
Bayleaves- 4
Cinnamon sticks 2”- 4
Cardamon crushed – 6 -7
Cloves - 8 or 10
Jeera (Cumin) – 2 Tbsp
Slit Green Chillies – 8 or 9 ( or how much spicy u want the masala)
Ghee/Butter /& Vegetable oil- 3 Tbsp + 1/12 Tbsp
Ginger Paste, Garlic paste – 2 ½ Tbsp
Mixed Veggies- 2 – 21/2 cups ( I use frozen carrots & peas only )
½ lemon juice, or more to suit taste.
Salt to taste
Water

Method

Rice- Cook rice in double quantity water until just done – The rice should NOT be mushy or too well cooked. Spread out the rice to cool in a tray/plates- (pls ensure rice grains aren’t sticky for a pulao)

Heat a big nonstick- Deep skillet/ saucepan (that will hold all the rice later on) with ghee/butter – 2tbsp and 1 ½ Tbsp oil. When hot, ( med –high heat).
Add Bay leaves, Cinnamon sticks, Cardamom, Cloves, Jeera and sauté, stir a few seconds.Then add Almonds, Slit green chillies and sauté few 3 minutes.

Add sliced Onions and sprinkle a dash of salt. Sautee till onion is translucent and starting to turn golden color. Adjust oil accordingly to ensure that nothing sticks to the bottom of pan. Stir often.

Add Ginger paste and Garlic paste and sauté until raw smell goes and all the masalas are mixed well and then add the Mixed Veggies and stir it well to combine the veggies n masala. Add salt and 2 Tbsp water and give a good stir. Close lid and let the veggies cook- around 5 minutes on MED Heat - check to see if veggies are done.

Reduce Heat to Med-Low. Squeeze ½ lemon juice (or more) over the veggies masala and add salt. Check Taste- and adj the flavors accordingly.
(The whole masala should be on the saltier side since we will be adding all the rice and the flavor needs to come through. Masala at this stage will be semi thick- not dry. If masala looks dried out, add a dash of water and mix again – but Not watery masala)

Add the cooled rice little by little and gently fold the masala into the rice until it’s all well coated and Pls ensure the rice grains do not break or squished. Add a small pat of ghee/ butter on top and slightly stir.

Close Lid tightly and turn off flame and let it sit on the heat for 5 minutes when the rice will be perfectly done in its own heat. After 5 minutes, open lid and fluff rice with a fork. Ready to serve with any nonveg or veggie side dish.

Wichi's Special - Pappadam mulagu ittadhu

White thorth tied around his head, mundu madaki kuthi...

" evide.. mulagu idichathu?"
inspecting the stuff : "mmm..ithu pora"- kurachukoodi unaka mulagum, kochulli venam...nallonam chadhakene!" Wichi said this while tearing up the raw pappadam into slivers with his fingers.

Njaan: "sheree". A quick idi later ...with small mathu in the small 'ural'...i show Wichi my work...

Wichi: "ippo itto"..and quickly i swipe out the crushed dry red chilli, shallots and garlic into hot oil....everything is nearly smoking n bubbling and frying up at the same time..

pungent spicy and hot.
a lot of coughing and burning eyes later...

"adipolee alle?"
"mm mmm" ..i say, happily slurping down the last of the white moru from my plate...


Wichi had come home a tad earlier than yesterday after closing shop...even then it was late -11:45 pm...

Wichi: "Endha curry?"..

Njaan: "Erissery"

Wichi swirls the ladle in the bowl and looks at the yellowish liquid and: " thengaa porallo"

Nathoon: "thenga adhu madhi, ippole cholestrol kore aayitunde"

Wichi: "vaaayake ruchiayittu onnum illa...oru eruvum, thengayum illa!"

She went off to sleep in a huff and that left me and Wichi looking at the cold dinner table.
I was sleepy but didnt want to leave Wichi to a solitary dinner that too so late....

It was Wichi's idea to compensate the the 'not-enuff' thenga in the Erissery, by making an instant hot and adipolee side dish...."Pappadam Milagittathu"...truly my Wichi's Special..
its guaranteed to burn and delight any strong palate...

So thorth thalayil ketti, mundu madakki kuthi...
Aangalayum, Pengalum koodi late nightilll oru pappadam milaguittathum, white moru (with lotsa crushed ginger, shallots and green chillies) and Chorum undoo (twas my second round...to give Wichi company ofcourse! ;) )


try out the Pappada Milagu ittadhu- Livens up any meal and also is super easy.

Tear up raw Pappadams ( no appalams wont do) into small slivers (or u cud cut em up with kitchen scissors like i do) - as many as u want

Crush these:- (pref. in a small mortar with pestle)

• dry red chillies- atleast 4 or 5
• shallots - 2 small or 1 big - halve them first
• garlic - atleast 7 or 8 cloves

1. Heat up oil as u would to fry pappadams.
2. When real hot..add the crushed stuff and let it fry till golden brown - but not near burnt pls.
3. add the torn up pieces of pappadam immediately.
4. The pappadam pieces will fry out instantly - mix it up well so that all the crushed masala sticks to the pappadams.

Ladle out and drain the masala pappadam on kitchen towels..eat with rice and moru.

family tips:

• We usually make a huge batch and store it for laters or for tea.. in aritight containers.
• We add the crushed stuff little by little to be fair to all the pappadam pieces. :)
• We add lotsa garlic/ dry chillies / shallots according to "appozhulla taste desire" level
• Best eaten with plain bland curry or best is white moru...Kaachiya moru doesnt get along well with this spicy recipe somehow!
• Do keep some fruits/ cold water nearby ..."Fayyankara erruvaane!"

Pappada Boli & Adukkala Pravesham

kara mura kara mura kara mura ....
Once again i dipped my hand into the tin,

"dishum dishum dishum" Premnazir was dishumming the bad guy Joseprakash and Sheela was weeping...fayyankara climaxx

Suddenly my hand turned up empty to my still open awaiting mouth...

'nge! theerno?" itreyum pettanu! che!

ithaa villian Joseprakash is caught...

Rest of the movie didnt have the same appeal...i think mainly becoz the there was no more pappada boli for those appropriate scenes...
I darent ask mummy again..not after finishing up some pappada boli from the 'Nido' tin...well, not 'some' but a little more, maybe half the tin..che! ...mummy should've made kurechum koodi. ithu mathiyillelo!

The rest of the movie i forgot and neither did i try to find out mummy's delicious pappada boli recipe. She made tons of it i think....all those vacations, at home there was always a tin of pappada bolie for us. none in my family knows her recipe and tho i try to..it just doesnt taste like hers used to.

Anyway heres my version Pappadam boli recipe ( No correct recipe...just eyeballing here).

• Kadala maav for batter.
• Ari podi - a little for crispness.
• Pinch of jeeragam, a dash of Hing, aymodakam/ omum seeds crushed, red chilli powder, a pinch of coriander powder, turmeric.

Make batter of the above powders with little water - batter shd be thick enuff to coat the papadams each..not too thick but a tempura like coating + add a little warm oil too.

Heat up oil in a cheena chatti/wok/kadai -when oil's really hot - slowly slide the thick batter coated pappadams one at a time...turn em over when light golden fried.

Drain on kitchen towels and enjoy with hot tea, kara mura pappada boli.


Adukkala Pravesham
....searching out mummy and finding her asleep i knew better than to wake her up for such a trivial thing as some Egg scramble.

I wanted it right away.illengill..illengill ....aaa....it was with such persistent 'kothee' to eat something right away that led me to all those kitchen forays..esp when the chance was golden..mummy fast asleep in the afternoon and the kitchen was all awaiting ME! silently i tiptoed into the kitchen...

Eggs ready & skillet on the stove...i must be as quiet as possible- mummy better not find out my attempts! pinne...

Stove 'on' aakee, motta pottichu ittaal mathi...so here goes.."ttapp". (i felt so grown up!)

-right crack, but the force surprised me and motta cracked in my hand and onto the kitchen table...
saram illa ennu ende manasu paranju...pinne clean cheytholaam. This shud be easy..atleast mom did this super easy - ...so next one..hit it off center on the egg with the back of the spoon...

'ttapp'

Che!! this panna egg , fell clean on the floor! ..

'aanhaa!' i must break this egg INTO the bowl..it became a vaashi now.
nothing stops me...but ofcourse im v v quiet ..dont want Mummy seeing all this...

but it fell everywhere else except into the bowl!..

and next one..one more ...Pakshe each and every one of them were bad eggs...u know what i mean? they all fell either on the stove, or next to the bowl or again on the floor...

That was atleast 5 or 6 eggs..

Last idea -I tapped the egg shell and all IN the bowl itself . that was a good idea. I picked out the shells..ultra messy by now and smelly...but i will have the egg...by now it wasnt the desire for the egg scramble rather the desire to do the whole thing with the flair and panache mom showed towards cooking. Added a dash of salt..and poured it into the skillet after beating the egg for a second or two..

but wait ..'where was the nice yummy frying sound?" i voiced it loud...
Ofcourse - Oil..then here it is...

I poured a little oil on the egg, around the egg and for good measure all around the the edge of the pan...
and waited
and waited...
after the longest time..i started scrambling the egg all about furiously professional 'mom-like' and it was so so fun...smoky too somehow..

'thwack' - Ellam valara pettannu aayirunnu

Evidunno oru assall adi on my poram...ayyyo! njaan njetti poyi..endha pattiyedhu ende purathil?


MUMMY!

kittye vaakkinu she gave a resounding thwack on my back... two solid ones to stop me mid track of my motta fry by now smelling near burnt...

Haa.....adhu kazhinjappol...mottayodu enikku velliya thaalpariyam illa....

Chance kittiyaal kazhikaan tharunna motta I'd throw away and if im caught throwing it away, then i'd resort to terrible stinky underhanded paruvaadees... i mean literally stinky idea it turned out..much later, much much later ....

the stinky idea is another story, another summer vacation and Cousin 3 stands witness to that one...the loveable Cousin 3. ...
by then i was more clever ...i was in 7th grade and so had better ways to do away with eggs or so i thought! :)


Pinneyum kurachu 'motta' kathakalumaayi njaan, Crispus. :)