Nelllikka Chammanthi Recipe / Amla Chutney Recipe / Indian Gooseberry Chutney Recipe

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 5/19/2013 8:52:00 AM

'Everybody knows the nutritional benefits of Nellikka / Amla / Indian gooseberries. I buy some whenever it’s available and the best way to eat it is raw dipped in some salt.... Sometimes I make wine, pickles, chutney and once in a while I even throw it in the blender and make juice.... If you haven’t tried it as chutney do try this tongue tickling chutney..... Read more »'

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Chicken with Bell Peppers

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 5/8/2013 4:38:00 PM

'I have been making this for quite some time and it’s a Ree Drummond recipe. The original recipe is with Beef and here I used chicken instead, but I have tried beef also many times and both are equally good.... The main thing we love about this curry is that it goes with almost anything like rice, noodles or even with chapathi.....  It can be served as a side dish or as a main dish after mixing it with some noodles..... Read more »'

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Mango and Passion Fruit Flavored Savarin ~ April 2013 Daring Bakers Challenge

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 4/28/2013 2:32:00 PM

'Savarin is a yeasted cake made with the same dough as Rum Baba. I made Rum Baba a couple of years back… the difference between the two  are, rum baba has raisins or currants in the dough and is baked in tall cylindrical baba mold and served without a filling. Savarin is made without raisins and baked in a large ring mold and the hole in the centre is filled with pastry cream and fresh fruits. Natalia of Gatti Fili e Farina challenges(...)'

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Orange-Soaked Bundt Cake

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 4/24/2013 5:56:00 AM

'Recently when I saw this recipe I tried it and we really loved this amazingly moist cake.... The cake has a good orange flavor and is very moist.... both flavor and moistness improves with time..... I made some changes from the original recipe, the amount of oil in the original seemed a little too much for me so I reduced it to ½ cup, I used orange zest in the cake not lemon zest and for syrup I used fresh orange juice not frozen.... It was a really good cake and(...)'

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Uppumanga / Salted Tender Mangoes in Brine

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 4/18/2013 9:37:00 AM

'I think Uppumanga (Raw mangoes in brine) with kanji along with a kanthari mulaku (bird’s eye chilly) is the Malayali’s favorite comfort food... right?? I know my husband will not agree with it :D...  Almost a year ago when Sarah of Vazhayila posted this recipe it triggered my childhood memories...  But I never got tender mangoes (kannimanga) here...  so this year when I saw some green mangoes I decided to make it with that... so I selected the smallest thin skin mangoes available an(...)'

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Arabic Stuffed Zucchini in Tomato Sauce / Kousa Mihshi Recipe

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 4/15/2013 2:59:00 PM

'Kousa Mihshi (Stuffed Zucchini) is an Arabic main dish and widely popular in this region. Minced beef / lamb is mixed with raw rice and spices and then stuffed inside the cored Kousa / koosa (marrow squash / Arabic zucchini) and cooked in tomato paste. I used minced chicken instead of red meat.... I got the basic recipe from my maid and then I searched on the net and made this dish to suit our taste buds.... While searching the net I remember reading on one site that you can make a (...)'

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Passion Fruit Squash Recipe

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 4/9/2013 12:32:00 PM

'Like I have said in many of my passion fruit recipe posts, my appa collects and freezes passion fruit pulp for me which I then bring back to Kuwait. Since my son loves passion fruit juice appa always tells me to make juice for his grandson....  alas little does he know that his daughter uses most of the pulp for her baking / desserts or wine than for making squash for his grandson :D.... But this time I made sure to make some squash as I received many requests for the squash recipe.(...)'

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Hot Cross Buns Recipe

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 4/4/2013 7:51:00 AM

'Hope you all had a great Easter celebration with family and friends! In Kerala traditionally we make IndariAppam on Maundy Thursday and have it for supper. Good Friday we spend 6-7 hours in church and  serve piping hot Kanji and payar at the end of mass.... And on Easter it’s always Appam and Chicken curry for breakfast, followed by a lavish lunch and dinner with non-veg delicacies made with chicken,beef, mutton and pork... Hot Cross buns are not even part of our tradition :)... But(...)'

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White Chocolate Caramel Slice

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 3/31/2013 8:57:00 AM

'Hope all are ready for Easter celebrations.... Wishing all my readers a Blessed and Happy Easter! Today I am sharing an absolutely decadent little indulgence of White chocolate caramel slices....Got this recipe from Australian Women’s weekly.....I had posted Banoffee Slice recipe from the same book earlier.....This too was really delicious and some of my guests who tried it really loved it..... The only problem for me was cutting the slices into neat pieces after setting as my white(...)'

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Mini Carrot Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting ~ March 2013 Daring Bakers’ challenge: Hidden Veggies

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 3/27/2013 12:53:00 PM

'Ruth from Makey-Cakey was our March 2013 Daring Bakers’ challenge host. She encouraged us all to get experimental in the kitchen and sneak some hidden veggies into our baking, with surprising and delicious results!It’s been a busy month as my son has school holidays and my whole day is spend with him.... I didn't even read the challenge properly to understand that we have to hide the veggies.... I made this carrot cupcake for the challenge.... Though the carrots are not hidden, (...)'

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Kadumanga Achar Recipe / Kerala Spicy Mango Pickle Recipe

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 3/24/2013 12:36:00 PM

'Kadumanga pickle is every Keralites favorite and since it’s mango season try to make some. Kadumanga is also very popular during Lent; as we abstain from non-veg dishes pickles are in high demand. In our church Kdaumanga pickle is served along with piping hot Kanji and payar after the long Good Friday service.You can make this pickle in two ways, either grind ginger and garlic along with spices and sauté like I did or you can add chopped ginger and garlic as it is and sauté. I like (...)'

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Vettu Cake Recipe / Deep Fried Sweet Cake ~ A Special Chayakkada Palaharam of Kerala ~ Step by Step Recipe

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 3/18/2013 6:34:00 PM

'Vettu (Cut)Cake is a famous chayakkada / local tea shop palaharam (snack). Amma used to make this when we were kids and I used to help her cutting and shaping the dough while she fried them in hot oil. The cross like cut on the square shape should be deep, so that when we add the dough to the oil it will puff up and the cut will open up and resemble a flower.... Well mine didn't come out perfect in shape as I was doing it all alone and by the time I started frying the cuts had s(...)'

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Saucy Paneer Recipe

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 3/16/2013 2:48:00 PM

'Since it is the Lent Season vegetarian recipes are much in demand.... deciding the daily menu without any non-veg dish is challenging for a Christian family :D.... Since Paneer is loved by almost all I thought of sharing this Saucy Paneer recipe with you today.... with just a couple of sauces you can make this curry very quickly and it goes well with fried rice, noodles or even with chapathi.....  If you don’t have 8 to 8 sauce at home you can easily omit it or substitute with sweet(...)'

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Kerala Pork Fry / Nadan Panniyearchi Ularthiyathu

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 3/12/2013 12:02:00 PM

'For special occasions like Easter or Christmas, meat is an inevitable dish in Kerala Christian homes, especially Erachi Ularthiyathu / Meat stir fried! I was surprised that I had not posted a Kerala meat fry recipe even after 5+ years of blogging!! It is because whenever I make meat, it does not last long enough to take pictures and also for such common recipes I have wondered about the need to post as almost everybody knows how to make it :).... But now a days I have been getting m(...)'

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Orange Wine Recipe

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 3/7/2013 9:15:00 AM

'Last month I decided to experiment by making orange wine. I am glad I did because the result has exceeded all my expectations. It has a very unique zesty flavor that is quite distinct from other types of wine. So far all those who have tasted it have loved it. The wine is ready in less than a month and is quite strong too…so you don’t need to wait months for it to mature. If you like to have a unique wine this Easter try this, it’s easy to make with easily available ingredients and (...)'

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Pacha Manga Chammanthi / Raw Mango Chutney

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 3/4/2013 6:02:00 AM

'Pacha Manga Chammanthi, every Malayalis’ favorite with a bowl of kanji and pappadom.... This simple tongue tickling dish is best when prepared on an Arakallu but in modern kitchens we have to make do with the small wet grinding jar of our mixer grinder.... This is best when made with Kanthari mulaku/ bird’s eye chillies and if that’s not available you can use green chillies or dry red chillies.... Make sure not to add any water while grinding.... usually manga chammanthi is serverd (...)'

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Onion and Poppy Seed Crackers ~ Daring Bakers’ challenge, February 2013

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 2/27/2013 12:30:00 PM

'Sarah from All Our Fingersin the Pie was our February 2013 Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to use our creativity in making our own Crisp Flatbreads and Crackers!  I missed the last DB challenge and I didn’t want to miss this month too… February was a very busy and hectic month for me, birthday, Church Harvest festival and 5 days of long holidays and I somehow managed to bake these crackers on time… Thanks to Sarah for making this month’s challenge so simple and easy! These(...)'

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Ombre Rose Cake Recipe

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 2/19/2013 8:17:00 AM

'It was my hubby’s birthday a couple of days back and after much planning & discussion with him and our little one I finally decided to try an Ombre Cake with buttercream frosting... then came the part of choosing the color and both had their own views but finally I chose peach :D.... An Ombre cake is a layer cake with graded hues of a single colour, as well as matching, graded frosting. I used the sa(...)'

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Chocolate and Butterscotch Fudge Recipe

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 2/14/2013 8:35:00 AM

'We don’t believe in celebrating love on one particular day and we never celebrated Valentine’s Day either.... But nowadays the internet is filled with love posts and I thought I too will update this space with something chocolaty this year for my lovely readers :)..... Making fudge at home is very easy and you only need few items to get the best homemade fudge within hours and with little effort! Fudge is a great option as a giveaway especially to kids; grownups will also relish the(...)'

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Kappa Masala / Kerala-Style Tapioca Masala Recipe

Author : Swapna      Blog : Swapna's Cuisine      Date : 2/11/2013 12:52:00 PM

'Kappa Masala is a new dish for me.... Back home we always used to make Kappa Puzhugiyathu, or Kappa Curry and Kappa Mathi Puzhukku with ground coconut and spices in it... This kappa masala does not have coconut and it’s a dry preparation like mezhukkupuratti....This can be eaten as a snack on it’s own,with tea or as a side dish with boiled rice.... I am part of the Kerala Kitchen group on FB and I made this dish especially for the group.... This recipe was adapted from Edible Garden(...)'

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