Cooking Is Easy

Nelliyampathy is a beautiful hill station, just 60 km from Palghat. A couple of weeks back we went for a quick get away and spent the weekend there. The road from Nenmara via Pothundy Dam is breathtaking, kids had fun counting those 10 hair pin curves.

Puttu is Kerala's own breakfast dish, which most Malayalees love to have or you could say its the comfort food of Malayalees. I am sharing an easy way to make puttu podi, no water is need to mix puttu podi (rice flour), and no need to mix with your finger tips....so easy!!  Its no secret that mixing puttu podi is a hit or miss, especially if you are a beginner or a bachelor....the mixing part is the most difficult, you need to wet rice flour with water and salt correctly to get soft puttu and the tip most of us give are ...".puttu podi is made by wetting it with water slowly with your finger tips and to know the correct texture....it should hold its shape when pressed between your fist but should crumble if pressed harder" You must have heard this countless times from moms, aunties, friends etc....it is always advised that getting the correct texture depends on how you moisten the flour.......yeah! difficult for a beginner!! but easy for an expert!!  so today, I am g...

Schezwan Vegetable Noodles is a quick an easy Indo-Chinese dish , Schezwan Miracle Masala is mixed into the vegetables and noodles to make this awesome dish, and a great way to include vegetables into your fussy kids diet.

Homemade Munchkins is my copycat version of Dunkin Donuts Sugar Munchkins or Doughnuts and they are amazingly easy to make . Buttery rich yeast dough are deep fried and rolled in cinnamon - sugar...and so crisp...yet so tender and soft inside.

Kerala fish curry recipe, learn to make Kottayam style Kerala fish curry/ Nadan fish curry with step by step pictures. Nadan Meen Curry or Kerala Fish Curry  is a traditional fish curry of Kerala otherwise known as Kottayam Fish Curry or Kerala Meen Curry ,  which is spicy and made with "Kudam puli" or Garcinia cambogia. Kudam puli is noted for its health benefits and traditionally used in fish curries, hence it also has the name "Meen Puli" or "Fish Tamarind". It is said, fish curry made with kudam puli stays fresh longer, traditionally this fish curry is made in a "man chatti" or clay pot. I used my black clay "chatti" ....you can also use the most common brown man chatti. Kudampuli, shallots, and curry leaves gives it its authentic taste though you can substitute it with onion....but the taste may vary slightly. If you ever visit Kottayam or Kuttanad or Kumarakom....you should always ask for "meen pa...

Mini Samosa or Bite-size samosa is a perfect starter, the best thing is you can make these mini samosas with ready made samosa wrappers. It is so small and teeny weeny, and its cute and pretty looking...its something like what cupcakes are to cakes....you just do not have to share it!!....this tiny little samosa is all yours! kids will love it as a starter for birthday parties....and I am sure adults would no keep their hands away from them too...because it is bite size, they are so very crunchy and crisp! I love to make samosa from scratch and one of my favorite is kerala beef samosa and if you are calorie conscious, then you should try my baked vegetable samosa. But this one is a bit different as it is Mini or Bitesize; its my aunt, Shoney who taught me this method of making  mini samosa with ready-made samosa wrappers.  Here, I just filled it with some beef keema though you can use any filling of your choice. Before posting this, I did a google sea...

Vegetable biriyani can be made easily in a pressure cooker...its a quick and healthy one pot meal. I love to cook in pressure cooker as it saves time and gives a healthy and quick meal.   It was back in 2010 that I posted pressure cooker chicken biriyani   and it slowly gained popularity. I learned to make biriyani in pressure cooker in the late 90s and I have made so many varieties of pulav and biriyani in pressure cooker....like the mushroom pulav , spinach-channa pulav , easy vegetable pulav , soya chunks-green peas pulav , spinach rice , coconut rice ,  and carrot rice to name a few. I love the ease at which a meal can be prepared in about 30-35 minutes. The rule here is do not put the weight on the hob of the cooker....once the lid is closed, wait for the steam to come and then simmer for 7 min exactly and open cooker after 20 min...easy na!! Keep in mind 7 min and 20 min!!  A word about adding water, the rule of thumb is adding water double the m...