Cooking Is Easy

Pulissery Recipe-Kerala style Pulissery without coconut is an easy and quick curry with "Moru" or "Curd". In some places pulissery is known as "Moru Curry" or "Moru Kachiyathu". One of the easiest traditional yogurt/curd based curry from Kerala. Pulissery can be stored in fridge for up to a week; and thus it is a favorite with working ladies. Back in my hometown (Kottayam), you will hardly find a house without having a bottle of pulissery in the fridge. You can make this with homemade curd or store bought one; if the curd is thick, then you can add some water to thin it out. Here, I thinned a bit with 1 cup of water but then its a personal preference as some like thick pulissery. This recipe does not have coconut and can be prepared in about 5 minutes. Step by step method: Whisk the curd nicely and keep aside. Get the ingredients ready. Heat a clay pan (manchatti) or a nonstick pan (I used Kerala's own manchatti) with coconut oi...

Chilli Idli Recipe also known as idli chilli is a quick and easy snack with left over refrigerated idlies. Chilli idli is a healthy filling snack with a bunch of vegetables thrown in, kids will love this as an afterschool snack. Amma, used to fry the idlies coated with a little chilli and turmeric powder; but I blindly omit that part when making (to be on the healthier side with everyday meal), but you can also lightly toast/roast this on a skillet if you want oil free. The only drawback without frying or roasting is that the idlies will soak up all the sauces and will be a little crumbly or moist; since my kids do not have a problem with that I make this way. Step by Step Method: Serves: One. I like to slice the cold idlis in strips; you can also chop them if you prefer. When I am making for kids, I like to add in as much veggies as possible; so raid your fridge.  Heat oil in a kadai or pan, add in the sliced garlic cloves. When it starts to turn brown, add i...

Soft Sugar Cookies  are my go-to Christmas vanilla sugar cookies and they are so easy to make.  Christmas is fast approaching and baking is in season. These sugar cookies are my favorite and since, I rolled and chilled them, these can be sliced and then baked leisurely. I love to cook and bake the easy way though these cookies can be rolled out and cut out into desired shapes; I simply wrapped them in foil and chilled for 2 hours and then sliced them with a knife and placed them on my Silpat baking mat.....so easy! Ofcourse, if you prefer you can roll them and cut out into heart or star shapes; and can even pipe some sugar frosting on top with your desired colors after baking. I opted for small sprinklers to get a Christmas feel. These cookies are adapted from my nankhatai /eggless cookies    I used butter and added egg and increased the flour. What I love about these slice and bake cookies are; if you have a batch in your fridge you can slice and bake ...

100% whole wheat puttu recipe ; Kerala whole wheat puttu is one of the healthiest breakfast. Wheat flour is mixed with water and salt and steamed with freshly grated coconut. Not a drop of oil is added and its 100% vegan. When my family is on a health spree wheat puttu always finds its place at breakfast and sometimes at dinner. The best thing is that it can be paired with almost anything, from chicken curry to kadala curry or even simple onion fry . The trick to make the wheat flour suitable for puttu lies with the wetting of the flour. I like to use either my food processor or dry grinder of my mixie. Here, I am showing how to do it in the dry grinder jar of the mixie. In case you do not have a puttu steamer; I have shown here how to steam with the shell of a coconut. Step By Step Method: Yields: 1 kutti or 2 chiratta puttu. Add one cup of whole wheat flour (atta) in your dry grinder jar. Add salt and 1/4 cup of water. Blitz/run the mixie for 10 seconds. T...

Egg Puffs-How to make egg puffs ; Kerala egg puffs is one of the most sought after bakery snack in Kerala. Homemade puff pastry is filled with egg masala and baked and the best part is you can make homemade puffs when you have that craving for puffs. I made an easy onion masala for the filling; which is adapted from here . It is important to make the filling first and then make the puff pastry ( detailed step by step method ) which will take not more than 15 minutes and once the puff pastry is ready; you should work very fast and fill with the egg masala and bake immediately The secret to the flaky layers is vegetable shortening; I had several queries regarding this and some of you wanted to know whether butter can be use.  If you are using butter, you will have to chill the dough after each rolling. Amma learned this from a friend who owned a bakery in the late 70s and she used make this for us whenever we demanded puffs. I am sure, you can make this once in a while ...

Puff pastry recipe : Homemade puff pastry in 15 minutes, can you believe that??  Bakery style  Puff pastry is so easy to make at home that you will never buy greasy bakery puffs. The best thing about this puff pastry recipe is that; it does not need any refrigeration (chilling the dough) or any other so called difficult method, you may see when you google for "puff pastry" Easy puff pastry can be made with the most basic ingredients and in under 15 minutes. Back in the 80's amma started making puffs at home; which my two brothers and myself used to enjoy a lot. She mostly used to make this for special occasions; like when a friend dropped in or when we long for something bakery style. Fast-forward to 2014; my daughter, Nidhi loves puffs and I have been asking amma to teach me how to make and somehow things did not work out when I last visited her. Right now she is visiting us here in Calicut and I coaxed and buttered her to show me how to make puffs. The...

Kentucky butter cake recipe ; Kentucky butter cake with butter sauce is a moist cake with lots of buttery flavor. Always a crowd pleaser and a winner. The cake has the texture of a pound cake and so very butterly moist and perfect for Christmas baking. The best thing about this cake is you can add rum instead of the vanilla essence/extract in the cake and in the butter sauce and call it Kentucky Rum Cake ; and would be a super hit with adults. Since, I made this for my kids I avoided them; but during Christmas time I do bake Rum Cake. A word about my opinion about the cake; the cake is sweet and for me the butter sauce makes it overly sweet; but since my kids love the added butter sweet flavor, I use them. But personally, I like the cake without the butter sauce as the cake is perfect in every sense. I usually make this cake in my sheet pan; but sometimes use bundt pan; my pan is a bit smaller to hold this cake batter; so I do pour 1/4 of the batter into another cake pan...