Mundiri Cake a.k.a. Cashew Cake / Slice

Hope you all had a great Deepavali / Diwali!! Mundiri (Cashew) cake is one of my favourite childhood desserts that I have relished from don't know when. Later on over the years I got introduced to the North Indian version of it known as Kaju (Cashew) Katli (Slice). This is one dish that could be called in many names Cake / Slice / Katli / Barfi - what not. As they say rose is a rose is a rose - and so is Mundiri Cake. While it has many names, forms and recipes, here's my own -  mixing a bit of my mom's recipe with some found on the internet. It's a fairly simple but a long process. Hope you could try it out for your next event. Wait - you don't really need an event for this one. Just do it. :)

Ingredients:

1. Cashews - 2 cups
2. Sugar (I used raw sugar) - 3.5 cups
3. Milk - 2 cups
4. Ghee (Clarified Butter) - 1/2 cup
5. Nutmeg powder - 1-2 teaspoons

Note: You can add more or less cashews but make sure the ratios are kept intact.

The Method:

1. Grind the cashews in a food processor - preferably using the pulse option. (I saw somewhere that a normal blend turns it into a paste.) Make sure not all of it is smoothly ground and leave a bit of chunkiness for the texture.
2. In a large (thick) sauce pan mix the ground cashews, sugar, milk and nutmeg until all blended well.
3. Boil the mix under low flame until the milk evapourates while stirring the mix with a spoon (preferably wooden) constantly. This is to ensure that there are no lumps formed none of the mixture gets burnt. This is the most time consuming step of this recipe and could take a good 20 - 30 minutes depending on the quantity.
4. Stop the process when the mix is still in flowing consistency but separates easily from the vessel. Almost like an oats porridge consistency if that could be a reference.
5. Remove the pan from the heat and mix the ghee into it until it gets mixed evenly. You might see some ghee oozing out - which means its excessive and you can carefully drain it out.
   
6. Grease a deep tray with ghee - preferably rectangle or square in shape and pour the mix into the tray.
7. Leave it to cool for a minute or 2 and draw lines diagonally to make diamond shaped slices.
8. Let it cool for about 5-10 minutes and slice it up using a sharp knife. Do not leave it for too long else the slices will get brittle (as in the pic below).
9. Soft and chunky Mundiri cake ready to be served. It can be boxed and stored for up to 10 days. I prefer not to refrigerate desserts since it would require reheating and it may not have the same taste.

Enjoy!!

C

Ennai Kathirikaai Kuzhambu - Fried Brinjal Curry

Kathirikaai or Eggplant or Brinjal as it is called in various parts of the world is one of those vegetables that renders itself to many different dishes. I still remember during my younger days avoiding this vegetable (technically a fruit) as much as I can. It has a very distinct taste - which I believe to be an acquired one. I don't remember eating Ennai Kathirikaai as a main dish ever. It usually comes in as part of a "south indian"" thaali meal.  As the name suggests there's going to be a lot of oil involved - beware. There were quite a few variations in the way this was prepared as described in the various Youtube videos and blogs. So here is mine a mix of a few versions. Hopefully you would like this one.

Ingredients

Main

1. Eggplant - preferably the small ones. In case you don't have the small one, you can dice it up in large pieces. (6-8 pieces)
2. Shallots - leave it whole if they are the small varieties. If they are the big ones as we get in regular grocery stores you can either quarter / halve it depending on the size. (5-6)
3. Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
4. Curry leaves - approximately 15-20 leaves
5. Dried Red Chillies - 4-5
6. Tamarind water - 1/2 cup
7. Jaggery  (can be substituted with brown sugar or just plain sugar) - 2 tablespoons

Marinade

1. Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
2. Chilli powder - 2-3 teaspoons
3. Coriander powder - 2-3 tablespoons 
4. Salt - 1 teaspoons
5. Tamarind water - 2-3 tablespoons

Wet Masala

1. Onions - 2 large red onions
2. Tomatoes - 2
3. Turmeric powder - 2 teaspoons
4. Chilli powder - 1 tablespoon
5. Coriander powder - 2-3 tablespoons
6. Ginger garlic paste - 2 tablespoons
7. Cumin seeds - 1 tablespoon
8. Fennel seeds - 1 tablespoon

The Method

1. Wash and remove the stems of the brinjals leaving the crown intact. Take caution with the stems as it could be a bit spiky.
2. Create a fairly paste with the ingredients of the marinade (turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder, salt, tamarind water and bit of more water.
3. Slit the brinjals on the smooth side as a cross to open them up a bit.
4. Apply the marinade into the slits and also cover the skin and let it rest for about 10 minutes (or until you complete the next few steps - until #10).
5. In a large kadai / sauce pan heat a few tablespoons of vegetable oil.
6. Saute the onions until they are translucent.
7. Add the ginger garlic paste and saute for a few minutes.
8. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder and saute until the spices mix well.
9. Add the tomatoes and saute until the tomato becomes soft and mushy.
10. Add the fennel seeds and cumin seeds mix it well and take it off the stove.
11. Let this cool down to room temperature.
12. In the same pan add about half a cup of oil - enough to shallow fry all the brinjals.
13. Once the oil has heated up shallow fry the brinjals until the skin turns brownish c
    
    olour. Take caution to do this under medium to low heat to avoid the brinjals getting burnt.
14. Blend the ingredients of the sauteed wet masala into a smooth paste.
15. In the same sauce pan add the mustard seeds and let it splutter.
16. Add the curry leaves, dried red chillies and and shallots and saute for a few minutes.
17. Add the blended wet masala paste and saute until oil separates - which is usually about 10 minutes.
18. Add salt to taste.
19. Add a few table spoons of the tamarind water and about a tablespoon of Jaggery and bring it to boil. Ensure the jaggery is dissolved and mixed well.
20. Add the shallow fried brinjals and mix it well.
21. Add enough water to the level of preferred consistency and curry required.
22. Bring it to a boil and stop once the oil separates.
23. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Happy Cooking!!

Enjoy!!

C

Chettinadu Kozhi Varutha Curry - Chettinadu Chicken Curry with Roasted Spices

It was during the later part of my 20s when I was introduced to Chettinadu cuisine in restaurants like Anjappar, Karaikudi etc in Chennai. After I moved overseas I had missed it for quite some time until Anjappar started spreading its wings globally. Invariably these restaurants have this dish in their menu - "varutha curry". Recently we had been to a Chettinadu restaurant Grand Chettinad that was newly opened in our area. They had the same dish and it tickled my interest to try it out at home. I had to do a bit of research on this since there were quite a few variations from different chefs. Interestingly there was one North Indian chef who attempted this who pronounced Kozhi as Kozee and of course I ignored the rest of his recipe video. Chettinadu is famous for various chicken curry recipes. I have attempted a few myself - Milagu Kozhi - Pepper Chicken and my very first Chicken Chettinad (after which my nickname of Chicken Chetty came around). The main difference in varutha curry recipe is that you roast all the spices - wet and dry before you add it in the curry. So...long folks - now to the details.

Ingredients

Dry Masala (Spices) - pretty much your entire spice box

1. Dry Red Chillies (key for any Chettinadu recipe)
2. Star anise
3. Cinnamon sticks
4. Fennel seeds
5. Cumin seeds
6. Coriander seeds
7. Cloves

Wet Masala

1. Shallots or Red Onions 
2. Shredded Coconut
3. Cinnamon sticks
4. Green cardamom seeds
5. Poppy seeds
6. Curry leaves

Marinade

1. Chicken - chopped in 1-2 inch blocks with and without bones (drumsticks go as is)
2. Ginger garlic paste
3. Turmeric powder
4. Red chilli powder

Other

1. Tomatoes (pureed)
2. Curry leaves - for garnish
3. Mustard seeds
4. Gingelly Oil

The Method

1. Marinade the chicken in ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder and chilli powder. Set it aside for about 30 minutes. Pretty much until you complete the other masala steps.
2. Dry roast the ingredients under "Dry Spices" until you can hear a bit of crackle and smell the aroma of the ingredients. Set this aside to cool down to room temperature.
3. Grind these ingredients into a smooth powder.
4. In a pan heat a few tablespoons of gingelly oil and saute the wet ingredients. 
5. Start with the cinnamon sticks, poppy seeds, green cardamom and curry leaves. 
6. Add the onions and saute until they turn slightly golden. 
7. Add the grated coconuts finally and saute until coconut turns slightly brown. (Takes about 5 minutes in all)
8. Set the wet roasted spices aside to cool down to room temperature.
9. Blend the wet masala into a coarse to smooth paste.
10. Heat a large sauce pan and add a few tablespoons of gingelly oil.
11. Add mustard seeds and saute until they splatter.
12. Add the marinaded chicken and dry masala and saute until the chicken is half cooked. Usually about 10 minutes.
13. Add the wet masala and saute for about 5-10 minutes.
14. Add the tomato puree and salt and saute for about 5 minutes until the puree is blended well.
15. Add as much water as needed to get the amount of curry and consistency you are after. Remember it is not expected to be too thin.
16. Leave it to cook until chicken is cooked well and the oil separates.
17. Garnish with curry leaves and serve hot with rice or parotta.

Enjoy Cooking!!

C

Palak Panneer - Cottage Cheese in Spinach Sauce

I have not been a big fan of spinach (or any green for that matter) for a long time until I got introduced to Palak Panneer. Every restaurant does this in different way - I like it nice and silky. It does take a few steps and a few ingredients  to make it this way. Every minute is worth the effort though. :) Of course there are various versions of the recipe across the web. I did a mix of ideas from a few and the outcome was quite good. 

Ingredients

1. Palak (Spinach) - preferably not the frozen ones - 500 gms
2. Panneer - I used about 500 gms chopped in 1/2 inch cubes
3. Onions - 2
4. Tomatoes - 1
5. Ginger Garlic paste - 2 table spoons
6. Ginger juliennes - a few for garnishing
7. Garam masala - 2-3 tablespoons
8. Green chillies - 2-3
9. Cloves - 3-4
10. Cashews - 3-4
11. Black cardamom - 1-2
12. Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
13. Cream - 1 tablespoon
14. Butter - 2 tablespoons
15. Kasoori Methi - 1 tablespoon
16. Amchur powder - 1 teaspoon

The Method

1. Heat a kadai with any vegetable oil of your choice and saute Cashews, Cardamom, Cumin, Chillies, Onions, Tomatoes and Ginger Garlic paste. Saute until the onions and tomatoes turn slightly mushy.
2. Keep this mixture aside from the stove and let it cool down.
3. Blanch the spinach in boiling water until the leaves wilt a little. Be careful not to overcook the spinach.
4. Drain the spinach (save the water) and transfer the spinach into an ice bath (a bowl filled with cold water and ice cubes). This apparently stops further cooking of the spinach and maintains its colour.
5. Blend the Onion tomato mixture into a smooth paste.
6. Drain this paste using a metal sieve or filter to get only the smooth paste to filter out the chunky bits.
7. Filter the spinach from the ice bath and blend the spinach into a smooth paste and filter the contents as above.
8. In the same kadai heat used in step 1 melt the butter and add the blended onion tomato paste.
9. Add the garam masala, kasuri methi (crushed up), salt and amchur powder and saute until oil separates.
10. Add the spinach / palak paste and saute for a few minutes until both pastes blend well and it comes to a boil. 
11. Add the spinach water (from step 4) as much as needed for the amount of sauce / gravy needed. Do not add to much to make it too watery. This is meant to be a slightly thick sauce.
12. Add the diced up panneer and leave it to cook for a about 5 minutes.
13. Add a dollop of cream and ginger juliennes as garnish and serve hot with rotis.

Enjoy Palak Panneer!!

C

Kadai Chicken a.k.a Chicken Karahi

Kadai Chicken also known as Chicken Karahi is again one of those dishes you would find in most Indian restaurants.  This is usually made almost like a stir fry - but I made it a slightly saucy version. Kadai Chicken comes with a good mix of flavours and textures. A bit of tangyness from the tomatoes, a bit of crunch from the bell peppers (capsicums), sweetness from the onions and of course a bit of kick with the ginger julienne added as a garnish. This is a fairly quick one to prepare. This came up as a last minute dinner plan with an end to end preparation time within 30 minutes. Of course there is also distant cousin Kadai Paneer which is also prepared in a similar way with Paneer. Goes very well with warm rotis (or chappatis).


Ingredients

1. Diced chicken breast 
2. Onions - cut in cubes
3. Capsicums / Bell Peppers (Green) - cut in cubes
4. Tomatoes - roughly cut
5. Tomato paste - 1 tablespoon purely for colour
6. Ginger Garlic paste - freshly ground
7. Cashews - 2/3
8. Salt
9. Red Chilli powder - preferably Kashmiri chilli for colour
10. Cumin powder
11. Coriander powder
12. Garam masala
13. Kasuri Methi - dried fenugreek leaves
14. Milk
15. Ginger julienne - for garnish
16. Coriander leaves - for garnish

Method

1. Saute the cashews, onions (3/4ths of quantity diced) and tomatoes in any vegetable based oil until the tomatoes are mushy and set aside to cool.
2. You can dice the chicken while the onions / tomato cools down.
3. Blend the sauteed cashew, onion and tomato mix into a smooth paste
4. Heat a kadai (sauce pan) with oil and saute the blended paste along with ginger garlic paste and a tomato paste.
5. Saute until the oil separates and the raw flavour is gone.
6. Add salt, garam masala, cumin powder, coriander powder, kasuri methi (crushed into a powder in your palm), chilli powder and saute for a few minutes until the spices are blended well.
7. Add the chicken pieces and cook with a closed lid for about 10 minutes.
8. Add water as much as needed for the sauce. Ideally prepared without water.
9. Add a dash of milk - whole cream version. You can substitute with cream as well.
10. Add the remaining onions and capsicums and saute for about 5 minutes. Need to stop before the capsicums 
11. Add a tea spoon of garam masala at the end.
12. Garnish with ginger julienne and coriander leaves.

Restaurant / Dhaba style Kadai Chicken ready!!

Happy Cooking

C

Double Chocolate Fudge Cheese Cake

So it's Valentines Day - what else could be more befitting than something to do with chocolate. They say chocolate is a great aphrodisiac- why not double the impact with a Double Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake!! This recipe has of course has lots of cocoa in many forms. Here's to all the Valentines across the world. This cheese cake was baked with help of my little helper Naga. This preparation has got 3 parts, the fudge cake base, cheesecake and the "ganache". I've always heard of this ganache and thought it was something very technical in baking terms - only to realise that it was nothing but icing made out of heavy cream. It is a long process as in there is a lot of wait time involved - but a fairly simple process. So without much further ado....

Ingredients

Chocoloate Fudge Cake Base

1. ½ cup cocoa powder
2. 1 tsp baking powder
3. 1¾ cups  plain flour
4. 1¾ cup sugar - I used brown sugar
5. 250g / 2 sticks unsalted butter (melted)
6. 1¼ cups milk 
7. ¼ cup oil  (vegetable, canola)
8. 2 eggs

Cheesecake

1. 2 blocks of cream cheese (250 gms each)
2. 3 eggs
3. 3 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Ganache

1. 250 ml of heavy cream
2. 125 gms milk chocolate chips
3. 125 gms dark chocolate chips

The Method

The Base

1. Sift and mix all the dry ingredients for the fudge cake (#1 - 3) into a large mixing bowl.
2. Add all the wet ingredients along with sugar and mix it well until it turns into a nice smooth batter.
3. Grease the bottom and inner sides of a spring pan baking tray with oil.
4. Pour the batter and bake in a 165 degree fan forced oven for about 15 - 20 minutes. 
5. Make sure there is enough space for the cheesecake batter to be poured.
6. Stop baking as soon as you smell the cake. Do the toothpick test to ensure it comes out clean.
7. Set the baked base aside for about 20-30 minutes and allow it to cool.

Cheesecake

1. Mix the blocks of cream cheese (already under room temperature) until it gets all mushed up.
2. Mix the eggs and vanilla extract and make a smooth batter. Use an electrical whisk if needed.
3. Pour the cheesecake batter on top of the fudge cake base.
4. Bake the cheese cake for about 15 - 20 minutes until the top layer gets a bit of a brownish tint.
5. Take the pan out and ensure the batter passes the "jiggle test" - there should be some minimal movement of the cheese cake.
6. Cool the baked cake for about 30 minutes and place it in a fridge for about 4 hours. I refrigerated it overnight.

Ganache

1. Heat the cream on low-medium heat and bring it to boil.
2. Pour the boiling cream into a large bowl containing the chocolate chips.
3. Mix it well until the chocolate melts.
4. Filter this mix to avoid any lumps to get a nice velvetty mix.
5. Let it cool down to room temperature - for about an hour or so.

The Finale

1. Place the baked cake on a cooling tray (placed on a plate).
2. Pour the ganache mix from the center of the cake slowly in a circling fashion until the entire cake and its sides get coated with the ganache.
3. Refrigerate the cake for about an hour or so before serving.
4. You can garnish with your favourite berry - either a strawberry or a raspberry.

Voila

Happy Baking!!

C

Carrot Rice

Happy New Year folks!!  Hope you all had a good start to 2017. Mine surely did with a few tasty experiments at home. The first post for this year is a childhood favourite of mine - Carrot Rice. This is my mom's recipe with a bit of twist here and there. This is one of those rice dishes that doesn't taste too bad when gone cold - having packed it many times for lunch at school. This is a fairly simple and easy to cook as well. Hope you will try this. Do let me know how it turned out.

Ingredients

1. Grated Carrots - 2 cups
   
2. Cumin seeds - 1 tablespoon 
3. Onions - 2
4. Green chillies - 4/5
5. Ginger Garlic paste - 1 table spoon
6. Cashews - 1/2 cup
7. Ghee (Clarified Butter) - 2 table spoons
8. Garam masala - 1 tea spoon
9. Butter - 150 gms
10. Basmati rice - 2 cups
11. Bay leaves - 3 or 4
12. Turmeric

Method

1. Pressure cook the basmati rice (1:2 water and 1 whistle) and let it cool.
2. Heat a wok / kadai and melt the ghee and butter until they liquefy.
3. Shallow fry the bay leaves, and cashews for a few minutes until the cashews turn golden 
4. Add the green chillies, cumin, onions, turmeric, garam masala and ginger garlic paste and saute for a few minutes until the onions turn translucent.
5. Add salt to taste. 
6. Add the grated carrots and quickly toss it around for about a minute.
7. Add the basmati rice and mix it thoroughly making sure the rice is all separated and not lumpy.

Carrot Rice Ready!!

Happy Cooking!!

C

p.s.: Please remember to share the post if you like it.