Tastebud Kindlers

Super easy and super tasty is such  a winning combination. This is one of my favorite snacks that can be made with just 3 ingredients and almost no preparation. So here goes. Ingredients Frozen ready to cook tortilla - 1 (You can also make with frozen ready to cook chapathi) Coconut oil (Haven't tried with other oils)  Sugar - 2 to 3 tbsp. Procedure Cut up the tortilla/chapathi into your favorite shape.  Heat oil in a frying pan and add the tortilla/chapathi pieces. The tortilla/chapathi will ball up instantly.  Move the fried tortilla/chapathi balls onto a plate sprinkled with sugar. Add more sugar to your taste. Mix well and serve.

I found this very delicious bitter gourd curry from my mother in law. I loved it from my first taste of it, converting me from a bitter gourd hater to lover. This curry does not taste bitter but it does have a strong flavor. Ingredients Bitter gourd (Pavakka) - 2 medium sized Garlic - 1 pod Shallots - a handful Curry leaves - a sprig Dried chillies - 5 Green chillies - 4 vertically sliced Coconut milk Cumin - 1/2 tsp Coriander powder - 2 tsp. Turmeric powder - 2 pinch Chilli powder - 1 tsp. Vinegar - 1 tbsp. Salt to taste Procedure Rub 1/2 to 1 tsp. salt on thinly sliced bitter gourd and leave it to rest for 1/2 an hour. Deep fry on medium flame for about 10 min till they are slightly brown. In a mixer, mix cumin seeds and garlic. Do not make it into a paste, just pulse it. Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, chilli powder and pulse again in the mixer. In a frying pan, (you may use the same after frying the bitter gourd), add some oil, burst the mu...

Ingredients Milk - 500 ml or 1 packet Custard powder - 2 heaped tbsp. Gelatin - 2 unheaped tbsp. Sugar - 5 to 6 tbsp. Fresh cream (Amul) - 180 ml Cocoa powder - 1 heaped tbsp. Coffee powder (Bru/Nescafe) - 1 tsp. Vanilla essence - 1 tsp. Procedure  Dissolve 2 unheaped tbsp. gelatin in 1/4 cup of cold water and keep it aside.  Mix 2 tbsp. custard powder in 3/4th cup of milk. Mix well  Bring rest of the milk to boil.  As the milk begins to boil, add about 5 - 6 tbsp. sugar and mix well. It might taste too sweet, but don't worry, the sugar will balance out once you add the rest of the ingredients.   Reduce to low flame and do not let the boiling milk overflow. Now slowly pour the custard mix to the boiling milk while stirring continuously. Do not dump the custard mix in one go into the boiling milk.    Stir the custard base until it gets thick (around the consistency of dosa dough). If everything so far had gone fine, it will ta...

From the very first time I had it, I am a huge fan of Nila poori masala. I had made an attempt to coax the Nila chefs to reveal the recipe but with no success. After so many failed trials to make nila style poori masala, I brought my mother-in-law, who is an excellent cook, to the restaurant to analyse the ingredients and find out how to come up with the right way to prepare this. And here is the recipe :) Ingredients Potato - 2 medium sized Onion sliced - 1 medium sized Green chillies split vertically- 4 Ginger - 1 inch Garlic - 8 cloves Bengal gram (Kadala parippu) - 1 tbsp Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp. Water - enough to immerse the potatoes Salt to taste Mustard seeds - 1 tsp. Tomato thinly sliced halves - 1/2 Carrot thinly sliced - 1/2 Curry leaves Coriander leaves (Malli ila) Procedure Add the potatoes peeled and cut into small chunks, sliced onion, split green chillies, ginger and garlic paste(whipped in mixer), bengal gram, w...

Banana Fritters or PazhamPori or Ethakkappam is an easy and favourite evening snack usually taken with steaming hot tea. As you go to Wayanad, there are numerous vendors who put up a stove on the roadside and serve steaming hot snacks. It is from one of those wayside vendor, I had the tastiest banana fritters, perfectly crunchy on the outside with a soft and melting center. I had been trying to reproduce the same ever since and finally here I am, sharing the recipe with you. Ingredients Really ripe bananas (Ethappazham) - 2 or 3 Coconut oil For the batter Wheat flour(Atta) or Plain flour(Maida) - 1/2 cup Rice flour(Aripodi) - 1 heaped tbsp. (This makes the batter crispy) Sugar - 1 or 2 tbsp (Not much sugar is required, as the bananas are very ripe) Salt - 2 pinch Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp.  Water - 3/4 cup Procedure Mix wheat flour/plain flour (I personally prefer wheat flour as it is healthier than maida. Also, fritters made with both tastes more o...