Horseradish Stir Fry (Mullangi Poriyal)

This is a very simple and healthy indian style horseradish dish, taught to me by my mom.

Firstly, peel and finely dice the horseradish and keep aside.

In a wok, heat up some oil. Once the oil is hot, throw in the onion, garlic, ginger and red chilli and fry for about 1-2 minutes.

Then, add in the diced horseradish and give a quick stir.

Go on to add the turmeric and salt and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the grated coconut and sliced curry leaves and give a good stir. Continue to cook for a minute and remove from heat.

HORSERADISH STIR FRY (MULLANGI PORIYAL)

+PRINT RECIPE HERE
INGREDIENTS:

1 horseradish, peeled and finely diced
1 onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 inch ginger, finely minced
1/4 cup grated coconut
Curry leaves, a sprig, shredded
1/2 red chilli, deseeded & finely chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp oil

METHOD:

1) In a wok, heat up 1 tbsp of oil. Once the oil is hot, throw in the onion, garlic, ginger and red chilli and fry for about 1-2 minutes.
2) Then, add in the diced horseradish and give a quick stir.

3) Go on to add the turmeric and salt and cook for a couple of minutes.

4) Add the grated coconut and sliced curry leaves and give a good stir. Continue to cook for a minute and remove from heat.

*This recipe serves 4

Almond Butter

In recent times, I've been coming across posts from various food blogs on how to make your very own homemade almond butter. If I had not stumbled upon these recipes, honestly, I would have never thought it would be possible to make almond butter from scratch, or any kind of nut butter for the fact.

Many food blogger who have attempted making almond butter more than often suggest various flavourings, such as cinnamon, chocolate, or honey could be added to the nut butter to enhance its taste. I thought I would have to add some salt and perhaps some honey to achieve a nicer tasting almond butter. But boy was I wrong! This beauty was so good on its own and it didn't need any flavour enhancers, not even salt, making this an extremely healthy recipe, albeit in moderation. Trust me, its that good, even I was a little surprised with the amazing end result.

In order to make your very own almond butter, you would need almonds, of course, and a durable food processor or grinder. Fret not if you have a not so sturdy food processor or grinder, you could still attempt making this butter but the process might take you a little longer than usual.

I only used 200g of almonds since it was my first time making it and I was rather skeptical on whether it would turn out well and if it didn't I didn't want it to end up being a royal flop!

Start of by roasting the almonds. You could very well use raw almond instead of roasting it, but I would strongly suggest roasting it since it lends a very deep flavour to the almond butter. In a baking tray covered with foil, lay the almonds in a single layer. Roast the almond for 10 minutes in the oven. 

Once done, remove the roasted almonds from the oven and let it cool for a bit. 

Place the almonds in the food processor or grinder and grind away.

This is how it looks after 1 minute of grinding.

After 3 minutes.

After a full five minutes. I was surprised that it took me only 5 minutes to reach this consistency, since most blogger mentioned that it would take around 10 minutes to reach this consistency.

Place the butter in an airtight container and place it in the fridge for up to 6 weeks. 

You may consume the almond butter with toast or cracker, but the best way which works for me is by dipping sliced apples into the butter and eating them.

ALMOND BUTTER

+PRINT RECIPE HERE

INGREDIENTS:

200g almonds, roasted

METHOD:

1) Preheat the oven at 150 degree celsius.
2) Place the raw almonds in a single layer on a baking try lined with foil.
3) Roast the almonds in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, stirring a couple of times in between.
4) Once done, remove the roasted almonds from the oven and let it cool for a bit.
5) Place the almonds in the food processor or grinder and start grinding.
6) Stop grinding every 1 minutes and scrape down the sides and continue grinding for another minute and repeat the same till the almond butter comes together.
7) Once the almond butter comes together, place the contents in an airtight container and refrigerate for 4-6 weeks.
* If you are adding and additional flavourings, like sugar, salt, honey, or cinnamon, the shelf life of the butter may be reduced to 1 to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. 

Healthy Rasam

Rasam is sort of an Indian soup, made with tonnes of spices. Generally, it is quite a healthy side dish and it is really good for cold and digestion. But I'm going one step ahead and calling this recipe healthy rasam because not even a drop of oil was used in this recipe.

Start by peeling and roughly crushing a few small onions using a mortar & pestle. Once crushed,remove it and keep aside.

Repeat the same as above for the garlic. Remove and keep aside.

Lastly, add in all the required spices and give a good pounding.

In a large bowl,place about 1/4 cup of tamarind. To that, add some water and start rubbing the tamarind using your fingers to extract the juice. Once the juice of the tamarind has been extracted, strain the excess pulp and seeds.

To the strained tamarind juice add the crushed onion, garlic, spices, crushed tomato, curry leaves, turmeric and salt give a good mix.

Heat a pan and add the mustard. Once the mustard is lightly toasted transfer the whole mixture to the pan. Bring the rasam to a boil. 

Once it has started boiling, just let it boil for about 30 seconds and immediately remove from heat. Be sure not to over boil the rasam.

HEALTHY RASAM

+PRINT RECIPE HERE

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup tamarind

4 cloves garlic, crushed

4 small onions, crushed

1 tomato, crushed

1 sprig curry leaves

1/4 tsp turmeric

2 1/4 cups water

Salt to taste

1/4 tsp mustard

Spices:

1 tsp fennel
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp black peppercorn

METHOD:

1) Peel and lightly crush the small onions and garlic using a mortar and pestle. Remove the crushed onions and garlic and keep aside.

2) Add in all the spices in the mortar and pestle and roughly crush the spices.

3) Smash a tomato using your finger and keep aside.

4) In a bowl, place the tamarind and to that add 2 1/4 of water and start rubbing the tamarind using the tip of your fingers to extract the juice.

5) Strain the excess tamarind pulp and seeds.

6) To the strained tamarind juice, add the crushed onion, garlic, spices, tomato, curry leaves, turmeric and salt to taste and give it a good mix.

7) Heat a pan and add the mustard. Once the mustard has toasted lightly, transfer the whole mixture to the pan. 

8) Bring the rasam to a boil. 

9) Once it has started boiling, just let it boil for about 30 seconds and immediately remove from heat.

NOTE:

1) The spices used in this recipe has been washed, dried and dry roasted before use. If you have obtained your spices from the supermarket or the sundry, you need not wash them. Just dry roast them till fragrant before using it.

2) Be sure not to over boil the rasam.

* This recipes serves 4

Coconut Date Fritters (Cucur Buah Kurma Kelapa)

Today marks the first day of the Ramadan month and one of the popular food items this month would be dates/buah kurma. This recipe is really easy to make and very suitable for buka puasa/breaking fast.

Start by deseeding the dates and cutting it into strips. Really sweet dates are best used for these fritter and you would not need to add any sugar.

In a bowl, combine the self raising flour, atta flour and salt and make a well.

Slowly add some water to make a thick batter.

To the batter add the dates and mix well. Add some sugar if dates are not sweet and combine well.

Add the grated coconut and give it a good mix.

In a wok/pan, heat some oil. Once the oil is hot, spoon in about 1 tbsp of the batter into the hot oil. Be sure not to over crowd the pan. Spoon in only about 3-4 fritters at a time. Fry the fritters for about a minute or less and flip it to the other side. 

Once the fritters have turned golden brown on both sides, remove from the pan and place it on kitchen roll to absorb the excess oil and serve hot.

Selamat berbuka puasa to all my muslim brothers and sisters!

COCONUT DATE FRITTERS (CUCUR BUAH KURMA KELAPA)

+PRINT RECIPE HERE

INGREDIENTS:

10-12 dates/buah kurma, deseeded and sliced

1/4 cup grated coconut,packed

1/2 cup self raising flour

1/2 cup atta/whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp salt

Sugar to taste, if needed

1/2 cup water or as needed

Oil to fry

METHOD:

1) Deseed the dates and slice them. Do not slice them too thin, it should be of medium thickness. Keep aside.

2) In a bowl, combine the self raising flour, atta flour and salt and make a well.

3) Slowly add some water to make a thick batter.

4) To the batter add the dates and mix well. Add some sugar if dates are not sweet and combine well.

5) Add the grated coconut and give it a good mix.

6) Heat the oil in a pan, in medium low heat.

7) Once the oil in the pan is hot, spoon in about 1 tbsp of the batter in to the hot oil. Repeat this to make a few more fritters at a time.

8) Fry the fritters for 1 minutes or less. Flip the fritters to the other side and continue to fry for another 1 minute or less, or till golden brown.

9) Once the fritters turn golden brown, remove from oil and place the fritter on kitchen roll to absorb the excess oil.

NOTES:

1) The self raising flour can be replaced with plain or all purpose flour. If this is done, add 1/2 tsp of baking powder.

2) The atta flour can be replaced with whole wheat flour. If you can't find atta or whole wheat flour, you need not use a combination of flours. You can just use self raising/plain/all purpose flour.

4) Make sure to add the water in small amounts so that you don't end up with a runny batter. If you added too much of water, just add a bit more flour to make the batter thick again.

5) Make sure the oil is hot enough before you fry the fritters so that your fritter does not absorb excess oil and becomes soggy.

6) Make only about 4 fritter at a time and do not overcrowd the pan.

* This recipe yields 18-20 fritters

Linking this to: http://www.thelady8home.com/2013/08/16/weekend-gala-dinner-extravaganza-is-back-link-up/

Rustic Garlic Mashed Potato

Mashed potato serves as an excellent side dish for most meat western  dishes and it is very easy to make it. This time around, instead of making plain mashed potato, I added a bit if of garlic to give it an oomph. If you are watching your carb intake, you could easily substituted the potatoes used in this recipe with cauliflower and the butter with olive oil.

I started off by boiling a few peeled and cubed potatoes till fork tender in salted water. 

Place the cooked potatoes in a bowl, add the butter and start mashing up the potato with the back of the fork. 

Add in the milk, finely grated garlic and greek style yogurt and continue mashing the potato. The mashed potato need not be smooth, that's why I'm calling it rustic garlic mashed potato. But if you prefer it smooth, go ahead and make it smooth and if want the mashed potato a little more creamier, add a bit more milk.

Go ahead and taste the mashed potato at this point to check the seasoning. Add salt if necessary. 

Lastly, gently fold in the chopped spring onion. 

RUSTIC GARLIC MASHED POTATO

+PRINT RECIPE HERE
INGREDIENTS:
3 potatoes, peeled, cubed and boiled
3 cloves garlic, finely grated
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp greek style yogurt
4-5 tbsp milk
1 tbsp chopped spring onion
Salt to taste

METHOD:
1) Peel and cube the potatoes. 
2) Bring to boil some water in a pan. Add about 1 1/2 tsp of salt and throw in the potatoes. Boil the potatoes for 10-15 minutes till fork tender.
3) Remove the boiled potatoes and place it in a bowl.
4) To the cooked potatoes add the butter and start mashing it up using a fork.
4) Add the greek style yogurt, milk and finely grated garlic and continuing mashing till desired consistency.
5) Add salt to taste and chopped spring onions and mix well.

* This recipe serves 3 

Onion Fritters (Cucur Bawang)

This is an extremely simple recipe and you can whip up a batch of these fritters in no time for a savoury and tasty tea time snack.

When I make fritters I usually use a combination of plain/self raising flour and whole wheat/atta flour. For these onion fritters I used equal amount of self raising flour and atta flour. To that flour mixture I add the sliced onion and some salt and gave it a good mix.

Add some water to make a batter. Make sure the batter is not too runny. If you have accidentally added more water, just add extra flour to make the batter thick again.

Heat some oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot, spoon in about 1 tbsp of the batter into the hot oil. Be sure not to over crowd the pan. Spoon in only about 3-4 fritters at a time. Fry the fritters for about a minute and flip it to the other side. 

Once the fritters have turned golden brown on both sides, remove from the pan and place it on kitchen roll to absorb the excess oil. Serve hot with ketchup or chilli sauce.

ONION FRITTERS (CUCUR BAWANG)

+PRINT RECIPE HERE
INGREDIENTS:

2 red onion, sliced

1/2 cup self raising flour

1/2 cup atta flour

Salt to taste

3/4-1 cup water

1 cup oil, to fry

METHOD:

1) In a bowl, combine the two types of flour, sliced anions and salt.

2) Add the water bit by bit to make a thick batter.

3) Heat the oil in a pan, in medium low heat.

4) Once the oil in the pan is hot, spoon in about 1 tbsp of the batter in to the hot oil. Repeat this to make a few more fritters at a time.

5) Fry the fritters for 1 minutes. Flip the fritters to the other side and continue to fry for another 1 minute, or till golden brown.

6) Once the fritters turn golden brown, remove from oil and place the fritter on kitchen roll to absorb the excess oil.

7) Serve hot with ketchup or chilli sauce.

NOTES:

1) The self raising flour can be replaced with plain or all purpose flour. If this is done, add 1/2 tsp of baking powder.

2) The atta flour can be replaced with whole wheat flour. If you can't find atta or whole wheat flour, you need not use a combination of flours. You can just use self raising/plain/all purpose flour.

4) Make sure to add the water in small amounts so that you don't end up with a runny batter. If you added too much of water, just add a bit more flour to make the batter thick again.

5) Make sure the oil is hot enough before you fry the fritters so that your fritter does not absorb excess oil and becomes soggy.

6) Make only about 4 fritter at a time and do not overcrowd the pan.
   
   *This recipe yields 16-20 fritters.