Jack fruit seed stir fry / Palakottai Poriyal

We get Jack fruit seeds (Palakottai) here during Jan-feb every year. I add it in sambar or any kuzhambu (Curry). This time, I thought let me try a stir fry with the seeds. 

This is not something new, this is quite famous recipe. But my mom doesn't prepare this because it brings gastric trouble to the family members. I was also unsure how my body would react if i eat as a stir fry as I am used to eat just 4-5 of these added in any food. 

So I was super conscious; I added garlic and sambar powder. Since it gives a sweet taste, a combination of sambar powder and chilly powder gave a nice taste to the stir fry. I didn't get any problem but my stomach was quite heavy. ;-) My little one had this with curd rice without any complaints. This is tasty, healthy, something new from regular stir fries but you need time to peel the skin. 

Ingredients:

Jack fruit seeds (Palakottai) 2 cups

Finely chopped garlic 1 tbsp

Chilli Powder 1/2 tsp

Sambar Powder 1 1/4 tbsp leveled

Water

Salt

Oil

To temper:

Mustard Seeds

Urad Dhal

Asafoetida a pinch

Curry Leaves few

Pearl Onions few

Method:

Chop pearl onions.

Add the jackfruit seeds in a pan. Add enough water and allow boiling till the seeds turn soft. This would take 8-10  minutes. Remove and peel its skin. Chop the seeds lengthwise into pieces. 

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add Urad dhal, Curry Leaves, Asafoetida, chopped garlic and chopped onions.. Fry till the onions turn translucent. 

Now add the chopped jackfruit seeds. Add chilly powder, sambar powder and salt. Fry till the masala powders gets combined well and the seeds get slightly roasted & done.

Serves: 3

Serve with hot steamed rice and any curry (kuzhambu). 

Notes: If not using sambar powder, add a combination of chilly powder, coriander powder and cumin powder or a combination of chilly powder and cumin powder. Do not forget to add garlic.

Linking this to vegan thursdays. We are a group of bloggers who share only vegan recipes during first and last thursdays of every month.

Sweet Corn Vadai / Sweet Corn Vada ~ Indian Fritters

Vada/ Vadai is Indian fritters made with batter of ground lentils or other foods mixed with spices. We crave much for vadais. But whenever I think of preparing, the soaking time really upsets my mood. But this corn vadai need not require any soaking; can be prepared in minutes once if you have the corn ready in hand. This is so crispy and crunchy; but little chewy when you bite the last bite of the vadai; but that is highly negligible because of its great taste.  

Ingredients:

Sweet corn 1 1/2 cups
Dried Red Chillies 5-6
Rice Powder 1/4 tsp
Finely chopped coriander 1 tbsp
Finely chopped Garlic 1 tsp
Cumin a pinch
Salt
Oil for deep fry

Method:

Thaw the corn if using frozen corn.

Grind Sweet corn along with chillies to a coarse batter with few corn not ground.

In a bowl, add the batter and other ingredients. Give it a mix.

Heat oil in a pan for deep fry.

Pinch a small ball sized batter. Gently flatten them in the palm. When hot, add them. Continue the same process for the remaining batter.

Deep fry until brown and done. Transfer to a paper towel.

Serve with chutney or Tomato ketchup.

Faluche du nord

Faluche du nord is a french small flat bread used for making sandwiches or just had as breakfast with butter and jam. Thanks Priya Suresh for sharing this recipe for Home Baker's challenge this month. We had some with butter and some with nutella. Both tasted amazing. 

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour 2 1/4 cups
Active Dry Yeast 1 tsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
Olive Oil 2 tbsp
Extra Oil for brushing
Extra flour for dusting

Method:

Add yeast in luke warm water and set aside until frothy.

Combine flour in a bowl and salt in a large bowl. Add olive oil and mix well. Now add the yeast mixture and water little by little. Knead to form a soft dough.

Transfer the dough to a greased bowl and set it aside for 1 1/2 hrs.

Sprinkle little flour on the surface for kneading. Now place the dough and roll it into a large disc with enough thickness.

Set them aside in a flour dusted baking sheet for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C.

With round shaped cutter, cut into shapes. Now brush oil on the top and dust little flour.

Bake the flauche for 12-15 minutes.

Cool in a wire rack before serving.

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Labongo Latika for South Vs North Challenge

Sanoli Ghosh of Sanoli's kitchen is the host for this month SNC initiated by Divya of You too can cook. Every month, a host from south team would challenge north team with a south indian recipe and a host from north team would challenge the south team with north indian recipe; a nice challenge to learn new recipes. 

I prepare sweets less often. But Bengali Sweets is my all time favorite. I love the artistic way these sweets are made of and I need not speak about the taste. These are absolutely delicious, lip smacking and truly no one can eat just one. This is one of the delicious sweets and I love it to the core.

Thanks Sanoli for this lip smacking recipe. Labongo refers to cloves. This sweet is made of sweetened khoya sealed inside pocket-like pastry, deep fried and soaked in sugar syrup.

Ingredients for the dough/outer crust:

All Purpose Flour 1 cup
Powdered Sugar 1 tbsp
Salt 1/8 tsp
Baking Powder a pinch

Pinch of Saffron soaked in 1 tbsp warm water
1 1/2 tbsp Ghee
Warm Water 1/8 cup + little more
Cloves

To make Mawa/Khoya: 

Recipe Source: spiceupthecurry

Ingredients:

Milk Powder 3/4 cup
Ghee 1/4 tbsp
Milk 1/8 cup

Method:

Mix Ghee and Milk and bring it to boil.
Add Milk Powder little by little and mix well. If the mixture is more crumbly, add Milk 1 tsp at a time. (I had to add 3 tsp of milk at this stage).
Combine well. It gets set once cooled.

For Filling:

Mawa (Refer above)
Powdered Sugar 2 tbsp
Nutmeg Powder 1/8 tsp
Warm Water

For Sugar Syrup:

Sugar 1 cup
Water 1/2 cup
Rose Essence / Rose Syrup 1 tsp

Method for the outer crust:

Combine All Purpose Flour, Baking Powder, Powdered Sugar, Salt, Saffron water in a large bowl. Mix well. Now add water little by little to form a stiff dough. Keep this aside.

Method for filling:

In a pan, add Mawa, Powdered Sugar, Nutmeg Powder and warm water. Mix well and allow boiling until the mixture thickens.

Method for Sugar Syrup:

Add water in a pan. When it starts boiling, add the sugar. Allow boiling till the sugar gets completely dissolved in water with stirring now and then.

Method for Labongo Latika:

Pinch ball sized dough and spread it circularly like a poori. Keep the filling at the center. Fold the left and right ends. Now fold the top and the bottom sides to form a like a pocket. Using wet hands, seal the edges. Insert a clove to seal the pocket.

Prepare the rest of the dough similarly.

Heat enough oil in a pan for deep frying. When hot, add the pockets. Fry on a medium flame until both the sides turn golden brown. Remove and set aside.

Once cooled, add the pockets to the thick sugar syrup. Soak it for at least five minutes. Turn it to the other side and allow soaking for some more time. 

Now lip smacking Bengali Sweet is ready to served. !!!

Notes: I halved the recipe. Check out Sanoli's space for the original recipe. I didn't have rose essence and so skipped it. 

Biscuit Sablés/Eggless French Shortbread Biscuits

This is my first entry to Home Bakers Challenge. One of this month's challenge is Biscuit Sablés.

The French word sable means sand, also this was created for the first time in a town called Sablé sur Sarthe few years ago, because of the texture and the origin these biscuits are named as Sablé, however these biscuits are seriously very soft, delicate, buttery with a fantastic texture. Its true that it makes a wonderful pair with a cup of tea or coffee.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour 1 1/4 cup
Butter 1/2 cup (110g )
Powdered Sugar 1/4 cup
Vanilla Powder 1/4 tsp
Milk 1 tsp

Method:

Powder sugar, sieve it and keep it aside.

Beat Butter (at room temperature) until fluffy. Add Sugar and beat again so that sugar gets combined well with the butter and till the mixture turns fluffy.

Sieve All Purpose flour and Vanilla Powder. Add this little by little to the mixture until it gets combined well. Now add milk and knead to form a stiff dough.

Preheat the oven for 10 minutes.

Using two non greased baking sheets and with the mixture in between roll out the dough. Using the cookie cutter, cut it into desired shapes. 

Bake at 180 deg C for 15 minutes. Cool it completely in a wire rack before storing it in air tight containers or before serving. 

Notes: I halved the recipe. check out here for the original recipe. I use an eletric oven and baked in the middle rack.

Linking this also to Love 2 bake happening at spicy treats. We share baked goodies every monday.

Oven stir fried Broccoli ~ Indian Style

I've never had too many flops as much as I tried cookies. This is my first try with Broccoli in oven, it came out too good. Though I've made pan stir fried broccoli some time back, this is something different. This is quite crispy and required very less oil. I've recently started cooking broccoli and thus yet to try other variations. 

Ingredients:

Broccoli 450g
Chilli Powder 1/2 tsp
Sambar Powder 1 tsp
Olive Oil 3 tsp
Salt

Method:

Mix Broccoli with the other ingredients.

Pre heat the oven at 180 deg C.

Bake/Cook initially for 10 minutes. Remove & stir and then allow cooking for 10 more minutes. Remove again, stir and then allow cooking for five more minutes or until it turn crisp and slightly brown.  (It took totally 25 minutes for me; I used frozen broccoli.)

This goes to Love 2 Bake event initiated by Sangee of Spicy Treats. We share oven baked recipes every monday. If you are interested, check out here.

Fruit Custard

My son is very much fond of fruit juices.. He drinks whichever he finds colorful and yummy. No meal and no day gets complete without juice for him. I used to fear during every vacation as we don't get as many varieties of fruit juices there as available here that too in smaller sizes. But somehow every time he adjusts and enjoys his stay there. 

When it comes to eating fruits; he eats only banana. Rarely he eats apple. Other fruits are like aliens to him. He comes nearby the chopped fruits, says its color and runs in no time fearing I would make him eat. Its fun to hear him say dark blue and light blue as he has started identifying the dark and light shades of colors recently. But making him eat is the toughest and tiresome job. So I thought I shall add those fruits in custard.. I failed in my mission; he didn't even bother to try.. !!!

Ingredients:

Fruits (I used Pomegranate, Apple and Grapes)
Custard Powder 2 1/2 tbsp
Milk 2 cups
Sugar 2 1/2 tbsp


Method:

Add custard powder in a bowl.

Add two cups of milk in a pan. Take 2 1/2 tbsp of milk from that milk and combine with the custard powder. Mix well and keep it aside.

Add sugar to milk and allow boiling. When the sugar gets completely dissolved, add the custard powder and continue stirring. 

Remove from flame when the desired consistency is reached.

Keep it aside until it reaches room temperature. Refrigerate for at least half an hour. Add chopped fruits and serve.

Notes: After adding custard powder, the milk thickens much faster. So remove from flame before it reaches the thickening stage as it further thickens on refrigerating.

You can use other fruits like pineapple, banana, kiwi, pear according to your taste and preference.

Buttery Baked Corn

Though I finished off two corn cobs, two more remained yet to use. I've never baked corn cob. I thought let me try my hands on it. The flavors came out excellent. I couldn't restrict my hands on it before clicking. The flavors of butter, garlic and the corn itself is amazing. It got cooked perfect and we enjoyed with a glass of green tea.

Recipe Source: BBC Good Food

Ingredients:

Corn Cob 2
Butter 50g
Pepper Powder 1/8 tsp (or acc. to your taste)
Garlic clove 2 - grated
Coriander Leaves few

Method:

Remove the outer layers and the silky layers of the corn cob.

Pre heat the oven.

Mix butter, pepper powder,grated garlic and chopped coriander leaves. Spread the mixture on the corn cob. Place the corn cob in aluminum foil and cover its edges. Need not seat it completely.

Bake it for 25 minutes at 200 deg C.

Serve as a snack with tea.

Notes: I added very less pepper powder as my toddler son may eat. Increase the quantity as per your taste and preference.

Beans stir fry with Moong Dhal

My toddler son eats only curd rice. It is very difficult to make him eat lentils. Once a week, I make him eat Paruppu sadam (Toor Dhal curry) with much force; he eats it with an angry face. He doesn't like sambar or any curry made with lentils except for kootu, that too , he likes to have it as a side dish to curd rice. But he eats almost all vegetables except for bitter gourd. Usually I add moong dhal to cabbage stir fries. I tried it with beans and it turned to be flavorful and on top of it, my son liked it very much. :) Though he eats just 1-2 tblsp of vegetables, I am quite happy that he eats it along with lentils.

Ingredients:

Beans 250g
Dried Red Chillies 2-3
Moong Dhal (yellow) fistful
Grated Coconut 1 tblsp
Salt
Water

To temper:

Pearl Onions few
Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
Urad Dhal 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves few
Asafoetida a pinch
Oil

Preparation:

Chop Beans and Onions into fine pieces.

Method:

Heat Oil in a Pan. When hot, add mustard seeds. When they start popping up, add Urad Dhal, Curry Leaves, Asafoetida, onions and red chillies. Fry till onions turn translucent.

Now add chopped beans and salt. Fry for a while and then add Moong Dhal along with water. Cook till done.

Serves: 2
Serve with steamed rice and any spicy curry.

This goes to Vegan thursdays, an event initiated by Priya suresh of Priya's versatile Recipes. We are a group of bloggers who share only vegan recipes on first and last thursdays of every month.