How to Make Avial

Avial is a Kerala delicacy and is normally a regular on a Sunday lunch in a Kerala household. It has caught on to the imagination of many and is a regular feature in some restaurants too. It is a culinary pleasure not only to make but also to share the recipe  

Preparation time 40 minutes 

cooking time      30 minutes

Serves 4 

Ingredients

Vegetables 

2 drumsticks

1/2 kilo white pumpkin

1/4 kilo yellow pumpkin

1/4 kilo yam ( suran)

1/4 kilo snake gourd

2 raw bananas

curry leaves

2 tbsp coconut oil 

salt

turmeric powder ( optional)

The Masala

3/4 coconut grated 

2 green chillies

1/2 cup curd / one lemon size tamarind ball

Cut all the vegetables into long strips . Keep the yam and the banana separately cut and soak in water. Take a wide bottomed vessel and boil 3 cups of water and add salt and turmeric. Add the cut yam and let it cook for 4 minutes. Then add the bananas. Let it cook for two minutes. Now add the remaining vegetables and boil till the vegetables are well cooked. 

Meantime, grind the coconut and chilli and keep aside. Beat the curd. Now strain the water from the vegetables and let them cool in a colander. After five  minutes add the vegetables, the ground coconut and the curd. Let it simmer for five minutes. If necessary add the strained water . You can use this water for other gravies so don't throw it. 

Add curry leaves and the coconut oil and serve hot with rice and sambar. 

All About Garlic

My Say on Garlic

Garlic is a great spice that you could add to your meals and is a very healthy ingredient in cuisine. Eating garlic expands the blood vessels and thus reduces inflammation in the body. This helps to manage not only the blood pressure but also the blood sugar levels. 

How to Select Garlic

Garlic is normally got in bulbs and has a papery covering. When you buy garlic test the bulb and see how much outer skin it has. The cloves should not be squashy . The garlic you buy should not have any kind of spots either. 

 Cooking with Garlic

There are two rules to use garlic during cooking. 

• The more garlic is chopped the better its flavour. 
• If you cook garlic for a longer time, the flavour gets milder

 You could either use the cloves pierced or crushed. You could also  use sliced, chopped or minced cloves too.

How to remove skin

Soak garlic in cold water and the skin comes off easily. 

How to remove the smell in your hands while working with Garlic

Rub any kind of cookware made of stainless steel in your hands and wash with cold water

Again remember that if you overcook garlic then it gets very acidic. If you want a strong flavour add it in your food just before the meal gets done. Again if you want a mild flavour saute the garlic before you add the other ingredients. 

How To Store Garlic

Garlic is usually stored in a cool,dry place.

  

Instant Fried Rice

Many times haven't you wanted to order a meal from a nearby eatery but it is closed. So you wanted to eat Chinese cuisine and the eatery is closed? Never mind, here is a quick recipe for a very easy Chinese Meal

Cooking Time 5 min

Preparation time 10 min

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 cups of cooked rice, cooled

4 spring onions or normal raw onions

a small piece of cabbage

a capsicum

1 carrot

Ginger 1 inch

Garlic 6 cloves

 Oil

Salt to taste

1 tsp of white pepper

Take a frying pan and heat oil in it. Saute the garlic and ginger shredded to small pieces. Slice the onion and add it. Cut the remaining vegetables as the onion is sauteed and add them one by one. Make sure the vegetables are not overfried. Add the cooked rice in this and add some white pepper.  Voila! your fried rice is ready.

If you wish you could add soya sauce and chilli sauce to this. You can have this with a manchurian which is another dish you could whip up in five minutes. See my recipe on how to make this.

The Nei Appam

There is something very special about Indian delicacies. With the innumerable states in India, each region has its own special delicacy. Today we are going down south to God's own country Kerala and are going to see how the Nei Appam  is made. The Nei Appam is a great feature of a celebration in Kerala. Predominantly made out of rice, the art of making this can be mastered only with practice.

Cooking Time  - 3 Hours ( Inclusive of soaking the rice )

Serves 4

Preparation Time : Half an hour ( Inclusive of grinding)

Ingredients

1 Cup rice

3/4 cup jaggery or gur

1 banana

Some coconut slices

Cardamom or elaichi powder

One and a half cups ghee 

A special compartment pan for making the nei appam

A long needle

Soak the cup of rice for around three hours. Then grind it either in a mixer or a South Indian style grinder. When the rice is completely ground, add the jaggery. Ensure that you crush the jaggery well. Also ensure that the rice is completely ground finely. Now add the banana and grind further till it becomes a smooth paste. Add the coconut slices and the cardamom powder. 

Now take the pan and pour the ghee in it and heat it well. It should be medium heat. Take a big spoon of the batter that you have prepared and pour it slowly into the pan.  Ensure that you adjust the heat and slowly when it becomes brown turn it over with the help of the needle. Let it cook on the other side too.


Drain it on a collander . Serve hot.

Time Saving Rice

How many times have you wanted to whip up something really nice but never got yourself to do it? Well learn about this time saving rice which is a great quickfix for emergencies at home. This is something you could do if you have cooked rice but do not have the time to make anything else.

 Serves 4

Cooking Time - 5 minutes

Preparation time - 5 minutes

Ingredients

1/4 inch ginger (adrak)

1 green chilli

1tsp mustard seeds ( rai)

1tsp bengal gram flour ( chana dal )

1tsp  spilit black lentils (udad dal)

2 tbsp peanuts ( optional)

1 tomato

a piece of cabbage

coriander leaves

curry leaves

a pinch of asafoetida (hing)

1tsp turmeric powder(haldi)

1 small onion

1 tsp oil 

A big bowl of cooked rice

Take a frying pan and heat the oil.  Add the mustard seeds till they splutter. Add the asafoetida  and the bengal gram dal and the udad dal. Reduce the flame. Add chilli, ginger and curry leaves. Add the peanuts. Now while you are doing this, you can save time and cut the onions. Add this. And then the tomatoes. Keep stirring. While doing this, save time and add some salt to the cooked rice. Add this to the mixture in the pan. Stir fast and top it with coriander leaves. While it is getting ready shred the cabbage and top it.

Voila! Your time saving rice is ready.

My say

Time Saving Menu

Cooking Tips

Get to know all the cooking tips that you always wanted to have while in the kitchen. This and more would make cooking a pleasure for you and you would certainly love to cook after reading these tips.

Tips Before Cooking

• Ensure that you wash the vegetables before cutting or peeling so that the vitamins and nutrients are not lost. When you wash the vegetables after cutting you are actually washing away vital nutrients. 

• Always peel the vegetables very thin so that you dont peel off minerals and vitamins present just below the skin. 
• An Apple a Day keeps the doctor away, but a discoloured apple is not favoured by many. So to keep the colour intact just apply a little juice of a lemon on the exposed surface. The apple remains fresh for you to eat.
• Never throw away the water used during boiling vegetables. This water has the most vital nutrients. Use it for the gravy. 
•  Indian cuisine is incomplete without coriander. But when they dry out, there is no fun in using them. To keep the coriander fresh, put it in a muslin cloth and store in the refrigerator. It remains fresh as ever.
• When you are dealing with potatoes then ensure that you soak them after cutting so that they don't lose their colour. The same applies to eggplant.

• So you want to make use of the almonds inthe freezer? But it would take a long time to peel the skin? Never mind. Just soak them for ten minutes and your job is done. The skin comes off easily.
•  Green chillies form the core of Indian cuisine. But they wither away fast. To keep them fresh, take off their stems as this way it remains fresh for a longer time. 
• Who doesnt like to get away from cutting onions? NOone likes to cry. But now, your onion tears can dry for if you soak the onions for ten minutes before cutting, you are sure to smile your way through. 
• Are you the one who shirks work in the kitchen? Then obviously anything out of corn might not be in your cook list? Well drive away your fears of peeling corn corbs. For all that you have to do is hold it upright and run a knife along it vertically. Voila! your cobs fall down on easily. Make sure you place the corn on a tray or a plate . 
• The plain newspaper keeps your fruit fresh in the refirgerator for a longer time. 
• While cutting dry fruits, make sure you freeze them. Then take a knife and dip it in hot water and then cut them. Your job is easier.

About Home

The Food Bistro is an attempt to put together the combined efforts of everyday cooking in a very snazzy way. Cooking is an art and if you cook with love and interest the taste is double fold. So come into The Food Bistro and binge to your heart's content and dole out the best food your family could ever have had. ! Happy Cooking ! 

 

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Five Minute Pancake

So you are pressed with work and you wonder what to whip in that five minutes you have before sending your son to his sports club? You find no loaf of bread at home,  and there isn't any way you could whip an instant dish? Never mind, try this five minute pancake.

Ingredients

 1/2 cup of rice powder
 1/2cup of oats
1/2cup of riceflakes
1/2cup of gram flour
1/4 cup curd
1 cup of water as per consistency
Coriander for seasoning
Green chillies (2nos)
A dash of ginger
Salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients , heat the frying pan and voila your five minute pancake is ready. Make sure you don't overheat the pan lest the pancake gets burnt. Serve it hot with an Indian chutney. 

Indian delicacies

Indian delicacies are a way of enjoying cusine to the maximum

The Food Bistro is an attempt to put together the combined efforts of everyday cooking in a very snazzy way. Cooking is an art and if you cook with love and interest the taste is double fold. So come into The Food Bistro and binge to your heart's content and dole out the best food your family could ever have had. !

Happy Cooking !