Bitter Melon Tomato Curry

Overview
Bitter melon with tomatoes and coconut milk with a touch of vinegar for the sour taste adds a very distinctive flavor to this dish. This dish has combination of different flavors - the bitter taste from melons combined with the sweet taste from coconut milk, sour taste from tomatoes and vinegar  and the spicy taste from chillies.

Bitter Melon Tomato Curry

Ingredients
Bitter melon - 3 medium size cut into 2 inch thin slices
Red Onion - 2 medium thin sliced
Plum tomatoes - 3 thick long slices
Ginger 2 inch pieces - thin sliced
Green chilly - 4 - 6
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
Red chilly powder - 1 1/2 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Fresh thick coconut milk - 1 cup
White Vinegar - 2 teaspoon
Salt to taste

To Garnish
Red onion 1/2 thin sliced
Curry leaves one sprig
Olive oil - 3 tablespoons

Steps
1. Marinate the sliced bitter melon slices with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder and keep aside for 10 - 15 minutes.
2. Squeeze out the water from the bitter melon and add to a pan. To this add  sliced red onions, ginger green chilly, curry leaves, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder, chilly powder, coriander powder , salt and 1/2 cup water cover lid and cook on low flame till the bitter melon is cooked and tender.
3. Add the coconut milk and tomato slices to this and bring to boil. Add 2 teaspoon while vinegar and salt if needed. Turn off heat.
4. In another pan heat oil. When the oil gets hot add the thin sliced onions. When the oil gets golden brown and the curry leaves and fry. Turn off heat and pour this over the prepared curry

Serve hot with plain rice or any Indian bread.

Kerala Egg Roast (Mutta Roast)

Overview
A traditional Kerala egg dish in which hard boiled eggs are mixed with a spicy masala gravy. This egg roast goes very well with rice, appam or any Indian breads. The thick gravy is made with sauteing onions, tomatoes, garlic and ginger with spices. I have used all whole spices and ground them to give a traditional authentic taste. Whole Kashmiri chilly adds a nice red color and flavor to this dish.

Kerala Egg Roast

Ingredients for Kerala Egg Roast

Ingredients
Hard boiled eggs - 10
Red Onions thin sliced - 2 cups
Plum tomatoes thin sliced - 2 cups
Cilantro finely chopped - 1/2 cup
Coriander seeds - 3 tablespoons
Kashmiri chilly whole - 4 - 6
Whole black peppers - 1 teaspoon
Fennel seeds - 2 teaspoon
Garam Masala - 1 teaspoon( optional)
Curry leaves 2 sprigs
Shallots 1/4 cup
Garlic 10  - 12 cloves
Ginger 2 inch pieces
Green chilly - 4 - 6 split at center
Olive oil - 4 tablespoons
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt to taste

Steps
1. Hard boil eggs and peel shell.  Make thin slits on the eggs whites and keep aside.
2. In a blender add the ginger, garlic, shallots, coriander seeds, Kashmiri chillies, whole black pepper, turmeric powder and fennel seeds with 1/4 cup water and make a smooth paste.
3. In a heavy bottom pan heat the oil. When the oil gets hot add the sliced red onions, curry leaves and green chilly and saute till the onions are light brown.
4. Add the ground spice paste to this and saute well till the oil begins to separate.
5. Add the sliced tomatoes to this with salt stir and cook covered till the tomatoes are cooked well and the gravy is thick. Garam masala(optional) can be added now.
6, Add the hard boiled eggs to this and saute few more minutes and add the finely chopped cilantro to this

Serve hot with rice, appam or any Indian bread.

Celery Curry ( Mock Chembu Thandu Curry)

Overview
Colacasia stem (Chembu Thandu) is used traditionally in many curries in Kerala. Since it is hard to get Colacasia stem here I tried the same curry with celery stems and it came out very good. The sour taste from the tamarind and the fresh ground coconut adds a unique flavor to this dish. This is a good side dish for rice or any Indian breads.

Celery Curry (Mock Chembu Thandu Curry)

Ingredients
Celery stems cut into bite size pieces - 1 1/2 cups
Tamarind size of a lime
Green chilly - 3 - 4
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
Fresh grated coconut - 3/4 cup
Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Shallots 4 - 5
Garlic cloves 3
Whole dry red chilly - 3 - 4 cut into pieces
Turmeric powder 1/4 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Oil - 3 teaspoons
Salt to taste

Steps
1. Add the tamarind to half cup warm water and keep is aside for 10 - 20 minutes. Squeeze out the tamarind pulp and strain the tamarind liquid.
2. Cook the celery pieces with salt and one cup water. When the celery gets cooked add the tamarind juice to it and bring it to boil.
3. In blender add the fresh grated coconut, green chilly, shallots, cumin seeds and turmeric powder with half cup warm water and grind to a smooth paste.
4. Add the ground coconut mixture to the cooked celery and bring it to a boil and turn off heat.
5. In another pan heat oil. When the oil gets hot add the must rad seeds. When the seeds splutter add the whole red chilly pieces and curry leaves to the oil  and turn off heat. Add this oil mixture on top of the prepared celery curry.

Serve with plain rice.

Beef Pepper Stir Fry

Overview
A beef stir fry with multicolored mini bell peppers makes a very colorful and elegant dish. Garlic , ginger and red onion mixed with red pepper flakes and soya sauce adds a special flavor and aroma to this dish. I have grilled the beef and then sliced it to strips to add an extra layer of smoky flavor. This dish has very few ingredients and is easy and quick to make.

Beef Pepper Stir Fry

Ingredients for Beef Pepper Stir Fry - Grilled beef strips,
Multicolored bell peppers, Red Onions, Garlic and Ginger

Ingredients
Beef  1 1/2 pounds -thick slices
Mini multicolored bell pepper - thin sliced - 2 cups
Red Onions thin sliced - 1 1/2 cups
Garlic cloves  - 4 thin sliced
Ginger 1 inch piece - thin sliced
Red pepper flakes - 1 teaspoon
Soya sauce 2 - 3 teaspoons
Salt to taste
Black pepper powder - 1 teaspoon
Olive oil - 3 tablespoon

Steps
1. Marinate the thick beef slices in 1 tablespoon olive oil , salt and black pepper powder for about 10 - 20 minutes and then grill. Let the slices cool to room temperature and cut to thin strips and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok or a big pan. When the oil gets hot add the garlic and ginger and saute till the garlic is light brown.
3. Add the red pepper flakes and saute few more minutes and add the thin sliced red onion. When the onions gets soft add the sliced bell pepper and saute well add salt as needed. Saute 3 - 4 minutes. Do not overcook the bell peppers.
3. Add the thin strips of beef to this along with soya sauce and mix well. Saute 2 - 3 minutes and turn off heat.

Serve hot with plain rice or any bread.

Kerala Raw Mango Chutney( Pacha Manga Chamandhi)

Overview
A delicious mango chutney made with raw sour mangoes, green chilly, ginger, shallots and curry leaves. This is my favorite chutney and it goes well with any rice and biriyani. Whenever I get raw mangoes I make this chutney. We can add this chutney to sandwiches too to add a spicy sour touch. The amount of mangoes used for the chutney depends on how sour your mango is. The mango I got is not that sour so have used about one and half cups of raw mangoes.

Green Mango, Fresh Grated Coconut, Ginger,
Green chilly, Shallots and curry leaves

Green Mango Chutney

Ingredients
Raw green mangoes peeled and cut into chunks - 1 1/2 cup
Green chilly 6 - 8
Ginger 1 inch piece cut into pieces
Freshly grated coconut - 1 cup
Curry leaves 3 sprigs
Shallots 1/4 cup

Steps
Add all ingredients in a blender and add about half cup water and blend to make a smooth chutney.
Serve with and rice dish or briyani.

Chicken Chili

Overview
This is a spicy chicken chili made with multicolored mini bell peppers. You can adjust the amount of heat by using less red chilly. I have used chicken breast tenderloins for this but you can use any part of chicken you like. Grilling the chicken first and adding it to the chili adds a nice smoking flavor to the chili.

Chicken Chili

Ingredients
Chicken breast tenderloins - 6
Red onion 1 large cut into cubes
Multicolored mini bell peppers cut into cubes - 2 cups
Italian spicy sausage - 1 link
Garlic 6  - 8 cloves finely chopped
Black Pepper powder 1/2 teaspoon
Chicken Broth  - 32 oz
1 can of white bean
1 can of fire roasted tomatoes chopped
Cumin seeds - 1 tablespoon
Whole dry red chilly - 4 - 6
Whole black pepper - 1 Teaspoon
Olive oil - 3 tablespoons
Salt to taste

Steps
1. In a pan dry roast the cumin seeds, whole dry red chillies and black pepper and then grind it to a smooth powder and keep aside.
2. Drain and rinse the can of white beans and keep aside
3. Remove the casing from the Italian sausage and brown it well an drain oil and keep aside
4. Marinate the chicken tenderloins in salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper  and one tablespoon olive oil and keep aside for 30 minutes and then grill them.
5. Cut the grilled chicken to bite size pieces and keep aside.
6. Heat 2 tablespoon olive oil in pot to make chili when the oil gets hot add the finely chopped garlic to it and saute till it is slight brown.
7. Add the Onions to it and saute few more minutes and add the ground spice powder to it and saute well . To this add the can of tomatoes,white beans,chicken broth, browned Italian sausage and chopped bell pepper to this and bring it to a boil. Add salt as needed
8. Reduce heat and let it cook for about ten minutes till all flavors get well blended. Turn off heat.
9. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot.