Tuna in coconut gravy

My home town is known as the Queen of Arabian Sea. More about my place here That would probably give you an idea on the importance fish plays in our diet. Not just my town, the entire state is blessed with a wide variety of fish and we have umpteen ways of cooking it. In fact every home has a different way of making 'fish curry' which is an unavoidable part of lunch/dinner. In my home, this rule is broken only when we observe vegetarianism for some religious reasons :)

Cabbage Thoran

I have been stuck some were up in the heights of procrastination. I cant say I ignored this blog totally. I did draft couple of posts...but was way too lazy to review them or add pics... Now I am too bored of this that I decided to get back....

Cutlets / Patties

The smell of cutlets always remind me of my dearest friends...all the times we have spent in canteen... be it college or office... Cutlets taste best with some ketchup, hot tea/coffee and at least one friend :)

The pic on left is chicken cutlet. 

Vegetable stew

This one is my patriotic curry ;) It has the national colors of India :D... okay.. minus the blue

I always wanted to make this look whiter... But carrot gets in the way... Once i tried cooking carrot separately and then added to the stew...but taste suffered... :( Any battle between taste and UI (user interface... or in other words the appearance..) of food is won by taste...

Spicy Shrimp Fry

Last night, we had a sudden craving for shrimp fry and dint want to do any deep frying...

The solution : bring in the onions 

And the result : on your left :) 

Shrimp is something that was consumed very scarcely at home...they are known to boost allergies... Even today we are very mindful of the quantity of shrimp we consume. 

Mampazha Pulissery - Mangoes in yogurt sauce

Chandrakaran is a variety of mango that used to be available in south India. I have not seen them in years... I dont mean to suggest that they are extinct... hope not... Dont know the scientific name or for that matter any other name of this variety. They were small...smaller than apples...was one of the most aromatic varieties in mangoes...skin was thicker than other varieties... but inside was pulpy... This variety was not sliced, but the pulp was sucked out by making a small bite on its skin...much like sipping without a straw... 

Green peas pulao

Simply put, pulao is flavoured rice. Depending on what kind of spices are used, it would fall under more specific categories of Mediterranean or Asian cuisine. Does that really matter??? I doubt.

I am tagging this under Indian cuisine as I use garam masala. Of all the pulaos, this one is super simple, has a wonderful flavor,  and takes about 15 mins in all... A wonderful combination that makes me smile :)   

Broken wheat upma

Traditionally, upma falls into the category of  south Indian breakfasts... For me, these fall into light lunch/dinner or a heavy snack... You can spice them up with your favourite pickle, or mix with raitha or have them as is...

Sughiyan - A green gram sweet

Yesterday while carrying out my periodic inspections on pantry, I found two balls of jaggery.... and I just had to use it... I looove most of the things sweet... And my darling hubby is a great fan of deep fried snacks... 
First combination that came to my mind was that of sughiyan... sweet and deep fried... :) Decision was made... 

Cheera Thoran - Spinach Kerala style

Cheera is a Malayalam word used to denote most of the leafy vegetables ...  The one used in this recipe is a variety of Spinach, predominantly green with some red highlights... 


There are two other very similar versions of this variety of spinach... one is completely green and the other is red (not exactly red... beetroot-ish color)...