Mussels and Potato curry - കല്ലുമ്മക്കായ ഉരുളക്കിഴങ്ങ് കറി

Here is the next recipe from my mother-in-law’s kitchen. It is said to be mouth-wateringly delicious by Aysha. As I didn't get a chance to have this dish, I don’t have any idea. However, you can have a try and see the results. I know getting mussels is gonna be one of the toughest tasks in places other than Kerala. Whoever gets a chance to buy this yummy seafood with shells, don’t miss it. Lots of other recipes with mussels (കല്ലുമ്മക്കായ) are on its way. So have a look at the recipe and do try without fail, okay? Ingredients: Mussels – Whole - 25-30 no. s Potato – 2 medium sized – peeled and cut into medium sizes Ginger –finger sized piece...

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Mango side-dish Calicut style - കോഴിക്കോടൻ കടു മാങ്ങ

 While giving permission to Aysha to go home last week, I’d kept a condition. If only she is sure that she can come back with few recipes with photographs, her permission is granted. Else she’ll have to face me. Poor girl…!! Got frightened I think. She came back with few of her mom’s kitchen delicacies, though I had to wait again for another week to get the recipe in written form. So first we are rolling out the simple and easy recipe of a mango dish so called “Kadu Manga” (കടു മാങ്ങ). Don’t get this name confused with the “kadumanga pickle”. It’s different, of course! This particular dish can be made with green mango, ripening one or...

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KARIMEEN CURRY ( Pearl Spot Curry )

The situation is awful and the expectation of our fans is towering . I'm too lazy and too busy to cook anything in my kitchen and Aysha doesn't have a stage to perform.  She's been provided food by her house owner.  We are left with no clue how to respond to the queries! Coincidentally Susan Abraham made her appearance with a recipe of the most wanted and the most delicious Karimeen Curry (Pearl Spot) We've ever had in our lifetime. I've to use this occasion to comment on her skill not only on cooking varieties of innovative dishes but also on her typical way of serving. She decorates her small four-seated dining table in such...

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Roasted Broccoli

I got an FB message from one of our page fans asking why there are no new recipes posted in "aakrantham". She badly wanted a vegetable recipe it seems. Then I assigned a task to her by simply asking her to try something with Broccoli and take snaps to post on this blog on her behalf. Though I told her without much expectation, the very next day she turned up with a beautifully written recipe and a tempting snap. Thanks to Simi Seethy. So here we post our next recipe after a long gap. Hope you guys enjoy reading, trying and eating this special Broccoli recipe. Ingredients:  Shallots - 10  no.s Pepper powder - 1 tsp Green chillies...

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Cabbage ‘n’ Carrot Thoran

Today, when I opened my lunch box, I found it’s my favorite fish curry and carrot ‘n’ cabbage Thoran / Upperi, along with unakka chemmeen chammanthi (ഉണക്ക ചെമ്മീന്‍ ചമ്മന്തി) for lunch. Having the nostalgic meals I thought about my bachelor friends, for whom we actually started our Aakrantham page. And the idea of putting a simple thoran recipe struck my mind. Soon after completing the food, I called Aysha and asked her to make the recipe along with the snaps ready for today’s post. And here we dedicate this simple and tasty recipe for our page fans…       Ingredients: Chopped Carrot – 1 cup Chopped Cabbage – 1 cup Ginger...

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Mutton Roast (ആട്ടിറച്ചി വരട്ടിയത്) – Malabar Edition

I love the way she cooks Mutton(Goat Meat)  in her traditional Malabar style and badly wanted to post the recipe here in the blog for our fans. But after my last health checkup, mutton moved into the ‘banned food products’ list! What to do?! But somehow I could convince that this mutton is only for our Aakrantham|ആക്രാന്തം page lovers, and I won’t eat more than 2 pieces from it. Believing my words, she compromised to cook and take the photo. This might be my last mutton curry until my cholesterol level reduces to a normal value. And you know what? once I got the recipe and the photos, I changed my word. Of course it was delicious...

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Split Bengal-gram cake / Parippu-cake (കടലപരിപ്പ് കേക്ക്)

We were invited for a lunch on Friday at Shameerka’s (my friend and my wife’s cousin) home and my wife badly wanted to cook something for his kids - Aysha, Millu and Hayan! She was brainstorming on her own and it was then I remembered about something which her sister Shermitha used to make. I did not remember exactly what it is, as it was one of the typical Kozhikodan snack. I hinted her about it and she was so excited. But soon I realized that I dug my own grave!! She asked me to buy milk and I was too lazy to go out in that chilly climate, that too just for a bottle of milk. I ordered in my typical commanding voice "prepare it only if you...

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Easy Fish Curry (Paal Meen Curry/പാല്‍ മീന്‍ കറി) Adapted from Srilankan style

During my forced bachelor-life in Doha, I used to buy my dinner from one of the Srilankan restaurants, mostly ‘idiyappam and palmeen curry’ (ഇടിയപ്പവും പാല്‍ മീന്‍ കറിയും). Hearing the dish name daily from me, my wife thought that ‘palmeen’ is a kind of fish available here (to be frank, I too thought in the same lines, till I found a different variety of fish in the curry) and she asked me once “can’t you try some other fish?” which made me laugh out loudly! On that day I decided to take her to the restaurant and make her eat this favorite dish of mine, once she reaches Doha. Recently we’d been to the place and she tasted this wonderful Srilankan...

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Amara payar Thoran / Upperi - Lima Beans

 Unlike the usual Lunch timing, that day I could come home early for lunch and as expected, food wasn’t ready. Seeing me at an odd time, she got wondered and rushed into kitchen to finish off cooking. I noticed the washed and drained Lima beans on the cutting board. With her assistance, I cut the beans recollecting my cutting skills earned during my PG period and taught her how to cut vegetables without cutting fingers or nails! But after cutting she turned out to be my teacher, as I did not know how to prepare a beans thoran (upperi). As it was a new learning for me, I guess it might help many of my bachelor friends too. Moreover,...

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Kannur Chicken Biriyani

Though I’m supposed to post Kozhikodan Biriyani recipe for Aakrantham fans, I’m not yet ready with fine photos for it. So thought of posting a Kannur Biriyani’s recipe, for which some snaps were clicked few days back by my hubby, when we made it at home. This recipe is a dedication to my friend Ammu and there’s an interesting story behind this dedication. We used to have a year-end gift exchanging, amongst a group of my Cognizant friends called ‘Roofians’, similar to the Christmas friend activity done in school days.  As we are spread across different locations, the friend selection is done by an online tool developed by few of us and...

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Kunjippidi (കുഞ്ഞിപ്പിടി )

 As any other day, we were having our lunch with routine ‘matta rice’, fish curry, some vegetable ‘thoran’ and pappadam.  I thought about a change that was badly in need from the same style food. I kept this thought in mind though! But I don’t know, if some telepathy worked between me and my wife. The next day when I was at dining table for Lunch, it was not the usual meals or biriyani or ghee rice, but the so called ‘Kunjippidi’ (it’s Malabari name). Many of you might have already known and tasted this dish with different names like – kozhippidi (കോഴിപ്പിടി ), arippidi (അരിപ്പിടി ), kakka orotti (കക്ക ഒറോട്ടി ), irachi pathiri...

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Fish Stew - മീന്‍ ഇസ്റ്റു

While in LuLu for this month’s grocery purchase, we noticed that lots of fresh Indian Mackerel (അയല ) are there in fresh fish section. As we were dying to eat Mackerel fry (അയല പൊരിച്ചത്), remembering an old Malayalam hit song "Ayala porichathundu karimeen varuthathundu….", we couldn’t hold back from buying it. And of course, the very next day, my wife fried the fish for lunch. But to be frank, we were desperate that the fish fry wasn't up to the expectation. The fish seemed to be not as tasty as we get in our hometown. It was then she suggested about making Fish stew for next day’s breakfast as it’s one of those breakfast combinations...

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