Thank you friends for the constant queries and support. We have moved from Arkansas to Austin, Texas. We are really liking Austin, it feels a lot like India.
It took a little while to get back on track from the busy moving, exploring/enjoying the new place etc and the lazy mood that follows after the exhaustion.
I have lots of recipes to post in my draft. I can’t wait to post them soon. I can say hopefully that I’m back from the long pause/vacation/break or whatever.

Here’s today’s recipe, Kerala Fish Curry. The reason why I like fish is it’s very rich in protein, no cholesterol and wont feel heavy.
When there’s an option for fish and chicken I would always prefer fish. I am trying out different varieties of Fish dishes to not get bored of my favorite ones.

Kerala fish curry is cooked with coconut oil and coconut milk. These two gives an awesome taste, makes it milder and a wonderful treat with white Rice. Any fish of ur choice can be used. I got this recipe from here.

• I usually like the fish cooked in the sauce, but it will be broken into pieces. If you want the fish to be whole add it when adding the coconut milk.

(*) Serve with White rice and fish fry.

When I went to meet my friend in Chicago, we had been to Penang Restaurant for dinner. I never have been to any Malaysian restaurant before but N does many times, since his parents lived in Malaysia for quite a long time.
They all suggested me Roti Canai with the Chicken curry. I very much fell in love with those after having them. Hence I added it to my priority recipes list to prepare at home. The roti canai tasted much like our Ceylon parota but very thin and the chicken curry is different from what we cook. It’s not too much loaded with spicy aroma though it had all the spices we use. I noticed they add coconut milk instead of ground coconut and also the curry gets rich yellow color coz of lot of turmeric.

I read that home made curry masala gives the authentic taste to the Kari Ayam. In search for the recipes I found a tasty chicken curry from here, since I didn’t have Malaysian Chicken Curry powder, I planned to make it at home and got the recipe from here.

It was worth the effort, we loved this chicken curry. The addition of coconut milk makes it milder and with the fresh ground curry masala, it tasted heavenly with Parotas. Enjoy this Malaysian Chicken curry as much as we did !!

• Fry masala in the oil until the raw smell leaves to get the tasty chicken curry.

(*) Serve with Roti Canai, Chapathi, Parotta or White Rice.

Happy Tamil New year Friends !!
I was thinking to do something sweet on the Tamil New year day but wasn’t sure what to do. Suddenly got reminded of the rock sugar which I recently brought from Indian groceries and got this recipe from my MIL. She was telling me that this would taste like halwa as we add more milk and ghee. Trust me, they tasted really like halwa !!! I added more milk than water, also the ghee improved it’s taste.

I don’t remember a special occasion on when this is prepared at our houses, but these days Kalkandu pongal is served in marriages at my palce for dinner.


Some people don’t add milk and prepare just with water, it depends on how you like and milk can be skipped. Of course cooking rice in milk enhances the taste. Some add orange food color or saffron to enhance the look, but I made it plain with no extras. Whatsoever, we really enjoyed this on this new year occasion !!

• Instead of pressure cooked rice, rice can be cooked in a vessel and the rock sugar can be added at the end nd mixed well with the other ingredients.
• Saffron can also be added to get a slight golden color.
• Pinch of orange food color can be added to get nice color.

(*) Recipe from my Mother-in-law.

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I started liking muffins after coming to America. They serve a lot of varieties for breakfast. I love muffins for it’s soft cake like inside texture and the crispy dome. So here’s my attempt at a Strawberry Muffin with fresh strawberries.
I thought the strawberry would be cooked nicely and that won’t be moist inside the muffins, but I was wrong. When it’s cooked I could see the moistened area around every strawberry chunk, not sure if this is how it would be or I am doing it wrong, someone please answer me, if we use fresh fruits for baking is there any special steps that needs to be done?

• Beat until the dry ingredients and wet ingredients combine to get the soft muffin else muffin would become rough.

(*) This can be refrigerated in a airtight container for about a week. If refrigerated, heat for 10-15 sec in microwave before serving.

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But note a point, they are crispy and taste very good when eaten as soon as they are out of griddle. So normally, when ever I prepare this, there will a plate ready with chutnies to be eaten instantaneously.
I really liked it when I ate it at Adayar Anandha bhavan, since then I never stopped trying it at home. Am sure everyone would love this recipe !!

• The mix can be increased by the quantity and made in advance. But use them before a month from the mixing date, else it spoils the freshness of the dosa
• Add some potato masala in the middle of the dosa after it’s done to make it as Masala Rava dosai..
• Add some finely chopped onions on the top side while cooking dosa to prepare it as Onion Rawa dosa.

(*) Recipe from my Mother-in-law. Serve with Coconut/ Tomato Chutnies or Hotel Sambar.

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With that let’s get into today’s recipe, you can call it an anniversary special!

(*) Can be saved in a air tight container for up to 1 week.

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• Marinate chicken overnight for best juicy taste.
• Don’t re-use the fried oil for any other cooking.

(*) Serve with Onion rings and Lemon wedges.

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Kebab’s are famous as starters in restaurants. Hariyali tikka is a famous Punjabi dhaba appetizer. They are famous along the highway side dhabas and some restaurants. They are grilled in the fire grill. They are perfectly coated with mint and coriander flavor turns out to be green Chicken Kababs.
Normally the chicken alone will be grilled, for a change I added some chili powder coated onions and bell peppers. Trust me, it tastes really good. We loved them a lot!! We ended up fighting for the grilled onions and bell peppers.
I added a little extra mint and coriander, so it looks very greenish. But I have reduced the quantity of them in the recipe, so with the below recipe the color would vary a little from what I have got.

(*) Squeeze some lemon on top and Serve with Mint Chutney or Mint yogurt dip.

Blueberry pancake with blueberry syrup.

Breakfast is an essential meal of the day and should never be skipped. We wake up after 8 hrs and the last you have eaten is probably 10 hrs back and your body needs that energy to keep going.
Research says, people who tend to skip breakfast work slower than the one who has had breakfast.
When we get up from bed our body metabolism will be very low, after we eat breakfast it raises to a level, we need to keep this level constant through out the day with short snack at 11, lunch in the noon, another short snake at 4 and then proper dinner with the balanced calorie . When there’s a constant intake of food in regular intervals the body burns fat rather than burning muscle. If we eat in regular intervals with the necessary amount of calories for a day, we burn 1/4 pound of fat a week without doing any exercise, which is 1/2 kg a month.
Here’s a simple blueberry pancake recipe for breakfast. Pancakes are like Indian flat rice flour dosa but made with all purpose flour instantly. Pancakes are accompanied with Pancake syrup.
I love blueberries, that’s why you see most of my recipes with blueberry.  The following is a blueberry Pancake with light pancake syrup.

• Variations can be done with adding Oats and some other fruits.
• Whole milk will be used mostly, so you substitute the milk with Whole milk.
• Butter milk will be used in traditional pancake making.

(*) Serve with Maple, Blueberry or any Pancake Syrup.
Sending this to Priya’s Pancake Event.

Milkshakes are very famous in Indian. It will be a hot noon in  India even in Winter. When we go out for shopping definitely there will be a Milkshake/ Fresh juice break. In US, milkshakes are thick and commonly made with ice cream.  In India, it will be made with milk and sometimes little icecream will be added.
Here’s a simple Indian version of banana milkshake. Almost every time atleast one banana goes to waste from a bunch, mostly by just keeping them for a longer period, just becomes too ripe. An easy way not to waste those ripe bananas is to prepare a banana milk shake. A delicious alternative to eating a very ripe banana.

• Finish off the milkshake within 30 min of blending, else it doesn’t tastes fresh.
• Add or reduce sugar according to the taste.

Sending this to Suma’s JIHVA – Breakfast event started by Indira.