Vegetable semiya upma

Ingredients:

Semiya(vermicelli)        : 1 cup
Carrot                             :1
Beans                             : 4nos
Peas                                :1/4 cup
Onion                             : 1
Ginger                            : 1/2" pc
Green chilli                    : 1-2
Turmeric pdr                  : 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds                : 1 tsp
Urad dal                         : 1 tbsp
Red chillies                    : 2 break into 2
Oil                                  : 2 tbsp
Ghee                              : 1 tbsp
Curry leaves                  : 1 sprig
Cashews                        : 6-8 nos
Water                             : 3 cup


Method:

Heat ghee in a kadai and fry the cashews till golden brown Remove from the ghee and roast the semiya in the same ghee. Roasted semiya also available in the market.

Chop onion, green chillies and ginger  finely.
Cut carrot and beans  into small pieces.

Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urad dal, broken red chillies and curry leaves.
Add chopped onion, green chillies and ginger and saute till the onion becomes transparent. Then add the vegetables to this and saute for 1 more minute, add salt and turmeric powder and 3 cups of water. When it boils add the roasted semiya and let it cook in a low flame till the water got absorbed.
Stir it frequently and finally garnish with fried cashews and coriander leaves. Serve it hot with coconut chutney!!

Puthina paratha

Ingredients:

Wheat flour             : 2 cups
Mint (puthina)         : 1/2 bunch
Salt to taste
Chat masala            : 1/4 tsp
Butter/Ghee            : as required



Method:

Seperate mint leaves from the stem and wash it.

Pat dry a handful of the leaves and dry roast it in a hot tawa. Then crush it to a powder, keep aside.
Chop the remaining mint leaves.
Mix the wheat flour, salt and mint leaves together and add required water and knead it to a dough and cover it with a wet cloth and keep aside for 20 mins.
Take a lemon sized ball and roll it into a medium sized chappathi.

Mix the mint powder with the chat masala.
Cook it on a tawa, when cooked on one side flip it over to the other side. when the brown spots appear brush with oil or ghee and sprinkle the mint &  chat powder over it.
Repeat the process with the remaining dough.

Serve hot with any side dish of your choice.

Meen Porichathu ( fish fry)

Meen porichathu:

Ingredients:

Here I used seer fish for this purpose. Any fish such as Pomfret, King fish, Sardines or Mackerals also can fry like this.

Seer fish                      : 4 thin slices
Kashmiri chilli pdr     :  1 tsp
Pepper pdr                  : 1 tsp
Ginger                        :1/4"pc
Garlic                         : 2 cloves
Turmeric pdr              :1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil as required
Lemon juice               : 1 tsp

Method:

Grind the garlic and ginger with all the masala powders and salt together.
Cut the  fish into thin slices and wash it well.  Then marinate the fish slices with the masala and lime juice. Keep it for 1 or  2 hours in fridge.

Heat  a nonstick pan  apply a little oil and place the fish on the  pan. Turn the fish pieces frequently till it turns golden brown colour.  Serve it hot with onion, lemon wedges etc.

You can also deep fry this in hot oil till golden brown. But tawa fried fish needs less oil, so here I tried that.

Carrot Rice

 Ingredients:

Carrot                      : 2 grated

Cooked rice            : 2 cups

Onion                       : 1 no.chopped

Grated coconut     : ¼ cup

Mustard seeds       : 1tsp

Urad dal                   : 1tsp

Green chillies         : 2 nos chopped

Salt to taste

Curry leaves

Oil                              : 2 tbsp

Lime juice                : 1 tbsp

Method:

Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds. When it pops up add urad dal and curry leaves. Then add the chopped onion and sauté for 1 min, add the green chilies, grated carrot and sauté it . Then add the cooked rice and salt. Mix well. Finally add the grated coconut and lime juice. Serve it with potato chips.

Ghee rice

Ingredients:

Basmathi rice                   : 2 cups
Onions(thinly sliced)       :2
Green chillies                   : 2 slit lengthtwise
Garlic                               : 2 cloves
Ginger                              : small piece

Cloves                              : 3
Cardamoms                      : 3
Cinnamon                         : 1" piece
Bay leaf                            : 1
Cashews                           : 10
Coconut milk                   : 2 cups
Salt
Ghee                                 : 5 tbsp



Method:
Crush garlic, ginger and green chillies together.
Heat 3 tbsp of ghee in a pan and add cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and bay leaf. Fry for a minute and add crushed ginger garlic paste and saute. Now add half the sliced onions and saute well.  Add the rice and fry for 2 mins. Transfer this to a rice cooker and add coconut milk and one and a half cups of water, salt and let it cook till the water got absorbed.
Heat the remaining ghee and fry cashews and remaining onions to golden brown and garnish the rice.