Kinnathappam

     Kinnathappam is one of the unique festive sweets common to the Muslim households of Kanyakumari district. Sorry, no offense to my non-Muslim friends, but I have never known anyone else who has made this, and it's always me making them this sweet. It's a festive sweet because it's specially made during Eid and all many other happy occasions. Kinnathappam is a must have during Eid and is made in almost every household. Eid is the one day you can taste every possible variety of Kinnathappam because you get to eat it at almost every house you visit.

     This sweet is a twin of Vattilappam, local to Ceylon. The difference between Vattilappam and Kinnathappam is that the former is made using more eggs and the latter with more of coconut cream. This is very easy to make and it's a rich delicacy made out of fewer and easily available ingredients. Depending on the rice used, bringing the texture can be really challenging; I usually use basmati rice so that the texture remains the same every time I make it. This exact measurement credit goes to one of my friends, Aneeze.

     If you are using fresh coconut cream, you can use the first milk extracted for the given amount and use the second and third instead of water. Again, it's highly recommended to grind the rice in a grinder, but I always use my mixer to do the job and never regretted doing so. I use a pressure pan to make this with a round steel stand to hold the plate and the lid goes with the rubber gasket without the whistle. My pan to hold the batter is 2" deep and 6" wide. With the given standard measuring cup I make two plates of this pudding.

     The prep steps may sound very long, but it is actually very simple and worth a try. Believe me, you will definitely fall in love with this smooth velvety creamy pudding.

INGREDIENTS :

Raw rice             - 1 Cup
Sugar                  - 1 Cup
Egg                     - 1
Coconut Cream  - 1 1/2 Cups
Salt                     - Pinch
Jeera Seeds         - 1/2 Tsp (optional)
Water                  - As needed
Cardamom          - 8 Nos
Ghee                   - 1 Tsp

METHOD :

     Clean and soak the rice in water for a couple of hours. Grind the rice with cardamom and egg to a smooth paste. Add the coconut cream to this too while grinding, instead of water. The texture should be really smooth, almost like silk. Remove this from the blender, add sugar, and dissolve well. Add a pinch of salt and measure the total quantity of this mixture with the same cup used to measure the rice. Bring this to a total measure of four cups using water. For every cup of rice used, you should make it to four cups of batter, as this helps to maintain the consistency of the batter.

     Now strain the batter through a fine sieve. Strain it a couple more times to remove any grains. The batter is now ready to be steamed. In a wide pan deep enough to steam a cake, or a deep plate, pour water and put something to hold the plate/pan (an inverted plate, for example) so that the plate/pan with batter doesnt touch the bottom of the wider pan and bring it to a boil. Grease the pan or plate with ghee, then pour the batter through 3/4th's of the plate and keep above the inverted plate. Cover the deep pan and steam cook at medium flame for about 14 mins. A tooth pick inserted should come out clean and you should see slight cracks on the surface of the cake once done.
  
     Remove from the stove and sprinkle jeera seeds on top. Let it cool completely, then cut and serve. The shelf life is one day and can be refrigerated for about three days. If you freeze it's better to steam again before serving, to get the right texture.

Shrimp Nugget

   Back then when I was a novice in cooking I used to watch cooking shows in my thirst to  learn any new recipe. This one was one such recipe I learned from a cooking competition. Just modified a bit to fit our palette. Actually I was so sceptical about using sambar powder in the fry because all I have known is sambar powder is used to make sambar,lol. But believe me this spice mix gives that nice aroma to the fry. Shrimp tastes so rich in this spice combination. I just gave the name nuuget because the corn flour gives this nice layer over the shrimp and I don't want to name it another fry.

INGREDIENTS :

Shrimp                 - 1Lb
Oil                        - For frying
Marinade :
Ginger Paste        - 1 Tsp
Garlic Paste         - 1 TsP
Yogurt                  - 1 Tblsp
Lemon Juice        - 1 Tblsp
Tomato Ketchup  - 2 Tblsp
Chilly Powder     - 1 Tblsp
Sambar Powder   - 2 Tsp
Salt                      -1/2 Tsp
Corn Flour          - 1 Tblsp

METHOD :

     First clean the shrimp. Remove the shells and devein them. I usually buy the headless raw shrimps. There will be the vein on one side and another thin black thread like thing running through the bottom. Split open the curved top portion and pull out the vein. The bottom thread can be scrapped out using a pairing knife. If you are using frozen shrimps defreeze them and soak in salted water for about 15mins. Brings back the freshness.
  Mix all the ingredients under marinade and rub over the cleaned shrimp and and let it sit for atleast 15 minutes.
    Heat a shallow pan over medium heat. Pour oil needed to shallow fry. Arrange the shrimps over the oil and cook for about 2 mins on both sides or until it turns slight brown and crispy.
Serve as a starter over coleslaw or as side dish for your lunch. Very flavorful and rich taste,yumm.

Chicken Dry Roast

    Chicken Dry Roast is a simple yet delicious dish. Helps your fried chicken craving without being fried. My mom used to make this but her version has a few other ingredients as well. I'll post that version later. Got this recipe from one of my favorite chefs. This is a famous Andhra dish, Chicken Veppudu. Very flavorful and tastes really yum when served hot. Give it a try and you will want to do it again and again. Adjust the spice levels to your taste, especially chilly powder. The hotter the better. But here I have given only medium to mild heat.

INGREDIENTS :

Chicken Breasts   - 1 lb
Onion                   - 1 medium
Tomato                 - 1 medium
Curry Leaves        - 2 sprigs
Ginger                   - 1Tsp
Garlic                     - 1Tsp
Chilly Powder        - 1Tsp
Coriander Powder  - 1Tsp
Turmeric Powder   - 1/4 Tsp
Cinnamon              - 1"piece
Cardamom             - 2 nos
Cloves                    - 2 nos
Cashews                 - 1 Tblsp
Salt                         -1/2 Tsp
Oil                           - As needed

METHOD :

                Clean and cut the chicken into small cubes. Chop the onion and tomato into small pieces. In a pan pour a tablespoon of oil and fry the cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. Add the chopped onions and fry until golden brown. Add ginger and garlic paste, then add the tomatoes and fry well. Add the turmeric powder and then the chicken and simultaneously add the coriander and chilly powder and let the chicken cook in this masala until done. Do not add any water because the chicken gives out water during cooking.
                  Heat a bigger pan, add two tablespoons of oil, fry curry leaves and add the cashews. Once the chicken is done, transfer the whole content to a pan and fry well until dry and everything comes together.
                 Serve as a starter or as a side dish. You can adjust the amount of oil according to your diet needs. Tastes almost like fried chicken.