FINGER CHIPS/FRENCHFRIES

Finger chips or French fries are the snacks or starters that are made from potatoes.  Potatoes are peeled and cut in to finger shaped strips and deep fried in oil at a very high temperature.   You have to choose large potatoes, so that you get enough elongated strips that resembles a finger. These strips of potatoes are then half-boiled with salt.  If you want, you can add a little bit of turmeric powder to get slight yellow colour to your fries.   There may be various methods to prepare French fries, but I make it in this way and it really comes out well.

Ingredients

Large potatoes - 1 kg

Water - as required 

Salt - as per taste

Oil - to deep fry

How to prepare

Wash and peel potatoes.  

Cut in to 1/4 inch elongated strips.

Take a large vessel and add striped potatoes into it and pour water.  

Pour more than enough (almost double the quantity) water to cover the potatoes.

Add a little bit of turmeric (optional) and salt to taste.  

Boil until potatoes are half cooked.

Don't forget to stir in between.

Drain excess water and spread it in a flat vessel and allow to cool.

When it is cooled freeze it in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

Heat oil and fry the potato strips until it becomes golden brown. 

Serve at once with tomato ketchup.

CORN CHAT - CHILLY LIME

Make this corn chat with frozen corn kernels or fresh corn kernels.

Ingredients

Corn kernels - 2 cups
Water - 2 tbsp
Black salt - 2 pinches
Lime - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Red chilly powder - to taste
Butter - 1 tbsp

Method

In a medium flame cook corn kernels covered with 2 tbsp of water.  It takes 2 or 3 minutes to dry up all the water.  Turn off the stove and add all ingredients at once and mix well.  Serve hot.

POPCORN

I think Popcorn are the favorite and most adored munchies of almost all people in the world.  Such a light snack  which is very low in calories and rich in fibre.  We all love this fantastic snack which we can have at any time.  My children die for these crunchy and tasty popcorn.  They love it to have with different seasonings.  Making popcorn is not a magic.  We can make it in our kitchen with 3 simple steps.  Buy popping corns.  Heat oil. Add popping corns and wait to pop.  Mouth-watering, sizzling popcorn are ready.  Isn't it an easy job?  Come on lets make our delicious popcorn.

What we need

Popping corn - 100 gm

(You can buy this from the super markets)

Any refined oil – 4 tbsp

Method

Take a thick bottomed vessel with tight lid.  Or you can use pressure cooker.  Heat the vessel and add 2 tbsp oil. Wait until hot. (2 tbsp oil is enough for 50 gm of popping corns.  You have to spread popping corns evenly in a single layer at the bottom of the vessel that you have taken. Use the oil depending upon the vessel you have taken.)  Then add enough popping corn to cover the bottom of the pan in a single layer.

Do not put the lid.  On a high flame cook until corns start to pop.  When it starts to pop, put lid and cook on high flame. Shake the pan roundly in between.  It will take almost 2-3 minutes to pop up all the corn.  Or you can stop the fire when popping stops.  Don’t forget to shake the vessel.  Open the lid and sprinkle some seasonings that you like and have at once.

For seasoning

Red chilly seasoning 

Butter – 1 tbsp

Salt – to taste

Red chilly powder – ½ tsp

Heat a pan and add butter to it and allow melting.  Add salt, chilly powder and popcorn.  Toss well.  Red chilly popcorn is ready.  Make a corn with paper and have it at once.

Instead of red chilly you can use pepper powder.  Or simply butter and salt.  Or butter and chat masala.  You can make it healthier by adding chopped fresh vegetables, leaves and lemon juice.  That is all your choice.

VEG PIZZA

FOR PIZZA BASE

Ingredients

1. Maida – 2 cups
2. Yeast – 1 tbsp
3. Salt – ½ tsp
4. Sugar – 1 tsp
5. Water – as required
6. Olive oil – 1 tbsp

Method

Mix all the ingredients from 1 to 5 and make a soft dough.  Add oil and knead again well. Cover it with a muslin cloth and wait for 30 to 45 minutes till the dough doubles its size.

Slightly press the dough to remove the air.

Make two equal parts.

Then roll each part in to a round as the shape of pizza base.

Prick it with a fork and wait for 5 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven at 150 degree Celsius and bake for 7 to 8 minutes.

PIZZA SAUCE

Ingredients

Tomato medium chopped – 2 nos

Onion chopped – 1 no

Garlic – 4 cloves

Salt – ½ tsp

Sugar – 1 tsp

Oregano – ½ tsp

Basil leaves – ½ tsp

Ajwain – a pinch

Refined oil – 2 tbsp

In a microwave safe bowl add oil, tomatoes, onion, and garlic.  Microwave it on high power for 5 minutes.  Allow to cool and grind a fine paste.  Then add sugar, salt, basil leaves, oregano, and carom seeds (ajwain).  Then microwave for 3 more minutes.  Pizza sauce is ready.

SETTING PIZZA TOPPINGS

Tomato, onion, capsicum or any vegetable sliced roundly.

Mozzarella cheese (grated) – 1 to 1 ½ cups

Salt – to taste

Oregano – ¼ tsp

White pepper powder – ½ tsp

Take the pizza base and spread 2 or 3 tbsp of pizza sauce.  Leave the edges of the base.

Arrange vegetable slices as your wish.

Sprinkle salt, pepper and oregano.

Scatter grated mozzarella cheese evenly.

BAKING

Pre-heat oven at 250 degree Celsius.

Place pizza on the low rack and bake for 8 minutes.

BREAD EGG TOAST

Bread is such a common food that is always available in our kitchen.  We can make different dishes using bread.  Bread egg toast is a simple and healthy snack that we can make very easily.

Ingredients

Bread slices:  6 nos
Eggs:  2 nos
Onion finely chopped:  2 tbsp
Green chilly finely chopped:  1 no
Salt:  to taste
Oil/ ghee:  1 tbsp

Preparation

You have to take plain bread, not sweet bread.

Remove the sides of the bread slices, if you want.

In a bowl add egg and chopped onion and green chilly.

Beat well and add salt .

Heat a non-stick pan, apply oil or ghee.

Dip the bread slices in the egg and toast both sides it till it becomes light brown.

PAN CAKE SWEET ROLL/MADAKSAN

It is a very good tea time snack.  It is very easy to prepare.  The main ingredients are always available in our kitchen.  Even though this is a tea time snack, you can also use this as an easy breakfast recipe.

Ingredients

Maida (all purpose flour):  250 gram

Egg :  1 no

Water:  as required

Salt:  1/2 tsp

Nut meg powder:  1/4 to 1/2 tsp

Grated coconut:  2 cups

Sugar:  5 tbsp

Cardamom crushed (If available green):  4 nos 

Ghee - 3 tbsp

How to prepare

In a bowl add eggs and beat well.  To this add the flour and water and mix well with out clumps to make a loose batter.  Add salt and nut meg powder.  (If you don't like the taste of nutmeg you can add avoid it or add any spice of your choice.  Anyway, I always use nutmeg powder as this is good for stomach).  

In a pan pour ghee and add coconut and sugar and cardamom to it and cook well till it becomes tender and juicy. remove from the fire.

Heat a pan and add the batter and spread as we do in dosa making.  Cook covered for few minutes in a low flame and uncover and spread a spoonful of coconut mixture to the pan cake  and roll it up.  Repeat the process till the last spoon.

KUMBILAPPAM/CHAKKAPPAM

Kumbilappam is a traditional Kerala food.  It is also a seasonal food as the main ingredient is the pulp of ripe jack fruit (especially with the pulp of 'kuzhachakka' ).  A typical kumbilappam is made in a 'kumbil' (cone) of a special leaf called 'vazhznayila' in malayalam; that is why it is called "kumbilappam".  This leaf has a special aroma which adds a fantastic flavour to the appam.  Here I made this using banana leaves as vazhanayila is not available.  To give it a special shape to attract kids I just put the appam mix at the center of the leaf and fold it up and tied a knot using ribbons of the banana leaves.  This gives a peculiar shape to the appam that is really appetizing.

Ingredients

Ripe jack fruit pulp:  2 and half  cup

Grated coconut:  1 and half cup

Jaggery:  300 gm or according to your taste

Roasted rice flour:  2 cups

Cardamom powder:  1 tsp

Dried ginger powder:  3/4 tsp

Banana leaves:  as required.  

How to prepare

Put jaggery in pan and make a syrup using two cups of water.  (You can increase or decrease the quantity of the jaggery as per your taste or depending up on the pulp you have taken.)   Keep it aside to cool, when it cools the impurities will settle at the bottom of the pan.  In a large bowl add the pulp, grated coconut, and roasted rice powder.  Pour the jaggery syrup to this (you must pour this syrup slowly to the mixture to avoid the impurities) and make a fine mixture without clumps.  Then add dried ginger powder and cardamom to this and again mix well.  

Take clean banana leaves and tire it to pieces.  Then show to the fire to make it tender; other wise it will tear when you tried to wrap the mixture.

Take each piece and put two teaspoon full mixture to the centre and tie it.  Repeat the process.

Put the steamer in the fire and steam it for 35 to 45 minutes or till it is done.

BREAD FRUIT BAJJI

Bajjies are very common south Indian snack.  They are made with different vegetables like capsicum, cauliflower, raw platain, brinjal, chilli, onion, bread fruit etc. In this, veggies are cut in to thin slices and dipped in a batter and fried.  It goes really well with tomato ketch up or chutney.  The choice is yours.

BREAD FRUIT BAJJI

Bread fruit is called kadachakka or sheemachakka in Malayalam.   Bajjies with bread fruits are not so common.  It is very tasty.

BREAD  FRUIT BAJJI 

Ingredients    

Bread fruit - 1 medium sized

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Oil - To fry

For batter

Gram flour (kadala mavu/ basan) - 150 grm

Rice flour - 100 grm

Red chilly powder 1 1/2 tbs

Turmeric 1/4 tsp

Garam masala powder - 1 tsp

salt - 1 1/2 tsp or to taste

Water - 400 to 450 ml

Method

Take the bread fruit and wash it.  Then cut in to half horizontally.  Cut these horizontal halves again  in to two vertical pieces and peel off the skin and remove the central part.  Slice the quarter parts in to 1 cm long slices as in the picture.Take some water in a large vessel and add turmeric powder to it.  Put sliced bread fruit in it and keep aside.

Preparation of batter

In a bowl add gram flour, rice flour, red chilly powder, turmeric, garam masala, and salt.  Mix well with a spoon and add water to make a fine thick batter with out clumps.  

To fry

Take a pan or kadai and add required oil and heat it well.  Meanwhile strain the water from the bread fruit.  Dip each pieces in the batter and put it in the oil.  Put the flame in a medium. Cover the pan for the first minute  and then leave it open.  After 1 minute turn it and leave for another 1 1/2 or 2 minutes.  When it becomes brown take it from the oil.  Repeat the process till the last piece.