Coconut & Chana Dal Filling for snacks

Ramadan countdown has begun. The blessed and most beautiful month is near and what better time to prepare for it than right now. It's not necessary to wait until Ramadan to change yourselves. Set your goals and start right now. Planning is essential beforeheand for the maximum utilisation of the month. Here is a beautiful article on time-management tips for Ramadan.

When I do posts on ramadan preparations, many say that ramadan is not about food varieties or stuffing yourselves with food etc. This is true. Me too agree on this. But at the same time we can't ignore the fact that we have to eat something and all. Infact, we have to ensure that we eat right to stay active whole day, to keep our body hydrated during hot days, to pray more and more and not to forget -to run behind our toddlers ;) .. Kids do fast and it's important to take care of their diet too. I can't avoid making tea time snacks, whether oily, wraps, bakes ... anything; but a little. A plate of snacks- just one variety would do. Stuffing is what is against our Sunnah and also spending a lot of time in kitchen, which we can avoid with proper preparations.

Right from sorting the house chores, kitchen cabinets, refrigerators, to freezing some snacks, fillings, etc. the muslim ladies are busy during second half of Sha'ban. It's going to be quite hot and long fasting days this year for us Middle-easternites. So spending in hot kitchen during fasting days can be quite hectic. It's easier when you have some fillings or prepared snacks in the freezer. One such filling which could be frozen is coconut & kadalapparippu(chana dal) sweet filling. This could be used as a filling for Kaayada/Unnakaaya ,Bread fritters , Pazham nirachathu(stuffed plaintain) etc. 

Ingredients:

3 cups coconut

6 tbsp of boiled chana dal

 1 1/4 cups sugar

2 generous pinch of cardamom

2 Eggs (optional)

Method:

Heat coconut and sugar in a pan in low flame. Keep on stirring till the sugar melts and the coconut is well cooked; yet little moisture remains. It may take about 15 minutes. Reducing sugar may result in dried and uncooked filling. Add boiled chana dal/bengal gram to it. Mix well. If you are using egg, add now and saute nicely. Sprinkle cardamom powder on top and immediately transfer to a plate. Let it cool and use as a stuffing to your favorite snacks. You can otherwise freeze it in ziplock bags for later use.

Posts onRAMADAN PREPARATIONS in this blog 

Fried Chicken Puffs- Guest Post for "Yummy Food"

When I saw Lubna's invitation for a guest post, I didn't have to think twice to say yes. By now, her Ramadan event "Joy from fasting to feasting" has earned its own place in the bloggers world with fame and publicity. I remember this event was a 'link-in event' before and if I'm not wrong, she started inviting for guestposts since last year.  I love her space; her pictures and the way she presents her recipes. I had tried a few of her recipes like peanut chutney, kashmiri dum aloo and strawberry smoothie with muesli on top.. My family loved those dishes and these have been added to our menu since then. All thanks to you ,Lubna.

Home-made Chicken puffs is one such deep-fried snack prepared in our family, which is different from the baked ones you see in bakeries. It has flaky layers , but not as much as baked puffs. But it is still good in its own way and is easy too. The spicy chicken filling is my favourite ; but you can make it with filling of your  choice. Let's hop over to 'Yummy Food' for the recipe and step-by-step pictures..

  

Kozhiyada/Irachiyada (Chicken stuffed Pockets) with step by step pictures & short video

Ramadan is a month of fasting and not feasting. Unfortunately, many forgot the true meaning and blessings of this blessed month. The sales of supermarkets go high, malls are full, latenight shopping , people seen partying around and women spend whole day in the kitchen. I'm not saying that we should not eat or drink or cook, but  managing the time enough to worship, seek forgiveness and turn closer to Allah is more important than all these. Spend your time wisely. Do prepare yourselves and all your house chores this month which may help you in refraining yourselves inRamadan from doing least important activities. 

We break the fast using dates, fruits and juices. Making fruits salads or chaats with nuts turn them a bit appealing to the kids. Otherwise they hate fruits. Fruits and juices can't be avoided when fasting during long summer days. These help in bringing our fluid and bloodsugar levels up ,without overdoing it. After maghrib prayer, we eat our snacks with tea. We make it as simple and less spicy as possible and restricts our intake to a few numbers. I think we should not upset our tummy by stuffing too much of food immediately after Iftar. People always find ways to excuse themselves and make more than one variety saying this is for my daughter, one for my son ,one for hubby etc. I usually don't do that; instead I make one snack a day, hubby's favourite a day, daughter's the next day and my son's favourtie the third day. The cycle goes on whole Ramadan, unless guests are invited for Iftar. Inviting guests for Iftar is a sunnah ,whereas don't take this oppurtunity to show off your friends how good a cook you are and stuff them as much as possible. Choose 2-3 of the best snacks and which takes less effort and which may not hinder your prayers or other religious activities. I prepare beforehand and freeze some snacks this month and invite guests as early as possible; most probably during the first ten days. Then comes the dinner, a slight heavy for us after tharaveeh. We couldn't help that all these years. Mostly pathiris , non-veg side dish and kanji to keep the fluid balance. Suhoor is always light and healthy. Fibre rich, non-spicy and non-fried alongwith 2-3 dates and lots of water. This is our Ramadan food routine. I'm not boasting anything or trying to prove how good I am, but a slight attempt to make realize few of my Kannur friends,who are so excited to cook and click during Ramadan. I was like that a few years back; but changed for the good ;)

 That was a long intro. Now this recipe is simple,traditional , delicious and famous Malabar snack. Chicken filled pockets or Kozhi (chicken)ada or we can call it Irachi(meat) ada when we make it with Beef/Mutton filling. It's delicious with either beef or chicken or mutton filling. The choice is completely yours :) Shaping can be done in various ways. I've tried to include 2-3 common shapes. Some shape it like chinese wontons too.

 Click the link for filling recipe.

Chicken Filling

Beef/Mutton Filling

Ingredients for the Dough/Pastry:

All purpose flour/Maida 2 cups

Salt 1 tsp

Oil 2 tbsp

Warm water enough to knead

Method:

1. Knead the dough using the above ingredients to the consistency of a roti dough. Loose dough may turn the whole process into messy and lead to oily snack.

2. Devide the whole dough into four equal balls and roll them up into a big roti as seen in the picture. Don't roll into so thin which might result in oily snack.  I didn't measure the thickness but 1 or 2 mm less thicker than my chappathi ;)

 3. Take a cookie cutter or cirlce shaped lid or anything of the kind and cut small round cutouts like shown in the picture. If your lid is not that sharp enough to cut, shape it first and then use a knife to cut.

 4. Now take a small cutout, stuff in with the filling of your choice, fold it into a semi-circle , close and seal the edges. If you want to design the edges this way, check the video below.

 5. A different style to edges: After sealing the edges, take a fluted pastry wheel (zigzag cutter), dip that in flour to prevent it from sticking to the dough, roll it through the edges and then, remove the cutouts.

6. Yet another style: Use a slightly bigger cutter this time. Cut them into small cutouts, take one, take 2 tsp of filing and place it in on one side of the roti , separated from each other as seen in the third picture in the collage below. Close and seal the edges. Press in the middle of those two stuffing and seal there too. Run the fluted pastry wheel through the middle and the edges. You will get two adas(snack) here.

 7. I double fry most of my snacks, which make it more crispier. For this, throw in few snacks in hot oil in low flame and fry till it changes its color little bit. Oil should not be too hot and do not fry too much the first time. Just a little change in color is enough. It may take 10-15 seconds.

8. Draining and cooling is very important before freezing or frying for the second time. Cool it completely. Make sure that these are not kept overlapped while cooling. This is the stage where you can freeze them.

9. For freezing: Take an airtight container and layer once-fried and cooled snacks on it. After doing a single layer, place a sheet of cling film on it and then layer adas again. Place clingfilm, then adas and so on.. till all the snacks are placed in the box. Place one more sheet of cling film on top and then close the lid tightly. Keep this in the freezer. This would stay fresh for about 2 months or so. Once freezed, you can change these to freezer bags and no need of clingfilm after freezing.

10. Deepfry them in hot oil in medium flame till they turn brown, crispier and crunchier. Serve them hot.

Basic Chicken Filling- How to freeze.. (Ramadan Preparations)

Ramadan is near and hence , the time for preparation has already arrived. I always think of doing a series on Ramadan preparation much before Ramdan; but never happend it on time. But still I hope this would help some or the other.

Ramadan ,as you all know is a month of devotion. Thirty days of fasting (refrain from eating or drinking) from dawn to dusk ;when every muslim is devoted towards his creator. We try to get more closer to Allah by more and more prayers, charity, seeking for forgiveness and extra prayers. We don't really get time to do daily chores. So we try and prepare our house and kitchen in such a way that we don't have to spend lots of time in irrelevant activities. We do all major cleaning jobs ,prepare some snacks and freeze, do some smoothie preparations etc. Here, I'll try to post some of the preparations I do during this month.

This is the basic chicken filling which is used almost in all malabar snacks. We stock this in the freezer usually for 1 or 2 months so that we can make any snacks  when guests arrive in a short notice. You can use this for toasted sandwiches too..

 Ingredients:

Chicken 500 gm
Ghee 1 tbsp
Oil 2 tbsp
Onion 4cups
Garlic 5 cloves

Ginger 1" piece
Green Chilli 6-10
Turmeric powder 1/2 + 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder 1 tsp
Garam Masala 1 tsp
Coriander leaves few

Method:
1. Cut the onions lengthwise into 2 or 3 equal parts and then slice them.


2. Cook the chicken till done  alongwith little water, salt,pepper and 1/2 a tsp of turmeric powder. Let it cool.

3. Shred the meat using a food processor or a grinder or even using hands.  Just pulse them if you are using a grinder. If you grind it more, the chicken will return to kheema consistency or a meat paste which we do not want.Just one or two seconds is enough.


4. Now heat ghee and oil in a pan. Add the sliced onions to it and saute it for a while till it turns translucent. Add ginger-garlic & green chilli paste to it. It'll take about 10 mts or so in medium -high flame. Adjust the flame so that  there is no moisture left in the pan.

This is picture from Beef Filling

5. Now add salt and turmeric powder to it. Mix in the shredded meat to it.


6. Season with the remaining spices like pepper and garam masala. Pop in the Coriander Leaves.

7. Freezing tips: Let it cool and then freeze it either in freezer bags or containers. If you are storing in a freezer bag, you can beat with a roller pin so that you get it separated or if storing in a container, just use a fork or knife to separate it. Defrost only the portion which is required.

Malaysian Sprial Puff

Malaysia is a beautiful country. I did get a chance to visit Malaysia some 8 years ago. We had gone to Malaysia through bus from Singapore and the greenery all the way was quite amazing. I still remember each day of our trip and their food. Various Kuihs (snacks) and their delicious fish head curry were fingerlicking good. I found them similar to many dishes seen at our place. I don't know whether they got inspired from our place or the vice versa. Spiral Curry Puff and Kuih Lapis are among those which I've tried in my kitchen. They came out really well.

Spiral puff is an oil fried snack but you can't find a single drop of oil in any bite. It has got an  amazing crust; flaky and crunchy. Jab was asking me whether it was baked  or not. The filling I used in here is Punjabi samosa filling as I didn't had Malaysian curry masala for trying the original recipe. So I thought of adding Indian tadka to it. Potato filling alone or accompanied with chicken is found in the original curry puff.




Ingredients: (16 pieces @ 9cm in diameter)
Courtesy:Do What I Like


Water Dough:
210g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
100ml warm water
25g lightly beaten egg
1 tbsp or 14g margarine

Oil Dough:
100g plain flour
60g - 70g margarine

Filling:


Potatoes 500g, boiled and mashed
Oil 3 tbsp
Cumin seeds 1 tsp
Green peas 1 cup
Ginger-garlic paste 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder 1/2tsp
Pepper powder 1/2 tsp
Red Chilli powder 1-2 tsp
Coriander powder 1 tbsp
Cumin powder 1 tsp
Garam masala 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Tamarind pulp 2 tbsp
Lemon juice to taste

Method:

Filling:

1. Heat oil in a pan and splutter cumin seeds in it. Saute ginger-garlic paste and green chillies in it for a few seconds and add mashed potatoes to it. Add the spices , tamarind pulp and sprinkle coriander leaves to it. Check the taste and add lemon juice if needed to taste. Keep it aside.

Dough:

2. Mix all ingredients for the water dough in a mixing bowl and knead till you have a soft and pliable dough. Leave aside to rest for 30 minutes.
3. After the water dough is rested for 30 minutes, mix everything for the oil dough till you get a workable dough. You may add 1 or 2 tsp of water to it , if needed.
4. Divide water dough into 2 pieces about 175g each. Divide oil dough into 2 pieces about 78g each. Work on one piece of water dough and one piece of oil dough. Keep the other pieces in a bag to retain moisture.

5. Wrap oil dough in water dough.

6. With sealed edges facing upwards, roll this into a flat long sheet.

Fold from one side like this and....

fold the other side too to the middle.

7. Roll this again to flat long sheet .

8. Turn the dough 90 degrees and roll it into a thin rectangular flat sheet. Roll it up tightly in swiss-roll style again. Trim away the left and right edges to tidy it up.

9. Divide into 8 pieces and you will get this.

10. Flatten each piece into a round disc and wrap in the filling.

11. Fry the puff in medium heat and when they are about to be cooked, turn up the heat to force the oil out of the puff. Drained well and serve.

The only thing I felt is I must add li'l bit more salt to the dough next time :)

Know your cooking oil event

What's with my cuppa? Event hosted by Avika originally hosted byUK Rasoi

Freeze your Kaayada/Unnakkaaya(Stuffed plaintain snack)

Some things in this world need no introduction at all... I think this is such a snack about which I'm sure many of you; infact almost each one of you might be knowing . Ripe plaintains are steamed and then blend to be stuffed in with sweet scrambled egg. This is then deep fried to nice golden color. This snack is usually served alongwith tea- an unavoidable snack in Malabar parties.

The plaintains should be ripen to perfect for this. Not too much and not that raw. If it is over ripened, then it'll end up in oily adas(snacks) and you may find difficuilt to shape them up too.. While picking up the plaintains choose the one whose skin started getting black spots-just few.

Ingredients:

Plaintains 2kg
Eggs 7
Sugar 7tbsp
Ghee 3 tbsp
Cashew nuts,chopped 3 tbsp
Raisins 2 tbsp
Cardamom powder 3/4 tsp

Method:

Egg stuffing:

1.Beat in the eggs and sugar untill the eggs get mixed up nicely. No need to mix it until the sugar dissolves.

2.Heat ghee in a pan and fry cashew nuts until brown and take these out. Pop in the raisin and fry until it puffs up . Take them out as well.

3.Add egg mixture to it.  Cook eggs while stirring continously. It should resemble Indian scrambled eggs; but little moist because of sugar. Add cardamamom powder and mix in the nuts and raisins. Switch off the flame.

my kids hate raisins, so i avoid it

Preparing the Ada:

1. Wash and steam the plaintains  until it turns soft. You can either cut them into pieces and steam if you have a small steamer. Steaming as a whole is good though.

Uncooked: as you can see two colors there.

Cooked: Single color there

 2. Now remove the skin and grind this in food processor, table top grinder, using egg beater etc. You can place this on a chopping board and mash this using a potato masher, rolling pin or a glass. Mash this with no lumps and should resemble a chappathi dough.

3. Make small balls. Then flatten these balls into a small circle just like puris (size depends) . Fill them with fillings and close it to form a semi-circle. (shall soon update with pictures). Stick the ends together and shape them like Ada or Ghujiiya.

4. Heat oil in a kadai or frying pan and deep fry these in oil until it turns golden brown. This is traditionally fried in ghee.

 How to freeze:

Freeze this the same way as I explained in my previous post Freezing cutlets. Layer kaayadas in an airtight box. Place clingfilm on top of that; then again kaayadas and so on until all those are placed neatly. Cover this with clingfilm on top and then close the lid tightly. Keep this in your freezer.

Note: While frying, the oil should be steaming hot as adding frozen adas might turn the temperature down instantly which may result in oily snack.

Linking this to Foodabulous Event hosted by Saju's Tastes