Grandma's Chicken Musuman with step by step video & pictorial illustrations

Talking about the traditional foods, North Malabar had established its own place; especially Kannur & Kozhikode districts; Thalassery being their leader. There's a wide variety of pathiris, snacks, curries ,etc. associated with this region. Some of them are vanished from the modern kitchen while some others are modified to adjust to the changed lifestyles.
Musuman means Whole(colloquially).This recipe is given as it was in the past. This was my Grandma's recipe and just came to my mom's mind recently & gave it a try . It was delicious & since then, Chicken Musuman found its place in our kitchen. In this recipe, chicken is stuffed with Chana Dal Masala & boiled eggs. Before it was prepared using big chicken which weighs about 1 1/2 kg or more; so that it was easy to stuff. But now-a-days we prefer small chickens & so we can't use much stuffing. I've given the recipe of 800gm chicken and I'm sure that u guys would luv it...

It's spicy as well as a bit sweet cos of the sugar we use ..The sugar is well blended with all the spices that it has a nice spicy -sweet combined flavor.

Ingredients:

Chicken 800-900 gm
Onion 2 medium
Tomato 1
Ginger 1 tbsp
Garlic 2 pods
Green Chilli 3
Red Chilli powder 1 1/2 tsp (spicy one)
Coriander powder 1 tsp
Sugar 1 1/2 tsp
Chana Dal 1/4 cup (for both the gravy & stuffing)
Egg 1 boiled (optional)

For Coconut Paste:

Coconut 1 cup (3/4 + 1/4)
Fennel (Saunf) 1 tsp
Onion,sliced-  half of a small onion
Clove 1
Cardamom 1
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp

For stuffing:

Onion 1/2
Ginger -Garlic paste 1 tsp
Green chilli 1
Red Chilli powder 1/4 tsp
Coriander leaves 1 tbsp
Garam masala 1/4 tsp
Chana Dal

Method:

1.Soak Chana Dal overnight or for a minimum of 6 hrs.


2. Coconut paste:

Now we have to roast coconut for the gravy as we do for our Varutharacha curry. The method is simple and goes like this:

a. Take a pan, add 2 tbsp of coconut oil. When hot, add 1 tbsp of parboiled rice ;let it roast a bit till it changes its color. Add 3/4 of the coconut ;saute well in medium-low flame;

b. add fennel seeds

c. & half onion in between.  Keep on stirring to roast the coconut evenly.

d. Saute till it turns to brown. Don't make it too brown ;else a bitter taste may come. Add turmeric powder.Switch off the flame & let it cool. Throw in remaining fresh coconut ,cardamom & clove and make a paste of it.

3.Mix the Onion, Tomato, Green Chilli, Ginger Garlic paste, Red Chilli powder, Coriander powder , enough water and salt with chicken & cook till the chicken is done.

4.Meanwhile prepare Chana Dal Stuffing:

Cook Chana Dal. Take 1/4 cup of the cooked dal & keep aside for the gravy.

 Take a pan, pour 1 tbsp of oil. When hot, add onion;saute well till it turns brown ; then add ginger-garlic paste, chilli, red chilli powder & the remaining cooked chana dal. Saute well. Finish it off with garam masala & coriander leaves.

5.When chicken is done, take it off & stuff with this masala & boiled egg. If the chicken is small, you can stuff it with only a few or1 tbsp of the chana dal masala.You can pin the chicken with tootpick so that the stuffing remains safe.(optional)I couldn't do it as my chicken was a bit delicate when done. Keep the chicken aside; no need to put it back to the gravy now.

6.Now add the coconut paste & chana dal (which was kept aside ) in the gravy & let it boil.

7. You can now put chicken in the gravy & let it boil for 3-5minutes. No need to boil it for so long and take care while serving, otherwise the chicken may break & it won't remain Chicken Musuman (musuman means whole);the stuffing may also come out.

8.Temper it with Ghee and onion.(add 1 or 2 tbsp of ghee in a hot pan & put a tbsp of sliced onion & add it to the gravy when brown).

9.Garnish with coriander & curry leaves & serve with Pathiris which complements well with this gravy.

Grandma- Last Goodbye!

It has been a tough couple of weeks that my family had gone through or still going through since the death of my grandma; a sudden death,  that the family were not expecting . Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji'un. For her, this was exactly her wish to die without troubling anyone or lying as a burden for her family. It just took a few seconds for her to leave us. May Allah bestow his mercy upon her soul and grant her Jannat al Firdaus. Aameen!

It is the worst feeling I've ever experienced. I loved her so much that I couldn't believe my ears when I heard this news. Still can't believe. Last year while we were about to leave after vacation, she hugged me tightly, went on crying while worrying whether she could see us anymore. I told her we would never allow you to go before Noora's (my daughter who is 10) wedding. You have lot more to witness. We never ever expected this.

She was a great cook and my tutor. She was the first one to teach me to make fish curry and biriyani. Those were the days when I was trying to settle myself all alone in my house with my toddler, who was just 3 months then and I had no experience in cooking. My grandma used to come every week with a maid to help me clean my house. She gave her instructions and helped me sort out my stuffs. Once, when I wanted to cook biriyani, she helped me with the procedures when she had never tasted or cooked biriyani in her entire life. She always said that she hated it since her childhood and for some reason she never tasted it. But that was one of the best biriyanis I've ever made.

The grief becomes unbearable when comes the thought of not seeing her again. The warmth, the love and care is no more available. How I regret not being able to say a last goodbye. I wish I had known her time was coming. Love you Gradma!! You truly were special! Those fond memories will  be with us all our life!

Grandma's Date Pickle Recipe

Strawberry Cloud Cake

Cloud cake is a no-bake, flourless cake which is a summer dessert and perfect for special occassions, where you can prepare this ahead of 3-4 days and pop it in your freezer. This is as light as cloud and melts in mouth . The crunchiness of biscuit base with coconut flavour gives a tropical touch to the dessert. It was so difficuilt to click pictures to show its texture as it was melting, melting and melting... :( still i think I should post atleast one picture. Let me check if I could find one in the folders.

This was made by my sis Hanan and thank God that I was there to taste this awesome dessert. It was lightier than ice-cream and is good when you are expecting some guests and you are not sure about their time of visit. You can make this and dump it in your freezer; make sure to serve as soon as you take it out of the freezer.

Ingredients:

For the base:

Biscuits( digestive,marie or any plain biscuits ) 150g
Butter 1 stick (1/2 cup)
Dessicated Coconut (dry coconut) 50g

Filling:

Eggwhite 2
Sugar 1 1/4cups
Lemon juice 1 tbsp
Vanilla essence 1tsp
Strawberries 250g

Method

1. Line the base and sides of a spring form cake tin with baking paper or waxed paper to lift the cake out easily after freezing.

2. Crush the biscuits into crumbs. For this, put biscuits into the freezer bag or any plastic bag,seal it and then crush it using a rolling pin.

3. Mix well, the biscuits,melted butter and coconut in a bowl. Press firmly into the base of the tin. Keep this tin in the freezer till you prepare your filling.

4. Blend all the remaining ingredients in a dry bowl of electric mixer/blender/juice machine on high speed for about 5-8minutes until the mixture turns thick and fluffy . The sugar should be dissolved by then. To test, take a bit of mixture and rub it between your fingers and if you don't feel grainy sugar, it's done.

5. Pour this mixture in the prepared tin and wrap it with a baking paper or foil . Freeze it for atleast 4 hours or until set. You can store this in airtight containers for a month or so.

Serve this with fresh berries or canned berry topping.

*use a large blender as eggwhites once beaten,increases its volume .

Muttayappam (with video illustration)

Muttayappam is again a Malabar special recipe. It's usually made by the Kannurians with slight variations in their respective regions. Some add eggs to this, some make this in kaara (unniyappam kadai) while we make in iron Kadai /chhenachatti/chinese wok.

This is usually a breakfast recipe; but could also be made for dinner as well. These are deep fried pancakes, usually savoured with meat or fish curries. The dough is to be ground to pouring consistency and is poured into oil to deepfry. These are then, puffed up into puri like appams.

Ingredients:

(Serves a family of four)

White rice/pachari 3 cups

Cooked parboiled rice 1 1/4 cups

Water 1 3/4 cups

Salt 2 1/2 tsp or to taste

Oil enough to deep fry

Method

Soak white rice in warm water for 2-3 hours or overnight.

Drain rice through a strainer. (You can avoid this step; I'm doing this just to give you the exact measurement of water to be used .)

Now blend or grind it along with cooked rice and minimal water (as prescribed).

Heat oil in an iron kadai. The temperature of oil should not be too high. Once the oil is hot, sprinkle 2-3 drops of water to it and then, when the sound of bubbling water stops, you can proceed to the next step.

Set the fire to low. Pour a laddle-ful of dough into the oil. Once you poured, increase the flame to medium-high.

When the appam puffs up and it is done on that side, you may turn it and fry on the other side too.

You may now take it and drain it ona tissue or strainer.

Macarons with Raspberry Filling

Happy New Year! I hope one can wish new year anytime in January ;) 

I know I'm always late. These celebrations bring in holidays with them and so it's really hard to find a gap for blogging. It was winter vacation for kids and Jab has got to finish off his pending leaves this year. So this holiday was completely packed with many stuffs. First week in AbuDhabi with parents, second week at home with guests' stayover.

I just wanted to go nowhere this new year, but had to,for the kids sake. The laser show and fireworks at Burj Khalifah are one of the major events happening here on new years since past few years. So we decided to go there and reached there by 5 pm. As there were 7 more hours to 12, we had to spend our time somewhere else. It was too crowded that we decided to have our dinner so early by 6 and did so; watched a movie after that 'Life of the Pi'. When left the theatre, we were shocked to see the rush outside. The exit door to the fountain area was closed and we were directed towards the Mall Exit. It was so conjusted there that we could hardly breathe in. The footpath outside the mall was full, the roads were closed. We sat there on the path with many others. Thank God that Burj Khalifah is visible from almost all parts of Dubai. :)

Warning : This is not for those who witnessed Trissur Pooram before ;)

 

DSF has arrived . The UAE people are not so excited about shopping festival these days other than a compulsory visit to the global village. I hardly remember those days when we got struck in traffic for hours and hours. But this time, as my sis-in law was here with her family, we took them to creek side park for the inaugural ceremony and yea, the function has changed for good by the passage of time. The programme, especially the musical fireworks and the dancing angels were awesome.

MY MAC STORY:

I've always been fascinated with macarons. I've been wanting to make macarons since I saw them in  Finla's but was afraid when I went through the failure attempts of many bloggers. Thats when  Shabs baked these small mouthful of heaven and it's she who motivated me to try it. She keeps on experimenting different flavours and has given a detailed article on Mac baking on her first post on Macarons.Her pictures are so captivating that tempts me always to try those recipes as soon as I could. Her macs are now famous and we friends call her 'The Mac Queen'. My Mac journey started here.

The ingredients are just four. If you see any youtube video, you won't see any easier recipe than this.. BUT to get it correct or perfect , is as tough as that. These have a smooth rounded outer shell and flat ruffled bottom with what’s called “feet". If you see the 'feet' in your macs, you are 80% nearer to perfection. But the best part is, however flop it comes out, it tastes awesome.

My first try on macarons.used my microwave convection oven for this. The base was sticky and not done perfectly, as the oven had inverter technology and so the macs was overbaked ontop. But I could see the Feet.. HURRAY!! And texture was good too..

Second try-coffee macs,when I used homemade almond flour. The flour was not finely ground. It did come out nicely, but my son  played with it when kept for cooling :(. He liked the crack sound .o. Third try-strawberry macs. Tried in my gas oven.Almond skin is seen :( Now, here is my Macarons Topped Cake

Recipe:

Adapted from Ottolenghi – The Cookbook

Eggwhites 60g

Almond Flour 60g

Icing sugar 110g

Caster Sugar 40g

Raspberry Jam for the filling

Method:

1. Line a baking tray with silicon sheet or baking sheet.

2. Age your egg-whites for atleast 24 hours at room temperature or upto 2 days in refrigerator, loosely covered. ie; to cover egg-whites in a clean bowl using cling film, prick that film with knife,just twice and then, keep them on your kitchen counter for a day or in refrigerator for 2 days.

3.Place icing sugar and almond powder together in a bowl and set aside. If almond flour is not finely ground, then blend it in a food processor together with icing sugar.

4.Beat castor sugar and egg white on a bowl in medium-high speed until soft peaks form and then add the color. Continue to beat until egg white looks smooth and shiny. (and not dry)

5. Fold in the dry ingredients into this meringue in 3-4 batches . Do not overmix the batter. Just take a spoon of the mixture and drop on a plate and if no peaks are formed on top, the mixture is rightly folded. If peaks are formed, fold again. Folding should not exceed 50 strokes.

6. Spoon the batter into the piping bag and then pipe it onto the baking sheets in round shapes. You can use macaron templates for that. Check this link for pictures of using templates.

7. Let the macarons rest for 15-30 mts or until a dry layer is formed on top of macarons. When you touch them, u can feel the dry layer. Switching on the a/c at high will help them dry fast.

8. Preheat your oven at 140C. Bake a tray at a time for 15-20 mts.

9. Cool the tray on a wire rack and remove the macarons. If you find difficuilty in removing them, spray a little water on the sheet and then remove it. Don't leave it for so long after spraying water as it may turn macarons soggy.

7. Fill them with raspberry jam or any other jam or chocolate ganache and sandwich them. Keep in the fridge for atleast 3 days for better & chewy macarons. Serve at room temperature.

Linking this to Bookmarked Recipes Event

Bake fest originally hosted by Vardhini