iCookiPost

Brownies are popular in united states and it is a common dessert in the restaurant menu.This is easy to make and I baked this for my sweet little girl who likes to eat chocolate in any form.it is soft in texture and kids will definitely love this yummy brownies.

Ingredients

1. All Purpose Flour/Maida – 1/2 cup
2. Baking powder-1 tsp
3. Cocoa powder(I used Hershey’s natural unsweetened cocoa powder) – 3/4 cup
4. Butter –200 gm
5. Egg –3
6. Sugar – 1 1/2 cup
7. Vanilla Essence – 1/2 tsp
8. Salt

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F.
2. Melt butter and keep aside to cool.
3. In a bowl,mix maida with baking powder,cocoa powder and salt.
4. In another bowl,beat eggs with sugar.Add sugar little by little till it becomes fluffy.Add butter to it and mix well.
5. Add the maida mix to it and mix well without lumps.
6. Grease a 9 inch square baking pan.Pour the batter into the baking pan and bake for 30 minutes.check for doneness by inserting a tooth pick into the center of the pan.it should come out clean.
7. Once it is cool,cut into square shapes.
8. Serve with a scoop of ice-cream as dessert.

Lemon pickle is quite popular in south India.Last week, one of my friend gave me some lemons straight from her vegetable garden.So I made a yummy and spicy pickle with those fresh lemons.This recipe is adapted from Lakshmi Nair’s Magic Oven Pachaka Kala cook book.This goes well with rice or kanji.

Ingredients

1. Lime/Naranga(medium size) – 4
2. Green Chilly(cut into small round pieces) – 3
3. Kashmiri Red Chilly Powder – 1 1/2 tbsp
4. Jaggery(grated) – 1/4 cup
5. Asafoetida powder/Kaayam podi – 1/2 tsp
6. Fenugreek powder/uluva podi – 1/2 tsp
7. Tamarind – size of a gooseberry
8. Mustard seeds /Kaduku – 1 tsp
9. Dry Red Chilly – 4
10. Gingely Oil – 1/4 cup
11. Salt

Preparation

1. wash lemon and grate the outer thick skin.cut into small pieces.Heat 1/2 portion of oil in a pan.Saute lemon with green chilly on medium flame for 5 minutes.
2. In another pan, Boil tamarind(soak tamarind in 1 1/2 cup of water) water.once it starts to boil,add red chilly powder,jaggery,asafoetida powder,fenugreek powder and salt. stir well and once it starts to thicken add lime pieces to it and mix well..Let it cook for 2-3 minutes.Remove from fire.
3. Heat the remaining oil and add mustard seeds to it.once it starts to splutter,add dry red chilly and pour the seasonings to the pickle mix.
4. Once it is cooled completely, transfer it into a glass jar.
5. You can refrigerate after one day.
6. Serve with rice or kanji.

Nilgiris is known as  the blue mountains of south India and here I am sharing a rich and spicy chicken curry  recipe of south India.This recipe is adapted from Lakshmi Nair’s Magic Oven.

Ingredients

1. Chicken(15-20 pieces) – 1 kg
2. Onion(cut into cubes) –3
3. Ginger paste- 1 1/2 tbsp
4. Garlic paste – 1/12 tbsp
5. Green Chilly –2
6. Red chilly Powder – 1/2 tsp
7. Coriander powder – 1 1/2 tbsp
8. water – 1 1/2 cup
9. Coriander leaves –200 gm
10. Mint leaves – 100 gm
11. Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
12. Ginger- 1”piece
13. Garlic – 8
14. Green Chilly – 10
15. Pepper powder –1 tbsp
16. Cloves –4
17. Cinnamon stick –2
18. Cardamom –2
19. fennel seeds/perumjeerakam – 1 1/2 tsp
20. Oil – 11/2 tbsp
21. salt
22. Cashewnuts– 25 gm

Preparation

1. Wash and clean chicken with vinegar and salt.
2. Heat a pan. Add ingredients numbered 2 to 8 .cover and cook till dry. Let it cool.Make a fine paste and keep aside.
3. Heat another pan.Transfer the onion paste to it. Add chicken pieces to it. Add salt and 1/4 cup of water .Mix well. cover and cook till chicken is cooked well.
4. Grind ingredients numbered 9 to 19 into a fine paste.
5. Heat oil in a pan. Add the green paste and saute till raw smell goes.Add the cooked chicken to it and let it cook on low flame for 10 minutes.
6. Add cashewnut paste to it and mix well.
7. Garnish with coriander leaves.
8. serve with rice or Roti