Basic Indian Chutneys / Accompaniment

 

Everyone knows that my family is big on Indian food ... The spices, the smell is just tentalizing! As follows are 3 basic side dishes or accompaniment to a simple Rava Dosa or Uttamapam or apom.. 

Red Chutney

1/2 an onion

1 large tomato

Blend the tomato & onion without water. Set aside.

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1 sprig curry leaves

1/4 cup water

Salt to taste

2 tablespoon chilli powder

Temper the mustard seeds & curry leaves in 1 tablespoon oil and once the mustard seeds popped, add the tomato mixture. Add water, salt and chilli powder. Simmer gently for another 2 minutes. Serve 

Coconut Chutney

1/2 onion , chopped

1 green chilli , chopped

2 garlic, chopped

1 dried red chili or 1 tsp dried chilli flakes 

1/2 tsp mustard seed

3 curry leaves 

Temper the above items in 1 tablespoon of oil. Once tempered add in to a blender with 1 cup of shredded coconut,salt and 1/3 cup water

1 cup shredded coconut

1/3 cup water

Salt

Blend finely and serve. Do note that this coconut chutney cannot be served overnight. Always make a fresh batch

Coriander Chutney

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

3-4 curry leaves 

1 green chilli, chopped

A handful of coriander 

1/4 cup water

Temper the mustard seeds, chilliand curry leaves in oil and once the seeds popped, add the coriander with 1/4 cup water.

Transfer to a blender.

1/2 cup shredded coconut

Salt

1/2 tsp tamarind 

1/4 teaspoon tumeric powder

At the above ingredients into the blender and blend smooth .

Gulab Jamun

I always have this love hate relationship with Indian desserts.. Love the combo but it's always too sweet! 

I made some really simple ones and it isn't as sweet as the usual gulab jamun...  

Mix 1 cup milk powder, 1/4 cup flour, a pinch of salt, 1/2 tsp baking powder and enough milk or yoghurt to make the dough smooth.

Oil your hands with ghee (clarified butter) and roll into balls. 

Deep fry the balls in oil or hot ghee. (Because ghee is pretty expensive I just fry mine in oil) 😉 

For the syrup, simmer 50g sugar with 50ml of water with a pinch of saffron, 2 cardamom pods and 1/2 tsp rose water. 

You can omit the Rose water if you like but it adds to the whole indian dessert vibe ! 

Once the sugar dissolves, soak the balls into the syrup. And rolling them gently so that they get coated evenly . Do note because I didn't want it too sweet, all the syrup will be absorbed by the balls. If you have a sweet tooth, double the syrup recipe and soak the balls for 30 minutes! Happy trying! 

Kuih Lompang

My Mak used to make these all the time when I was little .. Mak is my granny and I love her to bits. I used to help (make a mess) when she makes this in the kampung at Jalan Mat Jambol. So fun to see many bowl of batters fill with various colours .. That was my childhood :-)

Lompang is a gadget that they used to pound padi so it's concave in the middle. Similar to a mortar and pestle .. The javanese would also call mouth ulcers "lompangen" because there's a hole in your mouth.  Ok back to the kuih...

Simply make a syrup..

1 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1 Pandan leaf

Set aside to cool. Once it's not boiling hot, pour it into the flour mixture.

In a bowl, mix the following ingredient:-

3/4 cup rice flour 

1/3 cup water or 1/3 cup pandan water (if you want your batter to be green)

1/2 teaspoon alkaline water

Pandan paste 

Various food colourings

Salt

Shredded coconut

Pandan leaf, cut into smaller pieces

Mix the flour with the sugar water and divide into bowls with various colours. For green I always use Pandan paste for colour and flavour so I always tend to make more of that .. But it's totally your choice.

Prepare the mould greased in oil, pour your batter 7/8 of the way and steam for 20-25 minutes. Scoop around the mould with a teaspoon to extract the kuih out. 

Steam or microwave shredded coconut or kelapa Parut with a pinch of salt and Pandan leaves. Top the kuih with it. Allow the kuih to rest for 10 minutes to set. Usually it's still a bit wet when it's freshly out of the steamer ... 

2 Ingredient Biscuit Recipe

Okayyyy not exactly 2 Ingredient if you count the salt! But If you like Popeye's or Texas Chicken biscuits? Try this ultra simple recipe! Original recipe was from King Arthur

http://food52.com/blog/12475-king-arthur-flour-s-2-ingredient-never-fail-biscuits

170g self raising flour

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cups cream

I usually don't keep any self raising flour at home so my recipe is as follows 

170g all purpose flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup cream + 1 tablespoon cream (I find it too dry with just 3/4 cup cream)

Mix all the ingredients lightly and use an ice cream scoop to scoop onto greased lined baking trays. Brush with more cream.

Bake for 15 minutes at 225 degrees celcius or until it's golden brown.

Drizzle with honey or eat it like a scone with jam and cream.. Yuummm

Strawberry Crumble

This is really the easiest dessert ever .. 

Coming back from Bandung, I had 2kg worth of strawberries so this week will be strawberry filled meals and desserts. 

250g strawberries, hulled and quartered

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoon flour

Mix the above ingredients together and place in a baking dish or cake tin.

For the crumble on top, mix all the ingredients and just loosely arrange on top of the strawberries 

85g flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cream

Once you place the mixture on the strawberries, sprinkle sugar on it, this helps to give nice crust.

Bake for 35-40 minutes on 180 degrees.

Serves with fresh cream.

Ayam Tangkep Aceh

The Hubs actually introduced me to this dish many years ago and until recently I didn't bother to make it because all the restaurants that we liked were still opened... 

 

Now all my favourite Aceh restaurants are closed so I had to replicate the best Ayam Tangkep i had.

1/2 chicken chopped into small pieces

3 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 tablespoon cumin 

1/2 inch tumeric 

1 lemongrass

1 teaspoon terasi bubuk (shrimp paste powder)

1 teaspoon salt

Blend the above ingredients and marinade chicken with it. Set aside for half hour.

Deep fry The chicken pieces until golden.

 

5 shallots, sliced

2 daun pandan, sliced

A handful curry leaves

Add shallots to the oil that was used to fry the chicken, stir for awhile and then add the pandan and curry leaves in. Fry until crispy.

Add the chicken in and stir fry again. Drain and serve hot. 

Japanese Strawberry Shortcake

Made this a few days ago when my cousin & family came over for lunch. It's a really subtle dessert that's just perfect because I like cake with fruits!

Firstly make the sponge a day ahead or wait until it's cooled down to slice it in half.

Vanilla Sponge 

90g sugar

3 eggs

Whisk this in a bowl over Bain Marie until the sugar dissolves.

20g butter

1 tablespoon milk

Combine milk and butter and melt it in a microwave. Set aside.

90g cake flour (sifted)

1 tsp vanilla essence

Whisk the eggs until really frothy and add the flour bit by bit by folding it in with a spatula.

Add the vanilla and finally the liquid.

Pour into a lined 6 inch cake tin and bake at 180 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool

Frosting

2 cups cream

1/4 icing sugar 

1/2 tsp vanilla essence 

Whip the cream until almost thickened and add in the sugar bit by bit. Once it's stiff, add in the vanilla.

Filling

Strawberries (hulled and chopped into pieces)

Peaches (chopped)

Sugar syrup

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

Simmer sugar and water until all the sugar has melted and set aside to cool.

Now time to assemble the cake.

Brush some sugar syrup onto the sponge

Layer it with cream and fruits

Top with more cream and put the top layer. Frost the cake with the balance cream and decorate it to your preference.

Chill for at least an hour. 

Masala Potatoes

 

We love our indian food and on certain nights we enjoy simple vegetarian food such as Poori with Masala Potatoes. Simple yet so satisfying..

You need to boil the potatoes in advance. I find that once the potatoes are cooled they don't break apart as easily and turned it into mashed potatoes.

4 boiled potatoes, chopped into large pieces 

1 tsp mustard seeds 

1/2 tsp asafoetida 

1 tsp cumin

Sautee the spices to hot oil and then add the following ingredients 

1 onion, sliced

1 green chili, chopped

1 tomato, chopped

1/2 tsp tumeric powder

1/2 tsp Garam masala

1 tsp chana masala powder

1 sprig of curry leaves 

Once the ingredients are nicely mixed in, add the potatoes, salt, water and chopped coriander leaves.

Salt to taste

1/3 cup water.

Chopped Coriander leaves 

Once cooked, serve with Poori, sliced onions and lime wedge.

Link as follows 

http://narny.blogspot.com/2014/06/easy-poori.html?m=1