Sunday 24 January 2010

Naan Bread

Hi friends, its me again, today i am with the recipe for Naan recipe. One of our spice-india visitor Marianne, requested for this recipe. And here is the recipe for Marianne, and all other visitor who love naan bread. Naan bread is orignally a punjabi recipe, though it is done with tandoori stove, i often prepare this with our home oven. It goes very well with any type of paneer, chicken curry etc. So here is the recipe just for you.....

Ingredients :

All purpose flour ( Maida ) - 1 and 1/2 cup
Egg - 1 (Optional ) , if you dont prefer to use egg, then use 1/2 cup of yogurt.
Yeast - 1 tsp ( Dissolve yeast with 1/2 cup of luke warm water)
Oil - 3 tsp ( And little more to apply on your hands.
Warm water - 1/2 cup
Baking soda - pinch
Salt - to taste ( 1/2 tsp)

Preparation :

* Take one tsp of yeast and dissolve in luke warm water and leave it for few mins.

* Now take a bowl, add the all purpose flour, add salt, pinch of baking soda and mix well.
* Now add 2 tsp of oil, and add the egg. ( If you dont prefer to add egg, then add yogurt) and mix well. * Now add the yeast water and mix well, till the dough comes without sticking. Add oil to your hands and keep mixing well, till they become very soft.
* Keep it aside for 3 - 4 hours, and allow the dough to raise.
* After 4 hours the dough would had raised high, as shown in the picture below.
* Now again apply some oil, and mix again, and make it into equal size balls as below.
* Now roll it by adding some all purpose flour, to avoid it from sticking. ( Roll it bit thick, do not roll it too thin.)

* Roll it with a roller and pull to one side, to bring the naan shape.
* Pre-heat the oven at 500 degree for 30 mins.

* Place the rolled dough on to the baking tray, and place it in the oven. It will take 3 - 4 mins to cook, then turn to the other size and cook for another 1 min.
* Wow, the yummy, hot and soft naan is ready, so now apply some butter over it and serve hot with some spicy curry. I served it with spicy kadai paneer.

Enjoy yours.........

Saturday 9 January 2010

Fish Kuzhambu ( Chennai style)

Hi friends, I am back after a long break. Had a very long break for christmas/ new year . It was real fun having friends around and having great lunch and Dinner together. Now things are back to routine and i prepare myself to come out of that holiday mood. Gosh.....i shoud not forget to talk about the climate here in UK. It started to snow and its really horribly Cold.........Haaaaaaa.......they say the temperature is going to be the same for another week........Its almost -3 during the day and -10 at night. .......Haaaaaaaaa Can't help myself sitting on the heater, and making my hubby to worry about the current bill.....Hahaha....Well, to make everything better i cook all fresh and have hot and spicy. So here comes the recipe for fish kuzhambu. Fish kuzhambu are made in many ways. I already have posted one, which my grandmother use to prepare , but today i am going to post the one that we usually prepare in chennai. So its Chennai syle fish kuzhambu. Well here is the recipe just for you.

Ingredients :

Fish - 1 kg ( Cleaned and sliced into small pieces)
Small Onion - 20 ( Preferably small onion, because it adds taste, but i often dont get in Uk, so in that case i use the big green onions) ( Chopped finely)
Garlic - 1 full ( peeled)
Curry leaves - 1 stem
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
Tomato - 2 ( Chopped )
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Ginger and Garlic paste - 3 tsp
Tamarind juice - 3 cups ( Take a orange size tamaride and soak it in 3 cups of warm water and after little while squeece and extract the juice)
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Corinader powder - 1 tsp
Kashmire Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - To taste
Oil - To fry

Preparation :

* Take a pan, heat oil and add the mustard, fenugreek seeds and fry. Then add the chopped garlic and onion and fry till golden brown.

* Then add the curry leaves and fry for few mins.
* Add the ginger and garlic paste and fry till the raw smells disappears.
* Then add the chopped tomatoes and fry.
* Now add the tamarind juice , and then add the kashmire chilly, chilly powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt.

* Allow it to cook for 20 - 30 mins ( Till the oil starts to come out)

* Check for the taste. Finally add the cleaned fish and cook for another 5 mins closing the lid.
Hmmmmm......finally serve hot with plain rice........It would usually be much more taster on next day.....Just enjoy your plate.........