Nazrani armadillo eggs

So this is my first "fusion" recipe on this blog, even though this is not the first in my kitchen. My family has had to be at the receiving end of such experiments, many times. The experiments range from pretty simple and obvious to the not-so-common, and so far, my family, let's say, are still among the living. :)

Anyway. the bigger item in the picture above is the armadillo egg. The smaller one is regular jalapeno poppers --a variety of  recipes for which are on the internet. I will post  links to some at the end of this. We are focusing on the armadillo eggs here. On Guy Fieri's Triple D, -- ya, again -- I saw this Texas eatery serving huge armadillo eggs which had brisket meat as an ingredient. They used pickled jalapenos, and did not use any cheese, if I remember right. Since we like things hot, fresh jalapenos is the way to go. In a recipe for poppers, Isaw sausage meat being used to cover up the jalapenos, with no breading, and they were baked. That sounded great too, btw. will post links. oh, there are a million versions out there -- grilled, bacon -wrapped, all sorts of add ons in the fillings..... . this is my version.

Here's the recipe for my Maltex or Nazrani armadillo egg:

I used beef for stir fry. You can get away with ground beef.

Ingredients:

6 jalapenos, fresh
4 tbsp cream cheese
about a cup grated cheddar


1/2 lb beef -- stew meat, ground beef, stir fry meat -- doesn't matter
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp Kerala meat masala ( I use my mother's mix - garam masala is ok in a pinch, but there is a difference in taste -- if using "curry powder", it will be a completely different thing)
1/2 tsp red chili powder ( reduce to your preference)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper, ground
1/2 cup boiled potatoes (optional) I had some handy, so I used it.
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup bread crumbs
salt

1 egg, beaten
oil to fry


Prepare the meat -- cut into pieces if in strips, clean. In a pot that goes on the stovetop, mix the beef with the cumin, meat masala, chili powder, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, . Pour enough water to cover the top of the meat. Now bring it to a boil. Lower heat and cover and cook. The meat should be tender when done.

While the meat is cooking, you can cook the potato, either in the microwave, or on the stove, if using potato.
Otherwise, start on the jalapenos. Cut each into half, lengthwise. Remove all the seeds. Be careful not to handle it too intimately or too rakishly-- will get burned. :)
Anyway, now fill each pepper cavity with cream cheese. Put some cheddar on top. Press lightly so that they all hang in there together. At this point, you can dredge these peppers in buttermilk, flour, buttermilk, bread crumbs, in that order. And you'll get jalapeno poppers. well, you could've  added some paprika, cumin etc, even onion, to the cream cheese before , But we are not talking of poppers here, are we?

So while that meat is getting cooked,  we can get ready the assembly line. The bowls of all purpose flour, buttermilk, breadcrumbs in a row.

Once the meat is cooked, put that in the food processor and process. If you have the potatoes, you may add it now and process some more.

Otherwise, wait for it to cool a little, add 2 tbsps of the beaten egg and mix well. You may add the remaining egg to the bowl of buttermilk.
The next steps are a bit messy. But they are worth it.

Cover the filled jalapeno half with the meat mixture. Carefully dredge in the flour.
Now into the buttermilk. Let it rest for a while. You can deal with the rest of the peppers at this time.
Now roll the buttermilk-dipped peppers in bread crumbs. The first two steps can be repeated once more before the bread crumb step. That will make everything hold together better. The second method, where we do it twice is better, but I get lazy sometimes.

Now deep fry in oil.
 Serve warm.

recipes i would try:

for armadillo eggs: http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2011/02/armadillo-eggs-recipe-jalapeno.html



for jalapeno poppers: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-ever-jalapeno-poppers/

oven-fried chicken

oven-fried chicken

The food network channel is one of the channels that I watch while on the treadmill. yep -- ironic.
And most of the time it will be either 'chopped" or Guy Fieri's DDD. well, the other day I saw oven-fried chicken being made, and I wanted to make it. Some time spent on google, I got some ideas.
And here is the result. It turned out to be delicious.



 1 small chicken -- 3 to 3 1/2 lbs.
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 quarts cold water


1 egg
3 tbsp milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. cayenne
1/2- 1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1- 1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter, unsalted


Dissolve the salt and sugar in the water. Immerse the whole chicken in this and chill for an hour. You can skip this brining, if you prefer not to. But I think this makes the chicken tastier and juicier.

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Now rinse the chicken, dry well with paper towels, and cut it up into 8 pieces. Put it back in the fridge, while making the dredging mixes.
Beat the egg in the milk. Set aside.
In another bowl, or ziploc bag, mix the flour, spices and salt.

Add butter to a large shallow baking pan and place it in the preheated oven.

Get the chicken and start the dredging. Dip each piece first in the egg mixture, then in the flour mixture, till well-coated.
Arrange the pieces, skin side down, in the heated baking pan. The pieces should not be crowded.
Bake for 30 minutes. Flip the pieces. Bake for 15 minutes more.

If not browned enough, place under the broiler for 5 minutes.

off the shelf of a naadan chaayakkada or country teashop

The above scene is a favorite of mine. I love the song, the ambience, the setting. The easy-going, slow moving tempo of country life back then, back home. The decor is more or less the same for every teashop. A roof thatched with woven coconut palm fronds, floor made of packed clay, wooden-latticed windows, a few wooden benches and desks, posters of movies and other meetings on the walls, whole bunches of plantain hanging right at the front, with the shop owner right there behind his desk  flaunting his tea making magic, greeting each customer as a long lost friend. There will be a cabinet with its glass doors displaying the snacks,  inside -- sweet and spicy and salty ones. Kerala's teashops -- "chaayakkada" - as they are known, once dotted every corner of the land. They were a place where locals gathered to read newspapers, to talk of the current political issues, and pass on the latest gossip in the village too, all the while imbibing hot tea and snacks. It is from places like these, that the local comrades get sustenance after a hard day's "party" work. "Parippuvada" and a small banana and tea is shared among the political activists and passivists. Tea is served in special glasses, snacks and meals in stainless steel dishes or banana leaf.

All in all, teashops are meeting places filled with camaraderie, and brotherhood.  Much like the pub in an English village without the intoxication. For that we have our toddy shops. The sad part of all this is that usually not many women frequent these establishments in the class and gender-conscious Kerala.

The most common teashop snack is the "parippuvada" -- a lentil patty deep fried in oil. It's cousin "uzhunnuvada" also puts in an ppearance most of the time. "Puttu" and "kadala" is another pair that we find there. Jilebis, halwas and and laddus sometimes grace the shelves., along with boiled eggs, and banana fry -banana fritters- called "pazham pori". Many of these shops provide lunches too, with rice, rasam, sambar, papadams, pickles, a couple of vegetable dishes, such as erissery or aviyal,  mango-coconut chammanthi/relish, and fried and stewed fish, as the main attractions.

chaaya

A peep into chaayakkada menu:

Tea
Banana
banana fry/fritters
Parippuvada
Uzhunnuvada
Papadavada
Bonda  -- (with and without potatoes)
bajji -- different kinds -- chili, plantain, onion etc
dosa
Idli
upma
Idiappam/noolappam
neyyappam
unniappam
kappa
puttu/kadala
eggs, boiled or bull's eye

Lunch:
Rice
sambar
erissery
aviyal
rasam
morukari
meen/fish fry and stewed
pickles/achaar
relish/chammanthi/chutney
egg curry
porotta
egg masala
biryani (in some tea shops)

Tea:

most of the breakfast items


Depending on the prosperity and resources of the owner ,and depending on the location, the items vary in each teashop, but parippuvada and puttukadala are some of the classic chaayakkada staples.




parippuvada

Recipe:

Parippu/toor dal - 1 cup
kadalaparippu/chana dal - 1/4 cup (optional)
dried red chili pepper -5
water for soaking lentils
onion, chopped - 1/2 cup
green chili, chopped -2 or 3
ginger, chopped - a small piece
asafoetida, powdered. - 1/4 tsp
curry leaves
salt
oil

Wash and soak the lentils together, along with the dried red chilies in water for 3 hours at the most. Drain. Set aside a tablespoon of the lentils.
Grind  the rest of the soaked lentils and chili coarsely in the food processor.
Mix all the ingredients except oil.
Make the patties. Deep fry in oil.
Serve hot with a cup of hot tea.

puttu kadala

puttu



Recipe for puttu

Puttu flour - 2 cups (rice flour)
salt
water -- approx. 1 cup
grated coconut (with a little sugar if desired - if fresh coconut is not available, use sweetened coconut)

Mix flour and salt with water, till the dough is moist and crumbly, kind of like the dough for a pate brisee/short-crust pastry. Add the water gradually little by little. If you add too much, puttu will be hard spheres of dough.
If you add too little, you'll end up with dry as dust puttu. The right consistency of the mixture is important. One trick is to try holding a handful in your fist and press it firmly -- it should hold its shape, almost.
Now put a little bit of the grated coconut into the puttumaker to cover the little sieve-plate in there. Now put in a three heaped tablespoons full of puttu mixture. Do this alternating puttu mixture and coconut till you get to the top, ending with coconut. Steam for 5-6 minutes. Puttu can be made in different molds, even in coconut shells, when it is called chirattaputtu.

chirattaputtu

Serve with kadala and banana. Eggs sunny side up goes well with puttu, which is a very simple breakfast dish.




puttumaker

kadalakkari

Recipe for kadalakkari

There are many versions of  both the dry and curried kadala, as there are kitchens in Kerala. This is one of my favorites.

kadala (black chick pea) -1 cup
coconut, grated - 2-3 tbsp
dried red chili  pepper - 3
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
red chili powder - 11/2 tsp
coriander powder - 2 tsp
onion, sliced - 1 cup
green chili pepper - 2
mustard seeds - 1 tsp
ginger, a small piece sliced
garlic, 3-4 cloves crushed
tomato, chopped - 1/2 cup
curry leaves
Oil - 3 tbsp

Soak the kadala or chickpeas overnight. Cook till soft.

Heat a tablespoon of oil. Fry the grated coconut and dried red chili in the oil, for a few minutes, till coconut turns light brown and the aroma fills the room.(If using whole spices, those may be aadded to this now -- in this recipe, we are using powdered spices).Now grind this to a paste. You may add a tablespoon of the cooked chickpea to it when grinding.

Heat the rest of the oil in a wok. Add the mustard seed to this. Once they are done spluttering, add the curry leaves, onion, ginger and garlic. Saute till lightly browned. Add the spice powders now. Stir well for a minute. Now add the tomato and stir some more. When it is cooked, add the ground coconut mixture. Stir away for a few minutes. Now add chickpeas along with some water. Bring to a boil. Add enough salt. Let it simmer till it reaches the right consistency.



just a few more pics of teashop fare:




kaapapuzhukku, meenkoottaan,kondaattam, unakkameen,kattanchaaya
trans., mildly spicy mashed tapioca/yucca with salted fish sprinkles on top, fried yogurt chili peppers on the side, hot fish stew and black tea





pazhampori/banana fry



noolappam,mutta masala - rice noodles, egg masala

porotta
malabar porotta with the above egg masala is a delicious fixture  in the Malabar area teashops



idli

rice and a few sides --yellow  erissery with yellow split pea and squash, fish in coconut milk, zucchini mezhukkupuratti/stirfry, fried fish

brown erissery with dried red beans and pumpkin or squash

sambar

upma, payarukari/cream ofwheat porridge/drid red beans soup

malabar chicken biryani

dosa

Nazrani meatballs

Looks like almost every culture has a meatball dish.  Europe, the Middle East, Africa -- the list goes on, with each region in each continent displaying varieties of flavors. India too has its versions. The north Indian kofta is an example. It has its own sauce too according to the part of the world it comes from.

My grandmother used to make a mean meatball that was , as usual, spicy and hot. I have tried to recreate it here, with some modifications. The texture was a tad different, because the meat that she used was not ground to a paste, but kind of manually chopped fine, totally fresh and  organic, as everything was back then. Her recipe did not have eggs or breadcrumbs in it either -- just beef and spices. It was eaten plain, without any sauce. Most Indian snacks and appetizers do not need a sauce, as they are already full of flavor. Still, sauce can add a different facet to the whole experience -- for the eyes and ofcourse, taste.
If she made it into a "curry", the sauce would  be based in  lentil, or pureed onion, ground nuts, or coconut milk. Sometimes we even used to add the water the rice was cooked in, kanji vellam, as a thickener for sauces.

 I have added a recipe for a sort of "international" sauce catered to my taste.

nazrani meatballs

1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup onion, grated or chopped real small
3 cloves garlic, grated
3 tsps ginger, grated
3 hot green chili peppers, chopped small (optional)
1 tsp red pepper flakes (depending on how hot you like your dish)
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
Kerala meat masala - 1/2 tsp
1 egg
2 slices fresh bread, broken into pieces
1/4 cup milk
oil or butter to sear the meatballs - 4 - 5 tbsp
salt


Method:

350°F oven.
Soak the bread pieces in the milk. Add it to the meat.
Add all the rest of the ingredients, except the butter/oil. Mix well.
Make balls . Apply olive oil on your palms to prevent mixture from sticking.
Melt  butter or heat oil in skillet. Medium to high heat.
Brown the meatballs on all sides. (You could start with just one -- test for salt and spices, so that you can adjust everything in the rest of the mix).
Transfer to baking sheet.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Meatballs are ready to be eaten. Garnish with cilantro or Italian parsley, if you like.

Note: The traditional nazrani meatball recipe did not include eggs or milk or bread pieces. So that the meat is cooked through, the meatballs are flattened just a little, and deep-fried on medium- high heat.
No oven time.

for the sauce:


2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup onion, chopped fine or grated
1/2 tsp garlic, minced
1/2 - 1 tsp black pepper, ground
1 tsp red chili pepper powder (optional)
1/4 tsp kerala meat masala
juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 can beef stock

Method

Add the onion to the butter in the skillet. Low heat. If the butter in there is burned, throw that away, and add fresh butter, 3 tbsps or so. otherwise, go on with the stirring of the onion till they are pale. Add the flour. Keep whisking it is a golden brown. Now add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer till it reaches the desired consistency.
Instead of the ketchup, you may use a small chopped tomato, add some asian chili-garlic sauce.
Or, if you like the taste of soy sauce, it would be another variation.
Another option would be coconut milk. In that case, the flour becomes optional.

meatballs with sauce over rice and a drizzle of buttermilk curry(sauce)

These meatballs are good  as starters, with or without the sauce, and also as an accompaniment for of course, pasta, rice, plain, or spiced, as in a pulav. These are delicious wrapped in roti/naan or pita. Or try them as toppings on a green salad.

about Kerala meat masala :  I know I have been mentioning this ingredient often. Malayali stores carry this, but I use a homemade mix of my mother's. The fact is the ingredients and proportions vary from home to home, region to region. But the main ingredients usually are, black pepper, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, fennel, mace, and star anise. The mix varies from dish to dish.
Most dishes have  the usual turmeric, coriander, red chili pepper added to the above.

scones

scones

Scones, as expected, are always around in  Betty Neels' heroine's kitchen.



Ingredients


3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

5 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.

2.In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter. Mix the egg and milk in a small bowl, and stir into flour mixture until moistened.

3.Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly. Roll dough out into a 1/2 inch thick round. Cut into 8 wedges, and place on the prepared baking sheet.

4.Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.
 
Source: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/scones/Detail.aspx

lettuce-cucumber soup

Ingredients


 125g spring onions
400g lettuce
200g cucumber
100g fresh or frozen peas
50g butter
750ml light chicken stock
5 mint leaves
Single cream



Method
Trim and finely slice the spring onions. Separate the lettuce leaves, rinse and shake dry. Shred the lettuce. Peel the cucumber, halve, slice into strips and chop. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan, stir in the spring onions and cucumber and a generous pinch of salt. Cover and cook over a low heat for five minutes.

Stir the lettuce through the onions, cover again and cook for ten minutes, stirring halfway through. Add the stock and peas, bring to the boil for five minutes until the peas are tender. Liquidise with the mint leaves for three minutes to break down the fibres. Return to the pan, taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve hot with a swirl of cream.

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/recipes/article4122669.ece

fairy cake

fairy cake

                                                       

Another staple in the Betty Neels kitchen,  served with tea.. esp. for children. When I looked for a recipe, I found that there is a serious debate as to whether this is called a butterfly bun/cake or a fairy cake.  Basically, a cupcake. Other usual cakes in her kitchen are the Victoria sandwich cake, madeira cake, and seed cake.

Recipe for fairy cake:


 125g (4.5oz) butter, softened

125g (4.5oz) caster sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

150g (5oz) plain flour

¼tsp baking powder


For the filling:

100ml (3.5fl oz) raspberry or strawberry jam

200ml (7fl oz) crème Chantilly or vanilla buttercream icing

Icing sugar, for dusting

Dragèes (metallic sugar balls), to decorate (optional
 
Method
 
1.Preheat the oven to 190ºC, 375ºF, gas 5. Line a 12-hole fairy cake tin, or a 24-hole tin for mini cakes, with 12 (or 24) paper cases.


2.Cream the butter in a large bowl or in an electric food mixer until soft. Add the sugar and vanilla extract and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

3.Add the eggs, one at a time, beating continuously, then sift in the flour and baking powder. (If you are pushed for time, and the butter is sufficiently soft, put the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour and baking powder into an electric food mixer and briefly whiz just until the mixture comes together.)

4.Divide the mixture evenly between the paper cases using two teaspoons for mini cakes or two dessertspoons for larger ones. Cook in the oven for 8-12 mins, or until golden and springy to the touch. (The mini cakes may take just 5 mins.) Transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool.

5.When cooled, cut the top off each cake, then cut the tops in half to make the butterfly wings. Set aside. Spread half a teaspoon or so of jam on the top of the cut cake, then spoon or pipe the crème Chantilly or buttercream on top of the jam. Arrange two butterfly wings at an angle on top of each cake. Dust generously with icing sugar and decorate with dragèes, if using.

Note: When you cream your butter and sugar, make sure you do this really thoroughly until the mixture is pale. Do the same when you beat your eggs. This means you've beaten in lots of air and that's a great start for well-risen fairy cakes.

Source: http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/450609/Rachel-Allen-s-fairy-cakes

I placed m & ms down the middle of the wings.