Tea Cake

I found this recipe in the Malayalam women's magazine Vanita and the grand old lady who is the author of it calls it the Yellow Cake. It came out good and maybe you could try it out too.

• Milk - 1 cup
• Eggs - 4


• Maida/white flour - 2 cups


• Butter - 1/2 cup


• Baking powder - 2 tsp


• Vanilla essence, lemon essence - 1/2 tsp each


• Sugar - 2 cups

1. Break eggs into a bowl. Add sugar into it and beat well till it's frothy.


2. Sieve maida and baking powder together.


3. Add this to the egg mix slowly.


4. Add the essences.


5. Boil milk and add the butter into it.


6. Mix this to the cake batter.


7. Grease a cake bin/glass bowl, sprinkle maida over it and then pour in the cake mix.


8. Bake at 350 deg F, for 45-60 minutes.
   * In my Samsung microwave, I use the Microwave + Convection mode and bake at 180 W for 20-25 minutes.

Fried chicken curry

My brother requested this recipe some time back. I found this in master chef Sanjeev Kapoor's Khazana of Indian Recipes, which my boss had kindly presented me after my marriage. It served me well in the early years of my marriage when I slowly learnt beyond omelettes and coconut chutneys. On days when I couldnt trouble my landlady for a basic recipe or call my mom (when phone connections were hard to procure unlike now) to clear a doubt about a certain dish.
Sanjeev Kapoor calls it Kozhi varta kari and V, my husband, calls it the "Curry fried by the Hen" (a literal Malayalam translation of the former).
It is an absolutely fantastic preparation, I tell you. So here it is:

Chicken 1 kg * Tomatoes 3 med. sized

Onions 2 medium sized * Dried red chillies 2

Peppercorns 3 tsp * Ginger 1 two inch piece

Garlic 6-8 cloves * Red chilli powder 1 tsp

Lemon juice 1 tblspn * Turmeric powder 1 tsp

Tamarind pulp 1 tbsp * Garam masala powder 1 tsp

Salt as per taste * Curry leaves 12-15

Coriander powder 2 tsp * Chopped coriander leaves 2 tblsp

• Wash and cut chicken into 16 or so small pieces.


• Chop onions and tomatoes, separately.


• Crush pepper corns coarsely.


• Make a paste of dried red chillies, ginger and garlic.


• Marinate the chicken pieces in ginger-garlic paste, red chilli powder, lemon juice turmeric powder and salt for 3 hrs.


• Heat a lil oil and saute the chicken on high heat, till chicken pieces are dry and slightly brown. Keep them aside.


• Add the remaining oil in the pan and fry the onions till they are brown. Add the curry leaves and stir well. Add tomatoes, salt and coriander powder and cook till the oil leaves the masala.


• Add the chicken and a lil water. Cover and cook till the chicken is done and the masala coats the pieces.


• Add tamarind pulp dissolved in half cup water. Simmer for 10 min, stirring occasionally.


• Add garam masala powder. Adjust the seasoning and add the ground pepper corns.


• Garnish with copped coriander leaves.


• Goes well with steamed rice or bread. (That's my daughter enjoying her chicken leg.)

Good luck!

Kerala fish curry

The red-hot fish curry of Kerala is a unique preparation. We use a special black tamarind for this. If well-made, it tastes absolutely divine - for those who love hot and spicy stuff.

Here is a recipe provided by Moly, the first live-in nanny-cum-cook, I had. Her husband was a fishmonger, which was probably why she could churn out such lovely fish curries.

• Wash and clean 1/2 kg fish, preferably fleshy ones like seer fish. But even sardines and mackerels taste wonderful if they are well-made.
• Slice longish a handful of ginger-garlic and small onions.
• Crush 1 tablespoon of ginger-garlic separately.
• Wash 4 medium sized tamarind pieces and soak it in water for 5 minutes. Mind you, this is not the tamarind used in sambar and rasam.
• Heat 2 tbsp of oil in an earthen fish chatty. Season the above stuff in oil along with curry leaves.
• Add 2 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder (piriyan mulagu, which is less spicy) till it turns brownish (not black) and the oil leaves the masala. The texture and taste of the curry depends on how well this is seasoned.
• Then put 1 tbsp coriander powder and 1/2 a teaspoon of fenugreek powder.
• Add water and the tamarind pieces.
• Add 1/2 kg fish after once the water starts boiling.
• Cook covered for 7-10 minutes.
• Garnish with 2 twigs of curry leaves.

Your fish curry is ready. Tell me if it came out ok, will you?