Goan Fish Fry

A delicious fish fry recipe from Goa. Turmeric, salt, chilli, cumin and coriander powders are made into a paste with kokum pulp to marinate the fish. Marinated fish is then rolled in semolina (sooji or rava) and shallow fried in oil. Goan fish recipes often use kokum as the souring agent, while in Kerala, gambooge (kudampuli or malabar tamarind) is used for the pupose. They both belong to the same family, with the difference (in layman's terms) that ripe kokum fruit is dark red in color where as gambooge is yellow in color.
Recipe Courtesy: Denufood

Cherupayar Thoran (Whole Moong / Green Gram Coconut Stir-fry)

One of my favorite thorans ever! Green gram thoran is usually served as a side dish with rice or kanji (plain rice porridge). This highly nutritious dish can be served alone as a snack too.
 Recipe Courtesy: Sarah's Vazhayila

Bengali Fish Fry - Anglo-Bangla Style

This is not the traditional bengali fish fry (mach bhaja), but the anglicised version of it. Here mildly marinated fish is coated with all pupose flour, then with egg and finally with bread crumbs and then fried in oil. This mouthwatering crunchy fry can be served as an appetizer or as a side dish.
Recipe Courtesy: Bong Mom's CookBook

Kerala Style Mussel Stir-fry (Nadan Kallummakkaya Stir-fry)

This is Kerala style mussel stir-fry which could be served as an appetizer or as a side dish. I used the New Zealand green shell mussel which is available in half shells in the frozen section of the grocery stores here. After defrosting, the flesh can be easily removed from the shell using a sharp knife.
Recipe Courtesy: Adukala Vishesham

Chakka Kozhukatta (Steamed Rice Dumpling with Jackfruit Halva / Jam)

When my in-laws visited us they brought some delicious chakkavaratti (jackfruit halva/jam) from home. Ever since then I've been experimenting with them for various snacks. Kozhukatta (Kozhukattai or Modak) is a sweet dumpling popular in India where the shell is made of rice flour and the filling is usually made with jaggery and grated coconut.  Here for chakka kozhukkatta, I used rice flour for the shell and chakkavaratti n coconut for the filling. My husband loves this kozhukatta which his grandmother used to make during his summer vacation visits.

This is another version of chakka kozhukatta where the shell is made with rice flour n chakkavaratti and the filling with jaggery n coconut.
Recipe Courtesy: My Treasure...My Pleasure

Chicken Puffs

Puffs and cutlets were two of the snacks that me and my brother enjoyed to munch during our childhood. My dad used to buy them from the bakery on his way back from work. My mom never had to worry about refrigeration and reheating because there won't be any left in those brown paper bags! Thanks to Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sheets, I'm now able to do an attempt to make those delicious puffs at home. These pastry sheets could be found in the frozen section of the grocery store. This time I accidently bought pastry 'shells' instead of 'sheets' and had to roll them out and ended up having odd shaped puffs!!! But it tasted delicious...
Recipe Courtesy: Shriya of Spicy Tasty

A Panini Sandwich

I still had some leftover potato podimas in the refrigerator and another evening snack/appetizer idea flashed through my mind. My George Foreman grill has been sitting idle for a while and a panini sandwich could be a good way to use it. I used the thick Texas toast bread, layering it with grated monterey jack-cheddar cheese mix and my leftover podimas. Brush the outside of bread with butter to get the brown color. Grill for 5-7 minutes and the delicious Indo-Italian panini sanwich (if I could call it so!) is ready. Serve with hot sauce (I ate it as such!).

A Quesadilla

My refrigerator is getting stuffed with leftovers - few chappathis, potato podimas that I made the other day, cheese that is approaching expiry date etc. etc...What will I make with all these? How about an Indo-Mexican Quesadilla as evening snack/appetizer? Sounds interesting huh! Well, the preparation was very easy; place the bottom chappathi on the grill, layer it with grated cheese (I used a mix of monterey jack and sharp cheddar cheese), potato podimas, then again grated cheese. Place the top chappathi, grill for 2-3 minutes until the cheese melts, then turn over and grill for another 2-3 minutes. Make sure the grill is set at low heat so that the chappathi won't get burnt. Ta-da... the vegetarian quesadilla is ready! Cut into quarters with a pizza cutter and serve with salsa or sour cream (or eat as such!). Though rustic looking, it tasted delicious!