WATERMELON RIND CHAARU CURRY

T

his is one of my most favourite curries to pair with rice. I grew up eating this curry,so it shouldn't come as a surprise to me. Amma made chaaru curry with Vellarikka, Kumbalanga,Chembu etc. All of them are excellent and I enjoy them all! This time when we bought the first watermelon for the season, I wanted to try making something with the rind. I've been seeing a lot of recipes for it online, especially the pickled versions. 

As I was peeling the green skin away, the texture of the rind felt so much like Vellarikka and I wondered how it would taste if I made a chaaru curry out of it. That's how this version of my Amma's chaaru curry was born. I must say, it turned out to be fantastic! You can pair this with my Mamma's Urulakkizhangu Mezhukkupuratti & Beef Olathiyathu for a complete experience that I enjoyed as a child.Ian and Zara was intrigued to see what I would be making with the watermelon rind. They were excited to taste it once it was done and couldn't believe that we could eat the rind as well!

To prepare the rind, all you need to do is to save them once you are done eating the red flesh. I usually chop the flesh and store it in a container. Whatever method you chose, just wash them up after that and using a peeler or a knife, peel off the green skin completely and slice off any remaining red flesh. You just want the pale green,almost opaque rind alone. No green or red on it. Cut them into small cubes and use them as mentioned in the recipe below. You need only a cup of it for this curry.

WATERMELON RIND CHAARU CURRY

My recipe

Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

1 cup cubed watermelon rind

2-3 green chilies, slit

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

Salt

To grind:

1/2 cup grated coconut

1/2 cup yogurt

1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds

Tempering:

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

2 pearl onions, sliced fine

1 sprig curry leaves

3 dried red chilies, torn 

Method: Into a small pressure cooker, add the rind, green chilies, salt to taste, turmeric powder and enough water to submerge them halfway. Cook for 1-2 whistles on medium heat. 

In the meantime, grind together coconut, cumin seeds and just enough water to grind them to a smooth, fine paste. Add the yogurt to it and pulse once to smoothen it.

Once the pressure has died down on it's own, open the cooker and add the ground paste to it. Turn on the heat to a medium and stir the mix continuously till it just starts to steam. Turn off the heat.

In a sauté pan, heat the oil and splutter mustard seeds. Add the pearl onions and when almost golden brown, add the curry leaves followed by the dried chilies. Turn off the heat and pour the tempering over the curry. Stir well to mix and adjust salt if needed. Let the curry stand for 30 minutes - 1 hour before serving for the flavours to meld.

This curry is very versatile like I mentioned earlier. If you want to make it with another vegetable, substiute it for Vellarikka, Kumbalanga, Chembu or even salad cucumber! It's a mild curry, so if you want to spice it up, add more green chilies while cooking the veggies. The only place to take care is when you warm up the curry once the ground ingredients have been added. Do not bring them to a boil, as soon as you see the steam starting to rise, turn off the heat. If not, the curry might split and look curdled.If you want, you can turn off the heat as soon as you feel the curry has warmed up, even before the steam begins to rise.

POTATO CHIP COOKIES

T

his has got to be one of my favourite cookies that I've baked in the recent times.I am always game for a good buttery treat, be it a cake or a cookie and this one fits the bill! We love potato chips so much that I knew if it's added to a cookie,it would become an instant hit with us! I've been eyeing this recipe for a while now and like most things that I make mental note of these days, this one also skipped my thoughts until I saw a similar recipe in a church cookbook from the 80's which Dorla gave me 9 years ago. Dorla is a wonderful lady that we've known for the longest time in Minneapolis. She was infact one of the first few people that I met here. Dorla & Dan were Jobin's neighbours when he was living as a bachelor here in Minneapolis.

Even though I saw that cookbook recipe, I also happened to see another one on a website I really enjoy.I guess it's an old fashioned recipe which people tend to overlook these days with all the other brilliant cookie combinations that's floating on the internet. This recipe makes for the best butter cookie that can be had with tea, coffee or as a treat post lunch or even dinner. It's so light and crisp and that potato chips lends a slight salty crunch which makes you feel like you've eaten something like this before. I enjoy sweet and salty so if you are anything like me, you will love this one!

One word of caution is that, even though the recipe says otherwise,please take your time to chill the shaped cookies before baking. When a cookie recipe calls for a lot of butter like this one, there's a tendency for the dough to be warm with handling. So if you bake it right away, it will spread quite a bit and will look like thin buttery crackers. It will not alter the taste but it will affect the look of the final product. So I would recommend chilling the shaped cookies for 25-30 minutes before baking or just until it feels cold and a little firm-ish. It's just like a cookie insurance policy!

Both recipes called for using pecans but I chose to omit them because Ian is not a fan of nuts in baked goods. If you were to try this recipe, I would highly recommend it for the added crunch and flavor it will lend to these already amazing cookies! I get a lot of questions regarding the baking time for cookies in general. I can only suggest that you follow the recipe instructions and the feel of the cookie at the end of the baking time. Since every oven is different, the timing will vary. I usually check the bottom of the cookie and if it's golden brown, I pull them out. Most cookies continue to cook while they are cooling on the sheets and eventually on the cooling rack as well. 

POTATO CHIP COOKIES

Makes 30 cookies

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Scant 2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup chopped pecans / walnuts

1/2 cup finely crushed potato chips*

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350F and prepare two large cookie tins.

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar on medium high speed for 4 minutes. Add vanilla and beat to combine. Add the flour, nuts, potato chips and beat on low to bring the dough together. Form 30 balls and place them on the baking sheet with 2 inches gap in between each cookie.

Smear some extra butter on the bottom of a drinking glass and dip it in extra sugar. Press the cookie dough balls with this to flatten them to 1/4 inch thickness. Chill the cookie dough for 25-30 minutes and bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes or until it's dry on the top and light golden. Turn the cookie sheets halfway through baking time for even baking.

Cool on the sheets for 5 minutes and then transfer onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in airtight tins and use as needed!

*Use the basic salted wafer-thin potato chips like the yellow Lays. Don't crush it too much because it might powder even further during the final mixing.

We sure loved this light,crisp & buttery cookie. I am 100% sure that I will be baking them again and that our cookie tin will be filled with these quite often. If you have baked my Melting Moments before, you will notice a faint similarity in taste. That is also an excellent cookie to try, if you haven't already! These days our cookie tins have been filled to the brim with a variety of cookies and they manage to vanish in no time! 

MOCHA - WALNUT MARBLED BUNDT CAKE

I

haven't come across anyone who doesn't enjoy a slice of Marble Cake. It has a universal appeal. I've grown up eating many Marble Cakes that Amma made for us and I've shared the recipe with you all over a decade ago. It makes for a tender, moist cake and it goes so well with a cuppa. These days you might not find me very active here but if you are following me on Instagram, you will get all the updates and snippets of our day to day life. I've been sharing so much on my Instagram account and every now and then I do a Q & A session where I get to answer my followers more specifically.

One of the many requests this time was for more cake recipes. I have been doing cake tutorials on my IG page and my Double Orange Cake has literally been baked by over 60 people in the last couple weeks. It's such a heartwarming experience to see what you all been baking and cooking for my food blog. It's something that I really cherish.Now that everyone is at home and the need for homemade treats are on the rise, I thought I should share a recipe for a lovely marble cake from none other than Dorie Greenspan.

Her cookbook Baking From My Home To Yours was a wedding gift from my cousin Roshini. It's a cookbook that I cherish for the recipe as well as the nostalgia it evokes. When this food blog had just begun, everyone was busy baking from this cookbook and it was Dorie's cakes and cookies everywhere! I used to follow almost all the food blogs, read their content, post comments, try and bake the same thing and share here. I cannot even think of doing that anymore because I am so pressed for time with children and other responsibilities. It was a lovely time back then so that cookbook is special to me!

This cake is very moist and buttery that you can serve as is with tea or coffee. If you want to serve it as dessert, a scoop of ice cream would be a good addition. Maybe a drizzle of chocolate sauce as well. I think that's exactly what we are going to have as dinner tonight. I just made a batch of homemade vanilla bean ice cream this morning!

MOCHA - WALNUT MARBLED BUNDT CAKE

Serves 12-15

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup finely ground walnuts

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup plain coffee

1 teaspoon instant coffee powder

1 3/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup whole milk, room temperature

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350F and prepare a 9-10 inch Bundt pan.

Whisk together flour, ground walnuts, baking powder and salt.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter along with chocolate, plain coffee and instant coffee powder over barely simmering water. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, beat 2 sticks of butter with sugar on medium speed for 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and beat for 30 seconds after each addition. Add vanilla and mix it in. On low speed,add flour and milk alternately, adding the dry ingredients in 3 portions and milk in 2 portions. 

Scrape a little less than half the batter into the melted chocolate and stir to blend.

Pour both the batters alternately into the prepared cake tin and bake for 65-70 minutes or until the a thin skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. This can vary depending on your oven.

Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then unmould and cool completely.

I sincerely hope you all are doing well and that your families are safe during this pandemic. If everything had been how it had been, we would have been packing our bags now for the big trip that we had been planning for over the last few years...10 to be precise! :-) I cannot wait to see my friends in person and have a meal together at ours. It's been just too long! The bright side to this whole situation is that we are safe and that is the biggest thing to happen right now. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason and I am sure we will see the light at the end of this tunnel as well. Until then, just hang in there!