Mutton - fusion style.

This is a fail safe recipe - especially for those people who may not have tried making anything with mutton. The cooking time is long, but once the ingredients are in place, it does not need a lot of babying to turn it into a perfect dish.

In fact, perfect for those days when one is not in the mood for elaborate cooking, but still want a neat tasting dish.


Mutton - 500 gms (cleaned)
Red chilly powder - 1 heaped tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Soy sauce - 1 tsp
Vinegar - 1/2 tsp
Ginger - 1 inch piece cut into big pieces (if  you like the bite of ginger, dice it)
Cardamom - 2 whole
Cinnamon - 2 pieces
Cloves - 2 pieces
Salt - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 pinch
Water - 1/4 glass

In a pot, add all the above ingredients , bring to a boil, and then turn the heat to medium - low . Keep a lid on let it cook for approximately 30 minutes . Stir the meat at intervals and make sure there is enough water so the meat won't burn.

There should only be enough liquid coating the bottom of the pan and the meat will be cooked and tender.

Onion - 1 large (peeled n diced)
Garlic -  8 to 10 cloves (peeled n diced)
Green chillies - 2  (diced)

You can also mince the above in a grinder to make it easier.

In a hot wok, add 1 tbsp oil, saute the onion, garlic and green chillies till the raw smell is gone, add curry leaves and then the pieces of the cooked mutton.

Sieve the pieces of ginger and whole garam masala from the liquid or leave it, according to preference. Add more salt if needed.   Add the liquid until it coats the meat well and oil shines through.

Garnish with a chopped tomato and some freshly ground pepper.

Back to - school work

Our daughter has started learning Hindi at school and she was given an assignment - to stick pictures of objects that begin with the alphabets.

However, the charts that we could get ready made, were of different things than those given in her text book. So it fell to me, to do something about it.

                                       

Outlined with a black gel pen and coloured with pencils. It was an enjoyable time for both of us.  And the 'very good' from her teacher was great too!!!!.

                                

I just hope that all the future projects will come be with ample notice like we had this time..!!

Easy Orange cake

This is a very easy cake that my little sis-in-law, Manju gave me when she visited us in Chennai. It is very versatile and I feel confident enough to change the ingredients about according to my choice or availability of ingredients needed to flavour it.

And I made it in my rarely used food processor, so it took no time at all.

Sift together the ingredients

Flour - 200 gms
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Baking soda   - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon powder - (Optional) - 1/2 tsp

Keep this aside.

In the food processor, add

Sugar - 175 gms (then powdered)
Butter - 100gms (unsalted, melted)
Eggs - 2
Orange zest - of 1 orange
Orange juice - 1 and 1/2 tbsp
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Now lid on and process till everything mixes well.

Slowly start adding the sifted dry mix till the batter is smooth and mixed through.

Preheat oven. Bake in an 8 inch greased tray , at 160 C for 40 minutes in a Convection oven.


I decorated the cake with some shaved chocolate truffles before serving.