Jumbo prawns and pasta

I got some really fresh jumbo prawns , And teaming it with pasta was just so, that the prawns could shine and not become just a side dish if I had made rice and the usual accompaniments along with them. 

Cleaning the prawns : I just took off the heads L left the whole of the remaining shell intact and de-veined the prawns by using a toothpick.  Choose a point to the middle of a prawn, between the gap in the shell and insert the toothpick..slowly tease back a tiny bit of flesh at the top till u see the vein. Push the toothpick beneath the vein and pull upwards.. the vein will slide off intact, with a bit of practice. 

You can also shell the prawns, leave the tails intact and de-vein them with a knife, or take off the shells fully. 

The pasta : I used about 350gms for 4 adults.

Boil more than double the amount of water needed to cover the pasta. Salt the water liberally. Let the water boil well. tip in the pasta. Once the water with the pasta again boils, take off the stove, carefully stir once,cover and keep for about 8 minutes. This should yield perfect al dente (cooked through, yet chewy) pasta. 

Drain off the hot water, cover the pasta in cold water and drain well. Now toss with some extra virgin olive oil to coat the pasta and keep it from sticking.

For this dish , all I did was, add some dried oregano and thyme and toss the pasta in some ready made, lite Caesar salad dressing.

Cooking the jumbo prawns with shell :


Prawns - 1 kg (prepared as above)
Garlic - 1 clove (peeled and crushed coarsely)
Butter - 1 tsp
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
turmeric powder - a pinch
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
freshly crushed pepper - 1 tbsp (or to taste)
tomatoes - 2 (chopped fine)
dried thyme - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

In a wok, put in the butter and olive oil . once the butter melts, add in the crushed garlic and let it cook..add the turmeric and chilly powder and saute. Add in the prawns, and the thyme. finally strew the chopped tomatoes and let the prawns cook with the lid one, till they change color to a beautiful coral, the tomatoes are soft and the oil shows on top.
Now add the salt to taste. Make sure to add salt in very small quantities because prawns do not need a lot of salt.  The result will be juicy prawns with a little gravy. Add the freshly ground pepper as the final garnish. Freshly chopped coriander would be great too.

To serve : Individual plates can be prepared with a serving of pasta , with  a scoop of prawns on top.  Slightly messy with the shells to tackle, but absolutely satisfying.

Beans thoran

Vishu sadya this year was a combined effort from my sister-in-law and I. The strain was halved and it was double the fun.

This dish was made by my sis-in-law and it tasted great.
Many vegetables can be made into a thoran, following the same recipe.
You may substitute it with cabbage, carrots, beetroot, string bean, or even drumstick. I sometimes put in a mix of vegetables and it tastes superb

Wash beans well. Top and tail them .

Beans - 1/2 kilo (chopped )
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
green chillies - 1 or 2
Shallots - 3 - 4 (peeled)
Onion - 1 medium (diced) optional
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin - whole ( 1/2 tsp or powder - 1/4 tsp)
Salt to taste

Tempering - mustard seeds, curry leaves and dried red chillies

Coarsely grind the grated coconut, cumin, shallots, green chillies, turmeric and  chilly powder .
Now add this grated stuff to the beans, and mix well with salt to taste.

In a wok , add a bit of oil, add the tempering one by one, and  if adding the onions,  saute them first till golden, add in the beans, mixed with the ground coconut.

Put a lid on , and steam till the beans are done.

The rest of the items were, Sambar, aviyal, kaalan, pappadam, pickle and Semiya payasam.

The Vishu-kani in our puja room

Our daughter in her new Vishukkodi :)

The sadya  ready for serving.

Life Update

The gaps between posts just seem to be ever-increasing now. But though I have been away from blogging, I have been working towards something... so I guess I don't feel as guilty. I just want my favorite folk to know that I haven't abandoned the blog world, but am gearing up to do something really great (to me, atleast ) !!!

I got interested in making jewelry, nearly two years back. And until two months back, whatever I have made is all my own, self-taught stuff. During this time, I also discovered Cold Porcelain, and have successfully made three batches of the clay , from scratch, at home.

Combining CP and Jewelry making has been a natural progression. But I thought that I could use more help - some workshops on Jewelry making... but as such, had no luck finding something beyond what I already knew. then FINALLY, I found an institute for professional Jewelry makers and I signed up for a certificate course in Costume Jewelry manufacturing.

Now - The Question

Was this course absolutely necessary?

Well - the answer is ... Yes ....and NO !!!!

The NO - I can make, and have made a lot of Jewelry, with the things I had learned already from the various websites, as well as the books I bought.

The YES - I can never stick on to just what I know, when I am very interested in something. Thus - my experiments with cooking, the crafts and now Jewelry making.   Since I plan to pursue this as a career option, I decided that the certification would be a bonus.

Ultimately, no matter what techniques I apply, the imagination and designs have to be my own, to make them work. And this is not the end of trying to know more, where I am concerned. I just know better in technical terms, what to search for ..!!

So In a month's time, I should be back with more stuff to blog about. Meanwhile, I have some good recipes to post . I just have to find the time to type those up !!

Sago (chowwari) pudding

This is a very simple recipe and I am sure we can come up with a lot of variations to make it great. I just made this with what was available in my store.

Sago - 1 and 1/2 cups . (soak for an hour and cook till the granules double in size . )
Condensed milk -1 tin
Warm milk - 1 tbsp (must not be hot - just warm)
Gelatin - 1 satchel
Vanilla essence - few drops
Chopped cashew or pistachio nuts - 1/2 cup


Drain the water from the sago granules. Dissolve the gelatin into the warm milk till all the granules dissolve.
Now add the gelatin to the sago, pour in the condensed milk, and the Vanilla essence. Refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours.

Sprinkle the crushed cashews or pista n serve. 

Lobster - fresh

I can tell you that this recipe is totally my own, Though the ingredients are familiar with everyone who knows Indian cuisine.
In Kerala, I have seen only lobster cooked the traditional way . With roasted and ground coconut and a variety of spices, which is also another way we make prawns and crab.

This is one way , I thought the flavor of the lobster would really be enhanced, and also would suit people who would like the lobster meat lightly spiced.

A very easy preparation, and I am sure would be great for crabs as well.

Lobster - 1 kg (  remove the shell of the head portion and leave that of the tail intact. Then split each lobster lengthwise.)

Onion - 1 large (peel, wash and cut in 4)
Ginger - 1 inch piece (peeled and halved)
Garlic - 1 pod ( peeled)
green chillies - 2 large (cut off the stalk)
Curry leaves - of one stalk

Coarsely grind the above ingredients. (3 pulses in a grinder )

In a wok, heat 1 tsp of olive oil and a tsp of butter.(can add more or less butter according to choice.)
Add the ground ingredients and saute till the smell is mellow.do not let the onions brown.

Add the lobster,flame on medium, put a lid on, and toss twice to make sure the paste mixed well. After about 5 minutes, open the lid and the shell should have changed colour.

Now add

Lemon juice - 1 tbs
Crushed pepper - 2 tsp (or more )
Salt to taste.  ( it is always better to add less salt than more)

Keep the lid back on, And wait for another 7 minutes. These lobsters are comparatively tiny, so about 12 to 15 minutes are ample time for them to cook through . Also , they have been halved, so cooking time is even less.

Take off the stove, remove to a serving plate, add more lemon juice and crushed pepper and ENJOY.

A little clay craft, and a Triple strand necklace.

It all started with a dear friend, who asked me to make a necklace with a clay pendant. At first , the idea was to just make a pendant to match the colours of a Saree, she wanted to wear for an occasion.  Then I decided that I could try and duplicate the paisley type print on the saree to give it that 'custom' design feel.

Then it became a triple strand, and since there was black on the saree, we decided that black crystals would really give added glam rather than just try and match the colours of the saree..

 After the sanding, painting, polishing, sanding again and painting, applying some gold and bronze dust, the varnish and finally adding the stones AND making the necklace, the end result was this ....

I also made earrings with huge black crystals,hanging on gold coloured rings. Just so, they would not clash with the busy necklace, but would still be the perfect compliment to it.

And finally, it reached it's rightful place. This is the biggest piece that I have worked on so far. 

My friend has given me permission to use her picture. I am absolutely thrilled to show her off as I think that the necklace was made for her ( as indeed it was ..!!) 

But what I am trying to tell is, it just seemed to suit her to a T. And it was a pleasure to behold. 

So without more boring talk ... my friend, and her adoring hubby.... :)

Tangy mint marinade for Chicken

This is a very fresh tasting marinade with a tangy touch. I made some chicken and veggies in one pan . Somehow the easy to make dishes taste great .

I had about 350 gms of chicken thighs.  I used 2 potatoes and one carrot cut into roughly the same size too.

For the marinade , grind or mince

Garlic - 8 to 10 cloves peeled
Green chilly - 1 or 2
Pepper corns - 6 to 8
Mint leaves - a bunch
Coriander leaves - 1 bunch
I added a few flakes of sea salt to crush everything well.

to this, Add..

Curd - 1/2 cup
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp or more

Mix well, add more salt of needed and marinate the chicken in it for half an hour or more.

I used a flat pan , heated olive oil and shook the pieces out one by one and placed it on the pan. Once the chicken changes colour, turn on the other side. after about 5 minutes, add the veggies agter tossing them also in the left over marinade.

when the chicken and veggies are well cooked and the oil in the pan shows, switch off the stove, add 1 thinly tomato , keep the lid on for 5 minutes .

Serve hot. I made kaboos and a dip to go with it.