Brussel Sprouts - Two Ways

When I saw them the first time, I really thought they were baby cabbages! They look and taste like cabbages. But they are not cabbage babies even though they relate to the same family. Just like cabbages, brussel sprouts are equally nutritious. So, I thought to give it a try.

The first one is the famous kerala recipe, thoran!

Coarsely chop the brussel sprouts. About two cups chopped.

In a food processor bowl, or using a mortal and pestle, pulse the following.

Fresh coconut, grated – ½ cup

Green chillies – 2

Small red onions/pearl onions – 2

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Ginger – 1 small piece

Heat up a tbsp of oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Add chopped brussel sprouts and cook for a few minutes.

Add the coconut mixture, and cook for a few more minutes. Stir occasionally. Cook until done. Serve with rice.

I also tried sautéing it with broccoli and other spices. It turned out good.

For this, I used 1 cup of coarsely chopped brussel sprouts and 1 cup of coarsely chopped broccoli.

Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan and add the following:

Chopped onion – ¼ cup

Crushed red pepper – 1 tsp or to taste

Grated ginger – ½ tsp

Coconut slices – a few, optional

When the onions turn golden brown, add ¼ tsp of turmeric along with the vegetables and salt to taste. On a medium high flame, stir and cook it until done, about 4 to 7 minutes. Serve with rice.

Hmm… maybe they don’t taste like cabbages! The people who think cabbage stinks have cooked them up in three ways!!

Should I or Should I Not.....

I have been thinking for a long time now about the blogger's feature to keep the blog open only for the people I choose. I don't want to be rude but the emails I'm getting about using my blog's content on business sites make me think like this. I usually pay no attention to these kinds of mails because I don't know how to respond. When I checked a couple of links I got by email the other day, I was shocked to see my blog posts already appearing within their website. What they actually do is locate Indian blog posts and list it in their website. When the link is clicked, the blog post opens in another frame within their website. Kind of like a feed reader, but with a different objective.

One of the emails claims that my blog is already listed on their website which makes me eligible to use some of the free features on their website(duh!). I really don't know what to do.
Another person who left a comment, which I haven't published yet, is offering customized widgets made by the photos downloaded from this blog.

This really irritates me as I believe my blog is my own space. What I write here is just some of my kitchen experiences, the recipes I want to share with my faithful readers, and the images I click on my kitchen and the dining table. I even write about my kids. I don't want these to appear on any other websites, especially business oriented ones. As I have already mentioned on the sidebar, the only purpose of this blog is to share some food related matters with my loyal readers. Most of the visitors reach on this blog through google searches. The keywords are usually recipe names. So if my blog can be of any help to those people who are looking for recipes, I'm happy. And that is the only reason I keep my blog open for all.

Once again, my target is all of you, like-minded fellow bloggers(who come here occasionally and look for updates, read if it is interesting to you, and share comments about what I've wrote about), and those innocent new cooks who search for recipes.

I am not interested in business networking.

I am not looking for increased readership.

I am not looking for customized or any kind of widgets.

Emails and comments of this kind will not be entertained.

For now, let me deliberately forget about all the content/picture theft going on in the blog world otherwise it would be a day-long rant!

Thank you for reading.. Feeling much better now. :)

Mixed Berry Crumble

If you like home made pies, and if you don’t have the time and patience to make it from scratch, this one is for you. It wouldn’t look like pies, but the taste is very close. I make apple pies using a food network recipe. But after trying out a crumble version, I don’t think I would make a pie again unless I have to! You can use your favorite pie filling recipe and make it a crumble.

The basic procedure includes mixing chopped fruits with your choice of flavorings, topped with a flour-oats-butter-brown sugar mixture, and baking it until the top is crumbly and golden brown. This is one recipe in which you can use your imagination and try different variations. Apple, peach, strawberry-rhubarb, blueberries, a mix of berries are all good choices for making fruit crumble.

The one you see in this picture is a mixed berry crumble.

I like making them individually in ramekins for the easiness of serving. But you can use a pie dish or any baking dish, and make one big crumble.

To make the bottom layer, mix the following in a bowl:

Strawberries, cut into quarters – 1 cup (If strawberries are bigger, cut into 8 pieces)

Blueberries – ½ cup

Black berries – ½ cup

Cinnamon, powdered – ¼ tsp

Nutmeg, powdered – a pinch

Sugar – 1/3 cup (Add more or less to your taste)

Corn flour – 1 tbsp

You can add lemon zest or a dash of lemon juice if you want. Some people like lemon with their strawberries. I don’t.

Use chopped green apples instead of berries to make apple crumble.

Mix all the ingredients together and fill in the ramekins. Spread evenly. It will bubble up in the oven. So do not overfill the ramekins to prevent spilling. (

For the top layer, mix the following together. I use my small food processor bowl and pulse all these together.

Butter – 2 tbsp, cut into small pieces

Oats – ½ cup

Brown sugar – 1 to 2 tbsp

Flour, wheat or all purpose – 2 tbsp

Sprinkle it evenly over the fruit.

Arrange the ramekins in a baking tray. Line the tray with a foil paper to catch the spilling, if any.

Bake it in a 375 degree preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the bottom part is bubbling and the top is golden brown.

Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It is best when eaten the same day. If there are leftovers, refrigerate it and use it next day. You can warm it up in the microwave.

If you love cooking with kids, try this out. Let them mix the fruits with the other ingredients, spoon the mix into ramekins, and sprinkle the flour mix. Hope your kids enjoy it just as mine did. :)

Ulli(Pearl Onions) Curry

Ulli Curry is one of those mom's recipes this daughter used to enjoy. Even though I used to love this dish, it took a long long time to try it out in my workshop because of the fear of peeling so many small ullis(pearl onions). I hate peeling small onions so I try to substitute large onions wherever possible. But for this recipe, you have to use small onions! In fact you don't need that many as the pearl onions we get here are bigger. So, about 15-20 will be enough.

Heat up 1 tbsp oil, and add 1 tsp mustard seeds and a few curry leaves.

Now add, red pearl onions chopped lengthwise - 1 1/2 cups

Saute until translucent. Don't cook too long until it get brown, but make sure the onions are cooked well otherwise the curry will have a taste of raw onions.

Meanwhile in another pan, roast 1 tsp coriander powder, 1/2 tsp chilli powder, and 1/8 tsp turmeric powder until you get a nice aroma.

Add this to the pearl onions. Add 1/4 cup of diluted tamarind extract. I took a marble sized tamarind and soaked in 1/4 cup of water and extracted the juice.

Add salt to taste. Bring it to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Serve as a side dish with rice.

What else could be simpler than this? A curry made with onions! Enjoy!

Note: My mom's ulli curry has more sauce than the one you see in the picture. I had it too when I turned off the stove. But it looks like the onions absorb the sauce. So, maybe more water next time.