Achu's Recipes

Good Friday is observed as a day of prayer, penance and fasting to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ nearly 2000 years ago. The Good Friday mass begins around 8 am in the morning and the longest service is for the Orthodox Church where it ends at 3 pm. The most important event associated with it is ' Way of the Cross ', a re-enactment of the travel through 14 stations during Christ's Journey to Mount Calvary from Pilate's Palace. Worshipers move to each station singing hymns as the story of betrayal, arrest, trial and crucifixion of Christ is narrated by the priest. The second significant ritual in all churches is the drinking of Choruka , a decoction made of bitter gourd juice and vinegar. This symbolizes the incident when Jesus, while on the cross, called out, and hearing his cries some of those watching the event took a piece of cloth, dipped it in cheap wine, put it on a piece of stick and lifted it to his mouth and tried to make him drink. Choruk...

Hope you remember the Fresh Grape Juice recipe, that I posted few weeks back. At that time, I told you guys that I kept some grapes to make wine...... And now my wine is ready........ :) As we are doing it in the home itself, no need to worry about the alcohol percentage and all :). You can give to your kids also as it will help with digestion.... If you  take proper care while handling the wine, this can keep for 3-4 years. Ingredients Black Grapes - 2 Kg Sugar - 1.5 Kg Cinnamon - 3-4 small pieces Clove - 5-6 nos: Wheat - 1 tbsp (optional) Preparation Method Separate grapes from stem, wash clean and spread to a paper towel or cotton towel and remove the water completely. ( you can keep over night to dry). In a dry Cheena Bharani (Chinese Pickle Jar) arrange a layer of grapes. Above that arrange a layer of sugar. Repeat steps 2 & 3, till grapes and sugar get over. Before putting the last layer of grapes and sugar, add cinnamon and cloves. S...

Its Jack fruit time........ :) Most of the Keralites are experimenting variety dishes from jack fruit and its seed. Even if we are staying out of Kerala, we managed to get 12-15 jack fruit flesh, that we finished it in no time, but I kept the seed to make some gravy with mango, which is a popular dish in Central Travancore. Ingredients Jack fruit Seed - 12-15 nos: (remove the outer skin and the brown skin and cut into pieces) Mango - 1 small (cut into pieces) Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp Grated Coconut - 1 cup Green Chilli - 2-3 nos: Garlic - 4-5 petals Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp Coconut Oil - 1 tbsp Red Chilli - 2 nos: Curry Leaves - as required Salt - as required Preparation Method Grind together coconut, green chilli, garlic, cumin seeds to a fine paste by adding some water and keep aside. In a deep bottom pan cook well jack fruit seed and mango by adding 1 cup of water and turmeric powder. Once the  jack fruit seed is cooked and coconut paste and salt and...

Its mango time... So lets try variety dishes with mango.... :) Here comes a Thoran with raw mango... Enjoy.... Ingredients Raw Mango - 250 gm Onion - 2 medium  Green Chili - 3 nos: Red Chili - 2 nos: Grated Coconut - 1 cup Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp Garlic - 4-5 Petals Oil - 3 tbsp Curry Leaves - 2-3 stems Mustard -  1/2 tsp Fenugreek - 1/4 tsp Salt - as required Preparation Method Clean the mangoes and cut into thin pieces. (no need to remove the skin) Finely chop onion and keep aside. Crush coconut, cumin, turmeric powder, garlic and green chili. (3-4 whip is sufficient). In a non-stick pan bring oil to heat and splutter mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds. Add red chili and curry leaves and mix. Add mango and onion and saute for 2-3 mins: in medium flame stirring in between. Add coconut mix and salt and mix well. Close the lid and cook in low flame for about 10 mins: stirring in between. (no need to water, water will ooze out ...

Ingredients Sardine (Mathi) -1/2 Kg (cleaned whole fish) Onion - 3 nos: (thinly sliced) Garlic - 10 petals (chopped) Ginger - 1 medium piece (chopped) Tomato - 1 big (sliced) Chilli Powder - 3 tsp Fenugreek Powder - 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp Coconut Oil - 3 tbsp Curry Leaves - as requited Salt - as requited  Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp Water - 3 cups Preparation Method In a wok bring oil to heat and splutter mustard seeds. Add onion, ginger and garlic and saute till they become transparent. Add tomato and curry leaves and saute for 2 mins: Add chilli powder, turmeric powder and fenugreek powder and fry till the foul smell goes off. Add water and salt and bring to boil. (if you want more thin gravy add more water). Add fish and bring to boil; once it starts boil, bring down the flame to low, keep the lid closed and cook for 10-12 mins: Remove from flame, thrown in some curry leaves and keep the lid closed for 10mins: Spicy Mathi Cu...