Achu's Recipes

Ingredients All Purpose Flour (Maida) - 1.5 cup Banana (Robusta) - 2 overripe (you can also use 3 banana elachi) Sugar - 1 cup Thick Yogurt - 2 tbsp Baking powder - 1 tsp Baking soda - 1 tsp Salt - a pinch Vanilla essence - 1 tsp Cooking Butter(melted) - 5 tbsp Milk - 1/4 cup Dry Fruits (Raisins, chopped Cashew, Almon, Pista) - 1/2 cup (optional) Preparation Method Mash the banana with a blender or with your fingers. Preheat the oven at 350 degree F. In a bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat the banana pulp, vanilla essence, milk and butter together in a bowl. Add dry ingredients slowly to the banana mixture and mix well. Add dry fruits  (if using) and mix well Grease loaf pan and pour the mixture. Bake for 45-50 mins:, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Take the bread from oven, invert into a wire rack and allow it to cool. Cut and enjoy the delicious Eggless Banana Bread over a cup of...

Kozhukkatta or Kozhukkattai (steamed rice balls with coconut and jaggery filling) is a popular evening snack in Kerala. Ingredients Rice Flour - 2 cups Grated Coconut - 2 cups Jaggery - 150 gms: Cardamon Powder - a pinch Salt - as required Preparation Method Mix rice flour with salt and add warm water to the flour and kneed well. Add water little by little and kneed till you get soft dough and keep aside. In a pan melt jaggery with 1/4 cup of water. When the jaggery melts completely remove from heat and stain the jaggery syrup. In pan boil jaggery syrup and add grated coconut and mix well. Stir and  cook jaggery and coconut till it become thick. Add cardamon powder, mix well and remove from flame. Make small lemon sized balls from the rice dough. Place each balls in your palm and press with the other hand to make it thin. Place a spoon full of coconut mix to the middle of the thinned rice dough, cover it and roll the rice dough. In a steamer, steam cook th...

Let this Vishu give you the strength to do all that you dreamed to do during last year but didn't dare to do. Let this be a delightful year, filled with delightful things in each of its days Happy Vishu! Vishu celebration will not be complete without Sadhya and no Sadhya will be complete without Payasam.... For Payasam Recipes follow the links... Paprippu Payasam: http://achusrecipes.blogspot.in/2013/04/parippu-payasam-moong-daal-gheer.html Semiya Payasam: http://achusrecipes.blogspot.in/2013/01/semiya-payasam-vermicelli-payasam.html Nurukku Gothambu Payasam:  http://achusrecipes.blogspot.in/2012/04/nurukku-gothambu-payasam.html For Sadhya items, visit the link... http://achusrecipes.blogspot.in/search/label/Sadhya%20Special

Bored with having bread-butter-jam or bread toast or bread-omelet???? Or wondering what to give, when kids come back from school???? Then try this delicate, soft, mouthwatering Bread Pudding, which can be easily made with the ingredients that are always available in your home..... You will love it........... :) Ingredients Bread - 8-10 slices Egg - 1 no: Milk - 3/4 cup Sugar - 4-5 tbsp  Cardamon Powder - a pinch Rice Flour - 1 tbsp (optional) Roasted Cashew & Raisins - as required Preparation Method Slice the crusts (brown sides) of the bread pieces and shred them using hand. Add egg, bread, sugar, milk, and cardamom powder to a blender and blend to a smooth paste. ( You can add 1/2 tin milkmaid instead of milk and sugar). Add rice flour if the batter is so thin.  Grease a deep steel plate/vessel with ghee and pour the batter to that. Sprinkle roasted cashew and raisins on the top of the batter. In a steamer cook the pudding for 15...

Last Saturday (Holy Saturday), it was the birthday of my beloved hubby and I made this Kerala Sadhya special Parippu Payasam  for him. Usually my hubby doesn't like much sweet dishes, but I was so happy that he loved it. :) Ingredients Cherupayar Parippu (Moong Daal) - 2 cups Coconut - 1 (grated) Jagery - 1/2 Kg Ghee - 3 tbsp Raisins - 10-15 nos: Coconut (thinly sliced) - 2 tbsp Cashew Nut - 10-15 nos: Cardamon Powder - 1/4 tsp Dried Ginger Powder - 1/4 tsp Preparation Method Wash clean the moong daal and keep aside for about 1hr to drain the water. Grate the jaggery and boil in 1 cup of water till the jaggery melts completely. Strain the jaggery syrup and keep aside. Take out the thick milk (without adding water) from coconut and keep aside. Add 1 cup of hot water to the coconut and and extract the milk from that (2nd milk). Add 2 cups of hot water to the coconut and and extract the milk from that (3rd milk). In a deep bottom pan roast the coconut slices cash...

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...