Mutton Kheema/Meat Balls in Coconut Gravy

This is one of my favorite recipes. The combination of meatballs with coconut is droolworthy and goes with rice and roti/chapatis. It is something that my mom makes whenever I visit home. I love to steal the meat balls as they are getting steamed atop the vessel on which rice is cooked.

Ingredients (Serves 6) :
Difficulty : Medium

1. 500g mutton minced
2. 4 medium onions - finely chopped
3. 3 medium tomatoes - finely chopped - preferably the country variety
4. 20 curry leaves
5. Salt to taste
6. 10 tsp oil

To grind :

1. 3 tbsp garlic paste
2. 3 tbsp ginger paste
3. 1/2 a small coconut scrapped - about 1 cup of coconut
4. 2 tsp red chilli powder - this won't be spicy so adjust accordingly
5. 1 tsp coriander powder
6. 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
7. Water as needed.

How I made it :

1. Grind the ingredients under the "To grind" section with as sufficient water.
2. Wash the mutton mince and drain all the water.
3. Run the mutton mince once through the mixie once. Keep in the fridge.
4. In a cooker, heat the oil.
5. Fry the onions till golden brown.
6. Add the ground paste and fry till the raw smell goes away. 
7. Add 2tbsp of the fried masala to the mutton mince. Let the masala continue to fry.
8. Add sufficient salt to the mutton mince and mix well.
9. Make balls out of the mutton mince mixture and place on a microwave safe plate.
10. Microwave on high for 1.5 minutes.
11. Turn the balls and microwave on high for another 1.5 minutes.
12. When the fat separates from the masala, add tomatoes and curry leaves.
13. Fry till fat separates. 
14. Add the steamed meat balls.
15. Adjust salt.
16. Add enough water to get sufficient gravy.
17. Pressure cook on high until 1 whistle.
18. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

I served it with both rice and chapatis. 

Heart warming Chicken Sandwich with Sweet Corn Soup

While going to pick up the car from the service station, we saw two men selling ears of corn from the backside of a truck. He kept shouting "4 for 20 rupees". I told him I wanted just two and got some home. I wanted to make my sweet corn soup once more. This time I also got celery from the local store. Chopped pieces of celery leaves as well stalk when added to the soup make me go back in time to when I used to have this soup at home. This soup used to be made quite often at home. It is filling as well as good in the cold of Ooty. When tasting the soup with the celery added, I remembered that we used to have this with chicken sandwiches. It brought back one particular memory from the past.

Power cuts were quite common in Ooty when it rained. A tree would fall somewhere and there would not be power for days at end. On one such night, we were singing songs, a favorite time pass on a powerless evening, and munching these yummy chicken sandwiches along with the soup. My granny was around too and she would each time try to pry away the bollywood numbers from our minds and try to sing some songs in praise of god. Some of my most cherished memories and delectable combos.

Ingredients for 2 sandwiches :

1. 4 slices of brown bread
2. Butter
3. 1 leg of chicken
4. Salt to taste
5. 1/4 tsp vinegar
6. Pepper to taste

How I made it :

1. Boil the chicken with salt, vinegar in water. I pressure cooked it for 2 whistles on high and 1 whistle on low. The vinegar makes the chicken stay white and cook faster. Retain water/stock for use in soups, curries for enhanced flavour.
2. Shred the chicken into small pieces.
3. Heat the tava. Place the slices of bread on the warm tava. The idea is to warm the slices through.
4. Generously butter all slices of bread on 1 side each.
5. Mix pepper into the chicken. 
6. Take two slices of bread. Place them down with buttered side facing up. Spread chicken on the bread. Cover each with the other slice of bread with buttered side down.
7. Serve hot with any soup of your choice. 

We had this with sweet corn soup and it was a whole lot things for me. A hearty meal indeed.