Red Wine from grapes

As per the Syrian Orthodox calendar, we are one week past into the holy fasting period. We follow typically 50 day period of fasting. Fasting implies no non vegetarian dishes allowed. Fasting not only implies in diet, but also in living a life sans worldly pleasures. This includes no movies, no extravagant shopping, living modestly and with prayerful days.
This Easter, we decided to ferment grapes and extract some grape wine. And now is the right time to do it. Here goes the recipe for the same.

Ingredients:
1 kilo grapes
1 kilo sugar
3 bottles of boiled and cooled water (1 bottle = 750 ml)
1 tsp yeast
1 egg white
100 gm of broken wheat

Preparation:
1) Place water to boil
2) Wash grapes thoroughly.
3) Place water in a bowl and microwave it for 10-20 seconds. Add yeast and allow it to ferment for 10 minutes.
4) Once the water is boiled, allow it to cool. Meanwhile, wash the broken wheat.
5) In a earthenware pot, add in the grapes, sugar, broken wheat, fermented yeast, egg white and boiled and cooled water.
6) Stir nicely using a wooden spoon.
7) Cover the earthenware with a cloth and fasten it tightly with a rubberband or thick thread.
8) After every alternate day, stir the mixture using wooden spoon. Cover it and store in a cool and dark place.

More to come in the coming days...

Spinach soup

Ingredients:
1) Spinach leaves(w/o stem) - 100 gms
2) Small onion - 50 gms
3) Coriander leaves(w/o stem) - 25 gms
4) Mint leaves(w/o stem)- 25 gms
5) Garlic cloves - 3
6) Salt, Pepper - to taste
7) Water - 1/2 ltr
8) Butter
Method of preparation:
1) Wash spinach leaves, coriander leaves, mint leaves thoroughly with water.
2) Chop spinach leaves, coriander leaves, mint leaves, small onion, garlic finely.
3) Heat pan. Add 1/2 ltr of water. Add the chopped greens, small onion and garlic finely. Add salt and pepper.
4) Simmer heat and allow water to boil. Cook for 10-15 mins.
5) Allow mixture to cool. Blend the mixture using a blender.
6) Heat pan. Add a dollop of butter. Pour the blended mixture to the pan. Allow it to boil. Switch off.
The soup was tasty, though it was not very pleasant to look at(dark green in color). The only mistake was that the soup was a little salty. Else, it was a change to savour.

Vegetable soup

I am back after a really long time. Soups were always a favorite with Haniel. Chicken, Vegetable, any kind of soups, he relished at restaurants. I tried making soups at home. But somehow, it din't taste that good. One such recipe I found in Vanita(mag for women by Manorama), tempted me to try. It sounded nutritious and yes, it was tasty.
Ingredients:
1) Tomato - 50 gms
2) Carrot - 50 gms
3) Cabbage - 50 gms
4) Sambhar onion - 50 gms
5) Garlic - 2-3 pods
6) Salt, pepper - to taste
7) Butter/Oil - 1 small tsp
8) Water - 1/2 ltr

Method:
1) Chop tomato, carrot, cabbabge into small pieces. I used to a food processor to chop all of them, that includes carrot, tomato, cabbage, sambhar onion, garlic pods. They looked colorful enough to served as a salad, in fact.
2) Heat a deep pan. Pour oil/butter into the pan. Add all the vegetables to the pan and saute for a while.
3) Add salt and pepper and mix well again.
4) Add water and simmer in low heat, until water starts boiling and vegetables are cooked.
5) Turn off the stove and allow the soup to cool. The magazine suggested to have the soup in this form. However, I allowed the soup to cool, blended it using a blender. I heated little butter in the same deep pan and poured the blended mixture to the pan, heated it for a while and finally garnished it with some coriander leaves.

My bro who tried it said, it was nice. Haniel also had his share of soup completely. So, this one is added to my share of favorite recipes...

Bake a Cake

Now is Christmas time. Being the first Christmas at our new home, I thought of baking a cake myself. My father is quite an expert in baking a cake. So, here, I present the basic recipe of baking a cake.
Ingredients:
1) Maida - 200 gm
2) Powdered Sugar -200 gm
3) Butter - 200 gm
4) Eggs - 200 gm
5) Baking powder -1 1/2 tsp
6) Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp
7) Cooking soda - 2 tsp

Method of preparation:
a) Sieve the maida -baking powder mixture at a first level. Keep it aside.
b) Mix powdered sugar and butter in a large mouthed vessel until they are mixed well. This should ideally take around 30-40 minutes if mixing by hand
c) Separate egg yolk and egg white. Whip egg white. Whip egg yolk.
d) Add vanilla essence, whipped egg yolk and cooking soda to item (b). Mix well.
e) Add item (a) and whipped egg white to the item (d) gradually and mixing them.
f) Pre heat oven at 180 degree C for about 10 minutes.
g) Place a butter paper or greased paper with butter/ghee in a baking dish.
h) Place the batter prepared at step (g) to baking dish in such a way that the baking dish is half filled.
i) Bake at 180 degree C for 20 minutes. Bake at 160 degree C fir 30-40 minutes.
j) Prick the cake with a tooth prick. The tooth prick would be clean if the cake is baked completely. Else, bake at 160 degree C for another 10 minutes.

Tomato Chutney

A side dish that can be had as a side-dish with idlis/dosas.
Ingredients:
1) Tomato - (Medium-sized) - 2-3
2) Onion - (Medium-sized) - 1
3) Ginger - 2-3 pods
4) Green Chillies - 3
5) Curry leaves
6) Corriander leaves
7) Garam masala - 1 tsp
8) Corriander powder - 2 tsp
9) Chillie powder - 2 tsp
10) Black pepper powder - 2 tsp
11) Mustard seeds
12) Jeera(Cumin seeds) - 1 tsp
12) Salt - 1 tsp
13) Sugar - 1 tsp
14) Oil

Method of preparation:
1) Chop onion and tomatoes into small pieces. Chop ginger and green chillies into small pieces.
2) Heat oil in a frying pan. Fry the onions until they are slightly brown. Add in tomatoes, ginger and green chilles. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes. (For a tangy taste, add a 1/4 tsp of tamarind paste.)
3) Add in the curry leaves. Add sugar and salt to the mixture. Blend this mixture using a blender adding little water.
4) Heat oil in a frying pan. Add mustard seeds. Let it splutter out. Add cumin seeds. Add the masala powders one by one - garam masala, chillie powder, corriander powder and pepper powder.
5) Add the blended mixture to the above prepared masala powder mix. Mix it well.
6) Delicious tomato chutney is ready!
This can be stored in refrigerator for about 4 days.

Fried Fish

Fried fish, again, is another favorite dish of mine. Its recipe goes this way....
Ingredients:
1) Fish pieces - 1/2 kg
2) Ginger-garlic paste - 1-2 tsp
3) Chillie powder - 3 tsp
4) Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
5) Salt - 1-2 tsp
6) Oil - to fry

Method of preparation:
1) Wash fish pieces thoroughly with water.
2) Mix ginger-garlic paste with chillie powder, turmeric powder and salt. Sprinkle water and make a paste.
3) Spread the paste over the fish pieces and marinate the fishes for about 20-30 minutes.
4) Heat oil in a frying pan, place the fishes into the frying pan. Turn sides of the fishes after 20 minutes.
5) Fried fish ready!

Fish Curry

Being a Christian, non-vegeterarian dishes have been a part of our diet. My mother's fish curry is the best fish curry that I have had in my life. So, here , I produce the recipe of fish curry.
Ingredients:
1) Fish pieces - 1/2 kg
2) Ginger-Garlic paste - 1-2 tsp
3) Chillie powder - 5 tsp
4) Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
5) Mustard seeds - 2 tsp
6) Small onion - 5-6 pieces
7) Green chillies - 2-3 pieces
8) Tamarind(kudampuly in Malayalam) pieces - 2-3
9) Salt - 2-3 tsp
10) Oil - 3 tsp

Method of preparation:
1) Wash fish pieces throughly with water.
2) Wash the tamarind pieces thoroughly with water.
3) Cut the onion into small slices.
4) Heat oil in a frying pan.
5) Add mustard. Allow it to spread out. Add onion. When onion turns slightly brown, add green chillies, ginger-garlic paste, chillie powder, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well.
6) In a mudpot, boil water with tamarind pieces.
7) Place the fishes into the mudpot. Add the mixture prepared in step 5, into the mudpot.
8) Cook fish in the mudpot for about 20-30 minutes in low flame.