Elaanji pollichathu / Kerala snack

Ooohh myy... my favorite dish. Soon yours. This is a crepe filled with coconut which is sweetened with sugar or jaggeri. The main flavor diffuser is Elaanji (cardamom) and hence the name. It is often called "LOVE LETTER" since it wraps something sweet inside taking the minds of consumers to even love the cook ;-) . I portray the taste so somehow. Ghee is another factor making us salivate.

Ingredients:-(Serves-2)

All purpose flour/maida-1 cup

Egg-1

Salt-half tspn

Water- half cup

Coconut-One cup

Split black gram-1 tspn

Sugar/Jaggeri- 3tspns

Cardomom powder-1/4tspn(4 pods)

Ghee- 1tspn

Direction:-

• Make a batter of AP flour, beaten egg, salt and water.
• Prepare dosas over a nonstick pan.
• Keep aside.
• On the same pan heat ghee and add grams.
• Cook till golden brown.
• Add coconut and give a stir till the coconut heats up and becomes soggy. Do not cook it.
• Take off from the stove and add sugar.
• Take 2 tblspns of coconut and spread a wide line through the middle of the dosa.
• Wrap it up.
• Eat.

BON APPETITE :)

Pazham porichathu / Banana fritters

Requisites:-

Naadan Nenthrapazham/Long plantain-1 split into four lengthwise.


All purpose flour-1 cup
Water-1/4th cup
Egg-1
Sugar-1 tblpsn(optional) 
Turmeric-1pinch to give a yellow color
Salt to taste


Directions:-

• Mix in all the ingredients except banana to form a thick batter. IF it appears loose add in more flour. Remove all lumps with your hands.
• Now heat oil in a pan.
• Test the temperature of the oil by dropping batter. If it sizzles and pop up the temperature is good enough to cook. But if it turns brown fast, then wait for sometime simmering the flame. 
• Now dip the banana slice in batter to form a thick coating and slide them into the hot oil. Use your hands or a spoon.
• When the banana turns golden brown remove from heat.
• Serve hot with Chai on evening times.
• If you like a spicy coating avoid sugar and add cumin seeds with chilly flakes.

BON APPETITE:)

Chicken Stew / Irachi ishtu

All that glitters is not gold. But the original phrase is 'All that GLISTERS is not gold' a quote by William Shakespeare in Merchant of Venice.  But this phrase has a counter effect on my white luscious appearing rich chicken stew. It tastes as good as it looks like and sometimes more. 

Requisites:-(Serves3)

Chicken cut into small pieces- 300gm

Ginger-garlic paste- 1tspn

Cloves- 3

Cardamom- 1 inch long stick.

Spring onions chopped- 3 Or regular onion-1 chopped 

Curry leaves a sprig

Garlic sliced- 2big

Ginger 1 tblspn chopped or sliced

Green chillies split open- 2 

Red chillies crushed- 2

Carrot-1 big chopped 

Green peas/Fresh peas- Half cup

Coconut milk- Half can/Of half coconut 

Almond/Cashew paste made out 15nuts- 1/2 cup

Pepper- 1 tspn ground

Coriander leaves 

Oil

Salt to taste

Directions:-

• Marinate the chicken with ginger garlic paste and salt for 1 hr.
• Now add the spring onions, ginger, green chillies, curry leaves and garlic into hot oil in a pan. If you have cloves and cardamom add them, else you can opt for garam masala(all spice pwdr).
• After sauting  for 2mins add the chicken and crushed red chillies. Cook this for 20 min till the chicken is well done, covering the pan.
• Throw in the green peas and carrot and cook till they turn tender for 5min or more. 
• Now add the coconut milk and almond/cashew paste with coriander leaves roughly chopped.
• Add salt to your taste. Boil.
• Finally on top dust with pepper and sprinkle little coriander leaves on top while serving.
• You can have this with porotta, rice pancake, puttu, any bread, ghee rice.

BON APPETITE:)

Holiday hot cake.

A very exclusive and outrageous pudding with mouthwatering sauce indulged in it totally dilutes our thoughts with childhood memories. The vacations we always waited for..... I can say i knew cooking from my age of eight. Me, my sister and mom had made a small hut with plaited coconut leaves next to my house and had a mat to lie down and welcome my guests. And i was always fond of the little three stoned chimney stove on the corner. I cooked rice on it and tomato curry. And yeah.. i remember we had a housewarming for the small Hut Toy and my mom made payasam. Who wouldn't have such beautiful memories when they go to their past.
So holiday hot cake is all that you can make for your kids when they are back from school and would be a surprise when they savor it, with a different flavor of spices and dark/Light brown sugar.




Requisites:-


Flour-1cup
Light/dark brown Sugar-3/4 cup
Milk-1/2 cup
Oil-1/4 cup
Egg-1
Baking powder-1tspn
Ginger pwdr-1tspn
All spice pwdr-1tspn


For sauce:
Boiling water-4cups
Brown sugar- 1 1/2cup
Spices again 1spoon each
Butter-6tspn


For topping:
Whipping cream
Eggnog


Directions:-

• Preheat the oven at 220 degree C/440F.
• Mix in the first set of ingredients and make a cake batter relatively thick.
• Grease the cake mold with butter and pour this cake mix into the mold.
• Now clatter the 1 1/2 cup of sugar on the top this batter. Sprinkle the spices through out over this sugar.
• Dot the surface with each spoon of butter on six different positions.
• Pour in the boiling water very slowly and carefully over this mixture.
• Bake for 30 min.
• Done. You would get the cake floating over the sauce. Serve after 10-15min.
• Top with whipped cream. Whip the cream with a whisk or electric mixer to form soft peaks. Add eggnog while whipping.

BON APPETITE:)

Malabar porotta

You would really wonder if you go through this recipe of how easily porottas are made. I rather did!! Malabar porotta is always famous with Naadan chicken curry and many naadan spicy curries. I always see people behind in the kitchen flying the flattened dough in the air and beating on the racks. And i wonder how professional they are. If they can, why not us??

Requisites:-

All purpose flour-2 cups

Milk-1/2 cup 

Water-1/2 cup

Salt-1/2 tspn

Sugar-1tspn

Oil.

Directions:-

• Take flour, milk, salt and sugar in a bowl and knead well into a soft dough. If you have a marble surface use this as a base while kneading. Add water occasionally to knead the dough perfect.
• Now keep this dough aside by dabbing oil(1tblspn) over the dough and place a cotton cloth on top covering the dough.
• After 5min, make small balls out of this dough. The size of balls depends on the size of porotta u are willing to make. Now place all these balls near and again apply oil(1tblspn) over the top. Spread the cloth on top.
• After 5 min, roll these balls into flat circles using a rolling pin.
• Apply oil over each sheets and place one over the other with the cloth on top for another 5min.
• Now take these sheets and roll again using the rolling pin. Try spreading as much as possible so that it turns out very thin and can see through. Apply oil finally on one side, then...
• Pleat them 4 or 5 times towards the side where you have applied the oil.
• Roll them as i have shown in pictures.
• Now you will get a small ball again with pleats. Flatten this up again using rolling pin as much as possible.
• Heat a pan with some ghee or oil again and cook these porottas.
• If they turn out flaky-flaky they are absolutely well done.

If you know the process of beating, it is very effective for best results. It is as easy as it is. 

BON APPETITE:)

Kerala Sadya- Easy delicious recipes.

Kerala Sadya is always special on Onam and Vishu, the traditional festivals celebrated by Keralites. People in Kerala are food lovers and they are not really worried about their diet since they are hard working people and how much ever they eat, they are easily burnt out. People carry out their festivals close to their hearts and love celebrating them with their kith and kins. They prepare a variety of dishes and put together to call it 'Sadya'. And however it is all vegetarian.

Sadya is also made on other special occasions like marriages, birthdays etc.

I need you people to know what Kerala Sadya is really about. And the easiest way to bestow it is through a video. Here is my friend who beautifully portrays what  Kerala Sadya is..

Now here i am with the Sadya recipes-

Sambaram-Appetizer drink

Main meal comprises of:-

Cooked rice of your choice-Matta, ponni, kuruva etc. Any par-boiled rice.

Ghee (can be clubbed with Lentils.)

Kootu curry

Oolan

Kaalan

Erisseri, Authentic Erisseri

Aviyal

Pachadi- Inji Pachadi or Pineapple pachadi or cucumber pachadi or kaipa pachadi.

Kichadi

Puli inji

Inji thayir

Banana chips

Sharkara upperi

Pickles-small/big mango, lemon, dates

Thoran

Mezhukkuporatti

Sambar

Rasam

Moru Kachiyathu

Thayir

Water

And the feast ends up with something Sweet:-

Banana

Payasams- Pazha pradhaman, Paalada payasam, Idichu pizhinju payasam, Parippu payasam, Chakka pradhaman.

I hope this is splendidly plenty.. Make your feast with a happy mind and do not get exhausted seeing the list. Look out for the fruition and your family hogging it.:)

Cabbage thoran

Wash the cabbage after cutting. That is easier than washing leaves individually and then again arranging them properly between fingers to cut them.


Requisites:-


Oil-1 tblspn
Mustard seeds-1/4 tspn
Curry leaves- a sprig
Cabbage-2 cups grated finely
Carrot-half cup grated finely
Green/ red chillies-2 long
Turmeric pwdr-1/4 tspn
Salt to taste


Directions:-

• Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves.
• Grate the cabbage and carrot using a grater or if possible grate very finely with knife.
• Mix all the rest of the ingredients thoroughly with your fingers in a bowl. Add them to the Oil you have prepared early. 
• Cook uncovered for 10 min. Do not add water. Stir occasionally.( cook at medium-low flame since we are not adding water)
• Cooking uncovered means a lot to taste, color and texture of the fruition.
• Serve hot with rice as a side dish.

ENJOY YOUR MEAL:)

Inchi Thayir

Requisites:-

Oil-1 tblspn

Mustard seeds-1/4 tspn

Ginger chopped finely-2 tblespn
Green chillies chopped-2
Curry leaves-a sprig
Water to cook-1 cup
Curd/Yogurt-3/4 cup
Salt to taste


Directions:-

• Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds.
• Add the ginger, green chillies and curry leaves. Cook this with a cup of water till the ginger gets tender.
• Now Switch off the stove and add the yogurt. Add salt too.
• Done. DO NOT boil it since yogurt curdles up on heating.
• Serve as a side dish for your Sadya rice.

ENJOY YOUR MEAL:)

Erissery 2

Requisites:-


Pumpkin-2 cups
Red Beans/Vanpayar-1/2 cup
Turmeric-1/4 tspn
Green chillies split open-3
Salt to taste


Coconut-1 cup
Shallots-4
Cumin seeds-1/4 tspn


Oil-1 tblspn
Mustard seeds-1/4 tspn
Curry leaves-a sprig


Directions:-

• Soak the red beans in water over night or at least for 3 hrs.
• Pressure cook the beans, Pumpkin, turmeric, chillies, salt for two whistles.
• Let the pumpkin get mashed.
• Meanwhile grind the coconut with shallots and cumin coarsely.
• Add this to the beans- pumpkin mixture and boil.
• Take a small wok and splutter mustard seeds in hot oil. Add curry leaves.
• Now pour this into the curry.
• Done.
• Serve hot with rice. And as a side dish for Kerala Sadya.
• You can also add Roasted coconut to this curry which gives a different flavor. But the former is the authentic one.

Enjoy your meal:)

Oolan

Kerala Sadya special.


Requisites:-


Ash Gourd diced/Ilavan- 200 gms(around 2 cups) i take pumpkin at times
Black eyed beans-Half cup
Thick Coconut milk-1 cup
Green chillies split open- 3 long
Curry leaves
Salt to taste
Water to cook


Oil- 1tblspn
Mustard seeds-1/4tspn
Red whole chillies not open to garnish-2


Directions:-

• Soak the beans overnight or for at least 3 hrs.
• Pressure cook it with 1 1/2 cup water  for 2 whistles.  Keep aside.
• Now cook the ash gourd with some water, curry leaves and chillies.
• Add the coconut milk and cooked beans. Boil. 
• Heat oil in small pan and splutter mustard seeds. Add red chillies till they turn slightly dark.
• Pour this over the curry.
• Done.

ENJOY YOUR MEAL:)

Rasam

The main ingredient which would give Rasam its unique flavor is Garlic. Then the spiciness is given by the exotic hot pepper seeds.


Ingredients:-


Tomato sliced-2

Garlic sliced-6 big pods or 10 small pods

Ginger sliced- 1inch long 

Coriander leaves-2tblespns

Curry leaves 1 sprig

Chilly pwdr-2 tspn
Coriander pwdr- 2tspn
Whole pepper-10 seeds.
Turmeric pwdr-1/2 tspn
Asafoetida- 1/4tspn(5pinches)
Tamarind juice made out of 1 tblespn pulp-1 cup
Water-2 cups
Salt to taste


Oil-1 tblspn
Mustard seeds-1/4 tspn
Whole Red chillies-2
Fenugreek seeds-7 seeds


Directions:-

• Mix in the first set of ingredients and boil for 10min with the lid on.
• Then take a small pan and heat oil to splutter mustard seeds.
• Add in red chillies and fenugreek seeds to turn lightly dark.
• Add this over the rasam.
• Done.

A mandatory of Kerala Sadya.

ENJOY YOUR MEAL..

Sambar

We have a misconception that this curry is the toughest one to prepare.  Well, considering that this curry goes through 3 stages, and just wanna go through 4 whistles in a pressure cooker its all easy.


Requisites:-


Onion sliced long-1
Potato cubed- 1
Red gram(thuvara parippu)-1/2 cup
Turmeric-1/2 tspn
Green chillies- 3 split open
Ginger sliced into thin 1 inch strips-2tblspn
Garlic cloves big sliced-3(small 6)
Water-2cups


Ladies finger cut 2 inch long-6 pieces
Drumstick cut 2 inch long- 6pieces
Carrot cut 2 inch long- 6 pieces
Brinjal same 6 pieces
Coriander pwdr-3 tspn
Chilli pwdr- 2tspn
Curry leaves-15 leaves
Coriander leaves-4 strings
Tamarind juice made out of 2 tblspn pulp-1 cup
Salt to taste


Roasted and ground coconut-4 tblspn.
Asafoetida- 1/4 tspn


For garnishing:


Coconut oil-2 tblspn
Mustard seeds-1 tspn
Fenugreek seeds-10seeds
Whole red chillies-3


Directions:-

• Cook the 1st set of ingredients in pressure cooker for 2 whistles. Then let it cool so that you can open the whistle.
• Then add the 2nd set of ingredients to this and let 2 more whistles.
• Finally add the 3rd set and boil for 5 min.
• Garnish by spluttering mustard seeds in oil and adding the fenugreek seeds and red chillies. Let them slightly turn brown.
• Done. 

For roasting coconut ..

ENJOY YOUR MEAL:)

Kootu curry

This curry's basic ingredient is black chickpeas and the aromatic roasted coconut. Here in this recipe i have used yam vegetable. Pumpkin is another choice for substituting yam, but it will be slightly sweet. 

Ingredients:-

Black chickpeas/ Kadala- 1cup
Yam/ Chena chopped- 1 1/2 cups
Turmeric-1/4 tspn
Ginger chopped-1tspn
Salt to taste
Water-2cups
Roasted coconut-1 cup


For roasting the coconut you need:-


Coconut Oil-1tblspn
Mustard seeds-1/4 tspn
Curry leaves a sprig
Garlic-2 pods sliced
Red chillies crushed-4

Shallots sliced-5

1 cup Coconut


Directions:-

• Soak the chickpeas overnight. Or at least for 3-4 hrs.
• Now cook the chickpeas with water in pressure-cooker for 2 whistles. The chickpeas should be half cooked.
• Then add yam cubes to this half cooked peas.
• Add turmeric , ginger and salt. Cook the yam with no lid on it. This helps the water to evaporate and simultaneously yam gets cooked.
• When the yam-chickpea mixture is semi dry  and well cooked add in the roasted coconut. Give a stir.
• DONE.

For roasting coconut-

• Splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves. 
• Add garlic,shallots and red chillies. Fry for 3-4 min at medium low flame till the shallots have shrinked.
• Add coconut and fry in it till brown at medium flame. Do not burn them. Keep Stirring. Do not step off from the stove.

If you do not have a pressure cooker cook the chickpeas for 10-15 min with a lid over the pan till it is semi cooked and add in yam. Then let both cook together. When you cook with the lid on, the time consumption for cooking reduces since the steam doesn't escape. 


This is a side dish usually made for Kerala Sadya.

ENJOY YOUR MEAL..

Puli Inji

Ingredients-

Ginger/inji finely chopped-4 tblspn
Coconut Oil-1tblespn
Mustard seeds-1/4 tspn
Curry leaves
Turmeric-1/4tspn
Fenugreek seeds-5 seeds
Green chillies-3 finely chopped
Tamarind juice-1 cup made out of 1 heaped tblespn tamarind pulp.
Jaggeri grated/ brown sugar- 2tspn
1 tblspn rice plainly fried and ground.
Salt to taste


Soak 1 spoon of tamarind pulp in one cup of hot water before cooking. By the time your ginger is cooked this will become soggy and rub the tamarind with your fingers to remove the juice out to the water.


Directions:-

• Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves. Remove the curry leaves once it fully diffuses its flavor and dries out of moisture.
• Add turmeric and fennel seeds to this oil. Let  the fennel seeds turn light brown. Do check the heat and do not let the fennel seeds and curry leaves burn. It happens to me. If it happens, throw off the oil and do not let your whole curry to be spoiled.
• Add ginger. 
• Add green chillies.
• Let the ginger cook in this oil for 10 min in medium low. You will know that the ginger is sufficiently cooked for this recipe if it appears dry out of moisture and lightly amber.
• Now add in the rest of the ingredients and boil.
• Done.

If you want a thick Puli Inji boil this for a couple of minutes to get your desired texture. If you do not like biting ginger chops you can grind the whole recipe. But please do the first step finally. And start with cooking the ginger in another spoon of oil. This is because we do not want to grind the mustard seeds.


Also remember that when the Puli Inji cools it thickens up. 


This is used as a side dish for rice. And very special in Kerala Sadya.


ENJOY YOUR MEAL :)

Aviyal - Kerala special curry

Ingredients-


Drumstick/muringakkaya-5 pieces 
Ladies finger/venda-5 pieces
Brinjal/vazhuthananga-5 pieces
Yam/chena -5 pieces
Pumpkin/mathan-5 pieces
Potato/urulakizhangu-5 pieces
Half a big onion sliced thickly-ulli
Raw banana/ pachakkaya-5pieces
Carrot-5pieces
Yard Long beans/ achinga payar-5-8pieces


You can use any left over vegetable you have in your fridge. Just see that you cut every vegetables atleast 2 inches lengthwise as you can see in my picture. Pieces i have mentioned here is not the count of whole vegetables but the cut piece numbers of each vegetable. Slight variations doesn't matter. And it doesn't matter if you do not have all the vegetables i have told.


Water-1 cup
Curry leaves a sprig(5)
Green chillies-5 split open length wise
Turmeric- 1/4th tspn
Salt to taste
Freshly grated Coconut- one cup
Curd-3/4 cup


Coconut oil-2tablespn


Directions:-

You can use any left over vegetable you have in your fridge. Just see that you cut every vegetables atleast 2 inches lengthwise as you can see in my picture.

• Now cook every vegetables in one cup of water with lid on the pan. This may take 15 min approximately.
• Add Salt, curry leaves, chillies and turmeric while cooking this.
• If you are using yam cook it first for 5 min and then add rest of the vegetables. This is because yam require more time to get cooked

Check in-between if there is enough water to cook. If not, add a little. Do not let it stick at the bottom and get a burnt taste because this is one among the best dishes you can have from Kerala.

• Meanwhile grind coconut with curd coarsely.
• Add this to the cooked vegetables. Make sure that  before adding the coconut, water has completely evaporated from the cooked vegetables.
• Give a stir and cook for another 5 min with the lid on, at medium flame.
• Finally add the coconut oil over this and give a quick stir. 

Note that you are not heating the oil. The oil goes straight from your bottle to the Aviyal.

• Done. Serve hot with rice as a side dish.

I would like to disclose one tip. And that is- if you can get thick coconut milk from stores you can just add 1/2 cup of it, instead of grinding coconut. DO this only if it is thick because we do not want our Aviyal watery and with gravy. Then use only 1/2 cup of curd.

This is usually a side dish for Kerala Sadya..

Enjoy your meal :)

Inchi pachadi

Our body is most of the time in love with ginger because :-

The intake of ginger helps stimulatethe secretion of mucus, quieting your cough and soothing any scratchiness in your throat.

Ginger has been proven to treatfeelings of nausea, particularly in the form of seasickness, morning sickness, motion sickness and as a side effect of chemotherapy.

Due to its promotion of mucus secretion, ginger protects against the development of ulcers, unwanted holes in the lining of your stomach.

Ginger has proven to help lower your cholesterol levels and prevent the formation of blood clots.

Ginger can help knock out a fever.

It is used in curries as well as special foods for pregnant and feeding mothers. It is the main
ingredient in a candy called Inji-murappa.

One particularly tasty application is to combine ginger with garlic in any type of stir fry. Coupled in this way with garlic it is guaranteed to delight your taste buds and
quite possibly improve your health!

Ingredients-


Ginger-50 gms
Water-one cup
Coconut freshly grated -1cup or thick coconut milk-1/2cup
Curd-1/2cup
Green chilli-2 big
Shallots-2
Mustard seeds-1/4+1/4 tspn
Coconut oil-1tblspn
Curry leaves-4
Fenugreek seeds-6
Red whole chilli-1 or 2 for garnishing
Salt to taste


Directions:-

• Chop ginger very finely.
• Cook the ginger with water for 10 min till they ooze out the entire flavor to the water and becomes tender and cooked. Cook with the lid on so that it doesn't loose the aroma and gets cooked within the steam produced inside and this helps to retain its flavor. Check after 5 min if you have enough water remaining. If not add half a cup.
• Now grind the coconut with curd, shallots, green chillies, 1/4tspn mustard seeds.
• If you are using coconut milk also do the same. Take all into the blender & a give a blitz for 1min.
• Now pour this to the cooked ginger. 
• Add salt and give a stir.
• Let boil and take off from stove top. 
• Heat coconut oil in a wok.
• Splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves in coconut oil. Add fenugreek seeds and red chilly and switch off the stove.They would slightly turn dark. Let this stand for a min so that curry leaves and fenugreek seeds fuses with oil.
• Add on top of the curry in serving dish. 
• Can be taken with rice as a main curry or side dish.

Enjoy your food:)