Parippu Payasam – A Rapturous Dessert with Jaggery

This is our traditional dessert and ofcourse a keralite’s blissful dessert. This dish reminds me of my mom because she prepares this yummy payasam on all important occassions and it’s a must in our house whenever we (her children) visit our house. Hmm…now, in her place, i made this payasam for one such important occasions in our home and everyone loved it.

 

Ingredients :

• Green gram dal (Moongh Dal) – 3/4 cup
• Water – 1 1/2 cups
• Jaggery (powered) - 1- 1 1/2 cups
• Cardamoms – 4-5
• A few cashewnuts broken into pieces
• Milk – 1 1/2 cups
• A few raisons
• Small piece coconut, cut into tiny pieces – 1
• Ghee – 1 tbsp

Method :
1.  Boil dal to a light brown colour. Remove, cool : wash.
2.  Add water, set to boil. When Dal has cooked, mash thoroughly.
3.  Add jaggery and continue to cook till jaggery has dissolved.
4.  Add milk, boil further for 2-3 minutes, remove from fire.
5.  heat ghee, fry cashew nut pieces, coconut pieces and raisons, each separately. Add cardamom powder, along with camphor, mix all of it.

Variations :
1.  This payasam can be prepared with coconut milk also. For this, use gratings of half the coconut and if desired 1/2 cup milk as well.
2.  Take out first milk, then second, and third milk.
3.  Add to the dal the third milk (add some water if the quantity is not sufficient), set to boil, when done, mash thoroughly.
4.  Add second milk and jaggery, cook till done.
5.  Add first milk, boil just once and remove from fire.
6.  Add ordinary milk and garnish as before.

Tender Coconut Souffle

This is an authentic dessert in so called God’s own country where the coconuts are grown in plenty.  This refreshing, healthy and cool dessert gives a great soothing feeling to the stomach. This dessert was made by my SIL(no.1) but the recipe provided here is from another source (http://www.kerala-recipe.com). I shall post the recipe from her later on.

I just took a portion of the souffle from her to capture the picture of it  in my own style to update in my blog ;-) as i really felt that this dish would be liked by all the viewers… Am i right???

Ingredients

•     Tender coconut 1 no
•     Sugar 80 gms
•     Milk 300 ml
•     Gelatine 10 gms
•     Egg – white 2 nos
•     Coconut extract 25 ml
•     Rose essence 2 drops
•     Milk cream 10 ml
•     Corn flour 10 gms

Method

•     Mix cream sugar with half the egg white and corn flour.
•     Add boiled milk gradually.
•     Cook in double boiler until its thick.
•     Add gelatine dissolved in warm water, strain & cool.
•     Add coconut extract, essence, cream, tender coconut and beaten egg whites.
•     Pour into a dish and refrigerate.

Puttu – A Keralite’s Ecstatic Breakfast

Puttu  is a South Indian and Sri Lankan breakfast dish of steamed cylinders (or coconut shells) of ground rice layered with coconut. It is popular in the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as in areas of Sri Lanka, where it is also known as pittu. Puttu is served with side dishes such as chickpea curry or banana. Apart from this, our traditional way of serving puttu includes steamed green gram and fried papads.

You could use either the readymade puttu powder (available in all supermarkets) or you can make the powder at home as below.

Ingredients

* 2 cups of raw rice
* 1 cup of grated coconut
* salt to taste

Method:

Soak the rice for 2- 3 hours and drain the water. Spread the rice in a paper and allow it to dry for 3-4 minutes see that it is a little wet and not fully dry. Grind the dried raw rice to a fine powder in a mixie.

Fry the rice flour in a pan, stir it continuously until you get the aroma of the rice, remove the flour, bring down to cool. Mix salt in water and sprinke water little by little to the rice flour and mix it throughly. The rice flour should be wet enough, keep stirring it with your fingers as it should remain in a powdered form and do not mould it in to a dough.

If you are using a puttu maker, then add 1 ½ cup of water in the puttu pot and bring it to boil. Now take the cylindrical vessel and add a handful of coconut, then 3- 4 handfuls of rice flour, repeat it until you fill the puttu vessel. Now fit the cylilndrical vessel on the pot. Steam cook it for 4-5 minutes.

Remove the cylinder, use a spatula to push out the puttu to a plate. Serve as desired

Note:I have used a coconut shell type puttu maker and i steamed it on top of a pressure cooker without putting on the whistle for 10 mts.

Avial

Avial is a dish that has a unique place in a typical Kerala Cuisine as well as in Tamil cuisine. It is a thick mixture of vegetables, curd and coconut, seasoned with coconut oil and curry leaves. Aviyal is considered an essential part of the Sadhya which is made during Onam festival.

You may substitute raw mango or tamarind pulp for the curd. This dish can be made into a gravy and eaten with rice or be made into a semi-solid side dish. The word “aviyal” is also used to denote an assortment or a mixture—this sense being derived from the way the dish is made.

 

Ingredients

• Raw Banana Plaintain – Vazhakkai – 1 no. (Small size)
• Drumstick – Murungakkai – 1 no.
• Carrot – 1 no.
• Beans – 1 no.
• Potato – Urulai kizhangu – 2 nos.
• Snake guord – Pudalangai – 1 no. (Small size)
• Mango (Raw) – Mangai – 1 no. (Small size)
• Cucumber – Vellarikkai – 1 no. (Small size)
• Grated/Shredded coconut – 1 cup
• Curd/Yoghurt – Thayir – 1 cup
• Green chillies – Pachai milagai – 4 nos or as per your wish
• Ginger – Inji – small quantity
• Cumin seeds – Jeeragam – 1 tea spoon
• Turmeric powder – Manjal Podi – 1 tea spoon
• Asafoetida – Perungayam – a pinch
• Curry leaves – Karuvepilai – small quanity
• Coriander leaves – Kothamali – small quantity
• Salt to taste
• Oil for frying

Method:

1. Wash, cut and boil all the vegetable separately in pressure cooker/microwave oven adding very little water.
2. Grind grated coconut, green chillies, ginger, cumin seeds and adding very little water.
3. Mix yoghurt with turmeric powder, asafoetida and little salt.
4. Mix all the boiled vegetables with yoghurt and coconut paste and allow to boil for 2 minutes, not more than that. Heat 1 tea spoon of oil, add curry leaves and add to the content. Garnish with corinader leaves.

Note : You may use any combination/quantity of veggies as you may like.

Beetroot Pachadi – Beetroot in tangy yogurt sauce

Ingredients:

• Beetroot – 1 large
• Curds – 1 1/2 – 2 cups
• Coriander Leaves – 1 tblsp
• Green Chillies – 2
• Ginger – 1/2 tblsp, chopped
• Coconut – 1 1/2 tblsp, grated

For Seasoning:

• Oil – 2 tsp
• Mustard Seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Curry Leaf – 1 sprig
• Salt to taste

Method:

Grind the green chillies, ginger, coconut and salt into a smooth paste.  Peel the beetroot and grate.  Beat curd till smooth and add ground paste and mix well. Add the grated beetroot.  Season in oil the mustard seeds and curry leaf, pour into pachadi. Add chopped coriander leaves, mix thoroughly. Enjoy it chilled.

Paruppu (with Vendhaya Keerai) – Lentils Curry with Spinach

Ingredients:

• Moong Dal – 1/2 cup
• Fenugreek Leaves – 2 cups
• Turmeric Powder – 1/2 tsp
• Chilli Powder – 1 tsp
• Garlic – 3-4 pods
• Green Chillies – 1 or 2
• Salt to taste

For Seasoning:

Oil – 2 tsp,
Mustard Seeds, Asafoetida, Urad Dal, Chana Dal, Curry Leaves – 1 tsp each

Method:

1. Boil dal with lil turmeric powder, cool, mash and set aside.
2. To this add fenugreek leaves, turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt.
4. Boil all together till it is reduced to less than half the quantity and the leaves are cooked.
5. Heat oil in another small pan, add mustard seeds, asafoetida, urad dal, chana dal and curry leaves.
7. When done, pour into dal and mix.
8. Enjoy it with hot rice and pappad.

Check out what my fellow bloggers (who has joined blogging marathon) are cooking….Priya Suresh, Jay, Priya Srinivasan, Monika, PJ, Valli and Reva

Banana Fritters – Pazham Pori

This is our traditional snack and a popular dish in Kerala, usually sold even in road side tea-shops.. It is a sweet dish made with ripe plantains dipped in flour mixed with sugar.  It is very simple to prepare and it goes well with a cup of tea.  Banana is my all time favorite fruit and so is this Banana fritters. Here goes the recipe!!

Ingredients

• 1 ripe plantain (Nendra Pazham)
• 1 cup plain flour/ all- purpose flour/ Maida
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ tsp turmeric
• Pinch of salt
• ½ cup water and oil to fry

Method

• Peel plantains, cut is two halves, and slice each halves into four to six slices. One plantain yielded 12 pieces for me.
• Mix flour with ½ cup water to make a smooth batter, mix in sugar, turmeric, and salt.
• Heat oil in a pan; dip plantain slices in batter and deep fry till golden brown. Drain and serve hot with tea.

Pepper Chicken Fry – Simply Spicy

Do you love black pepper? I do. Black pepper is one such spice that virtually can be utilised in every cooking and culinary medium and preparation, often yielding mouth-watering results. Below is my black pepper chicken fry recipe, a painless easy to do dish. This Pepper chicken fry goes extremely well with any dish and it serves as a great appetizer too. If you have a sizzling hot plate like the ones at restaurant, serve it on the hot plate for extra sizzles!!

Ingredients:

• 1 Whole Chicken (about 1 kg)
• 1 tsp Salt
• 3 tbsp Oil
• 2 Onions, chopped
• 8-10 Curry Leaves
• 1/2 cup Coriander Leaves, chopped

Spice Paste:

• 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
• 1 tsp Red Chilli powder
• 1 tsp coarsely ground Black Peppercorns
• 1 tsp Cumin powder
• 2 tbsp chopped ginger
• 2 tbsp chopped garlic
• Red Chilli flakes

Method:
1. Wash and clean the chicken and cut into 8 pieces.
2. Grind fine, all the ingredients for the spice paste.
3. Marinate the chicken with the paste for 1 hr and place chicken in a pan with 1 cup water, salt.
4. Cook over medium heat until chicken is tender. Remove from heat and set aside.
5. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onions and curry leaves until the onions turns golden brown.
6. Add the cooked chicken and red chilli flakes and fry for 5 minutes or until quite dry.
7. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with roti or bread.

Kinnathappam – A pick from my mom’s best recipes

Being my first post after a break due to my dear Mom’s demise, i thought of publishing a dish that i learnt from my late mom.  Lot of memories about mom lingers on my mind while writing her recipe for “Kinnathappam“…….

Kinnathappam is our famous traditional sweet and it’s a must on Eid and all other occasions in our house. It’s again a tamil / mallu duo cuisine… Kinnathappam, which can be translated to english as ‘kinnam’ which means ‘plate’ and ‘appam’ means ‘cake’. This traditional dessert still exist even after the advent of other fancy desserts and this has to be made with utmost care and attention to achieve the perfect taste and look.

While making this, I felt my mom’s presence all the time and was missing her a lot.. Her tasty kinnathappam cannot beat anyone’s how much ever the effort is…and may her triumph as the queen of our house remain forever and may her soul rest in peace………

Ingredients:

• Raw Rice – 1cup, soaked in water for 3-4 hrs (You may also use a combination of Idli Rice and Raw Rice)
• Egg-1 or 2
• Sugar- 1/2cup – 1 cups( depends on your taste)
• Coconut milk, from fresh grated coconut -1 3/4 cups
• Cumins seeds – lil
• Cardamom whole – 2
• Ghee- 1-2 tbsp

Preparation:

• Soak 1 cup of rice in water overnight.
• Strain the soaked rice and grind it very smooth.
• Beat egg well and gradually mix in sugar and beat well.
• Add in the coconut milk and beat well.
• Finally add the grinded batter to the egg mixture and beat it.
• Strain this batter through a muslin cloth or a strainer with tiny holes. This would help to remove any coarse particles in the batter.
• Add Cardamom powder and cumin seeds to the batter.
• The batter constituency should not be too thick or too watery; it should have in between constituency.
• If you feel that the batter is thick, use more of the thin coconut milk or water to thin it down.
• Grease the stainless steel or cake pan with ghee.
• Pour the batter on to a stainless steel plate which usually comes with the steamer or a cake pan would work.
• Steam cook it for 15-20 minutes in medium heat, until a fork inserted into it comes out clean.

This can be served either cold or warm.

This is my entry for

Chicken Roast

This chicken roast has a great combination of spice, tang and masalas and is very simple to make. It’s a popular chicken dish in kerala and mostly eaten with parotta, roti or rice. Next to grilled chicken, the roasted chicken is a better & healthier option than a fried chicken…Try this cool roast for your next meal !!

Ingredients:

• 1 kg chicken
• 5 tsp coriander powder
• 3 tsp chillie powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp pepper powder
• salt-as per taste
• orange color (Optional)
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 4 tsp ginger paste
• 4 tsp garlic paste
• 4 tomatoes
• 3 large onions
• 6 green chillies
• 3 tbsp soya sauce
• 4 tbsp oil
• curry leaves

Method:

• Clean the Chicken and make a few slits in both sides. Mix items 2 to 6 with 1 tsp garam masala and add 2 tsp garlic and 2 tsp ginger paste. Mix well.
• Marinade chicken with this paste both inside and outside. Keep the chicken for one-hour.
• Heat the oil. Fry the sliced onion, green chilly, curry leaves still onion becomes brown.
• Add remaining ginger and garlic paste and garam masala. Add chopped tomato (small slices). Stir it still oil clears. Add soya sauce and place the chicken.
• Add 1/2 cup water. Cover the frying pan and boil it. Remove the cover two or three times and transpose the sides and get chicken roasted.