Naadan chicken fry ~ Kerala style

 

It has been so long since I turned this way. Life has been busy with the new baby and moving and all things like that. Hopefully I am getting back to the normal routines and will be able to blog more often. Thank you for all your kind support.
This is a recipe that I found in a magazine that my mom sent me. It was a big hit in my family from the first time I made it. for a helathier version you can omit the last part of frying with coconut oil, but it tastes so wonderful when you fry it.





INGREDIENTS:
1. Chicken                 1 kg, cleaned and cut into small pieces

2. Coriander powder           3 tablespoon

   Turmeric powder                 1 teaspoon

   Garam masala powder         1 teaspoon

   Chilly powder                      1 teaspoon

   Pepper Powder                  1 ½ teaspoon

   Ginger-Garlic paste              1 teaspoon

   Curry leaves                         1 handful

3. Coconut oil                           3 tablespoon

    Green chilly                          2 , slit (optional)

METHOD

• Marinate the chicken pieces with at he ingredients under 2 for half an hour or more.

• Heat a saucepan, add chicken along with enough water; cover and cook until the meat is tender. Open the lid, and increase the flame and dry up the water to coat the chicken with masala.

• If you dont want to fry it in coconut oil just continue sautéing till it gets a brown color. 

• In another Pan, Heat the coconut oil, add the chicken pieces and sauté till you get the golden brown color.

  

Serve with rotti’s and biryani

Source: Pachakam magazine

Ari Unda (Rice balls)

INREDIENTS:

• Rice- 2 cups (I used parboiled rice)

• Jaggery- 1 cup (add more if needed)

• Roasted Cashew nuts -1 cup

• Roasted Peanuts- 1/2 cup (remove the skin)

• Coconut grated- 1 cup



Method:

• Dry roast the rice till it’s brown and puffed up and crisp. Grind into fine powder.

• Powder the cashew and peanuts. (U can also leave some nuts in small pieces it gives a nice bite).

• Mix the rice powder, nuts and gated coconut together.

• Melt the Jaggery and strain to remove impurities.

• Add this to the powder mix and mix well.Make sure that the mix gets coated well witht he jaggery. if needed add more.

• Let cool for a while.When its hot enough to touch, make balls.

Kerala Crab Roast

Let me confess...the only thing I know about crab is how to eat it..Have no idea about how to clean them nor cook them.The first time I experimented with Crabs (4 years back), I just cleaned the whole thing on the surface and put it in boiling water along with ginger,garlic and chilly..and just ate it..It was awful!! After that my hubby swore he wont by crabs at home. But then last week I asked him to get me some live blue crabs and since I am preg now he doesnt say no to anything ( he he, better take all  advantage). so I decided to try my luck once again! Last year on our trip to florida, a friend of mine had shown me how to clean and cut crab. So I set of on my adventure with some vague memory of how to torture the crab to death. It was my hubby who helped to kill the live crabs.My poor hubby whose seafood is limited to shrimps and fishes , kept telling me that the only reason I am doing this is coz I love you!Ha ha ha..but he said the end result was mouthwatering!

I didnt know if it was the right way to clean the crab but I did it and I should say none of us got sick and the crab roast did come out perfect. Here is a link that I found that shows how to cut and clean a crab

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzUY7Z4t5Ps

I did detach all the claws and legs too... This is a little spicy u can reduce the spice according to ur taste..If u like the taste of pepper u can add that more else go with green chillies!

INGREDIENTS:

• 
  
  Blue Crab - 5( dont know how much they weighed)
• Chilly powder - 1/2 tbsp
• 
  
  Coriander Powder - 1tbsp
• 
  
  Garlic pods(big) - 6  finely chopped
• Ginger - 11/2 inch long finely chopped
• Large Onion – 11/2   ( thinly sliced)
• Pepper powder - 4tsp ( or just use green chillies)
• Garam masala - 2 pinch
• Tomato - 2 finley chopped
• Curry leaves - a handful
• Green chillies - 3
• Salt to taste
• Oil as needed.

METHOD:
I did the cooking in 2 parts. Firstly I cooked the crab and then I added this to the masala roast. This recipe is the result of combining 2 recipes one from my mother and the other from my dear Primna chechi.

• Cut and clean the crab well and keep aside.You can crack the crabs shell with the back of the knife so that the flavor gets into the meat, just one or two stikes.
• Grind together the Garlic, Ginger,green chillie and a few curry leaves.
• In a non stick pot over a medium flame add the cleaned crab and the ginger garlic paste and a pinch of turmeric and mix well. cover with a lid and let the crab cook till it turns to a red color.
• Give a few stir in between so that everything gets coated well and are cooked uniformly.
• Remove from flame when done.
• In another pan, add some oil and add the sliced onions and suate till very soft.
• Add the chillie powder, corriander powder, pepper powder, salt and garam masala.Mix.
• Add the cooked crab to this.
• Add a little water(1/4 cup) to the pan in which the crab was cooked and por this water into the onion masala( make sure u get al the ginger and garlic from the other pan).
• Add the chopped tomato and the curry leaves and cover and cook on a low flame till the tomato becomes very soft.
• Check for salt.
•  Serve hot!!

Blue Crab

  

Stir Fried Yam ( Chena porichath)

This is one of the dish that no matter how much u make it will never be enough. In my house this gets over in a jiffy. We pile this up to our sides of the plate somethimes even more than we actually need else it will end up in afight over" she took more than me" !
I tend to buy the precleaned and frozen yam. Its a little hectic to remove the skin of the yam as it causes itching. If you are using fresh yam make sure you remove the skin wearing a gloves. I have seen my mom apply some oil on her hand before she cleans it. But it didnt work for me, so from that day onwards I left my relationship with fresh yam. Frozen yams...is just as good!!

INGREDIENTS:

• Cleaned and cut ( bite size) Yam - 11 oz ( my packet weighed this much)
• 1 tbsp Kashmiri chillie powder ( use according to ur taste)
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
• Salt as needed
• Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
• Thinly sliced onions 1/2 cup
• Curry leaves a few
• Oil 1/4 cup

METHOD:

• Combine the Chilie powder, turmeric powder, salt and yam together with very little water.Keep aside for 10 minutes.
• Heat oil in non-stick pan or kadai. Splutter the mustard seeds.
• Add the curry leaves and the onions and saute for 1 minute.
• Add the Yam and fry till the yam turns a golden brown color stirring in between. 

Remove from flame and serve as a side to plain rice....or like my son you can just eat it as!!

Thenga varutharacha meen curry ~ Fish in roasted coconut gravy

INGREDIENTS:

•  Fish - 1/2 kg Cleaned and cut into medium pieces(I used spanish mackrel) 
• Onion chopped - 1 medium
• Tomato chopped 1
• ginger and garlic finely chopped - 1 tsp 
• Green chiles slit lengthwise - 3 to 5 depending on ur taste
• turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp 
• Kodampuli-/coccum- 2-3 cleaned and soaked in 1 cup water 
• Chili powder - 1/2 tsp
• Coriander powder - 11/2 tsp
  
• Mustard seeds
  
• Curry leaves 
• Salt to taste
• Oil

For roasting coconut

• Grated coconut - 1 cup 
• Curry leaves
• Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp 
• 2 small pieces of red chillie flakes

METHOD:

Making the Roasted coconut paste

• In frying pan, heat a little oil, Then add the fenugreek seeds, curry leaves and the chillie flakes.
• Then add the grated coconut and keep stirring till u get a light brow color and the aroma fills the room.
•  Add 1/2 tsp chilie powder 1/2 tsp corriander powder ,Roast it for a few more seconds
• Grind the mix into a smooth paste with very little water. Keep it aside.

Making the curry

•   Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds.when they splutter add curry leaves, 2-3 green chiles, ginger and garlic, and stir them for 2 minutes
• Add chopped onion and sauté till it is pinkish color
• Add the tomato and saute till it is soft.
• Add the turmeric powder , 1 tsp corriander powder and the kudampuli along with its water.
• Bring to a boil. add the fish pieces and add salt.Cover and cook for about 8-10 minutes on  medium low flame.
• Add the roasted coconut paste, rest of the green chilie and mix well. make sure u dont break the fish.
• Cook till the gravy gets thickened.If u need more gravy add a little more water. But thick gravy tastes good.
• Check for salt.

Serve warm with Rice

Beetroot Pachidi and an Award

 

INGREDIENTS

• 
  
  Beetroot grated 2
  
• Shallots 5
• Yoghurt 1/2 cup or more depending on the thickness u desire
• Curryleaves a few
• Fenugreek 1/4 tsp
• Mustard 1 tsp
• Red chilly 1 broken
• Salt
• Oil

For Grinding

• Coconut 1 cup grated
• Ginger 1 small piece grated
• Shallots 2 finely chopped
• Green Chilly 4 or more depending on your taste
• Mustard seed -1/2 tsp

METHOD

•  In a pan, heat the oil and splutter the mustartd seeds and the fenugreek seeds.
• Add the red chilly,curry leaves and the chopped shallots .Saute till the shallots turn a light brown color
• Add the grated beetroot and allow it to  cook on a low flame
• Add the grounded ingredients and cook for a while
• Add the curd and mix well. cook for a minute or two.Do not boil.

 

Kreative Blogger Award

Mausi, from 7th kitchen has passed me this wonderful award. Thanks a bunch Mausi.

This also has a tag part in it.

Rules for accepting this award:

1) Thank the person giving the award
2) Copy the award to your blog
3) Place a link to their blog
4) Name 7 things people don't know about you
5) Nominate 7 bloggers
6) Place a link to those bloggers
7) Leave a comment letting those bloggers know about the award

SEVEN THINGS YOU DONT KNOW ABOUT ME

• I have a fear of flying; always think that the plane will crash. 
• I don’t know how to swim. 
• I get offended very easily. But still put on a brave face as though I dont care!
• The one dish that I still haven’t perfected is the simple dal curry! Yes Yes..I always have one or the other problem with it 
• I WAS a very good athlete during my school years
• I love junk foods…try my best to avoid them but just can’t do it 
• I love to look at the stars

Now, passing this onto seven of my fellow bloggers. Man this is hard,how can I choose just seven


Saraswathy
Shahna
Cool Lassie
Tina
Sarah Naveen
Vrinda
Collabrative Curry


Plz accept this award !!

Vegetable Biryani

I am not such a big fan of vegetable biryani..I mean really when you have all our wonderful chicken and mutton biryani, why settle for veggie biryani. But one fine morning my husband said to me "saju, I want to eat vegetable birayni today". I was like what the????  I told him I will make chicken biryani but he insisted on veggie biryani. My head started spinning oh my..what am I going to do..I cant eat veggie biryani.No non-veg this is going to be really hard. So how did I do...well I sneaked in some Tilapia fry as a side..he he he!!

INGREDIENTS:

For the rice

• Basmati Rice -11/2 cup soaked in water for 30 minute
• Bay leaf 1
• Cloves- 3
• Cardamom -1 crushed
• Cinnamon stick- 1 small piece
• Shahi jeera - 1 tsp
• Green chilie- 2 split
• Salt to taste

For the Gravy

• Mixed vegetables - 11/2 cup ( peas, carrots, beans, corn, broccoli)
• Potatoes 2 medium ( cut into bite sized cubes and half cooked, I used the microwave)
• Onion  3 medium finely chopped
• Tomato  2 medium finely chopped
• Garlic paste 1 tbsp
• Ginger paste 1 tbsp
• Green chilies -3 slit
• Garam masala - 1/2 tbsp + a little more sprinkling
• Coriander powder 1tbsp
• Turmeric powder 1/4 tbsp
• Red chilie powder - 1/2 tbsp ( depending on your taste
• Yogurt - 2 tbsp
• Corriander leaves - 1 cup finely chopped
• mint leaves- 1/4 cup
• Lime juice 2 tbsp
• Salt
• Oil/Ghee

METHOD:

Preparing the gravy

• In a vessel, saute the onion till translucent.
• Add the ginger garlic paste and the chilie and saute for 2 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes and salt and let it cook well.
• Add the chilie powder, turmeric powder, corriander powder, 1/2 tbsp garam masala and mix well.
• Add the cooked potato and let it cook for 5 minute.
• Add the rest of the veggies and cook till its tender.
• Add the yogurt and the chopped corriander and mint leaves.
• Cook for 2 minutes and remove the flame and keep the vessel closed.

For the Rice

• Boil about 5 cups water in a big vessel. Add the whole masalas, chilie,salt and a tbsp of oil into the water.
• When the water boils add the soaked and drained rice into the water.
• Let the rice cook toll it is 3/4 th done. Stir in between.
• When done drain and keep aside.

Layering

• In a thick bottomed pot, spread some oil at the bottom.
• Take half the rice and spread to the bottom of the vessel.
• Add half lemon juice and  sprinkle little garam masala.
• Add the vegetable masala over the rice.
• Add the remaining rice ontop of the masla.
• Add a little lemon juice and sprinkle the garam masala on top.
• Cover with a very tight lid. If the lid is not tight enough use an aluminium foil and cover the mouth of the pot well with it.
• Heat on a very low flame for 10 minutes.
• Mix well before serving

Enjoy with nice coconut chamanthi, pickle,raita and for the crazy non veg's like me have some fish fry or chicken tikka BBQ.

Healthy Sardine fry

These days everybody is into healthy eating. But I must confess its something that is very hard for me to do. Every day I will tell my hubby "You know what, no more junk foods from today. We will eat only healthy foods". He will give me a smile and say "Ok dear, as you say"!! Wondering what the smiles for!!!

Well behind that smile is all the unspoken dialogues. The smile can be translated into something like this " Oh how many times have i heard you say this. There is no way that u can go more than 2 days without eating something junk. hmmm..healthy eating ha ha ha !!!" This is whats behind that innocent little smile of his.

Its true yaar! Very hard for me to control. I go out Il get packets of chips, donuts, and that cute little cupcakes and everything else. and biggest of all cheese burger and fries!! man i just love that it.

I keep telling my mom abtout this nad she says you need to control especially since we have a history of high cholestrol in th e family. Then its moms advise, use less oil in food dont eat from outside, avoid red meat, dont eat fried thinsgs and the list goes on. So my mom gave me this recipe of Sardine fry which use no oil at all and I must say its delicious. Even my kido ate 3 piece of the fish!!!

Ingredients:

• Cleaned Sardines -  6
• Medium onion chopped -1
• Medium Tomato finely chopped -1
• Ginger chopped- 1 tsp
• Garlic chopped 1 tsp
• Red chiliy powder -1 tbsp or as per ur taste
• Turmeric powder- 1/4 tbsp
• Curry leaves- a few
• Salt as needed

Method:

• Grind the chilie powder, turmeric, salt, curry leaves,ginger and garlic into a smooth paste without adding any water.
• Add the finely chopped tomatoes to this paste. Mix well. The mixture will be a little watery
• Take the sardines and make slits on the sides of the fish.
• Apply the made paste on the fish and marinate for 15- 30 minutes.
• Heat a large non stick pan on medium flame.
• Add the chopped onions into the pan and saute for 2 minutes.
• Reduce flame to low.
• Now take the sardines one by one and lay it over the sauted onions.
• Add the remaining masala on top of the fish.
• Turn the fish after 1 minute. Keep turning the fish every 1- 11/2 minutes till all the masala gets coated on the fishand the fish turns to brown color.
• Remove from flame and serve as a side to rice

                                    

  

Kerala Beef fry

This is one of my favorite beef recipes. Erachi porichathum porattem..yum yumm..it tastes so good. During hostel days we used to have this from our canteen like everyday. There used to be four of us and just one plate of food. And we always ended up fighting for the last piece. Our pockets were always empty by the end of the week spending it mostly on food (hostel food was yuck!!), shoes, and gifts. So had to be stingy, till the next flow of cash came.


College days were a blast. Would love to relive those days again exactly the same way. No changes at all (OK maybe one or two changes).but most of the part It was just fun and exciting. Couldn’t wait to wake up and get to class. Not to hear the lecture of the teachers but just to be with my friends. My wonderful friends! Life would not be the same without them.

The worst classes I ever took I think was statistics used to wonder what the hell am I going to do with statistic in computer programming???? The teacher used to enter thru one door and we used to leave thru the back door. And it had to be done in the precise time. The moment she puts her one foot in we had to be out! Else we will be caught. Although I must say I have never been caught!! He he he…No No I wasn’t a bad student I always got good grades. It’s just that I hated that particular class!! But when the exams approached how I wish I had attended the class coz I couldn’t understand anything. But then again, I had my friends to help me out. Those late night discussions and early morning study classes did great for us! Such wonderful memories!!



Anyways coming back to the recipe,Even though i love beef my husbnd doesnt take it  much so dont make it often.  But my cus, Shehi ,send me the picture yesterday after she made the beef fry. So decided to take advantage of her beutiful pic and post it!

Here is the recipe

INGREDIENTS:


• Beef 1/2 kg

• Onion 1 big, sliced finely

To marinate:

o Chili powder 1/2 tbsp

o Coriander powder 1 tbsp

o Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp

o Pepper 2 tsp

o Ginger & garlic paste 1 tbsp, crushed

o Garam Masala 1 tsp + 1/2 tsp for sprinkling

o Bite size coconut pieces (thengakothu) – 1/4 cup

o salt



• Coconut oil

• Green chilies -2-3

• Curry leaves

• Lemon juice 1 tsp.



METHOD:

• Marinate the beef with all the ingredients under “To marinate” for one hour.

• In a pressure cooker add the marinated beef and the onions and half a cup of water and cook till it is done

• In a frying pan, add some coconut oil and add the curry leaves, coconut slices andthe green chilies . Sauté for 1 minute.

• Add the cooked beef along with the water.

• Sauté till all the water is gone and all the masala gets coated onto the beef on a low medium flame. Sprinkle ½ tsp of garam masala.

• When the beef turns dark brown add 1 tsp of lemon juice, Mix well and remove from flame.

Serve with roti, poratta or rice

Mutton Roast

This is a very simple recipe for mutton roast. I learnt this from my mother in law. My husband just loves it. He tells me this is the only dish that I have perfected in MIL's style.Everything else I have addons..he he

INGREDIENTS:

• Mutton-1/2kg

whole masalas:

•       Cloves 3
•       Cardamom 2
•       cinnamon stick. 1 small piece.
•        Bay leaf 1
• Onion-3 Big ones thinly sliced length wise
• Ginger-1 inch piece
• Garlic- 4-5 cloves
• Green chilly-3
• kashmiri chilli powder- 1 1/2 tbsp depending on your taste
• corriander powder-1 1/2tbsp
• Turmeric Powder-1/2 tbsp
• Garam Masala powder-1tbsp
• curry leaves a few
• Mustard seeds. 1/2 tbsp
• Cocunut Oil-3Tbsp

METHOD

• Cut the mutton in to small pieces clean an keep it aside.
• Grind the ginger,garlic and chillie together into a paste.
• In a pressure cooker add the mutton pieces,salt and the whole maslas, Add enough water to cook the mutton.Cook the mutton till it is soft. Keep aside.(Do not throw the water. will use it as a stock)
• In a kadai,heat oil and splutter the mustard seeds.
• Add sliced onion an cook till soft.
• Then add the ground paste curry leaves,salt and saute well
• Continue to saute till the onion become light brown in color.
• Then add the chilly powder,coriander powder, turmeric powder and garam masala.Mix well.
• Reducae the flame and add cleaned mutton pieces and 1/2 cup of the mutton stock into the masala mix and saute till all the water has gone and the mutton turns to a brownish color. You can also see the oil seperating.
• Remove from flame and serve as a side to your rice,rottis, naan, poratta.

I served this with my couscous dish!!

Enjoy!!

Parippu vada ~ Dal fritters

Parippu vada is a popular evening snack to have with tea in kerala. I remember growing up we used to get this from a thattu kada near by. Man,It's really crunchy and yummy treat!

Have it with a cup of hot tea in this cold weather!!

INGREDIENTS:

•  2 cups - Thuvar dal or Channa dal ( I have used channa dal )
• shallots 10- 12 chopped
• Green chili, 2-3  finely chopped
• 1tbsp - Ginger , grated
• Curry leaves, few finely chopped
• Astafoeida- pinch
• cumin powder 1/2 tsp
• chilie powder 1/2 tsp 
• 1/2 tsp baking soda (optional, Mine came out very crispy outside and soft inside)
• Salt to taste 
• Vegetable oil to deep fry

 

METHOD:

•  Soak dal for 2 - 3 hours. Drain well. There should not be any water.Else you wont be ablw to make patties and it kinda breaks too,happened to me in my first try.
• In a food processor or blender, add little at a time some soaked dal and grind. The dal should be ground to a coarse paste - Even if there are dals not ground its fine.
• Pour oil in a wok or kadai to deep fry. Heat oil on medium heat.
• In the mean time,mix the chopped onion, chopped green chili, chili powder,ginger, curry leaves,cumin powder,astafoeida and mix well. Add salt to taste.
• Wet your palms and take small amount of the dal mixture and make a ball. Place in the center of the palm and flatten to a round shape.
• When the oil is hot, slide the vada's into the hot oil and fry on both sides to a golden brown colour. Remove from oil and drain.
• Serve these crisp parippu vada with some chutney and hot tea.

I know what you are wondering what is that black stuff with my vada's. Well. Its my version of Tamrind chutney or something like that. I really dont know the name. I got this once as a dip for dry chilie chicken.
What I did is. I took some tamrind paste, few shallots,green cilie, and blended it with water to a thick consistency. Added salt and chopped corriander. I dont exactly know the measurments.

Thenga varutharacha sambar (fried coconut vegetable chowder)

When I returned after my vaccation to India, mom prepared and gave me a pack of thenga varuthath (Fried coconut).I told her I dont want it. it might get spoiled by the time I reach here but she insisted it will not and to take it along.She was right it didnt. It did make a lot of my cooking a little easier and tastier.That mothers touch!! I had just a little of it left so I decided to finish it with this tasty Sambar.Pria, of house of spices, has made a differnt version of this coconut sambar. Check it out!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup Toor dal
• 1 large Potato, peeled
• 1 tomato
• 1 onion
• 6 Lady finger
• 1 carrot
• 7-8 snap beans
• Asafetida - a small piece  or maybe 1/4 tsp powder
• 1/2  tsp Fenugreek seeds
• corriander powder 2 tbsp
• Turmeric powder 1/2 tbsp
• Chillie powder 1 tsp or according to your taste
• Tamrind 1 lemon sized ball, soaked in water.
• 1/2 cup thenga varuthath (Fried sesoned coconut)  TO MAKE thenga varuthath u need
•                                1/2 cup grated coconut
•                                 curry leaves a few
•                                1/2 tsp Fennel seeds (Perumjeerakam)
•                                1-2 pieces red chilies flakes

For Tempering

• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• curry leaves few
• Shallots 3-4 chppoed
• 1-2 Red chillie flakes, broken

METHOD:

• Making Thenga masala
• In a small pan add the Asafetida piece and roast it for a  few seconds. Remove from pan. Crumble the Asafetida into small pieces using the back of a spoon{if using the powder omit this step}.Add the fenugreek seeds in the same oil. Remove from pan. If you are making the thenga varuthath, you can add it to the pan and roast the ingredients now.Remove when you get a nice aroma and a brownish color.Crumble the Asafetida into small pieces using the back of a spoon. Add this and the roasted fenugreek seeds, 1tbsp corriander powder to the fried coconut. Grind this mixture with little water into a very smooth paste and keep aside.
• Cook dal with 1/2 tsp turmeric powder salt and water.
• When done, add the cubed potato,chopped onion, chopped carrot and sanp beans to the dal. Add 1 tbsp corriander powder,chilie powder, turmeric powder salt and the tamrind water.The water should just cover the vegetables. Cook till done.
• When this is done and the brinjal,when half done add the lady finger and the tomato and the ground coconut mixture.Cook till the tomato piesec are done.If you feel curry is toot hick and a little water to your desired consistency.

For Tempering

• Heat oil in a kadai. Splutter the mustard seeds. Add the chopped shallots when it turns light brown add the curry leaves and the chillie flakes. Pour this over the sambar.
• Serve this with Rice, Dosa or Idli.

Radish thoran

This is a simple radish recipe.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup grated raddish
• 1/2 tbsp mustard seed
• 1-2 tbsp grated coconut
• 1/4 tbsp cumin seed
• 1/2 urud daal
• 2-3 chilie (adjust to ur taste)
• curry leaves few
• oil.

METHOD

• Heat oil in pan. Splutter the mustard seeds,add cumin,urud daal, green chillies and curry leaves.
• Add the grated coconut. Stir for 1 minute.
• Add the grated raddish and salt. Mix well.
• Cook the raddish in low flame till its cooked and becomes dry.

okra curry

Okra or lady finger curry. This is one of the dishe that I learnt from my mother in law. Since my father in law was in CRPF they got to travel through out India. It’s always very interesting to hear my FIL's stories of his days in the Force and my MIL's attempts to learn the regional language at least enough to get her groceries.

 

My MIL has mastered the cooking oo many places. You give her any vegetable and she would have made something out of it in a jiffy! But I will sit and ponder as to what I can make out of it.

 

This is a simple but tasty curry that I learnt from her.

 

INGREDIENTS:

• Lady fingers (Okra): 20 medium size, washed and cut into 1inch pieces.
• Shallots 10 chopped
• Garlic paste 1 tsp 
• Chicken masala -1 tbsp 
• Chili powder -1tbsp or depending on your taste 
• Fenugreek seeds- ¼ tbsp 
• Mustard seeds- ½ tbsp 
• Fennel seeds- ¼ tbsp 
• Cumin seeds- ¼ tbsp 
• Thick coconut milk – 50 ml 
• Tamarind marble sized soaked in water 
• Curry leaves a few 
• Oil 
• Salt to taste

  

METHOD:

• Take a heavy bottomed vessel. Pour oil. When it’s hot add the cut okras and sauté till it wilts well and all that sticky stuff is gone. Remove and keep it aside.  
• In the same pan add oil if necessary and splutter the mustard seeds, fenugreek and Fennel seeds. 
• Add chopped shallots, garlic paste and curry leaves. Fry till it is brownish in color. 
• Add chili powder, chicken masala and a inch of turmeric. Mix well. 
• Add the Coconut milk and tamarind juice. Adjust the sourness of tamarind to your liking. 
• Bring to boil. Stir well. 
• Add cumin seeds, and salt. Mix well. 
• Add the fried okras to the coconut gravy , stir and simmer in low flame for 4-5 minutes. 
• Remove from flame.

 

Serve it with Plain rice.

 

 

 

Banana Pulissery

At home in India, the only time we had a complete vegetarian dish was on Onam. Unlike Eid during which we always have feast in our house and then go to cousins during the evening, for Onam we had all my cousins come over to my house, wear set sarees, make pookalam and have a grand feast. We will be playing and laughing our hearts out and then you’ll hear the call…”Sadya ready bakshanam kazhikan vayo”.

 

When you go inside The hall will be cleared of all the furniture’s and a big mat will be spread and then the banana leaf. There will be 8 to 10 kinds of veggies dishes. Man thus it make my mouth water. And oh…the payasam. We always had 2 kinds of payasam!!

 

It sure used to be a grand celebration. But after coming here we don’t get the same fun somehow!!

 

Boy I miss those days!

 

Mom used to make this kidilam pulissery. Sometimes with pineapple other times with banana. She said it’s not the real pulissery but for us that was enough. I have made it a couple of times and it always turned out delicious. Mom’s version doesn’t have coconut in it. So here is the recipe for my mom’s banana pulissery.

 

 

 

INGREDIENTS

 

• 1 large ripe banana

 

• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder

 

• 1 cups yogurt

 

• 1 tbsp thinly sliced shallots

 

• 2 small green chilies

 

• 1 tbsp thinly chopped ginger

 

• Salt to taste

 

For the garnish

 

• 1 tsp oil

 

• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds

 

• 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds

 

• 2 dry red chilies

 

• a few curry leaves

 

Method

 

• Peel and cut the banana into small pieces. In a saucepan, place the banana pieces, shallots, slit green chilies, ginger, turmeric powder and salt, and pour just enough water to cover the ingredients.
• Cook covered till the water is boiling, remove the cover and cook it on medium heat till the banana pieces are really soft, and most of the water is gone. Mash the banana pieces (I like mine a little chunky).
• Reduce the heat to low flame, and pour the yogurt into the saucepan. Stir well to combine the mashed banana pieces with the yogurt. Keep stirring till the gravy is heated through, don’t boil. Remove from the heat.
• In a small frying pan, heat oil and add the mustard seeds. When they start to splutter, add the fenugreek seeds and fry for a few seconds. Add the curry leaves and red chilies and. Pour this over the prepared banana gravy and mix well.