Lime pickle

BM # 74 Week 1
Theme : Festival recipes
Recipe : Lime pickle/Cherunaranga achar/Elumpimichampazha oorga

When we think of festival dishes, we often think of sweets or main courses that are usually made to celebrate any festival. However, a little-mentioned yet very important role is played by the condiments which are usually served as an accompaniment to any meal.
In Kerala, the cherunaranga (lime) pickle holds an important place in any sadya. Vishu/Onam and even weddings see this bitter-sour-spicy pickle make an appearance. The traditional method of making this pickle is time consuming. However, if  you've been following my blog for a while now, you know that quick, easy and no-compromise-on-taste are mantras that I follow. This recipe is one that was shared on a Food Group that I belong to. It is a One Pot One Shot recipe that has been developed by Mr. Ramakrishnan and is being shared here with his permission. The terms OPOS and One Pot One Shot are registered trademarks owned by Mr. Ramakrishnan.

What you need:
Lime - 6, cut into 8 pieces each (approx. 3 cups)
Red chilli powder - 2 tsp
Pickle masala - 2 tsp (optional - If not using, add another tsp of red chilli powder)
Sesame oil - 5 tsp
Salt - 3 tsp
Asafoetida - a generous sprinkle

Add oil as the bottom layer in a pressure cooker. Spread the limes evenly over this. Add the salt, red chilli powder, asafoetida and pickle masala. Cover and cook for two whistles. Once the pressure settles, open the pan and mix well. The mixture will seem quite watery, but will thicken as it cools.
In a separate pan, heat a tsp of sesame oil. Add a tsp of mustard seeds and some curry leaves. When the seeds pop, pour this over the pickle. When the pickle cools completely, transfer to a glass jar and refrigerate.
This pickle is ready for consumption almost immediately, but the flavor deepens with time. It is initially quite bitter, but after about a week, the bitterness reduces and the flavor is intensified.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#74

Parippu Kanji

BM # 74 Week 1
Theme : Festival recipes
Recipe : Parippu kanji

I was talking to a friend a few days back about how interesting it is that we have such a huge list of fasting foods in our culture. We never truly go hungry, because even when we are 'fasting', we are actually 'feasting' on the delicacies that are prepared specifically to be eaten during the fasting period.
This kanji is one such dish that is prepared during Sivaratri in Kerala Iyer households.

What you need:
Split yellow moong dal - 1/2 cup
Jaggery - 1/2 cup, powdered
Milk - 2 cups
Cardamom powder - a pinch

In a pan, dry saute the moong dal over a low flame until it turns reddish. Add 2 cups of water to the roasted moong dal and cook in a pressure cooker until it is well cooked and mushy. Mash it well with a ladle. Add the jaggery powder and cardamom to the cooked dal and keep stirring over a low flame until the jaggery is completely melted. Switch off the heat and stir in the milk.
Serve warm.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#74

Keerai thoran - Red amaranth stir fry

Sometimes, the most mundane of things can help bring forth the most pleasant memories. Very often, it is not the thing itself that we crave, but the fond memories associated with it that the heart yearns for.
I recently learned this profound truth when I spotted red amaranth leaves in the local farmers' market. While I have always loved the simple, earthy taste of a stir fry made with these leaves, it is only now, in the wake of having recently lost my grandmother, that I have realized how closely tied in this leaf is to my memories of her.

Some of my earliest memories as a child include her, impeccably dressed in her nine yards madisar podavai, walking to our front yard with a plate filled with tiny black seedlings. I would assist her in scattering these seeds around our coconut trees and then sprinkling water over them. I would check and water the seeds in the days to follow,my entire child's being thrilled to see the tiny shoots sprouting out of the ground. A few weeks down the line, my grandmother would harvest her crop of red keerai (red amaranth/malabar spinach) and hand them over to my mother to be cleaned and chopped. Once that was done, she would put her cheena chatti (wok) on the stove, heat some coconut oil in it, put in a simple seasoning of broken red chilli, urad dal and mustard seeds and then the chopped spinach leaves. These would cook remarkably quickly  in their own steam on a low flame. A garnish of grated coconut ground with green chillies was the final touch she added to the dish and then, knowing that this was my favourite way of eating it, she would mix it up with hot rice and ghee on a plate and hand it to me.
I now know that it is not the dish alone that I am so fond of, but the heaping helping of love with which it was made and served that I long for.

What you need:
Amaranth leaves/malabar spinach - 1 bunch (Any variety of leafy greens can be used but I am partial to the red amaranth leaves that grow particularly well in Kerala)
Oil - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Broken red chilli - 2
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup ground coarsely with 1 green chilli
Salt

Wash the leaves well and chop finely. Heat oil in a pan. Season with dal, mustard and red chilli. When the seeds start to pop, reduce the flame to low and stir in the chopped leaves and salt. Cover and let it cook in its own steam until wilted. Add in the ground coconut. Stir well and heat uncovered until the moisture evaporates.
Serve with hot rice and ghee.

Cabbage thoran - a Kerala sadya staple

A sadya (feast) in Kerala without a thoran(stir-fried vegetable) is unimaginable. It is simple dishes like these that make a feast memorable and complete.

What you need :
Cabbage - a small one, chopped fine
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp (optional)
Salt - to taste
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Green chilli - 2
Curry leaves - a few
Red chilli - 1
Oil - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Heat oil in a pan. Add the urad dal, broken red chilli and mustard seeds. When the seeds pop, add the chopped cabbage, turmeric powder, salt and just enough water to cover it. Cover and cook on a low flame.(*) Grind the coconut, chilli and curry leaves coarsely without adding any water. When the cabbage is almost done, add the ground mixture to it, stir well and cook uncovered until well cooked and all the excess water has evaporated. Serve hot.

Note : * The process of cooking cabbage can be quickened by cooking it in the microwave or steaming it in the pressure cooker.
Check once in a while to ensure that there is sufficient water for the cabbage to cook in.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#45

Pavakka kichadi - a Kerala sadya staple

Diwali, though mostly associated with savory murukkus and ghee-laden sweets, is also about the feast that is prepared on the day of the festival. In this post and the next, I will be blogging about two simple and easy-to-make dishes that are an essential part of any sadya (feast) in Kerala.
The first dish is an accompaniment called kichadi by many and pachadi by some. Biitergourd, ladies finger/okra, tomato and beetroot are some of the vegetables that can be used to make this dish.
In this version, thinly sliced bittergourd  is fried to a crisp and then stirred into a spiced mixture of coconut, chillies and sour curd.

What you need :
Bittergourd - 2 small , sliced into thin small pieces after removing the pith and seeds
Sour curd - 1 cup
Fresh grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp + 1 tsp
Green chilli - 2 or 3 (depending on your spice tolerance level)
Oil - 2 tsp
Urad dal  - 1 tsp
Salt

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the urad dal and 1 tsp of mustard seeds along with some curry leaves. When the seeds pop, add the bittergourd, stir well, cover and let it saute until the bittergourd turns crisp and brown. Do not rush this step. Let the gourd cook in a low flame and stir every now and then so that it doesn't burn.
While this is getting done, grind the coconut, chillies and mustard seeds to a smooth paste adding a few spoons of the curd to it. Once the gourd is crisp, brown and cooked, add the ground paste to it along with salt and let it boil for a few minutes. Switch off heat. Beat the remaining curd so that it does not have any lumps and stir it into the pan. If you feel it is too thick, add some more curd.
Enjoy!!!

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#45

Olan - a Kerala sadya staple

A few months back, the blog turned eight, and as has been usual for a while now, this particular milestone went unnoticed. Around the same time, I also moved (AGAIN) back to the US of A and so, for the past few months, have been going through an almost endless cycle of packing, shipping, unpacking, and setting up house. I have cooked a lot of unconventional interesting food, but for some reason , I find that  though my drafts folder is crowded with pictures of my experiments, the task of sitting down and typing is something that I keep postponing until I forget how I made a particular dish.
Recently, I was asked for Onam sadya recipes and that is when I realized that there are a lot of simple must-haves in a traditional  Kerala feast that I have not posted here. Olan is one such dish. Easy to make, with a simple yet profound taste, this dish features on almost all sadyas (feasts). Peeled ash gourd is diced into thin squares and then cooked with black eyed beans, green chillies, salt and a dash of coconut milk to create this much loved dish.

Olan

What you need :
Ash gourd - peeled and cut into medium sized thin squares - 2 cups
Black eyed beans - 1/4 cup (either the red variety or the white can be used)
Green chilli - 2 or 3, slit lengthwise
Curry leaves - a few sprigs
Coconut oil - 1 tbsp
Coconut milk - 3 tbsp (optional)
Salt - to taste

Soak the beans in water for at least an hour. Cook until one whistle. The beans should be cooked through but not mushy. Take the sliced ash gourd in a sauce pan. Add just enough water to cover the slices. Add the slit green chillies and salt. Cover and cook over a medium flame until just cooked. Add the cooked beans and boil for a few minutes. Add the coconut milk, if using. Stir well and switch off the heat. Add curry leaves and coconut oil. Do not stir at this time. Cover and keep aside for at least 10-15 minutes so that the aroma of the oil and the curry leaves blends into the dish. 

Mix well before serving.

Mambazha pulisseri

Ever since I can remember, the rains have always made an appearance on the first day of school. During my school days, the skies would open up exactly on the day our school reopened. This always made me happy as it meant that I didn't have to wear closed shoes for at least 2 months. I could go to school wearing open toed sandals, feeling the rain water with my toes, armed with a colourful new umbrella.
History seems to have repeated itself because today, my daughter went to school in open toed sandals, wanting to stop and jump in all the puddles along the way. There's something very positive and beautiful about seeing smiling young faces all set to be welcomed into a new school year.
Rain also means that the mango season will end in a few weeks' time. So I have decided to use mangoes in as many ways as I can before they disappear from the market. Today's recipe is for a quintessential dish from Kerala - mambazha pulissery - a tangy and sweet blend of mangoes cooked in spiced, sour curd. I am of the opinion that this dish must have had its beginnings when an innovative cook decided that she wouldn't throw away over-ripe mangoes that the kids didn't seem to want to eat.


What you need:
Ripe mangoes - 5 or 6 (*See note)
Sour curd - 1 cup
Green chilli - 3
Coconut - 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt
Jaggery(optional - use only if the mangoes are not sweet by themselves)
For tempering:
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Red chilli - 2
Methi seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - a few sprigs

Chop the mangoes(with skin) into large chunks. In a large pan, add the chopped mango, the mango seed, and just enough water to cover the mangoes. Add turmeric powder and let it boil until the mangoes are cooked and tender to touch. Let it cool and then using your hands, squeeze out all the pulp from the skin and the seeeds and then discard the skin and seeds.(#See note) Take the mango pulp and any water that is left over from boiling the mangoes in a large kadai. Grind coconut, green chillies and curd to a smooth paste. Add this paste to the mango pulp along with salt. Let it come to a boil. At  this point, if you feel that the mixture is too thick, add about 1/4 cups of beaten curd. Once you add the curd, do not let the mixture boil. Switch off heat once it starts frothing.
Heat all the tempering ingredients in a pan. Once the mustards seeds pop, pour the tempering over the pulisseri and serve warm with rice.

Note : * Typically, a small variety of mango called the kootan mambazham/nattumambazham is used. These are small and can easily fit into the fist of an adult. If you cannot find these, use any fleshy variety, but reduce the quantity of mango used. I was lucky enough to find something similar to the kootan mambazham we get in Kerala when we had gone to Murud(read travelogue here).
# You can choose to let the mango, with skin and seeds to remain in the pulisseri and that is how a lot of people enjoy this curry. However, in my household, the mango pieces are carefully set aside and later thrown away untouched. So I used this method to ensure that the fruit is not wasted.
This is my entry for Blogging Marathon #29 under the theme Cooking with colours. The colour I have chosen for the first day is Yellow.
Check out the http://spicingyourlife.blogspot.com/p/blogging-marathon.html">Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#29

Green peas curry

Green peas curry is the perfect accompaniment to the kerala parotta I blogged about. The memories of thattukada parotta drenched in a generous helping of green peas curry is something that can make ravenously hungry at any time of the day.
So, let us get down to making my version(based on memories) of this curry, shall we?

What you need:
Fresh green peas - 1 cup
Onion - 1 large, chopped into large chunks
Tomato - 2, diced
Coconut milk - 1/2 cup
Red chilli - 3 or 4
Cardamom - 4 pods
Dhania seeds - 3 tsp, heaped
Oil(preferably coconut oil) - 2 tsp
Salt
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Add half a cup of water to the peas and microwave for 8 minutes or till tender. If you do not have fresh peas, soak dry peas overnight and pressure cook it. Keep aside.
Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan. Add red chillies, cardamom and dhania. Heat on low flame until well roasted. Add the diced onions and fry till pink. Stir in the tomatoes and heat till they become mushy. Let this cool. Once completely cool, grind to a smooth paste.
Now, heat a tsp of oil. Add half a tsp of mustard seeds and some curry leaves to it. When the seeds pop, reduce the heat and add the ground paste along with a cup of water and the cooked peas. Stir well. Add salt and turmeric powder. Let it boil for 5-8 minutes. Add coconut milk and heat for a minute or two. Switch off heat just before it starts boiling. If you do not want to add coconut milk, you can add about 1/4 cup of fresh coconut to the ingredients that you grind together.
Serve hot.

Kerala style porotta - Step by step pictorial

Nope....it is not a spelling mistake. We are not talking about a paratha here. Nor is it called barotta. If you want to say it mallu ishtyle, please say po...ro....tta. In some parts of Kerala, it also goes by the name parotta.
A parotta is a layered flatbread usually made with maida and lo.....ts of time and patience. If you plan on visiting Kerala, please do try this out from a thattukada. A thattukada is God's own country's version of a fast food joint. It is simply a food cart on wheels and the food served is fresh, hot, made to order and always delicious....as long you don't really ask questions to find out where the water is from and how well the plates are washed.
As long as I lived with my parents, I didn't visit a thattukada......simply because thattukadas operate only at night, and at that time, you don't see girls/women standing around these places and eating. So, even though we had one very close to our home and I was always tempted by the tantalizing smells, I have never gone there. The place would always be crowded with mundu(dhoti) clad "gentle"men. This changed when I moved to a different town for my higher studies and started living in a hostel. One of the first things I did is visit a thattukada at night. The sense of freedom and daring I experienced is something that cannot be described with mere words. To date, the best parotta and peas curry I have had is at these thattukadas.
I tried recreating a healthier version of parotta using multi grain flour instead of maida, and the result was good, though I missed the camaraderie of my hostel mates and the luxury of having someone else make this for me.

What you need:
Multi grain flour - 2 cups, heaped (Can be substituted with maida(APF)/whole wheat flour)
Oil - 3tbsp+1tsp+1tbsp
Salt
Water

Mix together the maida and salt. Add water little by little and knead into a smooth, pliable dough. Add 3 tbsp of oil and knead well. Rub one tsp of oil all over the dough to prevent it from drying out. Cover and let it stand for atleast an hour.
Take 1 tbsp of oil in a flat/shallow plate.
Pinch out a ball of dough. Flatten it slightly between your palms and then roll it out. Do not dredge in flour while rolling. Instead,dip your fingers in the oil and spread it over the rolled dough and continue rolling it out. The idea is to S-T-R-E-T-C-H the dough as much as you can and make it as thin as you can. It doesn't have to be a perfect circle at this point.

If you look at the pic above, you will see that the counter top is visible through the rolled out dough. That is how thin you have to roll it out.
Next, we start folding the dough into pleats from one end to the other. It is similar to making pleats on a sari.The picture will explain how it is done.

After the pleats are made, start rolling the pleated dough into a ball, starting from one end.

Once rolled, keep it covered until all the dough is rolled up similarly.
When I had rolled up all the dough into balls, I kept them on the plate in which I'd taken oil so that the oil wouldn't be wasted, plus, my dough wouldn't dry out.

Now, take one ball at a time and flatten it out into a thick circle.

Heat a tawa. Cook both sides of the parotta on it, until it develops brown spots on both the sides.
Once you have cooked a few parottas, hold them between your hands and crush sideways. Do this gently, as our aim is only to separate the layers, not to break the parotta into pieces.

Serve hot with peas curry.

Payaru mezhukkupuratti (Yard long beans stir fry)

My final dish for Blogging Marathon #5 is a simple mezhukkupuratti made with payaru which is called yard long beans in English. Mezhukkupuratti is a very simple stir fry. Mezhukku stands for fat - usually oil and puratti means coated with or smeared with. So all you have to do to make a mezhukkupuratti is, cook the vegggies and then coat them with some oil(coconut, of course). Yard long beans are thin, long and pale green in colour. They grow abundantly in Kerala and are used to make mezhukkupuratti, thoran or olan. In Tamil, these beans are called karamani.

What you need:
Yard long beans
Salt
Turmeric powder
Coconut oil

Cut the beans into one inch pieces. Add a little water and cook in the pressure cooker up to one whistle or microwave for about 7-8 minutes. Drain excess water.
Heat 2 tsp of coconut oil in a pan. The amount of oil you use will depend on how much cooked beans you have on hand. There should be enough oil to coat all the beans, but if you rub your fingers over the finished product, it shouldn't come off oily either. Add the cooked beans, salt and turmeric powder. Stir well and heat thoroughly.
Serve with rice.
Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me  Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Me, Kaveri, Pavani,Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: KalyaniSummer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Sweet Beginnings - Paal payasam - Milk 'n rice pudding

The blog has been silent for a while now.....and this time, it is not without reason. I have moved from one city to another and have been busy setting up our new home and getting accustomed to a new language and new surroundings.
The first festival that we celebrate in this home is Vishu - the first day of the Malayalam month Medam. Wiki has more information on how Vishu is celebrated. I have talked about the Vishu of my childhood in this post.
No celebration of an Indian festival is complete without a sweet dish. Vishu is no exception. Traditionally, payasam is made and offered to God. Vishnu being the presiding deity of this festival, I decided to make his favourite - paal payasam.

What you need:
Payasam rice - a handful (This is a special kind of broken matta rice that is available in Kerala or in Kerala stores. In the absence of this, you can use raw rice)
Milk - 1 litre
Sugar - 1 cup, heaped (adjust to taste)

Wash rice well. Add milk to it and cook in a pressure cooker until one whistle and then reduce the flame to low and cook for another 10 minutes. Switch off heat and let the steam settle down.
Open the lid carefully....stir well and add sugar. On low heat, let the payasam cook further until it starts thickening and develops a pinkish colour. This will take a good 30 to 45 minutes. Make sure that the heat is low and that you stir once in a while.
Usually, cardamom powder,nuts, or raisins are not added to paal payasam as it is said to deter from the taste. I have stuck to that rule and kept the payasam simple.

Kavathu avarakka poduthuval

On a recent visit to my parents' I came back with a whole lot of kavathu which my father had grown in the back yard. Not many people outside Kerala are familiar with this root vegetable.

It looks like a cross between yam and taro, doesn't it? It tastes quite different from those, though.
Kavathu is often paired with avarakkai to make a curry during the thiruvathira festival. Here, I have made a stir fry using it.

What you need:
Kavathu
Avarakkai (broad beans)
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 3/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Grated coconut - a little
Green chillies - a few
Salt

Wash kavathu in plenty of running water to remove all traces of soil. Scrape off the skin. Chop it into medium sized pieces. Cut broad beans into long pieces.
Heat some oil in a pan. Add urad dal and mustard seeds. When the seeds pop, lower the heat and add the kavathu, avarakkai, turmeric powder and salt. Add a little water and cover and cook until both the veggies are cooked well. You will need to stir in between to make sure the veggies don't burn and you may also have to add more water from time to time to ensure that it is well cooked.
Grind the coconut and green chillies without adding any water. Add this to the cooked vegetables. Stir well and serve with rice.
Check out what my fellow marathoners Srivalli, Priya Suresh, Priya Vasu,Monika, PJ, Azeema and Reva are cooking.

Pazham moru koottan

NOTE: This post is several months old....It has been languishing in my drafts for quite a while now.
A few years back, if someone had told me that I'd make plans to meet up with several random people known to me only through the internet, I would have said it is downright crazy. But that is just what I did yesterday. And the funny thing is, it is not even the first time I am doing it. I've met fellow food bloggers twice and mommy bloggers once.
So this time round, as a seasoned "blogger meet"-er, I walked in without even noting down the phone numbers of the people I was meeting. And then, as I got closer to the venue, I thought....how am I supposed to recognize them? There's only one person here that I've met and one whose face I am familiar with through her FB profile. I am the kind of person who can't remember faces that I've seen in real life...so how am I going to remember an FB profile face? If worst came to worst, I could always identify all-female groups and walk up to them as say, Are you food bloggers?
Luckily, I didn't have to resort to that as my face-recognizing skills seem to have become better.....as soon as I walked in, I saw Lata waiting in the lobby. Identifying the rest of the group wasn't too difficult, mostly because Lata knew them or because they were familiar with her FB profile photo. Conversation and food, both were in plenty and thoroughly enjoyed.
The day after the meet found me wanting to make something simple, yet flavourful....and I resorted to an old favourite - moru koottan, which loosely translates to buttermilk side dish.
Moru koottan is a tangy, spicy dish that is made with curd, coconut and green chillies. Usually, ash gourd, colocascia, yam and fried okra are the veggies added to it. In my family, we make a version that uses ripe nenthra pazham - a variety of plantains that Kerala is famous for. This koottan is a lovely blend of three different tastes - tanginess from the sour curd, sweetness from the plantains, and spiciness from the chillies.
Mixed with rice and served with a side of spicy roasted potatoes and papadums, this is foodie heaven.

What you need:
Nenthrapazham (Kerala plantain) - 1, diced
Coconut - 1/2 cup, grated
Green chilli - 3
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Sour curd - 1.5 cups (beaten till smooth)

Add some water to the diced plantains. Add salt and turmeric powder. Boil on low heat for a few minutes until the plantains become soft, but not mushy.
Grind the coconut and green chillies to a smooth paste,using some of the sour curd for grinding.
Add this to the simmering mixture and let it boil for a few minutes until the raw smell is gone.
Now add the remaining curd and stir well. When it starts frothing, switch off the heat.
Heat some (coconut) oil. Add mustard seeds, a broken red chilli, some curry leaves and a few methi seeds to it. When the mustard seeds pop, pour this over the koottan.

Notes:
1)The plantains used should be just ripe....not overripe...the skin should be yellow, with no signs of blackening.
2)The curd should be sour. I usually leave mine on the kitchen counter overnight to make it sour.
3)Use your discretion to decide how much curd is needed. Start with a cup and then, based on whether you want a more watery gravy or not, alter the quantity.
4)After adding curd to the koottan, you should not let it boil. As soon as it starts frothing, you should switch off the stove.

The Queen

Her mother in law(MIL) was coming over for lunch tomorrow. She stood in the kitchen, looking around, trying to see what faults her MIL would be able to find. Everything was dusted, clean and organized.....but that wasn't going to stop the old lady from saying something caustic. She would have to try the food route. Maybe the way to her mother in law's heart was through her stomach. What should she make??? She thought of all the sadyas that she had enjoyed and smiling, moved to pick up a little plastic packet that she'd bought on her last shopping trip. The smile became wider as she added milk and sugar to it and put it into the pressure cooker. By the time she was done with the rest of her cooking, the whole house was filled with a heady, sweet aroma. The MIL walked in, sniffing appreciatively....but trying hard not to show that she was impressed. She looked around and raised her eyebrow at the cushion that was out of place in the living room. The DIL quickly ran in to the kitchen and came back with a warm bowl of the palada pradhaman that she had made. A spoonful of that and the MIL had to really struggle to hide her delight....a few more spoonfuls and she gave up trying to pretend that she didn't like it. With a half smile in her daughter-in-law's direction, she threw the spoon aside and slurped noisily from the bowl.

What you need:
Double Horse Rice ada - a large handful
Milk - 1 litre
Sugar - 1 cup, heaped
Saffron - a few strands (optional)

Wash ada in plenty of water. Soak it for 20 minutes in hot water. Drain the water and transfer the ada to a pressure cooker. Add milk, sugar, and a cup of water. Stir well. Cook until one whistle. Reduce the heat and cook for another 10 minutes. Once the pressure has been released, continue to let the mixture simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally, until it is reduced to half. This will take a little over an hour. At this stage, the payasam will acquire a slightly pinkish colour. Switch off the heat and serve hot, warm or cold.

Notes:
Any brand of store bought rice ada can be used for this payasam. However, after trying out several brands, I have found that Double Horse ada is closest in taste to home made ada.
If you don't have the patience to stand and stir the payasam for an hour, reduce the amount of sugar used, add half a tin of condensed milk and then you'll find that the payasam thickens sooner.
For an excellent post on how ada can be made from scratch, please check out this post at Kailas Kitchen.
This goes to Desi Soccer Mom who is hosting the 4th edition of Chalks & Chopsticks, a monthly event started by Aqua.

Kaalan

Change is a good thing, but some changes make me sad. When I was a child, Onam was a festival that brought a lot of joy.....we used to pluck flowers from our garden....it didn't matter which flowers we used....all that mattered is that we got up early, plucked flowers, washed the front yard and decorated it with flowers. Even when we had pookkalam competitions in school, most of us used flowers that grew in our homes. The sadya was cooked at home and enjoyed by the entire family.
These days, not many children are aware of flowers like mukkutti poo and thumba poo. With more and more people living in flats, these flowers have all but disappeared. Onam has become just another reason for stores to offer discounts and grocers to rack up their prices. The commercialization of a festival that is celebrated by all religions and castes saddens me.
To help myself feel better, my pookalam on all 10 days was made of flowers and leaves from the neighbourhood. My ona sadya consisted of some basic dishes that make this season a special one.
Kaalan is one of the dishes that I made. You don't have to wait for Onam to make kaalan. Any time you have a lot of curd left over, you can turn it into this delicious dish.

What you need:
Thick,sour Curd - 3 cups
Turmeric powder – 1/2tsp
Black pepper powder – to taste
Salt
Yam –1/3 cup, peeled, cut into pieces, cooked and drained of water
Coconut – 1/2 cup, grated
Green chilli – 1 or 2

For Seasoning:
Coconut oil
Mustard
Methi
Curry leaves
Red chilli

Beat curd well without lumps. Add turmeric pwd,salt and pepper to it and let it boil on low flame until all the moisture evaporates and it is reduced to an almost solid consistency.
This can be stored in the refrigerator for upto a month.
On the day you want to make kaalan, take the required amount of the stored mixture. Add cooked yam to it. Grind coconut and green chillies to make a smooth paste. Mix it in. Boil for a few minutes.
Heat a tsp of coconut oil. Add broken red chilli, mustard seeds and curry leaves. When the seeds pop, add methi seeds and remove from heat. Pour this over kaalan.
This can be eaten mixed with rice, or as a side dish.

Notes:
The quantities given are approximate, as I did not measure the ingredients. Please use your judgement.
The more sour the curd, the better the kaalan will taste.
Plantain can be used instead of or along with yam in this recipe.

Chakka varuthathu (Jackfruit chips) - step by step pictorial

What you need:
1 medium sized raw jackfruit
Oil - enough for deep frying
Salt - 12 heaped tsp

WARNING :
If you think the ingredient list is small and that making this is a breeze, think again. This is TIME CONSUMING!!! Attempt this only when you have lots of time on hand.
The only part I have played in the making of these chips is in clicking the photos and of course, relishing the end product. The rest of it was taken care of by my mother.
If you're still here after that warning, here's what you need to do:

Extract the edible segments from the jackfruit. Check out this article to see how to cut a jack fruit and separate its segments.
Remove the seeds and the white strips that you find on the segments.
Now cut each segment into strips of medium thickness.

Heat oil in a large, heavy bottomed pan. The larger the pan, the faster you will finish your work. The pan that you see in the pic is a copper bottom uruli which can comfortably hold several litres of oil. For authentic taste, use coconut oil. If you can't stand it or don't have access to it or just plain refuse to use it, substitute with refined oil. When the oil is hot, reduce the flame and drop in handfuls of the jack fruit strips. Stir to make sure they don't stick together.

While this is getting cooked, take 12 tsp of salt in a small vessel. Add just enough water to cover the salt. Do not stir. Keep it aside.

Stir the chips once or twice to ensure even cooking.

When the strips are three-fourths cooked, completely reduce the flame and pour in some of the salted water (roughly 1/4 cups of salted water). It will bubble up at this point....so be careful.

Let it cook for some more time until well browned and crisp. Drain on to a colander to remove excess oil.

Once it cools completely, store it in an air tight container.

Aapam

Aapam is a popular breakfast dish in Kerala and is served with coconut milk and sugar or with a spicy curry like kadala curry or ishtu.
For those who are not familiar with it, aapam is made of fermented rice+dal batter. It is made in a special pan called an aapachatti. An aapachatti or aapam pan is a shallow round pan with a handle on either side. It usually comes with a lid. If you don't have an aapachatti, use a thick bottomed small kadai and a lid that will cover it completely. Cast iron pans were once common but these have now been almost completely replaced by non-stick pans which make things a lot easier.

What you need:
Raw rice - 1 cup
Parboiled rice - 1 cup
Coconut water - from 1 medium sized coconut
Urad dal - a handful
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste

Wash the rice and dal well and then soak it along with the fenugreek seeds for 6-8 hours in plenty of water. Drain the water. Add coconut water and salt and grind to a smooth batter. Let it ferment overnight.

To make aapam
If you are using a cast iron pan/kadai, grease it with some oil.
Pour a ladleful of batter in the centre of the pan and then, holding the handles on either side of the pan, swirl the batter around so that it spreads into a circle that is thick and spongy in the middle and thin at the edges. Lower the flame. Cover it with the lid and let it cook until the edges start leaving the sides of the pan and become slightly brown.
Slowly ease the aapam out of the pan.
Serve hot with kadala curry.

Note :
Some people use yeast/toddy and coconut milk instead of coconut water. I find that coconut water gives me the best results and the aapam smells much better.
Leftover rice, if you have any, can be added while grinding the batter for softer aapams.

This is my entry to JFI-Breakfast which is being hosted by Suma for Indira and to Priya's Pancakes event.

Kadala (Chickpeas) curry

Kadala curry is one of my favourite breakfast accompaniments. Hot, steamed puttu or lacy aapam served with some spicy kadala curry is my idea of a perfect breakfast. Despite the fact that both my husband and mother tell me in no uncertain terms that puttu tastes like mud, they are quite fond of kadala curry. Kadala curry is nothing but brown chickpeas cooked and then simmered in a gravy of spices, onions, tomatoes and coconut.

What you need:
Brown chickpeas - 1 cup, soaked overnight and cooked
Onion - 1 large, chopped into large chunks or a handful of shallots, peeled
Tomato - 3, juicy ripe ones, chopped into big pieces
Ginger - a small piece
Red chilli - 3 (adjust to taste)
Corriander seeds - 1 tbsp
Cardamom - 3 pods
Grated fresh coconut - 1/4 cup.
Coconut oil - 4 or 5 tsp
Salt
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Heat oil in a pan. Fry the red chillies, cardamom and corriander seeds. When they are nicely browned, add in the ginger and chopped onions and fry until translucent. Now add the grated coconut and heat till it turns reddish brown. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and fry until they soften. Once this cools, add salt and grind to a smooth paste adding water as needed.
Heat a tsp of oil in the pan. Add a tsp of mustard seeds and a handful of curry leaves. Once the seeds pop, transfer the ground mixture back to the pan, add the cooked chickpeas(along with the water in which it was cooked) and some turmeric powder and let it boil for about 8-10 minutes.

I like the curry to be slightly thick, which is why I boil it for so long. Most people make it quite watery and if that's how you prefer it, just heat it for a few minutes so that the chickpeas absorb the flavour of the spices and then serve.

Do remember to send me your entries for MEC-Celebrating bloggers before the 31st of the month.

Rediscovered pleasures

Eating a moovandan mambazham (a variety of mango that grows abundantly in Kerala) whole....juices dripping down my fingers

Plucking fresh vegetables from the garden

No cooking

Waking up la....te (I do that often), but it's a nice and welcome change when u wake up and find that your daughter has already had her teeth brushed and drunk her glass of milk.

Teaching the little girl to drink honey from a thechi poo....I have no idea what it is called in English, and am just too lazy to google it.....so here's a picture.

Vishu memories

Vishu is a festival celebrated by the people of Kerala during the first day of the Malayalam month Medam. Contrary to what most people think, this is not the Malyali New Year 'coz the Malayalam calendar begins in the month of Chingam.
To me, Vishu is an incredibly beautiful festival which is made even more beautiful by the memories that I've carried with me since childhood.
The vishukkani is something that is set up in the puja room on the previous night. The colour yellow plays a very important role in the kani. Fruits and vegetables that are usually abundant in this season are used. A brass tray or an uruli is placed on a kolam in front of Krishna's picture. Ripe mangoes, kani vellari (a kind of golden orange coloured cucumber), ripe bananas, and jackfruit are placed in it. In addition to these, I added some non-traditional fruits and veggies like apple, orange and padavalanga (snake gourd) to my vishukkani.Rice and uncooked parippu (dal) are also placed in front of the deity. A small silver cup is filled with coins (increasingly being replaced with notes) and placed in the kani as well. A large mirror is placed behind the arrangement so that the entire kani is reflected in it. Gold, usually in the form of a necklace or bangles is also part of the kani. The whole arrangement is then bordered by the beautiful vishu konna flowers (yellow flowers). In the morning, a lamp is lit, casting its golden glow on this simple, yet beautiful arrangement.
The predominant memory that I have of Vishu is that of being woken up at a really early hour and being led with my eyes closed, by my mother, to see the kani. The belief is that if you wake up seeing the kani, the rest of the year will be good for you.
Vishu kaineetam is an inseparable part of Vishu. The elders in the family give money (it used to be coins, but that has now been replaced by notes) to the younger ones. It was a good way to supplement pocket money, and I used to visit lots of relatives on Vishu just to receive kaineettam. Kaineettam is given not just to kids - any person can give kaineettam to someone who is younger than them.
No Indian festival is complete without food, and no mention of a festival in Kerala is complete without the traditional sadya. Check out my sadya pics here, and here. Sambar, rasam, thoran, pachadi, olan, koottu curry, avial, papadum, payasam and manga kari are usually made for the Vishu sadya.
Now, in our family of three, it is my turn to lead my daughter to the kani in the morning. We had fun setting up the kani together at night, with her wanting to eat all the fruits right then and there.
Here's wishing all those who are reading this a very happy and prosperous Vishu.