Chena-Muthira / Yam-Horse gram Erissery

How to prepare Chena Muthira erissery
Chena / elephant yam 2 1/2 cups
horse gram 3/4 cup
coconut grated 1 cup
small onions/ chuvannulli 4
cumin seeds / jeerakam 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
pepper powder or chilli powder 1 tsp
curry leaves few
dried red chillies 1 or 2
mustard seeds
coconut grated 1 tbsp
coconut oil
salt

You can cook this in two methods.
Boil horse gram with little salt until half cooked.
Cut and clean yam. Add to the half cooked horse gram with turmeric and chilli powders and enough salt. Cook until done.

Heat little coconut oil. Roast the grated coconut with chopped small onions , cumin seeds until the coconut is slightly brown. Don't roast for too long. Blend this with little water and pour to the cooked yam - horse gram mixture. When it begins to boil remove from fire.

Heat coconut oil, splutter mustard seeds, saute curry leaves and dried red chillies and 1 tbsp grated coconut. Do this for a while until the coconut changes color and pour the mixture into the curry.

You can do this without roasting coconut. For that recipe follow the Pumpkin/red cow peas - Mathanga payar Erissery recipe..

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Chilly Fish

I had few salmon fillets in my freezer, and was wondering what to do with it. Since salmons are not much familiar here, no body liked it and said, it has a biscuit taste! A friend told making curry with salmon fish will taste good, but I postponed it for the next time, and just tried a chilly fish with the usual chilly chicken ingredients and it was worth , all the fillets disappeared! :) I used the same method to finish the leftover canned sardines after the roti canai event..:D

Ingredients and how to prepare
Fish fillets 6
onion 1
green chillies 2
ginger 1/2 " piece chopped
lemon juice 1/2 tsp
garlic paste 1 tsp
ginger paste 1 tsp
curry leaves few chopped
coriander leaves chopped few
soya sauce 1 tbsp
chilli sauce 2 tsps
tomato sauce 2 tbsps
pepper powder 1 or 2 tsps
chilli powder 1 tsp
corn flour 2 tsps
salt
oil

Cut fish fillets into small pieces. Marinate them with garlic and ginger paste, salt, pepper powder,chilli powder ,lemon juice ,half of the soya sauce and cornflour. Keep for half an hour. Shallow fry them. Chop onion and cut green chillies. Heat oil,(use the remaining oil used for frying ) saute onion, green chillies, curry leaves and ginger together for some time. Don't saute too much. Add fried fish, remaining soya sauce, chilli sauce and tomato sauce. Mix well, after adding coriander leaves remove from fire.
You can try this with prawns too.



Chilly Sardines
Sardines in tomato sauce 300 gms
onion 1 chopped
green chillies 2 chopped
ginger 1/2" piece chopped
garlic cloves 2 chopped
curry leaves few chopped
soya sauce 1 tbsp
chilli sauce 2 tsp
pepper powder 1 tsp optional
mustard seeds
oil

Heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, saute onion. when transparent add green chillies, ginger, garlic and curry leaves. Saute and add sardines with the sauce which it is soaked. Add the other sauces too. Mix well and remove from fire.

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Vegetarian Omelettes

Eggetarians cannot taste this like real omelets, though this is a good option for vegetarians. You can add tomato,mushrooms, ginger or any other vegetables according to your taste. This is a best filling in sandwiches too.



Ingredients for making Vegetarian Omlette
Besan / gramflour / kadalamavu 3/4 cup
Maida 1 tb sp
yeast 1/2 tsp
Beans chopped 1 tbsp
carrot chopped 2 tbsps
cabbage chopped 1 tbsp
onion chopped 1
green chilly 1 or 2
coriander leaves chopped 1 tbsp
pepper powder 1 or 2 tsp
garam masala 1/4 tsp
water
salt
oil / ghee



Mix besan, maida and yeast together with enough water to get the consistency of dosa batter.Keep it an hour or more to rise. Add all the chopped vegetables, salt and powders. Heat a pan, spread little oil / ghee then pour 1 ladleful of batter. Turn over when one side is done. Make small omelettes. Cook this on a medium heat, turning frequently.This will help to cook the inner part very well.

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Simple Fish Fry Marinated WithTamarind Pulp

This is the first dish which brought some applause after I started cooking.. :) I was zero in cooking when I prepared this.I had prepared few dishes like semiya payasam, vegetable cutlet, omelet and mango pachadi. Since my umma was with me I had nothing to worry with her help. But after marriage I tried to learn from many people who cook well. And this one I prepared my self using the remaining tamarind pulp which is used for preparing fish curry. This simple masala is great for frying ayala / mackerel and mathi / chala / sardines.



Ingredients and preparation
Shallots /red onions / chuvannulli 6
fennel seeds 1/4 tsp
chilli powder 3 tsps or as desired
turmeric powder 1 tsp
tamarind paste / puli 1 tsp
salt
oil for frying

Grind shallots / chuvannulli and fennel seeds together. Mix with the powders and salt. Marinate fish in this.Do shallow fry.

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Bread Puttu / Steam Cakes With Bread Crumbs

This is one of the easiest of breakfast recipes. You can cook this in few minutes. A tasty dish which can take with sugar , curries or boiled banana.If you have leftover bread in your fridge use it to make this delicious breakfast. Children can take this as a tiffin too. It will not turn hard later like the usual rice powder puttu.I used 4 or 5 bread slices to make these 3 pieces of puttu.

How to prepare bread puttu
Bread
water
salt (if the bread is unsalted)
coconut grated



Slice the sides of bread. Sprinkle very little water on bread pieces and crumble them which actually look like puttu podi.(you can use mixer grinder to make bread crumbs.Then sprinkle water over it).Mix with hands. Then put two handful into the puttu kutti then coconut grated on top. Repeat this until you make three pieces of puttu. Steam them on the puttu kudam / vessel. Take out just like we do for making puttu.
Use very little water to sprinkle over or you can make without sprinkling water too.

For making puttu / steam cakes follow the puttu recipe here.

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Cheerathandu / Spinach Stems Sambar

This is an addition to the peel and stem recipes here! Don't think I have nothing to throwaway once a vegetable is used for cooking..:D But I can surely say, a mallu can survive without veggies if he is lucky to live in his own country.I have seen an aunty of mine who prepared spinach / cheera dishes in seven days of the week. If she didn't get spinach from the near by shops she heads to the surrounding land or the neighbour's house to pluck some cheerayila / spinach leaves..Those leaves are not the same which we get in shops. They are different and pure locals who grow with the grass! One more cheera type we have at home is known as Malaysian cheera, with dark green leaves, that we often use for cooking. I think many of you might have the same in your home courtyards.
And this cheerathandu sambar is my MIL's version and she is the another person who uses lots of leaves or stems for cooking..You can use the green spinach stems also for this..

Cheerathandu sambar ingredients and preparation
Cheerathandu / spinach stems 1 bunch
coriander powder 1 tablespoon
chilly powder 1 tsp or as desired
turmeric 1/2 tsp
masoor dal / red lentils 1/2 cup
puli / tamarind 1 goose berry size
water 2 cups or as required
onion 1
tomato 1
potato 1
garlic cloves 2
cumin 1/4 tsp
fenugreek / uluva 1/4 tsp
kayam / asafoetida / hing 1/4 tsp powder- I used 1 small piece
curry leaves few
mustard seeds
salt
coconut oil



Take the stems of spinach / cheera remained when once you removed leaves. Peel them like we do for removing the skin of drumsticks / muringakkai. Cheerathandu will have very thin skin which should be removed.
Cut them in the desired size but not too small. Wash and keep them aside. If the stems are very thick, cut them length wise into two pieces.
Peel potato and chop into big pieces.Chop onion and tomato too.Crush garlic.
Soak tamarind in water and take about 1 cup tamarind water.(Or take according to the sourness you desire)
Wash and cook dal / parippu with onion, tomato, garlic, potato, all the powders, asafoetida and salt in the tamarind water. When it is half done, add 1 cup water and the chopped spinach stems. (Or add enough water required for cooking.) Cook till done.
Heat oil, let the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and fenugreek seeds to splutter.
Fry curry leaves, and pour this solution into the curry. Add dry red chillies too for seasoning if you like. Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves on top.

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Squid / Kanava Roast

Kanava / Koonthal - Squid / Calamari Roast

Ingredients and Method
Koonthal / Squid 1/2 kg pieces
tomatoes 2
onions 2
garlic and ginger paste 2 teaspoons
green chilly 2
curry leaves few
red chilly powder 2 teaspoons or as desired
coriander powder 1/2 teaspoon
turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon
garam masala powder 1/4 teaspoon
fennel seeds powder 2 pinch
vinegar 2 tablespoons
salt
oil



Mix everything together except oil , vinegar and curry leaves. Cook them on a medium heat. If needed add enough water to cook. When it is about to finish cooking add vinegar. Reduce water. Heat oil in a pan, pour the prepared curry into this. Add curry leaves too. Saute till very dry. Garnish with coriander leaves.

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Bittergourd Mango Dry Curry / Manga Pavakka Vattichathu

Bittergourd mango dry curry / Manga kaippakka vattichathu

Ingredients and Method
Bittergourd 1
raw mango / pachamanga 1
tomato 1/2
small onions 10 or onion 1
crushed garlic cloves 2
green chillies 2
curry leaves few
turmeric powder 1 tsp
chilli powder 2 tsp
coconut oil
mustard seeds
salt

Clean and cut bitter gourd into small pieces. Chop small onions, tomato and green chillies. Peel and cut mango. Cook everything together expect oil, curry leaves and mustard seeds in water enough to cover it. Cook and reduce water. Season with mustard seeds and curry leaves in oil. Dark green bitter gourd may taste more bitter than the light green one. So choose light green if you don't like more bitterness.If the mango is too much sour avoid adding the whole mango pieces.
Other bitter gourd recipes
Kaipakka Curry
Kaipakka varutharacha curry
Pavakka Pachadi
Pavakka Achar

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Kolli Ishtu / Kappa Puzhukku / Mashed Tapioca

Its raining in Dubai right now........The weather is cold, and this dish is suitable for the rainy evenings! I prepared it yesterday evening, of course this evening snack turned out as my dinner too..:) I love to take this as breakfast, lunch etc etc.........
In my place (nearby places of Gvr and Kkm) , we call this dish Kolli ishtu. I have heard some people call it Kappa puzhukku also. I have never seen my umma (mom) added turmeric to this dish. She prepared whitish and not much mashed kolli ishtu.



Ingredients and method
for preparing Kolli ishtu / Kappa puzhukku

Tapioca 2 roots
peel it and cut into small pieces. Remove the fiber part in the center.

for seasoning
small onions 15
garlic cloves 2 big
red chillies dried 3 or 4
curry leaves few
cumin seeds / jeerakam 1/4 tsps
mustard seeds 2 tsps
turmeric powder 1 tsp
coconut oil
coconut grated 2 Tbsps
salt



Boil tapioca pieces with salt and enough water to cover it.(I do pressure cook until one whistle. This depends on the quality of the tapioca.) Drain the cooked water.

Crush small onions, red chillies and garlic cloves together. Heat coconut oil, splutter mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Add crushed ingredients,turmeric powder and curry leaves. Saute until the small onions turns little brown colored, add grated coconut. Stir for few seconds. Add cooked tapioca pieces and mix and mash well. Add extra salt if needed.
Enjoy with spicy red fish curry and a hot tea!

Read more about Kappa / maracheeni / kolli / cassava / tapioca..............

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Pazhampori and Eithappazham Porichathu / Banana and Dates Fritters

Banana fritters / Pazham Pori
Bananas - ripe / nenthrappazham 2
atta / whole wheat powder 3/4 cup
rice powder 1/4 cup
cardamom powder 2 pinches optional
egg 1 optional
sugar 2 tsp
water
oil



How to prepare
Cut banana into three equal pieces. Chop each piece ( length wise ) into three equal pieces. Make a thick batter mixing all the ingredients above. Dip banana pieces in this and shallow fry in oil.



Dates fritters / Eithappazham Porichathu
Dates / eithappazham 15
cashew nuts or almonds 15
atta / wheat flour 3/4 cup
rice powder 1/4 cup
sugar 2 teaspoons
water
oil

Roast cashew nuts in little ghee. Or apply little ghee on cashew nuts and microwave it for few seconds.

Make a slit on one side of the date. Remove the seed through that. Replace a cashew nut or badam instead of the seed. Join the side by pressing gently. Do this for all the dates and cashews. Make a thick batter using water, atta, rice flour and sugar.
Heat oil. Dip the dates in the batter and deep fry them. you can fry 4 or 5 together. Let them not to stick to one another.
You can use maida instead of atta. Adding egg will make the banana fritters more crispy. I haven't tried egg for frying dates.
Submitted to RCI Kerala hosted by Currybazar

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Mango and Cucumber Pachadi / മാങ്ങാ വെള്ളരിയ്ക്കാ പച്ചടി

Manga vellarikka pachadi
Raw mango 1 peel and chop into very small pieces.Cook it with salt and little water.

To grind,
coconut grated 1 cup
mustard seeds 1/2 teaspoon
cumin seeds 1/4 teaspoon
green chilly 1
ginger a small piece crush and add to the cooked mango.

Grind them together using little water. Pour this solution into the cooked mango when it is hot. Mix well. Heat coconut oil, splutter mustard seeds, add curry leaves,dry red chillies and pour it into the mango pachadi.


manga pachadi

For making manga vellarikka pachadi, chop cucumber / vellari into small pieces. Add this too mango pieces and cook together. You can make vellari pachadi using curd / thairu instead of mango.
My third entry to RCI Kerala hosted by Currybazar

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Erachi / Meat Puttu

Erachi puttu / Steamed Rice flour Cakes with meat mixture.

Ingredients and Method
Minced meat 2 cups
onion 2
ginger garlic paste 2 teaspoons
green chillies 4
coriander leaves chopped 1/2 cup
pepper powder 1 teaspoon
turmeric powder 1 teaspoon
coriander powder 2 teaspoons
garam masala 1 teaspoon
salt
oil



For making the mixture,
chop onion, green chillies and coriander leaves finely. Heat oil, saute onion. When it is transparent, add garlic and ginger paste as usual. Stir for few seconds until the raw smell goes. Then saute green chillies, add meat, all the powders and salt into this. Add little water to cook. Once it is cooked, reduce water and make it a dry curry. Add coriander leaves and mix well.

For making puttu, first place little of this mixture in puttu kutti.Then put two handful of rice flour prepared. Then meat mixture. Repeat this to get three pieces of puttu. Cook this on the puttu vessel till the steam comes out. Let it cook for few more minutes after the first steam comes out.

You can follow the instructions for making puttu here.

If you love to have puttu with some curries, the Vegetable stew or Kuruma is best to take with this. Making the meat mixture very thick like curries adding tomatoes will prevent the steam to come out.

See Mishmash's Erachi puttu recipe here! If anyone of you have an Erachi puttu recipe, pls let me know.
Again an entry for RCI Kerala hosted by Currybazar.

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Ash Gourd Peel Fries / Kumbalanga Tholi Kondattam

Before going to the recipe, you have a request from my little poetess to visit her blog. Hope you all will encourage her by leaving your valuable comments.

Kondattams / vattals always take me back to the home courtyard. Except in Monsoon season, there would be a kaitholappaya (mat made with the leaves of a plant like pineapple plant which produces a a very pleasant smelling leaf like flower kaithappoovu) or a vattoram / muram ( a flat shallow basket type sieve to winnow grains which is made with bamboo) in the courtyard of every house. The product may be different in each house, it might be spices like coriander, chillies, turmeric, kondattams , paddy, dried coconut etc. If it is mango season, then it would be naturally mango pieces! Can't forget the taste of salted, little bit dried raw mangoes..:) The mat would be moving wherever the sunlight falls until late afternoon! And this is the one my mother used to make while making other kondattams like bitter gourd / pavakka vattal or chilli / mulaku kondattam.
A very tasty one, if dried or not. I prefer the raw peel fries which goes well with or without rice!



Ash gourd Peels Fry/Kumbalanga Tholi Varuthathu

Kumbalanga tholi / ash gourd peels 1 cup
chilli powder 2 teaspoons
turmeric powder 1 teaspoon
salt
oil

Mix everything together except oil. Do shallow fry in oil.



Ash gourd peels / Kumbalanga Tholi Kondattam

Peel ash gourd. Wash and mix the peels with salt. Let it dry in sunlight. You can fry them when it is too dry or not. You can store it when it is very dry.

See the pumpkin peel / mathanga tholi recipe here!

This goes to Currybazar for RCI Kerala Event!

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Dates And Almonds Drink

Dates have a special place in the lives of Beduins (Nomadic tribe of Arabs) in the Arab world. It is the great fruit rendering enough energy to them. Muslims take it to break fast, because of the health benefits it provides to our body.
While searching for my daughter's social studies project, I happened to read an anecdote from a UAE site. One evening a local Bedu received a letter and there was no sufficient light for him to read it.His wife soon kneaded some dates, and formed a cup. She poured some melted butter into it and placed a wick using some threads and lit the lamp! After finished reading the letter, the man threw out the wick and ate the cup! What an interesting tale , isn't it?



Dates and Almonds drink(Eethappazham Badam Juice)
Dates 15
almonds 15
milk 2 cups or more

Soak dates in 1 cup of hot water for 1/2 hour. Remove seeds. Soak almonds in water for overnight and and peel it.Blend them together with the water used for soaking dates and 1 cup of milk.Add the remaining milk according to your taste. Making paste of almonds and adding it will avoid forming granules in the drink. Since the dates are enough sweet, no need to add sugar.
For removing the skin of almonds in a hurry, just pour boiled water to the almonds, and keep it in that for five minutes. Then peel it easily..

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Malaysian Porotta / Roti Canai - Step by step recipe

Happy New Year!






What happens when some bachelors enter your kitchen?
I think most of you might have experienced the same when your darling husband come into your kitchen for making some simple dishes! The whole kitchen would have been a real mess then.

On December 30th some bachelors entered my kitchen. (With my prior permission :-)) My kitchen is very small and actually I don't like them engage that little place for sometime.(Especially because of the disorderliness they create) :) Whenever I leave to India they occupy my kitchen and experiment for two months! But this time, I called them to make some special dishes, for a special occasion. Today - December 31st is my blog’s first B'day, and I thought to post some thing inviting at Salkkaaram.
Once my husband had told, one of his friends Mr. Rasheed is an expert in cooking, particularly in Malaysian dishes. So we called him and he agreed to make some Malaysian porottas for us. Though he cooks well, his real job has no connection with cooking! :)

Here is the ingredients list and the measurements he used;
Maida / all purpose flour 2 kg
eggs 3
milk 1 cup
water 2 1/2 cups
Sugar 2 table spoons
ghee
salt
coconut oil

For filling
cottage cheese
jam
small bananas
onions 2
tomato 1
green chillies 3
eggs
canned sardines

1) Roti canai - Malaysian porottas

Add eggs and milk to the flour.Mix well by adding water.





Make a dough by kneading very well. He didn't add ghee while making dough.



But later after finished making dough, he just applied coconut oil over the dough with hands.
Then cover it using a wet cloth. Keep it like that for one hour.



Then make balls.



The important parts are the kneading and rolling. ( Veeshal we say in Malayalam :D)
Wipe a clean surface using oil. Take one ball and press it to make a small chapati using hands. Press only edges, not the middle. The middle part must be thick.



Expand it by rolling with hands.( We can make a similar one by using a rolling pin)





Then fold like you watch in the pictures.









Then just twist it to make a round shape.(Not compulsory) Then press again with hands to make it little more flat.Place it on a griddle, roast by flipping over and adding ghee on both sides.





Finished!

2) Roti telur bawang - Onion and egg porottas
3) Roti Sardin telur Bawang - Sardines, onion and egg porottas



View Slide Show of Preparation.

4) Roti Pisang manis - Banana cheese porottas




Meet the Chef and View preparing method!

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