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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Chena Varuthathu / Yam fries

Chena varuthathu has a special place in Kerala sadhya. It is usually served with the other sadhya vibhavangal. A simple and easy to make side dish. Preparing method may vary in different places, this is the way we do at home.

How to prepare Chena/ yam fries
chena / elephant yam pieces 1 cup
turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon
red chilly powder 1 teaspoon or more
garlic ginger paste 1 teaspoon
fennel seed powder 1/4 teaspoon
salt
oil for frying

Mix everything together. Deep fry till you get golden brown fried yam.

Read more about the cuisine of Kerala.

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Ulli Theeyal / Small Onions Cooked In Roasted Coconut Gravy

Ingredients and Method
small onions / shallots 15 whole peeled
tomato 1
green chillies 2 chopped
coconut oil
tamarind 1 goose berry size

For roasting
coconut grated 1 cup
small onions chopped 3
garlic clove chopped 1
coconut oil 2 tea spoons
curry leaves few
perumjeerakam/ fennel seeds 1 pinch
coriander powder 3 tea spoons
chilly powder 1 or 2 tea spoons
turmeric powder 1 tea spoon

Heat coconut oil. Fry small onions and garlic. when it turns brown, add coconut, fennel seeds and curry leaves. Stir until the coconut turns brown. Then add all powders and stir for few seconds only. Remove from fire. When this cools, blend them with 1/2 cup water.(Or use enough water to make it a thick solution)

Heat 1 table spoon oil. Saute small onions and green chillies. When it begins to transparent, add tamarind water about 1/2 cup. Put salt and tomato chopped and let it boil. Add blended coconut mixture and boil. When oil floats on top, remove from fire.

Heat 2 tea spoons of coconut oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry dry red chily and curry leaves.Pour them into the curry.

You can make this in an easy way.
For this start from the end. Do the seasoning first and saute small onions and green chillies in this and boil with tamarind water, tomato and blended coconut mixture. Add enough salt.

Enjoy with Rice..!

Other Theeyal Recipes,
Kaippakka / Bittergourd Theeyal
Chemmeen / Prawns Theeyal

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Kurukku Kaalan / Vegetables Cooked in Curd

Ingredients and method
chena or yam pieces 1 cup
raw plantain pieces 1 cup
turmeric powder 1 tea spoon
curd 11/2 cup
coconut 1 cup grated
pepper powder 2 tea spoon
green chillies 2 or more
cumin seeds 1 tea spoon
salt

for seasoning
fenugreek/uluva 1/4 tea spoon
mustard 1 tea spoon
coconut oil
red chillies 1 or 2



Cook the vegetables with salt, pepper powder and 2 table spoons curd and little water enough to cook. When it is done, reduce water. Grind coconut with green chillies, cumin and remaining curd until smooth. It should get butter consistency(venna paruvam). Add this to the cooked vegetables and just heat. Don't boil it. Remove from fire, Heat coconut oil , splutter fenugreek, mustards then add red chillies and curry leaves. Pour it over the curry.

This is my favorite vegetable curry. Can eat this even without rice. This is a dry curry and we can keep in fridge up to one or more months. For this have to cook vegetables in the curd or thick butter milk and don't add water while grinding coconut. This should be done on a stone grinder (Ammi ). It is impossible for most of us, thats why I grind coconut with curd, so we can avoid the water content too.

It is better cook this kaalan in an earthern pot, ie, manchatti. So the pot itself will absorb the excessive water from this. If you have thick butter milk, you can boil it too with the coconut. But the ready made products will not work, I think.

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Puli Inji / Inji Puli

Ingredients and Method
small onions 8
tomato 1 small
ginger 2 inch piece
green chillies 4 chop into round pieces
garlic 7 (small size) cloves
turmeric powder 1/2 tea spoon
chilli powder 2 tea spoons or as desired
fenugreek seeds 1/4 teaspoon
mustard seeds 1/2 tea spoon
curry leaves few
coriander powder 1 tea spoon
tamarind pulp 1/2 cup thick or as desired
water 3/4 cup
coconut oil
jaggery 1/2 inch piece
salt

Grind ginger and garlic into paste.(You can chop them too as small pieces )Cut small onions into two. Heat oil, splutter mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds.Saute garlic and ginger paste for few seconds or more till the raw smell goes. Then add curry leaves, chopped tomatoes, small onions,chopped green chillies and all the powders and salt. Saute for a while. Add tamarind pulp and water and bring to boil. Reduce water after adding jaggery piece. If you want too thick inji curry, roast some parboiled rice , powder it and add to the gravy.You can keep this fridge for many days. The inji curry preparation can keep out side too for about four more days. If you don't like more sour things, reduce the amount of tamarind.

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Mathan / Pumpkin Pachadi

HAPPY ONAM!
Here is a simple side dish for Onasadya.

Ingredients
Pumpkin ½ kg
Small onions 4
Garlic 1 clove (avoid if you don’t like)
Coconut grated 1 cup
Curry leaves few
Green chilly 3 chopped finely
Cumin seeds ½ tea spoon
Mustard to grind 1 tea spoon
Curd ¾ cup
Salt
Coconut oil

How to prepare
Peel and cut pumpkin.
Cook with chopped green chilies in water just enough to cook.
Grind small onions, garlic, mustard, cumin seeds, coconut grated etc with little curd.
Make a smooth solution.
Mix this with cooked pumpkin.
Heat it, don’t boil.
Add remaining curd and salt.
Mix well.
Heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, add curry leaves, pour in to the curry.

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Varutharacha Sambar

Samabar prepared in fried coconut gravy

Ingredients
Parippu/ Dal ½ cup
Potato 1
Tomato 1
Onion 1
Drum stick/ muringakkai pieces 6 or Ladies finger/ vendakkai 6
Ash gourd/ Kumbalanga pieces ½ cup
Brinjal/vazhuthananga 1 or 2
Raw banana 1
Curry leaves few
Coriander powder 2 table spoons
Turmeric powder 1 tea spoon
Chilli powder 1 tea spoon or as desired
Uluva/ fenugreek seeds ¼ tea spoon
Coconut grated ½ cup
Asafetida/ Kayam small pieces 2 or as desired
Tamarind/ puli 1 lemon size ball soaked in water
Coconut oil
Mustard seeds
Cumin seeds a pinch
Red chillies 1 or 2
Salt

For ground paste

Fried coconut and masalas prepared for sambar

Heat little oil in a pan. Add asafetida piece (see the size in photo). Roast it. When it is crispy, take it out, and press it with a spoon and crumble. Roast fenugreek seeds in the above oil, add coconut, a pinch of fennel seeds/ perumjeerakam , few curry leaves. When it is brown add 1 table spoon of coriander powder and stir for few seconds. Blend this masala with enough water and the crumbled asfoetida/kayam.

Kayam/Asafoetida

I wouldn’t use asafetida powder, adding this piece gives extra aroma to the sambar.

How to prepare
Chop all vegetables.

Keep ladies finger, brinjal and tomatoes separately.

Cook dal with ½ tea spoon turmeric, salt and water.

Mix chopped onion, potato, raw banana pieces, ash gourd pieces, 1 table spoon coriander powder, ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, red chili powder and salt in tamarind pulp and enough water to cover the vegetables.

Put one small asafetida piece in this.

Add this with the cooked dal.

Cook till the vegetables are done.

Then add brinjal pieces.

When it is half done, add vendakkai pieces, tomato and masala mixture.

Cook till tomatoes are done.

Heat little coconut oil.

Splutter mustard seeds and cumin seeds, stir red chillies and curry leaves.

Pour this into sambar.

Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve with rice, pappadam,pickle and curd.

This is my own recipe. You can reduce the amount of asafoetida according to your taste.

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Avial Thrissur special

Once when I published my avial recipe in one of the famous cooking sites, I got a message from a reader that no one would add small onions in the avial! :) Yeah,We use small onions for making avial. So, this avial has a different taste than the usual one. In some parts of Trissur, small onions or chuvannulli are added to avial. You can make this one without small onions too..

Ingredients

Vegetables - 2 1/2 cups

Vellarikka,Elephant yam(Chena),Raw banana(Ethakkaai),Kumbalanga,Carrot,Long runner beans(Achinga),Drumsticks(Muringakkai)

Grated coconut - 1 cup

Green chillies - 2 nos

Coconut oil - 2 tbsp

Small onions(Kunjulli) - 3 - 4 nos

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Cumin seeds(Jeerakam) - 1/4 tsp

Sour curd - 1/2 cup

Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Curry leaves - As reqd

Salt - As reqd

How to prepare

1)Cook the vegetables with salt, powders and 1 tbsp of coconut oil.:- There is no need to add water if you have washed it just before cooking.

2)Grind together 1 tbsp of coconut, cumin seeds and curd, till it becomes smooth paste.

3)Add remaining coconut, green chillies, small onions and a few curry leaves and finish grinding in one or two turn.

4)Add enough salt and mix well.

5)Pour this solution into the cooked vegetables and just heat it through. :- Don`t cook too much.

6)Remove from fire before boiling.

7)Make a small hole in the middle of curry with a spoon.

8)Fill it with curry leaves and add the remaining coconut oil.

9)Cover it with the gravy.

10)Keep the lid closed.

11)Mix before you use.

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Erissery/pumpkin and dry red beans curry

Ingredients and Method

Pumpkin – 1 cup
Dry red beans – 1//2 cup
Turmeric powder -1/2 tea spoon
Pepper powder- ½ tea spoon
Coconut grated – ½ cup
Dry red chilly -1
Coconut grated – 1 table spoon
Cumin – a pinch
Curry leaves
Salt
Coconut oil

Cook red bean with water and salt.
Cook pumpkin with turmeric, pepper, salt and water enough to cover.
Mix both the above.
Blend coconut with small onions and cumin.
Pour this in the mixture of pumpkin and red beans.

Heat this mixture and stop when it begins to boil.
Heat oil, splutter mustard seeds add red chilly, grated coconut(1 table spoon) and curry leaves.
Fry till the coconut turns brown.
Pour in the curry.
I would prepare the same curry using yam, horse gram etc. using horse gram instead of red beans brings a different taste.

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Vazhuthananga / Brinjal Pachadi

Ingredients
Brinjal(Khathirikka) - 4 nos
(purple coloured)
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Salt - As reqd
Grated coconut - 1 tea cup
Curd - 1 cup
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Coconut oil - As reqd
Small onions(Kunjulli) - 2 nos





Method of preparation
1)Cut brinjal in thin round pieces.
2)Mix turmeric, chilly and salt together.
3)Marinate brinjal pieces in this.
4)Fry them in coconut oil.
5)Grind together coconut, mustard seeds, small onion and curd :- No need to add water.
6)Pour this into a pan.
7)Add enough salt.
8)Put fried brinjals in it and place on fire.
9)When it starts to boil, remove from fire. :- Do not let it boil.
10)Heat 2 tsp of coconut oil in a small frying pan.
11)Splutter mustard seeds.
12)Add curry leaves and green chillies and pour this into the above.:- You have another easy method. Mix the fried brinjals with curd. Add salt. Goes well with rice or chappathi .

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Rasam

Ingredients
Asafoetida - a small piece or 1/2 tea spoon powder,
coriander seeds - 2 tea spoons,
black pepper corns - 1 tea spoon,
cumin seeds - 1 tea spoon,
garlic cloves - 6,
turmeric powder - 1/4 tea spoon,
tomato chopped - 1,
tamarind water thin - 3 cups,
curry leaves - few,
coconut oil - 1 table spoon,
mustard seeds - 1/2 tea spoon

How to prepare
Grind together coriander seeds, cumin seeds, garlic cloves, pepper corns etc .
Add this to tamarind water.
Add tomato, turmeric powder, asafoetida and salt.

Boil till the water reduced a little.
Heat coconut oil, splutter mustard seeds, add curry leaves and red chillies.

Pour into the solution.

Have with rice.
Good when having fever, cold and throat pain.

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Moru curry/Butter milk curry

Ingredients and method
Ash gourd / yam - 1/2 kg
small onions - 5 peeled,
coconut grated - 1 cup,
turmeric powder - 1/2 tea spoon,
Curd - 1 cup or thick butter milk 1 and 1/2 cup,
green chilly - 2,
mustard seeds - 1/2 tea spoon,
fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tea spoon,
cumin seeds - 1/4 tea spoon,
red chillies - 2,
coconut oil - 1 table spoon,
curry leaves ,
salt.

Peel and cut the vegetables.
Put in a pan and add water just to cover the veg.
Add turmeric powder, salt, green chillies.
Cook till done.
Blend coconut with cumin seeds, small onions and curd.
Blend till smooth.
Add this to cooked vegetables.
Heat and remove from fire when it begin to boil.
Don't boil this.
Heat coconut oil and let mustard seeds splutter.
Add fenugreek seeds.
Then add red chillies cut, curry leaves.
Pour this into curry.
Have with rice.

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