Getting ready for Onam – Thulli Payasam

thulli payasam

This is that time of the year when I could launch myself into a nostalgic ramble with ease and enthusiasm. Onam is just a day away. My head is filled with images of clear blue skies, eye tickling sunshine of a gentle kind and old Dalda cans full of home made banana chips. Folks back home tell me that there the current Onam visual consist of traffic blocks, appalling prices for food supplies and a maddening rush to get into every shop regardless of what they are selling. Yet, we are back to the Onam of our childhoods the moment we sit down for the sadya, no matter catered or homemade. T is traveling this week, so we made Onam sadya in advance with two good payasams.

We made thulli payasam for the first time, and LOVED IT. . The word “thulli” means “drop” in malaylam . This payasam is made with cooked drops of rice flour batter. It tasted so much like the one made with homemade ada, only with less hassle attached to it. May be you could tell me which part of Kerala this excellent idea is from. While I wait to hear from you, here is the recipe.

Rice flour - ¾ cup
Bananas, ripe – 3nos
Ghee – 2 tsp

Brown sugar/jaggery – 2 cups
Coconut milk – thick and thin a cup each
Ghee toasted Cashew nuts and raisins or chopped coconut – to garnish
Dried ginger powder ( Chukku) – 3 pinches

In a blender puree 2 bananas with ¼ cup of water, add ghee and rice flour, blend till a thick batter is formed, adding more water if necessary. Keep it for 10 minutes. Boil water in a large sauce pan and drop the prepared batter in to it through a slotted spoon to make drops ( thulli, hence the name ) When the batter drops are cooked it will raise to the top. Whisk the cooked drops with a slotted spoon and spread on a plate. Repeat till all the batter is over.
Finely chop a banana. Heat ¼ cup water in a thick bottomed vessel and add banana. Cook till the pieces are tender, adding more water if necessary. When the pieces are completely cooked, add brown sugar, 1 tsp ghee, cooked thulli, and cook for another 5 minutes with constant stirring. Add thin coconut milk (mix canned coconut milk with equal quantity of water to make thin C milk), ½ cup of water and cook for 5 minutes. Add thick coconut milk and cook for 2 more minutes. Turn off the heat. Keep the vessel covered for the next five minutes. Add ginger powder, ghee toasted cashew nuts and raisins or toasted silvers of coconut. Payasam is now ready to serve
An award and a tip on growing Zucchini

My mother is thrilled reading your comments about her cross stitch work. She is poised enough to calmly handle a couple of compliments thrown in her way. But I turn into a walloping mass of soft butter when a dear friend like Rushina hands over an award. Thank you, this is my first of its kind, and I shall be proudly wearing it.

Grilled Zucchini

Grilled Zucchini-colors


Did I tell you about the Zucchini bumper crop that we once had? After taking a break for one year we came back to growing it once again, taking into account of the fact that we use Zucchini a lot in cooking. Just to site few examples, we know from our experience that this vegetable can skillfully disappear in to a sambar, blend very well in a dal, or act as substitute snake gourd in an avial. This year we are careful about harvesting it in the right time though. What we lacked as fresh owners of a cultivable strip of land two years ago, was the simple wisdom to harvest this vegetable at the right time, that is when they are about 6-8 inches long. So if you are not acting judiciously you can bake a bread with, fry some, make one or two curries, and then trash the rest of the single ginormous Zucchini we are talking about. We have learned the lesson and are now wiser!

And here is the award, read how it is passed around in blogosphere.

superios scribbler


“Of course, as with every Bloggy Award, there are A Few Rules. They are, forthwith:

1) Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.
2) Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.
3) Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.
4) Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!
5) Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog “


I am honored to bestow this award upon the following ladies whose blogs are genuinely inspiring and exceptional.

1) Indian Food Rocks – She knows how, when and what to write in a blog. Her posts are peppered with subtle good humor and I love it.

2) Cooks Cottage - Simply delicious style of writing, I am a huge fan.

3) A mad tea party - A story is always hers to tell, and I am all ears

4) Mahanandi – The first Indian blog I came across, has been a favorite ever since. Love the grounded air of the blog.

5) എന്റെ നാലുകെട്ടും തോണിയും – Ingipennu from the food blog Ginger and mango writes this blog in Malayalam. When you step into her blog, you will know instantly that there is more to Ingi than what you know.

Recipe for grilled Zucchini

* This recipe works best with a cast iron grill pan

Zucchini - 3 nos
Coconut milk - 2 tbsp
Ginger paste - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - crushed - 1 tsp
Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp or more
Turmeric- optional
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Coconut oil - to brush on the grill


Cut Zucchinis length wise into strips of about 5 cm thickness. Mix, coconut milk, ginger paste, crushed curry leaves, Kashmiri chilly powder (more if you so desire), turmeric and salt. Arrange the pieces on a flat surface and gently brush on the marinade, turn sides and brush again. Keep for 20-30 minutes. Heat a grill pan, when it is very hot brush with coconut oil. Grill the marinated pieces for about 3-4 minutes each side
Cross stitch picture from my mother

We have something really precious up on our wall, thought i will share it with you. My mother spent many hours in the past two months making this elaborate cross stitch picture for us. I adore her persistence when it comes to doing crafts. She could come back to the same project every evening for many weeks and enjoy doing it till the last knot, a quality I seriously lacks. Ammachi, thank you, you are the best !

crossstitch2

crossstitch1


Pattern : Bucilla Mother and Child stitch kit

Slider

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...