Showing posts with label Kerala. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kerala. Show all posts
A simple vegetable curry
Mixed vegetable curry
Recipe
Clean and cut vegetables into small bite sized cubes and measure
Carrot - 1 cup
Potatoes - 1 cup
Beetroot - 1 cup
Cauliflower - 1 cup
Green peas or Garbanzo beans cooked - 1 cup
Tomato chopped - ¼ cup
Finely chopped onion -1 cup
Ginger minced - 2 tbsp
garlic minced - 3 tbsp
Green chillies minced - 1 ½ tbsp
Curry leaves - 10 nos
Oil - 2 tbsp.
Rice powder - 2 tbsp
Cumin - ¼ tsp
Clove powder - ¼ tsp
Cinnamon powder - ¼ tsp
Turmeric - ½ tsp
Crushed black pepper - ½ tsp
Salt - to taste
Heat oil in a pan, add cumin, ginger, garlic, onion, curry leaves and green chillies and some salt. Saute until the onion pieces are tender. Add all the spice powders and stir well. Add the vegetables and saute for about 5 minutes or till the pieces begin to brown. Now sprinkle the rice powder and saute for one more minute. Add 2 cups of water and the chopped tomatoes and cook covered for about 5 minutes at high heat, till the vegetables are tender but not mushy. Turn off the heat, add the cooked peas/beans. Sprinkle with black pepper, keep covered for a couple of minutes before serving with any Indian style flatbread.
Fish !
Have you ever had rice served with three kinds of fish curries, two types of fish fries and no less than two other varieties of fish preparations accompanying it ? If you have not, you must time travel to Arthinkal of some 20 years ago. That is what we served to the people we absolutely loved, when they came visiting, in that quaint coastal village, back in the days, etc etc :)
A simple fish curry
Recipe
Fish, cut into 1 ½ to 2 inch pieces- 2 lbs.
Onion - thinly sliced - 1 ½ cups
Ginger minced - 4 tbsp.
Garlic minced - 2 tbsp.
Curry leaves - 15 nos
Fenugreek - 3/4 tsp.
Green chilies chopped - 1 tbsp. or more if you are using paprika
Kudam puli - 5 nos
Coconut milk - 1 ½ cup
Coconut oil - 2 tbsp.
Salt - to taste
Kashmiri chilly powder or Paprika - 2 1/2 tbsp.
Turmeric - 1tsp
Dry roast fenugreek seeds, grind to a fine powder, keep aside. Soak Kudampuli in water. In a wok, heat oil, add onion and curry leaves, sauté till the pieces are translucent. Add salt, continue to sauté until the onion slices are golden brown. Add ginger, garlic, green chilies, curry leaves and sauté till tender. Add turmeric, stir well. Add the coconut milk and keep sautéing till coconut milk almost completely dries up ( This is the most important step, make sure to stir well until coconut milk dries up, but be careful not to burn it. At this point you will see oil separating).Add 3 cups of water, chilly powder/paprika and soaked kudampuli to the cooked coconut mixture, mix well. Heat till the gravy starts to boil. Add the fish pieces, cook covered in medium heat for 10 more minutes. Turn off the heat. Sprinkle with the fenugreek powder. Cover with the lid again and leave it covered for at least 1 hr. before serving
A grape drink
The memory is so vivid that I really don’t know what it is about :) There was a grape juice drink that we used buy from a restaurant in the town where I stayed while in school. We always shared this drink among friends in a dedicated effort to stretch our pocket money. The deep purple juice was always served in a tall glass with a long stemmed spoon in it to help you scoop up the pieces of cooked grapes floating in it. It had a fancy name and also a fancy price. I remember the money we paid, but the name has since left my brain. So here it is, a grape drink!
Cooked grape drink
Recipe
2 lb. black grapes
1 cup sugar ( or more )
Wash grapes thoroughly, discard stems. Reserve 1 ½ cups of grapes. Keep the rest of the grapes in a sauce pan, pour 6 cups of water or more to cover the grapes. Boil for 5 minutes. Using the back of a ladle crush the grapes, keep boiling for 5 more minutes. Add sugar, cover the pan with a lid, turn the heat to low and simmer for 5 more minutes. Add more sugar if needed at this point. Turn off the heat, cool. In a blender set at low speed, blend the cooked grape mixture for just one minute and not more. Using a sieve strain the cooked grape mix. Add two more cups of water to the sieve to rinse the grape skins. Mix the strained juice and store in refrigerator till use (store for up to 2 days refrigerated). Now sit back, relax and peel the reserved grapes. Cut each grape into small pieces. Microwave for 2 minutes, cool. You can clean and peel more grapes if you would like to add more texture to the drink.
Dilute the grape drink with water if needed. To serve , fill a glass 3/4th with the juice, top with 1 tsp. of cooked grape flesh. Alternatively you can serve the drink topped with chopped up grape jello.
Yield ~ 12 cups
Recipe
2 lb. black grapes
1 cup sugar ( or more )
Wash grapes thoroughly, discard stems. Reserve 1 ½ cups of grapes. Keep the rest of the grapes in a sauce pan, pour 6 cups of water or more to cover the grapes. Boil for 5 minutes. Using the back of a ladle crush the grapes, keep boiling for 5 more minutes. Add sugar, cover the pan with a lid, turn the heat to low and simmer for 5 more minutes. Add more sugar if needed at this point. Turn off the heat, cool. In a blender set at low speed, blend the cooked grape mixture for just one minute and not more. Using a sieve strain the cooked grape mix. Add two more cups of water to the sieve to rinse the grape skins. Mix the strained juice and store in refrigerator till use (store for up to 2 days refrigerated). Now sit back, relax and peel the reserved grapes. Cut each grape into small pieces. Microwave for 2 minutes, cool. You can clean and peel more grapes if you would like to add more texture to the drink.
Dilute the grape drink with water if needed. To serve , fill a glass 3/4th with the juice, top with 1 tsp. of cooked grape flesh. Alternatively you can serve the drink topped with chopped up grape jello.
Yield ~ 12 cups
The pink tomato sauce
During the Thanksgiving weekend,I casually sat and reflected about many scattered matters. My other two options were to clean the whole house or fold a pile of washed clothes, I decided to take the tough way out and sat thinking for the longest time. Then purely by chance I remembered the pink tomato sauce ! This sauce is now long forgotten, replaced by the omnipresent tomato ketchup that you pour out of a bottle at will. But back in the times when you made almost everything from scratch because it was your only option, this sauce was a popular accompaniment for meat cutlets served in wedding feasts at Arthinkal. The sauce has personality, it is sweet with the right amount of zest, has beets in it, therefore it is pink !
Beetroot - tomato sauce
Recipe
Peeled cubed beetroot - 1 cup
Blanched , seeded tomatoes-chopped - 3 cups
Minced onion - ¼ cup
Green chilly skin finely chopped - 1 tbsp
Garlic - 2 cloves
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon stick - ½ inch length
Sugar - 3 tbsp
Salt - ½ tsp or to taste
Vinegar - 3 tbsp
Cheese cloth - A small piece
Coarsely crush garlic. Keep the crushed garlic, cloves and cinnamon on the cheesecloth, and tie the cloth up together to make a bundle. Mix beetroot, tomatoes, onion, green chilies, the spice bundle and salt in a saucepan, add a cup of water.Bring it to a boil, keep boiling for 5 minutes. Turn the heat to low and
keep the pan covered for 30 minutes or till all the beetroot pieces are tender. Turn off the heat, and keep the pan covered till the mixture cools down to room temperature. Remove the spice bundle. Puree the rest of the mixture till very smooth in a blender. Pour the puree back into the sauce pan, add sugar, adjust the salt and cook with constant stirring till the sauce becomes thick- it will take about 5-10 minutes. Add vinegar, mix well and allow the sauce to cool. When the sauce cools down transfer to clean dry bottles and store refrigerated for up to one week. This recipe yields ~ 2 cups of sauce. Serve with meat cutlets.
Light !
May your inner light shine so bright year around, Happy Diwali !
Karikku payasam ( Tender coconut payasam )
Recipe
Tender coconut pulp - 2 cups ( more the merrier)
Condensed milk - 14 oz ( 1 can)
Tender coconut water - 5 cups
White rice cooked - 1 ½ cup
Cooked tapioca pearls ( optional ) - 3 tbsp
Cardamom crushed - 2 pods
Pistachio crushed - ¼ cup
Coarsely chop the tender coconut pulp, keep aside. In a food processor grind the cooked rice till each grain breaks into 3-4 pieces. Take out half of the ground rice and then grind the remaining to a smooth paste. In a saucepan boil the tender coconut water,add the rice paste, semi ground rice, chopped tender coconut and tapioca pearls for 5 minutes with constant stirring. Add the condensed milk and cook for 2-3 more minutes. Turn off the heat, add crushed cardamom and pistachios. Serve chilled.
Recipe
Tender coconut pulp - 2 cups ( more the merrier)
Condensed milk - 14 oz ( 1 can)
Tender coconut water - 5 cups
White rice cooked - 1 ½ cup
Cooked tapioca pearls ( optional ) - 3 tbsp
Cardamom crushed - 2 pods
Pistachio crushed - ¼ cup
Coarsely chop the tender coconut pulp, keep aside. In a food processor grind the cooked rice till each grain breaks into 3-4 pieces. Take out half of the ground rice and then grind the remaining to a smooth paste. In a saucepan boil the tender coconut water,add the rice paste, semi ground rice, chopped tender coconut and tapioca pearls for 5 minutes with constant stirring. Add the condensed milk and cook for 2-3 more minutes. Turn off the heat, add crushed cardamom and pistachios. Serve chilled.
Panchara palpayasam
I now officially enter the week of nostalgic ramblings, please bear with me. This Friday marks the day of Onam, the state festival of Kerala celebrating the glorious days of yore. Getting together with family and friends and sitting down to enjoy a splendid vegetarian feast known as ‘Sadya” served on a banana leaf marks an important part of the celebrations. There is also a sense of relief and restfulness in my head and a lingering sense at the back of my mind that now since the exams are over I will have more time for my meandering ways. This passing sense of ease is rooted on those days eons ago when as school children we all finished the term exams just before the Onam holidays began. I am never the one to let go off such peaceful thoughts ever , even if I am not writing exams any more !
Payasam is THE dessert of the Sadya spread, and there are many ways to make it using different ingredients. Here is an easy recipe for a timeless classic, Panchara palpayasam- a rice payasam flavored with sugar and milk and nothing else, made the easy way using a pressure cooker.
Panchasara pal payasam ( Made in a pressure cooker)
Rice - ( broken rose matta variety) - ½ cup
Sugar - ½ cup+ 2 tbsp.
Milk -3 cup
Water - 2 cup
Wash the rice, drain, mix with the rest of the ingredients in a pressure cooker. Lock the lid on ( keep the pressure regulator off) heat till you see small wisps of steam coming out of the vent pipe. At this point place the pressure regulator weight on the vent pipe. Now wait till you feel that the cooker is going to let out the first whistle. You will know it by instinct :), or keep an eye on the regulator weight, it will begin to shake a little. Now turn the heat to low and focus on doing something else. Come back to the pressure cooker 45 minutes after and turn off the stove. Open the pressure cooker after another 30 minutes or so, after letting out any residual steam. This payasam tastes best when served at room temperature. I love it chilled as well.
Egg pulav for the understocked
This egg pulav is for people like me, whose unrelenting enthusiasm to cook something special for dinner is only matched by their abundant reluctance to go grocery shopping. When faced with empty refrigerators, we dream the impossible, set our bars too low, and go about treading territories uncharted. Mostly we are lost, but at times there is a surprise. This egg pulav is one. I made it for the first time when the only vegetable that was in sight was a big and forlorn onion.
Like you, I also understand the importance of including a lot of vegetables in the diet, here is how I tackle it. After I make this egg pulav, I will ring up T to gently announce that the dinner is ready and most politely ask if he will have time to stop at the grocery shop to buy some cucumbers and carrots and yogurt (may be?) to make a raita rich in vegetables. The moment something close to a nod is conveyed, a three page shopping list is emailed. This is a recipe that works :) ,every single time.
Recipe
Eggs boiled and peeled - 6 nos
Basmati rice - 4 cups
Green chilies chopped - 1/2 tsp.
Onion , thinly sliced - 1 ¼ cup
Curry leaves - 10 nos
Very finely chopped cilantro leaves - 2 tbsp. ( optional)
Lemon juice - 1 1/2 tbsp.
Ghee- 1 tsp.
Crushed cardamom - 6 nos
Cumin - ½ tsp.
½ tsp. clove powder
½ tsp. cinnamon powder
¼ tsp. nutmeg powder
Veg oil - 1 tbsp. + for frying onion (~½ cup)
salt -½ tsp + to taste
Wash basmati rice, soak in water for 10 minutes, drain and keep. While the rice is getting drained heat 1 tbsp. oil in a vessel large enough to cook the rice. When the oil is hot, add ¼ cup sliced onions, spices, curry leaves, chilies and salt. Sauté under low heat till the onions are translucent but not browned ( takes 3-4 min) . Add 6 cups of water to the sautéed mix, followed by the drained rice. Mix well, adjust the salt if needed. Bring the water to a rolling boil at high heat. Now cover the vessel with lid, bring the heat down to low, and cook covered for 12 minutes. While the rice is cooking heat the remaining oil and fry/deep sauté 1 cup onions till golden brown, drain on paper towels. In the same oil sauté cashew nuts and drain on paper towels. To the hot oil, roll in the eggs one by one and roast for 1-2 minutes, till the eggs are browned, drain on paper towels. Discard any remaining oil after it cools down. When the cooking time for the rice is over, remove the lid, add lemon juice, ghee, nuts, chopped cilantro and fried onions, fluff the rice gently with a fork. Transfer immediately to the serving bowl and cover with a lid. Let the flavors blend for at least 15 minutes. Serve topped with the roasted egg with pickles and vegetable salad/raita on the side. Yields 6 servings
Baked eggplant curry
This vegetable, to the best of my knowledge has neither bitten anybody, nor has it chased someone into a ditch. So I will never understand as to why some folks in a “certain” household run the other way when egg plants are served for dinner !
Keeping that matter aside, this baked eggplant recipe is my favorite. This is a curry baked in the oven.
Baked eggplant curry
Recipe
Indian eggplants/small Italian eggplants - 6-12 nos
Chilly powder – 1tsp
Paprika – 1 ½ tsp
Finely chopped ginger – 1 ½ tbsp.
Sliced pearl onions – ¼ cup
Curry leaves – 10 nos
Coconut milk – 1 cup
Oil – 1 ½ tbsp.
Salt – 2 tbsp + to taste
Using a knife make 3-4 deep slanting horizontal cuts on one side of the the eggplant keeping the vegetable intact. Soak the prepared eggplants in salted water ( 2 tbsp water + 4 cups water, scale up according to need) for at least 30 minutes. Drain, and gently squish to get rid off excess water and pat dry on paper towels. Heat oven to 450C. Take a ceramic casserole dish and smear with 11/2 tbsp oil. Neatly arrange eggplants with the cut side facing up without overlapping, bake for 20 minutes or until the skin starts to wrinkle.While the eggplants are baking, mix the rest of the ingredients with some salt to taste in a bowl and mix well by gently pressing down with a ladle or a wooden spoon. To this mixture add 1 ½ cups of water, stir to combine and keep aside. When the eggplants look ready, pour the coconut milk mixture evenly over the egg plants. Bake for another 15-20 minutes or till the gravy is thick and bubbly. Serve with rice.
A simple salad
This is the closest to a real time post in this blog in a while photo-wise. Many of the other pictures you saw here recently are ancient artifacts; I am as surprised as anyone else when I discover them.
But for today, since it was a sunny sprightly summer kind of day, allow me to introduce you to our dinner, or more precisely to my favorite salsa-ish salad dressed with “Almost burned chili pepper lemonette”, served just barely three hours ago with a baked piece of fish.
Chopped salad with “Almost burned chili pepper lemonette”
The lemonette
Red chili flakes – 1 tsp.
Coconut oil – 2 tbsp.
Lemon juice – 3 tbsp.
Heat a frying pan. When the pan is hot, add the red chili flakes and dry roast till the flakes are deep brown (and not black :) ). Immediately transfer to a bowl. Add coconut oil and lemon juice and whisk together for 1-2 minutes. Keep aside for 5 minutes.
Chopped salad
Cucumber finely chopped – 2 cups
Tomatoes finely chopped – 1 cup
Semi ripe mangoes finely chopped – 1 cup
Red onions finely chopped – ½ cup
Cilantro minced – 3 tbsp.
Salt – to taste
Mix all ingredients for the salad together. Add the vinaigrette, toss well and serve
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