Kunjippidi (കുഞ്ഞിപ്പിടി )

 As any other day, we were having our lunch with routine ‘matta rice’, fish curry, some vegetable ‘thoran’ and pappadam.  I thought about a change that was badly in need from the same style food. I kept this thought in mind though! But I don’t know, if some telepathy worked between me and my wife. The next day when I was at dining table for Lunch, it was not the usual meals or biriyani or ghee rice, but the so called ‘Kunjippidi’ (it’s Malabari name). Many of you might have already known and tasted this dish with different names like – kozhippidi (കോഴിപ്പിടി ), arippidi (അരിപ്പിടി ), kakka orotti (കക്ക ഒറോട്ടി ), irachi pathiri (ഇറച്ചി പത്തിരി ). The dish was yummy in taste and tempting in its look. We took a portion of this to our friend Ashiq’s home for a small get-together there, that night.  No doubt, it was finished and bowl came back empty within minutes. On their request, I’m posting the recipe here….
This can be made with chicken or meat or fish. We made with beef on that day.
Ingredients:
 Beef – 1 kg
Rice flour (flour used for pathiri and idiyappam) – 3 cups
Onion – chopped - 1 medium sized
Tomato – cut into small pieces - 1 medium sized
Greenchilli, ginger and garlic – Ground together – 2 Tb spoon
Meat masala – 2 Tbspoon
Corriander, pudina and curry leaves – chopped – a handful
Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder – ½ tspoon
Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon
Coconut – grated – 1 coconut
Cinnamon – 2 small pieces
Cardamom – 2 cloves
Clove – 3no.s
Shallots – 4 cloves
Garlic – 3 cloves
Salt – as needed

How to:
1.       Set aside the washed and cut beef for draining.
2.       Mix Onion, tomato, green chilli-ginger-garlic mix, meet masala, leaves, coriander powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder, and salt well with hand in a pressure cooker. Mix the beef too with this mixture and pour half a cup of water. Cook beef up to the required number of whistles depending on the nature of beef.
3.       Keep 3  ½ cups of water in an open vessel on stove. Add needed amount of salt and on boiling mix the rice flour well with the handle of a wooden spoon or stick. Saute few times so that the flour is well mixed with the boiling water. Switch of the stove. Close the vessel for 2 minutes.
4.       Kneed the rice flour well with both the hands and make the dough using less water. Once the dough with the required consistency is made, take small balls from it and press softly with the index finger. Thus make tiny round shaped ‘pidi’ as seen in the picture. You can spread raw rice flour so that the ‘pidi’s are not stuck together.
5.       Now cook the above ‘pidi’s in steam using a steam cooker/pressure cooker/ puttu kudam as per your convenience.
6.       Put the grated coconut, cinnamon, cardamom, shallots and garlic in a mixer, add one cup of water and grind well.
7.       Once the beef is cooked, pour the above coconut mixture into the beef and cook for five minutes. Saute well.
8.       Now mix the cooked ‘pidi’s into the above mixture. Saute well. Make sure that the pidi’s are not broken, but remain in shape. Cook for five minutes. Switch off the flame. Close the vessel and leave it for 30 minutes so that the spicy taste of the beef mixture is absorbed by ‘pidi’s well.

Thus the delicious and spicy Kunjippidi is ready. No need of any side dishesas it’s self sufficient with spicy-ricey flavor!!  But a hot ‘Sulaimani’ (black tea) would be a great combination with this typical malabari dish.

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Chicken Lollipop

It was while going through the menu in the Lifestyle Restaurant at Barwa Village, that my wife mentioned about her friend Vinjusha’s love for Chicken lollipop and how they used to find new restaurants in their office premises to have better chicken lollipops. Hearing this, I told her about my expertise in making this delicious starter dish, though she did not take it seriously as I used to blabber such 'self praising lies’ now and then.

But to mine and her astonishment, my chicken lollipop proved out to be really yummy, in looks and taste.  Let me share the recipe and snaps here for you too. Have a try and let us know the comments.

Ingredients:

Chicken wings – ½ kg

Oil – for frying

For marinating:

Ingredients:

Courn Flour – 3 tsp

Chilli powder – 1 ½ tsp

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Vinegar – 1 tsp

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp

Salt – as needed

Water – as needed

For batter:

Ingredients:

Maida – 3 Table spoon

Courn flour – 2 Table spoon

Red food color – 1 ½ tsp

Chilli powder – 2 tsp

Corriander – 1 tsp

Soya sauce – 1 ½ tsp

Celery – 1 tsp

Vinegar – 2 tsp

Ginger garlic paste – ½ tsp each

Salt as needed

Water as needed

 How to:
1.       The video below shows how to make lollipops out of chicken wings. You may (or may not) peel off the skin from the chicken wings as you like it. Cut the chicken wings at the centre separating the smaller and bigger bone. Wipe off the flesh towards the ball-shaped end on the bigger bone, which makes a lollipop. Also wipe off the flesh from the smaller bone towards the bigger bone side. Your Lollipops are now ready for marinating.

2.       Mix the ingredients for marinating and spread on the fleshy side of the chicken. Keep it aside for half an hour.


3.       Prepare the batter with a thicker consistency. Now dip each of the lollipop pieces fully in the batter and deep fry in the hot oil.

4.       Serve the dish hot by covering the stick side of the lollipop with a piece of foil paper, garnishing with chopped onion/carrot along with pudina/tomato/mayo sauce.

This so called Chicken lollipops (Drums of Heaven) can be served as a starter for  any of the Indian/Chinese/ Continental Main courses

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Onion Chutney ( ഉള്ളി ചമ്മന്തി )

Teena chechi who is one of the fans of ‘aakrantham’ and my Face book friend, once asked me for my recipe of ഉള്ളി ചമ്മന്തി ( Onion Chutney ) just to know if it’s different from what she used to make.

To be frank, it was something which I’ve never tried but tasted. I remembered that special taste of onion chutney with ‘kallu dosa ( കല്ലു ദോശ )’ which Rekha used to bring to college specially wrapped in ‘vazhayila (വാഴയില) / Plantain Leaf ’. The thoughtof that chutney itself was mouthwatering. Rushed to send her an e-mail requesting for that recipe and within minutes she sent a reply with her method of making ഉള്ളി ചമ്മന്തി ( Onion Chutney ).

I forwarded the same e-mail to Teena chechi  and she made it. My special thanks to Teena chechi for these yummy pictures and to Rekha for the delicious recipe.

Ingredients:
Shallots – big sized- 3-4 no’s
Tomato -2 (cut into small pieces)
Curry leaves – 1 stem
Oil – 3 tea sp
Mustard seeds – 1 tea sp
Chilli powder – (optional) – 1 tea sp

How to:
1.       Grind the peeled shallots.
2.       Add oil in pan and while heated, add the mustard seeds and leave it to spatter. Add tomato** to the pan and sauté until it’s half cooked. Add onion paste to this and then curry leaves.

3.       Add salt and chilli powder if needed and stir till cooked.

** Tomatoes can even be grinded with the onion.

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Mathi Mulakittathu (Sardine in hot chilly Gravy)

Mathi mulakittathum Kappa Puzhungiyathum (Sardine in hot chilly Gravy and Boiled Cassava/Tapioca)..  What to say about this? It’s one of the combinations which give a nostalgic feel and really hard to resist the temptation even by just hearing it’s name. And thanks to our new cook that he chose ‘kappa and mathi’ as  dinner menu. I know to many of my readers, this recipe won’t be a news, but to those minority who doesn’t what this luscious dish is all about, please have a try....
The Best combination of this dish is here - Kappa Puzhungiyathu (Boiled Cassava/Tapioca)


Ingredients:

Sardines – 8-10 no’s

Red chilli powder – 1 Tb spoon

Sliced Onion – 1 no. Big

Green chilli – sliced 2 no.s

Tomato – 1 no. Cut into pieces

Cut green leaves – 1 generous pinch

Mashed ginger and garlic – ½ Tb spoon

Thick tamarind juice – ¼ cup

Salt – to taste

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Fenugreek – 6-8 seeds

Oil – 2 Tb spoon

How to:

1.       Pour oil in a pan and on heating put fenugreek seeds, on spattering, add onion, green chillies, green leaves, ginger and garlic and sauté till softened. Add tomato to this mixture and fry for 2 minutes. Put chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt and mix well. Add tamarind juice (squeezed in water with hands) to this and add ½ cup of water to this. If more piquant gravy is needed ¼ spoon of ground pepper can also be added. Leave this mixture to boil for 5-10 minutes in medium flame.

2.       Clean and cut the sardines. It’s better to put 3 to 4 horizontal lines on both surfaces of the fish with knife so that the fish fully absorbs the spicy taste of the gravy. Put the sardines gently into the above gravy and leave it to cook for 2 minutes in high flame. Take care to stir the mixture very gently. Lower the flame and leave the gravy to be thickened keeping the vessel closed for 5 minutes.

Now enjoy the supremacy of Kerala’s unique taste – particularly the ‘toddy shop’ special dish. Sluurrrpppp.....!!! I bet, it’s mouth-watering.

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