Mussels and Potato curry - കല്ലുമ്മക്കായ ഉരുളക്കിഴങ്ങ് കറി

Here is the next recipe from my mother-in-law’s kitchen. It is said to be mouth-wateringly delicious by Aysha. As I didn't get a chance to have this dish, I don’t have any idea. However, you can have a try and see the results. I know getting mussels is gonna be one of the toughest tasks in places other than Kerala. Whoever gets a chance to buy this yummy seafood with shells, don’t miss it. Lots of other recipes with mussels (കല്ലുമ്മക്കായ) are on its way. So have a look at the recipe and do try without fail, okay?

Ingredients:

Mussels – Whole - 25-30 no. s
Potato – 2 medium sized – peeled and cut into medium sizes
Ginger –finger sized piece – peeled and mashed
Onion – ½ - chopped
Green chillies – 2 no. s – sliced
Tomato – 1 big – chopped
Red chilli powder – 1 Tb sp
Roasted coriander powder – 3 Tb sp
Coconut grated – 1 ½ cups
Shallots – 4 no. s
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Water – as needed
Salt – as needed
Oil – as needed
Fenugreek seeds – 8-10 seeds
Curry leaves – 1 sprig

How to:

1.       Clean the exterior of the whole mussel shells and keep it in a big aluminum vessel and heat it for 5-7 minutes in full flame. Turn upside down once or twice in between. Water will come out of the shells and it’ll slowly open. Switch off the flame and keep it aside for cooling down.

2.       Now take the cooled down and boiled mussels. Take off the shells and separate the flush. Don’t wash the flushy part, but remove messy parts like hair or so. Keep the water came from the shells separate after sieving out any solid parts.

3.       In a small bowl, put chopped onion, green chillies, cut potatoes, mashed ginger and the water which came out of mussels shell. Close the bowl and keep it aside for some time.

4.       Cook the above mixture (step 3) in a pressure cooker until potatoes are cooked properly. Switch off the flame and open the cooker.  Add the mussels flush, chilli powder, chopped tomatoes, coriander powder, salt (use lesser salt than usual as mussels itself will have some salty taste) and boil for 2-3 minutes in medium flame.

5.       Meanwhile grind the grated coconut, turmeric powder and 2 shallots in a mixer with ½ cup of water. Once the above mixture has been boiled, pour this coconut mixture to it and cook for 3 minutes in low flame. Switch off the stove and keep the curry aside.

6.       In a non-stick pan, pour oil. On heating add fenugreek seeds. Once it has completed sputtering, add remaining chopped shallots and sauté for a while it turns brown. Now add the curry leaves and pour this to the curry which has been kept ready.

This curry goes well with Kerala boiled rice with some spicy side dish like Mango side-dish Calicut style - കോഴിക്കോടൻ കടു മാങ്ങ 

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Mango side-dish Calicut style - കോഴിക്കോടൻ കടു മാങ്ങ

 While giving permission to Aysha to go home last week, I’d kept a condition. If only she is sure that she can come back with few recipes with photographs, her permission is granted. Else she’ll have to face me. Poor girl…!! Got frightened I think. She came back with few of her mom’s kitchen delicacies, though I had to wait again for another week to get the recipe in written form. So first we are rolling out the simple and easy recipe of a mango dish so called “Kadu Manga” (കടു മാങ്ങ). Don’t get this name confused with the “kadumanga pickle”. It’s different, of course! This particular dish can be made with green mango, ripening one or even with a ripe mango.

Ingredients:

Green mango -1 (cut into medium sized pieces)

Fenugreek – 6-7 seeds

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Coconut oil – 1-2 Tb sp

Onion – ½ chopped

Green chilly – 2 no.s sliced

Tomato – 1 medium sized chopped

Garlic – 4 cloves mashed

Red chilly powder – 1 ½ Tb sp

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Water – 1 cup

Salt – as needed

Sugar – 1 Tb sp (optional)

How to:

1.       In an earthen pot, pour coconut oil and on heating put the fenugreek seeds. Once it has fully sputtered, put mustard seeds and allow it to sputter completely.

2.       To this, add chopped onion, green chilly, tomato, red chili powder, turmeric powder, mashed garlic, water and salt. Allow it to boil in full flame for about 3-5 minutes.

3.       Once the gravy gets thicker, switch of the flame and keep it closed with a lid for 5 minutes. Now check the taste and if the mango taste is too sour, add sugar (it’s optional. Add sugar only if you like sweetness with sour taste).

Do try this easy side dish which will go well with Kerala meals and ghee rice. You’ll let us know the feedback for sure, right?

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KARIMEEN CURRY ( Pearl Spot Curry )

The situation is awful and the expectation of our fans is towering . I'm too lazy and too busy to cook anything in my kitchen and Aysha doesn't have a stage to perform.  She's been provided food by her house owner.  We are left with no clue how to respond to the queries! Coincidentally Susan Abraham made her appearance with a recipe of the most wanted and the most delicious Karimeen Curry (Pearl Spot) We've ever had in our lifetime. I've to use this occasion to comment on her skill not only on cooking varieties of innovative dishes but also on her typical way of serving. She decorates her small four-seated dining table in such a simple yet beautiful way; that guests will be too much tempted  to click the snap rather than touching the dishes...!!

Ingredients:

Karimeen/pearl spot – Whole -2 no. s

Fenugreek seeds-1/4 tsp

Curry leaves- 1 sprig or more

Ginger-chopped- 1" piece

Garlic-chopped- 2 large cloves

Green chilies-sliced-2 no. s

Shallots sliced- 10 no. s

Onion -sliced- 2 medium sized

Kashmiri chili powder-2 to 3 tsp

Coriander powder- 1 Tbsp

Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp

Black pepper powder-1/2 tsp

Water-1/8 cup + more as required

Kokum/fish tamarind/kudampuli-2 small pieces

Thin coconut milk-1 cups

Thick coconut milk-1/2 cup

Salt- to taste

For marination:

 Kashmiri chili powder- 1 tsp

Black pepper powder-1/2 tsp

Coriander powder- 1 tsp

Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp

Water -as required

Salt-to taste

How to:

1. Marinate fish with the ingredients listed under 'for marination'.Keep aside for about 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry the fish until 3/4 th done, turning once in between. Transfer it onto a kitchen towel.

3. In the same pan ( add more oil if required) add fenugreek seeds, sauté for a few seconds. Add curry leaves, ginger and garlic, sauté till raw smell leaves.

4. Now add green chilies, shallots and onion. Sauté till onion turns golden brown. Next add kashmiri chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, black pepper powder and 1/8 cup water. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring well in between. Cook until it the masala turns mushy.( you can transfer this masala to clay pot/manchatti or continue cooking in the same pan).

5. Next add thin coconut milk, about 1/4 cup water ,salt and kokum pieces. Bring it to a boil and add the fish. Cook for about 4 to 5 minutes. Add thick coconut milk, gently swirl the pan and bring it to just under a boil.

6. Add more curry leaves ,if desired. 

Serve the Karimeen Curry with rice, preferable Kerala matta rice. I guarantee you that the taste is gonna stick on to your taste buds for life time. Have a try and let us know.

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Cabbage ‘n’ Carrot Thoran

Today, when I opened my lunch box, I found it’s my favorite fish curry and carrot ‘n’ cabbage Thoran / Upperi, along with unakka chemmeen chammanthi (ഉണക്ക ചെമ്മീന്‍ ചമ്മന്തി) for lunch. Having the nostalgic meals I thought about my bachelor friends, for whom we actually started our Aakrantham page. And the idea of putting a simple thoran recipe struck my mind. Soon after completing the food, I called Aysha and asked her to make the recipe along with the snaps ready for today’s post. And here we dedicate this simple and tasty recipe for our page fans…
     
Ingredients:
Chopped Carrot – 1 cup
Chopped Cabbage – 1 cup
Ginger – thumb sized piece
Onion – ½ - chopped
Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon
Fenugreek seeds – ¼ teaspoon
Dried red chilli – 2 no.s
Curry leaves – 1 stem
Grated coconut – 2 Tb spoon
Oil – 1 Tb spoon
Salt as needed

How to:
1.       Heat a non-stick pan and add oil to it. Put Fenugreek seeds and on sputtering, add mustard seeds. On sputtering, add cut red chilli and then curry leaves. To this add finely chopped ginger and onion. Sauté gently for a minute. Now add the washed and chopped Carrot and cabbage. Add salt too. Sauté for 3 minutes.  Now add the freshly grated coconut and sauté for another 3 minutes. The Cabbage and carrot thoran is ready to be served as a side dish with Kerala rice or any similar meals.

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Mutton Roast (ആട്ടിറച്ചി വരട്ടിയത്) – Malabar Edition

I love the way she cooks Mutton(Goat Meat)  in her traditional Malabar style and badly wanted to post the recipe here in the blog for our fans. But after my last health checkup, mutton moved into the ‘banned food products’ list! What to do?! But somehow I could convince that this mutton is only for our Aakrantham|ആക്രാന്തം page lovers, and I won’t eat more than 2 pieces from it. Believing my words, she compromised to cook and take the photo. This might be my last mutton curry until my cholesterol level reduces to a normal value. And you know what? once I got the recipe and the photos, I changed my word. Of course it was delicious and I had more than enough of this mutton curry. To add spice to her anger, I made palak (Spinach) mutton myself by taking a portion out of this curry. And the best part is; she can’t have palak dishes as her stomach is sensitive to such leaves and I had to finish this palak mutton also. Wait for the Palak mutton recipe!!

Ingredients

For cooking mutton
Mutton – 1 kgPepper – 2 Tb spoon
Coriander powder – 2 Tb spoon
Garam masala – ¼ teaspoon
Green chilli – 2 no.s
Curry leaves – 1 stem
Ginger – 1 thumb sized piece
Garlic – 6 cloves
Corriander & pudina leaves – 2 stems each
Salt - to taste

For gravy
Oil – 1 Tb spoon
Shallots – peeled and chopped - 200 g
Tomato – cut into small pieces - 1 big size
Coriander powder – 1 Tbspoon
Pepper powder – 1 Tb spoon
Green chilli – sliced – 2 no.s
Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon


How to:

1.       Wash and drain the water well from the mutton pieces.  In a dry grinder jar, put pepper corns, coriander powder, garam masala, green chillies, curry leaves, ginger, garlic cloves, coriander and pudina leaves. Grind all these together. In a pressure cooker, mix the dried mutton pieces well with the above mixture using hand. Add salt too. Pour ¼ cup of water and pressure cook.  Number of whistles can be decided based on the nature of mutton. (You may keep the mutton pieces mixed with 2-3 table spoons of vinegar for 10-15 minutes before washing so that the typical mutton smell will be washed away. I used to cook till 8 pressure cooker whistles. It varies depends on nature and type of mutton)

2.       In a non-stick pan, pour oil and on heating add the peeled and chopped shallots. Sauté till the shallots turn translucent. Add the sliced green chillies and sauté well. Add the tomatoes and sauté for few minutes. Put coriander powder, pepper powder and turmeric powder and sauté well. Once the mixture turns soft and like a paste, open the pressure cooker and add the mutton along with the liquid part into this pan. (if you are too lazy to peel off the shallots, you may use Onions, make sure you sauté it well so that it can blend well in the gravy).

3.       In low flame, keep the pan closed for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, the excess water in the gravy should be drained off. Make sure that thick gravy is formed. If needed, add few coriander/pudina leaves and switch off the flame. Serve with ghee rice/pathiri/any kind of rotis after 30 minutes.

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Split Bengal-gram cake / Parippu-cake (കടലപരിപ്പ് കേക്ക്)

We were invited for a lunch on Friday at Shameerka’s (my friend and my wife’s cousin) home and my wife badly wanted to cook something for his kids - Aysha, Millu and Hayan! She was brainstorming on her own and it was then I remembered about something which her sister Shermitha used to make. I did not remember exactly what it is, as it was one of the typical Kozhikodan snack. I hinted her about it and she was so excited. But soon I realized that I dug my own grave!!
She asked me to buy milk and I was too lazy to go out in that chilly climate, that too just for a bottle of milk. I ordered in my typical commanding voice "prepare it only if you can do it without buying any extra ingredients", heeheeheee,,,. Poor girl, out of the fear (I love to believe so :P), compromised to go ahead with milk powder. She confirmed the recipe with her sister through whatsapp I guess. After ‘the making of the so called parippu-cake’, she asked in a low and humble voice “would you mind taking a photograph of the dish?” I rushed to take the snaps from all the angles of the cake. The looks were yummy. But I was not allowed to taste it as it was supposed to be taken in full shape to their home. Luckily Shameerka’s wife gave few pieces for the evening tea, and it tasted delicious as well!!

Aysha, Millu and Hayan loved it very much and in no time the plate was empty!

Here is the recipe for you to try out!

Ingredients:
Split Bengal-gram – 1 cup
Milk – 1 cup
Egg – 8 no.s
Butter – 2 teaspoon
Sugar – ¾ cup
Cardamom powder – 1 generous pinch
Nuts and raisins – to garnish

How to:
 1.       In a pressure cooker, cook the washed split Bengal gram adding a cup of water up to 3 whistles.
2.       Put the cooked Bengal gram into a mixer jar. Pour milk and grind well to make a paste.
3.       In an open vessel, beat the eggs with sugar and cardamom well, using a heavy spoon. Pour the Bengal gram paste from the jar to this vessel. Mix these well using hand so that no grains remain. adjust the amount of sugar based on your taste.)
4.       In a round shaped non-stick pan add the butter and heat in full flame. Tilt the pan to all the sides so that butter is spread along the sides of the pan. Onto the pan pour the above mixture.
5.       Lower the flame to the least possible and close the pan with a tight lid. After 5 minutes, take off the lid and keep the nuts and raisins on the top carefully without letting it to sink inside the cake mix.
6.       Leave the pan for 20 more minutes in lowest flame and switch off.
7.       After 10-15 minutes, turn the cake upside down to a plate and shift to the serving tray.

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Amara payar Thoran / Upperi - Lima Beans

 Unlike the usual Lunch timing, that day I could come home early for lunch and as expected, food wasn’t ready. Seeing me at an odd time, she got wondered and rushed into kitchen to finish off cooking. I noticed the washed and drained Lima beans on the cutting board. With her assistance, I cut the beans recollecting my cutting skills earned during my PG period and taught her how to cut vegetables without cutting fingers or nails! But after cutting she turned out to be my teacher, as I did not know how to prepare a beans thoran (upperi). As it was a new learning for me, I guess it might help many of my bachelor friends too. Moreover, it’s a simple recipe for any beginners to try and tasty too.

Ingredients:
Lima Beans (അമരപ്പയര്‍) – sliced n chopped – 1 cup
Oil – 1 ½ Tb spoon
Mustard seeds – 1 tea spoon
Curry leaves - 8 no. s
Dried red chilly – 2 no. s
Coconut – grated – 1 handful
Salt – as needed

How to:
1. Heat oil in a nonstick pan. Put mustard seeds and leave to sputter. Put the cut red chillies followed by curry leaves.
2. Add the cut lima beans to the pan turning to low flame. Sauté for a minute. Add the required amount of salt and sauté to mix well.
3. Cook the beans in low flame, sautéing occasionally. After 5 minutes, add the freshly grated coconut and mix well.
4. Leave the beans for cooking well. Remember to keep the flame lowest possible. Stir occasionally.  

Have a try and let us know!

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Kannur Chicken Biriyani

Though I’m supposed to post Kozhikodan Biriyani recipe for Aakrantham fans, I’m not yet ready with fine photos for it. So thought of posting a Kannur Biriyani’s recipe, for which some snaps were clicked few days back by my hubby, when we made it at home.

This recipe is a dedication to my friend Ammu and there’s an interesting story behind this dedication. We used to have a year-end gift exchanging, amongst a group of my Cognizant friends called ‘Roofians’, similar to the Christmas friend activity done in school days.  As we are spread across different locations, the friend selection is done by an online tool developed by few of us and the gifts are ordered online. Moreover, from a common mailbox we use to assign different funny tasks to our friend anonymously. And this year, Ammu got a task to prepare Hyderabadi Biriyani and post the recipe as well as the photos. Poor girl! How can she do this if she doesn’t even know how to make an ordinary Biriyani? But she was clever enough to post the pictures in the Face book group along with the recipe copied and customized from a blog. But the cleverer group members made it out from her attire, hairstyle, serving dishes and the suspicious ‘scissors’ found in the photo, that the Biriyani was bought from some hotels on her way back from office and she mixed it in a steel vessel to serve. Also the scissors were used to cut the pickle’s and raitha’s packet. And what more?! In the photo, she eats the self made Biriyani at her dining table, with the neatly tied hairstyle and beautifully pinned salwar kameez and shawl!! Finally since the truth shined through the lie, she had to admit the fraud.

So for her, I’m posting a Biriyani recipe here…

Ingredients:

For frying Chicken

Chicken – 1 kg

Chilli powder – 1 Tb spoon

Kashmiri chilli powder – 1 Tb spoon

Lemon juice – 1 Tbspoon

Turmeric powder – ¼ teaspoon

Ginger-garlic paste – 1 teaspoon

Salt – as needed

Ghee – 2 Tb spoon

Oil – 1 Tb spoon

For Masala:

Onion – chopped - 8 medium sized

Tomato – cut into small pieces - 2 big sized

Green chilli – 7 no.s

Ginger – 2 thumb sized pieces

Garlic – 15 big cloves

Corriander, Pudina and curry leaves – chopped – a handful

Garam masala – 1 ½ teaspoon

Curd – 3 Tb spoon

Pepper powder – as needed

Salt – as needed

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Ghee – 2 Tbspoon

For Rice:

Kayama rice – 4 cups

Ghee – 3 Tb spoon

Oil – 1 Tb spoon

Cinnamon – 3 small pieces

Cloves – 3 no.s

Bay leaves – 2 no.s -  cut into pieces

Water – 5 ½ cups

Salt – as needed

For layering:

Onion – ½ chopped

Cashew nuts – 10 no.s

Raisins – 15 no.s

Garam masala – 1 teaspoon

Lemon juice – 1 Tbspoon

Corriander leaves chopped – 3 stems

Ghee – 1 Tbspoon

How to:

1. Drain water from washed and cut chicken pieces. Marinate chicken using chilli powder, kashmiri chilli powder, lemon juice, turmeric powder, ginger-garlic paste, salt and keep for 30 minutes. Heat ghee and oil in a fry pan. Shallow fry the chicken.

2. Heat ghee in a non-stick vessel. Add chopped onions and sauté well till the onions turn translucent.  Crush ginger, garlic and green chillies in a grinder and add this to the onion. Sauté for a minute. Add coriander, curry and pudina leaves to this and fry well.  Once the raw smell of this mixture is changed, add tomato and mix well. Sauté all these together for two more minutes. Add gharam masala, salt and turmeric powder, sauté and add curd to it. If needed, add pepper powder also.

3. Adding the remaining ghee from the chicken fry to the masala and sauté well. To this, add the fried chicken. Mix the masala and chicken well and cover the dish. Keep the flame to low and leave it to cook for 10- 15 minutes.

4. Drain water from the washed Kayama rice. (do not soak the rice). Add ghee and oil to a pressure cooker and on heating, add cinnamon, cloves and bay leaves. Sauté well. Add the drained rice and fry in low flames for about 5-8 minutes. Make sure that the rice grains are not sticking to the bottom. Now pour water to the fried rice and add needed salt. Close the pressure cooker and wait for one whistle. Switch off the flame and pull the vent weight (pressure regulator) upwards to blow off the steam (or place under flowing water). Now open the Pressure cooker and sauté the rice with a flat spoon making sure that the rice grains are not broken.

Note: I’m using Kayama rice here which actually needs 6 cups of water for 4 cups of rice for proper cooking. But since the rice will again be cooked during layering, I’ve poured only 5 ½ cups. Similarly you can use water depending on the type of rice (Basmati/Kayama/Jeerakasala) you are using.

5. In a small frying pan, add some ghee. Fry the chopped onion till golden brown. Fry the nuts and raisins as well. Take off from the pan and keep this aside.

6. In a big vessel, put an even layer of the cooked rice. On top of it spread a pinch of gharam masala, pudina leaves and sprinkle a little of  ghee and lemon juice. Above this put a layer of masala along with chicken pieces. Again a layer of rice and masala similarly and on top of it, rice layer. (depending on the vessel’s size, decide the layer count. Anyhow bottom and top layer should be rice). On top of this rice spread pudina, fried onions, nuts and raisins. Close the vessel tightly with a lid. On top of the lid, place a vessel with  hot water in it. Switch on the stove and keep in the lowest possible flame, for 30 minutes. Switch off and don’t open the vessel for 20 minutes.

7. Serve hot, with raitha, pickle and pappadam.

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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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Fish Stew - മീന്‍ ഇസ്റ്റു

While in LuLu for this month’s grocery purchase, we noticed that lots of fresh Indian Mackerel (അയല ) are there in fresh fish section. As we were dying to eat Mackerel fry (അയല പൊരിച്ചത്), remembering an old Malayalam hit song "Ayala porichathundu karimeen varuthathundu….", we couldn’t hold back from buying it. And of course, the very next day, my wife fried the fish for lunch. But to be frank, we were desperate that the fish fry wasn't up to the expectation. The fish seemed to be not as tasty as we get in our hometown. It was then she suggested about making Fish stew for next day’s breakfast as it’s one of those breakfast combinations (നേരിയ പത്തിരിയും മീന്‍ ഇസ്റ്റും)  which she cherishes out of her mom’s kitchen. I too thought; okay! let me have a try..!!
No doubt, the dish and the combination was one if it’s kind – super delicious and how can I hide its recipe from my cookery fans? Here it’s for you….

Ingredients:
Ayala – Small sized – 6 No.s – washed and cut into pieces
Fenugreek – 8 seeds
Onion (medium sized) – ½
Green Chilli (sliced) – 20-25 no.s
Ginger, garlic paste – 2 tsp
Corriander, mint & curry leaves – chopped – 1 handful
Tamarind juice – ½ cup
Grated coconut – 1 ½
Salt – to taste
Fennel seeds – ½ tsp
Shallots – 3 no.s

For garnishing - വറവിടല്‍, താളിക്കല്‍)).)) :
Coconut oil – 1 Tbspoon
Curry leaves – 1 stem
Shallots chopped – 4 no.s

How to:

1.       Put one grated coconut into a mixer jar, pour water just enough to dip the coconut and mix well. Squeeze this mixture to take thick coconut milk.

2.       Take the remaining half coconut along with fennel seeds and shallots and grind well with ¼ cup of water.

3.       Mix fenugreek, Onion, green chillies, ginger-garlic paste, coriander, mint and curry leaves, tamarind juice and salt well with hand and add ¼ cup of water in a pressure cooker. Pressure-cook this mixture for 2 whistles.

4.       Open the pressure cooker and put the cut fish into it and boil for 3 minutes in low flame. Add the grinded coconut mixture as in step 2 and heat for two minutes (in low flame).

5.       Add the coconut milk as in step one and heat for another 3 minutes in low flame.

6.       Heat 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil in a pan and sauté chopped shallots till it turns brown and add curry leaves to it. Pour this on top of the gravy to garnish it.

Note:  depending on the piquancy of the green chillies, the count can be increased or decreased.

The fish stew can be prepared with other Indian fishes like Pomfret (ആവോലി ), King fish (അയകോര , നെയ്മീന്‍ ) or sardine (ചാള , മത്തി ).

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Mushroom in hot pepper gravy

It’s Thursday night and  I was called up by Anu to prepare something different in his home. Only after reaching there I came to know that Anil Hameed is on strict vegetarian diet as instructed from his Gym trainer. Though we compelled him a lot to have the special chicken curry with Kubboos, he was so particular about his diet...!! Finally I’d to experiment on the mushrooms, which I found in their refrigerator. The Mushroom in spicy gravy came out very well and all of them appreciated me for it. I’m posting it here for you...

Ingredients:
Mushroom – 200 g
Corn flour – 2 Tb spoon
Soya sauce – 1 teaspoon
Pepper powder – 2 tea spoon
Vegetable taste cube – ½
Onion – 1
Tomato – 1
Capsicum – ½
Milk – ½ cup
Salt – to taste
Oil – as needed

How to:
1.       Mix Corn flour, soya sauce, 1 tea spoon pepper powder and salt well with washed and cut mushroom and keep it aside for 15 minutes
2.       Deep fry the mushroom in oil and keep the fried mushrooms separate.
3.       In a pan, add 1 Tb spoon of oil and add onion to it and sauté till softened. Add tomato and capsicum to this and stir softly.
4.       Add 1 tea spoon pepper powder, salt and the vegetable taste cube into this and sauté well.  To this pour milk and leave to boil for around 5 minutes in medium flame.

5.       Add the fried mushroom into the above gravy and mix well. Leave the dish to boil for another 5-10 minutes in low flame.

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Kappa Puzhungiyathu (Boiled Cassava/Tapioca)

Kappa Puzhungiyathum  Mathi mulakittathum (Boiled Cassava/Tapioca and Sardine in hot chilly Gravy)..  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 yesterday’s 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 - Mathy Mulakittathu ( Sardine in hot chilly Gravy )

Ingredients:

Tapioca/Casava – 1 kg

Red chilli (dried) – 4-5 no’s

Mustart seed – 2 tea spoons

Curry leaves – 2 twigs

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Oil – 1 Tb spoon

Salt – to taste


How to:

1.       Peel off the skin of tapioca with a knife and cut it into small pieces. Put the washed tapioca pieces into a pressure cooker and pour water enough to immerse the pieces completely. Add turmeric powder and salt. Close the cooker and pressure cook up to 3-4 whistles. After removing the pressure completely, drain the excess water from the cooked tapioca using a sieve.

2.       To a pan, add oil and to the heated oil add mustard seeds and leave it to spatter. To this put the red chilli and curry leaves and sauté for 1 minute.  Add drained tapioca into this and mix it together.

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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Brinjal Tamarind Masala

It’s long since I had a ‘nadan Kerala’ style meal some vegetable fries, fish curries and some traditional side dishes. Thinking of trying some ‘mommy’s kitchen’ dishes today for lunch. Searched for the recipe book which my mother had carefully written and used to keep it in my briefcase whenever I pack and get ready for any of my trips abroad. Went through the book and got Brinjal masala hit my eyes. For a moment, I went back to those good old days when I spent leisurely lazy time back home, enjoying mom’s special and variety dishes. I remember, brinjal is something I love out of all other vegetables and she used to make many tasty traditional dishes with it especially for me. Still that taste hangs on on to my taste buds. Here is the recipe for you to try it.

Ingredients:

Brinjal – 1 medium sized or ½ of a big sized one

Chopped onion – 1 small size 

Green chilli (sliced) – 3

Mustard seeds – 2 teaspoons

Crushed garlic – 2-3 cloves

Curry leaves – 1 stem

Roasted coriander powder – 2 Tb spoon

Tamarind – ½ a handful

Salt- to taste

Oil – for frying

How to:

1.       Heat oil in a frying pan and deep fry the whole brinjal in it. If the Brinjal is too big to be fried wholly, cut in into half and fry it. Make sure that all sides are fried equally and well. Drain oil and keep the fried brinjal aside. Once it is slightly cooled, cut the whole brinjal into medium sized slices.

2.       Soak tamarind in half a cup of water.

3.       In a pan, pour 1 or 2 Tb spoon of oil and while heated, leave the mustard seeds to sputter. Once done, put curry leaves and stir mildly. Add the chopped onions, green chilly and garlic into this and fry it for some time till it is softened. Add the roasted coriander powder and mix it well.

4.       Squeeze the soaked tamarind well with hand and take the juice. Pour this to the above fried mixture and leave it to boil for 5 minutes. Add salt to taste. Once a thick enough mixture is made, put the cut brinjal pieces into it. A little water may be added if the dish is too thick and keep it in low flame for 10 minutes.

This is an awesome vegetable side dish for nadan Kerala meals. Have a try..!!

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Unnakkai (Vaazhakkada/kaayada)

After trying out the recipe of ‘paalu vazhakka’, my friend called to thank me and tell that the dish was easy to make and delicious. As I’d given enough build-up about Malabar-snacks to her over the phone, she asked me for the recipe of ‘unnakkai’ J. Oh my God! I thought for a while and told her – “err...hmm...I don’t remember exactly, I mean I’ve a doubt in how do we make the stuffing for it. Is it fine if I recall and post it in blog?” She laughed and told – “Yea. It’s fine. You ask to someone and get the recipe. I’ll take from your blog”. Soon after cutting her call, called my mom and tuned her up with sweetest talks and tactfully got the recipe from her. I’m posting that recipe here for You...

Ingredients:

Plantain (ripe but stiff) – 3

Egg – 2

Sugar – ½ cup

Chopped cashew nuts – 3 Tbspoon

Raisins – 2 Tbspoon

Cardamom – 2

Ghee – 1 Tb spoon

Oil – for deep fry

How to:

1.       Steam or pressure cook the plantains till softened

2.       Peel off the skin from the cooked plantains and mash well with hand or in a mixer without adding water. If the mashed plantain is over-wet or shaky, roll it in a piece of cotton cloth for some time till it gets dried up.

3.       In a bowl mix egg, cashew nuts, raisins with sugar and mashed cardamom, well with continuous beating with a spoon.   

4.       In a pan, heat ghee and add the above mixture and stir well with a thin spoon for few minutes until the small egg pieces are separated from the pan.

5.       Spread some oil in your palm and take small balls from the mashed plantain, flatten the center a little with fingers and fill the egg mixture. Roll the plantain balls into a spindle’s shape.  (if the plantain balls are too sticky, add a little maida/rice flour into it or spread on palm so that it’ll be easy to shape)

6.       Deep fry these in hot oil in a pan till it turns brown.

Serve hot with tea. It’s one of the best choices for evening snacks.

Note: In ‘Paaluvazhakka’, instead of putting cut banana pieces, if unnakkai is added, it’ll be even yummier..!! Have a try?

*Photo courtesy : My Space.. My Taste.. My  World... 

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