Chena Mezhukkupuratti / Yam Curry

Chena Mezhukkupuratti / mezhukkuvaratti is a famous simple side dish in most of Palghat Iyer families. We call it Upperi.  I just love this simple curry with a generous sprinkle of coconut oil. My patti is an expert in making this curry and I just love the way she makes it so crispy with less oil.

Nel Pori Urundai

Pori Urundai is one of my favorite evening snack.  This is my first attempt in trying this pori urundai.  Last year my MIL was here with us and she made pori urundai for karthigai deepam.  This year I had no other choice other than trying this on my own.

Paruppu pradhaman

Paruppu Pradhaman is one of Kerala Iyer's Famous Payasam.  My patti is an expert in making this payasam.  I used to wonder in those days without so much facilities like Mixer Grinder, Pressure cooker etc., how people make so many yummy dishes.

Adai Kozhakattai

Adai Kozhakattai is a famous evening tiffin in Kerala Iyer families. And as always my patti used to make yummy kozhakattais. Day before yesterday, I made these adai kozhakattais for our dinner. While making it, I was literally thinking about my patti because, she used to grind the batter in the old fashioned stone grinder (Kall ural) and steam a whole lot of kozhakattais for 12 of us.  I wanted to eat this kozhakattai's during my masakkai time(6 years back), called my patti and asked for recipe. She gave the recipe and asked me not to strain myself because, we have to do lot of stirring (She had no idea about microwave and all).  I soaked the ingredients and started grinding it. But that time, smell of the urad dhall made me throw up so badly and gave up the idea of making this kozhakattais and never had it after that. So wanted to give it a try this time. Since my patti is no more (and I already forgot the recipe), I called my chitti for the recipe and got it from her.

Ingredients:-

1. Boiled rice - 1 cup
2. Black Urad dhall - 1 cup
3. Channa dhall - 2 tsp
4. Red & Green chillies -  5 or 6 (acc to taste)
5. Salt to taste
6. Curry leaves - few
7. Oil - 1/2 tsp
8. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
9. Urad dhall - 1 tsp
10. Red chillies - 1
11. Asafoetida powder -  a pinch
12. coconut oil - 1 tsp

Soak boiled rice, urad dhall, channa dhall and chillies for 4 to 5 hours. Grind it nicely adding curryleaves and required amount of salt. The batter should be like dosa batter. Take a pan, pre heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall,  red chillies  and asafoetida powder and pour the adai batter in it. Stir it continuously till it becomes like a dough. I microwaved the batter for 10 minutes, stirring in between to get that consistency. If you touch the dough, it should not stick. Now make balls according to your wish and steam cook it for 10 to 12 minutes or till it becomes shiny,  in idly moulds. Now adai kozhakattai is ready to eat. Coconut chutney goes well with it. When you are ready to eat, Just take couple of kozhakattais, scramble it, sprinkle a teaspoon of coconut oil and enjoy with chutney.

I am sending this to Pari's Only Series, this time Only Low oil or Low Calorie hosting by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan Recipes.

Neiappam

I made these neiappams for today's evening tiffin. My patti used to be an expert in making neiappams. She had her iron appakaaral. I used non-stick appakaaral for making this neiappam. This time I followed Aparna's Neiyappam recipe,  instead of my patti's. Both were almost same except for the fact that my patti usually add couple of teaspoons of ghee to the appam batter. Aparna's My Diverse Kitchen blog has been chosen for this month's T&T event by Srivalli, initally started by   Zlamushka, currently taken over by Lakshmi.

Vinayaka Chathurthi celebrations...

First of all "Happy Vinayaka chathurthi" to all my friends here. Well this year its special for me because I got some help from my twins in making Kozhakattais. They tried making those cups. Even though it didn't work out well for them, I am happy they took part in this process of making Neivedhyam and helped me arranging pooja items. This year I made Vella kozhakattai and two kinds of Uppu kozhakattai and ammani kozhakattai. In my mom's place we make uppu kozhakattai using only Urad dhall. But in my in-laws place, we make uppu kozhakattai with all the three lentils i.e., urad dhall, channa dhall and toor dhall. I wanted to make both of them and I did it. Since I have already posted the recipe for vella kozhakattai and uppu kozhakattai, I am just posting the recipe for only Ulundhu kozhakattai which we make in our mom's place, here along with my pooja pictures.


Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Urad dhall - 1 cup
2. Green Chillies - 3 (acc to taste)
3. Oil - 1 tsp
4. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
5. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
6. Red chillies - 1
7. Curry leaves - few
8. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
9. Salt to taste

For Dough:-

1. Rice - 1 cup
2. Sesame Oil - 1 tsp
3. Salt to taste
   

Most of us use rice flour for making the dough. But the traditional way of making this dough is to use rice. Soak rice for an hour. Grind it into a fine paste and add water to bring it to watery consistency (like dosa batter). Add salt and sesame oil. Take a pan, pour this batter and stir it continuously to make sure no lumps are formed. When the water is fully absorbed, it will come like a shiny ball. Turn off the stove, take it out of the heat and cover it with a lid. This is the flour coating we use for making kozhakattai cups.

Soak urad dhall for two to three hours along with green chillies to it. Then grind it after two hours, coarsely and steam cook it adding salt to it. When its cooked, scramble it and keep it aside. Now take a small pan, pre heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall, red chillies, asafoetida powder and curry leaves to golden brown and add the scrambled urad dhall to it. Stir it for couple of minutes. Sprinkle water, if it is too dry. Turn off the stove and make it small balls when it is warm. Now when you are ready to make kozhakattai, make small cups out of the dough, fill it with urad dhall balls and cover it according to the required shape. Stem cook it for 15 to 28 mts or till its fully cooked.

Chakka Pradhaman/Jackfruit Payasam/Jackfruit Kheer

Jackfruit is my all time favorite fruit. I can eat a whole bowl of ripe jackfruit at any time:). During the vishu season, in my mom's place, we used to buy two big whole jack fruit for vishu kani and after vishu kani day, my patti used to make chakka varatti(jackfruit Halwa) in a large dabba and store it. I like to eat it as Chakka varatti too. She makes chakka pradhaman with chakka varatti which always be a hit for my Patti. I saw jackfruit last weekend near our Indian grocery store. Immediately I bought it. Took out the seeds from it and used half of the fruit as side dish for curd rice(!) and I wanted to make this chakka pradhaman with the remaining. Main motivation for making this was Jaishree's post. I was so tempted after seeing her payasam. Lol...I saved it for today cos its my husband's birthday. I didn't make chakka varatti first. I just used the jackfruit direcly for making payasam/pradhaman. I got the recipe from my grandma. This is the traditional chakka payasam she makes everytime. Here goes the recipe...

Ingredient:-

1. Jackfruit Pieces - 20
2. Jaggery -according to the available quanity of Jackfruit paste
3. ghee - 2 tbsp
4. Coconut pieces - few
5. Cashew - few
6. Coconut milk/regular full fat milk - 1/4 cup (can also increase the quantity)

Jackfruit Paste:- First pressure cook the jackfruit pieces upto one whislte. Let it cool and grind it into a fine paste. If you are going to make the payasam immediately, then measure how much paste you have and take jaggery according to the ratio of 1:1 (equal amount). I made this paste on tuesday and I refrigerated this paste in an air tight container. I used it today.


When you are ready with the paste, just take equal amount of jaggery and keep it aside. Take a heavy bottomed pan, put the paste first and add 1/4 cup water to it and let it melt first. Once the paste becomes watery, add the jaggery to it and mix it well and let it boil under low flame for another 7 mts. You can see bubbles coming out. Now its time to add coconut milk or regualr milk and mix it with the ingredients and let it boil for another couple of mts. You can smell the jackfruit, jaggery and coconut. Its means payasam is ready. Now take a small pan, pre heat ghee, fry coconut pieces and cashews to golden brown and pour it on top of paysam and mix it well. Don't forget to keep on stirring the payasam otherwise jaggery will stick in to your pan.

I used regular full fat milk instead of coconut milk. Also we can add more ghee in between too. I didn't add that much ghee. I just used 2 tbsp (which is too much for my hubby dear). We can also use a lot of coconut pieces which i reduced because of my husband.

For Chakka Varatti recipe, please visit here...

Brinjal Poricha Kozhambu - Kerala Style

This poricha kozhambu is also a Kerala style kozhambu. In this kozhambu we use Azuki Bean (Black Kaaramani) instead of Toor dal. The main ingredients are as follow..

Ingredients:-

1. Black Kaaramani - 3/4 cup (soak it in water for atleast 8 hours)
2. Tamarind - one small lemon sized
3. Eggplant/Brinjal - 4 (cut it in an inch size)
4. Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
5. Chana dal - 1 tsp
6. Fresh coconut - 1 tbstp
7. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
8. Red Chillies - 2 (or according to taste)
9. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
10. Jaggery - 1 tbsp
11. Sambar Powder - 1/2 tsp
12. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
    
13. Salt to taste.

For Seasoning:

1. Oil - 2 tsp
2. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
3. fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
4. Asafoetida - 1 pinch
5. Curry Leaves - 10 leaves

At first, take a small pan pour a drop of oil and fry Coriander seeds, Channa dal, Red chillies, Fresh coconut and Fenugreek seeds with a pinch of asafoetida powder, to golden brown. Let it cool and grind it into a fine paste. Keep it aside. Cook the Kaaramani in a pressure pan upto 6 whistles. Keep it aside. Now take a wide pan, cut the brinjal, mix the tamarind paste, turmeric powder, sambar powder salt and let it boil(cook) for 10 mts. Now add the coconut paste to it and let it boil for another 5 mts. Now add the cooked Kaaramani and jaggery to it and let it cook for another 7 mts. Turn off the stove now. Take a seasoning pan, pre heat the oil add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, asafoetida and curryleaves and let it fry till golden brown. Now pour it in the poricha Kozhambu. Now poricha kozhambu is ready to serve.

Gooseberry Pachadi

This is my favorite pachadi. During gooseberry season in chennai, my patti used to make this and its very good to eat with plain white rice and a teaspoon of melted ghee. I am sending this recipe to Vani's AFAM (A Fruit A month) event. Here is the recipe.


Ingredients:-

1. Gooseberry(nellikka) - 10
   
2. Green chillies - 2
3. Coconut- 1 tbsp
4. Curd - 1 cup
5. Salt to taste
6. Oil - 1/2 tsp
7. mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
8. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
9. Curry leaves - few

First cut the goose berry into two and take out the seeds from it. Now put the goose berries in a microwave safe vessel and add 1/4 cup of water and microwave it for 2 mts. The gooseberries become tender now. Let it cool. Grind, the cooked gooseberries+green chillies+coconut into a fine paste. Add it to curd and mix required amount of salt to it. Take a pan, preheat oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add curry leaves and asafoetida powder to it and fry it till golden brown. Pour it on top of gooseberry-curd mixture. Now goose berry pachadi is ready to serve. We even call this gooseberry arachukalakki.

Polla vadai (rice flour vadai)

This is a snack item, which my patti used to make and the side dish for this is a cup of coffee. We usually dip this vadai in coffee and eat it. It will be really good to eat it with coffee.

Ingredients:-

1. Channa dhall - 1/4 cup
2. toor dhall - 1/2 cup
3. urad dhall - 1/4 cup
4. Rice flour - 1 cup
5. Red chillies - 2
6. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
7. curry leaves - few
8. Salt to taste
9. Oil - to deep fry
   

Soak three dhall in water for half an hour to one hour adding red chillies to it. After an hour, grind it into a very fine paste adding red chillies, curry leaves and salt. Now add rice flour and asafoetida powder and mix it well. Add water to adjust the consistency. Make small patties out of the batter, deep fry it and enjoy. Fry it one by one in order to get it in better form.

More Kozhambu 1

In my mom's place, they make more kozhambu as a main dish for rice. But in my in-laws place, they use it as a side dish for some variety rice or for paruppu usli rice. Here is the recipe for more kozhambu

Ingredients:-

1. Chepankezhangu (Taro root) - 1 cup (chopped into small cubes)
2. Coconut - 3 tbsp
3. Green chillies - 2 tsp
4. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
5. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Salt to taste
7. Thick Buttermilk - 2 1/2 cups

For seasoning:-

1. Oil - 1 tsp
2. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
3. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
4. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
5. Curry leaves - few

First, grind coconut, green chillies and cumin seeds, into a fine paste. Keep it aside. Take a pan, put the chopped taro root to it, add required amount of water, turmeric powder, salt and let it cook. When the vegetable becomes tender, add the coconut paste and add a little amount of water and let it cook nicely. when both mixed nicely, turn off the stove. Remove the pan from the stove top, add the thick buttermilk to it. Mix it well. This is more kozhambu.

Take a small pan, pre heat oil, add mustard seeds when it splutters add fenugreek seeds, asafoetida powder and curry leaves to it. Fry it till golden brown. Pour it on top of more kozhambu.

Pumpkin Curry - Mathan Curry

Mathan - This is how we call yellow pumpkin in my mom's place. This curry is also very simple and this is another kerala Iyer recipe. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Pumpkin - 2 cups (chopped into small cubes)
2. Oil - 1 tbsp (preferably coconut oil)
3. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
4. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
5. Coconut - 1 1/2 tbsp
6. Green chillies - 2
7. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
8. Salt to taste
9. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

First grind coconut + green chillies + cumin seeds without adding water. Keep it aside. Now take a pan, pre heat oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urad dhall and fry it till golden brown. Now add the chopped pumpkin, salt and turmeric powder and let it cook adding required amount of water to it. Do not mash the pumpkin while mixing or stirring. when it becomes tender, drain the excess water and add the coconut chilly mix to it. Saute for a minute. Turn off the stove. This is another side dish and will go well with some hot and spicy sambar rice because pumpkin's sweet taste will go very well with spicy item.

Raw Jackfruit Curry

In my mom's place, they make this curry. This is basically a kerala Iyer recipe. My patti used to buy raw jackfruit, steam cook it, then peel off the skin, mash the jackfruit and make this curry later. But now a days, peeled raw jack fruit is available in tins. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Raw Jackfruit - 1 tin
2. coconut - 3 tbsp
3. Green chillies - 3 (acc to taste)
4. Coconut oil - 1 tbsp
5. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
6. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
7. Curry leaves - few
8. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
9. Salt to taste
10. Asafoetida powder - a pinch

First open the tin, drain the jackfruit from it. Grind the coconut and green chillies in blender without adding water and keep it aside. Take a pan, put the drained jack fruit to it, add turmeric powder and salt and 1/4 cup of water and let it cook for 7 to 10 mts. When it is 3/4th cooked, drain the remaining water. Let it cool. Scramble it with hand or using blender. Again pre heat the oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add urad dhall, asafoetida powder, curry leaves and fry it till golden brown. Now add the scrambled jack fruit to it. Also add coconut + Green chillies to it and mix it thoroughly and reduce the flame. Let it cook and mix for another 3 to 5 mts. A nice aroma of coconut will come out of it. Turn off the stove and serve it hot with rice. This is also a side dish.

Eggplant Curry 2 - Brinjal Curry 2

In my mom's place, they don't make eggplant or brinjal curry with masala powder. They make it really really simple. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Eggplants(Brinjal) - 2 cups (chopped into 1" sized)
2. Coconut Oil - 1 tbsp
3. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
4. Salt to taste
5. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
6. Red chillies - 1 (acc to taste)

Take a wide pan, pre heat the oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add red chillies to it and saute for a minute. Now add the chopped brinjal, turmeric powder, salt and required amount of water and let it cook for 10 mts. Eggplants(brinjal) will not take more than 10 mts (most of the eggplants) to cook. When the brinjal is fully cooked, drain the remaining water and saute for a minute. Do not mash the brinjal. Serve it hot with sambar rice. This is also a side dish.

Vaazhapoo Curry - Banana Flower Curry

The process of making recipes with banana flower takes long time. This is another curry we make in our mom's place. This is basically a kerala Iyer recipe. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Banana Flower - 1
2. Coconut - 3 tbsp
3. Green chillies - 3
4. Coconut Oil - 2 tbsp
5. Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
6. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
7. Curry leaves - few
   
8. Salt to taste
9. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Peel the banana flower layer by layer and take the black stem inside each tendril. Cut the tendrils into small pieces. Cook it with required amount of water, salt and turmeric powder and drain it after cooking. Keep it aside. Now grind the coconut and green chillies into fine paste without adding water. Keep it aside. Take a wide pan, pre heat the oil, add mustard seeds, urad dhall and curry leaves and fry it till golden brown. Now add the cooked banana flower to it and saute for a minute. Now add the coconut+chillies mixture to it and mix it thoroughly. Turn off the stove. This is also a side dish.

Suran Curry - Yam Curry

Chenakezhangu - This is how we call this ham in tamil. I love this curry very much. After my marriage, whenever I go to my mom's place, my patti make is curry. Chena mezhukkupuratti - this is how she calls it. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Yam (chenakezhangu) - 2 cups (chopped into small cubes)
2. Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
3. Salt to taste
4. Oil - 1 tbsp
5. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
6. Coconut Oil - 1 1/2tbsp

These are the required ingredients to make this curry. Very important ingredient we need including all the above is "Patience". If we need this curry very very crispier, then we need patience. First take a wide pan, pre heat the oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add the chopped yam to it. Pour required amount of water, put turmeric powder and salt and let the yam cook for nearly 20 mts. It takes that much time to cook. Make sure it is just cooked. Do not over cook. When it is tender, drain the excess water. Now add the coconut oil to it and mix it thoroughly. Reduce the heat to low and let it cook for more that 20 mts. Because, in order to become crispier, yam needs to be cooked in low flame and we need to stir it occasionally. When it is done, we can hear the crispy sound from the pan. This is also a side dish which goes well with sambar rice, rasam rice.

Now a days people are more health conscious. We can avoid using coconut oil, instead use olive oil or even pam spray will do the trick. I have never tried with olive oil or pam spray. coconut oil gives wonderful aroma of the vegetable we use. Try this and lemme know your comments

Beans Curry - 2

This is another way of making Beans curry. Here is the receipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Green Beans - 2 cups
2. Coconut - 1 tbsp
3. Green chillies - 2 (acc to taste)
   
4. Salt to taste
5. Oil - 1 tsp
6. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
7. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
8. Red chillies - 1
9. Asafoetida Powder - a pinch

First, Wash the raw beans and chop it into small pieces. Take a microwave safe vessel and put the beans in it and microwave it for 3 mts. first. Take it out and stir it and again keep it for 3 to 5 mts. Make sure beans is fully cooked. Now grind coconut and green chillies together. Do not add water while adding. Now take a pan, pre heat the oil, add mustard seeds when it splutters add urad dhall, red chillies andasafoetida powder and fry it to golden brown. Now add the beans to it. Stir it once and add salt, coconut+chillies mixture to beans and mix it thoroughly. Do not mash the beans. Try this and lemme know your comments

Mango kozhambu

"Manga kootan" - this is how we call it in my mom's place. This is more like more kozhambu. This is how I do mango kootan. The main ingredients are as follow..

Ingredients:-

1. Raw mango - 1/2 (chop it into cubes)
   
2. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
3. Salt to taste
4. Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
5. Red chillies - 3 or 4
6. Coconut - 2 tbsp
7. Curd(or thick butter milk) - 1 cup

For seasoning:-

1. oil - 1 1/2 tsp
2. mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
3. curry leaves - 5-6 nos
4. red chillies - 1
5. asafoetida powder - a pinch

Take a small pan, pre heat 1/2 tsp oil and fry fenugreek seeds and red chillies, to golden brown. Turn off the stove and add coconut to it and stir it. Let it cool and grind it in to a fine paste.

Take a wide pan, put the mango pieces in it with a cup of water and add turmeric powder and salt to it and let it cook for 7 mts. The mango should be tender. Now add the coconut paste to it and let it boil for another 5 mts. When everything is mixed, turn off the stove and add the curd(or butter milk) to it and stir it thoroughly so that the mango mix with the curd thoroughly.

Take a small pan, pre heat the remaining oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add red chillies, asafoetida powder and curry leaves to it and pour it on top of the mango sambar. We can use this sambar with rice. This is a good side dish for chapathis(i like to eat it with chapathi). Try this and lemme know your comments

Kootu - Kerala receipe

This is also my favourite receipe. This kootu has different namakaranam "vellamum Thengayum arachu vitta kootu", "kadukum thengayum arachu kottina kootu", "chenayum elavanum(winter melon) pottu kootu"(sounds funny but tastes yummy). This also a simple receipe. The main ingredients are as follow.
Ingredients:-

1. Suran(chenai) - 1 cup (chopped into small cubes)
2. Winter Melon (Poosanikai or Elavan) - 1 cup (chopped into small cubes
3. Channa dal - 1/2 cup
4. Jaggery - 3 tbsp
5. Coconut - 4 tbsp
6. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
7. Salt to taste
8. Red chillies - 2 or 3
9. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

For seasoning:-

1. Oil - 2 tsp
2. mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
3. Urid dal - 1/2 tsp
4. Red chillies - 1 or 2
5. Asafoetida powder
6. curry leaves - 5 nos.
   

Take a wide pan and cook channa dal till 1/2 cooked (can also be pressure cooked) make sure its not fully cooked. Now add suran and winter melon to it. Add a little water, turmeric powder and salt to it and let it cook for another 5 to 7 mts. The veggies should be tender and the dal should be 3/4th cooked. Now take a small pan preheat 1 tsp of oil, add mustard seeds when it splutters add red chillies and 3 tbsp of coconut to it and fry it till golden brown. Do not burn the coconut or chillies. Let it it cool and grind it into a fine paste. When the veggies and dal are 3/4th cooked add this paste and jaggery to it and let it cook for another 5 to 7 mts till the paste get mixed with the veggies and dal. The consistency should be thick not watery. Take a small seasoning pan, pre heat the remaining oil add mustard seeds, urid dal, red chillies, asafoetida powder and curry leaves to it and stir it for a minute and pour it on top of the kootu. At last, sprinkle the remaining 1 tbsp coconut on top of the kootu. Now the kootu is ready to serve. This can be a good side dish for sambar rice, more kozhambu, Mango kootan.

Olan 1- Kerala receipe

When my patti taught me this receipe, I was wondering how can a receipe tastes good without any masala or any garnishing. But this one tastes really good and its very easy to make. The main ingredients are as follows..
Ingredients:-

1. Winter melon - 1/4 (chop it in an inch size)
2. Pumpkin - 1/2 (chop it in an inch size)
3. Coconut oil - 1 1/2 tbsp
4. Salt to taste
5. Green chillies - 1 or 2 (according to taste)

Take a pan, cook the winter melon and pumpkin adding salt and green chillies to it. Try to avoid, lot of water cos, both the vegetables are watery veggies. Do not over cook or mash the veggies. When it is done, turn off the stove and add the coconut oil to it. Thats it. This is a traditional dish in kerala.