Pathiri (Rice flour pan cake)

Pathiri is a specialty of the Muslim community in Kerala. It is very popular in the Malabar area, where I belong to. The combination of pathiri and chicken/any meat curry is delicious. It also goes well with Fish Moilee. We have pathiri as a breakfast item at least once a week. While we have it to break our fast, we take it with  green peas curry, kadala curry, egg curry, coconut milk with sugar or even with ghee and sugar.

Ingredients:

Rice Flour                           --   1 cup

Water                                 --   2 cups

Oil                                      --   2 tsp

Salt                                     --   to taste

Yields around 30 pathiris.

Preparation of the pathiri:

Keep a vessel on the stove, add one cup of water and bring it to boil. Add salt to taste and the oil. Once the water starts boiling, add the rice flour and stir well.

Switch off the stove; pour the contents into a big saucer.  You have to knead it and make dough, when it is warm. Well-kneaded dough makes the pathiris soft and helps to puff up. Don’t add water or powder again. Apply a little coconut oil on palms to avoid the flour sticking.

Make smooth small balls from this dough, as we do for chappathis. Press the balls using a press pan, until you get thin round pathiris or roll it out.

Cook the pathiris on a tawa/griddle/non stick pan on a medium flame. Make sure that the pathiris do not change the colour, it remains white even after cooking.

Recipe Courtesy: Amma

Kadala Unda (Peanut balls with jaggery)

My all time favorite. During my Chennai days, we never had a day without one of this. But really I never knew that its so easy to prepare this. I thought that this required more experience and skill to roll out the hot balls. But this is very easy. Just need to be a bit careful.

Ingredients: 

Peanuts                        --   2 cups

Jaggery                        --   1 cup

Cardamom powder     --    1 tsp

Water                           --   ½ cup

Preparation of the balls:

Roast and shell the peanuts (if u have raw peanuts). You can either do it in a kadai or in a microwave. It would take around 8 minutes in a microwave at 600W power. Make sure to pause and stir the peanuts every two minutes. Else it would not be roasted uniformly. Keep it aside for 10 min and then shell them. This can be done by rolling them between your palms. This will also help to break them into two pieces.

You can also get roasted and shelled peanuts which makes this much easier.

In a pan, add water, jaggery and the cardamom powder. Let the jaggery melt and also thicken. The consistency of the jaggery is the most important thing. Add a drop to a bowl of water and it should immediately become a ball of required thickness, i.e. not too fluffy and not too hard. Once this reaches the required consistency, turn off the flame and add the peanuts into it and mix well. Let it cool for sometime, say 2 – 3 minutes. Make into balls when it is touchable. Dust the balls with rice flour ti avoid them sticking to each other.

Recipe Courtesy: Internet

Kovakka Mezhukkupuratti / Tindora Fry

I never had Kovakka from home. My mom and aunts used to have raw kovakka directly pluck from the garden and I used to run away when they asked me to taste one. But I started loving it after I had it from the Andra Restaurant in Kochi – Chillies. Their recipe was same as what my mom did at home. But they had a spicy preparation, well fried in excess oil. They even had a combination of kovakka with green peas. I used to go there with my friend every other Saturday, just to have this side dish. I just tried my mom’s recipe making it a bit spicy but sacrificed the excess oil thinking about the healthy side of it. I shall update the post once I try the combination with green peas.

Ingredients:

Kovakka                                 --    250 gm

Shallots                                    --    2 small ones

Onion                                      --    ¼ of a small one

Turmeric powder                 --   ¼ tsp

Chilly powder                        --   ½ tsp

Pepper powder                     --   ¼ tsp

Mustard seeds                       --    ½ tsp

Red chillies                             --    2

Curry Leaves                         --   few

Oil                                            --   3 tbsp

Salt                                          --   to taste 

Preparation of Mezhukkupuratti:

Chop the kovakka into required size. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add the red chillies broken into small pieces. Then add the chopped onions, shallots, green chillies and curry leaves. Once the onions become translucent, add turmeric powder and chilly powder. Fry it for 2 minutes. Now add the chopped kovakka and mix it well. Close the pan and let it cook for another 5 -6 min. Open the lid and sauté it at every 1 minute interval and make sure that it doesn’t burn. Once it is cooked well, add pepper powder and fry for few more minutes.

Recipe Courtesy: Amma

Chicken Chettinad

It was a Saturday. We were planning to try out a different chicken curry. We had the requirements as a spicy thick gravy chicken curry. After a long search, came up with the recipe of Chettinad chicken. We found multiple recipes under this title. I just chose one which I felt like is good. So I am not very sure, if this is the same as the authentic Chettinad cuisine. But this came out really grand. Usually 8 – 10 piece chicken curry, serves both of us for two meals. But this was finished on that day itself.

Ingredients: 

Chicken                                   --    ½ kg

Finely Chopped Onions         --    1 big

Green chillies                          --    2 -3

Tomato                                   --    1 medium sized

Red Chillies                            --    7 - 8

Coriander seeds                    --    1 tsp

Whole Pepper                         --    1 tsp

Cardamom                             --   2 or 3

Cinnamon                              --   1 inch stick

Cloves                                     --   2 or 3

Cumin Seeds                          --   1 tsp

Fennel Seeds                          --   1 tsp

Star Anise                               --   a small piece

Black Cardamom                  --   1

Mace                                       --   a small piece

Cashew nuts/Poppy Seeds   --   3 / 1 tsp

Shredded Coconut                 --   ¼ cup

Curry Leaves                         --   few

Coriander Leaves                  --   a small bunch

Oil                                           --    2 tbsp

Salt                                          --    to taste

Preparation of Chettinad Chicken:

Add oil into a pan and fry the red chillies, coriander seeds, whole pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, star anise, black cardamom, mace, cashew nuts/poppy seeds and shredded coconut until the coconut turns golden brown. Let it cool and grind the masala into fine powder.

Add oil into the pan and fry onions, green chillies and curry leaves until the onions become translucent. Add the tomatoes and let it cook well.

Once the tomatoes are well cooked and smashed, add the ground masala and chicken. Stir in the chicken into the masala, cover with a lid and let it cook on a low flame.

Water comes out of chicken and this should be enough to let the chicken cook. But check frequently and add more water if required. Take care not to burn the dish. Once the chicken is well cooked, garnish with chopped coriander leaves and switch off the flame.

 

Simple Parippu (Dal) Curry

I am born and brought up in a joint family. There were times when the head count was thirteen, now its only 9 though. During my school days, my grandmother used to have a pre-set menu for everyday in a week. May be this would have made her work easier.  Deciding on what to cook takes more time. Sunday was the busiest day in kitchen I believe. The usual menu was Vellappam and coconut milk/bulls eye/omlete for breakfast; parippu curry, fish curry, fish fry, cabbage thoran and pappadam for lunch; beef cutlet for evening tea (on most Sundays) and the left-overs of lunch for dinner. Of this, the parippu curry had different versions with snake guard, cucumber, Ash gourd etc. But a combination of parippu with carrot was not familiar to me until my hubby asked me to prepare. The way of preparation is the same as with any other vegetable; but the combination is really good. The sweetness of carrot gives a special flavor to the curry.

Ingredients:

Toor Dal                    --   ½ cup
Carrot                        --   1 medium size
Green Chillies             --   1 or 2
Turmeric powder        --   ¼ tsp
Chilly powder             --   1 tsp
Cumin seeds               --   ¼ tsp
Mustard seeds            --   ½ tsp
Red chillies                 --   2
Curry Leaves             --   few
Shredded coconut      --   ¼ cup
Oil                             --   2 tbsp
Salt                            --   to taste

Preparation of Parippu Curry:

Cook the dal and carrot with turmeric powder and chilly powder in a pressure cooker. Normally it takes 3 – 4 whistles to get this cooked. You can also go for slow cooking. Slow cooking is tastier as always.

Grind the shredded coconut with a pinch of turmeric, cumin seeds and green chillies. Add this ground mixture to the cooked dal and let it boil.

Heat oil in another pan and add mustard seeds. Once it splutters, add broken red chillies and curry leaves. Garnish the curry.

 

 

 

Recipe Courtesy: Amma / Ajay

Kerala Style Chicken/Mutton Stew

We had a small get together on our longest day of the week – Yeah you guessed it right - Friday. And the menu was Appam & Chicken Stew.

Ingredients:

Chicken                                --    ½ kg

Potato                                  --    1 medium

Carrot                                  --    1 medium

Onions                                  --    2 medium ones

Garlic                                   --    2 big cloves

Ginger                                  --    1 medium piece

Green chillies                       --    4 - 5

Cinnamon                            --    1 inch piece

Cloves                                  --    4 - 5

Whole Pepper                      --    8 - 10

Garam Masala                    --    1 tsp

Pepper Powder                   --   ½ tsp

Curry leaves                       --   1 stem

Coriander leaves                --   2 -3 stem

Shredded Coconut              --   Half a coconut

Oil                                        --    2 tbsp

Salt                                      --    to taste

Preparation of Chicken Stew:

Sprinkle hot water in a cup of shredded coconut. Squeeze it tightly to extract the thick milk out of it. Strain and keep aside. Add ½ cup of water in the remaining coconut and extract the milk using a mixer or blender. Strain and keep aside. This is the second milk. Repeat the process to extract the third milk.

Crush the whole spices using a mortar and pestle. I do not have it here, so I use the other side of my knife as the pestle and the cutting board as the mortar.Heat oil in a pan and fry the crushed spices until the aroma comes out.

Add finely chopped onions, green chillies, ginger, garlic, curry leaves and salt. When the onions become translucent, add garam masala and fry for 2 minutes. Now add the chicken pieces, cubed potatoes and carrot. Stir in the third coconut milk, cover with a lid and let it cook on a low flame.

Once the chicken is 80% cooked / if the mix becomes too dry for the chicken to get cooked, add the second coconut milk.

When the chicken is completely cooked, switch off the flame; add the first coconut milk, sprinkle some pepper powder and garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve with hot vellappams.

The same recipe can be used for mutton stew as well. Mutton needs more time to get cooked and so might need to add more coconut milk or water while cooking.

Recipe Courtesy: Amma

Chutney Podi (Dosa Podi)

I had never got a chance to have chutney podi along with idly or dosa, until my uncle married my aunt who was from Malappuram/Palakkad. She introduced this tasty dish at our home. I was really surprised how my grand mother missed out such a yummy and easy item. I think this is a specialty of Tamilians and was popular only in the Kerala - Tamil Nadu border ie Palakkad JJ  I did not have any clue on the ingredients in this podi and even my mother too. I then consulted my mother-in-law. She was very much used to this, but had never prepared it at home.

So the next rely was internet. I found the recipe in a blog - SpicyChilly. Before I went for the first trial, I got a chance to have the podi from my friends place, which was prepared by her mother. So I gave a try mixing both the recipes together; with more ingredients... Of course just a mix of different kind of dals..

I should have added this along with the post 'Easy Breakfast'. This makes idly/dosa even more easy for breakfast.

Ingredients:

Red chillies                          --   1 cup

Urad dal                               --   2 cups

Toor dal                               --   ½ cup

Split Bengal gram               --   ¼ cup

Fenugreek                           --    3 tbsp

Raw Rice                              --   1 tbsp

Sesame seeds                      --   1 tbsp

Asafoetida                            --   1 tsp

Garlic                                --   5 medium sized cloves

Oil                                          --   2 tsp

Salt                                        --    to taste

Preparation:

Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan and fry the dry chillies. Keep them aside.

Heat the left over oil and fry all other ingredients until the dals become light golden in colour. Let it cool.

Grind them to a coarse powder and store in an airtight container once cool.Take the required amount and mix with oil or ghee to serve with idly / dosa / tapioca / rice.

Recipe Courtesy:  Inspired by SpicyChilly