Pazham Pori - Ripe Plantain Fritters

This snack is very popular in kerala. Quick and easy to make.

Ingredients

3 - Ripe plantains
1 cup - Rice flour
3 tbsp - Maida / all purpose flour
3 tbsp - Sugar
a pinch or two - Turmeric powder
a pinch - salt
oil to fry

Method

1) Peel the skin off the ripe plantain and cut into two parts. Then cut each part into 3- 4 slices,lengthwise.

2 )Mix rice powder, maida, sugar, turmeric powder and salt. Make a thick batter.

3) Heat oil in a deep frying pan. Dip the sliced plantains in the batter and deep fry till golden brown in colour.

Serve with evening tea.

Variation

With the sliced ripe plantain....Heat ghee or butter in a non-stick pan. Fry the slices on both side till light brown in colour.Drain and place on a serving plate. Sprinkle some sugar on the fried plantains and serve.

Also try pazham pori in slightly different batter. Check the recipe here

Mutton Pickle

Pickling meat comes in handy for those lazy days when you don't want to cook an elaborate meal. So then you can cook some rice and have with pickle and maybe some yogurt.

Ingredients

500 gm - Boneless mutton, cut to small pieces

Masala

1 tbsp - Ginger paste

1 tbsp - Garlic paste

1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder

4 tbsp - Coriander powder

1 tsp - Black pepper powder

1 tsp - Red chili powder

1 tsp - fennel seeds

Roast and powder

5 - cloves

2 - Cinnamon stick

1 - Star Anise

Seasoning

2 to 3 sprigs - Curry leaves

5 - whole dry red chili

1/4 tsp - Asafoetida / Hing

1/2 cup - vinegar

Salt to taste

Method

1 ) Heat good amount of oil in a heavy bottom pan. Add ginger - garlic paste and fry till ginger- garlic is lightly browned.Then add turmeric powder, red chili powder, black pepper powder, coriander powder and fennel seeds. Fry on low heat for a minute.

2 ) Add mutton pieces, stir and mix in well with the spices. Add little water and salt to taste. Simmer and cook the meat till well cooked. Add oil and fry meat till lightly browned.

3 ) Heat oil in a pan. Add curry leaves, whole red chili, hing, roasted powder (star anise, clove and cinnamon ). Fry for a minute. Add to the meat, fry and mix in well. Then add vinegar and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Take off the stove and cool.

Put the pickle in a sterilized container. Start using pickle after a day or two of preparing it. Refrigerate after a day outside. All the masala will settle into the meat by then.

Some pointers when making pickle

• Always use well wiped and dried utensil for cooking and storing pickle in.
• Use more oil while making pickle. Oil acts as a preservative. So its good if some oil floats on top of the pickle bottle.
• By frying meat well, you can store meat pickle for longer time.

Mango Kadhi with Onion Pakoda

Yummy yummy mango kadhi, relished with onion pakoda's. Kadhi's are very popular in northern India. This kadhi is sweet and sour in taste. You can enjoy this kadhi, on it's own.

First make Onion pakoda and keep it ready.

Ingredients

1 cup - Bengal gram flour / Besan

1 big - Onion, chopped

1/4 tsp - Turmeric powder

1/4 tsp - Red chili powder

1/4 tsp - Ajwain

Salt to taste

Method

1 ) In a bowl make a thick paste of besan, turmeric powder, red chili powder, ajwain and salt to taste with water.

2 ) Add chopped onions to the besan mixture and mix in well.

3 ) Heat oil in a wok or kadai. Take a small amount of prepared mixture and add to oil and fry to golden brown color. Strain and keep aside. In the same way make pakoda's with rest of the mixture.

You can serve this onion pakoda / fritters as a snack. Now for this recipe, keep pakoda's aside, to add later to mango kadhi.

This is similar to how cauliflower pokoda is made. Have a look to see pics....

Mango Kadhi

Ingredients to make mango kadhi

2 - Ripe mangoes, peel the skin & cut to pieces

2 cups - Yogurts / curds

2 tbsp - Besan / Bengal gram flour

1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder

1.5 cup - Water

For Seasoning

1 tsp - Mustard seeds (optional)

1/2 tsp - Jeera / Cumin seeds

1/4 tsp - Asafoetida/ hing

1 sprig - Curry leaves

2 - Whole dry red chili

1/4 tsp - Fenugreek seeds/ Uluva / methi

1 tbsp - Ginger & green chili paste

1/2 bunch - Coriander leaves, chopped

1 tsp - Sugar

Salt to taste

Method

1 ) Add mango pieces to a blender and blend to a smooth paste. Add yogurt, besan, turmeric powder and salt to taste to the blender. Run the blender and mix the ingredients well.

2 ) Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard. After mustard pops, add jeera, asafoetida, curry leaves, whole red chili , and fenugreek seeds. Fry for a minute on low heat.

3 ) Add ginger - green chili paste and fry for a minute or two. Now add the mango mixture, water and sugar. Bring to a boil, simmer and stir. Add chopped coriander leaves to the kadhi . Cook for 2 - 3 minutes on low heat. The consistency of the kadhi should be like a thick soup. Take off the stove.

4 ) Add the prepared onion pakoda's to the mango kadhi. Immerse pakoda's in the kadhi.

Serve hot with basmati rice.

Mango Kadhi is so similar in taste to mambazha pulissery of kerala.

Potato Bonda

An evening snack with your tea or coffee. Potato is the main ingredients used to make this snack along with other ingredients and spices.

Ingredients

4 large - Potatoes

For Seasoning

1 tsp - Mustard seeds
1 tsp - Urad dal
1/4 tsp - Turmeric powder
1 small - Onion, chopped
3 to 4 - Green chili, chopped
2 inch piece - Ginger, chopped
1/2 bunch - Coriander leaves, chopped

To batter

1 cup - Bengal gram flour / besan /kadalapodi
1 tsp - Rice flour
1/4 tsp - Red chili powder
1/4 tsp - Turmeric powder
Salt to taste

Method

1 ) Boil potatoes well and mash it up. Add salt to taste and keep aside.

2 ) Chop and cut to very small pieces, green chili, ginger, onions and coriander leaves.

3 ) Heat oil in a pan, add mustard. After mustard pops, add urad dal, then turmeric powder, green chili, ginger. Fry ginger and chili for a minute or two then add onion and fry onion till it is translucent.

4 ) Add this to the mashed potato and mix in well. Make small balls of the potato mixture.

5 ) Mix ingredients for batter. Add water and make a thick batter. Batter should not be too thick nor too thin.

6 ) Heat a wok or kadai with enough oil to deep fry. Dip each potato balls in the batter and coat the batter all around. Carefully put into the hot oil and fry till golden in color. Fry all the potato balls similarly.

Serve hot as a snack and enjoy with your tea or coffee. Jihva for potato hosted by Vaishali at Happy Burp.

Other recipes with potato

• Potato Kurma
• Fish cutlets

Chakka - VanPayar Erissery

Erissery made with a combination of chakka ( Jack fruit ) and vanpayar ( red beans ) is delectable. My usual combination is raw plantain and red beans for the same recipe.
Now i wonder if i have put the right title for this recipe. Since there is 'Elissery and Erissery' what is the difference between them ? Then i read the explanation given in Priya's Kitchen. If there is more to add to this explanation, please let me know.
Ingredients

500 gm - Unripe Jack fruit, cut to small pieces
250 gm - Red beans / vanpayar
1/2 tsp - Red chili powder
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
Salt to taste

Grind to paste

1 cup - freshly grated coconut
2 to 3 - whole dry red chili
1/2 tsp - Jeera / cumin
2 to 3 - Shallots / small onions

Seasoning

1 tsp - Mustard seeds
2 tbsp - Grated coconut
2 - Whole dry red chili
2 sprigs - Curry leaves

Method

1 ) Soak red beans for 2 to 3 hours. This is to lessen the cooking time. You can pressure cook even without soaking.

2 ) Pressure cook red beans and jack fruit with red chili, turmeric powder, salt and 2 cups or more water to cover the ingredients well. Bring to full cooking pressure, simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Cool and open the pressure cooker.

3 ) Grind ingredients listed to grind with water. Add the ground ingredients to the cooked ingredients. Mix in well. Add enough water to make a thick curry. Place on stove and bring to a boil. Simmer.

4 ) Season with mustard,red chili, curry leaves and grated coconut. Fry grated coconut to golden brown color. Add to the erissery. Take off the stove and serve

Serve hot with rice.

Prawns Pickle/ Achaar

Ingredients

60 to 80 counts prawns
5 - Green chili, slit in center
2 inch piece - Ginger, sliced thinly
10 flakes - Garlic, whole or sliced
1 tsp - Mustard seeds
2 pinches - Fenugreek powder/ uluva powder
1/4 tsp - Hing powder
1 tsp - Fennel seeds / Perumjeerakam
2 to 3 tsp - Red chili powder
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
2 to 3 sprigs - Curry leaves
4 tbsp - Vinegar
4 tbsp - Sesame oil
2 tsp - Salt

Method

1 ) Peel, devein and clean the prawns. Put prawns in a colander to drain off all the water.

2 ) Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and allow it to pop. Then add curry leaves, fennel seeds, fenugreek powder, hing, turmeric powder and red chili powder. Stir and fry for a minute on low heat. Then add in green chili, ginger, garlic and fry a minute on low heat.

3 ) Add prawns to the masala.Stir and cook on low heat. Add salt. Once the prawns has cooked well, add vinegar to prawns and cook for a minute. Take off the stove and cool. Add more vinegar for more gravy.

5 ) Transfer prawns pickle to a sterilized and well dried out container to store. Warm little oil and pour on top on the pickle. The oil floating on top will prevent pickle spoiling. Can keep the pickle for a day outside. Then refrigerate.

Fish Mollee

I am very nostalgic, when i think of fish mollee. I get lost in the moments and memories when fish mollee was cooked and served by my mother and the whole family enjoying that meal. Those are some happy memories.
Usually fish mollee is cooked with neimeen ( Seer fish ) in my house. I had also tasted fish mollee made with karimeen (which is a very bony fish) and the taste was awesome. Tilapia is similar to karimeen and i made fish mollee with whole tilapia. The taste was mind blowing for me. So here is the recipe for fish mollee.

Ingredients

1 lb - Tilapia /Seer fish / pomfret, cut to small pieces.

To marinate the fish

1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder

2 to 3 tsp - red chili powder / kashmiri chili powder

salt to taste

Extract coconut milk from one coconut

1/2 cup - Thick first extract

1.5 cup - Second extract

Other Ingredients

2 - Green chili, slit in center

2 inch piece - Ginger

1 - Onion, diced

2 medium size - Tomatoes, quartered

2 sticks - Cinnamon

3 - cloves

2 to 3 sprigs - Curry leaves

Method

1 ) Marinate the fish pieces with marinating ingredients for 5 minutes.

2 ) Heat a pan and fry the fish pieces, lightly on both sides. Don't have to fully fry and cook the pieces. This is to seal in and make the pieces firm. Also frying enhances the taste. Set aside the fried fish pieces.

3 ) In the same oil that fish was fried in, add cinnamon, cloves, onion and fry onion to a light brown colour. Then add green chili, ginger and curry leaves. Stir and fry for a minute. Add tomatoes and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

4 ) Add the fried fish pieces and the second extracted coconut milk. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on slow flame. Adjust salt as to taste.

5 ) Finally add the thick first extract of the coconut milk and take off the stove.

Serve hot with vellayappam, Idiappam, puttu or ghee rice.

Liver Masala Fry

Ingredients

500 gm - Liver ( Goat liver ) chopped to small pieces
1 tsp - Black pepper powder
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
4 - Green chili, slit in center
Salt to taste

To dry roast masala

2 tbsp - Coriander powder
1/2 tsp - Red chili powder
1/4 tsp - Turmeric powder

Seasoning

6 big - Shallot, diced
1'' piece - Ginger, finely chopped
2 sprigs - Curry leaves
2 tbsp - Coconut cut to small pieces
Coconut oil

Method

1 ) Add into a pressure cooker, 1/2 cup water, black pepper powder, turmeric powder, green chili, liver and salt to taste. Pressure cook for 5 to 8 minutes.

2 ) In the meanwhile, when the liver is getting cooked, dry roast the masala powders and also fry the seasoning ingredients. To dry roast - To a pan add the masala powders and on low heat dry roast the masala powders. Roast till the aroma of the powders comes out and color of the powder changes slightly. Take off the stove.

3 ) Fry seasonings - heat oil in a pan, add curry leaves, ginger and fry for a second. Add shallots and fry to a light brown.

3 ) Open the pressure cooker and add the roasted masala powder and mix in well. Keep cooker back on flame, cook to reduce the water and make a thick gravy. Before the gravy fully dries up add the fried ingredients and coconut pieces. Mix with gravy and cook till the gravy is thick and coating to the liver pieces. Take off the stove.

Serve with rice or roti.

Brinjal Chutney

I was introduced to brinjal chutney, through a Andhra friend. I was not sure how a brinjal chutney will taste. I was really surprised by the unique taste that comes out when mixed with other ingredients.

Ingredients

5 medium - Brinjal or one big eggplant, chopped

3 to 4 - Green chili, slit in center

1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder

Small piece - Tamarind ( about half a key lime size )

2 flakes - Garlic

1/2 tsp - Jeera

Salt to taste

Seasoning

1 tsp - Mustard seeds

1/2 tsp - Asafoetida / Kayam / Hing

1 tbsp - Channa dal

1 tsp - Urad dal ( Optional )

5 flakes - Garlic crushed

2 to 4 - Whole red chili

1 sprigs - Curry leaves

1/2 cup - Chopped coriander leaves

Method

1 ) Heat oil in a pan, add green chili and fry for a minute or two. Take it out of the oil, to a plate and set aside. To the pan add chopped brinjal. Stir and fry. Sprinkle turmeric powder and salt to taste. Close with a lid and cook on low flame till the brinjal is well cooked and looks mashed up. Take off the stove and cool.

2 ) To a blender add tamarind, garlic and jeera. Grind these ingredients. Then add the cooked brinjal, green chili and coarsely grind.

3 ) For seasoning, heat oil in a pan, add mustard, then chana dal, urad dal, whole red chili, Asafoetida, curry leaves and crushed garlic. Stir and fry for a minute. Then add coriander leaves, fry for minute. Add ground brinjal to the seasoning and stir in well. Cook for a minute or two. Take off the stove and serve.

Serve with rice or chapati.

Tip

Chutney with cucumber, cabbage, red bell pepper, zucchini can be made following the same method.

Cuttlefish Pepper Fry

Cuttlefish is not a fish, but like squid and octopus, it belongs to the class of molluscs known as Cephalopods.

1 Lb - Cuttlefish
5 - Shallots, diced
2 - Green chili, slit in center
1 inch piece - Ginger, crushed
1/2 to 1 tsp - Black pepper powder
1 tbsp - Coriander powder
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
2 sprigs - Curry leaves
Salt to taste
Corn oil

Method

1 ) Clean and cut cuttlefish to small pieces.

2 ) Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan. Add green chili and curry leaves. Stir for a minute, then add shallots and ginger. Stir and fry.

3 ) Add turmeric powder, black pepper powder and coriander powder. Stir and fry the powders for a minute. Add the cut cuttle fish. Stir and mix well with the masala. Cover with a lid and cook on a low flame till the cuttlefish is cooked.

4) Add little more oil, if necessary and fry the cuttlefish. Take off the stove and serve hot.

Serve hot as a side dish.

Note

Lessen the amount of black pepper powder, if you do not want it very spicy.

Puttu - Steamed Rice Cake In Coconut Shell

This breakfast dish is so common and very popular in kerala. It's called ' Puttu '. Steaming is the method used to cook puttu. Puttu is made with different cereal grain powders like, Rice, wheat, Ragi..... to name a few popular powders used. Puttu and kadala curry is a popular combination. On the other hand, rice puttu with banana, pappadam, some ghee and sugar, mixed is really a mouth watering combination. In my house Rice puttu and Potato ishtoo is very popular. I could never have enough of this combination. Every one has their favourite combination to have puttu with. The utensil used to cook puttu is called 'Puttukutti'. Here i have used the shell of a coconut to cook puttu in. A half of a coconut shell, to which 3 holes are made in the bottom. This will allow the steam to pass through.

Ingredients

1 cup - Rice flour
1/2 cup - Freshly grated coconut
Pinch of salt
water as required
1/2 cup - Extra grated coconut

Method

1 ) In a pan, add rice flour and dry roast lightly. Stirring continuously. The white color of the rice flour should change very lightly. Take care not to burn the powder. Cool the powder.

2 ) To the rice powder, add 1/2 cup of the grated coconut, mix and rub in with the rice flour. Dissolve salt in half a cup of water. Sprinkle this water on the rice flour, little at a time and with hand mix the flour. Repeat sprinkling water till the flour is wet.

3 )To know if the mixture is right to start steaming, just take some mixture in the hand and clasp with the palm. If the mixture holds together (like a solid shape, at the same time fall apart, when pressed slightly) you can proceed to make puttu. Otherwise sprinkle little more water.

4 ) Below is a pot shaped utensil with water. Placed on top of the pot is the coconut shell. There is a round steel with holes placed in the bottom of the coconut shell. This will help the contents put in the shell, not to fall out through the holes in the shell. Use a utensil on which the coconut shell can sit tightly.

5 ) Place the utensil on the stove. Fill half the utensil with water and boil the water. Meanwhile, in the coconut shell place the steel filter. Add some grated coconut, then the prepared rice flour mixture. Fill up the coconut shell fully.



6 ) Place the coconut shell on top of the utensil tightly. Cover the shell with lid. Steam for 5 to 10 minutes. Steam will come out, from the top of the coconut shell. Once the puttu is cooked. Take the coconut shell off the utensil, invert it to a serving plate. Puttu will come off the coconut shell.

Serve hot and enjoy puttu with your favourite combination of curry. Try with potato kurma and pappadam....or with egg curry

{ Don't be scared, seeing the lengthy explanation......it's not really all that complicated to make the simple and humble puttu :-) }

Wheat Puttu

Use one cup wheat flour instead of rice flour and follow the same method as above. With wheat flour, you have to be careful not to sprinkle too much water. It can end up becoming a dough, instead of a wet mixture.

You can serve with kadala curry, Erachi /Mutton curry or just have it plain with some pappadam.

Rawa Puttu

Making this puttu takes a bit more longer time, since there is two steps to follow to get a soft rawa puttu.

Ingredients are same as listed for rice puttu. Instead of rice flour, use one cup of rawa or cream of wheat.

Method

1 ) Dry roast the rawa lightly. Take off the stove and cool.

2 )Wet the rawa well by sprinkling water and mixing with hand.

3 )In the first step, steam the wet rawa. Take the wet rawa mixture and fill it into the puttukutti ( the utensil to steam ) and steam for 5 to 10 minutes, till a steady steam is coming from the top of the lid.

4 ) Push out the steamed rawa puttu to a plate. Then break and crumble the puttu to a powder form with a spoon. Let it cool a bit, then sprinkle more water and mix the mixture well.

5 )In the Second step, layer and fill the puttu kutti or coconut shell. First with some grated coconut and then with the rawa mixture.

6 ) Place the Puttu kutti or coconut shell on the utensil with boiling water and steam for 5 minutes, as in above pictures. Take off the stove and serve in a plate.

This is a bit longer method to follow.....but in the end you get a very soft rawa puttu. Taste more or less like rawa upma minus all that oil and other ingredients in upma.

Tags : Indian cooking , kerala puttu

Shammi Kababs / Kheema Kababs

This is my first try at shammi kabab. It's really quite delicious. Made with minced meat and bengal gram dal /chana dal, this will be a great appetizer or a starter.

Ingredients

500 gm - Minced meat ( goat or lamb )
1/2 cup - Bengal gram dal / chana dal
1 - Onion, chopped
6 flakes - Garlic
1 inch piece - Ginger
2 - Green chili
2 tsp - Crushed red chili powder
10 - Pepper corns
1 - Cinnamon
3 - Cloves
4 - Cardamoms
2 cup - Water
1 - Egg

Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

To chop finely

1 - onion

2 - Green chili

1 cup - Chopped coriander leaves

Method

1 ) In a heavy bottom utensil, put minced meat, chana dal, onion, ginger, garlic, green chili, crushed red chili powder, pepper corns, cinnamon, cloves, cardamoms, water and salt.

2 ) Cook on a medium heat, till the meat and chana dal is well cooked and all the water is completely used up. Take off the stove and cool. Pressure cooking method can be used to save cooking time. Pressure cook above mentioned ingredients with 3/4 rd cup to one cup of water instead of two.

4 ) Grind the cooked ingredients to a fine paste. Add one egg and mix well with the paste. Mix paste with finely chopped onion, green chili and coriander leaves. Make small balls and flatten, like in the pic below.

5 ) Heat oil in a wok or kadai. Deep fry till golden brown in color on both sides.

Serve hot with coriander chutney.

Tip

While frying if the kababs are breaking apart, then dip each kabab in beaten egg and fry.

Squid Masala

Ingredients

500 gm - Squid / koonthal / Calamari

1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder

1 tsp - Red chili powder

1 tsp - Coriander powder

1/2 tsp - Black pepper powder

1/2 tsp - Garam masala

Salt to taste

1 ) Marinate, squid with the above powders, for half an hour. Heat little oil in a wok or kadai. Add the marinated squid to it and cook the squid on a low flame. Close with a lid. There is no need to add water. Cook till the squid is well cook and all the water that came out of the squid is used up.

1 tbsp - Garlic - Ginger paste

10 - Shallots, diced

2 - Green chili, slit in center

1/2 cup - Coconut, chopped to bits

3 sprigs - Curry leaves

Coconut oil or Corn oil

Method

2 ) Heat oil in a pan. Add green chili, coconut bits, curry leaves and fry for a minute. Then add shallots and fry till light brown in color. Add garlic - ginger paste and fry for a minute.

3 ) Add the cooked squid, stir and mix well. Stir and fry for 2 to 3 minutes. Take off the stove and serve.

Serve as a side dish with rice or chapati

Tip

If the squid is too spicy, add half a cup of thick coconut milk to it and cook till the gravy is thick and coating the squid.

Small squids taste better than big ones and of course fresh is best.

Technorati tags : seafood squid masala