Cabbage Molagootal

Molagootal is a vegetable lentil curry that is cooked in parts of Kerala belonging to Tamil Brahmin's Cuisine, who has settled in Kerala for generations.

A no onion, no garlic, sathvic recipe.

Sharing with you the recipe of Molagootal using Cabbage.

The use of Urad in this recipe varies in every home. Some roast and add it to the coconut masala, some add in temepering and some doesnt use it for vegetable molagootal like me but only to Keerai Molagootal using greens. I have already shared the keerai molagootal recipe. The link is here :- https://my-hobby-lounge.blogspot.com/2012/06/keerai-molakootal-greens-gravy-for-rice.html

Video recipe for this Cabbage Molagootal is available here:-

Aviyal Kootan

The term Aviyal means Boiled. The process by which this is made. Some don't use curd. Instead they use Raw mango during the mango season. Some use tamarind as a souring agent. This dish comes handy when you only have little quantity of a mix of vegetables left. History of aviyal : Some say that it was first made by Bhima (one if the pandavas) in king Virata's palace where they spent a year in disguise during their last year of exile. Bhima was working as a cook and during a feast, unexpected guests arrived and there were no sufficient vegetables to cook any single recipe for a side dish, so Bheema used whatever available vegetables to make a new dish and that is called Aviyal. Glossary : Ashgourd | Vellai Poosani | Ilavan | Safed Bhopla Elephant Yam | Senai kizhangu | Chena | Suran Long beans | Karamani | Payaru | Chavli Drum stick | Murungai kai | Moringa | Shevgya


Aviyal recipe video :-

This recipe can be made in two different consistency. Thick one becomes a side dish whereas thin gravy consistency goes with plain rice like a curry. Some use it as an accompaniment to tiffin items Dosai and Adai. For thick aviyal, use water just enough to cook the vegetable and the beaten curd should be thick to get a thick consistency. This aviyal is served as one of the accompaniment during Sadhya (Fesast). Will make a video on that as well. During Mango season, use raw mangoes especially the thothapuri (Kilimuku) variety to make this. In that case, no need to add curd. In case if you want to, then use curd that us not sour.

Pulingari | Pulinkari | Uppadam

Today I am sharing a super recipe from our kitchen treasure..  "Pulungari" - a tamarind based curry to be had with white rice. A tangy & spicy curry with a tinge of sweetness from jaggery.''

There are many traditional recipes that are fading away from our kitchens, as they are cooked less frequently.  

This Pulungari is a dish from Palakkad and uses vegetables viz., Ladies Finger, Ashgourd, Pumpkin.

Two methods of making pulungari. One is with coconut and the other without. Hence without coconut, you follow the same recipe except that the dry roasted masalas are powdered finely, dissolved in water and then added slowly while stirring to avoid lumps formation.

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Ingredients :-

1. Ladies Finger - sliced into little big pieces - 1/2 cup
2. Tamarind - Gooseberry size (little more than what you take for sambar)
3. Turmeric Powder - a pinch (less than 1/4 tsp)
4. Salt to taste
5. Grated coconut - 2 tbsp
6. Curry Leaves - 1 Sprig
7. Jaggery - 1 tbsp (or as preferred)

For dry roasting 

1. Raw rice - 3 spoons
2. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
3. Dried Red Chillies - 2 Nos. (or as preferred)

Tempering :-

Coconut oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 8 nos.

Procedure :-

• Boil the tamarind till it becomes soft. Extract water from it.

• Heat a wok and roast the ingredients given for dry roasting.

• Let the roasted ingredients cool down to room temperature. Grind them along with coconut and little water to a fine paste.

• In a wok, add oil when it is hot, add mustard seeds. Once they start spluttering, add the chopped ladies finger (Bhindi / Vendaikai) and fry it till the stickiness goes.

• Add the tamarind water, Turmeric powder, salt and jaggery. Mix well and let it come to boil,

• Add the ground masala (wet / dry) while stirring to avoid forming lumps. (Rice paste tend to form lumps quickly if not stirred. so you can switch off the stove, add the masala, give it a mix and then again switch on the gas.). Cook on medium flame.

• Boil till it thickens and foam forms on top. 

Lipsmacking Pulungari is ready to be served with white rice!

Art of eating :- On the hot rice, pour a tsp of clarified butter (Ghee) and then add the pulungari and mix. Enjoy eating!

Elai Adai - Steamed rice sweet

Elai Adai is a Traditional sweet snack (Steamed sweet dumplings) wrapped in a banana leaf. Elai (leaf), adai (dumplings). Specially made in God's own country - Kerala (Keralam). 

In most of the homes especially the tamizh speaking brahmins settled in Kerala, it is a common snack item.  Banana leaf and coconut are easily available.

This beautiful looking steamed snack nicely parcelled in a green banana leaf is too inviting.

I remember, in my childhood days, when amma makes them, the flavour gently floated & reached my nostrils, made me drool badly.  I eagerly waited for her to open the traditional steamer and take out the parcels and handover to me.

When my first milk tooth fell, i was at my aunt's home. Those days, it was a practice that the elderly lady in the family will help extracting the shaking milk tooth. After it was extracted, the pain and blood scared me. She was making elai adais, that day. To cheer me up, she laughed and handed over a parcel to me saying "when a tooth is extracted, elai adai is made. Remember this day and everytime when your milk tooth falls ask amma for elai adai". Yes, elai adai, indeed made me forget all that pain and I had a sweet tooth then to relish those glossy looking yummy sweet adais.  Everytime when a tooth fell, I remembered that sweet incident.

The traditional recipe calls for ingredients viz., jackfruit, coconut, jaggery for the poornam (stuffing). Ladies were (and are!) so smart that they found a solution to make a seasonal stuff available in one form or the other, throughout the year (off seasons), which made them invent pickles and preserves.

During the season, fresh jackfruit pods are finely chopped and added to the coconut poornam (pooran). During off season, the preserve is used. 

There are some quick versions too available now a days which uses coconut, cardamom powder and sugar. But the flavour of jackfruit, jaggery and coconut can never be beaten. That is the power of authentic recipe!

Whatever the ingredient for Poornam (Puran) is, the banana leaf is the most important thing for 'eali' adai making, on which it is made and packed before steaming. The leaf give the adais a drool worthy look, yummy flavour & taste.

Let us get into the elai adai making.

you will need :-

1. Banana Leaf (Plantain leaf) - 3 Nos.
2. Raw Rice : 1 Cup
3. Grated coconut - 1.5 Cups
4. Jaggery - 1 Cup (or as per taste)
5. Jack fruit Pods - 4-5 Nos. (If you use preserve, use 2-3 tbsp)
6. Ghee - 1 tbsp

Preparation :-

• Soak the raw rice for 2 hours and grind to a smooth paste. The consistency of the batter is thick but pouring (like a batter for Bajji )

•  Wash the banana leafs and pat them dry. Switch on the gas and very lightly toast them on flame, so that they don't tear while folding. It becomes easy to handle.

•  Dissolve jaggery in water (less than 1/4 cup of water), filter the impurities. 

• Heat a wok, add the filtered jaggery water, grated coconut, jack fruit pieces (or preserve) and cook till the mixture thickens.  [If you are using the preserve, add the preserve to the coconut).

• Add a tbsp of ghee (clarified butter) and mix well. Switch off the flame.

• Pour water in a steamer and bring the water to boil

Elai adai making :-

• Take a piece of plantain leaf (banana leaf/vazhai elai) and lay it flat on a working surface.

• Take a laddle of batter, pour some on the leaf and spread it like a dosa (pancake)

• Take a tbsp of poornam (prepared coconut stuffing) and place it on the middle. Very gently spread them a little.

• Now fold the leaf carefully once and place them on the steamer

• Close the steamer and steam the parcels for 10 minutes 

• Open, let it cool a bit and serve the sweet along with the parcel.

 Sit back and relish the flavourful steamed sweet adais.

Kadala curry / Brown channa masala / brown chick pea curry

A simple recipe using brown channa (chickpea) which can go well with rice, Chapathi as well as the famous breakfast from God's own coutnry - the 'puttu'.

Brown chickpea is used in this traditional recipe.

I have earlier posted a recipe using coconut. This version is without coconut beautifully infused with the flavour of coriander seeds, roasted cumin and curry leaves.

Things you will need :-

1. Brown chick pea - 2 Cups
2. Onion - 1 No. big
3. Tomato - 1 No. Medium
4. Ginger - 1" piece 
5. Curry leaves - 7 nos.
6. Coriander powder - 1.5 tsp
7. Roasted cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
8. Red chilli powder - 1 tsp (or as per preference)
9. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
10. Salt to taste
11. Oil - 2 tbsp (I used coconut oil as it is a traditional recipe flavoured by it)
12. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

 Procedure :

• Soak chickpeas overnight or for 6 hours. Pressure cook adding salt till done
• Finely chop Onions, tomatoes, Ginger
• Heat a oil in a wok, add mustard seeds and let it crackle. Add curry leaves.
• Add onions and ginger. Fry till onions turn translucent.
• Add tomato and fry till it turn mushy
• Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, roasted cumin powder, red chilli powder and fry for 30 seconds.
• Add the water from the cooked channa and add little more water if required.
• Bring to boil
• Now add the cooked channa and let it boil for 5 minutes on low flame (keep it covered with a lid) to let the masal infuse into it. Switch off.
• Check and adjust salt.
• Yummy and simple kadala curry / brown channa masala / brown chickpea curry is ready!

 

Kurukku Kaalan

A tongue tickling recipe from God's Own Country which will make you crave for more and  more. This is one of the items served during a Onam Feast. Sour curd is used and it is boiled and reduced till thick. Hence the name kurukku  kaalan (kurukku - reduced). Whether it is milk or curd / buttermilk, when reduced they make the dish even more aromatic and interesting in taste.

In the olden days, left over curd is collected in a separate vessel which turns sour and then used for this recipe.  Kachchati (veseel made out of stone) is used to prepare it. The love & care our mothers & grandmas took in preparing it gives it a heavenly taste. That taste is unbeatable and is missing in today's kaalan made on stove top using stainless steel vessels mm....................Mira going nostalgic!

The way the Kaalan making process was described by the elders in the family always make my mouth water and crave to have some immediately right from my childhood days!

Let's get into kaalan making!

Vegetables that can be used for this recipe :- Raw Banana, Elephant Yam, Ashgourd (Kachcha kela / suran / white bhopla) [Vazhakka, Chenai, Elavan] . You may use any one or combo of all. I used Elephant yam for this recipe.

Ingredients :-

1. Elephant Yam - 1 cup
2. Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
3. Sour Beaten curd - 2.5 cup
4. Grated coconut - 3/4 cup
5. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
6. Peppercorn - 1 tsp
7. Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
8. Green chillies - 2 nos (or as preferred)
9. Dried Red Chillies - 2 Nos.
10. Curry Leaves - two sprigs
11. Coconut oil - 1 tbsp
12. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Procedure :

• Peel and cut the yam into cubes

•  Wash well to remove any sand particle that may remain 

• Transfer to a thick bottomed cooking vessel

•  Beat the sour curd well and keep ready

• Dry roast fenugreek seeds tilll they release nice aroma. 

• Cut the dry red chillies into two (or you may retain it whole)

•  Grind together Grated Coconut, roasted fenugreek seeds, Green Chillies, Black Peppercorns and 6-7 nos. curry leaves together into a nice & thick paste adding little water. 

• Use medium to slow flame in the cooking process which will give good taste to the dish.

• To the yam, add turmeric powder, salt and water that is enough to submerge the yam cubes and cook till the water dries up.

• Now add the beaten curd and cook on low flame and keep stirring in between. Cook till the curd level is reduced and the gravy becomes thick.

• At this stage, add the ground coconut masala, adjust the salt and mix well. Bring to boil till foam forms on top.

• Remove from heat.

• Tempering :- Heat coconut oil, add Mustard seeds. When the seeds starts spluttering, add dried red chillies, 8 nos. curry leaves and add this to the prepared kurukku kaalan.

 Yummy kurkku Kaalan is ready!

This is served as a side dish for feasts (sadhya) but can also be mixed with plain rice and had. I enjoy it even with dosai and chapathis. So why wait for special feast time, make and enjoy it at any time of the year like me :-)

No season or reason for a foodie to enjoy good food!

Vazhapoo Thoran

Vazhapoo / Vazhai poo / Plantain flower  is good source of fibre, helps control heavy bleeding during menstural cycle. It is rich in iron content and antioxidants. Believed to be good for diabetics.

This wonder flower can be taken in various forms. As a dry curry or can be cooked and added to the lentil pancake called 'adai', mixed with vadai batter and made as vazhapoo vada etc.

Now I am sharing with you the dry curry recipe called 'vazhapoo thoran' using a combo of tuvar dal and is served as a side dish in dry form.

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How to seclect a flower : If you open the petal, the bunch inside should be fresh i.e. it should not be dull or dark in colour.

How to clean the flower : Cleaning the flower may sound tedious but it is not so. It may also stain your palm. But you can remove those stain by following tips given below :

1. rub oil in your palm and clean the flower (or)
2. after cleaning put some tablesalt and gently scrub it with the regular vessel scrubber sponge (or)
3. Keep washing your palms & fingers in between. That's all

The outcome after a hard labour will always be very good. So is this dish.

Now roll up your sleeves and let us get into cleaning the flower :-)

Open the pink petals and take out the bunch of florets. Remove the florets till it become too much brittle to remove. (about 7-8 layers will come intact)

Take the bunch and rub it over your palm. The florets will be open now. Inside each floret you will see the black stamen. Hold the staemen (black in colour) and remove it. It is difficult to digest hence it need to be removed. The petal, if not tender also need to be removed. (shown in the picture below)

cleaned florets

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Ingredients :-

1. Plantain flower - 1 No.
2. Toor dal - 1/4 cup
3. Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
4. Salt to taste
5. Grated coconut - 4 tbsp
6. Green chilli - 2 Nos. 
7. Coconut oil - 2 tbsp
8. Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
9. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
10. Urad dal - 1 tsp 

Procedure :-

• Boil toor dal adding a pinch of turmeric powder, till it is done. The dal should not turn mushy but only to be cooked till it become soft. Drain and keep aside. (the water can be used in rasam making or to cook any gravy / sambar)

•  Finely chop the cleaned plantain florets.

• Heat a wok, add oil.  Now throw some mustard seeds into it. When it starts spluttering, add a pinch of asfoetida powder.

• Add the chopped florets, turmeric powder, salt. Mix well. Add a tsp of water to it. Now place a deep dish (thali) over it. Pour some water into the thali. This will help the florets to cook without much water and prevent it from sticking.

• Keep stirring in between, lifting the plate.

• In a mixer, add the grated coconut, Green chilli and grind it dry (no water need to be added)

• When the flower is cooked well, add the  cooked & drained toor dal, ground dry masala. Mix well for two minutes. Remove from fire.

• Heat a tsp of oil in a small pan, add a tsp of urad dal and fry till it turns golden brown in colour.

• Add this to the prepared plantain flower, mix well. The crisp dal will make the preparation even more interesting.
• Serve as a side dish to sambar rice / curd rice / morkootan (morkozhambu) rice or just mix with the plain cooked white rice and have.

With tuvar dal (toor dal / arhar dal) it tastes even more yummy and makes it a good combo with rice.

Molagooshyam

It is raining cats and dogs here.

I cook traditional dishes that use black peppercorns (the king of spices) as it boost immunity and is good for health during this season.

Pepper a day boost immunity.. Pepper is orginally added to spice up all the native dishes.

Sharing with you today one such recipe from God's own country. 'Molagooshyam' that goes as an accompaniment to Rice. 

I used Elephant Yam (suran / Chenai / senai kizhangu) in this dish as this doesn't produce gas and is very safe to eat. As this is a traditional dish, coconut oil suits best for this.

Vegetables that can be used to prepare molagooshyam are Elephant Yam, Ashgourd, Raw Banana.

The Recipe video is now available in Youtube Channel : Mira's Akshaya Patram. Added below :-

Let's get into molagooshyam making.

Ingredients :-

1. Elephant Yam - 250 gm
2. Moong Dal - 3 tbsp
3. Curry Leaves - 6 leaves
4. Black Peppercorn - 7 nos.
5. Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
6. Salt to taste
7. Green chilli - 1 No.
8. Coconut oil - 3 tsp

 Procedure :-

• Clean, peel the elephant yam (suran / senai kizhangau / chena) and dice it to medium sized cubes. Wash and drain.

•  Lightly dry roast the Moong Dal till nice aroma comes. Put it in a vessel for cooking.  Add washed elephant yam cubes, turmeric powder and salt to it. 

•  Coarsely grind the peppercorns. Slit the green chilli vertically

•  Add the green chilli, 2 cups of water to the yam+dal mix.

•  Pressure cook till done (5 whistles for hawkins, 3 whistles for prestige pressure cooker).

•  Heat oil in a wok for tempering, add curry leaves, coarsely ground pepper powder. Add this tempering to the cooked elephant yam gravy.

•  Mix well. Keep it covered for 5-7 minutes. 

• Serve it with hot cooked plain white rice or red rice.

The best accompaniment for this gravy is the humble "Arachukalaki" - a curd based raita recipe. It is avaialble in Mira's Askahaya Patram.- given below :-

Koorkankizhangu mezhukku piratti

Koorkai / koorkankizhangu mezhukkupiratti :-

Koorkai / Koorkankizhangu / Siru Kizhangu / Chinese potato / country potato :- is a very tasty seasonal root vegetable which is rich in calcium, iron and other essential vitamins. Palakkad district (kerala) is famous for cultivating this vegetable.

If you have a kerala / Tamil store in your area, you can look for it during inter season i.e. between December and March.

The peeled one will look like this :-

This is used in traditional kootu preparation and in dry dish preparation called mezhukkupiratti / mezhukuvarati / mezhukku puratti (this requires little more oil)

Cleaning this vegetable is a little messy procedure as you have to get your hands dirty. Traditionally at our house it is washed and then rubbed on a rough stone or floor to peel the skin. At home you can also use a peeler. "The amount of labour put in adds to the taste of the dish" is a saying but you need not trouble yourself anymore in cleaing it. Here is an easy tip to peeal this vegeable quickly

Let us get on to the mezhukkupiratti preparation :-

Ingredients :

1. Koorkai Kizhangu - 250 gm
2. Coconut oil - 3 tbsp
3. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
4. Turmeric powder  - 1/4 tsp
5. Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
6. Salt to taste
7. Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Procedure :-

• Wash it thoroughly to get rid of the mud and then rub it on a rough surface or peel using a peeler. Drop them in water after peeling otherwise it may turn dark.
• Dice them into small pieces and immerse in water
• Your hands may get stained like how it leaves a dark patch in your palm but apply oil and rub little salt to get rid of that stain.
• Heat a wok, add oil (traditional dish use coconut oil. You can use olive / sunflower oil too)
• Add mustard seeds. When they splutter add curry leaves. Then add the chopped koorkais
• Add Turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt to taste
• mix well
• Cover and cook while stirring in between till they turn tender and gets roasted nicely.

(I used less oil hence i didn't roast them but just cooked them till tender.)

• Delicious and aromatic koorkai mezhukkupiratti is ready to go with rice dishes. It tastes best with morkootan / morkozhambu and curd rice.

Chenai Masiyal / Suran Chutney / Elephant Yam chutney

Elephant Yam / Suran / Chenai is a root vegetable which is even given to new mothers who have given delivery because it is such a safe vegetable and easy to cook and is very tender.

Various dishes can be prepared using it. I am now sharing a traditional mouth watering recipe with you. As I said traditional recipe it means we use coconut oil for it. But you can use the oil of your choice. If you like the flavour of coconut oil, you will find it even more delicious.

Chenai Masiyal 

Ingredients :-

1. Elephant Yam - 1/4 kg
2. Lemon - 1/2 
3. Curry leaves - 2 sprigs (reserve one for tempering)
4. Red chilli -  2 Nos
5. Green Chilli - 1 no.
6. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
7. Urad whole - 1 tsp
8. Hing - 1 pinch
9. Turmeric powder - 2 pinches
10. Grated coconut - 4 tbsp
11. Ginger - 1" piece
12. salt to taste
13. Coconut oil - 3 tbsp (reserve 1 tbsp for garnishing)

Procedure :-

• Peel, wash thoroughly and dice them

• Boil water, add salt and turmeric powder, put the diced yam and bring to boil, lower the flame and let it cook till it becomes tender.

• Drain (you can use the water for other cooking purposes or dilute and drink like soup and let it cool

• In a mixer grind the grated coconut, curry leaves, ginger, greenchilli coarsely (without water).\

• When the yam cubes cools down, mash them or just put in a mixe and whip it.

• Heat oil in a wok, add mustard seeds, urad, red chilli and hing powder. 

• When the mustard splutter, urad turns nice red in colour, add curry leaves and then add the mashed yam and grated coconut masala.\

• Mix well for 2 minutes

•  remove from fire 

• when it cools down a bit, squeeze in juice of half a lemon, the remaining 1tbsp of coconut oil and adjust salt if required. Mix well.

• Mouthwatering and flavourful masiyal / chutney is ready!

It goes well with plain hot white rice (as a main dish), and as side dish with chapathis and other rices varieties. A very good accompaniment for curd rice.

Mampazha Pulissery - Ripe Mango Khadi

The aroma, sweetness & royal colour of mango blended with spices, coconut oil & sour curd makes it the king of all dishes. Aboslutely royal and stunning dish from God's Own Country the greener of green India - Kerala!

Ingredients :

1. Ripe Mango - 3 Nos (flavourful & sweet mango variety of your region)
2. Sour thick buttermilk - 1 cup
3. Grated coconut - 1 cup
4. Red chillies - 4 nos
5. Peppercorns - 1 tsp
6. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
7. Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
8. Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
9. Salt to taste
10. Sugar - 3 tsp (or to taste)

Tempering :-

1. Coconut Oil - 1 & 1/2 tbsp 
2. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
3. Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Procedure :-

• Slice the mangoes with skin. Remove skin from few pieces and keep it aside. this we are going to use at the finishing stage of the dish for garnishing.

• Boil mango pieces with skin (this will emit complete flavour of mango) adding 2 and 1/2 tea cups of water, salt and turmeric powder. Once cooked, remove skin from the mango pieces and let it cool separately.

• Dry roast Fenugreek (methi) seeds till they turn light brown in colour, powder it using mortar & pestle (or prepare and powder it in large quantity & store in an air tight container to use in khadis & other preparations)

• In a small pan, heat 1/2 tsp coconut oil and roast the red chillies (this will give nice flavour to the dish)

• Grind coconut, Cumin seeds, Red Chillies, Peppercorns together adding water to a smooth paste (you can use the water in which mango is boiled)

• Mash the boiled mango pieces and add the ground masala paste to it, add sugar, roasted fenugreek seed powder and boil

• Add the thick & sour buttermilk & cook on medium flame  stirring continuosly for 4 min or till foam forms on top.

• Remove from flame and temper with mustard seeds & curry leaves in coconut oil and add to the dish.

•  Now add the saved ripe mango pieces to garnish the dish.

• Tounge tickling royal pulissery is ready to make you drool :p

Mezhukupirati / mezhukuvarati is the best side dish for this. Fried Kerala Urad Papad is added bonus!

 

Puli Inji - tounge tickling side dish

Puli inji or inji puli AKA Pulikachal takes its place on a feast menu. The toungue tickler serves a good aid for digestion after a heavy meal. Goes well traditional main course rice dishes, curd rice, chapathi, dosa, etc

Ginger : Root Spice gives fragrance to any dish it is added to. Used in western as well as in Asian Cuisine.  Helps control lipids and free radicals.  Helps ease muscle pain, when had with a combination of hot water & lime it helps in weightloss as well as control blood cholestrol....helps to control nauseas, gas etc. however, it should be avoided while having acidity.

Tamarind: sour & slightly sweet fruit aids digestion. It is used around the world for various medicinal purposes. Anything in excess is not good. So eat it moderately. Always buy old tamarind which are dark in colour and will act friendly on your stomach. Its toungue tickling taste will make you crave for more....

Ingredients :

1. 2 Cups - Tamarind Extract (thick)
2. 1/3 cup - Jaggery (grated)
3. 1/4 cup - Finely chopped Ginger
4. 3 tbsp - Gingely Oil
5. 1 tsp  - Asafoetida
6. 1/2 tsp - Turmeric Powder
7. 2 Nos. - Green Chillies
8. 1/2 tsp - Red Chilli Powder
9. Salt to taste
10. 1 spring - Curry leaves
11. 1 tsp - Mustard seeds
12. 1/2 tsp - Chana dal  

Procedure :-

• Finely chop ginger and green chillies. Grate Jaggery.
• Heat oil in a wok, add mustard seeds. When they start crackling add chana dal.
• When dal turns golden colour, add curry leaves, green chillies and ginger pieces
• saute for 1 minute

• Add the Tamarind extract, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, grated jaggery, Asagfoetida, Salt to taste, Mix well.

• When it starts boiling, simmer the flame and let it cook for 20 minutes or till the oil separate and a thick consitency is formed. stir in between occasionally. [the aroma it spreads across the air will make everyone go gastronomic]

• Mouthwatering inji puli recipe is ready to kindle the intestinal juices.

Keerai Molagootal / Greens Gravy for Rice

Green leafy vegetables are packed with vital nutrients. They have dietary fibre, flavonoids, vitamins and minerals. Helps building immunity, improves vision, lower blood pressure, etc

Tamil Nadu is famous for the green leafy vegetables boasting proudly the varitey of them in its Nature's basket. My bird's brain could remember only 21 of them now. The part of India I am in now has only palak & methi are found in abundant. But this season luckily i could find some molakeerai so making the traidional dish called 'molagootal' & 'masiyal' as much as possible as palak & methi will not suit this purpose. Arai keerai, molakeerai, siru keerai are the main varities which suits the dish best, however you can use palak too for it. But folks, I am forced to make you dependant on google search engine to get their names in different languages. (some food for brain!) :-)

Molagootal is a preparation without tamarind & strong masalas. So a sathvik food. It uses coconut & lentil which adds to its nutritional value. Goes well with white rice. Since it is a mild gravy, usually the accompaniment dish would be a Pachadi or Arachukalaki which are either tamarind or curd based dishes.

Video Recipe is available in Mira's Akshaya Patram

Arachukalaki video recipe is here :-

How to clean & use the leaves? :-

Clean the spinach & wash them (if you wash after cutting, it looses its nutrients) cut till the stem turns out to be tender. discard hard stem portion.

chop them into two & keep ready. This dish uses coconut.

Ingredients :-

1. Green leafy vegetable - 1 bundle
2. Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
3. White urad - 1 tbsp
4. Red chillies - 3 to 4 nos (or as you prefer)
5. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
6. Toor dal - 1/4 cup
7. salt to taste
8. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp (optional)
9. oil for tempering
10. mustard seeds

Turmeric powder : Why I had mentioned it optional is because some don't add it as they want the gravy to be in lovely green colour. Turmeric will leave an yellowish tinge. So if you want you can add else omit it.

Procedure :-

• Prepare the leaves as mentioned above

• In a vessel put the leaves, add 3 cups water & when starts boiling, cook for 15 minutes in low flame.See to that you retain the green colour.

• In the meantime, pressure cook the lentil (toor dal)

• Filter the water & preserve it.

• The leaves, spread on a plate & let it cool

• Roast the white urad & red chilli applying few drops of oil till they turn golden in colour

• In a mixer add the grated coconut, cumin seeds, red chillies, white urad & adding little water, make a nice paste.

• Grind the boiled leaves & stems coarsely.

• To the ground paste, add dal & the filtered water you preserved (in which the leaves are boiled) and bring to boil in a low flame by stirring in between.

• To this add the ground coconut masala, salt to taste, Turmeric powder , required water - check the gravy consistency & bring to boil. When the foam forms on stop, remove from flame.

• Heat oil for tempering, add mustard seeds. after they crackle, add it to the gravy, mix.

• Greens gravy AKA keerai Molagootal - our main dish is ready. 

Side dish suggestions :-

For this gravy, the side dish that suits best are puli inji / pulikachal (or) Puli / Thayir Pachadi (or) Pickle (or) salad (or. ) raitas / Vazhathandu pachadi (a variety of spicy sweet sour and salty gravy)

Now comes the most important part of serving :

To the hot white rice, add 1/4 tsp melted ghee, serve the molagootal on top........ and enjoy with the side dish of your choice.

easy mango curry - pickle (manga kari)

Sharing an easy pickle with you. It don't require any tempering and use few simple ingredients. It comes handy when you want an instant pickle for quick use.

It makes an excellent accompaniment for the curd rice & add twist in taste in feasts. One of my favourite. It tastes the best using coconut oil as it the important flavouring ingredient other than mango.

This is low shelf life. So refrigerate & consume within 3 days.

Ingredients :-

1. Raw Mango - 1 no (thothapuri / kilimooku mangai are the best)
2. Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp (or as per taste)
3. salt to taste
4. Coconut oil - 1.5 tbsp

Procedure :- 

• Cut the raw mango into small cubes
• Mix in salt, red chilli powder, coconut oil to it. 
• Easy simple pickle is ready to eat.

You can use other variety of raw mangoes too but Less sour ones suits best for this recipe.

You can even use the partially ripen mango as it tickles the toungue with a combination of the slight sweet taste.

Vellai Appam without coconut and yeast

Many of the southindian breakfast menu is made using rice in different forms as carbohydrate is very necessary to start the day energetically.

Vellai Appam, is a spongy soft breakfast dish from the God's own country - Kerala. The sides are thin and the centre will be thick and spongy in texture as well as in feel. The recipe I share here is got from my friend which is prepared without coconut or yeast. Mostly coconut is ground along with the soaked rice to which the water from coconut is added. This kind of appam tastes different & good in its own way.

If you don't have coconut or feeling lethargic yet want to enjoy the appam, here is the simple preparation. Few tips are also added then and there to guide you to make a flawless spongy appams :-

There is a special  wok in which it is prepared. The wok is made of iron and comes with a lid. If you don't have the wok AKA 'appa chatti' don't worry, you can still make it using a non-stick tava or pan.

Ingridients : (serves 3)

1. Raw rice - 1 cup
2. Boiled rice - 1 cup
3. Urad white - 1 tbsp
4. Fenugreek - 1/2 tsp
5. Salt to taste
6. sugar - 1 tsp

You may also need a wok (or a non-stick pan), a clean thick kitchen towel to handle the wok, a spatula with sharp thin end to take the appam out of the wok.

Procedure :-

• Soak  the ingridients from 1 to 4 together for 4 hours. 

•  Adding water, grind it to a smooth paste of dosa batter consistency.

• Mix in the required salt

•  Let it ferment for 6 to 8 hours (if your geographical location slows down the fermentation process, then add a tbsp of fermented dosa batter if you have in stock. if not, then don't worry add in a tsp of baking powder before you make appams but let the batter stand for 8 hrs) 

• Grease the wok, heat it, pour in 1 1/2 laddle of batter, using the kitchen towel lift the wok and rotate it clockwise & anti clockwise so that the batter spreads all over and gives a thin end & a thick centre. 

• Cover it with a lid and let it cook for a minute or two. Check it by lifting the lid. The centre of the appam will be thick and spongy. When the centre portion is cooked, remove it with a spatula. 

• Hot vellai appam (white appam) is ready. Vegetable stew, kadala curry, Green Peas curry are good accompaniments for this dish.

Vegetable Stew | Ishtoo | Ishtu

An aromatic coconut milk based dish which goes well with white rice and vellai appam. It is a dish from the God's own country hence cooked using coconut oil. The vegetables that make the dish colourful are Potato, Carrot, French Beans, Green pea (optional). Let us get into the cooking of this wonderful dish which makes you go gastronomic spreading the flavour in the air.

Ingridients : (serves 3)

1. Onion - 1 No. (big)
2. Potato - 3 Nos. (Medium)
3. Carrots - 1 No. (medium) 
4. French Beans - 6 to 8 Nos
5. Coconut milk - 1 Cup (1/2  cup thick and 1/2 cup thin coconut milk) -  (if you use coconut milk powder, then add 3 to 4 tbsp powder)
6. Salt to taste
7. Ginger - 1 " 
8. Green Chillies - 3 nos (or as you prefer)
9. Coconut oil - 3 tbsp
10. curry leaves 
11. Water - 3 cups

Procedure :-


Link to the video recipe is here :- In this recipe, I pressure cooked Beans and carrot separately to retain their colour. You can either do that way or add it along with potatoes directly into the wok.

• Dice the onions, carrot, potato, french beans. Finely chop ginger and slit the green chillies (if you love spicy dish, then finely chop them)

• Heat oil in a wok, add Onions and fry well till they become translucent.  Then add finely chopped ginger and green chillies and curry leaves. saute for 30 seconds.

• Add chopped vegetables, salt and water (3 cups).

• mix well, keep it covered and cook till the vegetables become tender. mash few pieces of potatoes to give little thickness to the gravy.

• Add coconut milk, mix well and do not boil for long. Just stir in for a minute, remove from flame.

• If you are using coconut milkpowder then to the powder add warm water, mix well till it becomes creamy, then add it to the vegetable stew, mix well, bring to boil and switch off gas immediately.

• Aromatic, delicious, colourful vegetable stew (Ishtoo | Ishtu) is ready to accompany white rice or Vellai appams and Nool Puttus (Idiyappams).

Milk Kheer / Paal Paayasam/ Paalada Pradhaman

A simple sweet dish which suits any occasions using milk, sugar, white rice / rice ada.

The speciality of the dish is the aroma, colour and taste which arises during the process of caramelising the milk  in a pressure cooker / stove top. Stove top demands continuous stirring. You can save your labour and time yet get the same tasty payasam using pressure cooking method.

To avoid spillage inside the cooker, put a heavy bowl inside the payasam.

It takes some time to make this dish to perfection but the taste and appreciation is worth all the sweat you have put in with love and dedication.

Rice ada (you get in all kerala stores), boil water, put off flame, wash ada and put it into the hot water, keep it covered for 10 minutes. Drain, wash in cold water, leave it to drain.

Ingridients : 

1. Milk - 1 litre
2. Rice Ada - 1 cup (or white rice)
3. Sugar - 3 tea cups sugar or more as per your preference
4. Water

Procedure :-

•  Prepare the rice or rice ada as mentioned above.

• In a pressure cooker,  keep the vessel of milk, put a heavy katori / bowl / spoon (should be heavy) inside to prevent spilling. put the weight. When pressure builds up, lower the flame and cook for 25 minutes.

• this slow cooking process will help the milk caramelise. This saves your labour of stirring continuously which is must when cooked on a stove top.

• When the pressure comes down, open the cooker, take out the vessel. Now the milk would have turned into pink colour.

• To that Add the prepared rice or ada, cook on stove top stirring frequently (to prevent getting burnt) on low flame for 15 more minutes as the ada or rice added should become transparent and be seen through the pink coloured milk. [don't think it is labourious. you are spending only 15 min]

• then put off the flame. sit comfortably under a fan, and keep stirring for another 10 minutes [this work you can give it to your children or your husband ;-) ] At this time, you can even adjust the sugar level if you prefer more sweet.

• Then to prevent malai (paaledu) forming on top, take a big kadai, pour normal water in it, keep the vessel with kheer inside (partially immersed) for another 10 minutes which will reduce the heat further thus prevent the malai formation and also brings it to the temeperature fit to consume.

• Your yummy paal paayasam / milk kheer is ready. 

Note :

• This kind of kheer don't require tempering of nuts & raisins in ghee
• It will not get spoilt easily
• If served chilled - makes a very very yummy dessert

Variety of payasams that we can make using this caramelising method is Rice, Semiya (seviyan) and Sabudana.

If you are using semiya, cook the milk separately in the pressure cooker as per the method mentioned below and cook semiya separately. finally remove from stove, add milk, semiya, sugar, cardamom powder together and mix.

If you use rice, cook white rice separately (grains should be separate). I use draining method.

Now to the economy part. How you can utilise the less quantity of milk wisely when you have more fans?

Follow the same process. After you pressure cook it slowly, before adding the rice or ada, dilute it by adding water (not too much), say 3 tea cups of water for 1 litre milk, then dissolve some corn starch (this you have to measure as per the consistency required. I advise 1 tbsp for 2 cups of water). boil well then add the cooked rice or ada and boil till the ada or the rice becomes transparent.

Cornflour (corn starch) will not spoil the taste but give you right consistency (thickness) to the kheer thus balance the water you added into the reduced milk preserving its taste and aroma.