Ethappazham Pulissery

           Raw green plantains have long been used in many vegetarian preparations in Kerala. Pulissery is a dish which uses yogurt or curd and ground coconut in it and which is some what sour in taste. Vegetables and fruits like ash guard, pine apple and plantains are usually used in the curry. Ethappazam pulissery uses raw or ripe plantains in it. Here I have prepared it using raw plantain.

Here is the recipe..

Things you need:

1Green plantain/ Pachakkaya, chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
2 cups curd or yogurt
Salt to taste
For grinding:
1 cup grated coconut
1 green chilli, slit
2 to 3 shallots
1/4 tsp cumin seeds/ jeera
1/4 cup of water
For tempering:
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
3 or 4 dry red chillies (optional)
A sprig of curry leaves

Procedure:

1) Cook the plantain in a little water with salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder until soft.

2) Grind the coconut, green chilli,cumin and shallots with water and add this to the cooked plantain and mix gently.Allow to cook for a couple of minutes in low flame.

3) Blend yogurt with 1/4 cup of water and add this to the curry in low flame. Add adequate salt and remove from flame just before the curry starts to boil.
4) Heat oil in a pan. Splutter mustard seeds. Saute the fenugreek seeds, dry red chillies and curry leaves  in it. Pour this seasoning over the curry and mix gently.

5) Serve hot with plain rice.

      And my friend and class mate, Sreeja- The small town girl has given me a cute award. Thank you Sreej, for the well thought award.Do visit her blog.. She writes really funny. Some times she doesn't make much sense...but anyway they are fun to read..

A travelogue and Mango Pudding

            A week long detachment from the blogging world and from my kitchen has made me a bunch of lazy bones. I know there is lot out there new in every body's blog and am so eager to find out the latest culinary developments. But I just doesn't get the nerve to get on the road. All I want to do in these nippy mornings is cuddle up as much nearer to the room heater as possible and bask in the memory of last week's eventful vacation.

           UAE is a place with innumerable wonders and Dubai is its heart which leave us non.plussed. Though the global recession stuck it with awful force, the past glory still reverberates in the atmosphere. From the world's longest musical fountain to the world's tallest tower, the extravaganza of luxury speaks its volume in every phase of Dubai.

Inside the Grand Mosque in Abudabi

Longest Musical fountain in the world, in front of Burj Khaleefa

'Burj Khaleefa'- the tallest tower in the world

The first metro train in the middle east

Burjul Arab

Fire works in the sky for the opening ceremony of DSF

         We found ourselves in the middle of the opening ceremony of Dubai Shopping Festival(DSF) and had half an hour long fire works in the sky together with various cultural processions by artists from around the globe to feast our eyes. Travelling from one wonder to other, I felt Dubai was on the run to gather the largest number of Guinness world records to its hat. That must have been when the blow of recession struck it unawares. You could easily imbibe the recession struck face of Dubai from the half way dropped projects of unusual sky scrapers and artificial island resorts.

         We visited many of our relatives in UAE and stayed with brother in law and family. My sister in law (Fathima Sinsi aka Sheri) is a great cook and she fed us with a wide variety of her delicacies. I must confess that I found myself weighing a couple of kilos more after a week of enjoying her food. So I thought I must post one of her recipes on the blog. Mango pudding was something the adults and children enjoyed alike and so I took particular care to ask her the recipe and took the pictures from Dubai when she served it.

Here is the recipe..

Things you need:

2 ripe mangoes seeded  and sliced
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp gelatin soaked in 2 tbsp of cold water
250 ml or 1/2 tin of condensed milk
2 tbsp chocolate grated (optional)

Procedure:

    Blend the mango in a blender adding the milk and sugar until well blended and pulpy. Dissolve the gelatin by double boiling method. Add this to the blended mango milk mixture. Add the condensed milk and stir well to form a uniform mixture. Pour this to a pudding dish and refrigerate for two hours. Serve after cooling garnished with chocolate flakes.

Recipe by : Fathima Sinsi

Beef Cutlet

              There are many Ifthar dishes I had postponed posting due to unavailability of time... Ramadan is the month you cannot afford much time sitting before the computer and clicking away with ease. The mornings are spent with prayers and worships of Allah and the after noons are busy with preparing mouthwatering delicacies for breaking the fast. So I had withheld many dishes from posting last Ramadan hoping that I could post them later... Time just went by... and looking back I could see I had posted only very few of the Ifthar delights. It is almost time for the next Ramadan. The thought came just as my better half was commenting about Beef Cutlet and how he could wait until Ramadan to eat one... (Ssh... Beef Cutlet is his weakness... he never admits it... But I can see from the number of cutlets he gulps down that he enjoys immensely ;) )

              So I thought it's time to make some. There are two advantages, I can take the pics and he can have it to his fill. My mom used to make it mixed with mashed potatoes, green chillies, onions and minced beef and we used to enjoy it so much. When I was a boarding student at Thrissur we used to have beef cutlets from a small shop near to our school. I used to make up my mind that I would eat only one when I go there, but every time ended up buying two or three. They were so yummy... they just melted in the mouth. Taking one bite, I could see the cutlet was red inside. So I inferred they added beetroots in them. So back home I tweaked my mothers recipes with an extra addition of cooked and mashed beetroots in them and Hooray!! they turned out so much more yummy... Nowadays my mom too makes it by adding beetroots in them.

Here is the recipe....

Things you need:

250 g fresh beef, cut into small pieces, washed and drained
1 large onion, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
2 sprigs of curry leaves, sliced into small strips
2 green chillies, cut into small slices
1 medium sized potato
1 small beetroot / half a medium sized beetroot
1 tsp red chilly powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
1 egg white
Coriander leaves (optional)
Salt to taste
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs or rusk powder
1/2 cup veg. oil

Procedure:

1) Cook the beef in a pressure cooker adding half teaspoon of red chilli powder, 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder, one tsp of coriander powder and adequate salt, until moderately cooked. Mince it in a mixer, after cooling and keep aside. You can alternately use minced beef and cook as instructed.

2) Cook the potato and beetroot with skin in a pressure cooker adding adequate water. After it gets cooked drain on a mesh and peel them. Then mash them in a blender or using potato masher and keep aside.

3) Heat one tablespoon of oil in a sauce pan and add onion to it and saute until transparent.Then add the garlic and green chillies and saute. When the aroma comes out, add the curry leaves, 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder, 1/2 teaspoon of red chilli powder, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder and 1/2 teaspoon of garam masala powder and saute. Then add the minced beef and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the mashed potato and beetroot and mix well adding adequate salt.

4) Take lemon sized balls from the mix and make round patties about half an inch thick with your palm and keep aside.

5) Beet the egg white in a bowl. Heat a deep heavy bottomed wok and add remaining oil to it. When the oil is well heated, fry the patties by dipping them in the egg white batter and then rolling them in bread crumbs. Using egg white instead of whole egg helps prevent the oil from frothing up. Fry until golden brown.

6) Remove from oil and drain on a kitchen tissue. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with tomato ketchup. Enjoy :)

         And I am off to Dubai on a week's vacation with family.. So next week will be a no post week. See you all with new recipes again, Insha Alla.. Till then.. bye. Take care..

Cranberry Muffins

         I always have had a heart for red colour, when it comes to food.. That must be the reason why, when you go vegetable shopping at the stores or super markets, you feel like an invisible hand pushes you towards the beautiful array of strawberries , tomatoes on the wine.. and the like... and you cannot wrench your hand away when it stretches unknowingly towards the red peppers. The result is.. you end up buying a lot of vegetables and fruits which where not in your 'urgently needed' list when you got into the store the first time. So when I saw these cranberries winking at me from inside the packet pulling me to it as if with ropes, I just had no power to resist and fell in the trap again.. SO LIKE ME! :(

       Back home in my kitchen, I was wondering what I was going to do with these cranberries, which even my son declined to eat due to their tartness. First I thought I would pickle them.. then I got a better idea. Why not incorporate it in a muffin? My son loves anything cupcaky and he is sure not going to mind cranberries in them. So I made these cranberry muffins and was glad I did. My son loved the interesting involvement of cranberries in his muffins and finished two of it immediately after it was taken out from the oven.

     The addition of orange zest gave it a flavourful twist which was hailed with zeal by both father and son. But I had a problem with the amount of batter to be poured in each paper cups. I made the first batch, filling quarter of the cups with the mixture and the result was muffins which didn't rise to the top. It rose only up to three fourth of the cups. So I made the next batch filling up to three fourth, and then it was perfect. A nice muffin with splashes of scarlet tartness from the cranberries. I must say, I too fell in love with their looks and taste. Coming to the recipe..

Things you need:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 cups white flour
A pinch of salt
1 egg, well beaten
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup orange juice
3 tbsp grated orange peel
1 cup cranberries, coarsely chopped

Procedure:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degree F. Line a medium muffin pan of 12 numbers with paper cups.

2) Sift together  flour,baking powder, baking soda and salt and keep aside.

3) Beat butter and sugar until soft and fluffy. Add orange zest and orange juice and beat until blended.

4) Beat the egg and slowly fold in to the mixture little at a time, adding a little of the flour mixture with last of the egg.

5) Now fold in the flour mixture gently. Very lightly stir in the cranberries.

6) Fill the batter up to 3/4th of the paper cups in the tray and bake for about 20 minutes until the surface is slightly brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

7) Transfer the muffins to a wire wrack to cool. Enjoy!

And Aipi of US Masala has shared this lovely award for participating in the Veggie/Fruit a month event. Do visit her blog.. She has a wonderful space with nice recipes. Thank you Aipi for the award!

Gothambu Payasam / Whole wheat Payasam

           
        Payasam is an inevitable dessert in most of the south Indian homes especially if there are any sweet tooths in them. This dish is usually made with cereals or pulses cooked in milk or coconut milk sweetened with sugar or jaggery. They are mostly tempered with ghee or clarified butter. They are traditionally eaten in plantain leaves as such or mixed with papad. Gothambu payasam is made with whole husked wheat and is a rich dessert after vegetarian meal.

Here is the recipe..

Things you need:

Whole husked wheat / sooji wheat   -  250g
Jaggery                                            -  500g
Ghee / Clarified butter                      -  150g
Coconut milk                                   -  of two coconuts
Full fat milk                                      -  1 Lr
Cashew nut                                     -  150g
Raisins                                            -  150g
Cardamom, powdered                    -  50g
Dried ginger powder                       -  a pinch
Chiselled coconut pieces                 -  2 tsp

Method:

  Wash the husked wheat and cook well in a pressure cooker in low heat adding adequate water. Dissolve the jaggery by heating with half a glass of water and keep aside. In a wok or sauce pan mix 100 grams of ghee and the cooked wheat and add the dissolved jaggery staining through a sieve. Heat the wok and stir continuously in low heat. Mean while add the full fat milk and cook by stirring continuously. When it starts to thicken add the powdered cardamom. When the mixture thickens to the consistency of a pudding, add the  coconut milk and remove from heat just before it starts to boil. In a pan heat the remaining ghee and add the chiselled coconut pieces and saute until brown. Then add the cashew nuts and raisins and saute until brown. Add this to the payasam . Sprinkle with dried ginger powder and stir well. Serve hot or cold.

Recipe courtsey: Vanitha

Mushroom Pepper Curry

       There would not be any other place on earth which so depended on monsoon for their livelihood. Keralites have always found their dreams bloom as well as crushed into bits when monsoon played good and bad boy.. I have reasons to think they are slowly coming out of the cave and has started thinking alternative.. because cultivation and plantations have diminished drastically in Kerala, compared to the past decades. There was a time in my childhood when people had to do something or other on each and every phase of monsoon. And I anticipate that a time would come when our children would never know when the monsoon came or went, or what impact it had on people's livelihood.

     I remember going with my grandmother when I was small, early in the morning to collect mushrooms which sprouted on the land just after a thunder storm. And I had doubts of my own.. on how the mushrooms sprouted after thunder storms. My grandmother had explained, "Well, they sleep a lot in the land, never wanting to get up because they are too lazy.. and then one day the thunder shouts at them with its bazzing loud baritone and they have no choice but to rise and sprout out." I don't remember if I had believed her story.. but i think it was really convincing. My grandma probably never knew about the theory of chemical reaction which took place in the humid atmosphere during a thunder bolt, which produces a gush of nitrogen needed essentially for the 'lazy guys' to sprout.

   But I remember, those mushroom were inexplicably delicious to eat... an exquisite experience of a glimpse of heaven which God bestowed on the people of earth...  How could I ever forget its taste on my tongue? It was so.. so ..wonderful. So when I saw mushrooms at the store, I thought of trying it at home the way my mom used to make. The 'nadan koon curry' which was served on the rare occasions after picking them in monsoon was a family favourite.. The store bought variety didn't taste as good as the natural but yet it turned out delicious in its own way.. and I had to live up the memories with it.

 Here is the recipe..

Things you need:

Button mushrooms, washed and cut into small pieces - 2 cups
Garlic cloves, minced                                                - 1
Red pearl onion/ shallots , minced                             -  4 to 5
Turmeric powder                                                      -  1/2 tsp
Black pepper powder                                               -  1/2 tsp
Coriander powder                                                    -   1 tbsp
Salt to taste
 For tempering:
Vegetable oil , preferably coconut oil                        - 2 tbsp
Shallots, sliced                                                         - t tsp
Curry leaves                                                            - a sprig

Preparation:
   
     Cook the cleaned mushrooms with a little water and all the other ingredients except that for tempering in an earthen pot. Cover and cook until the mushrooms become soft and well cooked and the gravy thickens. Now heat oil in a frying pan and add shallots to it. Saute until golden and remove from heat adding curry leaves. Pour it over the mushroom gravy and stir well until the flavours are blended. Serve hot with rice or chapattis.

Mathan Thoran / Pumpkin Thoran and being Tagged

                As far as KB is concerned there had been not much ponderings on what to make for the first post of the year or should I say decade...? Oh yes, it is the starting of a decade, right? But 'nothing complicated', I decided. Simplicity is the best way with which you could begin a new year. I thought of posting the simple yet delicious pumpkin thoran which goes very well with rice. Though it is not the pumpkin season, pumpkins are still available in market at reasonable price and I made it the way my mom used to make it... back home with raw pumpkins. Raw pumpkins in kerala where more of a light greenish colour and tasted fantastic when cooked. Though butter pumpkins are deep yellow in colour, they taste almost similar to the green pumpkins of kerala. So I used butter pumpkin for the dish.

Things u need:

Butter pumpkin, cut into medium sized pieces - 1 cup
Grated fresh coconut                                     -  3 tbsp
Green chilli                                                    -  1
Turmeric powder (optional)                           -  1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds                                                 -  1/2 tsp
pearl onions/ shallots                                     -  2 to 3
Salt to taste
For tempering:
Mustard seeds                                             -  1/2 tsp
Curry leaves                                                -   a sprig
Coconut oil/ veg. oil                                     - 1 tbsp

Method:
    
        Cook the pumpkin slices adding a little water(about 3 tablespoon), adequate salt and turmeric powder until soft. Pulse the coconut,green chilli,shallots and cumin seeds in a blender and keep aside. Now heat oil in a frying pan or kadai and splutter mustard seeds in it. Add curry leaves and then add the pulsed coconut mixture to it and saute for a few seconds. Then add the cooked pumpkin slices to it and mix well. Adjust the salt, if needed. Remove from heat and serve hot with rice.

             

 I was tagged in a questionnaire by two of my blogging pals. Thank you, Mehnaz of 'Nas, the mistress of spices' and Suja of 'Kitchen corner- Try it' for tagging me.. It was fun answering your questions.. Sorry for being a little late.. Here are the questions and my answers to it..

1) Who inspired you to cook or bake?

 Actually it was not one person in particular. Lot of people have inspired me to cook. Starting from my mom, people who made outstanding dishes have always influenced me to make delicious goodies, though I got the chance to spice up those inspirations only after marriage.

2) What is your take on organic food? Is it a big deal for you?

Yes, if it where cheap, I would have always opted for organic food. Back home, my mom had a vegetable garden in which she grew her own organic foods and I loved eating them. But living in a foreign country where buying soil and plants would cost you a fortune, you cannot always follow your dreams...

3) You try a new recipe and it does not turn out good, what will you do?

I will try it again, differently. That is the most natural reflex which comes in my way.. I'l try n try until I get it perfect.

4) Do you have a new year resolution - and would you be sticking to it?

I usually  do not make any new year resolutions... I make resolutions every week and see whether they are fulfilled in the weekends.

5) Do you time your breakfast, lunch and dinner or eat when you are hungry?

I used to.. when I was in India. Nowadays it is more like the latter except on weekends when my husband is home.

6) Name three ingredients you consciously avoid or eliminate even when the recipe call for it?

MSG is one thing I consciously avoid.. and curd or yogurt in foods to be cooked.. And yes! saturated vegetable ghee is another thing I would love to avoid

7) Name three things you have to use in most of the recipes?

Salt, ginger garlic paste and tomatoes.