Malabar Chicken Curry

       

                     While making chicken dishes; especially Indian dishes, it takes time to get the hang on things. But eventually you would master it, with the most balanced blend of spices and the most exquisite outcome of flavor. And your chicken curry tells all, how great a cook you are or where you stand in the arena of food making. Oh yes! A chicken curry can speak volumes about your culinary skills. And, traditional Indian Chicken dishes is where you can try your hand at perfecting that art at balancing the flavors perfectly. Try your hand at this traditional Malabar Chicken Curry and you would find yourself making it again, if not for reaching that blissfully perfect apex of taste. This recipe is one which I make very often and has never proved wrong for me..

Coming to the recipe...

Malabar Chicken Curry Recipe:

800g chicken, skinned and cut into small pieces
2 large onions, sliced
1/2 tsp freshly ground ginger
1/2 tsp freshly ground garlic
1 large tomato, chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp kashmiri chilli pdr
2 tbsp coriander pdr
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
Salt to taste
1 sprig of curry leaves
3 tbsp coconut oil
       
Method:
 
    Heat coconut oil in a kadai or cast iron wok. Splutter fenugreek seeds in it. It shouldn't turn black. Add onion and saute until it turns slightly brown and translucent. Add freshly ground ginger and garlic and saute until aroma comes out. Now add the chopped tomato and saute until mushy. Then add the spice powders and saute until well blended. Add 1/2 cup of water and bring to boil. Adjust salt and finally add the chicken. Cook in medium to low heat, covered ,until well cooked and the gravy is thick. Remove from heat and serve hot with rice or Chapattis.

Pazham Unda / Undapori

                                                Whenever I have very ripe, ready to wilt bananas on the kitchen counter; the 'no wasting' bell as well as the 'recycling' bell rings in my mind, loud enough to jolt me into some kind of kitchenantics. Two  options rush to my mind all the time. One is the Moist Banana Cake, which the boys are crazy about and the other is this easy peasy old snack of mom, Pazham Unda, which the spouse is quite fond of.

                                        Nowadays, I usually opt for the second; as it is quicker and more easier to make. No need of all those whisking, beating and folding fuss. It can be mixed up in a couple of minutes and prepared in a quarter of an hour. It was one of the easiest tea time snacks mom used to make when we were kids. Back at home, mom used to make it with really ripe 'cheru pazham', the small bananas which is abundantly available in Kerala. I tried it with the chiquita bananas here and it turned out quite as good.

Here is the recipe...

Varutharacha Beef Curry

            

            I had a super busy month with making little projects for the Kindergarten and dressing the son up for crazy events at school. I had thought that I had done with all such stuff back in my school days, only to discover that it is not over yet !! All is coming back again to daunt you with your kids going to school....

               All those sweating on making the project perfect and beautiful; preparing all the accessories for a wacky tacky competition; walking up and down the stationary store to find the perfect things for the event... Everything comes back as if in old times. And to make your child confident and special, you need to be a kid again, working with them as serious as could be and bending over the project, like it is the only thing in the world.

               But still... you feel that pure innocent joy, when your child comes back from school and babbles to you about how he performed and how 'Madam frown', patted him for doing well; just like you were that exuberant kid of the kindergarten decades back. 

                So... there is no much time for all those photography sessions, bloghoppings and recipe researches.But still find some time to make something special for the kids and hubby. Only that I never get time to capture them in pictures. So, for now I am posting this Beef Curry  photographed ages back and an inevitable curry in the Malabar area. It goes well with Ghee rice and Thenga Choru, which I have already posted. 

               I won't hold you back for long. Off to the recipe..

Kaya Pola/ Mutta Marichathu - Plantain Egg Cake

                             

 

              Ramadan is around the corner and it's time to post some Ifthar dishes. Kayappola is an Ifthar dish from Malabar, which you can easily make with in a short span of time. No much plannings and preparations needed. Everything could be whipped up in a few minutes if you have ripe plantains and eggs at hand. And it only takes about twenty minutes in low heat on the stove top to get it done (Did I mention that you actually don't need an oven to prepare it?) Yep! All  you need is a stove and a sauce pan.. Go ahead, and make it today.. As it contains plantains and eggs, it's good for kids . They would love this soft n flavourful cake.Good to make as a tea time snack for kids.

Here you go...

Andipputtu- A traditional malabar cashewnut palaharam

                     Another episode of Sinusitis,and I was off from the blogosphere and everything I loved, to fight it with all my might. Alhamdulillah! Allah has cured me like always.. But during the course, I have learned a few tips to tackle it.
  One of the most effective things I found was drinking water; and plenty of it.It is more effective than any mucolyte available on earth! When the mucolytes and antibiotics didn't give any apparent comfort from the gnawing headache, I googled for what else to do. The answer was,'Drink plenty of water'.And I began filling myself with water like a water tank from dawn to dusk :)
  But it worked like wonder!
The headache began to subside slowly and I felt more at ease and energetic.
If you guys have any other tips to fight recurrent sinusitis, please let me know.. I'm all ears!!

              So what did I do when I had these attacks! I got involved in making some traditional goodies to take my mind away from the hurting head. Andipputtu is a 'palaharam' which I grew up with right from my early childhood. Those days, when it was vacation time in the summer, we kids used to go picking the cashew nuts from the trees in our ancestral orchard. We would have our fill of munching the sweet and tart cashew fruits and after that collect the cashew nuts from under the ripe fruits. We used to bring them to our granny, who after drying them in shade for a few days would eventually roast them in the firewood oven. I still remember that sweet aroma which wafts up into the air while the cashew nuts are being roasted. And we kids used to look in awe keeping a distance from the mud oven as the cashew nuts make cracking sounds from inside and a few would come flying out as it burst.

      After they get fully roasted, granny would call us to help her crack open the shells of the cashews. We would take some rounded stones and start smashing the shells with them and pick the nuts carefully from inside the cracked shells. Many of the nuts collected thus would go into our tummys there and then because they were so irresistible. The leftover nuts would be used for making 'andipputtu' which was a masterpiece in itself.
               Granny  and her helpers used to grind them with roasted rice grains, 'sharkkara' and grated coconut in an 'ural' which was the food processor of that time. I'm sure, our kids would never know what it is, if they saw one in any of the old 'tharavadus'.

             Nowadays everything is made easy with our gadgets. Not to mention the food processor. I wonder how those old ladies had so much time to do all these from scratch while we have scarcely any free time even with all our sophisticated gadgets! It was my mom who showed me how to make 'andipputtu' in a mixer grinder / food processor. It is quite easy.

            To get that authentic taste of home roasted cashews, dry roast the nuts in a cast iron wok, till they turn slightly brown and aromatic, stirring constantly on medium heat.
      Here is how you make it....

Avil milk - My first Guest Post

 

                     This is one of the comfort foods which you can categorize into desserts or breakfast drink or even a dinner drink (if such a drink exists) ;) In fact, we often have it for dinner when we are not in the mood for a heavy meaty meal. Though it is more like a dessert, it's quite filling and a whole food with less sugar.Rice flakes, banana and milk makes it a healthy alternative for other high fat high sugar desserts. I made this as a guest post for Rafeeda's blog, 'The Big Sweet Tooth'. It surprize me that after all these years of blogging it's the first time I am doing a guest post.

 

                         I felt honoured and was really happy when Rafeeda of 'The Big Sweet Tooth' asked me to do a guest post for her. Though it is from the blogosphere that I came to know about Rafeeda, our mutual acquaintance made us realize that both of us hailed from nearby places from the same district in Kerala.So being of the common ancestry, I thought I would share a recipe which was regional to our place, The Avil milk. To see more about the post, recipe and pictures, please hop over to Rafee's space 'The Big Sweet Tooth'. She has got a great space with lot of mouth watering recipes to try...

Mutton Kuruma/ Mutton Stew

"Food is our common ground, a universal experience"

-James Beard

                                 I sincerely hope I could spend more time at blogging. But the thing is I get distracted by lots of other stuff which I enjoy doing from time to time.. The latest errand is making clothes for my baby girl. I used to stitch clothes for myself before and enjoyed it thoroughly. Now that I have a girl, my latest infatuation is making frocks for her.

                           And when I am caught up with designing the little dresses, I find that time just flies away without any regard for my bewildered self. I just get carried away by the designing, cutting, stitching and gawking at the finished product. Even in my dreams, I see my little girl fluttering in her beautiful summer dress in the enchanting breeze. Now, you get a hint of the measure of madness I actually am in! I myself think me nuts sometimes.. Frankly! So, the cooking, picturing, editing and all such stuff could wait for the time being. But still, I feel guilty about the blog , that I thought I would post a recipe which I drafted long  back.

                         Mutton Kuruma was one of the dishes I began making with mutton in my early days of experimenting. It was a total mess for the first few times I attempted it. But later I began to find balance in the amount of spices and texture of the curry and now it is one of Mr.KB's favourites (and mine too :)) I make it the same way my mom in law used to make but I omit adding yogurt for reasons of my own.

                      Being a child, I used to hate mutton. I was weary of its meaty taste and its fatty texture. But I guess your taste buds develop over time. Over the years I have found love in mutton preparations, if not as much as my better half. I guess the wall of hatred towards mutton began to collapse slowly after the marriage. The husband of the mutton hating girl was a great fan of the same. And during my early days of marriage, I used to watch in wonder as Mr.KB ate mutton with such pure indulgence and unadulterated mirth. I guess that was when I began to see mutton in a whole new perspective.

      This is the recipe of Mutton Kuruma, the North Kerala way..It is usually made with out adding turmeric powder and hence has a whitish to pale colour. It goes well with Aappam, vellappam, pathiri,ghee rice etc.

Malabar Spicy Fish Fry

             

                For sea food lovers there is nothing more appealing than a perfectly fried fish. Being a sea food lover myself, my occasional mood swings or sometimes the untamable tempers could just be cured by a delicious fish fry. Guess what! Mr.KB has made it a habit to stuff the freezer with all kinds of fresh fishes he can get hold of... poor guy ;)

               Fish can be fried in many ways. From the easiest of ingredients to the most intriguing techniques they taste different, deliciously so. Most of the time, the fishes fried in my kitchen are the easiest versions with minimum ingredients and using up minimum time for marinade. But during weekends and while having guests, I take care to pamper the fishes with special marinades and giving ample time to coat the fish. The difference is outstanding.. Let’s say, like a candy and an ice cream.. Both are delicious on their own ways. But the latter does have a bit more to indulge in. And it wouldn’t hurt to keep the fish coated in the marinade for a couple of hours (if you have enough time). It gives a juicy soft texture to the flesh imbibing the entire flavor, yet the exterior remains crispy and yum.

 

           As for ‘Malabar fish fry’, when ever there is a prefix ‘malabar’ added to any of the dishes, people have begun to read it as ‘intriguing.., sophisticated..  etc. But no! I assure you this Malabar version of fried fish is not that complicated. All you have to do is use the freshest ingredients and push back those readymade fish masalas and spices to where it came from. You wouldn’t be disappointed by the outcome..

 

Coming to the recipe…

½ kg fresh fleshy fish like pomphret, king fish  etc

1 inch piece of ginger, sliced

3 cloves of garlic, sliced

1 green chilli, halved

1 tsp fennel seeds

¼ tsp turmeric  powder

¼ tsp red chilli pdr

½ tsp kashmiri chilli pdr

¼ tsp black pepper powder

2 tsp lemon juice

A sprig of curry leaves

Coconut oil for frying

Method:

   Clean the fish, wash properly and drain. Slash the fleshy parts with a sharp knife. Grind all the other ingredients in a grinder to a fine paste. Marinate the fish with this paste and keep for 1 to 2 hours. Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the fishes, on both sides in medium heat until reddish brown and crispy. Drain on a kitchen tissue to absorb excess oil.Serve hot with steamed rice or roti.

 

Meen Pathiri (Steamed rice pancakes filled with fish masala)

                
            It has been a while since I posted any Malabar dishes. The fact that most of them have lengthy and intricate procedures make them victims of procrastination. Even, when the procedures are quiet simple, explaining it with the step by step pictures often proves to lose a lot of time. Hence, I have lots of malabar dishes photographed, yet not ready for posting in my draft.

     Actually, I hadn't attempted to make this Malabar dish by myself, though I have  had it many times. We have a newly opened restaurant in Kuwait, which is specialised in Malabar cuisine and we have become frequent visitors there, lately. Homely food is what they offers with that authentic traditional touch. While enjoying their Malabar specialities the other day, it suddenly struck me that it has been a long time since I posted any Malabar dishes on the blog. So I thought of sharing this Meen Pathiri, which is 'Malabari' in all essence and is quiet a winner as far as fish lovers are concerned.

    Basically, pathiri is a colloquial term in Malabar area for pancakes made by rolling out dough. They are usually made with rice flour or with the dough made my grinding soaked rice. There are also pathiris made with wheat flour like gothambu pathiri,moolapathiri etc. Meen Pathiri is made with two rice pancakes joined together and stuffed with spicy fish filling  and later on steam cooked to perfection.

    They are traditionally made by grinding soaked parboiled rice with grated coconut, shallots and fennel seeds. And the stuffing is done with fleshy fishes like king fish and mackerel. Here I made the pathiris the easier way using rice flour mixed with coconut milk powder and fennel seeds. I had some pomfrets in the freezer and made the filling with it.

     It was an instant winner in the family with Mr.KB commenting that it was high time I made something 'Ramzani'. Usually Meen Pathiri is made during ifthars and on such special occasions, back home. So this can be added to those 'must try' ifthar dishes, as the Ramzan is fast approaching...

The Recipe:

For the pancakes:
2 cups rice flour
2 tbsp coconut milk powder
1 3/4 cup hot boiled water
1/2 to 1 tsp fennel seeds(perum jeerakam), grounded
1/2 to1 tsp shallots(cheriyulli),grounded (optional)
Salt to taste

For the fish marinade:
5 -6 pieces of any fleshy fish like mackerel,king fish or pomfret
1/2 tsp turmeric pdr
2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt to taste

For the filling:
2-3 onions sliced
2-3 green chillies, slit
1 tsp ginger garlic paste( freshly made for more flavour)
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 tsp turmeric pdr
1 tsp kashmiri chilli pdr
1 and 1/2 tsp coriander pdr
1 tsp fennel seed pdr (perum jeeraka podi)
2 sprigs of curry leaves
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt to taste

Preparation:

    Wash and drain the fish properly and marinate it with turmeric powder,red chilli pdr, lemon juice and salt.Keep aside for half to one hour and shallow fry in a frying pan with cooking oil. Remove it from the pan; remove the skin and bones and shred them to small pieces. Keep aside.

Prepare the filling:

•  Heat oil in a frying pan and add the onions. Saute it till it becomes translucent. Add ginger garlic paste and saute until aroma comes out. Add green chillies and curry leaves and saute for a few minutes
• Add chopped tomatoes and saute until mushy. Now add the spice powders and saute till the masala becomes thick with very less water.Add adequate salt and check the taste
• Now add the shredded fried fish pieces and mix well.Keep it covered and cook in low flame for a few minutes to imbibe the flavour.
• Remove the masala from heat and keep aside

 

Making the Pathiris and assembling:

                                                         flour kneaded to soft sticky dough

 

                                                     the filling placed on the pathiri

 

                                             another pathiri placed on top and sides joined

 

                                                   steaming the pathiri

• Spread rice flour, coconut milk powder, fennel seed powder and ground shallots in a wide mouthed bowl and pour hot boiling water added with adequate salt, over it. Knead well into a soft sticky dough.
• Take a cricket ball sized piece of dough and place it over a parchment paper or banana leaves cut into squares. Place another parchment paper or banana leaf over it and roll out into a pathiri 1/2 a cm thick with a rolling pin or with the heels of your palm. Remove the parchment paper on the top carefully and place some filling on it and spread,leaving half an inch from the circumference.
• Make another similar sized pathiri and place it over the other, with the filling in between. Press down the sides with your fingers to join the two pathiris.
• Repeat the procedure with the rest of the dough. It makes about 4 meen pathiris
• Cover it fully with parchment paper or banana leaf and steam in a steamer until well cooked, for about 15 minutes.
• Remove from steam and peel off the covering. Serve after it cools down. Enjoy!

   

Kappayum Irachiyum (Tapioca cooked with beef)-Malabar Style

                This is a dish which doesn't need a second introduction to Keralites. Tapioca had been and still is a   staple food in many parts of Kerala. For the same reason there is a myriad of delicious dishes made with tapioca unique to the Kerala cuisine. Combination of tapioca with meat as well as fish is widely popular and enjoyed by people from every walks of life. The small local crappy restaurants with the board, reading, "Kappayum irachiyum ivede kittum"(tapioca and beef is available here) is a common site in villages and suburban towns. In fact, it is one of those dishes which always bring a few of the childhood memories back home.
           

              Homely food has always been alluring and appetizing to me as well as some of my friends. Apart from eating, memorising them with touches of poetry and a whole lot of 'Oohs' and 'Aahs' is my friend, S's favourite pass time.(Not that I don't enjoy it :)). She has tricked me into making a hell lot of dishes with her little bit exaggerated exclamations. It was one of those nostalgic narrations about 'Kappayum beefum',which made me drool like a dog and pushed me into the act of writing 'Tapioca' under the list of 'urgently needed things' on the weekend purchase. How impatiently I waited for those tapiocas to reach home so that I could throw my culinary fists around it to quench my greedy cravings!  And I thoroughly enjoyed the 'Oohs' and 'Aahs' Mr.KB send forth, while he devoured it with undiluted devotion.

        Usually while making 'Kappayum Irachiyum', the tapioca and beef are cooked separately, then combined and cooked in low heat to blend the flavors well. The tapioca is usually boiled with a lot of water and then drained. It is then combined with cooked beef and cooked further to attain that pulpy,pudding like gravy. This dish tastes great when prepared with 'fresh from the farm' tapiocas as was made back home. As I couldn't get fresh tapioca here, I used frozen tapioca and it was not bad after all.

Kappayum Beefum- Malabar style

Things you need:

1/2 kg Indian beef , cut into small cubes
1 kg tapioca, cut into small pieces

7 to 10 shallots/ cheriyulli, sliced

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground garlic

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp ground red chillis

1 tsp ground black pepper

2 tbsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp fennel seeds/perum jeera

Salt to taste
A sprig of curry leaves

Method:

Cook the tapioca with adequate water and salt. Drain and keep aside. Cook the beef with adequate salt and all the other ingredients in a pressure cooker until well cooked.Now mix the cooked tapioca with the cooked beef in a heavy bottomed sauce pan and cook in medium to low heat until the tapioca becomes gummy and thick and the tastes well blended. Take care to stir occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.When it is well cooked and well  blended add curry leaves and stir to combine. Remove from heat and serve hot.

Nadan Beef Varattu / Malabar Beef Roast

                     
                   This is a dish which has been renowned as the favourite of many in family. Mr.KB becomes exuberant and verbose while talking about this beef roast. Nostalgic and alluring, it has only drawn fans to it, the bygone years even beyond the Malabar area. It is one of those traditional tastes which hang on your tongue for so long.. It has such an outstanding influence on my culinary conscience that I often find it difficult to think of any other recipes when ever I get a pound of fresh Indian beef. Call me an old fashioned snob, my mind always refuse to believe that any other recipe could be more yummier. And more often, I end up making the same beef roast again and again.

                     Pardon me for the photos (I know,they sucks). By the time I got organised, the sun had gone and it was already twilight. And to top up the mess, my younger son was screaming crying in his top gear. So I couldn't go for elaborate photos and just took a few quick snaps. I have always forgot to take the pictures of this dish when ever I have prepared it. This time I was keen on taking it, but you see the situation snapped.

Nadan Beef Varattu/Malabar Beef Roast

Things you need:

1/2 kg Indian beef , cut into small cubes

7 to 10 shallots/ cheriyulli, sliced

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground garlic

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp ground red chillis

1 tsp ground black pepper

2 tbsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp fennel seeds/perum jeera

1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds

Salt to taste

For seasoning:

2 to 3 shallots, sliced

1 sprig of curry leaves

1 tbsp coconut oil

Method:

1. Cook the beef with little water and all the other ingredients (except that for seasoning) in a pressure cooker, until well cooked ( about half hour) in medium heat.
2. Heat oil in a wok and add the shallots. When it becomes brown and aromatic,add curry leaves. Add the cooked beef into it and saute in medium to high heat, stirring continuously until the gravy dries up and the beef is coated.
3. Remove from heat and serve hot with rice, pathiri or chappatis( Indian flat bread)

This post  goes to the Kerala Kitchen Event created by Ria and Rose of The Kerala Kitchen, being hosted by Jehanne of the cookingdoctor.

Jeeraka Kozhi / Jeera Chicken

                Some dishes had been reserved for special occasions, back home. Such dishes doesn't come in every day lunch and dinner. They just seem sort of detached from the normal world of goodies and always reminds of those special occasions when they would be served. But the time has changed and we are privileged to have any dishes we like at any times we wish at any time of the year.

                 Food and drinks after child birth had been (and still is) so different from normal in my home land. The woman who gave birth to a baby was treated with much care and attention. Right from what she wears to what she eats was decided by Ayurveda (the Indian system of medicine) and age old theories of older people of wisdom. Right from drinking the 'Kashaya' (medicinal decoction) early in the morning to the glass of warm milk before going to bed, was all part of the routine. So why am I telling you all these things? Well, to explain the background of this particular dish, Jeeraka Kozhi which was of course prepared specially for the new mother on her days after child birth.

                 So why was this dish selected for that special occasion? Because it helps enhance the digestive fire (agni) which is said to be in a decreased state after child birth ( Ayurveda says 80 percent of the diseases occurs due to a fault in the 'jataragni' or digestive fire) and facilitates lactation. The main ingredient, cumin in this dish is both carminative as well as lactogenic. The other main ingredient, black pepper helps enhance the digestion. It was mostly made with organic chicken bought from local farms.

              So you must have pictured this dish by now, as something which is a torture to the taste buds and tastes just like the nauseating 'kashaya' and something which the normal people decline to eat...  Not at all! If you try this once, you will be hooked to the very different and vibrant flavour, enough to tempt you to try it again and again. Let me know, if you are not :)

              I have even a suspicion that the older generation women got pregnant sooner and frequently just to relish this lip smacking preparation after delivery to their fill...(just a guess you know ;) ) As for me, I don't wait to get pregnant, to make this rich and spicy chicken again and again :) It comes often into our dinner table to go with rice and chapattis with out explainable reasons..

Jeeraka Kozhi / Jeera Chicken Recipe

Things you need:

1 small chicken , preferably organic chicken/nadan kozhi( 600 to 700g)

2-3 tbsp cumin seeds / cheriya jeera

2 tsp black pepper

7 to 8 shallots/cheriyulli, skinned

2 to 3 garlic cloves

A small piece of ginger

1 green chilli, split lengthwise

1 large tomato, sliced to medium pieces.

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

2 tbsp coriander powder

For seasoning:

2 shallots, sliced

1 sprig of curry leaves

1 tbsp Coconut oil

Method:

• Skin and cut the chicken to small pieces. Wash and drain.
• Grind the black pepper and the cumin seeds in a mixer until fine. Add the shallots, garlic  and ginger and pulse until a coarse paste is formed.
• Transfer the chicken to an earthen pot and add the spice paste. Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, green chilli , tomato and salt. Mix well and cook covered in medium heat adding little water. Stir occasionally to avoid sticking to the bottom of the pot. When well cooked and tender remove from heat and temper with seasoning.
• For seasoning heat a pan and add coconut oil. Fry shallots in it until brown. Add curry leaves and immediately pour this seasoning over the cooked chicken. Serve hot with rice or rotti.

Linking this to Heart & Soul, Teusday Blog Hop co-hosted by Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen

Chakkarappayar / Black eyed beans Dessert- A childhood delicacy

                               

           Yesterday while we were talking over tea, Mr.K B poured out some of his child hood memories or should I say, mischiefs? Every man has a share of it. Yet, hearing it being narrated with a tinge of laughter and a sparkle in the eye is never boring. You can hear it a million times, yet laugh your heart out every time you hear it. The naughtiness with which every childhood is spend accounts to something of ultimate involvement and of course incomparable satisfaction.

            The hilarious moments of those very mischievous days were something you would never forget and find pleasure to narrate even after you are hundred years old. My father in law is a very jovial person and his grand children swarm around him like flies over a fruit. He has reserved some of his childhood mischiefs to disperse amidst his ever admiring group of naughty grand children. While watching him display his tricks before them, no matter how grown up you are, a smile blooms on your face without you even knowing it. The many times when I have watched him twist his ear with hands and his tongue sticks out the very moment, and the children applaud in pure delight, I had found myself laughing with them. And when he would push his denture out and mimics a very funny face, the children roll on the ground with laughter.

                       He is one of them who love to narrate his childhood with much ardour and immense joy. Going to the cinema at night, rolling his blanket to the shape of a man lying down so that the elders never knew he was out is only one of them. Then there is the story of him and his sister(aunt R) climbing the jack fruit tree and sitting there hiding all day, eating berries and fruits to skip the boring school. He used to throw small pellets at the aluminium tiffin boxes kept at rows in the classroom which made distractable noise enough to drive his short tempered teacher crazy. And then there was the ever handy act of tying an arecanut shaft around the bottom, under his pants as protection against the unwelcome batterings with cane(from his teacher of course) which came his way.

Mr.KB: "And those days, when you read 'Balarama(a comic book)' keeping it between your text book acting as if you were studying... Mom used to think I was very ardent at studying..."

Me: "Well, me too used to do that. But we didn't have 'Balarama', it was 'Malarvadi' (another comic) for us."

Mr.KB: '' And what about those teaspoon fulls of 'Horlicks' which you sneaked away from kitchen to lick in secret?"

Me: "Well, them and the milk powder too" (I still get a craving to lick Horlicks in spoon sometime... But I never told him ;) )

That left us discussing about the childhood dishes which really rocked. And there came memories of 'Neyyappam', 'Kalthappam' and 'Chakkarappayar'. Chakkarappayar was Mr. KB's childhood favourite. My mother in law's recipe was so delicious that he still gets a craving for it very often. I called her a few days back to ask the recipe and jolted it down quickly..  Made it and thought of blogging it to save the recipe so that I can save myself from the embarrassment of having to ask her again :)

Chakkara Payar ( Black eyed beans dessert) Recipe:

Things you need:

Van payar (black eyed beans), soaked overnight   -   1 cup

Jaggery /Vellam / Sarkara                                     - 200g or to taste

Grated coconut                                                     - 1 cup

Ragi flour (finger millet flour) or rice flour               - 2 tbsp

Jeera powder (fennel seed pdr)                              -  1 tsp

Salt                                                                       -  1/4 tsp

Water                                                                   - 1 cup

Method:

Cook the soaked and drained beans(van payar) in a pressure cooker or sauce pan with adequate water and salt, until well cooked and mushy. Add the grated coconut to it.Boil jaggery with a little water in a sauce pan and strain through a tea strainer into the vessel of cooked beans,when fully dissolved. Add the flour to 4 tablespoons of water and stir well to remove any lumps.  Add this to the beans jaggery mixture and stir well while heating on medium to low flame.When the mixture starts thickening, remove from heat and add the jeera powder and serve hot or cooled.

Thenga Choru / Coconut rice – A Malabar Approach

         Traditional dishes have always had a place in the heart of a Malabari in Ramadan. It is one of the times when the old and forgotten dishes find their way back to the dining tables. Far back in our grannies era, before the biriyani started its reign in the Malabar muslim kitchen,   Thenga choru was the king and queen of special occasions (so says my granny). There would inevitably be a beef curry to go with it.

      The simplicity to prepare and the distinguished flavor of this simply delicious rice made me wonder why people don’t prepare it very often. May be coconut is not as abundant as it used to be. Coconut rice has a lot of variations in different regions. This is the northern Kerala variation which is mainly made in the Malappuram side..

Let’s go to the recipe right away…….

Things you need:

   for about 6 people

Par boiled rice                           -   4 cups

Pearl onions / Shallots, sliced     -   10 to 15

Fenugreek seeds                       -    2 tsp

Fresh grated coconut                 -    3 cups

Ani seeds                                  -    2 tsp (optional)

Water                                       -    9 cups

Salt to taste

Method:

    Mix all the ingredients in a vessel except water and salt and kneed well with your hands. Add water and allow to boil. After the mixture starts to boil add adequate salt. Then simmer the  heat and allow the rice to cook slowly by closing the vessel with a lid. It can also be cooked in a pressure cooker.Cooking in pressure cooker requires less water. You can reduce about one cup of water. Different type of rice requires different quantity of water. Before preparing the rice try to be familiar with the cereal you have so that you can decide how much water is needed. Thenga choru can also be made with basmathi or jeera rice. When the water dries up completely and the rice is well cooked, remove from heat. Serve hot with beef or chicken curry, coconut chutney and papad. 

Pazham Nirachathu / Stuffed Plantain

                Mom in law had sent a bunch of plantains which grew in the kitchen garden. I was on the eager wait to get them ripe. We ate the first batch, steamed and mixed with coconut milk. It is one of my hubby's childhood favourites. I hadn't decided what to do with the next batch, when my better half suggested, "you haven't prepared Pazham Nirachathu for us yet. Why not try it now?". So it was going to be Pazham Nirachathu, another Malabar Dish which is usually made during Iftars or on special occasions.

               Slitting the plantains and filling them proved to be challenging for me. When I had watched my mom do it, I had thought it to be too easy. But when I filled one slit and moved over to the other, the filling from the previous slit was slipping out. So I made only three slits in the plantain (Some people makes four) and was with  much efforts that I managed to hold everything in place until I covered the slits with the batter and deep fried them. And was really happy with the outcome. It looked like Pazham Nirachathu perfectly made and tasted quite the same... :)

              Pazham Nirachathu is almost similar to Unnakkaya which I had previously posted. But in Unnakkaya, steamed and mashed ripe plantain is used unlike in Pazham Nirachathu which uses the whole plantain as such. So it's easier to prepare Pazham Nirachathu than the other.

Here is the recipe..

Things you need:

2 medium sized ripe plantains
1 Egg
25 g Cashew Nuts, broken to small pieces
25 g Raisins
3 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp grated coconut
1/4 tsp Cardamom powder
2 tbsp pure Ghee / Clarified Butter
2 tbsp All purpose Flower
1/2 cup of Veg. Oil

Method

1)   Beat the Egg with Sugar and keep aside.
2)   Heat Ghee in a pan and add the Cashews and Raisins and saute until cashews turn brown and raisins are puffed up. Add the grated coconut to this and saute for a couple of minutes. Then add the egg and sugar along with cardamom powder and saute with until the egg is cooked and granulated. Remove from heat and keep aside.
3)   Peel the plantains and make 3 slits on each of them length wise with a knife in such a way that the slits join each other at the center along seed part and stops just before the two ends of plantains.
4)   Now fill these slits with the filling previously prepared taking care not to over stuff them.
5)   Mix the flower with adequate water to form a thick batter. Using this batter seal the slits of the plantains until the filling is not visible.
6)   Heat oil in a wok and carefully fry the filled plantains in it until all sides are equally brown and done.
7)   Take out from the oil and drain on a kitchen tissue. Serve hot by slicing the plantains into small circles. Each circle will have three slits of filling on them.

Sending this to Charitha's A-Appetisers event.

Elepparathi/ Leaf rolled Malabar bread

           

        There were lots of dishes I was quite fascinated with, which my mother in law used to make. In fact she was my first teacher in cooking, in the days after marriage, when I used to be ignorant about even the very  minute things. She used to infuse a lot of positive energy in you, even if you go wrong that you cannot ignore the pique you feel towards cooking something new and slowly you begin to learn from your mistakes…  The ever vibrant humor sense even when the going gets tough, was something I have always admired in her.. The art of recycling leftover food is something I learned from her acquaintance. Whenever there was some left over rice, she would say.. "Let's make Elepparathi tomorrow so that we can use the rice in it " and they would always turn out to be inexplicably soft and extraordinarily delicious.It was one of the first dishes I learned from her and the most popular in the family..

      Here is the recipe..

Things you need:

     Rice flour, sieved                          -   1 cup

     All purpose flour/ Maida               -  1 cup

     Grated fresh coconut                    -   1 cup

     Cooked leftover rice(optional)      -   1/2 cup

     Boiled water                                -    as required

     Salt to taste

     Coconut oil                                 -     3 tbsp

     Green plantain leaf , washed and cut into square pieces  -   2

    

Method:

    Grind the cooked rice in a mixer or blender until a smooth paste is formed. Mix this together with  the flours and coconut. Add adequate salt to boiled water and pour the hot water to the flour rice mixture and stir with a spoon. When it cool slightly knead well with hands until a smooth dough is formed. Add just enough water to make it a smooth dough. Do not add excess. Now take a portion, the size of a tennis ball and flatten it on an oiled banana leaf using your hands. You can use an alluminium foil to flatten the dough if you don't have plantain leaves.  Dip your hands occasionally in water to avoid sticking. Apply a teaspoon of coconut oil on top of it and smooth out. Heat a frying pan and transfer it to the pan upside down. ie, the plantain leaf should come on top like in the picture. Cook for 2, 3 minutes and remove the plantain leaf. Now turn the bread again on the pan so as to cook the other side. When the other side is also cooked ie, when light brown patches form around the bread, remove from heat and transfer to a plate. Repeat the procedure with the rest of the dough. Serve hot with egg curry, vegetable curry, or sweetened coconut milk. You can also have it with tea with out any accompaniments.

Sending this recipe to Torview's Food Palette Series - White