One of the dishes I had been wanting to try for the past 5 years was tender coconut pudding. For making this I needed fresh tender coconut, which was not available in the US. But here in my hometown tender coconut is abundant.

Tender coconut water has several health benefits. In fact it is an instant energizer. In summer, people in the tropical region depend on tender coconut water to beat the heat and to quench their thirst.

Most of the time after drinking the water, tender coconut is scooped out of the shell and eaten which has a sweet refreshing taste. You could also puree the tender coconut along with the coconut water which tastes really phenominal.

Apart from these, making pudding out of the tender coconut is also quite common. Hands down, this is my favorite pudding even though I frequently make pineapple pudding. Water from the coconut is used to melt agar-agar or china grass and the tender coconut is pureed and added to the milk and condensed milk mixture.

The tender coconut gives the pudding a remarkable taste and a delicate constituency. 

Once you taste this pudding, you’ll embrace the taste forever…

Tender Coconut Pudding:

• Tender Coconut, fresh- scopped from 2 coconuts
• Tender coconut water- 1 cup, to melt agar-agar
• Agar-Agar or China Grass strands- 1/4 cup
• Milk- 2 cups
• Condensed milk- 1/2 cup or depending upon your sweet level

Preparation:

Tender Coconut

• Scoop out the tender coconut from 2 coconuts and puree it in a blender, keep aside.

• In a saucepan, pour 1 cup tender coconut water and add agar-agar to it.

• Heat the saucepan and let the agar-agar melt completely.

• In the meantime, heat milk and condensed milk in another saucepan over medium heat. Let it come to a boil.

• To the boiled milk and condensed milk, add the melted agar-agar, combine well.
• Remove from the flame and let it cool down for at least 5 minutes.
• Add the pureed tender coconut to the cooled milk mixture and mix everything well.

•  Pour the mixture into a cake pan or stainless steel pan.

• Keep the pudding at first in the freezer for about 15 minutes or until it begins to set.
• After that remove the pudding from the freezer and place it in the refrigerator.

• Using a knife gently cut the pudding and serve it in dessert bowls.
• You could granish the pudding with almonds, cashew nuts etc.

Notes:

• Make sure to use tender coconut and not regular coconut.
• Add the pureed tender coconut only after the milk-condensed milk mixture cooles down, otherwise the milk will curdle.

I tricked my brain and made a healthy breakfast from scratch this morning in less than 15 minutes…

My hubby was surprised to see steaming hot breakfast made from scratch and beautifully served on the table. I’ve mentioned before that I always depend on cereal, whole grain bread, fruits or instant oats for breakfast. More than being lazy, my brain acts weird in the morning. By the time my brain figures out what to make for breakfast it would be time to make lunch. Surprisingly, I woke up this morning with a healthy breakfast idea in my mind. Before my brain got active and stopped me from entering into the kitchen, I rushed into the kitchen and in under 15 minutes I came out with a healthy breakfast. My hubby who was expecting cereal was blown away to see steaming hot breakfast in front of him. The way he devoured it made me feel extreme happiness. Before he could say it would be nice to have this kind of breakfast everyday, I made this statement: “Honey, don’t expect this every morning”  Lol…

This is good for breakfast and could be served as an evening snack as well. Kids will love this as dates in this gives it a sweet taste, so don’t skip the dates.

I loved this so much, the taste and the ease with which I can make this, that I made a second batch for today’s lunch. It seems I will end up making this for dinner too: P

Healthy Steamed Oats with Dates and Coconut

Serves- 2 people

Ingredients:

• Instant Oats, (I used Quaker oats)- 1 cup
• Water- 3 tbsp
• Salt- a pinch
• Chopped dates- 1/2 cup
• Coconut shredded- 1/4 cup

Preparation:

• In a bowl, combine oats and salt.
• Add water little by little to the oats and mix it with your hand breaking any lumps that form.

• Combine it until you can make balls out of the oats, but neither watery nor dry and keep aside.
• Fill 1/4 of the pressure cooker with water and place it in medium heat with its lid closed.
• In a puttu maker, layer the oats, dates and coconut.
• First, add 1 tbsp of coconut into the puttu maker, then add 2 tsp chopped dates and on top of that 1 handful of oats.

• Repeat this and make 2 layers, on the top should be dates and coconut.

• Close the puttu maker with its lid.
• When steam starts to come out of the pressure cooker through the whistle hole, place the puttu maker on to the whistle hole.

• Steam cook for 4-5 minutes or until steam comes out of all the holes on the puttu maker.
• Remove from the pressure cooker and invert the puttu maker on a platter, oats in round shape will fall onto the platter.
• Serve this while it’s steaming hot, oats will be soft and the dates in it gives this dish a sweet taste.
• You could also substitute oats with rice flour, wheat flour or Semolina ( Sooji).

Tips:

• Don’t add too much water to the oats, it should be slightly wet at the same time not too dry.
  
• You could make this with just the oats and coconut, but dates enhances the taste of the oats greatly.
• This should be served hot, it will dry out when it turns cold.
• You could even add almonds along with dates.

Notes:

• Puttu maker is sold in some Indian stores and can also be bought online.
• Traditional puttu maker has 2 parts, a bottom vessel for filling the water and a long cylindrical rod with a lid for layering the rice flour or oats or wheat flour or your choice of flour with coconut.
• Puttu maker I have is a simplified and easy to carry version which can be placed on pressure cooker.

A simple and humble dish that has been reigning over the taste buds of all the Keralities for centuries…

Chammanthi (in malayalam) is a side dish made in less than 5 minutes by grinding grated coconut along with other ingredients. This is one of the popular side dishes in Kerala cuisine. I don’t know to which category I should include this, as this will be seen for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For breakfast, this is often served with Dosa, Appam or Idli. For lunch, this will be seen along with Rice, and again you can see its presence for dinner. This is also served along with rice porridge.

This dish is a real time saver and a money saver too. Just plain rice when eaten with this dish is enough to conquer your hunger. And the amazing thing about this dish is that if this is served along with any other hyped dishes, you’ll be stunned to see the speed with which this humble dish gets emptied from the platter. I am not at all exaggerating. Once you try this, you’ll be its slave for the rest of your life. Are you drooling yet?

The required ingredient of this dish is grated coconut. In order to enhance the taste of the chammanthi, often one more ingredient is added to the coconut. If you add cilantro to the grated coconut, you’ll get cilantro chammanthi; if you add raw mango, it becomes mango chammanthi; if mint is added, it becomes mint chammanthi. The taste of these chammanthis are totally different.

My favorite way of indulging in chammanthi is by adding dry fish to the grated coconut. Dry shrimp or dry tuna is the best fish choice. Dry shrimp chammanthi was introduced to me by my grandma; almost all meals are accompanied by this dish at my grand parents. My grandma used to make this using the traditional grinder “Ammi-Kallu”.

“Ammi-Kallu”, has 2 parts, one flat surface made of rock on which the ingredients to be ground are placed and a cylindrical stone which is used to grind the mixture. Believe me, the chammanthi made by grinding the coconut mixture using this traditional grinder is tastier and incomparable to the chammanthi made in a branded blender.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a traditional grinder in my kitchen, so I had no other choice but grind it in a blender.

Dry Shrimp with Grated Coconut:

Ingredients:

• Dry shrimp- 3 tbsp

• Grated coconut- 1/2 cup
• Small onions or pearl onions- 3-4 no’s
• Chilly powder-1/2 tsp
• Ginger, minced- 1/2 tsp
• Tamarind, whole or paste- if whole, a small slice, or 1/2 tsp paste
• Salt- to taste
• Water- 1-2 tsp or enough to make a coarse ground mixture.

Preparation:

• In a blender, add the above mentioned ingredients and grind it to a coarse mixture.

• Don’t add too much water while grinding, as it would make the mixture watery.
• If you want the chammanthi to be a finely ground mixture, grind it according to your needs.

Tips:

You could substitute dry shrimp with dry tuna, raw mango, cilantro.

Snowballs reminded me of kerala’s all time famous breakfast: Puttu and I couldn’t help but rename it to Edible snow balls..

It’s white everywhere. For me, there is nothing more refreshing than waking up to the view of snow draped land. It had snowed continuously for the last 3 days and had the whitish Christmas as anticipated. Snow is one of the things which wakes up the kid in me and I join with the neighborhood kids in snowball fights or just playing in the snow and I never seem to get tired.

While playing in the snow, suddenly I was reminded of kerala’s famous breakfast ‘Puttu’. It’s white in color, soft and looks exactly like snow. If you look at the picture you will get what I am trying to explain here. In kerala, no matter what, people eat heavy breakfast, they just can’t rely on instant and quick breakfast items like cereal and oats. They are used to eating fresh, healthy and hot breakfast tossed right from the stove or the oven. I used to have the same breakfast until I got married, my mom never gave me the chance or better I should rephrase to, she never allowed me to to skip my breakfast. Even now, I wonder how my mom cooks all the delicious breakfast in the morning and she had never failed in doing so. On the other hand, in the morning my brain will be still in the sleep hangover that it can’t quite figure out what to cook or should say too lazy to make and think about breakfast and chooses the easiest alternative of cereal, oats and bread.

Believe it or not, I am a night cook and my brain is really active at night which makes me often suspect that I have the night owl gene:P It think it would be better if I don’t reveal too much of my weaknesses through this blog and just concentrate on revealing the food recipes, lol.

So back to Puttu, it’s one of the easiest yet delicious breakfast items to make, you just need roasted rice flour, grated coconut, little water, salt and a puttu maker. Wet the rice flour with water until it can be made into small balls, but shouldn’t change the flour to dough constituency. Be very careful while wetting the flour.

Without the Puttu maker, puttu cannot be made so you need to have this. In Kerala, it’s hard to find a kitchen without the puttu maker, just having this adds up the beauty of the kitchen.The traditional Puttu maker has 2 parts, a round shaped bottom and a long cylindrical shaped top. We fill the water in the bottom vessel and the top cylindrical part is filled with wet rice flour and grated coconut added alternatively. Then, it is steamed on high heat and the end result is a long rod shaped Puttu.

Since the traditional puttu maker is quite big, nowadays alternative Puttu maker is available in Indian stores. I have the puttu maker in the shape of the coconut shell, which my mom had put in my luggage bag when I came to the US, as she didn’t want me to miss kerala’s favorite breakfast. Now, I absolutely treasure this Puttu maker.

Here is the picture of the Puttu maker I have, this one has a hole underneath and should be placed on the whistle hole of a pressure cooker. Pressure cooker is filled with water and the puttu maker filled with rice flour is placed on top of it and the puttu gets cooked in the steam coming out from the cooker through the whistle hole. The puttu made in this will have the shape of a coconut shell and hence it is also called coconut shell Puttu or chiratta puttu( in malayalam).

Puttu can also be made with wheat flour, Semolina, Rice flour made from Rosematta rice, but puttu made with white rice flour is the most famous and commonly found one. For breakfast, Puttu is often served with Plantain cooked in coconut milk or sometimes just the Puttu with banana and sugar. Mix the puttu with banana, sugar and mash the banana into it and make balls and have that. Puttu is also served with Chick peas curry. Not just these, puttu goes really well with chicken curry, lamb curry and fish curry as well. My favorite way of eating puttu is with fish curry or chicken curry, even the thought of it makes me drool.

Rice Puttu:

Ingredients:

• Roasted Rice flour- 2 cups
• Water- 1/2 cup+ 2 tbsp
• Grated coconut fresh or frozen-1 cup
• Salt- two pinches

Preparation:

• In a large bowl, combine the rice flour and salt.
• Add the water little by little to the rice flour. Using your hand, mix the water into the rice flour breaking any lumps that forms.

• You should be really careful while wetting the rice flour, flour shouldn’t turn into dough constituency.
• The flour after wetting should still be in powdered form and damp enough so that it will steam well.
• After wetting the rice flour, let stand for 10 minutes.
• In the mean time, have the grated coconut, puttu maker and the pressure cooker ready.
• First, put 1 tbsp of grated coconut on the bottom of the puttu maker, then put 1 handful of wet rice flour.

• Repeat this alternating with grated coconut and rice flour until the puttu maker is filled.
• Close the puttu maker with its lid.

• Fill 1/2 of the pressure cooker with water, close with its lid and place on medium high heat.
• When the steam starts to come out through the whistle hole, place the puttu maker on to the whistle hole of the pressure cooker and steam it for 5 minutes or until steam starts to come out of the holes on the puttu maker.

• Remove from the pressure cooker and open the lid of the puttu maker and turn it over on to a platter.
• Repeat the same method and steam cook the remaining rice flour.

Tips:

• Puttu should be served hot, otherwise it will become dry.
• If the puttu gets dried, it can be microwaved after sprinkling with little water over the Puttu.
• The amount of coconut could be changed according to your needs. More fresh coconut means more taste to the puttu.
• Serve with chick peas curry, chicken curry, lamb curry, fish curry or plantain cooked in coconut milk( I will post the recipe of this soon).

Celebrating my birthday with Sadya…

Yay, I am getting old, well don’t jump to the conclusion that I am really old, like I am in some 40′s. I am still enjoying my late 20′s, haven’t entered the hyped ‘thirty hood’ yet. I have heard from many who have crossed 30, that getting old is beautiful, and early 30′s is the best stage of anyone’s life. Well, I have to experience that by myself  to comment more about that. As we grow old, we often say ‘Even though I am getting old, my mind is still young’, don’t we say this just to hide ourselves from the bitter reality that we are actually getting old? Whatever it is, we have to deal with this  fact and move on with our life. If you have the will power, age doesn’t make a big difference, just live life to the fullest, that’s what matters at the end. I am happy that I am still alive and blessed to celebrate my birthday with my dear ones.

One of my good friends had asked me to blog about my favorite dish as a birthday special blog post. I must admit the toughest question I’ve ever encountered. It would be clear by now to all who reads my blog that I love all kinds of cuisine and food. But I didn’t feel like skipping this question and just giving the usual answer of ‘I love all food’. Hence, I forced myself and thought for a while and finally I got the answer.

Being born and brought up in Kerala aka God’s Own Country, a state in India, I had the opportunity to taste most of the Kerala delicacy. In Kerala, there are 14 districts, and each district has it’s own specialty dishes. Even the style of cooking, recipe, name of the same dish varied greatly from one district to another. Kerala food is rich, flavorful, aromatic, spicy and unique, the more you eat the more you fall for this cuisine. I can go on and on when talking about Kerala food. After I got married, I migrated to the US and it was here I was opened to other cuisines and explored the incredible world of cooking. When I first started cooking, I was only aware of kerala dishes and few Indo-Chinese dishes.

Even after exploring other cuisines, for me comfort food means: ‘My own Kerala food’. When thinking about kerala food, first thing that comes to my mind is Kerala Sadya. ‘Sadya’ means ‘Banquet’ in Malayalam( Official language of Kerala). Sadya is not the name of one dish, it’s a grant feast involving many vegetarian dishes, it could range from 15 to 24 or more. Sadya is often made during special occasions like Onam ( biggest festival in Kerala), marriage, birthdays, and other occasions.

Sadya is often served on Plantain or Banana leaf, which could be also called as the Organic plate. While eating sadya people mostly sit on the floor with crossed legs and it is eaten using the right hand and  fingers, the natural spoon, which greatly enhances the taste of the sadya and helps to combine all the dishes.

The dishes found in sadya are all vegetarian, some of the common dishes found in sadya are:

Main dishes: Rice, Parippu( Lentil curry), Sambar( Mixed veggie curry), Rasam( Spicy, tangy Sauce)

Side dishes: Avial( Thick veggie side dish made with yogurt), kalan( plantain dish made with yogurt and coconut), Olan( Black eyed peas curry in coconut sauce), Pachadi( made with beetroot/lady’s finger in yogurt sauce), Thoran( sauteed mixed veggie with grated coconut), Pulissery( Ripe mango , pineapple or pumpkin cooked in yogurt, a sweet dish)

Pickles: Inji puli( Ginger/Tamarind pickle), Achar( Pickles made with mango, lemon or gooseberry)

Snacks: Upperi( Fried Plantain dipped in jaggery), Plantain chips, Pappadam( crispy, crunchy Indian wafers, made from lentil, black gram etc), Banana.

Dessert: Payasam ( made with vermicelli, milk, sugar and other added flavors), mostly 3 types of payasam are served for sadya: Semiya payasam( vermicelli cooked in milk and sugar), Palada pradhaman ( thick dessert made with cooked rice) , Kadala pradhaman( made with black gram).

Oh yes, only if you make all these dishes it can be called as Sadya. With just 2 or 3 of these dishes it’s just everyday kerala food served in almost all houses.

As a birthday special blog post, I am sharing the recipes of  the dishes found in Sadya. Of course, without a question Sadya is my all time favorite food, as I get to taste almost all kinds of taste from spicy to sour to sweet in one eating:)

Ingredients found in most of the dishes in Sadya:

Coconut grated, Coconut oil, Yogurt(Curd), Vegetables like plantain, Mango, Okra or lady’s finger, Beetroot, Ash guard( found in Indian grocery stores), Green chilly, Black eyed peas.

Spices/ enhancers needed for making Sadya:

Turmeric powder, Cumin seeds, Whole Mustard seeds, Whole dry red chilly, Curry leaves( found in Indian grocery stores), Freshly grated Ginger, Fenugreek seeds, Salt.

For Seasoning:

Coconut oil, Mustard seeds, Whole Dry Red Chilly, Curry leaves, Small onions, Fenugreek seeds.

Kerala is the land of Coconut, hence coconut is the primary ingredient in most of the dishes. Also, Coconut oil is used for cooking sadya dishes, as it really enhances the taste, so make sure to cook Sadya using coconut oil.

You could find all these above ingredients added in most of the dishes, and the most amazing part is each dish has its own personality and tastes entirely different from others. Hence, Sadya could be defined as the Flavorful Veggie palette, which gives myriad of flavor to your taste buds, your taste buds will go crazy from sweetness, sourness and spiciness…

I am extremely glad to share the Sadya recipes to everyone on my special day, some of the recipes are from my mom, some from friends and others from internet. Sadya cooking method is almost the same throughout Kerala, some of the ingredients/ spices used might vary. Again, I am still in the learning stage of making Sadya in its authentic and the original taste, so please make sure to correct me if I have mentioned anything wrong. I will be glad to make the needed corrections.

While serving the dishes on the plantain leaf which has two sides, each item has its own specific place, for instance: Pickles are served on the top left on one side of the leaf, followed by other side dishes and banana is served on the bottom left corner. While, Rice along with Parippu and Sambar/Rasam and the Payasam are served on the immediate side facing from the person.

I have to say all these before writing about the recipe, because Sadya is given great importance in Kerala which is served and devoured with great pride by everyone irrespective of their taste buds.

Kerala’s traditional Kuthari Rice:

Ingredients:

• Raw Kuthari Matta rice/Rosematta Rice – 2 cups
• Salt- 1/4 tsp
• Water- 5-6 cups

Preparation:

• In kerala, this is the most famous rice, which is pinkish red in color and it is highly flavorful. After eating this rice, it will be hard to switch to any other rice. For me: I totally hate any other rice as I’ve been eating this rice all these years.
• Traditional cooking of this Rice: This rice is mostly cooked in huge clay pots or stainless steel pots, we get pots just for making rice.

1. The pot is filled with water and when the water starts to boil; washed, drained rice is added to the water along with salt. Close the pot with its lid and cook until the rice is soft and tender.
2. Drain the water from the rice by pouring it over a huge strainer.
3. This method consumes lot of time to cook as Kuthari rice takes long to cook.

• For easy cooking:

1. Cook in a pressure cooker. Add water, rice and salt to the pressure cooker, close it with the lid and let cook until 3- 4 whistles.
2. Excess water can be drained. Keep it warm in the cooker.

Main dishes:

Parippu or Lentil Curry

Ingredients:

• Moong dal- 1 cup
• Water- 2 1/2 cups
• Salt- to taste

For grinding:

• Freshly Coconut grated or frozen- 1 cup
• Green chillies chopped- 2 tsp ( or depending upon your spice level)
• Garlic- 1tsp
• Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
• Curry leaf- 3-4 nos
• Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp

For Seasoning:

• Mustard seeds- 1tsp
• Whole Red Dry Chilli- 2
• Small onions minced- 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves- 5-6 nos
• Coconut Oil-  2tsp

Preparation:

• In a pressure cooker, cook moong dal with water and salt, until 2-3 whistles.
• Grind the above mentioned grinding ingredients in a blender to smooth paste and keep aside.
• When the dal has cooked, add the ground mixture to it and combine evrything well.
• Cook in medium flame, until the raw smell of the mixture goes away.
• Adjust the constituency of the curry by adding water to it, don’t make it too watery.
• Remove from heat and cover it and keep aside.

Making the Seasoning:

• In a wide pan, heat oil, as soon as the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add whole red chilli, small onion and curry leaves.
• When the onion turns golden brown, remove from the flame.
• Add this seasoning to the Parippu/lentil curry and cover with the lid immediately for the aroma to merge into the curry.

Sambar( Mixed veggie curry)

Ingredients:

• Toor dal or Sambar lentil- 1 cup, cooked in pressure cooker in enough water

Cooking Veggies:

• Carrots, diced into medium size- 2
• Ash gourd, diced into medium size- 1
• Egg plant, diced into medium size-1
• Cucumber, deseeded, diced iinto medium size-1
• Drumsticks, fresh cut long or frozen- 10 no’s
• Small onion whole- 1o if large, 15 if small
• Green chillies, whole cut half-3
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig
• Salt- to taste

Spice powders:

• Chilly powder- 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
• Coriander powder-1 1/2 tsp
• Asafetida- a pinch

To Roast and Grind:

• Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp
• Fenugreek seeds-1/2 tsp
• Urad Dal- 1/2 tsp

Other Ingredients:

• Tamarind whole or concentrate- if using whole, gooseberry size tamarind soaked in 2 tbsp water, mashed with hands and drained to get the juice or 1/2 tsp juice.
• Water- to thin the curry

For Seasoning:

• Small onions, chopped- 4 no’s
• Mustard seeds- 1tsp
• Whole dry red chillies-2
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig
• Coconut oil- 1 tbsp

Preparation:

• Cook the toor dal or sambar lentil in enough water in a pressure cooker or in a deep pot until the dal is well cooked until 2 whistles.
• Cook the veggies along with green chillies, curry leaves and salt in enough water until the veggies are tender. Don’t over cook the veggies.
• In a small pan, roast the cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and urad dal until it gets golden, don’t over roast or burn these. Grind these into powder and keep aside.
• When the veggies are cooked through, add the cooked toor dal to this and mix evrything.
• Now, add all the roasted ground powder and the above mentioned spice powders: chilly powder,turmeric powder,coriander powder and asafoetida.
• Cook for few minutes until all the spice powders are well incorporated.
• Add the tamarind juice, and more salt if needed, and water if the curry is thick to thin it down and let the curry come to a boil.
• Finally, in a small pan, make the seasoning: heat the oil, add mustard seeds and let it splutter, add whole red dry chillies, curry leaves and small onion, saute until the onions becomes golden color. Immediately remove form the flame.
• Pour the seasoning into the cooked Sambar and cover with it’s lid until it is ready to be served.

Tips:

• Please adjust the spice level, salt and tamarind juice according to your needs.

Rasam:

Ingredients:

To Grind:

• Cumin seeds- 1tsp
• Whole pepper corn-1tsp
• Ginger chopped- 1tsp
• Garlic chopped- 1tsp
• Green Chilli chopped- 1/2 tsp
• Small onion chopped- 7 nos
• Tomato diced-1

Other ingredients:

• Mustard seeds- 1tsp
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig
• Tamarind juice- gooseberry size whole tamarind soaked in 2 tbsp water, mash it and strain the juice
• Water- enough to thin the mixture.
• Salt-to taste
• Vegetable oil- 2tsp

Preparation:

• Grind the above ingredients for grinding to coarse paste.
• In a saucepan, add oil, when the oil gets hot, add mustard seeds and let it splutter, add curry leaves and stir it.
• Add the coarse paste to the oil, saute it until the raw flavor goes away.
• Add tamarind juice to this and add enough water to thin the mixture.
• Taste the mixture and adjust the salt and sourness, if it is too sour add more water to adjust.
• Let the mixture come to a boil.
• Remove from the flame and cover it with it’s lid.

Tips:

• Please adjust the spice level, salt and tamarind juice according to your needs.

Pickles:

Ingi puli( Ginger-Tamarind Pickle)

To Grind:

• Ginger sliced to thin rounds and fried to golden brown in oil-1 cup
• Whole red dry chilli-2
• Coriander seeds- 1tbsp
• Oil- 2tsp

Other ingredients:

• Tamarind juice- gooseberry sized ball whole tamarind soaked in 2 tbsp water, mash it ans strain the juice,
• Asafoetida – a pinch
• Jaggery or Palm sugar grated- 1tsp

For Seasoning:

• Vegetable oil- 2 tsp
• Mustard seeds- 1tsp
• Whole Red dry chilly- 2

Preparation:

• Fry the sliced ginger in oil until golden brown.
• In a pan, add oil, and roast coriander seeds and whole red chilli until it turns golden brown.
• Grind together the fried ginger and the roasted coriander seeds/red chilli into smooth paste.
• In a saucepan, add 2 tsp oil, add the mustard seeds let it splutter.
• Now add whole red chillies and add the ground mixture and saute in the oil.
• Add tamarind juice to this mixture and the asafoetida and let the mixture come to a boil.
• Now add the jaggery and combine everything well.
• Remove from the heat and let it cool down.

Tips:

• This dish is supposed to be spicy and tangy.
• Store this in an air-tight container and refrigerate for about 2-3 weeks.

Mango Pickle:

Ingredients:

• Raw mango diced into small cubes- 1
• Ginger, thinly sliced- 2 tbsp
• Mustard seeds- 1tsp
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig
• Chilli powder- 1 tbsp
• Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
• Asafoetida- 1/4 tsp
• Salt-  1/4 tsp
• Vinegar- 2 tbsp
• Sesame oil or vegetable oil- 1 tbsp

Preparation:

• In a wide pan, add the sesame oil, when it gets hot, add the mustard and let it splutter.
• Then add curry leaves, chilli powder, turmeric powder, asafoetida, salt and saute in the oil.
• As soon as the spices starts to brown, add the mangoes and fried ginger.
• Combine everything well and finally add the vinegar and saute for 2 minutes.
• Remove from the heat and let cool.
• Store this an air-tight container and refrigerate for few weeks.

Tips:

• Adjust the spice level according to your needs.

Side Dishes:

Okra in yogurt or Lady’s finger Pachadi:

Ingredients:

• Lady’s finger, cut lengthwise and chopped small- 15 nos
• Green chilli, chopped – 1
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig
• Yogurt or Curd- 1 cup
• Salt- to taste
• Oil for frying Okra

Preparation:

• In a wide pan, heat oil add lady’s finger, green chillies and curry leaves.
• Fry until golden brown.

• Transfer into a tissue paper and let it absorb all excess oil.
• In a medium bowl, combine the yogurt and fried lady’s finger together, add salt to taste.

Beet Root Pachadi:

Ingredients:

• Beetroot grated- 1
• Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
• Salt – to taste
• Water- 3/4 cup

To Grind:

• Coconut grated- 3/4 cup
• Green chillies chopped- 1
• Cumin seeds-1/4 tsp
• Ginger chopped-1/2 tsp

Other ingredients:

• Yogurt or Curd: 1 3/4 cups

For Seasoning:

• Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
• Whole red chillies-2
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig
• Coconut Oil- 1 tbsp

Preparation:

• In a saucepan, cook beetroot along with turmeric powder, salt and water until the beetroot becomes soft and tender.
• Grind all the above ingredients for grinding in a blender to smooth paste.
• Add the ground paste to the cooked beetroot and cook until the raw smell goes away.
• Now lower the flame and add the thick yogurt/curd to the above mixture stirring constantly.
• Mix everything gently and remove from the flame. Don’t boil the curd mixture as it will curdle.
• In a wide pan, heat coconut oil, add mustard seeds, let it splutter,and add whole red chillies and curry leaves, saute and remove from flame.
• Add the above seasoning to the already cooked Beetroot/yogurt mixture, close it with lid and let cool.

Mango in Yogurt Sauce or Mambazha Pulissery:

Ingredients:

• Ripe mangoes, diced- 2
• Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
• Red Chilli powder-1/2 tsp
• Water- 1 cup
• Thick yogurt/Curd- 1 cup
• Salt-to taste

To Grind:

• Coconut grated- 1 cup
• Yogurt/Curd- 1 cup
• Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
• Green chillies chopped- 1
• Curry leaves- 3 no’s

For seasoning:

• Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
• Fenugreek seeds- 1/4 tsp
• Whole red chillies-2
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig
• Coconut oil- 1tbsp

Preparation:

• In a saucepan, cook mango in 1 cup water, along with red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt until the mango becomes tender.
• Grind the above ingredients for grinding with 1 cup yogurt into smooth paste.
• Add the ground paste to the cooked mango and let it cook until the raw smell of the ground paste goes away in medium flame.
• Lower the heat and add the remaining 1 cup yogurt/Curd and give it a stir and combine well. Don’t boil the mixture.

Preparing the seasoning:

• In a pan, heat coconut oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutter, add whole red chillies, curry leaves and finally add fenugreek seeds.
• Saute in oil for a second and remove from the flame.

Add the above seasoning to the already cooked Mango/yogurt mixture and cover it with lid and let cool.

Kalan:

Ingredients:

• Ripe plantain, cut small- 1/2 cup
• Ash gourd, cut small- 3/4 cup
• Green chillies chopped- 1
• Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
• Red chilly powder- 1/4 tsp
• Water- enough to cook veggies
• Salt – to taste
• Yogurt/Curd- 3/4 cup

To Grind:

• Coconut grated- 1/2 cup
• Green chillies chopped- 1
• Garlic minced- 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds- 1/4 tsp
• Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig
• Salt- to taste

For Seasoning:

• Coconut oil- 1tbsp
• Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
• Whole dry red chillies- 2
• Fenugreek seeds- 1/4 tsp
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig

Preparation:

• In a saucepan, cook ripe plantain/ash gourd in water along with green chillies, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt, until the veggies are tender.
• Grind the above mentioned ingredients for grinding to smooth paste.
• Prepare the seasoning in a small pan, heat the oil, add mustard seeds, let it splutter, add red chillies, curry leaves and finally fenugreek seeds and saute for a second. keep it aside.
• In a saucepan, saute the ground mixture till the raw smell goes away for 2 minute and add cooked veggies to this and combine well.
• Remove the saucepan from the heat, add 3/4 cup thick curd, and combine everything.
• Return the pan back to stove in low flame, stirring constantly for a minute.
• Remove form the flame and add the seasoning on the mixture. Cover with the lid and let cool.

Olan:

Ingredients:

• Black eyed beans- 1/2 cup
• Ash gourd, cut small- 1 1/2 cups
• Water, to cook beans- 1 1/2 cups
• Green chillies- 3
• Cumin seeds- 1/4 tsp
• Thin coconut milk- 3/4 cup
• Thick coconut milk- 1/2 cup
• Salt – to taste

For seasoning:

• Coconut oil- 1tbsp
• Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
• Small onion chopped -3 nos
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig

Preparation:

• Soak the black eyed beans for 4 hrs and pressure cook it with 1 1/2 cups water for 2 whistles or until cooked through.
• In a saucepan, cook ash gourd along with green chillies, cumin powder and salt in 1 cup water.
• Add the cooked beans to the cooked ash gourd and add 3/4 cup thin coconut milk, stir it and cook for a minute.
• Now add 1/2 cup thick coconut milk , salt if needed and combine everything gently. Don’t boil the mixture.

Making the seasoning:

• In a small pan, heat coconut oil, add mustard seeds, let it splutter. Add small onions and curry leaves.
• Saute until onion turns golden brown and remove from the flame.

Add this seasoning to the above cooked beans and ash gourd mixture. Cover with its lid and let cool.

Thoran( stir fried veggies in coconut):

Ingredients:

• Beans, cut small- 1 cup
• Ash gourd, diced small- 1/2 cup
• Black chick peas (optional)- 1/2 cup, cooked in water
• Water- 1/4 cup
• Green chillies, chopped- 1
• Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
• Whole red chillies-2
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig
• Vegetable oil- 1 tbsp

To Grind:

• Coconut grated- 1/2 cup
• Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
• Garlic minced- 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp

Preparation:

• Soak the black chick peas in water for 4-5 hours and cook in  a pressure cooker until its is cooked through.
  
• Grind the above mentioned ingredients for grinding to a coarse paste.
• In a wide skillet, heat the oil, add mustard seeds and let it splutter.
• Add whole red chillies, curry leaves and saute for a second.
• To this add beans, ash gourd and green chillies and cook in water covering with a lid.
• When the veggies becomes tender, add the cooked black chick peas and ground mixture, stir it and cook for 2 minutes.
• If there is any water, let it evaporate and stir fry the veggies for few minutes.
• Remove from the flame and keep it covered.

Avial( Mixed Veggie in Yogurt)

Ingredients:

• Carrot, cut into thin wedges- 2
• Cucumber, deseeded and cut into thin wedges-1
• Egg plant,diced-1
• Ash gourd, cut into thin wedges- Half of 1 ash gourd
• Raw plantain, cut into thin wedges-1
• Green chillies, cut half- 2
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig
• Water- enough to cook the veggies

To Grind:

• Coconut grated- 1 cup
• Cumin seeds- 1tsp
• Small onions, chopped- 6 no’s
• Curry leaves- 5 no’s
• Tamarind whole or tamarind concentrate- small slice if using whole tamarind or 1/4 tsp tamarind concentrate

Other Ingredients:

• Yogurt or curd- 1/2 cup
• Coconut oil- 1tbsp

Preparation:

• In a deep saucepan, cook all the above mentioned veggies along with green chillies and curry leaves in enough water, until the veggies are just gets tender.
• Grind the above mentioned ingredients for grinding to a coarse mixture and keep aside.
• After the veggies are cooked, add the ground mixture to this and mix well, cook for few minutes.
• Keep the flame low and then add the yogurt/curd and gently mix everything. Don’t boil or over heat after adding the yogurt/curd. When it is mixed well, remove from the flame.
• Finally add the coconut oil and cover the saucepan with it’s lid to preserve the aroma.

Snacks:
Plantain chips:

Ingredients:

• Raw plantain cut into thin rounds- 1
• Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
• Salt- to taste
• Vegetable oil for frying- 1 cup or enough for deep frying

Preparation:

• Peel off the skin from the raw plantain and slice into thin rounds.
• In a deep frying pan, heat oil, when the oil gets hot enough, add the plantains and fry it.

• Combine turmeric powder and salt with little water.
• In the middle of frying add 1 tsp of turmeric powder/water into the frying plantains and give a stir.
• Fry until golden brown and using a slotted spoon, transfer the chips into a paper towel, let drain the excess oil.

Tips:

• You can store this chips in an air tight container for few days.

Fried Plantain coated in jaggery syrup or Upperi:

Ingredients:

• Raw plantain, cut lengthwise and diced 1/2 inch thick- 2
• Vegetable oil- enough for deep frying

For syrup:

• Jaggery or Palm sugar- 3/4 cup
• Water- 2 tbsp
• Ginger powder- 1 tsp
• Cumin powder- 1 tsp

Other ingredients:

• Powdered sugar- 2 tbsp

Preparation:

• In a deep frying pan, heat oil, and add the diced plantain and deep fry it until golden brown. keep aside.

Making the syrup:

• In a saucepan, add jaggery, water and let the jaggery dissolve in water.
• Add ginger powder and cumin powder to the jaggery and give it a stir.
• When the jaggery starts to thicken, add the fried plantain and stir to coat the syrup evenly on the fried plantain.

• Remove from the flame and immediately add powdered sugar and mix it.
• Transfer into a bowl and let cool.

Indian Wafer or Pappadam:

• Pappadam- 1 packet or depending upon how many is needed
• Vegetable oil – enough for frying

Preparation:

• In a deep frying pan, heat the oil and put the pappadam into the oil.
• It will bubble up immediately.
• Using a slotted spoon, flip to the other side and fry for less than a second.
• Remove from the oil and transfer into a paper towel.
• This should be made just before serving the meal and should be kept in an air tight container. Pappadam when kept uncovered will loose its crispy texture easily.

Dessert:

Vermicelli in sweetened milk or Semiya Payasam:

Ingredients:

• Vermicelli- 1/2 cup
• Milk- 3 1/2 cups
• Sweetened condensed milk- 3/4 of 14 oz can
• Cardamom powder- 1/4 tsp
• Saffron strands( optional)- 1/4 tsp soaked in 1 tbsp milk
• Ghee- 2 tbsp
• Cashew nuts- 10-15 nos
• Raisins- 2 tbsp

Preparation:

• Roast the vermicelli in 1 tbsp ghee until golden color and keep aside.
• In a saucepan in medium heat, add milk and roasted vermicelli, let the vermicelli cook in milk until soft.
• Add the condensed milk to this stirring constantly.
• Add the cardamom powder and saffron soaked in milk.
• Combine everything and let it come to a boil and then remove from the flame and cover with the lid.
• In a small pan, add 1 tbsp ghee, roast cashew nuts and raisins.
• Add the roasted cashew nuts and raisins to the above cooked mixture.
• Serve the payasam in bowls.

Tips:

• Leftover payasam can be chilled, it tastes really tasty the next day.
• You can adjust the sweetness of the payasam by adjusting the condensed milk.

How to serve Sadya on a Banana leaf:

• On the top side of the banana leaf away from the person sitting in front of it, serve one banana, snacks, pickles and side dishes in a line.
• On the other side of the leaf, first course  served will be Rice with Parippu and little ghee.
• Second course  will be, Sambar along with more Rice if needed.
• Third course  will be Rice with Rasam.
• Fourth course will be Rice with Beaten yogurt or Moru
• In the final round dessert is served on the same banana leaf, depending upon how many payasams you have, it is served one by one starting with the Vermicelli Payasam.

Devour each and every dish and don’t be ashamed to lick your fingers at the end, which you’ll do even without your knowledge:)

It’s munch time..

If there’s anyone who hates to munch, then they should try this crunchy, chewy biscotti filled with almonds, coconut and chocolates. Every bite makes you trip into the the delish world.This was the first time I baked biscotti, as soon as I got the recipe, one glance at the recipe and the ingredients it had, made me wait for not even a single second and there I started baking this. I love almonds and coconut in almost anything, oh yeah not to miss the chocolate goodness. You could make this just for you or if you are having a tea party this would be the perfect biscotti to have with coffee or tea. This will soon become the favorite snack of your family. This recipe is adapted from the magazine”Fine Cooking”.

So let’s trip into the delish world with these biscotti…

Ingredients:

• Unbleached All-purpose flour-2 1/2 cups
• Baking powder-1 1/2 tsp
• Table salt-1/4 tsp
• Unsalted butter, softened-1/2 cup(4 oz)
• Firmly packed light brown sugar-3/4 cup
• Eggs( at room temperature)-2
• Vanilla extract-1 tsp
• Sweetened shredded coconut-1/2 cup
• Chopped toasted almonds-1cup
• Semisweet mini chocolate chips or chocolate bar, cut into small slices-1 cup

Preparation:

• In  a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt.
• Beat the butter and sugar with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3  minutes.
• Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on medium speed after each addition until incorporated.
• Mix in the vanilla and then the coconut until well combined.
• With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture and mix just until combined. The dough will be sticky.
• With the mixer still on low, mix in the almonds and chocolates chips.
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

• Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350F. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment.
• Divide the dough into equal halves and place on the cookie sheet.
• Working on the sheet, shape each half into a loaf about 10 inches long, 3 inches wide, 3/4inch high.

• Bake until the tops are browned, cracked and crusty and spring back slightly when gently pressed, 30 to 35 minutes.
• Take out of the oven and cool about 30 minutes on the cookie sheet.

• Reduce the oven temperature to 325F.
• Transfer each loaf to a cutting board and with a sharp serrated bread knife, cut 1/2 inch slices crosswise on the diagonal.
• When slicing, hold the sides of the loaf near each cut to keep the slices neat.

• Put the slices cut side down on the cookie sheet and bake again at 325F, until the biscotti are dried and the cut surfaces are lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Transfer the cookie sheet to a rack and let the biscotti cool completely.

• The biscotti will harden as they cool.

Tips:

This recipe yields about 20 biscotti, store in an air tight container and it will stay longer.

I never had the nerve to make puff pastries on my own. So I always go with the easy way of getting it from the frozen isle of a food store. I love to have puff pastry almost every day, but when I look at the nutritional facts label on the box, the percentage of saturated fat it has freaks me out. This doesn’t mean that I totally skip this crispy and flaky goodness. Occasionally, I get the craving to eat this. I usually make a meat filling and stuff it inside the puff pastry sheets, which are cut into medium sized squares. But this time I wanted to make a different kind of filling, so I chose a sweet filling for this. I made the filling with coconut, eggs, sugar, raisins and almonds. When the puffs came out of the oven, it was crispy, flaky and golden. I couldn’t even wait for the puffs to cool down; hence I took a bite of it immediately. This sweet puff pastry tasted so good and loved the added raisins and almonds in it. One thing that happens whenever I make puff pastry is that the platter gets empty in just a matter of seconds.

Ingredients:

• Puff Pastry( store bought)- 1 sheet, cut into medium sized 9 squares
• Thaw the puff pastry sheets according to the instruction given on the back side of the box.

For making the filling:

• Coconut shredded( frozen/fresh)- 1/2 cup
• Egg-1
• Sugar-3tbsp
• Cardamom powder-1/2 tsp
• Raisins-2tsp
• Almonds sliced-2tsp
• Butter or Ghee-2tsp+2tsp

Preparation:

• Heat a skillet and add 2tsp of butter or ghee to it, when it melts, add the coconut to it and saute till its color starts to turn golden.
• Add the egg and scramble it, cook the egg without any lumps.
• Add sugar to this and stir well.
• Push the coconut mixture toward one side of the skillet.
• Add cardamom powder to this.
• Now add the remaining 2tsp butter/ghee on the other side of the same skillet, roast the raisins and almonds in it, when they turn golden brown, mix along with the coconut/egg mixture.
• If you want you could roast raisins and almonds in  a separate pan and then add these to the  mixture. I roasted in the same pan to avoid extra cleaning
• Let the filling cool for sometime.
• Place about 1-2 tsp of filling on to the middle of the each puff pastry squares, close the squares and seal the edges by pressing with your fingers and place these on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Pre-heat the oven to 400F. Depending upon which brand of puff pastry you are using, the baking time might vary, so if you are using frozen sheets, follow the baking instruction given on the box.
• Bake it for about 15-20 minutes or until the puffs turn golden brown and crispy.
• Bake it on the lower rack of the oven for the first 10 minutes and then move it to the upper rack for the remaining time. This would avoid the lower side of the puffs from becoming dark brown.
• Remove the pastries from the baking sheets and let cool on wire racks for 10 minutes.

Tips:

• With this filling you can stuff around 12 puffs.
• If there is any filling remaining, it can be used to garnish  the puffs.
• In this picture I have cut the puff into two halves just to show the filling.