How to make Curd? Read Dhanya or Indira. I make mine in full throttle whole milk.
Where to get the real Indian curd active culture? If you have a Hindu temple in your state, mostly their kitchen will have it. Beg, borrow, steal!
Or, next time bring it from India if you will reach home in 24 hours. Mix a little bit of active culture with milk and throw it into your suitcase, it would turn curd by the time you reach U.S if you don’t have any lengthy stopovers.
You cannot make this dish with yogurt. You have to have curd, the real sour curd.
Pulisseri in Malayalam means ‘sour dish’.Two Raw Plantains – Wash thoroughly but do not take off the skin. Just scrape out the protruding rims on the skin. The skin gives it a very unique taste. Cut them into 2 inch pieces. Cook them thoroughly with a little salt and ¼ tsp turmeric powder in water. Cook until done.
Grind together 1 cup coconut, ½ tsp cumin seeds, 5 green chilies into a fine paste. Add to the cooked plantains. When it boils, lower the flame and cook for another ten minutes. With lowered flame, add 4 cups of beaten curd to this and keep on stirring until the curd is just warm to touch. Do not boil it.
Take off immediately from heat.
Heat 1 tsp coconut oil, splutter ½ tsp mustard seeds, 2 sprigs of curry leaves, 2 red chili split, ½ tsp fenugreek seeds in that order. Add to the dish.
Serve with rice.
24 comments:
Oh come on! Yogurt is curd. :) :D
I have never ever cooked with the real curd. :( Maybe because I never cooked while I was in kerala. And when I left kerala and finally started cooking(that was when I got hungry and tired of restaurant food), what I had was yogurt..and yogurt is curd! Curd is yogurt. Got it? :D
nice recipe inji...we make curd at home..nirmal doesn't like the taste of store bought yogurt. and we make pulisseri with slightly rippened plantains..ur's looks better though...
What's the difference between curd and yogurt? I thought they were both made from the same cultures.
I actually prefer the yogurt in America to the home-made one made back in India...but that's just me :)
Dish looks great Inji,I will make with yogurt err... with curds!!:))
They are the same Inji,just American way of saying Yogurt for curds.I like Dannon yogurt and for cooking I use fat free sour cream which is sour and creamy.
I have tried making curd umpteen number of times with a variety of results.... sometimes sour, sometimes bitter..... too loose or as hard as paneer..... yellow or creamish!!!!! you name it and its been with me!!!! I use Amul whole milk and amul (curd) culture to make but end up in all forms of disasters!!!! :( PHEW!!!!!! I guess I have to blame it to the weather in singapore..... very humid and rains anytime!!! So finally adapted to the store bought yogurt!!!!!!
Curd and plaintain is a new combo to me!!!! Looks great. :)
No girls no! Yogurt is not curd. In India, Bangladesh, Pakistan English term for a variety of yogurt is called Curd.
Yogurt Culture wont give you curd. You have to get the crud culture itself. If you make this dish in yogurt, it will taste bland and the flavour of the coconut paste will dominate.
The sourness of the curd which seeps into the plaintain cubes is what gives the dish a unique and exciting taste which is so very Kerala.
Hi Inji
Been wanting to ask this question to a mallu for a longgg time. But err dont take me wronggg..
How is that mallus dont get cholesterol or heart problems inspite of all the yoghurt, coconut milk, coconut oil every single meal ????
I am asking this becoz i want to know if there is something else balancing in the diet that counteracts the fat effects of those other foods ????
Revathi dear :)
Who said Malayalees dont get all those diseases. We are prone to all that like anyone else. But remember Julia child,she lived upto 91 and she never used alternatives, she rather used pure butter.
I am of the opinion if we use all this in moderation, do good excercise, the percentage of people getting the disease will be the same if you minus the genetical factors.
Kerala food cooked in minimal oil is very nutritious in my opinion. Tho most Malayalees are non-vegans, we use a whole lot of vegetables in our diet. We use a lot of different vegetables and other ingredients.
Pure Coconut oil is actually good for you as per Ayurveda texts. It gives you good skin, aids in digestion, prevents lot of diseases like certin types of cancer etc. That doesnt mean you can drink it. But it acutally is better than a whole lot of oils out there.
There is another controversy about Palm Oil companies doing a propoganda about coconut oil and making it look bad. Couple of years ago, most Malayalaees feared coconut products and coconut oil and stopped their cooking with it. But disease didnt stop, rather they increased. So now it is slowly coming back to our diet.
You should know that traditional cooking has its merits. The longest living people on earth the Japanese in Okinawa islands are feasting on fish etc. But their second generation who eats non-traditional diets are having a lot of diseases.
Diary I have heard is bad for you according to Naturopathy, but I think properties in curd makes it good for digestion etc. which is the most important thing in any diet. Plus or Minus here and there it all depends on moderation of food, good excercise, plenty of fresh air, sunshine, happiness etc.
I hate counting calories etc. in food. I follow the traditional cooking and rarely buy processed food. Buying processed food or frozen meat/fish/veggies etc are more dangerous than including a little curd or a little coconut oil in your diet.
I will be happy to discuss Revathi If you still have doubts.
Totally true about the curd and yogurt , the ones here are slimy. There is a world of difference if you know any iyers they generally will have the best yogurt they all bring it from india , and believe me it is yummo
hmmm...professor inji, i have a tutorial on my blog on making 'curd' with cultures (yogourmet). does it meet your standards? :-))
I have never had luck in making curds. so long I was thinking that curd and yogurt are same.Nice explanation on your reply to Revathi's comment. I liked the recipe for Plantain pulisseri. will try it when I find real curd.
Just a couple of days ago I made this dish! I didn't have a name for it though, I just wanted to use up the plantains that were on the verge of going bad and didn't want to make the same old dish. So now I know what it is called :-)
Inji - what a wonderful sounding and looking recipe. I have recently starting making yogurt at home from culture that was brought from india (so technically this is curd?) Will try this recipe soon.
I totally agree with you about traditional cooking and traditional fats. oderation in all things,a nd eating kostly veg is key I think.
Small question. I am not Indian or Desi. Would an Indian temple think it was wierd if I showed up and asked for curd? I live in northern CA, so I know we have plenty of them. But I don't know which ones would be open to non-Indians approaching them about this. I want to be respectful, and am most interested in temple activities and pujas, but I don't want to offend anyone.
Inchi, I think we can make curd with lemon juice too. (add few drops to the milk...):)
saw ur comment on dining hall and came here to comment;) he he...
jokes apart, im from mangalore and i too can safely say that most of our cooking have curd/cocnut base. we have many things common with kerala food. nothing can beat this simple recipe. and inji we call pulisseri as majjige huli:)
small correction to the post above (and apologies for typos)...I meant to say...
"Moderation in all things, and eating mostly veg is key I think."
:)
anothersimblemalayali, there you go :)
Bee, Thats great. I need to make a separate post with that information you gave me.
kribha, thanks :)
krishna, what?? maybe that is how new dishes were made??
mandira, yes. If the culture is from India, it is curd.
Diane, I dont think you will offend anyone. In U.S I do think all temples are welcome to everybody. I am not a Hindu and I have been to couple of them and have tasted their delicious food. I would think people would help you. Ask them for the Indian yogurt culture. Should make sure they have a kitchen first. :)
Dear Inji,
thanks very much for your visit on my blog (in french ! ;) ). And thank you for the information about kudam puli and kokum. I was actually asking for some more details from who knows about it. I use kudam puli, but as i didn't know the english name and saw similar recipe with kukum star, I thought it was the same ! It's not easy to find some relevant information...
Pinne, I really love your blog, I visit it very often when I look for some authentic Kerala recipes ! ;)
I tried some of your recipes like egg puffs and shredded chicken, yummy !!!
I fell in love with Kerala cuisine as well as the country and my husband ;) i try to share some of those recipes with french bloggers for whom it's really new !
I won't hesitate to comment here from now... ;)
Appol sheri,
Charline
I thought Curd is Indian for yogurt :)
BTW Inji you are too funny, nothing to do this post though. I just read your "comment" in some other blog and I was rolling with laughter and had to let you know :)
Oups, forgot to tell, I know kokum and kudam puli are different, but then what is kukum star ?
I agree with you for the difference between curd and yogurt, I often use yogurt instead of curd for convenience (as the indian shop is rather far), and it's really not as sour. It is also difficult to find green plantain, they are often too ripe here (Paris)! ;)
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