Munthirikkotthu (Sweet Moong Dal Balls)

Yipppee!! I am jiving for Jihva!Finally, finally I could make something on time to take part in the great Jihva for Dals.
This is a very traditional and very uncommon recipe from Kerala. To be specific, only seen and known in Central Kerala, or to be more precise, the exact centre point in Central Kerala. If you keep two steps to the left or right, you won’t find it and most people wont even know about it. (Now, please don’t tell me, “Hey I live in Bihar, we make this every day. This is our common snack and all”. I want to feel like I am giving out a secret authentic recipe :))

I wanted to blog this, particularly because it is disappearing fast. I asked ten Malayalees and only one of them have even heard about it. My mom-in-law makes it and packs them in loads when we travel back to U.S. If we are flying from my home, my mom and brothers would finish half the package...giving me excuses like ‘We never ate something like this’, ‘You already have half more packet for the two of you’,'You can ask her to make more, we cant’ and the rest of the package my husband finishes off with a vengeance the first two days after we reach here, claiming on homesickness. I end up with crumbs! This is her recipe for Munthirikkotthu (Munthiri means grapes in Malayalam and kothu means roughly powdered. However, there is no grapes in thisroasted rice

Roast 1 cup of split moong dal and 1 cup of raw rice separately in a pan brushed with ghee.roasted moong dal
Roast them well until moong dal turns golden and rice turns a little brown.ground mixture

Grind it together to a coarse sooji rawa consistency. Don’t grind fine.

Alternatively, you can only use moong dal for this.Then double the amount of moong dal in this recipe when it replaces rice.

Roast ¾ cup of coconut also after this in the same pan. Don’t brown it, just roast the coconut very dry. Also, Roast 1/2 cup of cashew nuts in ghee and dice them small.

450gm of Jaggery or Brown sugar powdered and liquefied with 3/4 or 1 cup of water.

Melt Jaggery and add water and make it a liquid. Add coconut to this mixture. Make sure the heat is low so as not to burn the jaggery or sugar.

While the sugar syrup is hot, Mix the moong dal, rice, ¼ tsp of cardamom powder, ¼ tsp of dry ginger powder and cashew. The mixture should not be watery.The trickiest messiest part is now. We need to make small balls with this mixture before the sugar hardens. Make small balls in your fist and press them tightly. You might need some extra hands if you are not quick enough.

This was hard for me, so what I did was, I took a 1 tbs measuring spoon and pressed the mixture into this and flipped the measuring spoon downwards so the mixture forms small balls, flat on one side. If you don’t have heat resistant hands, it is very hard. My measuring spoon trick would be good for you.making small balls with the mixture
My mom in law makes small round perfect balls, all with her own hands. While I was doing this, I really felt so bad for my mom-in-law. I will be busy shopping, talking,getting excited etc., while she is painstakingly doing all this for us and we just gulp them all without even thinking about all the hard work for a moment. I have never even seen her making this. I only see neat little packets. I am so bad :(

Let the small balls cool down completely. The sugar will harden when it cools which will make the balls hard.

Make a batter with the same consistency of ‘idli batter’. Add water to 1 cup of All Purpose Flour and 1 cup of idli rawa or rice which is coarsely ground. Roast ¼ cup of some black sesame seeds in ghee and add to this batter along with some salt.

Now dip the small balls in the batter and fry them in any frying oil. Dry them completely.This stays good for one or two months in a glass jar.Serve it as a snack.What’s the best way to your husband’s heart? Re-creating his childhood!

Tale of Puttu and two events

I didn’t like puttu...oops! I uttered that word…that’s like a food crime in Kerala. Can you imagine an American saying ‘I don’t like cheese’?

What cheese is to America is what puttu is to a Malayalee. If you can read Malayalam, go to this blog specially made for all puttu fans. So you know how crazy Kerala is about puttu, especially since it is Kerala’s own simple and easy breakfast. I disliked puttu before marriage since what I tasted was always hard and chewy.

Since God is funny, my husband loves puttu! He loves to eat it 24/7. No kidding, but puttu enjoys a more important place in our house than yours truly. I think Malayalee wives can understand that plight of mine.

Now, for puttu you need a puttu-maker or at least a pressure cooker and a chiratta (coconut shell). To complicate things, there is even a Bamboo Puttu Maker:). There are many puttu recipes from fellow Malayalee bloggers like RP, Priya, Reshma and a lovely pictorial link from RP's blog.

But how will someone without all these gadgets make the simple puttu?

Puttu is just the simple process of steaming roasted rice. Yes, you don’t need a complicated puttu-maker, but just a close weaved strainer and a pot that would fit the strainer without leaving any gaps for the steam to escape, just like a steamer basket. It would be good to have a lid which fits the vessel with a hole on the lid for the steam to escape. Now, if you don’t have a lid also, fine, just close with aluminum foil and punch a small hole.

Now you can buy puttu flour at stores. But Ah! You don’t get the real flavour of freshly ground rice with that. This is an entry for For the Love of Rice and I wanted to make it from scratch, yes precisely for the love of rice. (If planning to buy puttu flour from stores, precisely look for 'Puttu Podi' or 'Puttu Flour')

Soak 1 cup of raw rice overnight. Strain the rice next day. Dry the rice completely on a flat tray with a paper towel on the try.drying soaked rice
When the rice is completely dry, dry roast it on low flame for 10 or 15 minutes. The rice should NOT turn brown nor it should change it’s color. It should be roasted until the rice becomes very brittle, that’s all.ground rice
Grind it in your clean spice grinder. You don’t grind it fine like ‘All Purpose Flour’ for puttu. A fine sooji like texture is also okay. Store them. This will store good for one week or so.This ground flour from one cup of rice will make puttu for 4 people.

The next part is to wet the flour. Add salt to the flour. Wet flour should have a texture of wet sand. But it should flow smoothly if you take the flour and drop it. To make this texture, Mix hot water into the flour. Try adding only 1 table spoon of hot water each time until the texture becomes like wet sand. You will get a fantastic aroma, when you wet the flour from freshly ground flour. Keep aside for 10 minutes.wet puttu flour before steaming
Now we are going to make puttu. When buying or selecting the strainer keep in mind that, grated coconut should not fall off from the strainer. Take ¼ cup of fresh grated coconut and spread it on the strainer like a base. Now add wet flour on top of the coconut. Then add ¼ cup of coconut.using strainer instead of puttu gadgetssteaming puttu with close lid
Steam this with closed lid. Make sure the steam doesn’t escape. Cover with kitchen towel on the sides if your strainer doesn’t fit properly. Steam this for 15 minutes. Make sure the strainer bottom doesn’t touch the water in the pot.After 15 minutes of steaming, open lid and take off from heat and flip the strainer with the puttu on to a plate.Serve with bananas, boiled plantains, papad, boiled moong dal, kadala curry or anything you can imagine. I like it with some Fish Curry.

You can add cardamom powder or cumin powder to the puttu flour before steaming to make it aromatic.

I think someone named Ann posted a comment asking me, whether we can make puttu without coconut. Of course! It is upto you. The layering of puttu is protein – carbs – protein - carbs. So instead of coconut, add beans or meat any other protein you would like to add. Anything which you want to steam. I have never tried it, but have heard people trying it. So do at your own risk ;-)

Though innocuous to look at, puttu is a very heavy breakfast. So eat only half the quantity of what you think you can eat.Now what other entry is good for lovely Nandita’s Breakfast Event, than some God’s own puttu?

GBP Summer 2006 - June - Yellow Banana Peppers

What’s growing in my yard? For the month of June for GBP, it is yellow banana peppers!Pepper Flowering
Mature Banana Pepper
Another shot of mature pepperWhat do I do with them? Make Mulaku Baji or Batter Fried Banana Pepper.

Somehow Mulaku Bajis remind of Bangalore street food. Hot bajis in oil, multitude of English accents, pretty young girls and boys on motor bikes displaying the latest trends, lots of loud laughter and a feeling of new and vibrant India in the air.

Make cuts on banana pepper without splitting the ends and the head. For 5 chilis, make a very thick paste with 1 cup of besan flour,1/4 tsp of turmeric powder; grind one inch of ginger and 3 tsp of onion, 1 spring of curry leaves diced very thin. Banana Peppers are not that hot, so if you need extra hotness, add 1 tsp of chili powder. Add a pinch of baking soda. Add enough salt and mix everything together.Dip the pepper in the batter and coat well. Fry in hot peanut oil or frying oil. When both sides are brown, take them off the oil. Make sure you don’t eat the head part, since we haven't deseeded them. Or be brave and eat them.Serve it as a snack with hot tea, with some tomato sauce. Have a bite of it and have a taste of real India!

Watermelon Splash

Sweltering summer heat, sizzling football heat * -- countered by rosy fresh and frothy Watermelon juice!

Blend together 6 cups of Watermelon chunks with seeds picked out, a tight fistful of fresh pepper mint leaves, one fresh lime squeezed and 1/4 cup sugar. I crush 1 cup of ice also.

Cut big yellow lemons into slices and add to the serving jar. Serve cold.

* To me, too many handsome men running across the television set ;)

Momma Meme

“My mom is not a great cook...”

If she ever reads that, she is gonna kill me, literally, with one scornful look. haha. Hell hath no fury like my mother scorned :).

She would make sure we kids ate all kinds of vegetables, no fussing over that. She uses only the freshest vegetables and cooks them in minimal oil. She is very meticulous about it, almost like a nutritionist. If we ever say, “We don’t want this”, pat would come the reply. “I am not running a hotel here for you to order. Eat what I give you."

She is a super fast learner in everything from cooking to even using an instant messenger. She just looks at a dish and tries to make it, since too proud to ask someone for a recipe. Sometimes they are a big flop (but she would never admit it), and sometimes they are a major hit. If we ever say it is major hit, then she would try to teach the person who first made it. Hehehe.

She was a stay at home mom, but yearned to go out and work. She was brilliant in academics, but chose to take care of us little devils. She would wake up early at 4 in the morning and work, work, work until 12 midnight for us. But she made sure, we would hear about it every single day, especially at dinner time. She won’t let us waste a bit of rice or curry and we would have to completely wipe the plate clean.

“Your dad and I work hard for it.” Then one of us smarty pants would remark, “But you don’t work!”. Instantly, the person who made that smart aleck comment would realize, it would have been better, if he or she were born dumb.

She would never let us skip a meal. We can be mad and angry at the whole World and the outer World too, but she would spank us, if ever refused to eat. “Do you know how many kids are there on the streets waiting to get at least a morsel of this?” We were never ever allowed to even say, “I am not eating food today” at our home.

Food from outside was a big No at our house. “You don’t know how they make it. They sometimes spit in it”, she made us kids believe that for a long time. But still sometimes, we would love to have something from outside especially during train journeys. When a vendor approaches, we would longingly look at him and then our mom, like watching a tennis game. This will continue (sometimes the vendor also joins in) until he leaves and then she would make a face and roll her eyes at us.

She makes the best tea I have ever tasted and never been able to replicate. She loves teas, and she drinks up to ten glasses a day. It is like alcohol for her. If she is sad, she drinks tea. If she is happy, she drinks tea. That was the only thing she let us have from outside. “How come?” and the retort would be, “Tea is very hot, even if they spit, the water is boiled.

”She never served any alcohol, even wine, at our house. Even though all her brothers and other families enjoyed alcohol, it was a big na na at our home, only at our home. I too extracted that promise from my husband during the initial days of our marriage, much to the dislike of his and my friends. It is so hard to stay like that especially in U.S. So, it is official that, “No drinking at L.G’s house” :-), even though I have to listen to lengthy sermons from our friends on the benefits of it, during every party at our house.

The first thing she asks when we call her up is, “Mole, what did you eat?” I have this habit too and unconsciously ask my friends the same.

She makes the best fish curry in the World. We used to have fish curry in the morning (even with idlis), lunch and dinner. She was crazy about fish. She would say, “Malayalees and Bengalis have the most beautiful skin and eyes. Why? Because we eat fish!” Since we never saw anyone other than a Malayalee, we believed that until we all went outside Kerala :-)

She always waits for us all to finish eating (even now) and then sits down on the floor with her legs folded towards her chest (I have never seen her at the table) with her food in a steel plate with all the left overs. Usually, she gets the fish head or the bone part, since she would forcefully make us all eat the best parts. Then she slowly mixes the fish curry and rice with her fingers and instantly we all would circle her and ask, “Can I have one urula amma”. That is the best food I have ever tasted in my life.

My dad would scold us, saying. “Your mom hasn’t eaten anything from the morning. Stop digging in her meal.” and she would say with so much love in her eyes.
“aargghh....Daddy, they are kids. Never ask them to stop eating.”

This is my mom’s recipe for the best fish curry in the World. (Any objections to the word ‘World’ is overruled!)

Fleshy fish cut into 2 inch pieces – 3 cups
Shallots diced – ½ cup
Green chili diced – 4
Ginger diced – 1 tsp
Garlic diced – 6 cloves (if small Indian garlic, use 12 cloves.
Red Chili Powder – 2 tsp
Coriander Powder – 4 tsp
Black Pepper powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Kudampuli - 3 (Kudampuli is not kokum)
Curry leaves – 2 sprigs

Add salt and mix all the above in a pan along with the fish. Let it sit for 10 or 15 minutes.

Cook the fish in medium flame by adding 2 cups of thin coconut milk (or coconut milk without the cream).

Do not cover. When fish is cooked, take off from flame and add ½ cup of thick coconut milk or cream of the coconut milk. Cover.

Heat 3 tsp of coconut oil; splutter 1 tsp of mustard seeds, 1 tsp of diced shallots sautéed until brown and add 3 red chilies split and ½ tsp of fenugreek seeds. Add to the fish curry.Serve with love.(All the time I read about memes, I wanted to do one badly and when I was finally tagged by couple of people, I got so lazy...:-))

Thank you all (Garam Masala, Nabeela, Priya Bhaskaran, Vineela) for tagging me. Many thanks to Garam Masala for this meme

I have no idea whom to tag this. I wanted to tag Sarah at least, but she also was tagged. No chance to tag for late comers? Can I declare the meme ends here? :-)

Pappadakondaattam (Pappad Fry) with Peas Pulao

What do you do when you have only 4 plain papads left and have 10 guests? Make pappadakondaattam. It is such a simple idea and an interesting dish (?) and you can easily serve it to even 20 people with just 4 papads. I tasted this two years ago at a relatives place from my husbands side and was hooked.

The recipe is so easy; you cannot call it a recipe.I had unexpected quests for dinner and only 4 papads.So, I heated ¼ cup oil, spluttered 1 tsp mustard seeds, sautéed 2 tsp thinly diced shallots until brown, added 1 sprig of curry leaves and 2 dry red chilies split. Break the plain pappadam into one inch pieces and fry. Drain the oil when the pappadam is fried.Yesterday, I served it with a simple and quick Peas Pulao.

Peas Cooked -1.5 cup
Basmati rice - 3 cup
Heat 1/4 cup ghee, sauté 1/2 cup diced onions until brown, then sauté a paste of 2 tsp ginger + garlic + 2 green chilies, add 2 bay leaves split, and then add 1 tsp garam masaala, ¼ tsp turmeric powder and sauté for one minute.

Add cooked peas or frozen peas, sauté and add 2 cups of thick coconut milk and 1 cup of water and add salt. When it boils, add the washed rice. If needed, add hot water. While adding water, remember we are not going to strain the water from the rice. So only add sufficient water.

How I do: To me, the water level should be just 1 inch above the rice. After it boils and the rice looks semi cooked, close the lid tightly and take off from flame. The rice will cook in the heat and will absorb all the water. Or use a rice cooker.Serve with raita.

Rainbow Bowls

I love bowls in all shapes and sizes. I couldn’t take my eyes off these little cuties in different colours and sizes, 8 of them in one box. They are microwavable and dishwasher safe. "Phhoom", they disappeared from their display shelf and appeared on my cart.
Rainbow bowls - $ 16.75
Watching a rainbow - Bliss
Getting a picture like this with my sorry camera - Priceless.Bowls are from Pottery Barn, sorry poor man's pottery barn a.k.a. Wal-mart. :)

Pineapple Pulisseri (Pineapple in Sour curd)

Do you know which place is known as the Pineapple City in India?It is Vazhakkulam, a small but busy town in Kerala. The main crop is of course, Pineapple. Pineapple is one of the very few produce which Kerala exports to other states.

I am not sure whether it is a fact, but I have heard pineapple plants attract snakes. When I mentioned this to a pineapple farmer, he got furious and told me it is a myth! Since pineapple plants have spikes or thorns, he asks me how snakes can crawl into that? I don’t know.They are so pretty and I would love to grow them in my yard but that tid-bit makes me a little scared.

Anyway, one thing I know is that, when pineapples get cheaper, it is time to make some pineapple pulisseri.Cook 3 cups of semi-ripe pineapple cut into 2 inch pieces with salt and 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder and with 2 tsp water. Since the pineapple has lots of water, don’t add too much water. Mash them lightly when cooked.Grind to a smooth paste, 1 cup grated coconut, 6 green chilies, ¼ tsp cumin seeds. Add to the cooked pineapple along with ½ cup diced tomato and bring to a boil and cook until the tomatoes are soft and done.

Lower heat to the minimum, add lightly mashed 2 cups of sour curd (Not Yogurt, the Indian curd. Curd should be very sour for the pulisseri. If you add store bought yogurt you get in U.S, it won’t taste like pulisseri at all). Mix gently for 3 minutes. Remove from fire. It is important to take off from heat, otherwise curd will curdle.Heat 1 tsp of oil, splutter 1 tsp mustard seeds, sauté 2 dry red chilies split, 2 sprigs of curry leaves, ¼ tsp of fenugreek seeds – in that order. Add to the dish. Serve it with rice.

Pulisseri's like these, with mango and pineapple creates a taste explosion, you will never forget. The sweetness and the sourness join to create a unique magic in your mouth.

After I finished clicking the pictures and saved the write up in draft in my blog, I blog hopped and found that my dear Sarah had already read my mind! I don’t know why, but we both sometimes end up cooking the same dishes.

Food of the Gods

Some people claim, Chocolate is the Food of the Gods.
I object, my Lord. It is, Tender Coconut! (Known as karikku in Malayalam)
Fresh Tender Coconut has life restoring capacity and it is so pure, it can be
substituted for I.V fluid. When you have it, have it fresh in normal room temperature. Not refrigerated. Even an hour or so refrigeration will cause its taste to disappear.Tender coconuts, as the name implies are coconuts plucked before they turn mature. They are 90% water.Kerala, which simply means ‘the land of coconuts’, is abundant with this ‘Food of the Gods’. Every home, even the smallest one will have one or two coconut trees.

My dad would pluck 6 tender coconuts for all of us in the evening when he comes home from work, and after drinking the pure water inside, we would eat the soft flesh with jaggery. Drinking this pure and sweet water is like taking a shower under a natural waterfall. So soothing! So refreshing! There is nothing cooler than this, especially on a warm summer day.Yet, when you are easily provided with such natural nectar, people go dumb and go after products like coke and pepsi, which to me, is like slow poison if consumed daily. In Kerala too, these products started to slowly poison people’s drinking habits, but a controversy gave us the much needed jolt and in protest, now we have Tender Coconut Stalls all over Kerala.
Excerpt: In fact, more and more doctors now recommend tender coconut drink for many of their patients. It is found to be effective in urinary ailments and also recommended as a very go,od substitute for saline glucose. This drink helps to keep the body cool and applying it on the skin helps prevent boils during the prickly heat of the summer. It is also used to help remove the rashes caused by small pox, chicken pox and measles. It is also considered a close substitute for blood plasma since it is sterile, cool, easily absorbed by the body and does not destroy red blood cells. To quote Morton Satin, Chief of Food and Agricultural Organisation's Agricultural Industries and Post Harvest Management Service: "It is a natural isotonic beverage with the same level of electrolytic balance as we have in our blood. It is the fluid of life, so to speak."It is so delicate, attempts to package it has failed miserably. Though you get tender coconut in packages, it is never ever the same. I would rather have a frooti instead.

You cut the top portion of the tender coconut,put a straw and slurp up the water or you pour the water in to a cup and drink it. Then you cut open the tender coconut into two. Then scoop out the flesh with a spoon.While ordering for tender coconut, ask for the ones with a little flesh. It is not sweet, if it is complete water and with no flesh. Also, you lose the taste and the quantity of water, if the flesh is hard too.pic : soft flesh of tender coconut (this is the right softness) So, order one next time you see a vendor , on a bicycle with a load full of coconuts and enjoy Life!

Kappa Puzhukku ( Mashed Cassava ) with dry cassava

If you invite a Malayalee home, what will you serve, if you want him/her as a friend forever? Kappa, of course! Kappa is Malayalam (language of Kerala) name for Tapioca/ Cassava.

It is not pronounced with a long a, but with a short a, as in Kaplan. Kappa has a lot of history associated with the life of a Malayalee. It is not blue blood, but kappa starch that runs through the true blue Malayalee veins.

Some 150 years ago, when His Highness The Maharaja of Travancore, was searching for a food crop which could be grown easily and quickly, he discovered kappa, thus controlling the harsh famine that had gripped Kerala. Though kappa was not a native and was introduced by the Portugeese, it soon became the staple food mainly due to its ease of cultivation.

Many new farmers first plant kappa, then make money from it to plant other crops. This tuber full of starch replaced expensive rice at many homes in Kerala. Though initially looked down by the ‘rich’, they couldn’t stay away from the heavenly taste and now it is served equally in Exclusive Star hotels to small food shacks.
Excerpt: Now with boom in tourism, tapioca and fish curry have become the mascot of Kerala cuisine. When you have too much kappa harvest, what you do? Peel, boil, slice and dry them for the rainy days.

Inji’s Thattukada
Today’s Special – Kappa Puzhukku or Mashed Cassava.
with Onakka (Unakka) kappa / with Dry Cassava
*** thattukada - a temporary street food shack, with the most delicious food

Last week, I bought dry kappa slices, a 5.5 pound bag for $6. Making kappa puzhukku from dry kappa is first for me. Normally, we make this dish from fresh kappa. But dry kappa gives it a different flavor and taste altogether.

After washing the dry slices 3 or 4 times, soak it for 8 hours. (For fresh kappa, this is skipped. For fresh kappa - Peel the brown skin and the pale pinkish skin,cut into 2 inch slices and discard the thick fiber(?) in the middle)

Add double the amount of water to cook and when it boils, strain the water. Add water again and strain, when it boils. Straining water is very important in the preparation of fresh or dry Cassava, since it contains free and bound cyanogenic glucosides which are converted to cyanide in the presence of linamarase, a naturally occurring enzyme in cassava.

Now for 3 cups of kappa, add 1.5 cups of water and cook again. Do not close with lid. When semi-cooked, add coarsely ground 1 cup of coconut + 1 tsp of cumin + 8 green chilies paste and cook again. When it is almost done, start stirring and mash the kappa thoroughly until the water completely evaporates, like the picture below.
Add water in smaller amounts, if kappa is not cooked to a mashing consistency. It should not be mashed like potat,the pieces should maintain it's shape,but mashed. Hope you get the idea from the picture.

Heat 2 tsp of coconut oil, splutter 1 tsp of mustard seeds, 3 sprigs of curry leaves, 3 dry red chilies split, sauté well and add to this dish.Serve it with fish curry. There are many heavenly combinations instead of fish curry, which I will leave to the kappa loyalists to comment. This is one dish you can serve it as breakfast, lunch, evening snack and as dinner.Now only if the Corporations in Kerala, served kappa and fish curry in their cafeterias, Malayalees will stay loyal to the company forever and will never ever call for a strike :-)

Cheera Pachadi / Red Indian Spinach in Curd

I don’t know why, but whenever I plant red cheera in my yard, it begins to flower even when they are tiny. I think my yard has lots of phosphorus? And if allowed to grow big, the pests start feasting on the leaves immediately. So I am not really successful in growing red cheera in U.S.Cheera, I think, is a cousin of spinach and not Amaranth. Amaranth is a plant with lots of seeds and the seeds are used for cooking rather than the leaves.

Whatever benefits people tell you, I don't recommend anyone eat any type of raw green leaves. Always steam them or sauté them. It is very hard for our body to digest raw leaves and might even cause kidney stones. But, raw salads are so popular in U.S. In Asian culinary culture, nothing is consumed raw except for fruits.I don't have to tell you the benefits of eating cheera, spinach etc. I remember an Indian doc (who is a friend) telling my pregnant friend, if one eats greens like cheera etc regularly, one doesn’t have to take any folic acid.
*** Please don’t take this as a medical advice.

In Kerala, people adore the red cheera than the green ones. Red ones are a little less nutritious than the green ones, and hard to grow due to pests. But still, we only like them red (Maybe we are used to seeing communist red? :-)). Normally you don’t see green ones in Kerala shops and don’t see red ones outside Kerala. I get only a handful of cheera leaves from my yard and not enough for a stir fry. Yet, I grow them for nostalgia. I make cheera pachadi often since I get only few stalks.

Immerse red cheera completely in warm salty water. Wash them thoroughly after 20 minutes, inspect the leaves and make sure they don’t have any tiny insects. I don’t know how hard to stress to wash the leaves in running water thoroughly, maybe a 6 or 7 times.Discard the hard stalk part which is near the root. You can use the soft stalk and the leaves. Tip is while cutting the stalk, if it cuts very easy you can use it for cooking. If it is hard and has fiber, discard it.

Cut them very small. Dice 2 tsp of onions fine and 3 green chilies. Heat one tsp of oil, splutter ¼ tsp mustard seeds and add the green chilies and the onions. Sauté until it turns soft. Add the cheera, and cover and cook until soft like for 6 or 7 minutes. No, don’t add any water please. Cheera cooks very fast.

Take from heat, and add 2 cups of lightly mashed (not beaten) thick curd (shouldn't be very sour) or yogurt and enough salt to this. Mix. That’s it. Now tell me another 5 minute dish you can make which is delicious and nutritious as this.Serve with rice.

Onion Stories

These days I have too many deadlines. Normal life’s deadlines and then the food blog event deadlines!
My guests have not yet left and I wish I had 10 hands. Don’t mistake me, I love to entertain and to have lot of guests at home. But with guests, your routine revolves around them and even a simple breakfast gets too complicated with choices.

I missed the JFI this time too, but didn’t want to miss this simple and wonderful event hosted by dear Mythili - Mistress of Spices.

I was thinking to write about black pepper, but was pretty sure there will be couple of posts about it. So, wanted to blog about something simple, yet different and to break some rules ;-). So, next on my list, my favorite…Onion.Yeah, I know, I know what you are thinking.
Agreed onion is not ‘technically’ considered a spice in Indian terms, but the dictionary definition of spice qualifies onion also. I didn’t know ginger and garlic were spices too. But they are considered spices in this part of the World, so onion is a spice/condiment too. I mean without onions can you imagine any tasty food? (I hope I am not disqualified, maybe I will bribe Mythili) :-)

Now, the story of how Onions spice up my life and maybe yours too…Onion seems like a harmless vegetable, but once you start peeling them, you will know how fiery it can be. There is no other vegetable that makes you cry…out of love of course!Back home, the first thing mom-in-laws do, to test the new bride is to make her peel an onion. If the new daughter-in-law sobs uncontrollably, it is assumed she has never entered the kitchen and don’t know the difference between turmeric and chili powder. If she manages to shed only a few tears, she has done some cooking, but need to be ‘taught’. If she doesn’t shed a tear, the new daughter-in-law is strong willed and is a wonderful cook. (I am just kidding okay. I am silly!)

Now on to some serious stuff:Each link below points to different sources.Onion is savaala in Malayalam, venkaayam in Tamil, and piyaaz in Hindi
I didnt write the generic, botanical, latin, german, klingon names...I mean if I can't pronounce it,why write it? :)(From comments: Generic Name for Onion in Malayalam is Ulli, Big Onion is Savaala, which is derived from Spanish word Sabola. I wrote savaala since the picture showed savaala and generally I have heard my folks and friends call shallots ulli and savaala for big Onion and all other Onions. Thank you!)

Onion is grown everywhere in this World and is a cool season vegetable. It was cultivated as early as 5000 BC. Excerpt from the link: In addition, the onion was useful for sustaining human life. Onions prevented thirst and could be dried and preserved for later consumption when food might be scarce.

There are many Onion varieties available. Ranging from the tiny shallots which are extremely powerful in its medicinal properties to the sweet Vidalia, cultivated only in Georgia, U.S.A.Onion can be eaten raw and also cooked, grilled, roasted, juiced, mashed to a paste, even dried and can be stored in dry powdered form. It is the base for many wonderful sauces and gives you the ‘oomph’ in your dishes. However if you eat them raw, you might lose your friends :-)

Onion is great in improving your circulation and has many more medicinal properties. My mom would use a lot of onion in her dishes reminding us, “This is good for the heart”. She uses so much onion in her curries, sometimes I even mistake many of her dishes as onion curry with so many pieces floating on top. I do think she was solely responsible for creating that onion scarcity one time in India, which even pulled down a Government!

Also did you know, Onion is good for lustrous hair? My grand-mom used to prepare special hair oil with shallots and pepper. My mom never learned the recipe (great!) and she has lustrous hair but not us!

Lastly, Onion mixed with other herbs is an excellent insect/pest controller to spray on your plants. You can sow onion seeds, near your other vegetables plants to wade off insects; pests etc since they can’t stand the smell.

Plantain Boiled or Steamed (Nenthrakka / Pazham puzhungiyathu)

I had a shower of guests over the Memorial Day weekend. I love the long weekend concept in U.S, where all the holidays are 'intelligently' designed to fall on either a Monday or Friday. So you get 3 straight days to leisurely rest, sleep... Oh-ho! I spoke too fast, I guess. I am now more tired than the normal working weekdays.

Guests staying at home definitely mean quick snacks since everybody is tired from the shopping, small local trips,talking endlessly etc.One of the many quick snacks I misunderstood, is the simple delicious boiled ripe plantains

I never understood why people boiled an already ripe plantain. The very few times I tasted them, I never liked them any better than having a ripe plantain (I think, they were not done right). But my husband loves it! He would buy plantains from the shop and would ask me to boil it. I would roll my eyes and ask him to eat it just plain. He wouldn't and I ended up eating them plain.

So, I had to 'learn' to boil them. And now I just love it. I think this is a very typical Kerala preparation. I am now a little scared to write traditional Kerala preparation, since these blogging days, I am amused to find so many 'traditional ' recipes done the same way in lot of other places too :)

Plantain is rich in fiber and potassium than her other banana cousins. Plantain is Nenthrakka in Malayalam.

Recipe for Pazham puzhungiyathuRipe Plantain - There are certain things you should keep in mind when you choose to boil them. The skin should be yellow in color and no black spots (means it is getting over-ripe). It should be firm and not soft to touch. Buy semi-ripe plantains and as soon as they turn a complete yellow, you can boil them.Cut off the two ends and cut into two inch round pieces. Steam them in a steamer basket for 10 minutes or until the yellow skin turns to dark. When steamed, plantains become more digestible (excellent for kids) and the sweetness is enhanced to higher proportions. The plantains we get here at my place, almost tastes like honey when boiled or steamed.If the plantains are a little on the unripe side, they will turn hard when boiling or steaming. So make sure they are ripe but firm.It can be served as a quick evening snack with tea, or as breakfast with puttu. Some sprinkle grated coconut on them. This is my entry for Meena's Picnic

Guess who ?

Sreyashi Dey
Photo Courtesy: Srishti Dances

Who is this little pretty thing below imitating the famous Odissi dance pose?
This is very easy guess! But wanted to show you the cute little dance pose.

Art of Paalappam (Milk Pancake?)

To me, making a perfect paalappam always was/is an art. The cook pours a ladle full of batter and then rotates the pan and makes a mini flying saucer, tiny aliens of the food world can travel on. The speed, with which this is done, looks like a mini hand acrobat.

However, attempts after attempts never gave me that perfect lazy saucer appam. I tried changing pans, changing flour; changing yeast and what not. Even wore a lucky charm.

Then, I would call up a friend to crib about how my appam flopped, and before beginning the cribbing session would casually ask, “How are you? What are you doing?”. She would answer, “Oh, I am eating paalappam and this time it came better than all times!” Clunk! I hate her.

But Ah! Now it is my turn! Any one with lousy paalappam can call me up and I can talk forever about my lacy paalappams. I have learned the art and now those tiny little aliens can travel safely!

Recipe for Paalappam made with yeast

1½ cups of Raw Rice soaked for 8 hours. Grind together soaked rice, 1/2 cup grated coconut to a smooth thick batter with minimal water.Cook ¼ cup raw rice powder with 1 cup water to a thick paste.pic of rice powder paste

In 5 tsp warm water (not hot, just warm), add 1 tsp sugar, mix and then add ¼ tsp (heaped) yeast and mix well and keep aside undisturbed in a warm place until it rises. (Usually for 10 minutes). If the yeast doesn’t rise, then there is no point in continuing. If the yeast rises, thick froth will appear on the surface of the sugar dissolved warm water.

Mix ground raw rice, thick paste (cooled down to normal temperature), yeast mixture and mix thoroughly. The batter should be thick-thick. Add 2 tsp of sugar also and mix again and keep aside.a pic of the batter

Remember to keep the batter in a vessel 6 times the original volume. Yeast is very naughty; it will spill your mixture otherwise.

Okay, after say 8 or 10 hours, it is time for some acrobatics. The batter will be double in volume.

You need an appam pan. You get nonstick pans. I have an iron one which makes perfect saucer shapes.Now, below is a pic of my cute sprayer. I got it from Bed Bath and Beyond.Use gingelly oil which is good for iron pans. I fill this sprayer and use it on my dosa and appam pans.
Very Very handy! (A good buy for India trip). Back home, we use small pieces of coconut husk dipped in oil to rub on the appam pan surface.

For iron pans, spray the pan with gingelly oil the previous night and keep, if you are going to make appam next day morning. This will prevent it from any sticky issues.

Now when you are ready to make appams, heat the pan, spray it with gingelly oil, the surface should completely be sprayed. Make sure your ladle will fit ¼ cup of the batter for pouring.

The batter you prepared might be thick. Add milk (plain milk) to make the batter for thinner consistency, like the dosa batter. Add salt.The batter should flow easily from the ladle and you should be able to rotate the pan with the batter.

Heat the appam pan, spray the appam pan with oil, when the oil starts to smoke, make the flame to medium, hold one end of the pan’s ear, and pour a ladle full of batter in to the middle of the pan.a pic of batter spread completely inside the pan, immediately after pouring

Immediately hold the other end of the pan’s ear and rotate and make the batter spread completely on the inner surface of the pan. This is done in rotating the pan clockwise or anti-clockwise in a 45 degree angle.a pic of appam covered for cooking
The trick is the middle portion of the appam will be thicker and the sides will be thinner, thus forming the saucer shape.a pic of the saucer shape appam

Now cover and cook, until you see the sides the appam detach from the pan or turns crispy. Sugar makes the appam brown on the sides. But don't add, more sugar since it might make the appam stick to the pan. Keep a kitchen cloth near so that you can hold the ears of the pan quickly after pouring the batter. Make sure you hold one ear of the pan before pouring the batter so that you wont lose time.Appam is ready. Serve it with any type of gravy you like. I served it with egg curry. Egg curry is a favorite combination for paalappam.

In the mornings, you know your train has reached some station in Kerala, when you hear the vendors calling out “appam..muttee.. appam…muttee” meaning “appam…egg curry”.

Oh! I miss those train journeys. Holding a 10 rupee note and waving at them to buy the “appam muttee” packed in sautéed banana leaves and some old malayalam newspaper.