Kerala Cherupayar Parippu Curry / Yellow Moong Dal Curry

My admiration for this ingenuous face started with his Mr Darcy, grew with the stupid Lord who snatches Shakespeare's love in Shakespeare in Love( Gosh!!!! I love that movie) and Bj's Diary...and reached its zenith with his Kings Speech. Well..well..well...Colin Firth ...I heart you..you really made a King's speech!!!!!

Talk about paradigm shift , here I am from movie to a nadan kerala recipe...

Kerala parippu Curry is one of the first things i learnt to make after coming here. One of the best dishes in Onam sadya , we love  this with steaming rice and fried pappadoms. 

Recipe for Sadya Special Cherupayar Parippu Curry

To (pressure) cook

Yellow Moon dal/ Cheru payar Parippu - 1 cup

Turmeric Powder - a pinch

Salt to taste

To Grind 

Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

Green chilies - 2 chopped

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Garlic - 1 love

Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

For tempering 

Dried red chiles - 2

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Chopped small onion - 1 table spoon

Curry leaves - 4-5

Wash and Soak the Moong Dal for at least 20 minutes and pressure cook it by adding water and salt.

( I normally add 1 cup water). Cook for 2-3 whistles. Mash it well and keep aside

Grind coconut , Green chilies, turmeric powder , garlic, cumin seeds and salt to a fine paste.

Bring to Boil the cooked Dal and add the coconut paste to it and mix well. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Add more water if you like it to be in a thin consistency .

Heat oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds.

When they pop up add dried red chiles and curry leaves and fry for 30 seconds.

Add chopped small onion and fry till brown.

Pour this over the curry and serve warm

Njoy it with White rice and Pappadoms

Cheers

Sarah

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Kerala style Meatball Curry

I am Sitting , Wishing , Waiting for the time to turn the corner and embrace the new season. I wanna enjoy the redolent air of Spring , watch the blossoming trees and the true spirit of a new year. 

Spring always gives me the true glory of a new year , when you shed all the winter habits that you have been carrying from the past year .Come Spring , you change all your eating habits , come out of the hibernation and be active again. Thats all what you try to do on a new year right? What do you think?

Today's Special is a recent favorite of ours. The idea is basically  from Delicious magazine  and I adapted it by making it the same way as my everyday chicken curry.

Tiny meat balls mixed with garlic and chillies is cooked in masala infused coconut sauce. We pair it with Idiyappam or Puttu always and sometimes with Chapati. Its such an easy thing to make and definetly a good addition to your culinary repertoire .

Recipe for Meatball Curry / Meat Kofta Curry

Serves - 4

Total cooking time 30 minutes prep + 45 minutes cooking time

Ingredients:-

Bowl 1

Minced Meat - 250 gm( chicken , beef , lamb or turkey)

Garlic minced - 2 cloves

Green chili finely chopped - 2

Salt to taste

Bowl 2

Cloves - 2

Bay leaves - 1

Star anise - crushed - 1

Curry Leaves

Bowl 3

Red chili powder - 1 tea spoon

Coriander powder - 1 tea spoon

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tea spoon

Onion chopped - 2 medium

Ginger - garlic paste or crushed- 1 tea spoon

Tomato chopped - 1 large

Garam masala - 1/4 tea spoon

Coconut milk - 1 cup

Hot Water - 1/2  cup

Salt to taste

Cilantro (optional)

Method:-

Combine all the ingredients in Bowl 1 and Knead into a dough and make small balls with it. 

(I usually give a quick  pulse in food processor. This helps the kneading process easy and the balls wont break when cooked)

Wet your hands as and when needed so that the meat wont stick to your hands.

( Keep the meatballs in a cookie sheet lined with parchment or foil in the refrigerator for like 20-30 minutes. This also helps in keeping it from breaking apart. Or you can just fry it in a lil oil , or bake it for 350 F for 20-30 minutes and continue with the process)

Heat Oil in a pan and add all in Bowl 2 and fry for a minute.Slide in chopped onions and saute till the color changes to brown.Add ginger garlic paste and mix well. Add chopped tomato and saute till the oil separates.

Make a paste with all in Bowl 3 by adding alittle water and add to the pan and fry for a minute or two..

Mix hot water and  1 cup coconut milk , add to the pan . Sprinkle garam masala,combine well

When the gravy is really hot slide in meat balls one by one at a distance 

It should not be allowed to touch each other, So always use a wide mouthed pan while cooking this.

Simmer covered for 30-45 minutes. Uncover and simmer till gravy thickens. 

Sprinkle with chopped cliantro

Serve warm with Chapati , Puttu or Idiyapam.

Cheers

Sarah

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Achinga Payar Thoran - Yard Long Beans With Coconut

Its been some time since I posted a favorite of Vazhayila ; a thoran. As you all know N loves it and its a must have with rice and curry. 

I am not planning to fill you with my blah blah today , as I have nothing much to write about , words are not  flowing as it always used to. 

I have been reading a lot , I mean a lot these days and even then nothing to write about :(. Its just the screen staring at me :)....What better time to clear out my drafts than this ? okie Straight to the recipe now ......

Recipe for Achinga payaru/Pacha Payaru Thoran -

Ingredients:-
Achinga payaru/Pacha Payaru/ Yard long beans - 1 bunch( 1 kettu or pidi, usually that comes around 1/2 lb in Indian grocery stores here)
Grated coconut - 2 table spoon to 1/4 cup
Shallots - 3-4 or half of a small onion
Garlic - 2 cloves
Green chili chopped - 2
Dried red chili - 1
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves
Salt

Clean and chop the beans in very small circles.

Crush Shallots, garlic and green chili in a mortar and pestle.

Add coconut to it and mix well with your hands.

Heat oil in a pan and add Mustard seeds.When they pop up add dried red chile and curry leaves

Add Chopped beans and salt and mix well.

Sprinkle 3 table spoons of water , keep everything to the centre and cook it covered for 4-5 minutes or till it is dry and the beans cooked.

Add coconut mixture and toss well.Saute for a couple of minutes or till it is dry and done.

Serve warm with rice.

Also check

• Cheru payar thoran
• Vazhakka Thoran
• Kovakka thoran

Cheers

Sarah

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Double Chocolate Brownie With Ice cream For "Today"

To all those with a close to perfect partner in every way,(just like me)

To all those who still waiting for the right one

To all those who still loves to be single

Wishing you all a very Happy Valentines Day.....

Though we don't have a tradition of celebrating this particular day , we always try to make it special by doing something different . I have written here many times that we are not particularly "sweet people", but mostly hot n spicy loving :).. So to make this day a bit different from the rest of our 364 V'days, I made this chocolate brownies , just to give it a sweet touch :). Our wedding reception had this brownie -ice cream combination among many other desserts, which we don't remember having. But people always talk about it. So I give it a thought , got the recipe from Martha stewart and made the same . 

Recipe for Double Chocolate Brownie with Ice cream:_


Ingredients:-
All purpose flour - 1/2 cup + 2 table spoon
Unsalted Butter - 1 stick cut into large pieces
Unsweetened cocoa powder - 1/4 cup
Bitter sweet chocolate chopped - 6 oz
Eggs -3 large
Sugar - 1.5 cup
Salt - 1/2 tea spoon
Ice cream - your favorite flavor

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Line an 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper with overhang on all sides.

Bring to boil a pot of water and keep a heat proof bowl on top of it. 

Add butter and chocolate and stir until smooth.

Remove from heat and add sugar , and eggs one by one , whisk until well combined.

Whisk in cocoa and salt . Add the flour and beat well until combined.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Lift out the parchment and cut teh brownies into desired sizes

I cut it into small pieces and arrange it on a small bowl. take a scoop of ice cream and put it on the top and serve.

Cheers

Sarah

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Kerala Lemon Pickle - Naranga Achar

There was a time , when I thought I could never make pickle.; later the very thought changed to , okie i could, but never would I achieve the same gratification with mine , compared to my grandma's and mom's. Every time N asked me for some home made pickle, i found myself to be in a "pickle". But that is such an old story , now that i have mastered the art of pickling :)

Remember the Boost, Complan glass jars with pickle on the centre of the dining table back home??

It was such a regular scene in most of the households and my home was no different. Ranging from Fish,meat, lemon, mango , nellikka, mixed vegetable , lololicka, .....there would be one on the dining table and one in the pantry waiting for its turn, thinking "mera number kab aayega?".... No meal would pass without a touch of ginger - garlic - curry leaf overloaded pickle and no liquor party would start without a pickle for "thottunakkan".......

I used to get repeated scoldings for taking all the gravy and oil and for not using spoon , but fingers to take it out. But now there is nobody to scold me :(... Every time i give a retrospective glance to those times, every single thing has a story to tell , and feel so good with an  emotional overflow to it :)

All the blah, blah apart, today's  is  my kuttanadan grandma's recipe. I know there are a  zillion ways to make even the simple Kerala lemon pickle. Its not my contention that  this is the authentic one , but for me , this is "authentic" since i grew up eating this :)

Recipe for Lemon/ Lime pickle - Cheru naranga Achar

Ingredients:-

Cheru naranga / Yellow Lemon - 10 ( the grocery store here has lemon double the size of it back home, so i used only 5 lemons)

Salt -  to taste + a pinch of sugar

Gingelly oil / Nallenna / Sesame oil - 2 table spoon + 2 table spoon

Mustard seeds - 1.5 tea spoon

Fenugreek seeds - 1 tea spoon

Garlic julienned - 10 cloves ( you can add more if you love the bite of it in your pickle)

Ginger julienned - a small piece

Green chilly - 2-3 sliced

Curry Leaves - a handful

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Red chili powder - 2 table spoon ( use as per your spice level , 2 tbsp is really spicy)

Kaayam ( asafoetida) -  1/4 tea spoon

Vinegar - 2 tea spoon

Salt to taste

Method:-

Clean , wash and pat dry the lemons .

Steam in an appachembu or steamer for 5-8 minutes.( see notes at the end of the post)

Let it cool and wipe it well with a kitchen towel and cut into 8 pieces.( if lemon is small make 4 pieces).

Take an air tight glass jar and add lemon and a table spoon of salt and a pinch of sugar and mix well.

Keep it for a couple of days minimum 3 days upto a week. Some times i keep for 2 weeks

On the  day you are making the pickle  , take it out and drain the water and salt. and this helps to reduce the sour taste.

Heat 2 table spoons of gingelly oil/ nallenna in a pan and add mustard seeds.

When they pop up add fenugreek seeds and fry for 30 seconds.

Add garlic, ginger, green chilly and curry leaves and saute for a couple of minutes and add turmeric powder.

Add chili powder , and mix well. Add 1/4 cup of water and bring to boil.

Simmer for 5 minutes or till the water is reduced or it is thick.

Add  asafoetida ( kaayam) and fenugreek powder (if using) and mix well.

Remove from fire and let it cool.

Add Lemon pieces , salt to taste and vinegar mix well.

My mom and grandma usually leave it in the pan for 4-6 hours , but you can omit this step if you want.

Transfer that to a glass jar and add 2 table spoon of gingelly oil. 

make sure the glass jar has a tight lid :). 

Serve with Kanji, Rice or even  I like it with chapati ...

Notes:-

• If you want the lemons to be too soft , steam it for 10-15 minutes or keep it in the glas jar with salt and sugar for 7-8 days.
• To make it more spicy increase the amount of chili powder .

Cheers

Sarah

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Puttu + Varutharacha Beef Curry ( Curried Beef In Roasted Coconut Sauce)

Would you say no , if you are given warmth and comfort together on a platter, especially on snowy wintry gloomy days. I wouldn't , instead grab it and gobble up ....That's exactly what I am virtually offering you today.

Steamed Rice and coconut cakes with spicy curried beef in roasted coconut and spice sauce. Yumm..yumm..yummm

The weather has been crazy in north east , this time with snow and ice every where. But to tell you , I am really enjoying it with enticing books, bowl of soups , and hot and spicy food :)..I have been making a lot of soups and stews and pastas lately and thats when i missed the smell and flavor of home. 

A small chayakada( Tea shop) near a border village in northern part of Kerala introduced me to this terrific combo . I was like 10 or 11 at that time , I could still get the flavors in my tongue. Though Kanji was our choice of breakfast always except on Sundays  , Mom used to make other palaharams once in a while . Puttu topped the list as it is the easiest amongst...Varutharacha kadala curry, Egg curry , egg roast , chicken curry etc etc were the usual combo and I loved those till I got to get the taste of this awesome curry...

Recipe for Varuthu Aracha Beef curry - Beef curry with Roasted coconut 

Ingredients:-

To cook beef

Beef  - 1 kg

Garlic - 3-4 cloves

Ginger - a small piece

Green chili - 1 (optional)

Black pepper corns - 1/2 tea spoon

Red chili powder - 1.5 tea spoon

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tea spoon

Cinnamon - 1 stick

Cloves - 4

Cardamom - 2

Bay leaves - 1  Or instead of whole masala you can add 1/2 or 1 tea spoon of garam masala.

Salt to taste

Curry leaves

To Roast and Grind

Grated coconut - 3 table spoon

Dried red chilly - 8-10            or chilly powder 1 table spoon

Coriander seeds - 1/ 4cup ( 4 table spoon)   or  coriander powder - 2.5 table spoon

Fennel seeds - 1/2 tea spoon

Small onion chopped - 1 table spoon

Curry leaves - 6-7 leaves

To simmer 

Onion chopped - 1

Garlic chopped - 2 cloves

Ginger chopped - 1 tea spoon

Tomato chopped - 1

Curry leaves

Water  - 1 cup or 1/2 cup thin coconut milk + 1/2 cup water

Method:-

Clean and cut the beef into small cubes. Grind ginger , garlic, green chili, black peppercorns,red chili and turmeric powder, cloves and cardamom to a coarse paste

Marinate the beef  with the spice paste , cinnamon, bay leaves, salt to taste and curry leaves. 

keep it for 30 minutes.

Pressure cook for 3-4 whistles, without or with adding 1/4 cup water.

If you don't have a pressure cooker you can cook it in a heavy bottomed pan by adding 1/2 cup water for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile take a pan and add grated coconut and fry without adding oil.

When it starts to change color add all other ingredients in the to roast and grind section and fry till it is brown. Be sure not to burn it.

Grind it to a coarse paste by adding very little water.

Heat oil in a kadai and add chopped onions , garlic and ginger and saute for 6-7 minutes. 

Add curry leaves and fry for another 2-3 minutes. 

Add cooked beef and tomato and all the cooking liquid and  1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup  thin coconut milk and simmer for 5 minutes for all the spice to blend well and the tomato to cook

Add the spice paste , combine well and simmer for another couple of minutes and remove.

Add more water and make it thin if you want more gravy.

Recipe for Puttu

Rice flour - 2 cup( I used Nirapara Puncha puttu podi)
Grated coconut - 1/2 - 1 cup
Salt to taste
Oil - 1 tea spoon
Water - as needed


Special equipment :- Puttu kutti...I normally use the chiratta puttu kutti which you can attach to a pressure cooker.

In a bowl Mix the rice flour with salt and oil
Add water little by little to it and mix well with hands.
The idea is to wet the whole rice flour and definitely there is gonna be small lumps.
Gather the wet rice flour to the side of the the bowl ( kootti vekkuka)
Let stand for 5 minutes.
Transfer the mix to a food processor or mixer and use the pulse action for 2-3 pulse.
This will help the puttu to get soft and all the lumps will be gone.
Take the puttu kutti, make a thin layer of grated coconut , then add rice flour mix and continue the layers.
Attach to the pressure cooker and steam it for 7-8 minutes.
Serve warm

Related posts:-

• Nadan beef Ularthiyathu
• Beef and potato curry
• Nadan Kadala curry
• kerala chicken curry
• Kerala egg curry

Cheers

Sarah

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