A little 'news' with a simple recipe..

Hi,

Hope everyone out there is doing well. I am doing great here.  I have been getting several messages for the past many months asking about my erratic posts and sometimes total disappearance. I have also been getting several messages over Facebook asking if I was expecting a newcomer. Yes,  I am about 36 weeks now and due on December 25, X’mas Day!! 

Unlike my first pregnancy, this one was like a roller coaster ride. During the first trimester of this pregnancy, I was almost always on bed, so tired, couldn’t even get up for food. Most of the food made me nauseate, had terrible back ache and to make it worse, had heights of mood swings and was always irritant and on the verge of explosion. Often the poor husband and child became the scapegoat of my outburst. Cooked very rarely, and by the time I am done I would be so exhausted I ended up on bed for rest of the day. So, that has been my first trimester, after which I went to India. I dint face any of these in my first pregnancy, so it was a total new experience! 

I know I wouldn’t be able to do much to keep my blog alive and running. I have got several recipes and pictures in my drafts which I am not sure when I would be posting. Otherwise, I don’t do any shooting and styling. Well, I dont even cook on regular basis. So I packed away all my props. I realized that the junk I collected over the years have dominated a major chunk of space in our house, which is now free for placing something useful. I chucked them all in the garage, knowing that I won’t be able to make use them for a very long while now. I am not happy with that, but I know I won’t be able to do styling and photo shooting as it makes hell lot of mess and lot of tidying up which can be very tedious now. And my mind is always occupied with the baby stuff and organizing things before the little one arrives. 

Now, here is a recipe that I typed long ago, I guess it was for Onam, but it slipped off my mind. My boys here, loves beets in any form and beetroot pachadi is something that I cook when I get some, apart from the thoran. It is very simple to make and goes as a side dish with plain boiled rice.

Beetroot Pachadi (Beetroot in tempered yogurt sauce)

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Serves ~ 4

Ingredients:

1 large beetroot, 220g; grated – 1 ¾ cups

2 cloves of garlic

a small piece of ginger, 7 g

1/3 cups, 50g freshly grated coconut or frozen

2/3 cup lightly whisked yogurt

water -  as required

salt -  as required

For tempering:

2 tbsp coconut oil

½ tsp black mustard seeds

1 twig curry leaves

2 dried red chillies, broken up into two halves

Preparations:

1.Place beetroot in a small pan and cook it along with 2 tbsp of water on medium flame until cooked through.

2. Grind coconut, ginger and garlic adding about 1/3 cups of water to smooth paste.

3. Lightly whisk the yogurt and add to the ground coconut mixture. Once the beets have cooled down, add this coconut-yogurt mix to the beetroot and mix well.

4. put the pan back on heat and gently until steam comes though, but not boil as boiling can curdle the mixture.

To temper:

Heat oil in a small pan, and add mustard seeds. Once they splutter, throw in the curry leaves and the dried chillies. Let it splutter too for few seconds and then add this tempered oil to the cooked beetroot. Cover. Just stir before serving.

Chena Erissery (Yam and Cowpeas in rich Coconut Sauce)

My sister and family were here for couple of weeks last month and it was the more memorable, more entertaining time we had in the UK. I realized, having a family around is quite a different feeling. I was a bit apprehensive before her arrival as she told me she is was going to test my cooking skills as I never cook when I am back home apart from trying out some fancy stuff which almost always were screwed up. If you are used to cooking at a place, it makes it difficult when you cook in a different country, with different ingredients and even different pots and pans. It takes a while to get the hang of new place and the cooking.

Since she mentioned she was going to test my cooking skills,  I didn’t cook anything that she cooks and dished out something completely new, as I know she is very good at whatever little she prepares. Smart, huh? But I tell you, whenever someone visits, I get panicked and pay that extra care, that bit extra finishing touch, but sometimes giving that little extra something ends up ruining the whole dish. I need to be calm, which I can’t especially when they tell me they are going to test my cooking skills! It works me up only when I cook up the the savoury stuff; I think  it happens because the savoury bit is not my cuppa!

Those two weeks passed away quicker than ever, good times don’t last forever do they? How I wish. I was drawn back, the house felt empty all of a sudden and it took me more than a week to come out of that distress and get back to my routine after they left.

I know my blogging has become sluggish. I don’t have any other excuse to make apart from the fact that I am lazy. Lazy to type, lazy to shoot and lazy to clean up the mess afterwards. The several weeks of no fancy cooking and photographing left me calm with clean house, less stress, less washing up and more time for myself which doesn’t happen when I blog. So I thought to sit back, relax and do occasional blogging with the recipes that have been sitting in my drafts for ages.  

Anyways, these days I am more into savoury cooking, have been trying many traditional Kerala dishes and alike. There are many Kerala authentic dishes that I need to learn yet, as those were not what I have grown up eating with. Last year I happened to eat a proper Kerala Sadya here and was smitten by the taste of simple vegetarian food. I was determined to learn more Traditional Kerala cuisine with the help of books, blogs, friends etc. One of the curries that I loved that day was the Erisseri. I could literally slather my rice with erisseri and pappad and indulge. I have prepared Pumpkin Erisseri several times doing bits of changes everytime and we love it, but never got a chance to shoot a picture. But here is the same recipe, but with ‘chena’ or yam which is great too.  Just substitute with pumpkin for pumkin Erisseri.

 
Chena Erisseri
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Coking time: 20-30 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:

½ cup, 125 g cow peas (‘vanpayar’)

2 ½ cups, 400g, cleaned yam diced into 2” pieces

2 ½ cups hot water

For grinding:

¾ cup fo freshly grated coconut, or frozen **

2 cloves of garlic

2 green chilly

¼ tsp peppercorns

¼ tsp cumin seeds

¼ - ½ tsp turmeric powder

¼ cup of water

For tempering:

1-2 tbsp coconut oil

¾ tsp mustard seeds

2 dried red chillies

2 twigs curry leaves

3 shallots

¼ cup grated coconut

Preparations:

1. Soak the cowpeas in hot water for about 2 hours or overnight and pressure cook them with sufficient water until cooked through, but not mashed.

2. Throw in diced yam and cook till done. (Do not pressure cook after adding yam, as yam cooks in no time).

3. While the yam is cooking, grind the coconut along with other ingredients coarsely. Add it to the cooked yam and cow peas.

4. Cook it on simmer until it is heated through thoroughly, but not boil.

5. For the tadka: Heat oil in a small karahi or pan. Splutter mustard seeds, add curry leaves, red chillies and chopped shallots. Once the shallots go soft, add coconut and fry till browned, on low heat, stirring in between to ensure it is not burnt. Add it to the curry above and stir through.

Notes

1.If using frozen coconut, thaw it down or grind in hot water.

Cabbage Thoran / Cabbage Varavu/ Kerala Style Cabbage Stir-fry

Certain foods, songs and places bring lot of old memories. For me it takes me down the memory lane and I get lost in them. It usually happens when it comes to songs and certain foods. I can truly relate each incident to each food or song. Recently I downloaded an application on my phone where you can access to worldwide radio stations. I now have access to some fantastic stations that play continuous 90’s Hindi hit songs which I used to listen while I was young. Boy, did it take me back to my childhood days from the time I first left for UAE to my school days through to my college days. Those were one of the best times of my life, no worries, with all siblings together under one roof with lot of chaos, noise, fights, chit chat and with loving parents to care and love for. I miss all of that innocent part of my life and I just wish if I could go back in time.

Certain songs and foods also take me back to my good old days with my dearest granny, one of my favourite personalities. May her soul rest in peace. I used to spend loads of time with her during our vacation back home, sit out in the veranda during monsoon, watching the rain and reading newspaper or just random talks and nibbling on some pistachios. And I cherished every moment I spent with her and I wish she was still with us. At times, I miss her a lot. How I wish the time never changed, people never changed and life never changed. It makes me very emotional at times, few tears dripping down my cheeks when I go through those memory lane and think of the people whom I love in my life and have left us.

This cabbage thoran is one that takes me back into my first school days in Kannur. We used to have lunch from our school canteen and rice, thoran, pappadom, sambhar, pickle and fish fry was one menu that I remember. Cabbage thoran was one that appeared on regular basis and something that I never liked so much. Recently, after making spring rolls I had quite a bit of cabbage leftover and I planned to use it up by making some thoran. It came out well and we really liked it. Those old school memories just came to me, un-invited. Cabbage thoran also contributes to Kerala Sadya.

Cabbage Thoran / CAbbage Varavu/ Kerala Style Cabbage Stir-fry

Serves 4

Ingredients:

400g/ 3 heaped cups of thinly shredded cabbage

½ a cup finely chopped onion

2 green chillies slit

2 tbsp coconut oil

½ tsp mustard seeds

¼ - ½ tsp turmeric powder

1 twig curry leaves

1/3 cup freshly grated coconut or frozen

salt to taste

Preparation:

1.Heat oil in a saucepan, splutter mustard seeds. Add curry leaves and green chillies and sauté for 30 seconds.

2. Throw in onions and add salt. Sauté until onions go soft. Add in turmeric and sauté for few seconds.

3. Add in the shredded cabbage, turmeric and mix well. Cover and cook until almost done

4. Add coconut, mix well and cook till done.

Serve alongside plain rice and other curries.

Note: If the cabbage is releasing lot of moisture, open the lid and cook on high heat. Here the cabbage is quite tough and so I add couple of spoons of water, cover and cook it.

Vendakka pachadi (Fried Okra in Coocnut and Yogurt Based Sauce)

  

Pachadi is a usually a coconut and yogurt based dish which is served along side plain boiled rice and other curries. It’s so easy to prepare, and can just whip it up in a jiffy. I normally prepare this to compliment any spicy curries that I serve along with rice just as my Malabar fish curry.  If you aren’t coconut fan, you can omit the coconut here and follow the recipe without using it.

Vendakka pachadi

serves 3-4

Ingredients:

150g  okra sliced into ½  cms, around 1 3/5 cups

1 ¼ cups thick creamy yogurt

½ cup water (appx.)

½ cup grated coconut

Ginger – a very small piece (optional)

Garlic – 1clove (optional)  

1- 3 green chillies

Vegetable/coconut oil – to fry okras

 

Tempering:

1 tablespoon coconut oil

2 dried red chillies

½ teaspoon black mustard seeds

2 twigs curry leaves

 

Preparation:

1.Grind coconut, green chillies, ginger and garlic (if using) adding 3-4 tablespoon of water if required.

2. Mix this coconut mixture with curd and set aside.

3. Slice okra into ½ cm thickness and deep fry until light golden. Drain excess oil in a kitchen towel.

4. Mix fried okra in the yogurt coconut mixture and set aside.

5. Heat oil in a small pan or karahi and splutter mustard seeds followed by curry leaves and red chillies. Add this tempered oil to pachadi and let it sit for few minutes before serving. You may need to add few tablespoons of water if mixture is thick. Adjust salt and serve alongside rice.

Beans Mezhukkupuratti (Kerala Beans Stir-fry)

This is one of the most easiest preparations of vegetable and it easily goes with plain rice. Mezhukku puratti in malayalam literally means ‘smeared in oil’. Mezhukkupuratti can be made with different vegetables like beetroot, carrot, raw plantains, yam, potatoes,brinjal etc but with slight variations depending on the vegetables. This recipe is minimally adapted from my one of my favourite books on kerala recipes ‘Lalitha Pachakam’ by Nikhila Govind.

Beans Mezhukkupuratti (Kerala Beans Stir-fry)

Cooking time : ¬10-12 minutes

Ingredients:

2 ½ - 2 ¾ cups, 300g French beans washed and cut into 1” pieces

1/3 cup finely chopped onion, a small onion

¾ teaspoon Black mustard seeds

2 Tablespoon coconut oil (Can substitute with veg.oil, but it is not authentic and the flavour would differ slightly)

1-2 Green chilli slit into 2

2 twigs curry leaves

2 dry red chillies crushed

3-4 garlic cloves finely chopped

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder (optional)

Salt to taste

¼ cup – 1/3 cup water

Preparations:

1. Heat oil in a saucepan or wok. When smoking hot, add mustard seeds. As soon as they splutter, throw in curry leaves and red chilli flakes. Sauté for few seconds making sure not to burn them.

2. Reduce the heat and add in chopped onions, garlic and green chillies. Sauté until onions and garlic go soft. Add turmeric powder and sauté for few seconds.

3. Add in the cut beans and salt. Stir well. Add enough water, cover and cook on low flame until the beans are cooked and water is all absorbed. Serve hot alongside rice. You can also add a handful of coconut slices while sautéing the onions if you like them.

I am sending Beans Mezhukkupuratty to Kerala Kitchen event started by Rose of Magpiesrecipes.