Green Mint Chutney & Cheese Sandwiches

Picnic food is fun to make, especially if you are not really going on a picnic but just pretending to on a rainy, weary weeknight.

About once a month, TH and I have sandwiches for dinner. Its just one of those inexplicable things we do.

Since I got my mint plant, there's no dearth of fresh mint and I love using fresh herbs in my cooking. Well, don't we all?

This is a quick sandwich recipe that works great for a picnic, tiffin box or even brunch or tea party. It tastes great and is filling too!

Mint Chutney and Cheese Sandwiches
Makes 4 - Serves 2

Ingredients:
8 slices of bread of your choice
4 slices of cheese

For the Mint Chutney:
A bunch of fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup freshly grated coconut
1 green chilly
1/2 tsp minced garlic (optional)
A pinch of dry ginger powder or 1/2" piece of fresh ginger
Salt to taste

Grind all ingredients together with very little water to a smooth paste.

To assemble and toast the sandwiches: Spread a generous amount of the mint chutney on one side of the bread slice. Top with a slice of cheese and toast in a sandwich maker until done. You can also toast in a pan on the stovetop with a pat of butter until both sides are golden brown and the cheese has melted.

Serve hot with ketchup.

Mint / Pudina Coconut Chutney Recipe

I bought a mint plant the other day and its growing like a wild bush in its small pot. To use up some of the fresh and insanely flavourful leaves, I made a mint coconut chutney to go with wheat dosas. 

Yes, they are over-exposed, but too lazy to edit much :D

Its incredibly simple and takes all of 10 mins to whip up. That's my kind of dinner, any day night!

Mint / Pudina Coconut Chutney
Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh grated coconut (not desiccated)
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves
2 shallots
A tiny piece of ginger
A tiny piece of tamarind
2 green chillies (adjust to taste)
Salt to taste

To make chutney - grind all ingredients with very little water. Serve immediately with dosa, or even rice. This goes really well with the slightly dense and bland wheat dosa.

All pictures in this post taken in the home made light box for food photography.

Chena Vanpayar Erissery Recipe

I have been baking a lot lately and realising how much I enjoy it. But that doesn't mean I should give up on my roots and stop making these amazing Kerala recipes. Nothing can transport me back home virtually like a good Kerala sadya.



The last time I posted Erissery, I got a few comments asking for chena vanpayar erissery. Clearly, pumpkin is not a very favourite vegetable to most. But vanpayar is not easily available here and I couldn't find it in Mustafa Stores which practically means its non existent in Singapore.

So I did what any self-respecting food lover cum food blogger would do. I brought a bag back from my last trip to Kottayam. So today, I can share the authentic Erissery recipe with you. Howzaaat?

I absolutely love chena / elephant yam btw. If you are in Singapore and didn't know this yet, Mustafa stocks frozen cubed elephant yam now. No more buying a huge yam and wasting majority of it or trying to rub oil on your itching palms after cutting up a yam. Hooray!

Authentic Chena Vanpayar Erissery Recipe

Ingredients:

3 cups cubed elephant yam / chena
1 cup cow peas / vanpayar
Salt to taste

Grate together:
1/2 cup grated coconut (frozen will work but not dessicated)
1 tsp minced fresh garlic
1/4 tsp pepper powder
A large pinch of turmeric powder
1/4 tsp chilli powder

For tempering:
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 dry red chillies, torn into small pieces
A few curry leaves
1 tbsp coconut oil (anything else would make it taste less authentic!)

How I Made It:

1. Wash the vanpayar and sift out any stones that may be there. I found two decent-sized ones in my 1 cup of vanpayar. Transfer to a pan with 3 cups water and cook on a low fire until semi-soft. This will take about 20 mins or so. Add the yam to the vanpayar and cook until both turn soft and almost mushy. (I took the easy route and dunked everything into a pressure cooker and cooked for 2 whistles. The vanpayar was done perfectly but the yam became too soft. You can do this if you don't mind the consistency of erissery seen in the pictures)

2. Once the vanpayar and yam are cooked, add the grated coconut mixture and mix well, cooking on low flame until well combined and the coconut loses its raw smell - about 3-4 mins. Add salt. Mix again. Remove from fire.

3. Heat oil for tempering and add all the ingredients mentioned in the list. When the mustard seeds pop and the red chillies glisten, remove from fire and dunk into the cooked mixture. Mix well and serve hot with rice and moru curry.

I've also made a variation of this dish without the coconut - Yam and Black Eyed Peas Curry without Coconut

M&M Brown Butter Samoa Blondies Recipe

I have posted a recipe for butterscotch blondies before. They are super simple and usually a welcome change from chocolate brownies.

The M&M used in the recipe can be substituted with milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, or anything else that catches your fancy.



M&M Brown Butter Blondies Recipe
Adapted from The Recipe Girl
Makes 12 large squares

Ingredients:
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp butter (total of 10 tbsp)
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp regular white sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup desiccated coconut (fresh won't work)
3/4 cup M&Ms + few more to lay on top

How I Made It:

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Grease a cake pan or brownie pan.

2. Heat butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until it browns and begins to smell nutty (watch it closely so it doesn’t burn - takes about 5-7 mins). Let the butter cool for a few minutes, until just barely warm.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the browned butter and sugars. With a wooden spoon, stir in egg, vanilla and salt. Stir in flour, coconut and M&Ms until batter is blended.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle a few additional M&Ms on top. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. Let the blondies cool before turning them out onto a cutting board and slicing into squares (chilling them will make that process even easier).



The brown butter gives the blondies a lovely flavour. The coconut gives a nice crunch too. I lowered the quantity of coconut a lot in my version, it really is enough without being overpowering.

Hyderabadi Dahi Bhindi Masala - Step by Step Recipe

I have been posting way too many dessert recipes of late so here's something to offset that. I have talked about my dislike towards the sliminess of Okra in my Okra Fry with Peanuts recipe post so you can rest assured that if I use Okra, the final dish will show no signs of sliminess. This is another one of them.



Hyderabadi Dahi Bhindi Masala
Source: Monsoon Spice
Serves: 2 - 4 as a side dish

Ingredients:
3 cups Bhindi/Okra, washed, dried and cut into small pieces
8 shallots, sliced fine (or use 1 large onion)
2 tomatoes, finely chopped (or 1 tbsp tomato paste)
1 tsp ginger garlic Paste
A pinch of sugar (optional)
1 cup yogurt, beaten
1 tbsp grated coconut, fresh/frozen
8 cashew nuts, soaked in warm milk for at least 10 mins
A generous pinch of kasuri methi / dried fenugreek leaves
1 tsp garam masala
½ -1 tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp amchur / dry mango powder
1 tsp coriander powder / malli podi
1 tbsp oil
Salt to taste

For Tempering:
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
½ tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
1 tsp Urad Dal/Split Black Lentils
2-3 Dry Red Chillies, halved
A Pinch of Hing/Asafoetida
Few Curry Leaves
1 tbsp Oil

How I Made It:

1. Sia's tip: Sprinkle little salt to okra pieces and mix well. Keep it aside for half an hour. This helps in reducing the sliminess while frying the okra. I did this and it worked!

2. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and add okra pieces to it. Fry them continuously at high flame till they turn brown retaining their crispiness, about 7-10 mins. Alternatively you can also deep fry them. Transfer these fried okras to a plate lined with kitchen/paper towel and set aside.

3. Grind soaked cashews and coconut to smooth paste adding the milk used for soaking. Set aside.

4. Heat oil for tempering in a pan and add mustard seeds to it. When they pop, add cumin seeds, urad dal, dry red chillies, hing and curry leaves and sauté it for a minute till the dal turns golden brown in colour.

5. Now add finely chopped onions and fry till they turn light golden. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry for another minute. Add all the dry masalas - garam masala, red chilli powder, amchur, turmeric and coriander powder - along with kasuri methi and fry for a minute in sim.



6. Mix in finely chopped tomatoes (if using) and sauté till they turn pulpy and release their juice, about 2 minutes (or add the tomato paste at this stage). Now add ground cashew-coconut paste and mix well. Keep stirring for a minute.



7. Add yogurt, sugar and salt to taste and stir well. Depending on the consistency of gravy required, add ½-1 cup of water and mix well. Simmer the gravy and let it cook uncovered for another 5 minutes.



8. Mix in fried okra and adjust salt. Add little more water if you think the gravy is too thick and simmer for another 3-5 minutes.



9. Done! Serve with rotis or any mixed rice.

Konkani Tendli Sukke / Tindora Sukke Recipe

This is inspired by what a Konkani friend brought home one day. Although the dish looked a lot like Kerala Thoran, it tasted very different - sour, spicy and coriander-y. Some basic research online brought up so many recipes for it but I followed the one in Red Chillies.

Tendli Sukke

Serves 2

Ingredients:
1.5 cups tindora / ivy gourd, cut into thin discs
1 tbsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
A few curry leaves
1/2 tsp grated jaggery / raw sugar

A small piece of tamarind / 1/4 tsp tamarind paste

Salt to taste

Dry Roast one after the other:
1/2 cup grated coconut
2 tsp coriander seeds / or just use 1tsp powder
1 tsp urad dal
3-4 dry red chillies

How I Made It:

1. Grind together the roasted ingredients with the jaggery, tamarind and salt. Do not add water.

2. Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they pop, add the tindora pieces. Reduce flame and cook until the tindora is soft and lightly browned - about 5-10 mins. You can add a pinch of turmeric to this if you wish.

3. Next, add the ground masala to the tindora and mix well. Throw in the curry leaves and cook until they come together - another 5 mins. Adjust salt.

Serve warm with rice and any non-coconut based curry.

Vazhakka Pulissery Recipe

This is probably not an authentic Kerala Pulissery recipe for a couple of reasons. In the traditional pulissery recipes, I don't see the addition of coriander seeds. Also, the vegetable or fruit of choice is usually ripe mangoes, ethappazham, or raw mangoes for a sweet and sour pulissery. In this pulissery recipe, Seetha aunty, a relative of ours in Singapore, has used vazhakka (raw bananas) and winter melon (poosanikkai).

We go over to her place now and then for dinner and this pulissery was one made as an accompaniment to adai. It was a gorgeous combination and I loved it so much that she packed up the remaining pulissery and I brought it home with me!



Vazhakka Pulissery Recipe
Serves: 2 to 4

Ingredients:

1 cup cubed vazhakka / raw banana
(You can use ripe mango or green mango according to your preference of wanting sour pulissery or sweet and sour pulissery.)
1/2 cup cubed winter melon / pooshanikkai
1/2 cup grated coconut
2 green chillies
1 cup thick curd / yogurt
1 tsp coriander seeds / malli / dhania
1/4 tsp mustard seeds  / kaduku
1/4 tsp fengureek seed / menthayam / uluva
A few curry leaves
2 dry red chillies
1/2 tsp grated jaggery(optional)

How to Make:

1. Cook the banana and the winter melon in a pan with little water, salt and turmeric.

2. Meanwhile, grind the coconut, green chillies and coriander seeds with 2 tablespoons of curd to a fine paste.
Add this to the cooked vegetables and let it come to boil. Cook on low fire for 3-5 mins.

3. Add the rest of the curd beaten with a spoon. Turn off when the mixture is just reaching boiling point.

4. For tempering, heat 2 tsp oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds, fengureek seeds, red chillies and curry leaves. When the mustard seeds start to pop, add to the gravy. Adding jaggery enhances the taste so do add it if you have some in hand.

Huge thanks to Seetha aunty for the lovely dinner and for this fantastic pulissery recipe.

Pappadam / Papadom Thoran Recipe

A very simple thoran recipe from Kerala but what makes this special is the fact that Amma made this for me, especially to post on the blog, the day she returned from the hospital after her knee replacement surgery.  The recipe is from Ponnamma, the maid who took care of amma in the hospital. Amma is very adamant, didn't listen to any of us saying she should rest, and went and made this, partially sitting on a chair in the kitchen.

This post is dedicated to her and all other mothers who selflessly love their children.

Pappadam / Papadom Thoran
Serves: 2

Ingredients:
10 pappadam, cut into squares (use clean kitchen scissors)
3 tbsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp urad dal / uzhunnu parippu / ulutham paruppu
1/2 tsp jeera
2 cloves garlic
1/2" piece ginger
1/2 red chilli powder
2 green chillies (adjust to taste)
4 tbsp grated coconut
A few curry leaves
Salt, only if needed

How to Prepare:

1. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the pappadam pieces. Drain and set aside on a kitchen towel.

2. If there's too much oil left, remove some. About 1-2 tsp oil is enough for the rest of the preparation. Add mustard seeds and urad dal to the hot oil. When the mustard seeds pop, add the jeera and the ginger and garlic (crushed together in a pestle and mortar or in a small mixie jar).

3. When the ginger-garlic paste is fried (about 2 mins), add the curry leaves, chilli powder, and the green chillies along with the coconut. Mix well and add the pappadam pieces.

4. Mix again for about a minute, test for salt and add only if needed. The pappadams should be salty enough.

Serve hot and fresh with rice and moru kaachiyathu / curry of choice. If you keep it longer, the papads get soft, but not soggy. Still tasty but I highly recommend that you eat it when still hot and crisp.

Soya Chunks Kurma Recipe

We like soya chunks, for its meaty texture, for its flavour-absorbing nature and for all that protein it hides in there. What we are not a fan of is the smell it gives out. Here are a couple of tips shared by readers in my Chilli Soya Chunks Recipe post. 

- Add some minced garlic to the nuggets and boil in water for 5 mins. Cool, squeeze out extra water and use

- Soak nuggets in a bowl of hot water along with 3-4 spoons of milk - that takes away the raw soya taste and leaves the soya nuggets creamy and smooth.

I have tried and they both work. I used the second method for this recipe. The list of ingredients may seem long but its all pantry staple in an Indian kitchen so you won't need to go running for anything, hopefully :)

Soya Chunks / Meal Maker Kurma Recipe

Serves: 2

Preparation time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

1.5 cup soya chunks

1 large onion, sliced long

1/2 cup chopped mixed vegetables (carrots, pea, beans, cauliflower, anything you have in the fridge)

1/4 cup grated coconut, ground in a mixer

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

2 green chillies

1 tsp red chilli powder (optional, or adjust to taste)

A pinch of turmeric powder

1 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

Spices:

1 bay leaf

2 pods cardamom

3 cloves 

1" piece of cinnamon

1 star anise (optional)

1 tsp roasted jeera / cumin powder

1 tbsp coriander / malli powder

How I Made It:

1. Soak soya chunks in a bowl of hot water along with 3-4 spoons of milk. After about 20 mins, drain, squeeze out all excess water and set aside.

2. Heat oil in a pan and add the sliced onions. Fry until transparent and add all the spices. Fry for 2 mins until the flavour and smell comes out. Then add the ginger garlic paste, turmeric and chilly powder/green chillies. Fry for another 30 mins. 

3. Next, add the ground coconut, mixed vegetables and soya chunks. Mix well and cook closed for about 10-12 mins until the vegetables are soft. There's no need to add any water, the soya chunks will give out water as they cook. 

4. Once the vegetables are done, add salt, lower flame to sim and add the coconut milk. Mix well, bring to a soft boil and remove from fire. 

Goes very well with chapatis, rotis, nan and pulao.

Kadalai Sundal Recipe / Chickpeas Sundal Recipe

This is a Navaratri special recipe. I have never paid much attention to sundal before in my life but one night, I this sudden craving for it, maybe because there was a bowl of soaked and pressure cooked chickpeas in the fridge and I knew this would be done in a jiffy.

Its great as a snack, in addition to being a decent side dish with rice and some gravy. Of course, you can also bookmark it if you are looking for Navaratri Special Recipes.

Sundal Recipe
Serves 2

What I Used:

1 cup chickpeas / kabooli channa, soaked overnight
2 tbsp grated coconut
2 tsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp urad dal / ulutham paruppu / husked and split black gram
2-3 dry red chillies
A few curry leaves
Salt to taste

How I Made It:

1. Pressure cook the chickpeas for 3-4 whistles (until its cooked but still holds its shape). 3 whistles is a safer bit although in Singapore I feel pressure cooking takes more time.

2. Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they start to pop, add the urad dal, red chillies each broken into two and the curry leaves.

3. Once the urad dal turns a golden brown, add the drained chickpeas, coconut and salt. Mix well on medium flame for 3-4 minutes.

4. Serve warm as is or with rice and side dish.

Check out Mochakkottai Sundal Recipe I had posted earlier.

------------------------------------ Note ------------------------------------------

I am reverting to the old template for a while because I am figuring out some technical issues with the new one. A lot of users are not able to reach me through Google Search and I am trying to see if its the issue with the new template or just something else amiss. Will change back in a week's time or so.

Thakkali Thella Pulusu / Tomato Coconut Gravy Recipe

Thella pulusu and vatti pulusu are the two most popular Reddiar curries (kozhambu / pulusu). While growing up, I definitely liked the milder thella pulusu but now, home food means a good thoran with vatti pulusu. Ah yumm. My aatha (amma's amma) used to make the best vatti pulusu (the recipe of which my sis has shared here).

This recipe is actually very similar to Arch's tomato saar recipe that I had posted pics of the other day. But there are some minor differences that  make them taste significantly different.

Considering Reddiars are kinda going extinct, I really should have posted this long back but here goes anyway. I couldn't ask aatha for her exact recipe before she passed away but amma has a pretty good approximation of the recipe so sharing that here.

You can add any vegetable of your choice, the most popular ones being tomatoes, drumsticks, brinjal, etc. I made my favourite, the tomato version with drumsticks. 

Thakkali Thella Pulusu 

Serves 4

What I Used:

1 big tomato, cubed
1 drumstick, cut into 4" pieces
1 cup tamarind water (from a small lime-sized ball of tamarind)
Salt to taste

Grind to a paste:
1/2 cup grated coconut
4-5 shallots / ulli
1/2 tsp jeera
2 dry red chillies
A pinch of turmeric
1 clove of garlic

For tempering:
2 tsp oil
A few fenugreek seeds / uluva / menthayam
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
A few curry leaves
4-5 sliced shallots

How I Made It:

1. Take the tamarind water in a kadai and add the tomatoes and drumsticks to it along with salt. Bring to boil.

2. Add the ground masala paste to this and continue to boil on sim until the drumsticks are soft. This should take about 12-15mins. Add water as necessary to keep the consistency right (same consistency as sambar). Remove and set aside.

3. Heat oil and add all the ingredients for tempering. Once the mustard seeds have popped and the fenugreek seeds are roasted (take care not to burn them!), dunk them into the gravy. Mix well, adjust salt.

Serve hot with rice, mezhukkupuratti and pappadom.

On other news, I am giving away a waffle maker in MMKT and the last date to enter is April 25th 2010 - midnight SG time (GMT + 8:00). So HURRY! 

Broccoli Koottu Recipe

TH and I both love Broccoli. I have no clue why its shown as the vegetable of nightmares in cartoons and comics and what not. Maybe because we didn't grow up on it.

I also love the fact that it cooks super fast. Usually, I make a stir fry with mushrooms and broccoli, or add it to noodles or even pulao.

Last week I was on the phone with amma and she mentioned how her bedhamma (amma's amma) makes a koottu with cauliflower stems. Usually we discard the thick stems but since theirs was a joint family and a big household, they would save up all the stems and make a koottu with just that later on. What a lovely idea!

My mom makes koottu with moong dal that's been roasted a golden brown. In fact, she recommends that I roast moong dal as soon as I buy it and store it that way so that no bugs or ants enter the jar and it lasts forever. 

I decided to take the lone broccoli I had in the fridge and make a koottu with it, stem and all. Easy decision there.

Here's how. 

Broccoli Koottu Recipe

What I Used:

1 broccoli
1/4 cup dry-roasted moong dal / cherupayar
1/4 cup grated coconut or to taste
1/4 cup shallots
3 green chillies
1/2 tsp jeera / jeerakam
A pinch of turmeric powder

To temper:

2 tsp oil (I used coconut oil)
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
4 shallots, chopped
A few curry leaves

How I Made It:

1. Cut the broccoli florets out first. Peel off the thick skin on the stem and chop the rest into small pieces. Wash and set aside.

2. Grind the coconut coarsely with the shallots, jeera, green chillies and turmeric. Don't add any water to it.

3. Heat oil for tempering and add the rest of the ingredients. Once the mustard seeds pop and the shallots turn transparent, add the ground coconut and fry for a minute. To this, add the moong dal, 1/2 cup water and cook closed on a low fire for 10-12 mins.

4. Check the moong dal to see if its soft and add the broccoli with some salt. Cook on an open fire until the broccoli is soft. We like it semi-soft so I cooked it for lesser time. Adjust according to your liking.

Serve warm with rice and some curry.

Ellu Sadam / Sesame Rice Recipe

I love sesame seeds. Whenever a recipe calls for 1 tsp of it, I dunk in 1 tbsp. The same goes for coriander powder but that's a totally different topic that should be discussed in a different context. For now, let's stick to sesame seeds rice.

I am a huge sucker for variety rice. I am very South Indian like that I guess. But this is one recipe I had never heard of until I was gifted Chandra Padmanabhan's 'Southern Spice'.

In ingenious and I am still wondering why it took me this long to finally get to it.

Its great to pack for a trip and tastes best at room temperature with some raita. Now, how many South Indian Variety Rice recipes can you say this for?

Ellu Sadam / Sesame Rice Recipe

Source: Southern Spice by Chandra Padmanabhan

What I Used:

1 cup cooked rice

For the Spice Powder:

1/2 cup white sesame seeds / til / ellu

2 tbsp grated coconut

4 dry red chillies

1 tsp oil

For Tempering:

2 tbsp gingelly oil / nallennai

1 tsp mustard seeds

3 tbsp shelled peanuts

1/2 tsp cumin seeds / jeera

2 dry red chillies, halved

1 tsp urad dal / ulutham paruppu

1 tsp channa dal / kadala paruppu

A few curry leaves

How I Made It:

1. Dry roast the sesame seeds and grated coconut separately in a pan until nicely browned. Add oil for spice powder and lightly fry the red chillies, taking care not to burn them. Cool, grind to a fine powder and set aside.

2. Heat oil for tempering and add the roasted peanuts. When almost fried and brown, add the rest of the ingredients. When the mustard seeds pop and the dals turn golden, remove from heat.

3. Stir in the rice and the spice powder. Serve at room temperature with raita.

This goes to Priya's Cooking With Sesame Seeds Event.

Pacha Andi / Raw Cashewnuts Aviyal Recipe

I am running out of recipes in draft! Although I have a zillion recipes bookmarked and ingredients for some of them, I am just not in the groove yet. In laws are visiting for a week so hopefully I can get some nice recipes from the MIL.

Anyway, this one is from my trip to Kottayam in August. The pics were hiding in my "Kottayam Holiday" folder so went totally unnoticed.

Pacha andi, or raw cashewnuts are not easily available and from what I know, are seasonal, in addition to being quite expensive. We have a man who delivers this to all our relatives' houses in Kerala, he has a thick moustache and a gruff voice. Last time I asked amma, she said he is getting old and obviously his son doesn't want to get into the "family business". When I was a kid, raw cashewnuts used to be 200 rupees for one kilo. Now they are about 290-300rs.

They are quite nice to eat as is, crunchy and fresh. When cooked, they turn a bit mushy and pasty (in a good way).

The only thing we ever make with this is aviyal. The recipe is exactly same as amma's Chakkakkuru Aviyal Recipe. The two changes you need to make are, since the cashewnuts cook quicker, you may only need about 5 mins boiling time. Also, add an extra 1/2 tsp red chilli powder since these are slightly sweet.

Oh and also, if you are unable to get your hands on some raw cashewnuts, soak some dried ones in water for atleast 2 hours and follow the same recipe :)

Chakkakkuru Aviyal / Jackfruit Seeds Aviyal Recipe

I love chakkakkuru! As I had posted earlier in my Jackfruit seeds in Lentils recipe, its not easy to get it here in Singapore. But the story is entirely different in Kerala. My mom usually has an entire ripe jackfruit sent to her by friends of the family and it will be waiting, ripe and fragrant in the kitchen corner, ready to be attacked. Fresh slices are eaten then and there and the leftovers stored away to make chakka varatti and kumbil appam and what not.

The seeds are, of course, collected and sun dried before it goes into dishes like aviyal and mezhukkupuratti. Chakkakkuru aviyal is my absolute favourite and this time when I went to Kottayam, amma made it for me. This is her recipe and the picture was taken in Kottayam in amma's rustic old steel bowl.

Chakkakkuru Aviyal Recipe

Serves: 4 as a side dish

What Is Needed:

20 Jackfruit seeds/Chakkakkuru

1 drumstick, cut into 3" pieces

1 cup grated coconut

8-10 small onions/shallots sliced long

2 cloves crushed garlic

3/4 tsp red chilli powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/4 tsp jeera/cumin powder

To temper:

2 tbsp oil, preferably coconut oil

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

A few curry leaves

How Its Made:

1. Soak thejackfruit seeds in water for at least 2 hours and scrape the brown skin off. Chop each into four.

2. Place the jackfruit seeds, drumsticks, half the sliced shallots, turmeric powder, chilli powder and jeera powder in a pan with 1 cup water. Cook on medium heat until the drumsticks and jackfruit seeds turn soft (not mushy). This will take about 10-12 mins depending on the seeds you are using. Add water if the mixture gets too dry.

3. Once this gets cooked, add the coconut and garlic and cook on low heat for another 5 mins until well combined. Add salt. At this time, the aviyal will be quite dry.

4. Heat oil in a pan and add the ingredients for tempering. Once the mustard seeds pop, add to the aviyal, mix well and serve.

Serve with warm rice and curry of your choice. My mom's version of the aviyal is more dry and that's the way I like it. When she makes the more popular chakkakkuru maanga aviyal / jackfruit seeds and tender mango aviyal, it is more watery and the colour/flavour is significantly different.

Thakkali Muringakka Aviyal Recipe / Tomato and Drumsticks in Coconut

I don't know if this a common Kerala recipe but ever since I can remember amma has been making this a quick side dish for Chicken Biryani. Her rationale is, biryani is intense and doesn't have coconut and any Malayali should know that we always pair curries with coconut and without coconut together, to balance the flavours.

Amma sent me the recipe through my uncle who typed it out while she listed the things to be done. The picture was taken in Kottayam when I was there this August and amma made it, not me :)

Thakkali Muringakka Aviyal Recipe

Source: My mom

Preparation time: 30 mins

What Is Needed:

4 tomatoes, sliced into six long pieces

1 drumstick / muringakka, cut into 3" pieces

1/2 cup grated coconut

12 peeled shallots / chinna vengaayam / cheriya ulli

2 flakes garlic

1/4 tsp jeera / cumin seeds / jeerakam

1 tsp red chilly powder

A few curry leaves

1/4 tsp mustard seeds / kaduku

1 tbsp oil (preferably coconut oil)

How Its Made:

1. Add the chopped drumstick to about 1 cup water with with some salt and the chilly powder. Keep on a medium flame and cook until soft. The mixture shouldn't be too watery, so if it is, boil some more on a low flame.

2. To this, add the cut tomatoes and cook some more until the tomatoes begin to soften.

3. Grind together - coconut + jeera + garlic to a coarse paste.

4. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the shallots and curry leaves. Fry for about 2 mins, until the shallots soften.

5. Next, add the ground coconut paste and fry for another 1 min. To this, add the drumstick and tomatoes. Mix well. Simmer for 2-3 mins until well combined. Adjust salt.

Serve hot with steamed white rice or chicken biryani.

Condensed Milk 'Cupcake' Recipe

I think I should call these condensed milk 'chews' because they were quite chewy and don't really follow a cupcake recipe. I was wanting to make Mom's Delight but ended up mixing up the ingredients and baking them in muffin cups. The result was delightful.

I love desserts made with condensed milk or marie biscuits. The combination definitely makes it better! A quick evening snack for kids if you have all the ingredients in hand.

Condensed Milk Cupcakes or Chews

Makes about 10

What I Used:

Powdered Marie biscuits - 2 cups (you can also use digestive biscuits)

Sweetened condensed milk - 3/4 to 1 cup, depending on how sweet you sweet tooth is

Butter - 1 tbsp

Cocoa powder - 3 tbsp

Coarsely powdered almonds - 1/4 cup (use any dry nuts you have in hand or a mix of them)

Grated coconut - 2 tbsp

Milk - as required

A pinch of salt

How I Made It:

1. Mix butter into the powdered marie biscuits with your fingertips. You will get a crumb-like mixture. To this, add the powdered almonds, coconut, salt and cocoa powder and mix well.

2. Add condensed milk slowly to the above. Mix well using fingers until well incorporated. Don't worry if its sticky, its supposed to be.

3. If the above mixture is a bit too dry, add 1 or 2 tbsp of milk to loosen it up just a bit. The mixture shouldn't be too lose, just of scooping consistency.

4. Grease muffin cups generously and add one spoonful of the mixture to each. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 20 mins.

Enjoy warm!

By the way, winner of Rujuta Diwekar's book has been announced here. Congrats winner! :)

Beetroot Pachadi Recipe

I made this pachadi the weekend after SJ posted hers here. The reason it took so long to see the light of day is because mine turned out a bit too watery. I used home-made plain yogurt that had turned slightly sour, which is good, but it was also a bit watery and not thick like store-bought one.

Bottom line is, it tasted good but didn't look very glam. And these days I am obsessed with making food look good. Please ignore the pictures on this one and try out the easy pachadi recipe when you have some beetroots lying around :)

Beetroot Pachadi Recipe
Serves: 2
Source: Masala Vade

What I Used:

1 cup grated beetroot
2-3 green chillies
1/3 cup coconut
1.5 tsp mustard seeds
1.5 cups curds or plain yogurt
Salt to taste

For tempering:

Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - a pinch
Curry leaves - a few

How I Made It:

1. Cook the grated beetroot with some water till soft.

2. Grind the coconut with the green chillies and mustard seeds into a smooth paste using 1/4 cup curds.

3. Add the above paste to the cooked and cooled beetroots. Add the rest of the curds and salt.

4. Heat oil for tempering in a pan and add the curry leaves and mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start popping, add it to the pachadi. Mix well.

Thenga Sadam / Coconut Rice Recipe

Thenga sadam is probably one of my favourite mixed rice dishes. I had it the first time at my sister's in-law's place around the time her wedding got fixed. Amma had never made it before at home (even though we were in the land of the coconuts!) but after that day, this became an occasional treat at home. Its really a simple rice dish and something you can whip up in 10-15 mins if you have cooked rice ready. 

Thenga Sadam / Coconut Rice

Serves: 2

What I Used:

Cooked rice : 4 cups

Grated coconut - 1 cup (frozen works too)

Salt - to taste

For spice powder:

Chana dal / kadala paruppu - 1 tbsp

Urad dal / uzhunnu parippu - 1 tbsp

Dry red chillies - 2 to 3

For tempering:

Coconut oil - 1 tbsp (or any oil you have in hand)

Chana dal / kadala paruppu - 1 tsp

Hing / asafoetida / perungaayam

Dry red chillies - 1, halved

Curry leaves - a few

For garnishing:

3 crushed appalam / papadom (optional)

How I Made It:

1. Dry roast the ingredients for spice powder until the dals turn golden and the red chillies are nicely browned. 

2. Cool and powder coarsely with salt. 

3. Heat oil in a pan and add ingredients for tempering along with the coconut. When it turns golden brown, remove from fire. 

4. Add the roasted coconut mixture and the spice mixture to the cooked rice and mix well. Adjust salt. 

5. Add crushed fried appalam or papadom before serving. 

Rush in your rice recipes (mixed rice, biryani, pulao, poha, rice flour, etc) for this month's Monthly Mingle - Ravishing Rice event at Edible Garden. Last date for entries is June 15, 2009. 

Cabbage Poriyal Recipe

In a previous post, I had mentioned how I used think that poriyal is just the tamil term for thoran and then later realized there are subtle differences in the recipes. I have posted thoran recipes here before and that's a very common recipe for almost all thoran dishes I make. TH prefers poriyal since that's what he is used to. Cabbage poriyal is the most often made in my kitchen. 

Cabbage Poriyal Recipe

Serves 2-3

What I Used:

Shredded cabbage - 2 cups

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup (fresh or frozen)

Dry red chillies - 2 to 3

Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Chana dal / kadala paruppu / split chickpeas - 1 tsp

Hing / asafoetida / perungayam - a pinch (optional)

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Curry leaves - a few

Salt - to taste

How I Made It:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, chana dal, curry leaves, red chillies torn into pieces and the hing. Keep the fire of low and make sure the chillies don't burn.  

2. Once mustard seeds start popping, add the shredded cabbage, grated coconut and turmeric powder to the above and cook closed on medium flame until almost soft. You can sprinkle some water if necessary. Make sure you check the water level in between. Cabbage gives out water when cooking so don't add too much to begin with.  

3. Add salt. Keep on low flame and stir occasionally until the water content leaves the cabbage and coconut and the dish becomes dry - about 4-5 mins. 

Serve hot with rice and kuzhambu. 

Cabbage Poriyal is my entry to Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Marija of Palachinka. You can find the event details on Haalo's site here. 

I also sending this to RCI - Jain Cuisine, the brainchild of Lakshmi, hosted by PJ this month. This recipe doesn't have any of the forbidden ingredients for Jains and is sattvic, just like the event demands :)