Vishu Katta/Pachor/Coconut rice cakes/Rice cakes with coconut milk

Ingredients

Basmati Rice/Raw Rice - 1 1/2 cups

Thick extract of coconut milk - 1 cup (3/4 cup of tinned Eastern coconut milk + 1/4 cup of water)

Thin extract of coconut milk -  4 cups (1 cup of tinned Eastern coconut milk + 3 cups of water)

Cumin seeds - A pinch

Salt - as needed

Jaggery syrup - To pour over vishu katta before serving.


Method

Cook rice along with thin extract of coconut milk. When the rice is half cooked, add thick extract of coconut milk, cumin seeds and salt. When the rice is cooked and coconut milk is all absorbed. Remove it from stove and spread it on to a greased plate. Leave it for sometime to set.

Cut vishu katta in desired pieces and serve with jaggery syrup.

Jaggery syrup is made by heating desired amount of jaggery with water. Allow it to thicken a little, but it should still have a liquid consistency so that you can enjoy it by pouring over vishu katta.

• For a more tastier vishu katta or if serving as a dessert, try increasing the amount of coconut milk, i.e.,  Thin extract of coconut milk -  4 cups (2 cups of tinned Eastern coconut milk + 2 cups of water)

Pazham appam/Steamed rice cake with ripe banana

Ingredients

Rice flour/Appam podi - 3 cups

Thin extract of coconut milk - 5 1/2 cups.

Thick extract of coconut milk - 1/2 cup (Thick coconut milk is used to pour over the batter to give a creamy texture)

Sugar -3 tbsp

Banana/Nendrapazham/Ethappazham - 2 or 3

Cardamom powder

Method

Mix 2 cups of thick coconut milk and 2 1/2 cups of water to make 51/2 cups of thin extract of coconut milk.

Mix rice flour, 5 1/2 cups of thin extract of coconut milk, salt, sugar, and cardamom powder to make a watery batter.

Grease a steel plate with oil, pour this batter and sprinkle some chopped banana, and thick coconut milk of about 2 tbsp. Steam this for 15 minutes. Remove appams from steamer, cut into bite size pieces and enjoy.

Continue steaming the remaining batter in batches, sprinkling chopped banana, and pouring 2 tbsp of thick coconut milk.

You can use idli molds to make mini appams the same way shown below.

Mutta Aappam

When you buy a uniyappam chatti, of course you make uniyappam (a popular snack from Kerala), then what with the uniyappam chatti, you make paniyaram, next in line could be these mutta aapams. This is just a treat for people who are curry mad as mutta aappams pair well with almost all your favorite curries.

So what say about popping some curry drenched mutta aappams to your mouth.

Ingredients
Raw rice - 2 cups

Cooked rice - 1 cup

Small Banana/Cheru pazham - 1 No.

Egg - 1 No.

Salt - as required

Bicarbonate of soda - 1/4 tsp

Oil - as required

Method
Soak raw rice for 2 hours. After 2 hours,  put soaked rice  in a blender along with cooked rice, egg, banana, and salt. Grind this to the consistency of dosa batter (add water to retain the dosa batter consistency). Now add bicarbonate of soda and mix this well. Keep this aside.

Heat nonstick unniyappam chatti and add a drop of oil in the hole, now pour the batter to the holes. Cook till it gives a light brown color on one side. Turn it to the other side and cook till it gets a light brown color.

Serve this with beef curry, chicken fry, or duck fry.

Ila Ada/Dumplings in banana leaf/Vazhayila Ada/Ela Ada

For the very Keralite in me, who loves chakka, manga, thenga, and vazhayila (Jackfruit, mango, coconuts, and banana leaf) and all things manglish. Ila Ada can be summarized as Kerala in a bowl with banana leaf, rice flour, and jackfruit preserve. Let me make it easy, Ila Ada is a dumpling made of rice flour with some filling cooked in with the goodness of banana leaf.

Eating it took me back home  and I enjoyed basking in the memory of good old days when banana leaves and jackfruit were not foreign to us.

Here is the recipe for dumplings in banana leaf.

INGREDIENTS FOR ADA
Rice flour - 3 cups
Water - 4 cups
Salt as needed

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING
Chakka Varatti/Jackfruit preserve/Jackfruit jam

Banana leaves to make Ila Ada

Method
In a pot, boil water. Add boiling water to the rice flour. Add some salt. Allow it to stand for a minute. When water is warm, you can start working on the dough with a spoon first and then with your hands. This results in a smooth dough. Now make balls out of the dough. Take a clean banana leaf and flatten the dough to form a flat disc. Now use chakka varatti as a filling and fold the ada along with the leaf. Continue the same process with the remaining dough, making balls, flattening the dough, and folding the banana leaf.  Keep all the packed banana leaves nicely tucked in a steamer. Using a steamer, cook this for 14-15 minutes. (The cooking time depends on how thick or thin you made the ada). When it is cooked, open the banana leaves, and serve the adas, fresh, hot or cold.

Coconut chutney

Ingredients

To Grind
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Ginger chopped - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 stalk
Green chillies - 3 Nos.
Pearl onions - 3 Nos.
Pottukadalai/roasted chana dal - 2 tbsp

For tempering
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 stalk
Dry red chillies - 2 Nos.

Method
In a blender, grind grated coconut, ginger, curry leaves, green chillies, pearl onions, and pottukadalai. Keep this aside.

Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds. Now add curry leaves and dry red chillies. Pour the paste which is set aside into this. Add water and salt if necessary. When the curry is about to boil, switch off the stove and serve hot with idlis, dosas.

Kanchipuram Idli/Kancheepuram idli

The one and only one Kanchipuram Saree I ever had was as exquisite as a Kanchipuram idli. Again, I am not complaining, I just stuck with one and only one as I was not fond of tying it.

Kanchi Idli, which I made to my hearts content seemed like a subtle artwork to have a telltale behind them just like some expensive handwoven sarees lacking the sheen, and may have hundreds and thousands of stories to tell about its origins. It tasted more like a steamed medhu vada, dotted with peppercorns and cumin. 

My understanding about Kanchipuram was limited to my roommate who finished her studies in Kanchi. According to her, Kanchi is worth a visit and one should not miss on the temples of Kanchi as it is fondly called City of 1000 temples. Now my own understanding was all about the sarees, which is hugely famous and occasionally tied just like Kanchipuram idlis are occasionally made in my home.

I even remember once mummy made this Kanchi idlis and the unappreciative kid in me gave her a what on earth look ………... During my term as a kid, even eating felt like a chore that was much alien to me. However, hesitant I was, idlis kept coming to our table every week. Needless to say, I fell for the routine.

Let bygones be bygones. Now I am far from that struggling, fussy, unappreciative kid.  When I became a teenager, someone gave me the idea that eating idlis are not only healthy, but it can keep your skin intact, away from pimples.  Also, by that time, highly experimental lady at home started making amazing Sambhars which kind of clicked my palate. So I am not quite sure if the love of idli started because of sambhar or the worry of me turning into a pimple prone girl.


Now our weeks are not complete without steaming idlis and a small pot of sambar, though Abbey is not a big fan of idlis, I think she will slowly drift into the routine. 

Recipe source here

Ingredients

Idli rice - 2 cups

Urad dal - 1/2 cup

Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp

Cooking soda - a pinch (optional)

Curd - 2 tsp

Salt to taste


For tempering
Cumin seeds - 2 tsp

Asafoetida - 1 pinch

Grated ginger - 1 tsp

Pepper - 1 tsp

Cashews - 10 chopped 

Curry leaves, roughly chopped - 6 Nos.

Oil - 2 tsp

Method
Soak rice in a bowl for 4-5 hours and grind them. Soak urad dal and fenugreek seeds in another bowl for 4-5 hours and grind them. Now combine the batter of rice and urad dal. Add 2 tsp of salt into the batter and give it a nice stir. Let it ferment overnight. 

Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan, add the ingredients given under tempering. Pour this above the fermented batter, which has risen. Add curd. Add salt and a pinch of sodium bicarbonate if needed and give it a stir. Pour the batter into the idli moulds and steam for 20 minutes (check in between if you are not sure).Remove the idlis and serve with coconut chutney.  

Kozhukuttundai/Kozhukattai/Rice dumplings with sweet filling

Ingredients to make the dumpling
Rice flour - 3 cups
Water - 4 cups
Salt as needed

Ingredients for the filling
Grated coconut - 1 whole coconut
Jaggery - approximately 500 gm
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

How to prepare the filling - Melt jaggery with 1/2 cup of water. Now pass this through a sieve to remove all the impurities. Now transfer the jaggery syrup to the stove and allow it to thicken. When it is about to reach a one-thread consistency, add grated coconut and cardamom powder. Mix well. (Mixture should be really thick and no water should remain, basically you say, varattuka).

How to make the rice dumpling - In a pot, boil water. Add boiling water to the rice flour. Allow it to stand. When water is less hot, mix the water and flour thoroughly with your hands to make a smooth dough. Now make lemon sized balls out of the dough. Flatten the ball by pressing it with your fingers. Add the filling to it and make a pouch shape/cup shape of it (here you think about the pouch we use with a string on top) and close it on top. Using a steamer, steam the dumplings for about 15-17 minutes.

Vishu Kanji/Vishu Porridge

I love a fair portion of my starchy bites in the morning. You can see my love for the same here and here. Vishu Kanji is a new addition to my family, although Vishu Katta aka Pachoru is loved by everyone.

The festive occasion started with a breakfast Kanji. The morning was not really about Kanji. It was all about the preparations that went into my bowl of Kanji to be photographed, cleaning the mutkas, filling it up with dals.  If last Christmas I was on a hunt for orange peels, the day before Vishu like a maniac I was on a hunt for Val dal. Luckily it was a success as I returned with 2 packets of same. I am definitely a person who finds solace in search of cooking ingredients. My overstocked pantry says it all. So what about the determined Moms who is working on my serious condition. Good news is that half of my kitchen is clean except for the baking goodies being untouched for the fear of my in-laws’ high glycemic levels. 

Ingredients
Rose matta/Red parboiled rice - 1 cup
Raw rice - 1 cup
Puliavarakkai/Val dal - 1/2 cup
Thin coconut milk - 1 cup (1/2 cup thick coconut milk + 1/2 cup water)
Thick coconut milk - 1/2 cup
Grated coconut for garnishing

Method
Dry roast dal on a stove top. Using a blender, crush roasted dal and reduce them to coarse grainy bits (Don't powder them). Keep them aside. Wash rose matta rice. Pressure cook rose matta rice. When the rice is more than half cooked, add the raw rice and crushed dal and cook them. Open the pressure cooker when it is all cooked and reaches a porridge consistency. Now add thin coconut milk and boil them well. Now add thick coconut milk and switch off the stove. Serve with grated coconut.

It is good to go with aviyal and thoran. Vishu Kanji is very tasty, can be had its own as a stand alone dish.

Alternatively, cook rose matta rice and raw rice separately. Cook crushed dals with water. When everything is cooked, combine both rice and crushed dals. Add thin coconut milk and give it a nice boil. Now add thick coconut milk just before it starts to boil. Serve this with grated coconut.

I highly recommend Kanji to all Moms out there with hyperactive kids to get going without fear of weighing scales moving faster. 

Kerala Kadala curry/Kerala black chana curry/varutharacha kadala curry/Black chana in roasted coconut gravy

I like to call this curry a posh cousin to our everyday kadala curry. If you have friends like us who think Kerala cuisine is all about puttu, can talk endlessly about how tasty puttu is, and painstakingly learn the entire process of puttu making, pass on this recipe to them. Let them create Kerala heaven in their homes with smell of roasting coconut wafting through air. Don't forget to gift them a puttu maker.

Ingredients
Kadala/Black chana - 1 1/2 cups
Onion sliced - 1 medium
Garlic - 2 cloves
Ginger - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 1-2
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Coconut oil
Salt

To Roast and grind

Grated coconut - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp

Method
Soak black chana overnight. Pressure cook chana along with salt and water. Keep it aside.

Heat a pan, dry roast grated coconut. In between the roasting process, add 1 tsp of coconut oil and fry till it turns brown in colour (don't burn it). Switch off the stove. Now add coriander powder, chilli powder, garam masala powder, and turmeric powder. Mix them well. Allow it to cool. Now grind them in a blender.

Heat oil in a pan, crackle mustard seeds. Saute onion. When onion turns translucent, add garlic, ginger, green chillies, and curry leaves. Stir them well. When onion turns light brown in color, add ground mixture to this. Saute for 1 minute. Now add cooked black chana along with water and allow it to boil. When the gravy starts to thicken, switch off the stove. Transfer this to a bowl and serve hot with steaming puttu.

Kanji soup with trio of dals

There is something immensely satisfying about this soup that makes you want to reach out for a second helping. Excellent for winters with right balance of flavors to keep you warm and give you one of a kind Ayurvedic experience.

This is a Granny recipe and is very much précised (not my Granz, hey, she is in heaven) and cooking this is a proof of how meticulously she had spun the recipe with love.

Of course, Grannies are smart and should be ……….. they can’t be wrong, they have lived and seen life waaaay more than you and I can imagine.

So here goes my kisses and hugs to the unknown author of Kanji soup recipe – you made my mornings happy, tummy full, and gratifying with always more on the table.

This used to be my life saver congee recipe with less ingredients before this Kanji Soup arrived.  If you felt my last recipe was way too bland for your palate, then this could be the one for you. 

So are you ready with your soup ladle to pour some extra soup for your loved ones. If so, stock up your pantry before heading to heat up your soup pot aka pressure cooker here. 

Ingredients 1

Cracked wheat - 100 gm
 Raw rice  - 50gm
 Moong dal - 50gm
 Urad dal - 50gm
 Toor dal  - 50gm 

Ingredients 2

Garlic cloves (small) - 10 nos

Chopped pearl onions/kunjulli  - 5 nos
Chopped ginger - 1 inch piece

Coriander powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 /4 tsp
Pepper powder  - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds -1  1 /2 tsp

Ingredients 3

3) Ground coconut paste - 1 /2 of a coconut    Salt as needed

Method
Assemble all the ingredients. Wash and clean ingredients 1 and place them in a pressure cooker.
Now add rest of the ingredients 2 as shown above.  Add enough water. Cook until one whistle, then lower the flame and cook for 5 more minutes.  Switch off the stove. After 15 minutes , open the pressure cooker and add ground coconut,  salt and water as needed.  Now keep  in low flame for 5 minutes. Kanji soup is ready. Serve hot or else it will become too thick (will lose the soup consistency).

Poori Masala/Poori Bhaji

INGREDIENTS FOR POORI
Wheat flour - 2 cups
Salt
Water to knead the dough

Method
Mix wheat flour and salt with water and knead them to make soft dough. Shape the dough with hands to make balls. Roll them into rounds. Heat oil in a kadai, deep fry to get puffed light brown color pooris. Drain this onto a kitchen towel to absorb excess oil. Serve hot with poori masala/bhaji.

INGREDIENTS FOR POORI MASALA/POORI BHAJI
Potatoes - 2 big
Onion chopped - 1 medium
Green chillies - 4-6
Tomato - 1 medium
Curry leaves
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Oil
Salt

Method
Clean the potatoes to remove any dirt, don't peel them. Pressure cook potatoes cutting them into half till 3-4 whistles. Open the pressure cooker, peel and mash the potatoes.

Heat oil in a pan, allow mustard seeds and urad dal to splutter. Saute onion, green chillies, and curry leaves. When onion turns transparent, add turmeric powder. Now add tomatoes chopped. When the tomatoes are sauteed (don't make them too mushy), add little water.  When the curry starts to boil, add mashed potatoes and salt. When the curry turns thick, switch off the stove. Serve hot with fluffy pooris.

Note:- The consistency of poori masala can be changed by the addition or reduction of water.

Cracked wheat upma/dalia upma

We were so into parties and travels; it seemed like fun, but now all I am left with is little-to-no health. It feels so different to be away from routine. Yeah, I know everyone needs to liven up oneself – refreshing and nourishing works to be done. But too much of anything is not good ......right fellas…..So after back-to-back travels and Abbey’s b’day parties, I feel I am not fitting into the niche of a homemaker. 

Oh my God! cupboards are all disorganized. Lots of cleaning and organizing to be done. Hope I will be back to square one soon. 

When home is not organized and less chi flowing, it is hard to think straight and right….I am short of ideas….Good Lord help me….Gail is in bed fast asleep. Well, new Mommie is trying to make life easy and I am afraid new mommie tag  will be taken off  soon as Gail is officially declared 2 and making excuses will be impossible from now on. 

So back to kitchen for some easy peasy wheat upma.  

Ingredients
Broken wheat/Dalia - 1 cup
Onion - 1 medium
Green chillies - 3 nos
Ginger chopped - 1 small piece
Vegetables, (fresh or frozen) (carrots, beans, peas, and corn) - 1/2 cup
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Curry leaves
Oil
Salt

Directions
Pressure cook broken wheat/dalia till one whistle.
Heat oil in a pan, crackle mustard seeds followed by urad dal. Saute onion, green chillies, and ginger. When the onion turns translucent, add frozen vegetables. Close the lid, lower the flame, and allow the steam to pass through the vegetables. (If you are using fresh veggies, give more time to cook). When the vegetables are cooked, add cracked wheat, which is already cooked. Mix well.

Serve hot with a dollop of ghee, coriander leaves, and grated coconut. Add some pomegranate kernels if you have all the time in the world, believe me..... it tastes too good.