Erissery – Pumpkin Curry with Black Eyed Peas
Erissery is an authentic dish from Kerala and one of the important dishes prepared for Onam Sadya. You can prepare this dish with pumpkin or chenai (yam) or raw plantain. The cow peas or the red beans added to this dish makes it more nutritious and healthy. Serve this delicious curry with rice or roti. Preparation time: 40 minutes No. of servings: 4 Spice level: 2.5 out of 5 Ingredients: 1″ Cubed Pumpkin – 2 cups Cow peas or Van payar or Red beans – 1/3 cup Curry leaves – one sprig Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp Coconut oil – 1 tsp Turmeric powder – a pinch Salt to taste To Grind: Shredded coconut – 1/4 cup Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp Green chili – 2 Method of Preparation: Grind coconut, cumin and green chilies to a fine paste with...
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Olan Recipe – Winter Melon Coconut Stew
Olan is a traditional dish from Kerala Cuisine. It is made for special occasions such as Onam, weddings, etc. It is one of the most simplest dish you can make. It has winter melon, red cowpeas, coconut milk which is flavored with green chili, coconut oil and curry leaves. You can serve this dish as a side with rice and sambar/rasam or any variety rice. Preparation time: 30 minutes No. of servings: 3 Spice level: 2 out of 5 Ingredients: Cubed winter melon – 1 cup Cooked red cowpeas (karamani or vanpayar) – 1/4 cup Green chili – 1 or 2 (adjust to taste) Thick coconut milk – 1 cup Salt to taste Coconut oil – 1 tsp Method of Preparation: Peel the skin and chop winter melon into small cubes. Wash and pressure cook cowpeas with 3/4 cup...
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Vendakkai Pachadi – Okra Pachadi
Vendakkai Pachadi or Okra Pachadi is a delicious yogurt based side dish. It is very easy to make and one of the few minutes wonders. Pachadi is considered one of the important dish in any traditional feast in South India. You can make pachadi with fresh vegetable such as beetroot, winter melon, cucumber, carrot, etc. Serve this pachadi with rice, dosa, idli or roti. Preparation time: 30 minutes No.of servings: 3 Spice level: 1.5 out of 5 Ingredients: Chopped okra or lady’s finger – 2 cups Shredded coconut – 3 tbsp Green chili – 1 Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp Plain yogurt or curd – 3/4 cup Oil – 1 tsp Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp A few curry leaves Method of Preparation: Wash and let the okra dry. Chop the ends and and cut it into slices. Heat...
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Kalan – Onam Sadya Special
Kalan or Kaalan is a traditional dish from Kerala, South India. It is a creamy dish made with plantain, yam and coconut spice mixture. Coconut plays an important part in Kerala cuisine. Most of the dishes calls for coconut in some way or the other. I made this dish for the Onam festival and it came out very well. Though the recipe is simple the flavors are amazing. If you carefully follow the steps you will achieve the right taste. You can serve it with rice and papad or any thoran/poriyal. I like to eat it with even rotis. Give this recipe a try and you will love it. Preparation time: 30 minutes No. of servings: 5 Spice level: 2.5 out of 5 Ingredients: Raw plantain (Vazhakkai) – 1 Cubed Yam (Chenai or Suran) – 1 cup Black pepper...
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Elavan Mathan Pachadi – Pumpkin and Melon Curry
Elavan Mathan Pachadi is again a simple and traditional Palakad dish which is generally served with rice and Milagootal. Winter Melon (ash gourd) and Pumpkin are known as “Elavan or Kumbalanga” and “Mathan or Mathanga” respectively in Malayalam. This pachadi can also be served with any type of rice or roti. Both pumpkin and ash gourd are nutritious vegetables. So this is a perfect way to add these vegetables to your daily diet. Preparation time: 30 minutes No. of servings: 6 Spice level: 3 out of 6 Ingredients: Elavan (winter melon) – 1 cup Mathan or parangikkai – 1 cup Whole tamarind – small lemon size Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp Shredded coconut – 1/4 cup Mustard seeds – 1 tsp Green chilies – 1 Oil – 1 tsp Dried chili – 1 A few curry leaves Salt to...
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Sabudana Kheer – Sago Kheer
Happy Tamil New Year and Vishu to all our readers… Today is Tamil Varusha Paruppu or Tamil New Year and tomorrow is Vishu, which is the new year festival celebrated in Kerala. I made sabudana payasam which is one of my favorite dessert. I like the chewy texture of it in the kheer. It is simple and yummy. Here you go… Preparation time: 60 minutes No. of Servings: 8 Ingredients: Sabudana or javvarisi – 1/2 cup (any size) Milk – 4 and 1/2 cups (I used 2% milk) Sugar – 1/2 cup Ghee or clarified butter – 2 tsp Cashew nut – 1 tbsp Raisins – 1 tbsp Method of Preparation: Heat a tsp of ghee in a pan and fry sabudana till it puffs up. On the other side boil 2 cups of water in a sauce pan....
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Idichakka Thoran – Unripe Jackfruit dry Curry
Jackfruit is a fleshy, starchy, fibrous fruit. This is commonly used in Indian Cuisine. ‘Idichakka’ means unripe jackfruit and ‘Thoran’ means fry. Both ripe jackfruit and unripe jackfruit are used for making delicious dishes. Ripe jackfruit can be eaten uncooked. Here in the U.S., fresh and frozen Jackfruit are available in most of the Asian or Global market. From Wikipedia: The young fruit is called Polos in Sri Lanka, and ‘Idichakka” in Kerala. It is a wonderful dish with spices to replace meat curries in Sri Lankan cuisine. The skin of unripe (young) jack fruit must be pared first and discarded and then the whole fruit can be chopped into edible portions and cooked to be eaten. The raw young fruit is not edible.[24] Young jackfruit has a mild flavour and distinctive texture. The cuisines of India, Nepal, Bangladesh,...
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Morkuzhambu
Morkuzhambu (Yogurt and Spiced Coconut Curry) is a popular dish in Tamil Nadu and Kerala (South India). It plays an important role in the traditional wedding menu and festivals. It can be prepared quickly and easily. Vegetables such as okra, colocasia, chayote, squash, winter melon are generally used for making this dish. Cook the vegetable accordingly before adding it to the sauce. Yogurt or buttermilk can be used to make this dish. If you want it to be thick and creamy use yogurt (2% or whole milk). For a less fat version, use low fat butter milk or yogurt. This dish is served with cooked rice and papad or thogayal (chutney). Preparation time: 30 minutes. No. of servings: 6 Spice level: 2.5 out of 5 Ingredients: Plain yogurt – 4 cups Shredded coconut – 3/4 cup (preferred fresh or frozen)...
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Paal payasam
Paal Payasam is a delicious Indian dessert also known as Rice Kheer. It is a traditional dish made for special occasions and festival times. Rice is cooked in milk and reduced to a rich creamy texture. If you have less time to prepare this dish you can use condensed milk instead of sugar which takes only a few minutes to thicken. Preparation time: Ingredients: White Rice/Basmati rice – 1/4 cup Milk – 6 cups Sugar – 1/2 to 3/4 cup Broken cashew nuts – 1 tbsp Saffron – 5 to 6 strings Ghee or clarified butter – 2 tsp Method of preparation: Heat a teaspoon of ghee in a pressure cooker and add rice. Roast it for a few minutes until a nice aroma starts spreading. Rice should not change color. Add a cup of milk and pressure cook...
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