Brinjal/Egg plant fry

Ingredients:-

Brinjal Medium Size                                   – 5

Channa dal/Spilt chick peas                      - 2 tablespoon

Red dry chillies                                             - 4-5

Cumin seeds                                                  - 1 tea spoon

Turmeric powder                                          - ½ tea spoon

Tamarind paste                                             - ½ tea spoon

Salt to taste

Oil                                                                    - 2 table spoon

Method:-

Wash and cut Brinjal in to Julian (long ½ inch thick pieces) and marinate with salt and turmeric powder for 10 to 15 minutes. Roast the chilli and chick pea and grind them to a coarse powder. In a pan pour 2 table spoon of oil and when it is hot add the cumin seeds. When the cumin seeds start to splutter add the marinated brinjal and stir well. Cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for 10 minutes. Open the lid and stir it in between so that the brinjal doesn’t burn. After ten minutes add tamarind paste and stir well. Add the powdered chilli and chick pea mix and stir well. Cook for another 5 minutes without the lid. Transfer it to a serving bowl. This is good with chapatti, boori and plain rice.

Pazham Pori

Ingredients:-

Ripe Kerala banana/Nenthra pazham/Ethappazham – 2

Maida/All purpose flour                                                     - 1 ½ cup

Rice flour                                                                              - 2 Teaspoons

Yellow food color                                                                - ¼ teaspoon

Sugar                                                                                   - 2 Tablespoon

Baking powder (optional)                                                - ¼ teaspoon

Salt                                                                                        - ½ pinch

Oil to fry

Method:-

Peel the bananas, cut it into two pieces and slice them into thin pieces. Mix Maida & baking powder and sieve well. In a bowl mix Maida, color, salt and sugar into a smooth thick batter adding enough water. Dip the banana slices one by one in the batter and fry them. It is a very good tea snack.

Idichhu pizhinja Payasam/Coconut milk Payasam

Ingredients:-

Thick Coconut milk (onnam pal)                                    - 1 cups

Thin Coconut milk (rendam pal)                                     - 3 cups

Raw rice, red (matta pachari)                                           - ¾ cup

Jaggery grated                                                                     - 1 ½ cup

Cardamom powder                                                              - 1 tea spoon

Dry ginger powder                                                               - 1 tea spoon

Ghee                                                                                      - 3 tea spoons

Cashew                                                                                 - 10-15

Raisins                                                                                 - 10-15

Method:-

If you want to use fresh coconut milk, Take one big size coconut, grate it and grind in a mixer with 1 cup of water and squeeze and transfer the 1^st milk to a bowl and again put the squeezed coconut in the mixer add 1 cup of water and grind well, get the second milk and transfer to another bowl and repeat and take 3^rd and 4^th milk and transfer them to different bowls.

Wash the rice and cook it in a pressure cooker with the last two cups of fresh coconut milk or one cup of thin coconut milk and one cup of water. In a wide thick pan add the Jaggery and ½ cup of water and make syrup. Filter the syrup so that the sand and other dirt can be removed. The rice should be over cooked; I mean it should be very soft. Add this syrup to rice and stir well and cook in medium heat for 5 minutes. Add all the coconut milk except the thick 1 cup of milk. Stir well and cook for another 5 minutes. The Payasam will start to thicken. Now add the 1^st/thick coconut milk, cardamom powder and dry ginger powder and stir well. Switch off the stove. Transfer the Payasam to a serving bowl. In a pan fry the cashews and raisins in ghee and pour it over the Payasam. Yummy idichupizhinja Payasam/coconut milk Payasam is ready.

You can use broken wheat instead of rice. Then it becomes Gothambu/Wheat Payasam. 

Chiratta puttu/Coconut shell puttu

In ancient times we used to put a hole in the coconut shell and make puttu. Now no such strain. We get ready stainless steel mould for this in the market. Instead of buying puttu powder we can make powder for our self, which will be fresh and harmless. If you do not find time you can use the puttu powder you get in the market.

Ingredients:-

Par-boiled rice/Ponni rice                   - 1 cup

Grated coconut                                       - ½ cup

Salt to taste

Method:-

Wash and soak the rice overnight. Drain the water and grind it in a mixer grinder to a nice but little coarse powder. Add salt to this rice powder and mix well. Add ¼ cup of coconut to it and mix well. In a pressure cooker take 2 cups of water and close the cooker and heat the cooker in a stove. In a Chiratta puttu maker(this we get in the market) put one tea spoon coconut and fill it with rice powder and top it with one teaspoon of coconut and press it gently and keep it on the vend of the cooker and close it with the lid. When steam starts coming out of the puttu take it and transfer to a plate. Repeat the same with the remaining rice powder. Serve hot with Kadala curry.

Vatha kozhambu

Ingredients:

Red chillies                                          - 4 to 5

Black pepper                                       - ½ tea spoon

Urad dal/black gram dal                  - 1 tea spoon

Channa dal/kadalaparippu              - 1 tea spoon

Asafetida/hing                                    - 1 tea spoon

Tour dal/lentil                                    - ¼ cup

Tamarind paste                                  - 1 ½ tea spoon

Turmeric powder                               - ¼ tea spoon

Salt to taste

Oil                                                         - 2 tea spoon

Mustard seeds                                    - 1 tea spoon

Red chilli cut into two pieces           - 1

Vathal (sundakkai/marathankali) – 3 tea spoons

Curry leaves                                         - 2 strands

Coriander leaves (optional)             - some

Method:-

Pressure cook lentil and keep it aside. Fry chilli, kadalaparippu and pepper without oil and grind it to smooth paste. In a pan add 2 to 3 cups of water, turmeric powder, tamarind paste, Hing, salt and the grinded paste, allow it to boil for 10 minutes. Mash well the cooked lentil and add it to the boiling mix. Stir well and boil it for another 10 minutes in medium heat. Add curry leaves and coriander leaves to it. In another pan heat the oil and add one chilli cut into two pieces, mustard and the Vathal. When mustard splutters pour it to the Vatha kozhambu.

This is very good with rice and ghee, curd rice etc.

Kadala curry

Ingredients:-

Bengal gram/konda kadalai/Kabuli channa – ½ cup

Shallots/small onion                                           - 10

Chilli powder                                                         - 1 tea spoon

Ginger paste                                                         - ½ tea spoon

Garlic paste                                                            - ½ tea spoon

Urad dal/black gram dal                                     - ½ tea spoon

Grated coconut                                                      - 2 tea spoon

Coriander/dhaniya                                               - 1 ½ tea spoon

Curry leaves                                                            - 15

Oil                                                                             - 3 tea spoons

Turmeric powder                                                   - ¼ tea spoon

Salt to taste                                                           

Method:-

Soak Bengal gram for 6 hours. Pressure cook the Bengal gram. Slightly fry the Coriander, Urad dal and grated coconut. Grind the Urad dal, coconut, coriander, shallots, chilli powder and the ginger-garlic pastes to smooth paste. Heat oil in a pan and add the grinded paste to it and fry well till the oil starts to separate. Add turmeric powder and salt to it and stir well. Add the cooked Bengal gram to it and stir well. Add one cup of water and boil it till the gravy becomes thick. For chapatti we need thick gravy. If we want to use it with Puttu (Steamed rice cake with coconut) slightly loosen the gravy by adding water. Garnish it with curry leaves.

Ma Vilakku

Ingredients:-

Raw rice                                                - 2 cup

Jaggery (grated)                                   - 1 ½ cup

Cardamom powder                             - 1 tea spoon

Cotton wicks                                         - 2

Ghee                                                       - 6 Table spoons

Method:-

Soak rice for ten minutes and drain water. Grind the rice in a mixie and sieve it to soft powder. In a bowl take the rice powder, cardamom powder and Jaggery and mix it and kneed it with your hand pressure for 20 to 30 minutes. Initially you will feel that it is never going to mix well. But the Jaggery will melt when you kneed and you will get smooth tight dough. Never add water to the dough.

Split the dough into two equal size balls and press them to form thick discs. In the center of the disc make an impression to hold 3 table spoons of ghee. Fix the cotton wick to the rice lamps and lit it.

Lighting this Ma Vilakku is very good to drive away the negative energy from our homes.

After the ghee is finished the light goes off by it self. Now you can eat the Maavu as it is or after taking out the burnt wick and burnt portion of the Maavu add enough water to make thick dough as of Dosa dough. If needed add finely cut coconut to it and fry them in the unni aappam chatty. You get yummy unniyappams.