Medicated halwa

This dish is specially prepared in southern Kerala for postpartum care ( delivery after care ). But now a days due to the fast paced life these traditional recipes and postpartum care methods confines mostly to village living.

Recipe

 Red bran raw rice 2 cups
Caraway seeds [ajwan/ayamodaka] 1 tblspn
Black pepper 1 tblspn
Turmeric powder 1 tblspn
Garlic 20 cloves
Palm sugar 250 gm[karuppetti in kerala]
Cow ghee 4 tblspn
 Soak rice for 4 hours.Wash,drain,add pepper,caraway seeds,garlic and grind it in a blender.
Add palm sugar and turmeric,grind again to blend well in a fine texture and pouring consistency.
Heat the mixture in a wok by continuous stirring.When starts thickening add ghee 1 by 1 spoons
till the halwa gets seperated from the sides of the wok and becomes non sticky.Remove the halwa
into a  ghee brushed tray.Allow to cool.Cut into small pieces and store in an air tight container.

Alu mutter stew

Potato 1kg,boiled,peeled and cubed
Onion large 1,sliced
Green peas [frozen] 1 cup
Green chillies 4,sliced
Ginger 3inch piece,thinly sliced
Garlic cloves 6,thinly sliced
Pepper powder 1/2 tspn
Turmeric 1/3tspn
  Garam masala 1/4 tspn
Coconut milk 1 cup

Salt,curry leaves and cilantro as required.
 Cook onion,chillies and ginger garlic paste ,curry leaves and salt
in enough water.Add turmeric powder,potato,green peas,combine well.

When blended add pepper powder ,garam masala and mix well.Reduce flame to low,add

coconut milk , mix,allow to bubble,off the flame and transfer to a serving bowl.

Easy mango pickle

Chopped mango 1 cup
Sesame oil 1 tblspn
Kashmiri chilly powder 1 tspn
Asafoetida powder 1/3 tspn [Hing]
Fenugreek powder 1/4 tspn
Salt to taste
Heat oil in a pan,simmer ,add chilly powder ,saute it, followed by the rest of the ingredients.
Finally add mango,just mix,off the flame and mix thoroughly for uniform coating.Store it
in air tight glass bottle.Can use it upto 1 week.

Tomato-ginger in yogurt]

Tomato chopped 1 cup
Ginger grated 1 tblspn
Yogurt 1 cup
Cooking oil 1 tblspn
Curry leaves and salt as required
Cumin seeds 1/4 tspn
Heat oil in a frying pan,add cumin seeds.When it pops add curry leaves, ginger,saute it
add tomato,salt and saute it till it gets cooked.Whisk yogurt add the cooked paste,mix well,
adjust salt and garnish with more curry leaves.

Ash Gourd with Daal curry (Mulakushiyam)

Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Cubed Ash Gourd (Kumbalanga) - 500 gm
Slit Green Chillies - 5
Chilli powder - 1 tspn
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Cook toor dal in a pressure cooker and add rest of the above ingredients and cook well with enough salt and water.

Grated coconut - 1 cup
Cumin seed - 1/4 tspn

Grind coconut and cumin seeds in a blender to a fine paste using enough water.

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tspn
Dried chilli - 2
Shallots (cut into rings) - 1 tspn
Cooking oil - 1 tblspn
Salt, Curry leaves - as required

Mix the cooked daal mix and coconut paste together in low flame. Heat oil in a separate pan, splutter mustard seeds, add dried chilli, shallots. Once the shallots are golden brown add curry leaves and fry for a few more seconds. Add this to the curry as garnish.

Fenugreek leaves chapathi (Methi Chapathi)

Fenugreek leaves chapathi (Methi Chapathi)

Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Cleaned and chopped fenugreek leaves - 1 cup
Chopped coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
Turmeric powder 1/3 tspn
Yogurt - 1/4 cup
Salt to taste

Mix all ingredients together using warm water and knead to a soft dough. Keep the dough moist by covering with a wet muslin cloth and keep aside for 2 hours.

Divide the dough into lemon size balls, roll into round sheets and make the chapathis using a tava.

Fenugreek leaves thoran

Fenugreek leaves and Carrot Thoran

Thoran is a kerala dish which can be made with almost any vegetable. To sauteed vegetables a mixture of coconut and cumin seeds will be added. There might be several variations to this dish though.

This is a really healthy dish, fenugreek leaves are good for people with diabetics in their routine diet.

Fenugreek is called methi in Hindi and uluva in malayalam.

Here is the recipe -

Cleaned fenugreek leaves - 2 cups
Grated carrot - 1 cup
Grated Onion - 1/4 cup
Grated garlic - 2 cloves
Cooking oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard and Cumin - 1/4 tspn each
Turmeric powder, Chilli powder - 1/4 tspn
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste

Mix the vegtables along with coconut, onion, garlic, turmeric and chilli powder very well in a bowl with enough salt and keep aside.

Heat oil in a frying pan, drop in cumin and mustard seeds. When it pops add the mix and saute till the mix becomes tender and cooked.

This goes well with rice as a side dish.

Avial [mixture of vegetables]

This dish is special of kerala.
 Carrot 2
Drumstick 1
Plantain 1
Amorphophalus 100 gm
Beans 6
onion small 1
Grated coconut 2/3 cup
Cumin seed 1/2 tspn
Turmeric powder 1/2 tspn
Green chilly 1
Yogurt 1/4 cup
Coconut oil 1 tblspn
Curry leaf  1 sprig
Salt  to taste
     Slice the veggies into uniform thin slender pieces .[2 to 3 inches in length].
     Grind coconut,cumin and green chilly into a coarse mix.Cook all the vegetables
in a wok along with turmeric and salt in minimum water.Simmer in low flame and add coconut paste and yogurt.
Mix well without breaking the cooked vegetables.Add curry leaves and pour coconut.Tilt the wok
to xpread the oil.

Rice balls [kuzhakkatta ]

Fine rice flour 2 cups
Roasted cumin seeds 1/2 tspn
Salt to taste
Jaggery [grated] 1/2 cup
Coconut [grated] 3/4 cup

  In a bowl knead rice flour,cumin and salt with warm water to a dough.
  Divide the dough into balls. Make a hole and fill with jaggery coconut
 mix and reshape the balls.Steam cook and serve.

Rice ada

Usually rice adas are made in banana leaves.Now a days it is not easy to get banana leaves.
Ada can be made in aluminium foil.Here I used red bran rice flour [chembavarippodi] to the
ada.Instead of jaggery sugar can also be used.

Rice flour 2 cups
Roasted cumin seeds 1 tspn
Jaggery [grated] 1/2 cup
Coconut [grated] 1 cup
Ghee  2 tspns
Cardamom powder 1/4 tspn
Salt to taste
      Mix jaggery,coconut,ghee and cardamom in a bowl and keep it aside for filling adas.
Put rice flour,cumin seeds ,salt in another bowl add warm water and knead it to a dough.
Divide the dough into lemon sized balls.Spread each ball into 1 cm thickness sheet in aluminium
foils .Fill the sheets with sweet mix,fold it and cook both sides of the ada  in a thawa [flat pan] .

Sweet Poha ( Avil Nanachathu) Kerala style

Poha/Avil/Rice flakes - 1 cup
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Grated jaggery - quarter cup
Cardamom powder - half tsp.
Milk - 2 tbsp.
Salt a pinch (optional)
Banana (Nendran) 1, cut into small pieces
Raisins - 1 tbsp.

Add all ingredients except banana and raisins, into a bowl and squeeze with right hand. Keep this mix intact for 10 mins to get the rice flakes moistured. Garnish with banana pieces and raisins.
Serve with hot tea as an evening snack.

Remove to serving bowl and garnish with banana and raisins.

Chicken potato stew

Boneless Chicken - 500gm
Potato - 250 gm
Onion - 2
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Green chilli - 6
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
Mint leaves - handful
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Coconut milk - 1 cup
Salt to taste

Cut chicken, potato and onion into cubes. Slit the green chillis at the stalk side, so they will remain as whole in the stew.

Marinate chicken, potato, onion with lemon juice, salt, pepper for 1 hour. Cook this mix well with sufficient water to cook it.

Once cooked, add pepper powder, garam masala and mint leaves. Simmer it and add coconut milk. Garnish with mint leaves.

Sabudana vada

This recipe is a different style of traditional sabu dana vada recipe. Sabu dana is called chowari in malayalam. It is actually small pearls of tapioca starch.

To make the vada -
Sabu dana - 2 cups
Besan flour (Chickpea flour) - half cup
Onion chopped - half cup
Ginger chopped - 1 tbsp
Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tspn
Hing (Asafoetida) - quarter tspn
Chopped curry leaves - 1 sprig
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

Wash sabu dana and soak it in water for 3 hours. Drain out excess water if any. Add all the ingredients, mix well to make a dough. Rub oil in a tray for spreading the patties. Rub oil in your palms, and make patties using dough. Heat oil in a shallow pan. Deep fry the patties till the vadas are golden brown.

Serve it hot with cilantro chutney.

Dried fish mango curry

Dried anchovies 100 gms
Sliced mango 1 cup
Sliced onion 1 medium
Ginger garlic paste 1 tbl spn
Green chilly  2
Coconut milk 1/2 cup
Chilly powder 1 tspn
Coriander powder 1 tspn
Turmeric powder 1/4 tspn
Fenugreek powder 1/4 tspn
Cooking oil 1 spn
Dried chilly 1
Shallots sliced 3
Curry leaf 1 sprig
Salt to taste

           Heat a pan and dry roast the anchovies. Tip the head and tail off and then soak the anchovies in water for 10 mins. Wash the anchovies thoroughly, to  get rid of the excess oil.
Take a wok and add achovies, mango, onion, ginger garlic paste, chillies and all the powders mentioned above, except fenugreek. Cook well with minimum water as required. Add salt, fenugreek and coconut milk and let it simmer for a minute.

To season the curry - Heat oil in a pan. Add sliced shallots and saute till they are golden brown, followed by dried chilli and curry leaves. Add the seasoning to the curry.

Brinjal pachadi

Brinjal cut into small pieces  2 cups
Green chilly rings  1 spn
Grated coconut 1/2 cup
Cumin seed  1/4 tspn
Shallot 1
Yogurt  1 cup
Curry leaves 1 sprig
Mustard seeds 1/4 tspn
Dried chilly 1
Cooking oil 1 tblspn
Salt to taste
       Grind coconut,shallot and cumin seed to make a paste.Heat oil in frying pan.Add dried chilly and mustard seeds.When it pops add curry leaves followed by brinjal bits.Saute it and when colour changes
add cilly rings.Cook in low flame till brinjal gets cooked.Add coconut paste,salt and mix well.Whisk yogurt in a bowl and add cooked brinjal,mix well garnish with curry leaves and serve.

Egg Aviyal

Serves 4 people

Boiled Egg - 4 (Split egg into 4 pieces)
Drum Stick - 20 pieces
Onion Sliced - quarter cup
Grated coconut - half cup
Green chilli - 2
Garlic crushed - 4 cloves
Cumin powder - quarter tsp.
Turmeric powder - quarter tsp.
Chilli Powder - quarter tsp.
Cooking oil - 1 tbsp.
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Salt to taste

Cook drumsticks, onion, chilli, and garlic in a pan with minimum water as required. Add cumin, turmeric, chilli powder, salt, grated coconut and mix well. Once all these ingredients are cooked, add eggs and curry leaves. Mix carefully so that the eggs will not break. Add oil and serve.

Beef fry

Beef cut into small pieces 500gm
Ginger garlic paste 1tblspn
Shallots sliced 2tblspn
Lemon juice 2 tblspn
Coriander powder 2tspn
Turmeric powder 1/2 tspn
Black pepper powder 1tspn
Cooking oil 3 tblspn
Kashmiri chilli powder 2tspn
Chopped onion 1cup
Green chilly sliced 2
Garam masala 1tspn
Salt to taste
Curry leaves as required
          Marinate beef with ingredients upto black pepper and salt.Refrigerate for 3hrs and cook
          well.Heat oil in a frying pan .Add curry leaves,onion (half),saute till onion is translucent,simmer flame,add chilly powder, saute well.Add
cooked beef,stir to make it dry.Half way add balance onion,garam masala and saute to get a perfect
 dry dish.Remove into serving bowl and garnish with green chilly and curry leaves.

Vishu katta along with Vishu kani

Right hand corner please see the vishu katta.

Vishu katta

    Raw red bran rice  1cup
    Grated coconut   1 cup
    Cumin seeds [roasted] 1 tspn
    Ghee  1 tspn
    Sugar  1/2 cup
    Salt a pinch

   Cook rice in 2 cups of water.Add all other ingredients,mix well in low flame.
Transfer the mix  into a plate brushed with ghee.When it cools turn it upside
 down cut into pieces which means katta.This dish is related with the paddy
  harvest of third crop in kerala [puncha] just before vishu.

Chicken liver fry

Chicken liver cut into small pieces 500 gm
Shallots sliced 250gms
Black pepper powder 1 tbsp.
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp.
Garlic paste 1 tsp.
Ginger paste 1 tsp.
Cooking oil 2 tbsp.
Curry leaves 1 sprig
Salt to taste

   Heat oil in a frying pan,add curry leaves,garlic ,ginger paste and saute.When aroma starts coming    out add shallots and saute.Add liver ,salt ,turmeric and pepper powder and saute it.Cook in low flame.Remove to a serving bowl and garnish with curry leaves.



  

Chicken green peas roast

Boneless chicken cubes 500 gm
Frozen green peas 1 cup
Lemon juice 1 tblspn
Onion sliced 1/2 cup
Ginger paste 1tblspn
Garlic paste   2 tspns
Turmeric powder 1/2 tspn
Chilly powder 1 tspn
Coriander powder 2 tspns
Black pepper powder 1 tspn
Garam masala 1 tspn
Cooking oil 2 tblspns
Curry leave 1 sprig
Cilantro chopped 2 tblspns
          Marinate chicken with lemon juice,quarter cup onion,ginger garlic paste,turmeric,chilly ,coriander powder and salt and refrigerate for 3 hrs.
Cook it and keep aside.Heat oil in a pan add curry leaves and onion.Saute
till onion is light brown, add black pepper,frozen green peas
and saute well.Add cooked chicken ,let it mix well in low flame till the juices
get thickened.Finally add garam masala, half of the cilantro and adjust salt to taste.Remove
to a serving bowl and garnish with chopped cilantro.

Mint Rice

Mint Rice

Basmathi rice              2 cups
Cleaned mint leaves    1 1/2 cups
Lemon juice                 2 table spoons
Ginger garlic paste       1 table spoon
Cumin seeds                  1 tea spoon
Ghee                              1 tea spoon
Cooking oil                   2 table spoons
Salt                                to taste
Mint leaves                    2 sprigs

          Cook basmathi rice along with ghee and salt in 4 cups water.
Care should be taken not to over cook the rice.Grind mint leaves
to a paste using a blender.Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds.When it starts poping
add ginger garlic paste,saute it,when you get the aroma,add mint paste
add stir it continously till the mix get blended and oil starts to seperate.
Add cooked rice,mix thoroughly along with lemon juice in low flame.
Using a fork transfer it to the serving bowl and garnish with mint sprigs.

Beetroot in Yogurt (Beet Raita)

Beetroot in yogurt

Grated beetroot          1 cup
Green chilly rings       1 tea spoon
Yogurt                         1 cup
Cumin seeds               1/2 tea spoon
Mustard seeds              1/4 tea spoon
Curry leaves                1 sprig
 Salt                              to taste
Cooking oil                  1 table spoon
Dry chilly                      1


            Heat oil in a frying pan .Add broken dry chilly,cumin seeds and mustard seeds.
             When seeds pop add 1/2 sprig curry leave .Add grated beetroot,green chiily rings.
             Saute well,when it comes tender add salt.Remove the mixture to a serving bowl.
             Immediately pour stirred yogurt.Mix gently to make it uniform.Garnish with the
             1/2 sprig curry leaves.