Appam

The word 'Appam' brings many nostalgic moments back into my mind. The days when we were in Kerala, we would eagerly wait for the prasadam especially in the Shiva temples as we would get Appams! Also, I cherish those vacation days in my Dodda's (Grandma) home, when we all cousins would be ready to devour on the delicious snacks, she would keep ready during the hungry evenings!....and if it was Appam, then a fight would be assured. Those were the days.......

Traditionally its made with Rice, but as we all are racing with time, one of the alternative to Rice is Wheat flour. This saves us the time spent for soaking Rice and grinding it; though, personally, I love it when its prepared with Rice. The other key ingredient is Banana which we add to this dish. The best variety to used would be Nendran variey but I'm using Chiquita here.

Ingredients:
Wheat Flour- 1 cup
Banana- 1
Jaggery- 3/4 cup
Cardamom powder- Pinch
Ghee/Clarified Butter

Method:
Mash the Banana well with a masher. To this add, Wheat flour. In a separate vessel, put the Jaggery and melt it with 1/2 cup water. Pour this onto the Banana and Wheat flour mixture. Add Cardamom powder and mix well. Bring to a consistency little thicker than that of Dosa batter.


Now, place the Appam mould and turn on the heat. Pour a teaspoon of Ghee into each depression.


When the Ghee is hot, pour the batter.


Cook it on both the sides by inverting the Appams with a spoon.


Remove and serve hot.

Preparation time: 20 Minutes
Serves: 4 People

Kodekyana/Majjige Huli

This is a dish with Coconut and buttermilk giving all the taste to it. It can be prepared with Ash gourd, Marrow (Southekai), Okra, Egg plant, Yam, Taro Root, Jackfruit (Jee gujje), Long beans (Alasande), Mango and the list may go on...

The Coconut we use should be slightly tender so that its milk is still sweet and blends well into the dish, when ground. For the right consistency of the dish, one has to grind the Coconut very well into a fine paste. Also, using freshly prepared Buttermilk will give the best result. In case of non-availability of Buttermilk, we may use normal Yoghurt which may be whipped in the Mixie once.

Ingredients:
Any of the above mentioned vegetable (I have used Brinjal/Egg plant)- 1 Cup
Tamarind- Lemon sized, pulp extracted in a cup of water
Turmeric- 1 tsp
Curry leaves- Few
Buttermilk/Whipped Yoghurt- 1 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Fenugreek/Methi seeds- 1/2 tsp
Urad dal- 1 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Red chilly - 1 (Broken into peices)

To grind:
Grated Coconut- 1 cup
Green chillies- 3


Method:
Cook the vegetable with Tamarind water, Turmeric and Curry leaves. (Note: When using Okra, cook it too in Tamarind water). Grind Coconut with Green chillies to a fine paste. Add this to the cooked vegetable. Let it boil for few minutes. Now add the Buttermilk/Whipped Yoghurt. Allow the dish to build foam but take care not to boil it. In a pan, heat ghee. Add Methi seeds. When it turns Brown, add Urad dal, Mustard seeds and Red chilly. When the Mustard splutters, add Curry leaves. Pour this seasoning to the curry and serve hot with Rice. Its a good side dish for Idly and Dosa too.

Preparation Time: About 30 minutes
Serves: 4 people

Keera Molagootal

Keerai molagootal is a traditional Palakkad Iyer dish. It is simple to prepare yet tasty and nutritious. Keerai means greens. Amma (mom) used to prepare many dishes from the wide variety of keerai available in India at least twice a week. It is very rich in minerals and vitamins.

Keerai molagootal is best when prepared with arai keerai. But since its not available here, I normally use spinach which tastes equally good. It goes great with rice and thogayal (recipe coming soon...)or arachu kalakki.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Spinach - 1 1/2 cup
Toor dal/red gram - 1/2 cup
Urad dal/black gram - 1 tsp
Red chilli - 1
Coconut oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt

To grind:
Coconut - 1/2 cup
Pepper - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal/black gram - 1 tsp
Red chilli - 1


Method:
Cook toor dal/red gram, mash it and keep aside.
Wash the spinach and cook it in little water, a pinch of turmeric and little salt.Once its cooked blend it coarsely.
Mix this along with the mashed toor dal/red gram and let it boil for 2 mins.
Meanwhile fry 1 tsp urad dal/black gram without oil.
Grind the fried urad dal/black gram, 1 red chilli, 1 tsp cumin seeds and 1 tsp pepper.
Add this to the boiling mixture and let it boil for another 4-5 mins. Add more salt if required. Adjust the consistency by adding water as per your requirement.
Heat oil in a pan. Add the 1 tsp urad dal and 1 red chilli (broken). When the urad dal turns red add the mustard. When the mustard splutter add the contents to the Keera molagootal.
Serve hot with rice and thogayal or arachu kalakki.

Preparation time: 15 mins
Serves: 2 people

Podi potta sambar

This is one of the simple and easy to prepare sambar. This does not involve any grinding. If you have any unexpected guests and you wish to cook something easy and quick then you can prepare this. Since no coconut is involved in this dish, the usage of toor dal (red gram) is more. As such it is nutritious as well.

Generally any vegetable like ladies finger, pumpkin, potato, etc can be used for this sambar. In this recipe I am using pumpkin. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Vegetable - 1 cup
Toor dal/Red gram - 1
Tomato - 1 (medium sized)
Green chillies - 2
Red chilli powder - 1 full tsp
Tamarin - small lemon sized
Jaggery (optional) - a small piece
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt
Ghee/clarified butter - 1 tbsp
Mustard - 2 tsp
Curry leaves - 7 to 8
Asafoetida - a pinch



Method:
Cook the toor dal/red gram, mash and keep aside.
Dice the vegetable into small cubes. Extract tamarind pulp by soaking it in 1/2 cup of water for sometime.
Cook the vegetable in tamarind water adding a pinch of turmeric and salt as required.
If you are using jaggery then it can be added as well.
Once the vegetable is cooked add the mashed toor dal/red gram and red chilli powder.
Let it boil for 5 to 6 mins.
In a separate pan heat the ghee. Add the mustard. Once it splutters add the curry leaves and asafoedtida.
Pour this garnish to the sambar.
Serve hot with rice.

Preparation time: About 15 mins
Serves: 2 people

Arisi bolla vadai

Yesterday when I Ieft office it was cold and raining. The weather really took me down the memory lane when back home in India during the cold rainy days we would have hot bajji or vada with a cup of filter kapi(coffee)... hmmm... lovely days... mom would cook delectable dishes.

In the bus I was thinking of making some snack for the rainy day. When we were kids we would often visit my chitti paati (Grandma's sister) and she would always make some snack within minutes. One such snack was this arisi bolla vadai. Arisi means rice in tamil which is the main ingredient of this snack. I prepared this yesterday. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Rice - 1 cup
Toor dal/red gram - 3/4 cup
Red chillies - 2 to 3
Ginger - 2" piece
Curry leaves - a bunch
Cumin seeds - 2 tbsp
Salt
Oil - for deep frying


Method:
Soak the rice and toor dal for 2 hours.
Grind them along with ginger, red chillies, cumin seeds, salt and curry leaves to a smooth paste but dont add too much water. The consistency should be such that you should be able to pour the batter as a small ball into the oil.
Heat oil in a frying pan.
Pour the batter as small balls into the hot oil and fry till it is golden brown.
Serve hot with sauce or green chutney.

Preparation time: About 20 mins
Serves: 4 people