Spicy Kizhangu/Potato Curry

Usually I and my husband have Roti and subzi for dinner. Roti is not a common food in Kerala. My parents like to have rice for lunch and dinner. But if i offer to make chapathi for dinner they are happy because they will get something different for dinner and they know that I will do everything by myself  ;-)
Anyways, coming to roti and chapathi, chapathi we make at home is actually the thinner version of the north indian paratha. I prefer chapathi to roti. I can eat anything with chapathi from pickle to raitha. But my most favourite is, like many people, is potato curry. When I make potato curry for my husband it's different with garam masala,ginger garlic paste or even some green peas. But if i make for only myself, i prefer a Kerala spicy potato curry which has ground coconut in it. When i say this, I can imagine the frown on the faces of my non-keralite friends with a thought in their mind - Coconut with potato! What a wierd combination!
But dear friends, yes it sounds wierd, but it's not at all bad! In fact, this is my most favourite side dish with chapathi. So here I share this wierd recipe with my friends who want to try it out and feel the difference from usual paneer mutter, aloo gobi etc.
Ingredients :
Potato - 2 medium sized
Onion - 1 medium
Garlic - 1/2 tsp
Coconut grated - 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Meat masala - 1 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 bunch
Dried red chillies - 2
Water - 1/2 cup
Oil - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp

First fry the coconut in 1 tsp oil for 2 minutes and grind it with meat masala and chilly powder by adding 1/4 cup water and keep aside. Peel the potatoes and slice them into thin long pieces. Chop the onion and crush the garlic. Now heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds,curry leaves and dried green chillies. Add onion and garlic and saute well adding little bit salt. Once the onion turns golden brown in colour, add the potato pieces and turmeric. Again fry for 2 minutes. Now add the ground masala and water and cook adding salt as per taste till the potatoes are cooked. Once the gravy is thick, remove from fire and serve hot with chapathi.

Note : For meat masala, we can add ready made powder or a ground mixture of all the spices such as corriander seeds,pepper,nutmeg,fennel seeds,star anise,cardamom,cloves,cinnamon etc. I add ready made meat masala powder available in the market which is equally good.

Chakkakkuru ulli thoran - Jackfruit seeds & shallots thoran

I don't like to eat ripe jackfruit, mainly because of it's smell. I don't even like to sit near someone who eats it because of that strong smell. But raw jackfruit dishes are very tasty. For example chakka puzhukku which is a favourite of most malayalis.But I like the jack fruit seed dishes more. My mother simply fries it adding salt and chilly powder.


Chakkakkuru or jackfruit seed can be used in a variety of dishes. But my favoruite dish is a thoran made with this.It's very simple and tasty. I would like to share the recipe here.

What you need is

Jackfruit Seeds - 1 cup

Shallots - 1 cup

coconut grated - 1/4cup

chilly powder - 1 tsp

turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

oil - 2tbsp

jeera - 1 pinch

Chop jack fruit seeds and cook it by adding salt. Drain the remaining water and keep aside. Chop the shallots into small pieces. Grind the grated coconut coarsely by adding chilly powder,turmeric powder and jeera.Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped shallots by adding little bit of salt.(Don't add too much salt since already the jackfruit seeds will have salt.If required add salt in the end.The taste of this dish depends on how well the shallots are fried)Once the shallots are fried well, add the cooked jackfruit seeds.Fry it well and then add the ground coconut and mix well. Keep the flame low and cook for 2 minutes by stirring continuously and switch off the stove. Serve the dish with hot rice as a side dish.

Sambar Fried Idli

I love idli with hot spicy sambar for breakfast. But to prepare it in the morning, that too before going to office is really a time consuming task and can make me late for office.But once idli is made, we can convert it into a snack which actually gives the taste of idli with sambar. Sometimes I make this snack when there are leftover idlis or when I feel lazy to make any accompaniments with idli.(Making idli itself is a tiresome job as far as I am concerned though I buy the ready made batter from the supermarket.But washing the steamer and the plates in it and then making idlis and taking them out and then again washing the steamer...uffff)So what makes me love this snack is that the simple and easy recipe and the lesser number of ingredients used for it. So it's assumed that nothing can go wrong with this recipe.

Ingredients:



Idlis - 4

Tomato -2

Hari Dhaniya/cilantro - one bunch

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Chilly powder - 1 tsp

Sambar masala - 2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Methi seeds/Fenugreek - 1 pinch

Salt - as per taste

Water -1/4 cup

Oil - 1 tbsp



First cut the idlis into small cubes. Chop the tomatoes and hari dhaniya.

Heat oil in a frying pan. Put the mustard seeds till they sputter, then add the methi/fenugreek seeds. Now add the chopped tomato and fry well. Cover the pan and keep for 2 minutes for the tomatos to be cooked well. Mash them with a spoon and add the turmeric and chilly powders and fry again for 2 minutes. Then add sambar powder and stir well.Now add salt and hari dhania and mix well. Add water and salt and allow the tomatoes cook well with all the spices. Now add the idli cubes and stir well so that they get mixed well with the gravy. Cover the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve hot.



Note : If you don't have sambar masala, don't worry. Add one tsp chilly powder, 1/4 turmeric powder, 1 tsp dhania powder and a pinch of powder hing/asafoetida instead of sambar powder.

Kappa with Mulaku Chammanthi(Tapioca with chilly chutney)

Kappa or tapioca is a source of carbohydrates and is loved by every Malayali. Best combination with kappa is always fish curry but in my house I can't make it since my parents are vegetarians. Sometimes we boil kappa simply with salt and eat with spicy chilly chutney. With this the best accompaniment is hot black coffee.Nothing can beat it! Here I am sharing the simple boiled kappa and chilly chutney recipe.

Ingredients :
Kappa/Tapioca - 1/2 kg(skinned,cleaned and cubed)
Water - required to boil tapioca
Salt - as required

Boil kappa in a pressure cooker or simply in a closed container adding water and salt. Make sure that it is not over cooked, Drain water completely.

For the chutney :
Shallots - 5
Green chillies - 5
Salt -as required
Coconut oil - 1 tbsp

Crush shallots and green chillies with salt. Don't grind it to a paste, just crush the ingredients.
Add oil and mix well. Serve with kappa and black coffee.

Red Spinach/Cheera Curry

Red Spinach or Cheera in malayalam is a very nutritious and tasty. Since it's not available most of the time in the city where I live, I always crave to eat dishes made of it. As soon as I reach my native place I ask my parents to buy it so that I can have it as much as I want.In hindi it's called Lal Bhaji and my husband also loves this leafy vegetable very much. But there's difference in the way his mother makes and I make it. Mainly because I being a keralite add coconut whereas my mother-in-law's recipe doesnt include coconut.

Here, I would like to share a gravy made in pure kerala style which goes well with hot rice. This recipe is very easy to make and will be ready in 10 minutes time.

What you need for this are :

Red Spinach(chopped) - 2 cups

Coconut grated - 1/2 cup

Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1 pinch

Turmeric powder/Haldi - 1/4 tsp

Red Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

Tamarind - 1 small piece

Salt - as required

Water - 1/2 cup

Dried Red chillies - 2

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Curry leaves - 1 bunch

First add water to the chopped spinach and cook it in a pan adding salt.

 Just 5 minutes of cooking is enough for spinach.Soak the tamarind and take out the pulp.

Grind coconut with jeera,turmeric and chilly powder into a fine paste.

Once the spinach is cooked properly,add the coconut paste and tamarind pulp to it and bring to boil.

Remove from fire.Now season mustard,red chillies and curry leaves in the oil and add to the spinach.

Serve hot with rice.

Aloo Tikki Chat

I am crazy for Chat items, especially Aloo tikki or gol gappa aka pani puri.

This diwali i got 4 days off from work so decided to try out some chat at home to surprise my husband.

Actually making chat is very easy but you need lot of ingredients for that which makes it a bit a difficult task.

I am sharing my recipe for Aloo Tikki here.

What you need

Potatoes - 4 boiled and peeled

Bread slices - 8

Corriander chutney - 1/2 cup

Tamarind Chutney - 1/2 cup

Sev - 1/2 cup

Chopped onions - 1/4 cup

Green peas - 1/2 cup

Jeera powder - 1 tsp

Curd - 1/4 cup

garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Chat masala - 1/2 tsp

black salt - as required

salt - as required

oil - for shallow frying

How to prepare

First boil and peel the potatoes and mash them adding a little bit salt.

 Cook green peas with garam masala and salt so that a dry dish is made without much water and keep aside.

Now cut the sides of the bread slices and wet them with water and mix well with mashed potatoes. Make balls with the potato bread mix and flatten them a little. But don't make them too thin, it should be as thick as cutlets.

Now heat oil on a frying pan or kadai and shallow fry the tikkis till both sides turn brown.

Now the tikkis are ready. Keep them in a bowl or serving dish. Mash them a little and put the green peas masala dish on it's top. Add the curd on top of this. Now sprinkle jeera powder,chat masala and black salt on top of this. Add the corriander chutney and tamarind chutney on top of this. Sprinkle the chopped onions and sev also and your delicious chat is ready!

For tamarind chutney

Mix some tamarind pulp and jaggery in some water and boil, simmer for a few minutes till it becomes thick. Now add jeera powder,dried ginger powder and blacksalt and remove from heat.

For corriander chutney

Grind corriander leaves,green chilly,ginger garlic and tomato(you can add either tamarind or lemon juice instead of tomato) with enough salt to a thick paste.

Mutter Paneer

I am not very fond of paneer usually, but if I get good spicy mutter paneer with hot rotis or parathas then it makes a good lunch or dinner for me. So when my mother-in-law came to stay with me i made it first time with her guidence. It turned out well. So at times now i make this at home when i am bored of normal plain food. So here i share the recipe so that anyone can try it at home


Ingredients

Paneer - 200 grams
Mutter(Green peas) - 1 cup
Onion - 2 medium chopped
Tomato - 1 medium chopped
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
chilly powder - 1 tsp
garam masala - 1 or 2 tsp according to your spice level
kasoori methi - 1 tsp
cashew nut - 1 tbsp soaked and ground to a fine paste
Water - 1/2 cup
butter - 1 tsp
oil - 3 tbsp
salt - as required
corriander leaves - to garnish

First cut the paneer into small cubes and fry in one tbsp oil till they become a little firm.(Don't no fry too much since the paneer will become hard).Spread it on a tissue paper so that oil will be absorbed. Now in the same pan oil fry the chopped onions adding turmeric and little bit of salt. Once they turn golden brown, fry the tomamtoes also till they are mashed and the raw smell is gone. Now let it cool and grind to a fine paste in the mixer. Fry the paste in the remaining oil adding ginger garlic paste for one minute. Then add the other powders and kasoori methi and fry well. Now add the green peas so that it's coated with the masala well. (Frozen green peas is the best for this dish and will be cooked fast. If using dried green peas then it has to be soaked and boiled before itself) Then add the cashew paste and salt if required. Without adding cashew paste also you can make the dish but cashew brings a special flavour and taste to the dish).Add water and cover the pan and let it cook. After few minutes open the pan and check whether green peas is cooked well. Then add the fried paneer and stir well. Now you can switch off the stove and add butter on top of the dish and garnish with chopped corriander leaves.