Puli Inji

Puli Inji , a Kerala Special condiment with Ginger, Tamarind and Jaggery plays a very important role in Onam Sadhya. You can have this either as pickle or just with hot steaming plain  rice. The recipe follows..

Yields for One small cup

Preparation Time : 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Chopped Ginger       - 3 tbsp
Tamarind                  -  small lemon size ball
Green Chili               - 2
Jaggery                     - 2 tbsp (Vellam)
Small Onion             - 3
Curry Leaves            - few
Salt                           - As required
Turmeric Powder     - 1/4 tsp
Chili Powder            - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds          - 1/4 tsp
Dry Red Chili           - 1
Coconut Oil              - 2 tbsp

Procedure:

• Soak chopped Ginger in enough water along with little salt for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, drain excess water. This is done to reduce Ginger's strong flavor. You can also avoid this step.
• Saute ginger in coconut oil for some time and then take it out. Crush sauteed ginger using a Mortar-Pestle or Mixer-Grinder.
• Chop finely small onions, dry red chili and green chilies. Extract juice from tamarind. Add enough salt, Turmeric powder and Chili powder to tamarind extract and keep it aside.
•  Powder Jaggery and take it in a sauce pan. Add 1/2 cup of water to it. Cook in medium flame till jaggery dissolves and then filter it, This is done to remove impurities from Jaggery.
• Heat coconut oil in a pan. When it hot, add mustard seeds and chopped dry red chili to it. When they splutter add chopped onions, chopped green chilies and curry leaves to it.
• After onions turned translucent, add crushed ginger. Add also tamarind extract with the spices which we prepared earlier.
• When the mixture starts to boil, add Jaggery extract and cook in medium flame till it gets thickened. Your delicious Puli Inji is ready to serve!!

Kerala Style Tomato Rasam

Its always 'Rasam' which gives completeness to heavy lunch.. Looking for a different rasam recipe??Today's recipe is one such, kerala style tomato rasam.. Spices are freshly ground and then boiled with tamarind juice and smashed tomato.. Usually no seasoning is added to this rasam. Over to the recipe.. 

Recipe For : 2

Preparation Time : 15 minutes

Ingredients:

Tomato                             - 1
Tamarind                          - 2 tsp (Small Gooseberry size)
Toor Dal boiled water      - little
Asafoetida                        - a pinch (hing)
Salt                                   - As required
Water                                - As required
Coconut oil                       - 1 tbsp
Curry Leaves                    - few
Coriander Leaves              - few

To Grind :

Dry Red Chili       - 2
Garlic Pods           - 2
Cumin Seeds         - 1/4 tsp (Seeragam)
Black Pepper         - 6 to 8
Coriander Seeds    - 1/2 tsp (Malli)

Procedure:

• Smash tomato. Extract juice from tamarind. Dry roast dry chili in a pan and take it out. Grind  coarsely roasted dry red chili, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, garlic pods and black pepper together adding very little water. 
• Heat coconut oil in a pan. Add curry leaves to it. When they splutter add ground masala to it. Saute till raw flavor goes off and after that add smashed tomato.
• After tomato gets cooked, add toor dal boiled water, tamarind extract, salt, asafoetida and enough water to the pan.
• Cook in a medium flame covered with a lid. When the rasam starts to boil, switch it off. Add coriander leaves to it.
• Enjoy with hot steaming rice and Poriyal of your choice.

Senai Kizhangu Pulisery (Elephant Yam Pulisery)

Today's recipe is Kerala special Pulisery. And when i first heard this name, i thought it must be something similar to tamilnadu style puli kuzhambu. but to  my surprise, it doesn't use tamarind at all.  I prepared this dish on the occasion of Onam.. Kerala style cooking was totally a new experience for me.. In almost all Kerala dishes, Vegetables are cooked in an open pan, ground masala is added to the cooked vegetables and at-last seasoning is done in coconut oil and added to the gravy..  The recipe follows..

Recipe For : 2

Preparation Time : 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Senai Kizhangu      - 200 gm (Elephant Yam)
Yogurt                    - 1/4 cup
Mustard Seeds        - 1/4 tsp
Fenugreek Seeds     - 1/4 tsp (Vendhayam)
Dry Red Chili          - 1
Curry Leaves           - few

Coconut Oil           - 1 tbsp

To Grind:

Grated Coconut       - 1/4 cup
Small Onion            - 4 to 6
Cumin Seeds           - 1/4 tsp
Tumeric Powder      - 1/4 tsp
Chili Powder            - 1 tsp

Procedure:

• Chop Senai kizhangu into big pieces. Grind everything under 'To Grind'.
• Take chopped senai kizhangu in a sauce pan. Add water enough to immerse it. Cook it with needed salt.  After its cooked add ground masala to the pan directly. 
• Cook it for five more minutes till the raw flavor of masala goes off.
• After that add yogurt and mix everything.
• Heat coconut oil in a pan. When its hot, add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, dry red chili and curry leaves.
• When they splutter, add it to senai kizhangu gravy.
• Mix everything together and switch off the flame. Tasty and Tangy pulisery is ready to serve. Enjoy it with hot steaming rice..

Onam Sadhya

Onam ashamsakal!!

Sadhya is the feast which is prepared on the auspicious day of Onam. I always wanted to prepare full onam  feast at home.  This year i went ahead with the idea. Since I have never tasted sadhya, I was excited to prepare at home and gathered all the recipes with the help from friends and Google. So i am not sure whether the recipes are authentic. But i swear the taste was too good. 

Cooking Kerala Cusine was  totally a different experience for me. It is completely different from Tamilnadu style of cooking. One distinct thing i noticed was coconut was used in almost all the recipes and the use of coconut oil gives nice aroma to the dishes.  I am just giving insight to the Onam sadhya recipes. The recipe number varies up to 64.  I prepared the feast with 17 dishes..

1.  Banana  
2. Banana Chips. Jaggery coated  banana chips is also used for serving.
3. Pappad
4. Salt
5. Use Lime pickle, Mango pickle and Narthangai pickle. I didn't have any pickles at home. So i skipped this..I served Puli- Inji which is also usually served with it. It is nothing but Ginger is cooked in tamarind and jaggery water with turmeric and chili powder. Hence its a perfect blend of all tastes
6. Cucumber Pachadi - Cucumber is boiled first. yogurt and Coconut, green chili, mustard seeds and cumin seeds paste is added to it and then it is seasoned.
7. Olan - It is prepared with Ash gourd (Vellai Poosanikai) and White eyed beans (Thattam Payaru). Both are boiled separatley and its cooked  together in coconut milk, Green chili, Curry leaves. Drizzle coconut oil.
8. Cabbage Thoran - Shredded cabbage is sauteed together with small onion, coconut , cumin , green chili and garlic paste.
9. Aviyal - Vegetables cooked with coconut paste.
10. Rice
11. Parupu & Ghee -  Boiled Toor dal with Ghee
12. Kerala Style Sambar - Its similar to varuthu aracha sambar. Since we are also grinding small onion together it results in very different sambar.
13. Senai Kizhangu Pulissery - Yam is boiled first and coconut, small onion, cumin seeds, turmeric powder and red chili powder paste is added to it. Also add yogurt and seasoning.
14. Kerala Style Tomato Rasam - Its totally a different rasam. Tomatoes are smashed and boiled together with red chili, garlic, coriander seeds and pepper paste.
15. Spiced Buttermilk - Butter milk with Ginger, Cumin seeds and curry leaves.
16. Kadalai Parupu Payasam - Channa Dal cooked with Jaggery and coconut milk. One of my dear friends prepared this payasam for her onam celebrations. I also used this for the post.
17. Paal Adai Pradhaman - I used ready made Palada for this recipe. Its cooked fully in Milk and Jaggery.