BANANA FRY Or KAYA MEZHUKUVARATTY

BANANA FRY Or KAYA MEZHUKUVARATTY: This is a very easy fry. It is crispy and spicy. You may have it with rice or Thali. It adds a variety to everyday food. This dish is widely made in kerala. This is a dish which we would have all cherished as kids. I am sure; it would be an instant hit with kids.  It is made with Green, unripe banana.

INGREDIENTS:

Unripe Banana – 2 or 3

Turmeric powder – a pinch

Red chilli powder – 1 teaspoon or less

Curry leaves – 4 to 5

Salt to taste

Oil – 1 to 2 tablespoon

METHOD:

Clean and cut the green bananas into thin slices. Heat oil in a pan and add the banana pieces and salt. Close the pan with a lid and cook till tender. Add turmeric powder and red chilli and curry leaves and sauté till lightly crisp. Serve!

NB: stir once a while very gently, so that the pieces do not stick to the bottom. Using coconut oil would give more taste and aroma. 

BEAN SPROUT Or CHERUPAYAR MULAPICHATHU or MOONG DAL THORAN

BEAN SPROUT Or CHERUPAYAR MULAPICHATHU or MOONG DAL THORAN: Bean Sprout as we all know is a very healthy and nutritious option. But none of us are fantasised by the option of having it. Some of us adults and even very small kids cannot have sprouts raw because of gastric issues. Sprouts for babies and toddlers should be cooked as they are prone to gastric issues as their digestive system is not well developed. Some of us even do not like its raw taste too. This recipe would definitely bring a change to all that. But always remember sprouts are highly nutritious in their raw form. The more we cook them, the nutrition level decreases.

The speciality of moong dal apart from its high level of protein and fibre content is that it has zero cholesterol and has good amounts of magnesium also. Around 100 grams of cooked moong dal provides only  105 calories. Sprouts are even called as super foods. The carbohydrates and calories decreases almost by 15% in moong dal sprouts as compared to the ordinary moong dal where as their protein and other vitamin and mineral contents increase significantly.

This recipe should very well be incorporated with your breakfast, lunch or even dinner. You may have it with rice, chapattis, khuboos, pita bread or even bread.

INGREDIENTS:

Sprouted Bean, cooked – 1 to ½ cup

Red onion – 1

Scraped coconut – 2 to 3 tablespoons (optional)

Dried red chillies – 2
Turmeric powder - a pinch

Mustard seeds – ½ tablespoon

Curry leaves – a sprig

Oil – 1 tablespoon

Salt to taste

METHOD:

Cook the sprouted beans in Pressure cooker, about a whistle or two. In a pan, heat oil and splutter the mustard seeds along with the dried red chillies. Add the chopped onions and sweat them. Add curry leaves and salt along with scraped coconut and turmeric powder and sauté for a minute. Add cooked sprouts and mix well. Serve!

NB: Do not overcook the sprouts. This is a dry dish, so do not add too much water while you pressure cook the sprouts. Scraped coconut gives a crunch and added taste to the dish. 

THE SECRET TO SOFT APPAM

THE SECRET TO SOFT APPAM: Appam is best had with egg curry, chicken curry, mutton curry, beef curry, vegetable curries like chana masala, green peas masala and so on and on....I guess you could try it out with most. My favourites are vegetable masala in coconut milk, egg curry and chicken masala.  It would surely make your breakfast a delightful experience.

If you are thinking what an appam is.......... Appam is a fermented pancake that is made in every home in kerala. I am sure every keralite would love it. This is one of those recipes which are very simple but definitely has its tricks and turns. If you do not get your batter right, believe me your appam would definitely be a flop....so be very alert. But do not worry, it is very simple. You may require some practice to perfect them.

Appam batter is normally made with grinding soaked rice, coconut, sugar, coconut milk and yeast or soda powder. It is time consuming and at the same time very tricky. I swear I have tried making it so many times, even tried the instant ones but none of them came out so perfectly. It does not have the true taste of the mouth watering palappams but still better than the instant ones.

I owe a big thanks to my second sister in law for this. Her house owner had taught her this recipe. I have made few changes to it to enhance its taste like adding coconut milk.

INGREDIENTS:

White Rice or Raw Rice – 2 cups

Aval or Poha or Beaten Rice – 1 cup

Thick Coconut Milk – ¼ to ½ cup 

( around 5 tablespoons of coconut milk powder)

Yeast – ½ teaspoon to 1 teaspoon

Sugar – 1 tablespoon

Water

Salt

METHOD:

Soak the white rice and beaten rice for at the least 4 hours. You may even soak the beaten rice just half an hour before grinding it. Grind the soaked white rice and beaten rice together.  Dissolve yeast and sugar in lukewarm water. Mix in the yeast and coconut milk to the ground mixture. The batter is ready.  Leave it overnight.

In the morning, add salt to the well risen batter. The appam is ready to be cooked. To cook, add a sccop  or ladle of the batter to slightly hot pan at its centre. You may have to swirl or rotate the pan, if you are using an appam pan. If you are using a flat one, just spread it out like the way you would do for  dosa or pancake. Cover it with a lid. Remove from the pan, once it is well cooked.

NB: You may cook the appam using a appachatti or a non stick appam pan to get the shape of a palappam. You may even cook it in a normal pan; this would make your appam flat.

The consistency of the batter should be runny but not too runny. Even if the batter is slightly thick, you may add a bit of water just before cooking to get the right consistency. If the Batter is too runny, it may stick to the pan.

If your batter is too runny, you may add in nicely soaked and ground rice flour to get the right consistency. You may also add in the  appam or idiyappam flours that you get to get the right thickness. In such a case, leave the batter again to ferment or rise for an hour.

I have used instant yeast. In that case, if you add around 1/2 to 3/4 th of a tablespoon, your appam batter would be ready to cook within an hour or so, well depending on your climate too...

You may also use soda powder instead of the yeast and sugar mixture. In that case, add a pinch of soda powder around 15 to 20 minutes before you cook.

You may also use a mixture of yeast and soda powder. 

Check on your yeast and soda powder levels, it may hamper the taste of your appams. 

You may choose not to use coconut milk. In that case, you may not get it very tasty. 

Instead you may also try by adding one small shallot and few cumin seeds while grinding the batter, it definitely gives a different taste. The taste and smell might not appeal to everyone. 

EASY RAJMA Or RED KIDNEY BEANS Or VANPAYAR RECIPE

EASY  RAJMA Or RED KIDNEY BEANS Or VANPAYAR  RECIPE: This is my style red kidney beans curry. It is very easy one. I have always been a fan of rajma recipe. I fell in love with this curry while having food at the North Indian restaurants.

Did you know that red kidney beans can prevent blood sugars from sudden hiking after a meal like cinnamon. It also has cholesterol lowering capacity like other beans.  They also have high fiber content. Apart from all this it is also high in proteins and helps replenish the iron in your body especially for women.

However just like they say even amrit in high amounts is bad for you, consuming high amounts of red kidney beans might lead to diarrohea, blood clotting and so on....so check on your amount. After all, a healthy and well balanced diet is what matters...

So, moving on to the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

Rajma or Red Kidney Beans – ½ cup soaked or canned

Tomato – 1 to 1½

Red Onion – 1 small

Curry leaves – a sprig

Chilli Powder - ¼ tablespoon

Turmeric Powder – a pinch

Garam Masala Powder – 1 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Oil – 1 tablespoon

METHOD:

Soak the red kidney beans overnight preferably.  Take a pressure cooker and add all the ingredients and cook on low flame till done.

Since I soaked it only for around 4 hours I had to increase the time of cooking. I cooked for around 6 to 7 whistles.

Yup! You are done!!! Is that not easy????

MUSHROOM THORAN

MUSHROOM THORAN: I should thank my mom for this awesome recipe. This thoran is an authentic kerala dish.  My early memories of this dish go back to my childhood. I remember during my vacations we used to visit my dad’s home and in the backyard the mushrooms used to sprout. It is so beautiful to see them especially the white ones. My grand mom used to pick them and make dry chutney with them.

The last time I had them was after my delivery. She got few of them for me and my mom prepared this awesome thoran. It was a delight.

Since we do not get those types of mushrooms here, I have done it with button mushrooms available at the super market. It is very tasty as it has the meat masala aroma and taste.

The best thing about button mushrooms is that they contain high amounts of vitamin D, digestive enzymes and proteins.

 “A 2009 case control study of 2,018 women correlated a large decrease of breast cancer incidence in women who consumed mushrooms. Women in the study who consumed fresh mushrooms daily were 64% less likely to develop breast cancer, while those that combined a mushroom diet with regular green tea consumption reduced their risk of breast cancer by nearly 90%.” -  Wikipedia.

That is great information. So, you see mushroom is a great option especially for vegetarians. But do be careful especially if you are plucking them from the wild, there are toxic ones too!!!!!!!

INGREDIENTS:

Button Mushrooms – 6 to 8 big ones

Coconut scraped - 3 to 4 tablespoons

Onion – 1 big

Or

Shallots – 8 to 10

Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon

Fennel seeds – 2 teaspoon

Turmeric powder – ¼ teaspoon

Chilli powder – ½ tablespoon

Coriander powder – ½ tablespoon

Garam Masala powder – ¼ to ½ tablespoon

Curry leaves – a sprig

Salt to taste

Oil – 1 tablespoon

METHOD:

Clean and chop the mushrooms and onions separately. Heat oil in a pan and splutter the mustard seeds. Add fennel seeds.Once they turn brown, add turmeric, chilli, and coriander and garam masala powder and saute till the raw smell goes.  

Add the scraped coconut, curry leaves, salt, mushrooms and onion. Sauté well and cook on low heat with a lid on. Cook till mushrooms are done or till they are nice and tender.

NB: Do not add water as the water from the mushrooms and onion is enough to get it cooked well. 

You may even try it without coriander powder. 

Using coconut oil gives a different taste and great aroma. 

Cook the entire dish on low heat.