Vishu Kani And Our Sadya Vibhavangal

 Wishing you all a very Happy and Prosperous Vishu!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   We had planned for an elaborate write-up about Vishu, Kerala sadya and to post all the sadya dishes before Vishu but somehow it did not happen. So we are sharing with you all the sadya dishes that we have prepared and posted(except kadumanga achar) until now. Please click on each picture for its recipe. We have posted many different kinds of thoran in our space but in our household we usually prepare cabbage thoran or green jackfruit thoran for sadya. Many dishes like Vishu kanji, thiruvathira puzhukku, sharkkarapuratti, upperi, injithayir, beetroot kichadi, ada pradhaman, pal payasam, sambharam, rasakalan,  rasam etc etc are also missing but hopefully we will able to complete posting all these dishes before onam or by next Vishu :).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cabbage Thoran

Ingredients

1. Cabbage - 2.5 cups, chopped really fine
2. Onion - 1 small, chopped fine

3. Grated coconut - 3/4 cup
4. Green chillies - 4 - 5 chopped fine

5. Curry leaves - 1 sprig
6. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
7. Dry red chillies - 2
8. Salt - To taste
9. Oil - As required

 

Method

1.  Crush the chopped cabbage, onion, green chillies, grated coconut, curry leaves, salt, turmeric powder and 1-2 tsp oil with your hands.

 

 

 

2. Heat some oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds and brown the dry red chillies. Add the crushed mixture and cook closed  at low flame.

 

 

3. Stir in between and switch off when the cabbage is done.

 

Kalan and some awards

     There are many different varieties of yoghurt based dishes in Kerala like moru curry(seasoned with ginger and garlic) , pulliseri and kalan. Some varieties of pulliseri  are made using fruits, namely mambazha pulliseri, pineapple pulliseri,  ripe plantain/ethapazham pulliseri etc. Vegetables like winter melon/kumbalanga, vellarikka/yellow cucumber, raw green plantain/ethakka, pumpkin, drum sticks, tomato and elephant yam/chena are also used to prepare pulliseri. Out of all these varieties, mambazha pulliseri and kalan are my favourites. Kalan is a very popular traditional dish of Kerala and is another important dish of a Kerala sadya. Kalan has a much thicker consistency than pulliseri and uses pepper powder. There are two  types of kalan namely rasa kalan prepared using a variety of vegetables like pumpkin, yam, platain, ash gourd, yellow cucumber, chembu, raw mango etc and kurukku kalan which has a semi-solid consistency, usually served in Trissur.  In our place kalan for sadya is usually prepared with green plantains and elephant yam and has a medium consistency. Kalan prepared with sour yoghurt tastes the best. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

1. Raw green plantain - 1/2 cup diced (I removed its skin)
2. Elephant yam - 1/2 cup diced (You can use frozen yam)
3. Green chillies - 3 slit
4. Sour yoghurt - 2.5 cups
5. Grated coconut - 3/4 cup
6. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
7. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
8. Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp (opt)
9. Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
10. Uluva podi/ fenugreek powder - 1/4 tsp
11. Curry leaves - 1- 2 sprigs
12. Salt - To taste
13. Coconut oil - 2 tsp
14. Mustard - 1/2 tsp
15. Dry red chillies - 2

Method

1. Cook the plantains and yam in sufficient water adding turmeric powder, chilli powder, pepper powder and salt at medium heat. Meanwhile grind the coconut and cumin seeds to a very fine paste.

2. When the vegetables are cooked, mash them up a little bit and add the ground coconut paste. Cook for a few minutes until its raw taste is gone. Bring down the heat and add the beaten yoghurt. Keep stirring, after you add yoghurt, otherwise it will curdle. Sprinkle fenugreek powder and check for salt. Heat through and switch off. 

 

3. In another pan heat some coconut oil, splutter mustards, brown the dry red chillies, add a few curry leaves and pour this tadka over the kalan. Serve hot with steamed rice.

 

 

 

 

Nithubala of Nithu’s Kitchen sent us the Personalised Participation Award for participating in her event, Think beyond the usual - Fruits. Thanks a lot Nithu. We are looking forward to participating in your forthcoming events.

 

 

 

We are also excited to receive a bunch of awards from  Pavithra Srihari of Binge on Veg and Rumana Rawat of Spice Ur Senses. Both of them have some really interesting recipes in their space. You might want to try baked thattai and lemon rasam from Pavithra’s blog and Korean Chicken Gravy and Rajma Paratha from Rumana’s blog. Thanks a lot for these awards, girls.

We would like to pass on these awards to Srividhya of Vidhu’s Kitchen, Cool Lassie of Pan Gravy Kadai Curry, Shama of Easy2Cook Recipes, Deepti of Panchamrutham, Nithya of 4th Sense Cooking, Dolly of Curry And Beyond, TreatnTrick, Shabs of Shab’s Cuisine, Ms. Chitchat of ChitChat@CrossRoads, MaryMoh of Keep Learning Keep Smiling, Sreeviji of Ladys Blog, Vineetha of Ruchi, Shriya of SpicyTasty, Shanthi of Shanthi Krishnakumar’s cook book,  I’m a Home Chef of Cookery Bits, Subhie of Subhie’s Kitchen,  Sayantani of A Homemaker’s Diary, Gita of Gita’s Kitchen, Jay of Tasty Appetite and Varunavi of My Kitchen’s Aroma.

 

 

 

 

 

Olan

    Olan is yet another inevitable dish of a Kerala sadya. Olan might be the only vegetarian dish prepared without adding any spice powders. Its coconut milk and green chilly that imparts a unique taste, aroma and flavor to an olan. Some other vegetables like pumpkin and long runner beans/achinga payar can also be used in an olan but winter melon is most commonly used. Here goes the recipe:

 

Ingredients

1. Winter melon/ kumbalanga/ ash gourd - 250gm, skin removed and cubed
2. Red chori/ van payar/ red gram - 1/4 cup
3. Green chillies - 2-3, slit
4. Semi-thick coconut milk (randam pal) - 1 cup
5. Thick coconut milk (onnam pal) -  1/4 cup
6. Curry leaves - 1 - 2 sprigs
7. Salt - to taste
8. Coconut oil - 2 tsp

Method

 

1. Cook the red chori/ van payar in a pressure cooker adding enough water, salt and keep aside. Be sure to add more water since the van payar will double in size. It usually takes around 3-5 whistles depending on the type of pressure cooker that we use. Cut the winter melon into cubes. The winter melon available in USA will take more time to cook, so cut them into smaller cubes.

2. Cook the winter melon and green chillies adding enough water (around 1/4 - 1/2 cup) and salt.

3. When the winter melon cubes are just cooked(make sure they are not over-cooked, they should hold their shape), add the cooked van payar and thin coconut milk. Bring to a boil and adjust the gravy according to your consistency. It should not be watery. Now add the thick coconut milk, curry leaves, coconut oil and remove from heat. Mix well and serve hot with rice.

 

Sambar

    Idli/ sambar breakfast combo, is a hot favorite of not only South Indians but also of people from other parts of India and even foreigners. My mother always made idli and chutney, sambar was made occasionally, mostly during festivals, birthdays (pirannals), if we had guests and all. So sambar was always special for us! I am always mesmerized by the aroma, especially the rich flavour of asafeotida that arises while making sambar. I used to sniff around my mother’s kitchen and for me, if it smells good, it would taste good too!
   The vegetables most commonly used for preparing sambar are potato, onion, carrot, cucumber, brinjal, snake gourd, drum stick, tomato and amara payar/hyacinth bean. You could even add vegetables like pumpkin, okra, elephant yam, raw banana, plantains, broccoli stems, tindora/kovakka, winter melon, beans etc, if you are short of other vegetables and to make your kids eat veggies. There are many different ways by which you can make sambar. The Trissur style sambar is made using roasted coconut paste (varutharacha sambar) and there are different kinds of sambar like ulli sambar, okra sambar, drumstick sambar, white radish sambar etc. There is variation even in adding masalas. Some people add masala while cooking the vegetables and some add it after the vegetables are cooked since they say that their aroma will be lost if you add it while cooking the vegetables. I usually add lots of vegetables to sambar but I have heard that sambar ought to have more of gravy than vegetables and that it should not be too concentrate. You can use the store-bought sambar powder for making sambar. The recipe for sambar varies region-wise and religion-wise like all other curries. Here is our recipe:

 

Ingredients

 

1. Toor dal/ thuvaraparippu - 1/2 cup
2. Mixed vegetables - 3 cups ( I used potato, carrot, snake gourd, drumsticks, onion, cucumber, tomato, brinjal,  and okra), cubed
3. Onion - 1 diced
4. Green chillies - 2 slit
5. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Red chilly powder - 2 tsp
7. Coriander powder - 2.5 tsp
8. Fenugreek powder - 1/2 tsp
9. Asafoetida/hing - 2-3 pinches
10. Tomato - 2 small
11. Tamarind - Goose berry sized
12. Curry leaves - 1- 2 sprigs
13. Mustard - 1/2 tsp
14. Dry red chillies - 3
15. Pearl onion - 8-10 (It gives a special taste to the sambar.  You can use more of them if you are not using  large onion)
16. Salt - To taste

 

Method

 

1. Cook the toor dal in a pressure cooker adding turmeric powder,sufficient water and salt. Meanwhile soak the tamarind in warm water (around 1/4 cup) and extract its juice.

2. Now add the cut vegetables(except tomato and okra), 4-5 whole pearl onions, green chillies, curry leaves along with sufficient water(2 cups), turmeric powder and salt. Cook for 1 whistle.
3. In another pan saute the okra in oil until its almost cooked.The okra has to be cooked separately before adding to sambar otherwise it will make the whole thing slimy.
4. When the pressure releases, open the cooker and add the tamarind juice, tomatoes and okra.

5. Heat oil in pan and splutter the mustard seeds. Then add the dry red chillies, sliced pearl onions and brown them. Add some curry leaves, switch off and add the masala powders and mix well( just to remove the raw taste of the masala). Pour this tadka over the sambar. Bring it to a boil and switch off.  Mix well and serve it with steamed rice or idli/dosa after 15 - 20 mts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parippu

        One cannot even think of having a sadya without parippu. We start off with parippu, pappadam, and ghee. And now, if you think of avoiding pappadam or ghee, then you are making a huge mistake! The taste would never be the same without ghee or pappadam. I know there might be various ways of cooking parippu too, but this is how we prepare it. Its simple, nutritious and yummy too!

 

 

Ingredients

 

1. Spilt green gram dal/ cherrupayar parippu/ mung dal - 1/2 cup
2. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
3. Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
4. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
5. Garlic - 1
6. Salt - To taste
7. Coconut oil or ghee - 2 tsp

Method

 

 

1. Dry roast the split mung dal in a pan at medium heat for 5-6 mts. Cook it in a  pressure cooker until it is about to whistle adding turmeric powder, sufficient water ( I added around 3 cups) and salt. (You can cook it in a vessel instead of pressure cooker). Open the pressure cooker when the steam releases.  Mix well, if the parippu looks very thick, you can add more water and boil it. Check for salt.

 

2. Meanwhile grind the grated coconut along with cumin seeds and garlic to a very fine paste. Add it to the cooked dal and cook for a few minutes. Finally add curry leaves and 2 tsp coconut oil. Switch off. Serve hot with rice.

Mixed Noodles

 

Ingredients

1. Noodles - Around 200 gm (You can use any variety of noodles)
2. Chicken breast - one and half, cooked and sliced to strips
3. Shrimp - A handful (I used the frozen cooked ones)
4. Ginger - 1 tsp minced
5. Garlic - 1 tsp minced
6. Green and red bell pepper - 1/4 cup thinly sliced
7. Beans  - 6-7 beans sliced diagonally
8. Bean Sprouts - 1/4 cup
9. Carrot - 1/2 medium-sized sliced to strips
10. Cabbage - 1/4 cup sliced fine
11. Eggs - 2
12. Soy sauce - 2 tsp
13. Worcestershire sauce - 2 tsp
14. Chilli sauce - 2 tsp
15. Vinegar - 1 tsp (I used balsamic vinegar)
16. Sugar - 2-3 pinches
17. Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
18. Spring Onion - 1-2 chopped, to garnish
19. Vegetable Oil - 2 tsp
20. Salt - to taste 

Method

1. Cook the rice noodles as per the package instructions. When cooked, pour them into a colander, put under cold running water for about 30 seconds and set aside to drain. Pour 1 tsp oil and toss gently to prevent the noodles from sticking to each other. You can cut them using scissors if you want.

2. In a wide pan, heat vegetable oil. Add the minced ginger and garlic, saute for a minute. Turn the knob to high heat, add the chopped beans, saute for around 30 seconds and add chopped carrots. Continue stir-frying and add the cabbage, bean sprouts and bell peppers. Stir-fry for about 30 seconds. The veggies should not be over-cooked or else they may lose their color and crispness.

4. Now move all the veggies to the side and scramble the eggs adding a little pepper powder and salt. Mix it with the vegetables, add the cooked chicken and shrimp. Now toss in the cooked noodles, add soy sauce, chilli sauce, worcestshire sauce and  vinegar. Stir-fry until everything is well-mixed and the noodles are coated with all the sauces. Add more sauces until desired taste is achieved. Season with pepper, a little sugar, check for salt and switch off. Garnish with spring onions. Serve hot.