The Malabar Kitchen

Gongura Pickle

Gongura pickle is one of the most popular Andhra pickles. Gongura is called Sorrel leaves in English, Pulicha Keerai in Tamil, Gongura in Telugu and Pandi in Kannada. It comes in two varieties, green stemmed and red stemmed. I've used the red stemmed variety here.

Gongura - 3 bunches (Remove the leaves from the stem)
Red chilly powder - 4-5 tsp (Adjust as per your taste)

Fenugreek , roast and ground - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds, roast and ground - 2 tsp

Hing - ½ tsp
Salt to taste
Gingelly oil 6 tbsp

· Clean the gongura leaves with water and dry them in sun for a day or two. When you are ready to make the pickle, chop the leaves into chunky pieces and set aside.

· Heat half of the oil in a pan. Add hing, fenugreek powder, mustard powder and chilly powder. Fry it for a minute and remove from heat.

· Heat another skillet, add the remaining oil to it, and fry the gongura leaves for a few minutes till the leaves shrink completely.

· Add salt and the powder ingredients to the leaves, mix well so that gongura leaves blend in nicely with the spices.

· Fry the garlic flakes in a little oil. And pour onto the gongura mixture.

Once the pickle has cooled you can store it in containers and use as required. If it’s stored in the refrigerator, this pickle can last for atleast 6 months.

Arabian pulpy grape juice

Purple or red grapes ½ kg, preferably seedless

Sugar ¼ kg

Water 1 liter

· Boil all the ingredients till it starts to thicken slightly. Remove from heat. Keep it aside.

· After about 4-5 hours, squish the grapes well with a masher or with hands. The pulpy part of the grape should be left in. Remove the skin, which will be floating above and blend it with a little water, strain and add it to the juice.

· Chill in the refrigerator. Serve chilled.

Chocolate Mud Cake

Cake:

Flour – 1 ¼ cup
Cocoa powder – ½ cup

Baking powder – 1 tsp
Baking Soda – 1 tsp

Powdered sugar or castor sugar – 1 ¼ cup
Eggs – 2
Milk – 1 ¼ cup
Hot water – ¾ cup
Oil – ¼ cup
Salt – 1 pinch
Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

Frosting:

Icing sugar – 1 cup

Powdered sugar – 1 cup
Cocoa powder – ¾ cup
Softened cooking butter – ½ cup

Milk – ¼ cup

Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

Mix all the ingredients to make a thick mixture. Keep aside till the cake is done.

Method:

Chocolate Mud Cake

In a large bowl sift together maida, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Keep it aside.

In a moisture-free bowl, add the eggs, and beat it till its very fluffy, this may take about 10 to 15 minutes with an egg beater. Now add the milk, oil, vanilla extract and boiling water to the eggs. Beat again at medium speed for a minute or until the mix is well-combined.

Add the powder ingredients to the batter and mix slowly till it’s well-combined. Pour into a greased round pan and bake at 170° C until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. This may take about 30 to 40 minutes, but start checking on the cake after 20 minutes. When it’s done, keep it aside to cool.

When it’s cooled completely, top with the frosting.

Store in the refrigerator for atleast a couple of hours before serving.

Apple pie

Apple pie is probably one of the oldest pastries. The English and Dutch Apple pie are said to date back centuries. The first printed copy of the English apple pie recipe was by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1381. The ingredients for the pie were good apples, good spices, figs, raisins and pears. He also mentioned a cofyn, which is simply a casing of pastry. The last ingredient, saffron, is used to color the pie filling. Most the above mentioned ingredients aren't used in my pie, but then, I’m not English. I adapt to food from all over the world and learn to cook it and eat it in my own way, here’s a tried and tested apple pie adapted from my mom’s cookbook.

Crust and cover:

Maida 1½ cup

Baking powder ¼ tsp

Salt ¼ tsp

Sugar 1 tbsp

Butter 3 tbsp

Iced water, about 4-5 tbsp

Filling:

Apple 2, peeled, cored and chopped to tiny pieces or sliced thinly, as you like it

Lime juice 3-4 drops (so that the apple does not change color)

Maida 2 tbsp

Salt 1 pinch

Sugar 2 tbsp

Cinnamon powder ¼ tsp

Butter ½ tsp

· Mix lime juice, sugar, flour, cinnamon powder and salt in bowl. Stir in the apple pieces. Set aside.

Method:

· Pre-heat oven to 400° F.

· Mix baking powder, salt, sugar and maida together. Add butter and mix it in roughly, till it starts to look like bread crumbs. Add the water now, slowly, little at a time. Mix until the dough holds together, add a bit more water, if necessary.

· Shift the dough to a lightly floured surface, knead again, and then divide it into 2 equal portions.

· Flatten one portion into a disk (for the crust). Keep aside for 20-30 minutes.

· Roll out the other portion on a lightly floured surface into a thin circle (for the cover).

· Stick the first portion which was kept aside for the crust onto a pie dish, trimming any extra dough from the edges with a sharp knife. Poke all over it with a fork.

· Add the apple filling onto the base. Drop a few specks of butter in 3 or 4 places.

· Add covering as you like it. Either top the pie with the plain cover (with the rolled out dough) and put a couple of slits on top or cut the flattened out dough into strips and make a woven cover for the pie. Use a fork or your fingers to pinch the edges together.

· Once that’s done, bake the pie for about 20-30 minutes, at 400° F, until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in the crust.

· The traditional way to serve apple pie in some parts of England (such as Yorkshire) is with cheese. In many Commonwealth countries, apple pie is served with ice cream, custard or double cream. But like the majority of people, I love it just the way it is with no additions whatsoever. I love to relish the flavor of the pie in itself, with no other flavors interfering.

Enjoy your pie!

Baby Corn Manchurian

Baby corn - 1 packet, (about 10 to 15 nos, cut in half)
Maida – ½ cup
Corn flour – ¼ cup
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Pepper powder - ½ tsp
Crushed ginger - ½ tsp
Crushed garlic - ½ tsp
Vinegar - 1tsp
Salt – ½ tsp
Oil for deep frying

Cook the baby corn for 1 whistle in the cooker.
Mix all the above ingredients except the oil. It should be a thick batter.
Add the corn to the batter; it should be well coated.
Deep fry till it turns golden brown on all sides and keep aside.

Crushed ginger – ½” piece
Crushed garlic – 5 cloves
Onion (Preferably white onion) - 1 big, (Chunky cubes)
Green chillies - 2-3, julienne slices (As per tolerance)
Red chilli powder - ½ tsp
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Capsicum - 1 (Chunky cubes)
Spring onion 5-6 stalks, chopped
Chilli-garlic sauce - 2 tbsp
Soya sauce - 2 tbsp
Vinegar - 1 tsp
Corn flour - 1 tsp dissolved in ¾ cup water
Salt as needed
Oil

Heat a pan with oil and add ginger and garlic, sauté it for a minute and add the onion and green chillies and fry till onion starts to turn pink.
Add the salt, red chilli powder and pepper and fry for half a minute on high flame. Add the capsicum. Sauté for ½ a minute, and add the chilli-garlic sauce, soya sauce and vinegar, sauté a little.
Add the fried baby corn with chopped spring onions and mix well.
Slowly add the corn flour dissolved in water and stir well, till the baby corns are well coated with the gravy.
Decorate with chopped spring onions.

· Serve hot with fried rice or noodles!

Mochakottai/Avarekkai Sambhar

Mochakottai, also known as Avarekkai, is a very popular bean around Karnataka. There are many many ways of preparing it, but by far I personally feel that sambhar is the best of the lot. This is the way my mother-in-law prepares it. Usually when she prepares it, she has to empty the entire rice to the curry vessel itself coz all 5 of us (my husband, his brother, brother's wife, sister and me) would crowd around her to feed us. I know its disgusting for most people, to be fed by someone else, but ya, that's how I like it, I really love to be fed. Makes me 'feel' like a child again. When I go to my parents place, its the same story there too, its either my dad, mom or my sister (though she's younger to me) who end up feeding me.

OK, now coming back to Mochakottai, there's a preparation with mutton that's really good too, I would be adding that in shortly. Mochakottai can be used without removing the skin too, but it causes slight gastric problems that way, or so I've heard. I decided not to take a chance and peeled the skin even though it is double the work. But the end result pays for the hard work.

Dal – ½ cup
Potato – 2, cubed
Tomato – 1, cubed
Turmeric – ½ tsp

Cook the dal with the potato, tomato & turmeric, till the dal is almost mashed, in a pressure cooker this may take about 3-4 whistles.

Mochakottai beans – ½ kg

Take the seeds out from the beans, as you would with fresh peas, and soak the beans for a few hours or overnight preferably. Then remove the skin on the seeds. You can do this by gently squeezing from one end of the seeds.
Add these to the cooked dal. Cook for some more time till the beans are cooked and soft. They should not get mashed.

Tamarind juice extracted from a handful of raw tamarind - 1 cup.
Or, if it’s tamarind extract, then about 1 tbsp mixed in 1 cup of water

Add this to the dal mixture. Boil for 5 minutes.

To grind:

Oil – 1 tsp
Channa dal – 1 tbsp
Urad dal – 1 tbsp
Peppercorns – 1 tbsp
Methi seeds – 1 tsp
Jeera – 1 tsp
Curry leaves – 10-12 leaves
Shallots - 10
Garlic – ½ a pod
Coconut – ½ cup, grated
Asafoetida/Hing – ¼ tsp
Chilli powder – 1 tbsp, or as per heat tolerance
Dhaniya powder – 3 tbsp

In a kadai, heat the oil, roast the channa dal, urad dal, peppercorns, methi seeds, jeera, curry leaves, garlic, coconut and asafoetida. To this add chilli powder and dhaniya. Fry till the raw smell of the masala goes away. Grind this to a smooth paste with little water and add to the dal mixture. Add salt as required. Boil for 5 more minutes.

To temper:
Oil – 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Dry red chillis – 3-4, broken into pieces
Curry leaves – 10 leaves

Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds, when it sputters, add the red chillies and curry leaves. Pour this on top of the curry.

Coriander leaves – 1 handful, chopped

Garnish with the coriander leaves.

Serve with hot rice!

Tabbouleh

Tabbouleh is originally a Lebanese dish, but is widely popular in many parts of the world now as a very healthy salad. Tabbūle is a Levantine Arabic word which literally means "little spicy". It’s usually made with Bulgur wheat, but I’ve replaced it with cracked wheat here, with almost similar taste, but I wouldn’t say it’s exactly the same. It’s a multi colored delight which is very fibrous and nutritious.

This is my version of Tabbouleh, which is slightly different from the original one.

Ingredients:

½ cup vegetable stock (for vegetarians) or chicken stock or water
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup cracked wheat
2 tbsp olive oil
Juice from ½ a lemon
1 small green chilli, chopped
½ of a red onion, chopped
½ capsicum (green or yellow) seeded and chopped
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
¼ cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 scallion, chopped with the greens
¾ cup parsley, chopped

· Add the cracked wheat to a bowl. Boil the stock with some salt, pour it over the wheat. Keep this aside for about 30 minutes to an hour.

· In a large bowl, add the lemon juice, olive oil and cracked wheat, mix well. Add all the other ingredients and combine well delicately.

· Do a taste test and add more salt, olive oil or lemon juice if required, to suit your taste. Let marinate for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator before serving.

· Tabbouleh is ready. Serve chilled.

· This can be stored in good containers for a few days, if refrigerated.

Chicken Piralen, Malabar style

Chicken is definitely the most versatile meat. And this preparation is one of the most common one all around Kerala. Almost every blog has a version of this recipe. This is the way my Mom makes it:

Chicken 1kg, medium to small pieces

Coriander powder 3 tbsp

Chilli powder 1 tsp

Turmeric ½ tsp

Pepper-Saunf powder* 1 tsp

Cumin powder ½ tsp

Cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, a little of each

*'Pepper-Saunf powder' :

Take pepper and saunf in equal proportions and grind and store in an airtight jar. This masala can be added to almost any non-vegetarian preparation. It improves the taste a lot.

Grind all the masala ingredients together with a few drops of water and marinate the chicken in it for an hour.

Ginger 2” piece, chopped

Garlic 10-12 cloves, crushed

Shallots, 10-15, sliced

Apple cedar vinegar 1 tbsp (You can substitute with normal vinegar if you don’t get this one)

Water 3 cups

Salt 1 tsp

Cook all the ingredients together with the marinated chicken, until the chicken becomes tender. Then take the chicken pieces from the gravy and keep both aside.

Coconut oil 4-5 tbsp

Onion 1, sliced thinly

Chilli powder 1 tsp

Curry leaves, a few

Heat the oil in a deep skillet and fry the onion and curry leaves in it. When the onion turns golden brown in color, add the chilli powder and sauté for a minute. Now add the chicken pieces and fry well for about 10 minutes on a medium heat. The chicken shouldn’t get scrambled. Now add the gravy which was kept aside and mix well into the fried chicken. Keep cooking on a medium to low flame till the gravy becomes thick.

Goes well with Rice, Chapatti, Vellayappam etc.

Koorkka fry

I love this preparation. It’s not a complicated one, but the complication comes in the preparation part, it needs to be fried and fried and fried… for at least 20-30 minutes.. that’s a lot of work for a simple vegetable fry if you ask me.. but the final result is definitely worth the effort though, no doubt..

Koorkka, peeled and cut into small pieces (The small ones taste better than the larger ones)

Onion, 1 big, chopped

Green chillis 3-4 chopped

Turmeric powder ½ tsp

Salt to taste

Mustard ½ tsp

Urad dal ½ tsp

Coconut oil 2-3 tbsp

Curry leaves, a few

Heat the oil, add the mustard, when it sputters, add the urad dal, curry leaves, onion and green chillis. When the onion starts to turn pinkish, add some salt. Now add the Koorkka and the turmeric. Keep frying till the Koorkka is well cooked. Close the lid and let it cook for about 3 minutes, sprinkle a little water if necessary. But Rosh never adds water, he says adding water spoils the taste and texture of the vegetable. It’ll need to be cooked for at least 20 to 30 minutes, altering between closing the lid and stirring every few minutes.

Vellarikka unakkachemmeen curry

Vellarikka 1 small, cubed

Toor dal ½ cup

Turmeric ½ tsp

Chilli powder 1 tsp

Garlic 3 cloves

Curry leaves, a few

Cook all the above in a pressure cooker till the dal is well cook. The Vellarikka shouldn’t get over cooked.

Coconut grated, ½ cup

Jeera, ½ tsp

Turmeric ½ tsp

A small piece of onion

Water ¼ cup

Grind all these into a smooth paste and add it to the cooked dal mixture. Add some salt. Let it boil for about 5 minutes.

For the garnish:

Coconut oil 1 tbsp

Mustard ½ tsp

Dry red chilli, 2

Curry leaves, a few

Heat oil, add the ingredients for garnish in the given order. Add to the curry, close the lid and serve after 10 minutes.

The curry goes well with rice, curd and your choice of side dish.

Karnataka style greens curry, Soppu saaru

Cheera curry (in Malayalam), which is called Soppu saaru (Soppu is 'leaf' and saaru is 'curry' in Kannada), pronounced "Soppsaaru", is one of the most popular vegetarian curries in Karnataka. It's rich in fiber and flavor. Pretty easy to make except for the part of cleaning the leaves.

In Bangalore we're usually woken up early in the morning, every Tuesday and Friday, by the calls of the 'Soppu aunty' as we call her. She comes to our doorstep with a broad smile and a basket laden with freshly cut greens and fresh flowers on her head. She'll always have at least about 10 different types of greens and around 5 or 6 types of flowers. It's a pleasant sight to wake up to. The reason she comes very early on Tuesday and Friday is b'coz around here these two days are considered very auspicious and almost every Hindu house will buy flowers to decorate the Puja room on these days. On other days she makes her visits a little later in the mornings.

Coming back to Soppu saaru, this was a preparation I had never seen before coming to Bangalore. The way my Mom prepares greens is very different from this and the taste is entirely different too. Frankly I prefer Mom's preparation, but this version is supposed to be extremely nutritious as it contains not 1, but atleast 4 to 5 types of leaves.

Mixed greens, 4 or 5 types, which includes spinach, coriander leaves and gongura leaves, washed and chopped, about 4 cups
Toor dal, or sambhar dal, 1/2 cup
Moong dal 1/2 cup
Garlic 10 cloves
Tomato 1
Green chillis 6-8
Turmeric 1 tsp
Water 1 cup

Cook all the above together in a pressure cooker for 5-6 whistles or till both the dals are cooked well. Remove from heat and when it cools, add salt and use a heavy ladle to mash the contents a little.

Coconut grated, 3/4 cup
Jeera, 1/2 tsp
Turmeric 1/2 tsp

Grind the above to make a smooth paste. Add this to the curry.

Tamarind pulp, 1 tbsp (If you are not adding gongura leaves, then you'll have to increase this to 2tbsp)

Add to the curry along with the coconut mixture. Mix well. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.

For the garnish:
Coconut oil, 1 tbsp
Mustard, 1/2 tsp
Dry red chillies, 2
Shallots, sliced 2tbsp
Curry leaves, a few

Heat the oil, add the ingredients in the given order and fry till the shallots turn golden brown. Then add the curry leaves, pour onto the curry, close the lid for about 10 minutes. You can add a dollop of ghee too, but that would be a lil on the heavier side. I usually avoid the ghee, even though it improves the taste drastically.

This curry goes well with rice, chappati or Ragi ball or Ragi Modde, as its called in Kannada. It tastes best when accompanied with curd and fish fry.

English breakfast

For some reason, the simplest of things are often the best. An English breakfast would be the best of examples for this... it's so simple, yet so awesome.. and the best part is, there's no predefined way that it needs to be in, there's a wide variety of combinations to choose from. I've made a version that I used to have regularly at a restaurant on MG Road, Bangalore, called Koshy's, during my college days, when even for the simplest of things we had to resort to restaurants as we weren't allowed to use the hostel kitchen.

I happened to visit Koshy's a while ago, but somehow, it didn't feel like old times, now it's just another restaurant, maybe it's the company which made all the difference.. that's when I realized that I was missing college and old friends, who are all in different parts of the world now.

Hmmm...anyhow, I decided to have it home-made this time, in fond memory of college days... it tastes the same, but definitely doesn't feel the same.

Toast, 2 slices
Upside down egg, 1
Fried sausages, 2 (this one's my addition, Koshy's didn't serve sausages)
Baked beans (canned), sautéed in very little oil, with some chopped onion and green chillies

Serve with a cup of hot tea.

Vellayappam or Lace rimmed rice pancakes

In Kerala, Vellayappam is one of the most popular breakfasts. Almost every household has Vellayappam for breakfast atleast once a week. But they can pass really well for lunch or dinner as well.
The lore is that this delicacy is a foreigner to the Mallu-land. It's said the Dutch got the Appam into our land ages ago. I’m really not sure about the authenticity of that tale, but if it’s true, I’m so thankful to the Dutch!!

Traditionally this recipe uses ‘toddy’ instead of yeast, but I really have no way of getting toddy here! So the next best alternative is active dry yeast. I’ve heard that people collect water from the coconuts they use for regular cooking for about a week or so and store it up in the refrigerator, (We Mallus use quite an amount of coconut in our cooking, I’m sure that isn’t news for most people). The stored up coconut water is supposed to be a good enough supplement for the toddy, but I haven’t tried it yet, so no guarantees on that one. I’ve come to trust the good ol’ yeast by now.

Raw rice 3 cups (Soak for 5-8 hours)

Coconut, grated 1 cup

Cooked rice ¾ cup

Yeast mixture ¼ cup*

Sugar 2 tbsp

Salt 1 tsp or as per taste

Baking soda ¼ tsp (Optional)

*For the yeast mixture:

Warm milk or water ¼ cup

Sugar 1 tsp

Dry yeast ¼ tsp

· Add 1 tsp sugar to the warm milk or water. To this mixture add the yeast. The milk should just be lukewarm. Leave the mixture aside for a few minutes to let the yeast develop.

For the batter:

· Grind the raw rice, cooked rice and coconut to make a fine batter (slightly thicker in consistency than Dosa batter)

· Add the yeast mixture and salt to the batter. Use a bowl in which the batter will only be half full. This is because the batter will rise up in a few hours and there should be space for it to come up, if not it’ll spill out of the bowl and that’ll be lotsa mess to cleanup, and lotsa batter wasted

· Keep it aside in a warm place overnight or for atleast 6-7 hours

· Next morning, add the baking soda and sugar (2 tbsp) and mix it in very slowly, so as not to disturb the batter too much. DO NOT mix vigorously, as that will affect the quality of the appam

To make the Appam:

· Lightly grease an appam chatti or wok, and heat it on a high flame. Once it’s heated, lower the flame and pour one ladle, or ½ cup, of the batter in and swirl the chatti or wok around so that the batter coats the wok to make a thin crust around the rest of the batter which settles into the center. Close with the lid and cook on low flame for about 2-3 minutes, or till the appam is cooked in the middle (slowly poke with a skewer in the middle part and if the batter doesn’t stick, then the appam is ready) and lacy part around the middle would have turned into a light brown color.

· Gently remove the appam onto a plate or tray and repeat this process to make the number of appams you need. If there is any batter left, you can store it for about 3-4 days in the refrigerator

· Appam is best served hot, with a variety of side dishes like stew, chicken curry, pork curry, fish curry, vegetable korma, kadala curry, egg curry and the list goes on and on… in short, appam tastes good with almost any side dish, but i suppose the winning combo is Appam with sweetened coconut milk.

Varutharacha Sambhar, better known as Kerala style sambhar

An unavoidable part of the Kerala Sadya.

Step 1:

Dal, ¾ cup
Onion, 1 small, sliced
Tomato, 1 medium, cut into small cubes
Potato, 1, cut into small cubes
Carrot, 1, cut into lil longer cubes
Beans, 5-6, cut into 1” pieces
Vellarikka or Yellow cucumber ½ of 1, cut into small cubes
Ash gourd, 1 piece, cut into small cubes
Curry leaves, 1 sprig

Cook all the ingredients with a pinch of salt and turmeric in a pressure cooker for about 3-4 whistles.

Step 2:

Tamarind extract, 1tbsp, Diluted in 3 cups of water
Drumstick, 1, cut into 4” pieces
Ladiesfinger, 4-5, cut into 2” pieces
Brinjal, 2, cubed
Sambhar powder, 1 ½ tbsp, I used Eastern Sambhar powder

Cook all the vegetables in the tamarind water, with a little salt, for about 8-10 minutes. Just before removing from heat, add the sambhar powder.

Step 3:

Coconut ½ of ½ grated
Red chillies 6
Garlic 8-10 cloves
Curry leaves 1 sprig
Fenugreek ¼ tsp
Jeera 1tsp
Whole dhaniya or coriander seeds 1 handful
Peppercorns 1tsp

Dry roast all the ingredients till the coconut is golden brown in color. Grind to make a smooth paste.

Step 4:

Asafoetida ½ tsp
Salt, to taste

For garnishing:

Mustard seeds 1tsp
Dry red chillies 3, broken into pieces
Curry leaves 1 sprig
Coconut oil 1tbsp
Coriander leaves, a few stems, chopped

Add the ground paste and the dal mix from the cooker to the tamarind mix. Let it boil for 5 minutes. Add asafoetida and more salt if necessary. Remove from heat.
In a separate pan, heat the oil for the garnish, add mustard seeds, red chillies and curry leaves. Pour over the sambhar. Add the coriander leaves.
Can be served with Idli, Dosa, or Rice.

Onion chutney

Onion, 2, sliced

Dry red chillis, 4-5

Tamarind, a small piece (or if you’re using the paste, ½ tsp)

Curry leaves 2-3

Asafoetida, ¼ tsp

Salt, to taste

Coconut oil, 1tbsp

Heat the oil, add the chillies, tamarind and asafoetida, as soon as this starts to heat up, add the sliced onion, curry leaves and salt. Fry till the onion starts to turn brownish. Once it cools, grind to a smooth paste.

Can be served with Idli, Dosa, Uthappam etc.

Mango Milkshake

Ripe mangoes, 2, peeled and cubed

Cold milk, ½ litre

Sugar, 3tbsp

Mango or Vanilla ice-cream (optional)

Blend all the ingredients, except the ice-cream, to make a smooth paste.

Pour into tall glasses and top it with a scoop of ice-cream.

Serve cold!

Banana/Plantain milkshake.. also called Banana Cream

This is one from my past again, yeah yeah, I know… I’m back on the nostalgia track yet again.. but I just have to put this one up, I just remembered it when mom happened to mention it today. It seems silly that I’d forgotten about it, coz it’s such a simple thing, but I suppose we all forget the simpler things in life most often, than the complicated ones. It’s a delightful drink, especially for kids. For me, it’s like finding lost love.. hehe.. I know how silly that comparison sounds.. but that’s how it is, I used to be in love with it as a kid. So here’s my long lost, and found, or remembered rather…Banana cream…

Ripe plantains, 2

Cold milk, 4 cups

Sugar, 3tbsp

Vanilla essence, 2 drops

Cook the plantain in a steamer, with the skin on, for about 10-15 minutes. Let it cool.

Blend this with the remaining ingredients in a mixer, to make a smooth paste.

Serve warm or cold!! It’s yummy either way!

Biriyani Chutney

This chutney is quite hot, but can be sobered down a bit with jaggery and dates. This is one indispensable side dish with a Malabar Biriyani.

Coriander leaves, with part of stem - A small handful

Mint leaves - A small handful

Garlic - 6-8 cloves
Ginger - a small piece

Dates - 3, de-seeded OR Jaggery - A small piece

Chilli powder - 1tsp, (dry roasted)

Tamarind paste - 1tbsp

Salt to taste

Grind all the ingredients to make a smooth paste. Chutney's ready!!

Malabar Chicken Biriyani

Malabar chicken biryani is a standard choice for most Malabari functions.

For the rice:

1. Jeerakashala OR kaima rice - 4cups
2. Ghee – 4tbsp (to fry the rice) + 2 tbsp (to fry onions for garnishing)
3. Lime – 2tsp
4. Salt – To taste
5. Water – 8cups
6. Spice-pouch
7. Rose water – ¼ cup
8. Saffron – 5-6 strands (soaked in 4tbsp warm milk)

9. Cashwes and kismis - 6-8 each

For the Spice-pouch:

    Fennel seeds – 1tbsp
    Cardamom – 3
    Cinnamon sticks – 2 pieces
    Cloves – 8
    Star anise – 3
    Shajeera/Caraway seeds – 1tsp
    Bay leaf – 2 leaves

   Crush all these spices lightly and put them into a small pouch, made from a soft muslin cloth, and tie it up.

For the chicken masala:

1. Chicken - 1kg, cut into medium pieces
2. Onion - 4 (for the chicken masala), 1 (for garnishing) - sliced thinly
3. Tomato – 1, cubed
4. Green chillies - 5-8 (as per your spiciness levels)
5. Ginger - 1 big piece
6. Garlic – 1 pod
7. Mint leaves – 1 small bunch
8. Coriander leaves – 1 small bunch
9. Fennel seeds – 2tbsp
10. Pepper – 1tsp
11. Lime juice – 2tsp
12. Curd – ½ cup
13. Turmeric – ½ tsp
14. Salt – 1tsp
15. Ghee – 1tbsp

Preparation:

· Wash and soak the rice for about an hour. Drain out all the water, you can move the rice onto a soft muslin cloth, tie it up and hang it somewhere so that all the water it drained out.

· After you have soaked the rice, you can start work on marinating the chicken. Roughly crush together ingredients 4 to 9 (listed under chicken masala). You can do this in the chopper in the food processor or use the pulse option on the mixer. Mix this with the chicken, along with ingredients 10 to 14 and keep aside for at least 2-3 hours so that the masala seeps well into the meat.

· Heat a skillet and add 2tbsp ghee to it and fry the onion for the garnish, add some sugar to it so that it gets slightly caramelized. Keep frying on a medium flame till the onion become light brown in color. Strain out of the ghee and keep aside. Keep the ghee aside too for garnishing the rice at the end. Fry the cashews and kismis, set those aside too.

· To the same skillet add the remaining 4tbsp ghee and fry the rice, on a medium flame for about 10-15 minutes. Keep stirring gently, ensuring that the rice doesn’t break. While the rice is getting fried, in a separate vessel, boil 8 cups water along with the spice-pouch, lime juice and salt. Once the rice is fried, add the boiled water, close lid and cook on a medium to low flame for about 15 to 20 minutes. Turn off heat and leave it for another 10 minutes, without opening the lid. Remember the rice need to cook only about 80% at this stage, since it will get cooked a little more when we set it for dum.

· While the rice is getting done, in a pan, heat a 1-2 tbsp of ghee. Add the sliced onions and sauté till it turns pink. Now add the tomato pieces and sauté for 5 mins. To this add the marinated chicken. Mix well. Cook for about 20-30 mins on a medium to low flame. Do not add any extra water. Ensure that the chicken doesn’t get over cooked because when we set this for dum later, the chicken gets cooked further. Once you open the lid, there will be some gravy. Cook on a low flame till the gravy thickens a little.

· Open the lid on the rice and remove the spice-pouch. Loosen up the rice with a fork and close lid for another 10 minutes.

· Now for layering the biriyani. Take a skillet in which you plan to set the biriyani, add half of the chicken masala, then add half of the rice, repeat this procedure to make 2 layers. Garnish with the fried onions, cashews & kismis. Spill around on top, the rose water, saffron milk and the ghee that was kept aside for garnishing. Cover with a well fitting lid.

· Heat an iron tawa on high flame and keep the biriyani’s skillet on top of it for about 15 minutes. Turn off heat, and leave it for another 15 minutes. This is for the dum and helps all the flavors blend well with the rice and the meat.

· Biriyani is ready to be served!!!

· Serve with Pappadam, Biriyani chutney and Salad/Raita.