food recipes

Theeyal literally means “burnt dish”, a kerala recipe which is typically made out of roasted coconut and other masala ingredients. Every community has their own recipes and there are many variants of Theeyal dishes that differs with the various ingredients used but the base ingredient of all theeyal remains the roasted coconut and tamarind paste that gives it the typical taste. Here is one theeyal recipe from our community kitchen which is made with Channa as the main ingredient, this also happens to be one of my favourite dish that I relish with main traditional dishes like  Aapam and Puttu.

Ingredients for Kondai kadalai theeyal

Kondai kadalai (Channa / chickpea)  – 1 cup

(you can use either black or white channa)

Coconut -  1/2 cup shredded

Coriander seed – 3 tea spoon

Red chilly – 10

Curry leaves – 12 – 15

Tamarind paste – as per taste

Cooking oil – 1/2 tea spoon

 Steps to make Kondai kadalai theeyal

Step 1:

For masala, we need coconut, coriander, red chilly and curry leaves.

 Step 2:

Add 1/2 teaspoon cooking oil in fry pan and throw in all the masala ingredients and roast it till coconut turns brown.

Getting roasted…

Step 3:

Add little water and make a fine paste out of the roasted masala in mixer grinder.

Step 4:

Pressure cook the already soaked channa. Add little salt while pressure cooking. Its better to soak the channa before hand for 4-5 hours in water for easy cooking.

Step 5:

Transfer the pressure cooked channa into a cooking pan. Add the masala paste.

Step 6:

Add tamarind paste as per taste and also add little water for the gravy. Taste the gravy and add salt as per your requirement.

Let it cook till the gravy thickens…

Step 7:

Kondai kadalai Theeyal is ready to be served.

Appam and kondai kadalai theeyal !

Kondai kadalai theeyal goes well with Aapam, Puttu, Idly and dosa.

Instead of Channa, you can also make mixed veg theeyal by replacing channa with mixed vegs like brinjal, bhindi, drumstick, yam, onion and green chilly. You can also throw in little channna optionally. Mixed veg theeyal tastes well with rice.

Recipe contributed by  Purba Ray, who in her own words “A woman who can’t make up her mind, change has been a constant factor in her life”  She blogs at A-Musing - a blog that is a little sweet, a little tangy and very very spicy.

Ingredients:

I cup of rice – soaked for 15 minutes in water

Pineapple bits – 1 cup

A fistful of cashews

Whole Star Anise – 2-3 pieces

I tetra pack of coconut milk / Home made coconut milk

Salt to taste

5 Easy steps:

Step 1: Fry cashew on low flame till they turn a golden brown.  Drain on a paper towel.

Step 2: In a pressure cooker temper the star anise in a tablespoon of oil.  Add the drained rice and fry it on a low flame till the moisture evaporates. Add salt to taste.

Step 3: Now add two cups of coconut milk.  If the quantity in the tetra pack is not enough, you can dilute it with water.

step 4: Pressure cook it – 1 whistle and then 3 minutes on low flame

step 5: Once the lid comes off (it should take about 15 minutes), mix the fried cashews and pineapple bits.

It’s a meal on it’ s own but goes well with spicy fish/ lemon chicken as well.

Visual pictures:

Note from Editor: Thanks Purba for a wonderful yet easy to cook recipe.  I tried it at home and it tasted delicious. Though the rice got bit stickier thanks to a new variety of rice I picked from market.  Do enjoy the recipe and trust me, it is tasty and yummier than how it looks in my pictures.

Cashew golden fried and pineapple chopped.

Got the star anise to flavor!

Tempering star anise in tablespoon of oil…

So now we add the drained rice and fry it on a low flame till the moisture evaporates.  Don’t forget to add salt to taste.

Coconut milk is ready for the next step!

 Add rice to the coconut milk and pressure cook it…

 Now mix the fried cashew nut and pine apple to the cooked rice…

 That’s it! Delicious oriental style coconut rice is ready to be served! Ok, you can see the rice is bit sticky and gluey thanks to the new rice I picked from market. It happens! After all, Kitchen is a place to experiment and learn

The fruits and leaves of Drumstick (called Murungai in Tamil) are used to make variety of culinary dishes in various parts of India especially south India. Today, lets try out one such recipe  with the leaves – drumstick leaves fry, also called Murungai keerai poriyal in Tamil. It is easy to make, tastes great and also has good nutritious value.

Ingredients:

Murungai keerai (Drumstick leaves) : 2 cups

Coconut shredded: 1 cup (or less,  as per your choice)

Onion: 1-2

Jeera: 1  tbps

Garlic: 2-3 cloves

Chilly powder – 1 tbsp  (or as per taste)

Salt (as per taste)

 Steps to make Murungai Elai poriyal

Step 1: Sort out the drumstick leaves and clean it and keep aside.

Step 2: Grind grated coconut, garlic, jeera, chilly powder and salt together.

Step 3: Chop onions.

Step 4: Stir fry the onions till golden brown.

Step 5: Add the drumstick leaves to the frying pan

Step 6: And stir fry the ingredients together for few minutes till it is tender cooked…

Step 7: Add the grinded coconut masala …

Step 8: Fry for 2-3 minutes… At this stage, you can check for salt and chilly and if needed you can add as per your choice.

Step 9: Drumstick leaves fry (Murungai elai poriyal) is ready to serve…

Traditionally it is served along with curd rice, rasam rice, dal rice etc you can also try with rotis.

Pala pazham paniyaram (in Tamil language) or Chakka pazha paniyaram as known in Malayalam language is a traditional, regional delicacy made from ripened jack fruit.  Let’s see how this dish is made in our step by step visual method.

Ingredients:

• Jackfruit (ripe) – 25-30 pieces
• Jaggery (shredded) – 1 and 1/2 cups
• Rice flour – 1 cup
• Coconut (shredded)
• Sugar

Step 1: Take ripened jack fruit pieces, clean them and cut into pieces.

Step 2: Shred the Jaggery.

Step 3: Grind together both the Jack fruit pieces and the shredded jaggery into fine paste.

Step 4: Mix rice flour  into the jack fruit – jaggery paste and set aside for 10 minutes into idly batter consistency. Check the taste, if you need more sweet, add shredded jaggery and mix well. Do note, we will be adding sugar also in the later stage.

Step 5: Mix the ingredients together into a fine batter. Paniyaram batter is ready.

Step 6: Clean plantain leaves and cut into pieces like in picture below.

Step 7: Flatten the batter onto the leaves like show below.

Step 8: Spread shredded coconut over the flattened batter.

Step 9: Sprinkle sugar  as per your taste.

Step 10: Fold the leaf.

Step 11: Now, you have to steam the preparation. In the picture, I have used a traditional idly cooker for steaming purpose.

Step 12: Jack fruit paniyaram getting steam cooked.

Step 13: Once you are assured it is cooked properly, remove them from the container.

Pala pazha paniyaram (in Tamil)  or chakka pazha panniyaram ( in malayalam) or your Jack fruit paniyaram is ready to serve and eat!

Enjoy this wonderful delicious traditional snack!

Last week we had here  the Mushroom in coconut milk gravy recipe. In the comment section, Pallavi had asked if the mushroom can be substituted, may be with Paneer. So I decided to try the same recipe with Paneer instead of Mushroom. Well, though the original mushroom gravy had a dexterity and Mushroom’s uniqueness, this paneer recipe was not bad either.  You can give it a try, its kind of good.

So here is the recipe of Paneer in coconut milk gravy.

Ingredients:

• Paneer – 400 gm
• Onion – 2 (big)
• Coconut milk – 2 cups (depends on its thickness)
• Ginger – garlic paste – 1 table spoon
• Garam masala – 1 tbsp
• Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
• Jeera – 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds – 1 tbsp
• Turmeric powder
• Red chilly powder (as per taste)
• Green chilly – 2
• Curry leaves – 7-8
• Coriander leaves
• Salt – as per your taste
• Tomatoes (optional) – 2

Step 1:

Dice the Paneer into cubes.

Step 2:

In a frying pan, add little oil and saute mustard seeds, curry leaves.

Then, add the chopped onions, followed by ginger-garlic paste and green chillies.

Stir fry till the onion turn golden yellow.

Then add  rest of the ingredients except Paneer and coriander leaves. Fry for 2-3 minutes.

Step 3:

Add the stir fried ingredients into a pressure cooker.

Add little water.

Switch off the gas when the first whistle comes from the cooker.

Step 4:

Transfer the content back into kadai.

Add the coconut milk into the ingredients.

Step 5:

Add Paneer cubes.

Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Step 6:

Paneer  in coconut milk gravy is ready to serve.

I tried the dish with Roti and it went well with it.  Unlike the mushroom in Coconut milk gravy, I doubt this dish will go well with Idly and Dosa. The gravy would but not the Paneer with Idly and dosa, atleast not for me. It might do well with rice items too.

Neverthless, its worth a try

Ingredients:

Soya nuggets – 250 g

Onion – 5-6 (big)

Tomato – 4-5

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbs

Chilly powder -  (as per taste)

Coriander powder – 1 tsp

Garam masala powder – 1 tsp (optional)

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Salt (as per taste)

Oil ( for frying)

.

Procedure:

Step 1: Soak the soya nuggets in luke warm water for 8-10 minutes, till it is tender and soft.  Squeeze out the water well and piece them into two.

Step 2: Chop the onions and tomatoes. Keep all the masala ingredients ready.

Step 3: Add all the ingredients into a pressure cooker. Add little water (so that the ingredients does not get burnt in the base) Pressure cook it for few minutes. Switch off the stove just before the first whistle comes. (else it will get over-cooked)

Step 4: Transfer the contents from the cooker into a frying pan. Add little oil and keep stir frying. Check for salt and chilly powder and if necessary add as per your taste.

Step 5: Once stir fried to your perfection, your Soya nuggets chuuka fry is ready to be served. If you want it very dry, stir for long as per your liking.

Soya nuggets chukka fry tastes well with rice and rotis. My favourite combination being with Rice with curd or rasam and nuggets fry.

INGREDIENTS:

For marinating:

• Silver Pomfret (2-3)
• 4 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp red Chilly Powder
• 2 tsp turmeric Powder
• 2 tsp ginger –garlic paste
• 1 tsp rice flour
• Pinch of asafoetida
• Salt to taste
• 3-4 tsp of water
• Oil for frying

For garnish:

• Onions
• Carrots
• Curry leaves
• 2-3 green chillies
• Lemon wedges
• Mint leaves or coriander leaves

METHOD OF PREPARATION

• Wash and clean the fish by making a slit at the side. Wash with salt and 1tsp of lemon juice. Make 3 – 4 slits on both sides of the fish.

• Mix chilli powder, turmeric powder, rice flour, ginger-garlic paste, remaining lemon juice, salt, asafoetida and water to form a smooth paste. Apply the paste evenly on both sides of the fish and allow to marinate for 30-40 mins in the refrigerator so that the marinade seeps through the slits.

• Heat oil in a shallow pan. When the pan is hot, gently place the marinated fish and fry on a medium heat until the fish is cooked (usually it takes about 10-15mins).  Make sure both the sides are fried by gently turning the fish every few seconds without breaking.

• Once the fishes are fried, fry the finely chopped onions, curry leaves and green chillies in the same pan. This can be used for garnishing.

Silver pomfret fry is ready to be served.

Adhirasam is a traditional Indian sweet recipe belonging to Tamil cuisine. It is a very popular recipe in Tamil culture that is also made in various festive celebrations.

Lets see how to make Adhirasam

Ingredients:

• Raw rice flour – 3 measure
• Jaggery – 1/4 kg sugar (as per taste)
• Dry ginger powder – 1 tbsp
• Khas khas – 1 tbsp
• Cooking oil for deep frying

Making the batter:

Step 1: Add dry ginger powder and khas khas to the rice flour.

Step 2: Shred the jaggery and take it in a pan.

Step 3: Heat the jaggery along with little water and melt it.

Step 4: Mix the hot jaggery liquid to the rice flour and mix it to a thick consistency as seen in pic. Keep the mixed flour in a bowl and smear little oil on the top.  Keep the mix aside for 12 hours.

Tip: Strain the hot jaggery liquid in a metal strainer to remove any sands.

Step 5: After 12 hours, the dough is ready to made into Adhirasam. With hands, flatten the adhirasam like doughnut or vada and deep fry in oil. Your tasty adhirasam is ready to eat. While frying, optionally you can add a pinch of baking soda to give crispiness to the dish.

Tip: The dough can be kept in fridge for 10 days and taken out when in need to make Adhirasams.