THE FUEL THAT DRIVES A MALLU

Aree...the malayalam word from rice, is a derivation of the Tamil word Arisee.This became Aruzz in Arabic, which in turn became oryza in greek. The rice preffered by mallus is unique to kerala. Called Puzhukkalari, it is slightly reddish in colour as it is not completely husked. Each grain is distinctly separate, and plump after cooking.
Rice is the mallu's first choice.You wouldn't be far from the truth if you say that it is the fuel that powers him.Deprive him of his daily dose of rice, and you'll discover a very subdued keralite..
A case in point...my brother, S1 and sister in law, N were honeymooning in Singapore. Everyday was a culinary discovery of singapore food, western burgers, Italian spaghetti....but no Mallu rice..(the puzhukkalari type)After a week of this... poor N sat up in the middle of the night and started crying..."I want to eat rice!!I miss it so much!!" S was shocked!!He rushed his bride to Little India, where she could feast on rice sambar, pappadam, etc., just like at home..Here's a typical mallu for you...Never say no to choru(rice)!!

All said and done...I think this sets the stage for a rice recipe..no?


COCONUT RICE
There are many types of coconut rice being made, depending on the place where it is made..there's thai style coconut rice, malaysian style, chinese, and keralian .In Kerala itself, each person has their own recipe ..their own special way of making coconut rice.My version is the one passed on to me by my mother in law. I know of another version ..my mother's and grandma's version..they don't use turmeric, they add a little dal, and finally, they pack the coconut rice in a banana leaf along with chutney and beef curry and steam it before serving.Ummm...Even the memory makes me drool...The air would be redolent with the smell fragrance of the leaves...we would each get a parcel, and as we opened them up...steam would waft out into our faces, along with the mouth watering smell of beef curry and coconut rice..



Ingredients:

Puzhukkalari(or plain white rice is okay too..but puzhukkalaree has a special taste)
-500 gms
Thick coconut milk - of 2 coconuts
Cumin(perumjeerakam) -1 tsp
Turmeric -1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - a pinch
Curry leaves - a sprig
Salt -1tsp



Method:

1. Put all the ingredients in a ricecooker (or pressure cooker) and mix with a spoon.

2. Cover and cook till done (15 mins.)

3. When almost dry, add a tablespoon of coconut oil.

4. Serve steaming hot with beef curry.(or spicy veg curry too!!) and curd raita.

RANDOM THOUGHTS...

Random thoughts...???
That's what you say when you can't think of anything in particular.Living up o an original threat this time around...I seriously am in a mood to simply ramble around..
Hope you all won't mind and will hang in there with me.
the time is now 6.30 am ...early in the morning...not a sound to be heard...aaaahhhh...not exacly, I can hear the sounds of the birds waking up !!
Do you think they might be setting out to catch worms..?(as in..the early bird gets the worm)UUUgh...God knows how they eat them...worms must be soo tasteless!!
Talking about birds..The other day, I noticed that a pair of tiny sparrows were building a happy home in one of the hanging lamps in my car porch..what a beautiful sight it was..truly a wonder..how they know what stuff to use...which is the best place to hatch their eggs..how to make the nest comfortable..I sat for at least two hours..just watching them...Hopefully they'll lay eggs an we'll soon have the chirp chirp of little baby sparrows in my porch.AAAAWWWWW....I just can't wait!!
Shall I round off my rambling session for now?Why don't we move on to my spring rolls..??Yess..I made spring rolls yesterday!!Just to show you how to make it!!A word of warning ..when you are reading through this recipe..it might seemlike a load of effort for a snack...but you have my personal guarantee that once you make this one or two times..you will find that it is actually very easy to make!!It's a very light snack with a hint of seasoning....The recipe given below makes about 6 spring rolls, (or more, if your pancake is smaller)and you can cut it in two, diagonally,which makes for 12 servings.



SPRING ROLLS

Ingredients:

For the pancake batter::
Maida (flour) -5 tbsp
Cornflour -2tbsp
Egg -1
Milk -200 ml
Water -100 ml
Soda bicarb -1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

For filling:

Spring onions -3 stalks chopped
Celery-1 stick chopped finely
Capsixum-1/2 cut in thin strips
Carrot-1 cut in thin strips
Cabbage-sliced finely 2 tbsp
Egg omlette-cut into thin strips from 1 egg
Soya sauce-2 tsp
salt pepper
Oil -2 tbsp
Garlic-chopped fine-10
Beans?cooked chicken-3 pieces cut in thin strips
----------------------------------------------------------
Breadcrumbs - for rolling spring rolls -2 cupd
Egg - beaten-to dip spring rolls in -1
----------------------------------------------------------
Oil - to deep fry rolls - 2 cups

Method:

First of all , may I give you a tip?Make the filling first, then get the bread crumbs, beaten egg, and a chopping board all ready near the stovetop where you will be making the pancakes.As you make each pancake, tip it onto the board, pour the next pancake, cover and cook on low flame.while the next pancake is getting ready ,fill the first one, dip in egg, roll in breadcrumbs, and keep aside.By the time you have finished this, the next one will be ready..and so it should go on till you run out of batter. The reason behind this is that when the pancakes are hot, they will be more malleable and easy to roll..plus you won't need any binding agent to keep it closed.it will stick fast. once they have cooled, you could still do it, but the end product won't have that smooth a finish.


For pancakes

1. Put all ingredients in a blender and blend till it is a loose batter. Allow to stand for 20 minutes.

2. Heat a small pan,pour 2 tbsp of the batter, and swirl the pan to cover the base fully till it is a thin pancake.


3. Cover and cook on low flame for a minute.


4. -Open the pan, use a spatula to slowly ease out a little bit of the side of the pancake(I use my fingers..the pancake will have started becoming loose ).Blow gently on ithat corner,and upturn the pancake face down onto the chopping board. Why face down?Because that sde is stickier and so it will help when sealing.

5. Spoon a large tbsp of filling horizontally in the lowr botom section of the pancake.

6. Fold bottom of pancake over the filling and gently press down.
Fold in both sides of pancake and gently press again.
Roll spring roll up to the top end and press again.

7. Dip once in the beaten egg, then roll in bread crumbs.

8. Deep fry in hot oil till golden brown in colour,drain and serve hot.

For filling.

1. Saute all veggies in hot oil for a minute till soft.

2. Add rest of ingredients, and remove from fire.

A GETTOGETHER

I went for a get together party yesterday... It was a nice party...lots of family, good hot food. I love meeting the family...even distant cousins and old uncles....In today's fast life, we never get to meet all the people in our families...(distant or otherwise!)So it was a treat when i got to meet loads of people yesterday...
Met some new people too....a cousin is married to so and so,her brother in law got married to my niece's sister-in -law.....the intricacies of relations in the malayali muslim world can be very complex indeed!I met a lady, there, who was my niece's co sister's sister-in-law's mother....complex?that's nothing...she turned out to be a close friend of my aunt's...coincidence? finally...she was also the mother -in-law of my second cousin!!!flabbergasted???imagine my state then!!
But it was fun...We had some very good food from there..Rumaali rotis , kheema mutter, meen pollichathu(grilled fish), chicken kurma, falooda...ala malabari muslim style...
I have always been curious about rumaali rotis ..so when i got the chance to see it being made live, I went up to the chef and got the recipe...Will try it out and let you guys know if it's a good one.Chilling off with falooda after this delicious and spicy repast ...mmmmm..I'm planning to post a falooda recipe also soon...as soon as i get the chance to make it here, and snap some pics of it for your pleasure..Today, I thought I'd post Kheema Mutter...a rich moghlai dish with mutton mince and peas..you could substitute beef mince for the mutton, if you want.This goes great with naans, chapatis, pasta,why even the humble bread is great with this.!!


MOGHLAI KHEEMA MUTTER
Serves 4


Ingredients:

Oil -2tbsp
Onions(finely chopped)-2
Garlic(crushed) -8 flakes
Ginger(finely chopped)-1 tbsp
Salt -to taste
Red chilli powder -1tsp
Coriander powder -1 tsp
Cround cumin -1 tsp
Garam masala -1 tsp
Green chillies(chopped)-5
Mutton(minced) -1 kg
Hot water -200 ml
Green peas(shelled) -1 cup
Lime juice -1 1/2 tsp


Method:

1. Heat oil in a heavy pan and add onions, garlic,ginger and salt.Cook till light brown.

2. Add spice powders, and green chiliies.Mix well, add minced mutton.

3. Stir for 5 minutes, breaking up any lumps.

4. Add hot water, boil, cover the pan, lower heat and let it simmer for 30- 40 minutes.(if you want, you could pressure cook this for 10 minutes)

5. Add peas and lime juice.Cook till almost dry.

6. Serve steaming hot with a garnish of coriander leaves and split creen chillies.

BUILD A FORT WITH BLANKETS..

This is such a simple and magnificient idea for the kids....for you too!!The kids will love you for it..Let them make it..help them out with suggestions, (like using the dinner table also as part of the structure!)Heavy books are also useful...to keep the sheets from sliding off !!
Having fashioned an approximate fort from all the sheets that are in your linen cupboard, the citizens of the fort will have to address the next big issue...FOOD!!
Technically and traditionally..fort food will never be nutricious..that means a big no no to rice, chapathis,etc., and big nods to jelly, icecream, fizzy drinks, biscuits..and so on...
So what this sly mommy does, is stand at the entrance of the fort with a picnic basket laden with french (or bombay..as we call it here in kerala!)toasts and frothy choclate milk with straws(!!!a big treat!!)

FRENCH(OR BOMBAY) TOAST

Ingredients:

Bread -4 slices
Milk -1/4 cup
Egg -1
Sugar -3 tbsp
Salt -a pinch
Butter -2 tbsp


Method:

1. Beat together egg,milk, sugar,and salt til light and frothy.

2. Cut bread slices into half, as triangles.

3. Heat a pan and melt a little butter.

4. Dip the bread slices in egg ,then fry till golden on either side.

MANGO MADNESS !!

It's the tail end of the mango season here in kerala...and mangoes are fast disappearing from the fruit stalls here....So , before we bid sweet adieu to the king of fruits....let's just do at least one dessert with it...
This one 's an easy dessert which , however, you make it, will never go wrong. It's foolproof!!!
And for mangolovers everywhere,(yours truly included!!)this is mango heaven!! Watch them coming back for seconds...and thirds...and...!!

MANGO MAYHEM

Ingredients:

Mangoes(ripe and firm) -4
Water -4 or 5 tbsp
Sugar -4 or 5 tbsp
Vanilla Icecream -500 ml


Method:


1. Chop 1 large mango finely, add sugar and water, and blend to a puree in a blender/mixie.

2. Pour puree in a saucepan and heat on a low flame for 5 to 10 minutes till it is a sauce.

3. Keep icecream out of the freezer for about 15 minutes, then spread the partially soft icecream in a shallow dessert dish.

4. Pour the hot sauce onto this in a circular motion.

5. Gently fold in with a fork, for a marble effect, then freeze for 1 hour.

6. Slice rest of mangoes(or chop them...as u like it!!).

7. Serve icecream with mango slices as a garnish.

ALONG CAME A SPIDER

Little Miss Muffet,
Sat on her tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her,
And frightened
Miss Muffet away.


In this case, the little miss muffet was my daughter J3, and she was eating a plate of brownies with icecream when the spider scared her....
You should have heard the commotion here when the spider hit!!My poor little fusspot was sitting there happily ,munching on her weekend treat,brownies with icecream..when all of a sudden, this big spider goes walking by about ten metres away....the next minute, all that was left of the treat was a huge splotch on my ceiling!!Dark brown choclate and creamy icecream dripped down onto her hair, while she was screaming blue murder. It took another two servings of brownies and the valiant efforts of her two big brothers, who risked life and limb(so they say...)to shoo away the offending party(the poor spider..he ever even knew what hit him!!)before she calmed down.


EASY BROWNIES

Ingredients:

Butter(or dalda) -185 gm
Sugar(granulated,not powdered)-400 gm
Eggs -4
Flour -170 g
Cocoa -10 dsp levelled
Vanilla essence -1tsp
Walnuts/cashewnuts (chopped) -1 cup


Method:

1. Cream butter and sugar well.

2. Add eggs one at a time, beating well in between.

3. Add cocoa and flour. Beat well.

4. Add nuts and essence.Fold in with a spoon.

5.Pour in a grased shallow baking tray and bake till done.

6.One baked and cooled, cut in half lengthwise, and spread with choclate fudge icing in between layers, and on top too.

7. When serving, heat in microwave, or oven a little, then serve with slightly soft vanilla icecream.

Choclate fudge icing recipe:

Butter(unsalted) -50 gms
Milk -1 tbsp
Icing sugar -100 gms
Cocoa powder -2 tbsp


Heat butter on low flame, add milk. Stir in icing sugar and cocoa powder. Spread for brownies while still hot .

SWINGING IN THE MOONLIGHT.....

It was a full moon yesterday night.The rain had stopped for a few hours...the kids were asleep..all the work was over for the day...looking out my kitchen window, I could see the swings in the garden beckon invitingly...and , I walked out into my beautiful moonlit garden.
It was silent ,and calm, cool, fresh, and everything had a shiny luminescence in the moonlight. Have you ever gone swinging in the moonlight?
For just a few moments, you can break free of self consciousness, you can find the simple pleasure that seizes you, the sort of pleasure no one can take away from you. The pleasure of being a child again, when nobody's there to judge you, when there's no great compulsion to be adult until you step off that swing, the pleasure of letting the air sail past your face, and the pleasure of jumping off at the apex of the swing's arc.....For a moment, you feel the pleasure of swinging , and jumping in the moonlight..Aaah..what utter bliss..all of you...you should try it...it's an unforgettable event...the freedom of swinging in the moonlight by yourself...
Enough of my ramblings....what shall we make today?How about a spinach roulade?It's quite hard to make the first time...but you it gets easier each time you make it...it's a surefire hit at any party or gathering...and nutritious too!!



SPINACH ROULADE

Ingredients:for the roll
Spinach(chopped, boiled) - 1cup
Egg(separated) - 4
Butter(melted) -1 tbsp
Cheese(grated) - 1 tbsp
Flour - 2 tbsp
Salt and pepper - to taste

Method:
1. Mix all ingredients except the egg whites.Beat well.
2. Whisk egg whites till stiff in another bowl.
3. Fold egg whites into this mixture gently.
Pour in a greased and lined swiss roll tin , and bake till done for about 15 minutes.
4. Invert the baked roulade onto another wax paper, and carefully remove the lining paper which will be on top now.
5. Spread filling on the roulade(not too thickly,else we won't be able to roll it up tightly)
6. Starting at one end,roll up firmly , raising the wax paper as a support.
7. Keep rolled for about 1 hour before serving.To serve, cut into thick slices and serve warm or cool, with tomato sauce.

Ingredients:for filling
Onions(chopped) - 2
Butter -2 tbsp
Tomato(chopped) -1
Paneer(chopped) -250 gms
Capsicum(chopped) -2
Chilli Powder -1tsp
Garam masala -a pinch
Salt and pepper -to taste
Coriander leaves(chopped)/parsley- 1tsp


Method:
Saute onions in butter till goden brown . Add all other ingredients and saute till well blended and cooked.

IT'S KARKITAKAM....

It's the last month of the malayalam calender, Karkitakam..and die hard fans of ayurveda and mallu culture and traditions are starting their ayurvedic medicinal broths,special oil massages,reading the Ramayana,etc.It is beleived to be the ideal time for purification and rejuvination of the body and mind.The monsoon is the time when the atmosphere remains dustfree and cool, opening up the pores of the body to the maximum, making it most receptive to herbal oils and therapy.
At my home, I make the simpler version of Karkkidaka Kanjiwhich was taught to me by my mother-in-law....we have regular oil baths...in short,we try to prepare our bodies to be healthy for the next malayalam year by undergoing a light detoxification program(being vegetarian,drinking lots of water,etc)and having this kanjifor a course of either one week or ten days..
First,you have to soak fenugreek overnight.
Then you have to take a little walk down the country lanes..where there are a multitude of herbs growing wild...keep a sharp lookout for the herb known as Kuroonthottee.(If you are in a city, I guess you might be able to get it from a herbal medicine shop.)
Hokaaayyyy!!for those of you who are interested in making this traditional broth at home...i have added the recipe below..


KARKITAKA KANJI.

What you see above on the left is the root of the kuroonthottee plant, washed and dried, and on the left , is Pathimukham, or chappangu.
Ingredients
Fenugreek(uluva)-1/2 cup
Par boiled rice(matta ari)-1 cup
Pathimukham?chappangu-1/4 cup
Kuroonthotti( roots only)-2 numbers
Coconut (grated)-1 large
Button Onions(chopped)-5 numbers
Salt-1-2 tsp(to taste)


Method:
Soak the fenugreek in water overnight.
In the morning,wash well,drain, and keep aside.
Take 4 cups water in a large cooker or heavy bottom vessel.
Add chappangu and the roots to this.Boil.
When the water is very red in colour, and it has boiled for at least 10
minutes,remove the roots and chappangu from the cooker and throw away.
Add fenugreek and washed rice.
Close cooker and cook till rice is well cooked(about10 minutes if you are using a pressure cooker,or about 1/2 hour,if you're cooking in a plain vessel)
Put grated coconut in a blender, add 1 cup water, and blend well.Strain this first coconut milk and keep aside.
Again put the same strained coconut into blender, add one more cup of water, and blend again.,strain the second milk.
When rice is almost cooked,add the second coconut milk to it.Boil well til rice is fully cooked,then add the first coconut milk.Don't allow this milk to boil , else, it will curdle.Mix, and remove from fire.
Fry the button onions in 1 tbsp ghee till golden brown and crispy ,and garnish the kanji with this.
Serve piping hot,accompanied either with pappadam, or pickle.

A rainy day...

The monsoon is here!!
And what a lovely time it is, watching the heavens open up and pour buckets of water all around...In my tiny corner of kerala, we're having thunderstorms as well!!
Yup!!lovely to watch and wax lyrical about the rains while I am inside my cosy home ,sipping my hot coffee..but what about my three school going kids?
They come home from school with leaking shoes,sodden clothes, wet hair, and a suspicious air of guilt which tells me that they have sneaked out to play in the rain!!This is the moment for me to start fussing and clucking like a mother hen, and give a lecture about colds and sniffles...But I restrain myself...and you may ask why?Because i I have also been guilty of the same pleasure when i was a child myself...hasn't everybody ?
So, instead, I bring out a plate of steaming hot caramel custard pudding and proceed to serve generous portions to my three little rascals!What a lovely way to warm up!(and calories be damned!!kids don't need to count calories!)
"Mom!you make the best custard pudding in the world!!"(Ahem!)
It's funny how a twist to a fairly routine offering can transform it from the humdrum to the heavenly...In the case of my caramel custard, I add just a bit of custard powder to the ingredients and then bake it.Voila!You have the best custard pudding in the world!!

CARAMEL CUSTARD PUDDING
ingredients:
500 ml milk
1/2 tin condensed milk
2 eggs
2 tbsp custard powder
4 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence

To caramelize-2 tbsp sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven and place a shallow pan of water to heat in it.
2. Take a pudding mold, and caramelize sugar in it by heating on a low flame till sugar is golden in color. Allow to coat base and sides of the mold.
3. Mix all ingredients well, beating till the mixture is light and frothy.
4. Pour this into the cooled mold and place the mold in the pan of water inthe oven.
5. Bake for 30 minutes at 200"C, or till a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
6. Invert the mold onto a shallow serving plate so the caramel comes on top, and serve either steaming hot or well chilled.


Some serving suggestions...
You could serve it with stewed apricots, or stewed pineapple, or crushed caramelised nuts..
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