Thenga Aracha Meen Curry | Malabar Style Meen Curry | Easy Kerala Style Fish Curry

Fish in tamarind pulp & coconut-shallot paste

Most of the times the simplest of the recipes are the toughest ! Agree? With the minimum of ingredients we have to bring about the best flavor, aroma & looks.. I would say someone who can prepare a simple recipe with ultimate taste has mastered the culinary art ;) Don't you feel so?  Coz the addition of spices & herbs or a heavy seasoning can always bring about the best results. This recipe is definitely one of that kind. In all, just 2 or 3 supporting characters along with the hero 'fish' & the movie is a block buster hit :) 

 This is one of the masterpieces of my Mil. Every time she prepares this, we definitely have an extra helping of rice. Kuthari Choru, Theenga aracha meen curry, meen varuthathu & pappadam. If this is the menu for lunch, then that day an afternoon nap is a must, coz of the heaviness of the tummy & lightness of the brain ! I definitely have had my bad days trying to recreate that taste, but this time I was a winner. So without much ado, onto the recipe.. 

Recipe Source: Mil

Serves: 2 persons

I Took: 30 minutes

I Used:

Fish	-	250 gm
Tomato	-	1 no - medium sized - cut into 8
Tamarind	-	A medium lemon sized
Grated Coconut	-	½ cup
Shallots	-	10-12 no
Green Chilly	-	2 no
Ginger	-	2 inch piece
Red Chilly powder	-	2 tsp
Turmeric powder	-	1 tsp
Curry leaves	-	A sprig
Oil	-	2 tsp
Salt	-	As Needed

The Way:

1. Soak tamarind in ¼ cup water for 15-20 minutes. Then extract the pulp from the tamarind 
2. Clean the fish & cut them into medium sized pieces
3. Grind together coconut & shallots (4-6 nos) with 2 tbsp water, to a smooth paste & keep aside
4. In a pan/earthen vessel (manchatti) mix together tamarind pulp, tomato, slit green chilly, chopped ginger, red chilly powder & turmeric powder along with ½ -1 cup of water. Adjust water to suit your needs of the gravy
5. Cook this over medium flame till it starts to boil 
6. Now add the fish pieces and cook until the fish pieces are done & the gravy becomes thick (almost reaches your desired consistency)  
7. Add the ground coconut paste & curry leaves and mix well & cook for a minute or two until the coconut paste mixes well & the raw smell of the coconut goes away
8. In another pan, heat oil. Add the remaining sliced shallots & saute till they turn golden brown in color
9. Add this to the fish gravy. Serve warm with steamed rice !

Cheers,

Chitz

Pavakkai Puli Kuzhambu | Pavakkai Kara Kuzhambu | Tangy Bitter Gourd Gravy - with coconut

Bitter Gourd cooked in tamarind with coconut sauce

Can we say anytime that we are preparing an authentic dish?? Actually speaking, no right? Coz we may not have some ingredients at hand or we may substitute some costly or high fat content ingredient with some healthy or that which is readily available ones, na? Most of the times, we give consideration to our taste buds & tweak the recipe accordingly. And other times, it is the comfort factor involved in preparation. Mixie & grinders have replaced our traditional mortar & pestle, fresh ingredients are replaced with dry & dessicated & packaged & tinned & bottled !! We neither have the time nor the patience to try something the authentic traditional way ;)

You may be wondering what's the point I am trying to make here?? Actually nothing :D In simple words, I forgot the way that my friend makes this dish & ended up inventing my own one, but which still tastes great !! Too much talk for that right? ;) My friend K used to prepare some awesome dishes for us at our PG. Mostly we wud be her helpers, assisting her in chopping & cleaning :) The beauty is that, all her dishes would require minimal & simple preparation & would taste heavenly !! That inspired me to make some bitter gourd puli kuzhambu one day, but I could vaguely recollect how she did it.. U see, I was busy chopping & grinding then ;) But could remember the ingredients, so went ahead & made this kuzhambu. The highlight of the story is that Deeps liked the gravy & I was showered with all praises. So this time, I learnt from my mistake & I jotted down the way I did it. After that I have been preparing this gravy quite often & every time we relished it !! So this time, I decided that this should feature here.. It is a tangy gravy with maximum effort concentrated on reducing the bitterness of the bitter gourd.. So someone who is on the look out of such a recipe, here it is !! Some other recipes with bitter gourd that are there in the blog are Pitla, Pavakya Pulin Curry, Bitter Gourd Fry & Khatta Meeta Karela..

Serves: 2-3 persons

I Took: 40 minutes

I Used:

Bitter Gourd	-	250 gm / 3 medium sized ones
Onion	-	1 - medium sized - Chopped
Tomato	-	1 - medium sized -Cut into 8
Grated Coconut	-	¼ cup
Tamarind	-	A small goosberry sized piece
Jaggery	-	2 tbsp
Red Chilly powder	-	1 tsp
Coriander powder	-	2 tsp
Turmeric powder	-	½ tsp
Green Chilly	-	2 nos
Cumin Seeds	-	½ tsp
Mustard	-	½ tsp
Curry leaves	-	A sprig
Oil	-	2 tbsp
Salt	-	As Needed

The Way:

1. Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds. When it splutters, add tomato & saute till the raw smell goes off & it becomes a little mushy
2. Lower the flame to minimum & add red chilly powder & coriander powder & saute well. Switch off the flame once it is mixed well. Take care not to burn
3. Add grated coconut to this sauteed tomatoes. Add 3-4 tbsp water & grind to a smooth paste
4. Soak the tamarind in ¼ cup of water for 15-20 minutes. Extract the pulp from the tamarind & keep aside
5. Wash the bitter gourd & scrape off the small thorns on it. Cut the bitter gourd into half and de-seed (remove the soft mushy part as well) them. Slice the bitter gourd into ½ inch pieces
6. In the pan, heat 2 tbsp oil. Splutter mustard. Add onions & saute
7. When the onions become translucent, add the bitter gourd pieces and saute well for around 4-5 minutes
8. Now add turmeric powder, salt & the ground paste. Mix well. Add ¼ cup of water,  cover & cook till done which should take around 8-10 minutes
9. Finally add the tamarind pulp & jaggery (Refer Notes) and allow it to come to a boil

Serve hot with steamed rice & a kootu of your choice :)

Notes:

Addition of jaggery is to reduce the bitterness of the bitter gourd. For the dark green bitter gourd, you may require a little more. Adjust according to your taste

Cheers,

Chitz

Mughlai Chicken | Murg Mughlai

Chicken cooked with onions & spices and served with cream & almond sauce

I love cooking chicken.. That's an ingredient which will almost always guarantee taste, unless you mess with it that badly :D  So here I am, to tell a tale of my recent success story - "Mughlai Chicken".. My mom used to make this a long ago, when the entire family was in the prime of our healthy & extra indulgence of cream & nuts were a routine.. Ahh, Bliss !! Mughlai Chicken, Butter Chicken, Chicken 65.. the list was never ending. It had been a long while since I had this, so I succumbed to the craving & went ahead & prepared it.. Suits best with Rotis & Naan, but not a crime if u pair it up with steamed rice coz it again tastes great ;)

What I loved the most was that, my kitchen was smelling awesome after I cooked this.. The smell of ghee mixed with our Indian spices & cream.. Yupz.. I was loving it ;) B\ut the only minus is that I can't make it a routine in my menu, coz of the extra calories that I wud have to burn out.. Only if tasty dishes were healthy & nutritious to the core !! So enoough of my ramblings about this dish, let's check out how this is made :)

Recipe Source: Adapted from here & here

Serves: 2-3 persons

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

I Used:

Chicken	-	400 gm
Onion	-	1 medium - grated
Ginger-Garlic paste	-	2 tsp
Cinnamon	-	An inch piece
Cardamom	-	2 nos
Red Chilly powder	-	1 tsp
Coriander powder	-	1 ½ tsp
Cumin seed powder	-	½ tsp
Garam Masala	-	2 tsp
Cream	-	3-4 tbsp
Egg	-	1 no
Almonds	-	15 no
Sugar	-	1 tsp
Ghee	-	2 tbsp
Salt	-	As Needed

The Way:

1. Blanch the almonds - Soak the almonds in hot water for 5 minutes & then remove their skin
2. Grind the almonds to a fine paste & keep aside
3. Heat ghee in a pan over medium heat. Add the grated onions & fry them till they become translucent
4. Then add in ginger-garlic paste, cinnamon & cardamom. Saute well till the onions turn golden brown & the raw smell goes off
5. Now add the chicken (Refer notes below) and mix well so that the chicken pieces are smeared with the onion paste. Add salt and ½ cup water and cook till the chicken is half done. This may take around 12-15 minutes
6. Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix together cream, eggs, sugar & powdered almonds thoroughly. Use a whisk to thicken, if the cream is liquidy
7. Lower the heat once the chicken is half cooked. Add the cream mixture to it
8. Cook on low flame until the chicken is cooked & tender for another 5-7 minutes
9. Garnish with flaked almonds if u wish :)

Serve with hot phulkas or Naan :-)

Notes:

Instead of adding chicken pieces directly, you can grill it & add to the sauteed onions which would give you an extra zing. Marinate it for half an hour with red chilly powder, salt, turmeric, lemon juice & a little curd before grilling :)

Linking this to the event 'Flavours of Cusines - Mughlai' hosted by Shruthi & started by Julie

Cheers,

Chitz

Unakka Chemmeen Curry | Dried Shrimp Curry | Dried Prawn Curry

Dried Shrimps/Prawns cooked in tamarind extract & coconut sauce

It's been a while since I posted some non-veg recipes. So when I was going through the draft pics, this one grabbed my attention. What else can be termed as the comfort food of Indians living abroad. It's none other than the dried fish. The fresh or processed fish that you get in many of the countries will not have the taste of the fish that we get or eat in India. No complaints here, as each place has it's own unique cuisine coz of the taste & type of the ingredients that it owns !! And hence the Indian curry or gravy that we prepare here, will also differ in taste to a small extent. 

And that's where the dried fish becomes the hero. On your way back from vacation, neatly pack up some dried fish and it becomes the savior :) It definitely guarantees you the authentic flavor & aroma that you always enjoy back at home !! So without any further pep talk, let's dive into the recipe..

Other recipes with Dried Shrimps:

Unakka Chemmeen Chammanthi Podi | Dried Shrimp Chutney powder
Unakka Chemmeen Roast | Dried Shrimp Fry

Unakka Chemmeen Maanga Curry | Kerala Style Dried Shrimp Raw Mango Curry

Recipe Source: Mil

Serves: 2 persons

I Took: 40 minutes

I Used:

Unakka Chemmen/Dry Shrimps	-	¼ cup
Tomato	-	1 no - medium sized
Tamarind	-	A big goosebery size
Green Chilly	-	2 nos
Turmeric powder	-	½ tsp
Salt	-	As Needed

To Roast & Grind:

Oil	-	1 tsp
Grated Coconut	-	¼ cup
Shallots	-	5-6 nos
Red Chilly powder	-	1 tsp
Coriander powder	-	2 tsp

To Temper:

Oil	-	1 tsp
Mustard	-	½ tsp
Shallots	-	3-4 nos
Curry leaves	-	A sprig

The Way:

1. Wash & clean the dried shrimps with a little turmeric powder & keep aside
2. Soak tamarind in warm water for 20 minutes & extract the pulp out of it
3. In a pan heat 1 tsp of oil. Add the ingredients under 'To Roast & Grind' & saute on medium fire until it turns slight brown in color
4. Allow it to cool. Add 2-3 tbsp water & grind them to a paste
5. In another pan add the tamarind extract, chopped tomatoes, slit green chilly,  turmeric powder, cleaned shrimp & salt and cook for 10-15 minutes or until it's done
6. Adjust salt as the dried shrimp will already have some in it
7. Add the ground paste to the gravy and mix well. Cook in low flame for 5 minutes
8. Meanwhile heat 1 tsp of oil in the first pan. Splutter mustard. Add shallots & curry leaves and saute till the shallots turn golden brown. Take care not to burn
9. Add this tempering to the gravy, when done
10. Remove from flame and serve with steamed rice

Cheers,

Chitz

Mathanga Erissery | Yellow Pumpkin Dhal Curry

Yellow Pumpkin & Tur Dal cooked in coconut paste & dressed with shallots tempering

 What is it that makes us more tempted or attracted towards food? Is it the colour or flavor or aroma or the way it is presented? I guess it differs from person to person, right? Nature has presented us with a wide variety of colours when it comes to food. We have the bright red to baby pink and greens and yellows, even hues of violets.. You know why I got reminded of this suddenly? Coz, I know someone who does not like a particular colour of food and is attracted to some specific colours. Yo, it's none other than my sister. She hates when it is green colour food and loves when mom makes yellow colour food. So that makes pumpkin one of her favorites. But she savors Pumpkin Kootu the best :)

So do you have any specifics in colour when it comes to food? Lemme hear from you on this :) And coming to the dish of the day, it's a Mallu (Kerala special) favorite and is yet another important item on Kerala Sadhya menu. The dish in itself can be had both as a side dish or as a main gravy with steamed rice along with pappad. Either ways, it tastes yum & perfect. There are quite a many variations to this recipe in different parts of Kerala, but the ingredients remain more or less the same. It is just the order & manner in which they appear on the recipe that differs :) So come on, let's see how it is made in a part of Northern Kerala..

Other Sadhya recipes:

Beans Thoran

Beetroot Thoran
Cabbage Thoran

Mathan Erissery | Mathan Vanpayar Erissery

Mampazha Pachadi | Pazhutha Manga Pachadi

Mambazha Pulissery | Mambazha Kaalan

Chembu Kumbalanga Moru Kootan | Taro-Ash Gourd Pulissery

Pulissery | Kachiya Moru | Mor Kuzhambu
Sambar | Kerala Style Varutharacha Sambar with no Coconut

Homemade Ada for Adapradhaman

Recipe Source: Mil

Serves: 4 persons

I Took:

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

I Used:

Yellow Pumpkin	-	2 cups (deseeded & diced)
Tur Dal	-	¼ cup
Red Chilly Powder	-	2 tsp
Turmeric Powder	-	½ tsp
Grated Coconut	-	¼ cup
Cumin seeds	-	½ tsp
Salt	-	As Needed

To Temper:

Oil	-	2 tsp
Mustard Seeds	-	½ tsp
Red Chilly	-	2 or 3 no
Shallots	-	2-3 no
Curry Leaves	-	A sprig

The Way:

1. Wash and clean the tur dal and soak in water for 20 minutes
2. Peel the skin of the pumpkin & discard the soft middle portion with the seeds. Dice the pumpkin & keep aside
3. Add a little water (sufficient enough for the dal to cook) and pressure cook the tur dal for 2 or 3 whistles until almost done
4. Once the whistle is released, remove excess water from the dal if any
5. Add the diced pumpkin pieces, red chilly powder, turmeric powder & salt & pressure cook again for 1 or 2 whistles. Alternately you can cook it uncovered as well, but then add ¼ cup of water to it
6. You may mash the pumpkin once done. If you prefer to have whole pieces reduce the number of whistles
7. Grind together the grated coconut & cumin seeds with 2-3 tbsps of water. Add this to the pumpkin gravy & mix well
8. Allow it on flame for 2-3 minutes until the coconut paste mixes well with the pumpkin and the raw smell goes off
9. In another small pan, heat 2 tsp of oil. Add mustard to it. When it splutters add red chilly, sliced shallots & curry leaves. Fry until they turn golden brown (Do not burn them)
10. Add this tempering over the gravy. Mix well & serve 

Notes:

Instead of the mentioned tempering, you can also do a different one. For that heat coconut oil. Splutter mustard. Add a handful of grated coconut. Keep frying in low flame till the coconut turns golden brown. Take care not to burn them. Once done, add this to the erissery

Cheers,

Chitz

Pulissery | Kachiya Moru | Mor Kuzhambu

Curd in coconut sauce, tempered with fried shallots

After a month & a half of heavy & heavenly food, I am on a seriously low diet nowadays.. Laying low, you could say ;) A simple veg gravy with a veg stir fry & an occasional pappad seems to be the perfect idea for lunch. The calories that I have accumulated over the vacation seems to compensate both my stomach as well as heart ;) So the recipe of the day is a simple gravy in curd - Pulissery, which is also a must for a Sadhya in Kerala..

The name Pulissery always reminds me of my BFF 'P'. We were 'THE TWINS' in college.. Give her a plate full of rice & Pulissery, she is the happiest person on earth. How we both used to savor the Pulissery-rice-fried sardine combo lunch of our hostel !! Bliss :) By the  way, we had an awesome mess in our hostel !! Nothing can beat that mess till date :) Even after college days when I call her up, these statements would never miss our conversation

Me:  'Entha ennathe menu ?' 

She:  'Ohh, Pulissery um Avial um undu.. Athu vechu adjust cheyyam ;)'

So let's see how to make this favorite of ours :)

Other Sadhya recipes:

Beans Thoran

Beetroot Thoran
Cabbage Thoran

Mathanga Erissery

Mathan Erissery | Mathan Vanpayar Erissery

Mampazha Pachadi | Pazhutha Manga Pachadi

Mambazha Pulissery | Mambazha Kaalan

Chembu Kumbalanga Moru Kootan | Taro-Ash Gourd Pulissery

Sambar | Kerala Style Varutharacha Sambar with no Coconut

Homemade Ada for Adapradhaman

Recipe Source: Ma

Serves: 3-4 persons

I Took: 25 minutes

I Used:

Curd	-	1 cup
Shallots	-	5-6 no
Mustard	-	½ tsp
Fenugreek	-	½ tsp
Asafoetida	-	½ tsp
Turmeric powder	-	½ tsp
Curry leaves	-	A sprig
Oil	-	2 tsp
Salt	-	As Needed

To Grind:

Grated Coconut	-	A handful
Ginger	-	An inch piece
Cumin seed	-	½ tsp
Green Chilly	-	2 or 3 no

The Way:

1. Grind the ingredients under 'To Grind', preferably green chilly towards the end. This is to retain the flavor & hotness of the green chilly
2. Beat the curd (in a mixie or using a whisk or spoon) so that it is liquidy with no lumps. You may also add water as required depending on the consistency of the curd. I had to add ½ cup of water 
3. Heat oil in a pan. Splutter mustard. Add fenugreek, shallots, asafoetida, curry leaves, turmeric powder, salt and saute
4. Once the shallots turn slight brown, add the ground paste and saute till the raw smell goes off. This may take around 3-4 minutes
5. Now simmer the flame to low. Add the curd and stir. Do not allow it to boil. Once the curd has mixed well with the coconut paste, remove immediately from flame 

Cheers,

Chitz