Kadala Parippu Pradhaman/Kadala Parippu Payasam

Payasam is an usual sweet dish served along with kerala sadhya. Today is my wedding anniversary. We had sadhya with this payasam. Sharing my mom's recipe here...

Ingredients:

Split Bengal Gram/Kadala Parippu	250 gm/1&1/2 cup
Jaggery	500 gm
Thick coconut milk	1&1/2 cup
Medium Thick coconut milk	1 cup
Thin Coconut Milk	2 cup
Ghee	2 tbl spoon
Crushed Cardamom	7
Dry ginger powder/chukku podi	1/4 tspn

To saute in ghee

Cashew nuts	10
Raisins/Unakkamundhiri	10
Coconut pieces(cut into small bits)	8pieces

Preparation:

(1) Wash and clean Kadala Parippu. Heat 1 tspn of ghee in a pressure cooker and add the dal to it. Saute it for another 5 minutes in low to medium flame till a flavor emanates and it turns soft. To this add 3 cups of water and pressure cook it for 6 to 7 whistles in medium flame. Let pressure release by itself and after that mash dal with the help of a wooden spatula. If you prefer small bite don't mash it too much or if you want a smooth texture mash it well. Keep it aside.

(2) Mean while make coconut milk in grated coconut. This recipe needs some 200 gm of coconut. Initially add 1 cup of water to the grated coconut and grind it in a mixer and make a fine paste. Sqeeze the extract (thick coconut milk) using a strainer/muslin cloth. Again add around 1 cup of water to the same coconut and grind it once again. Repeat the step and extract medium thick coconut milk.  Now add 2 cups of water to the same coconut. Grind and extract thin coconut milk. Keep it aside. Also grate needed jaggery and keep aside.

(3) Now heat ghee in a pan/uruli. Add cashew nuts and saute it till golden brown. Remove it and add raisins. Saute till it plump and drain. Remove it. In the same pan add grated jaggery. Mix the grated jaggery with ghee and pour 1/2 cup of water to it. Saute well so that jaggery melts completely. Allow to boil.

(4) When jaggery is half done add mashed dal to it, mix well and saute in between so that it won't stick to the bottom. Saute till it gets thicken.

(5) Now add thin coconut milk to it. Mix well and continue stirring till the water level reduces to half.

(6) Gradually add medium thick coconut milk to it. Continue stirring until it reaches a very thick consistency(like jam :))

(7) Now reduce the flame to low and pour thick coconut milk. Mix once and add cardamom, ginger powder, raisins, cashewnuts, coconut pieces(i didn't used). Stir once and heat it. Don't allow the payasam to boil.switch off the flame.

(6) Close the vessel with a lid for 10 minutes before serving so that the flavor sets well.

Enjoy parippu pradhaman with your sadhya…..

Tips:

• Payasam tends to thicken once cooled down. Add thick coconut milk accordingly.
• Don't boil thick coconut milk.
•  Reduce jaggery if you like to reduce the sweetness.

Potato Egg Curry with Coconut Milk

This is a non-veg curry which goes well with chapathi/appam. Check the appam recipes here->Appam Traditional Recipe and Appam easy recipe

Ingredients:

Potato	2(small)
Egg	3 or 4
Onion	1(big)
Tomato	1(medium)
Green Chilly	3(small)
Ginger	1 inch piece
Garlic	5 cloves
Thick Coconut Milk(Onnam Pal)	3/4 cup
Thin Coconut Milk(Rendam Pal)	3/4 cup
Salt	to taste
Chilly Powder	1 tspoon
Coriander Powder	2 tspoon

To temper:

Oil	1 tbl spoon
Mustard	1/2 tspoon
Dry Red Chilly	3
Curry Leaves	1 Sprig
Whole Garam Masala	Cloves(2),cinnamon(1 inch),cardamom(2),bayleaves(1)

Preparation:

(1) Peel the skin of onion and chop it to small thin slices. Also chop tomato, green chilly, ginger and garlic. Also add eggs in hot water and allow to boil. After that cut boiled eggs into two halves. Keep everything aside.

(2) Also make needed coconut milk. For that take around 1/4 cup of grated coconut and add 1/2 cup of water to it. Grind it in a mixer/blender and make a fine paste. Extract around 3/4 cup of thick coconut milk by squeezing the ground paste using a strainer. This is called as onnam pal. Again add the same coconut to the mixer and add around 1/2 cup of water to it. Grind once again. Extract the remaining coconut milk from ground paste and make around 3/4 cup of thin coconut milk. This will be watery and called as rendam pal. Keep it aside (You can also use store bought coconut milk).

(3) Mean while heat oil in a pan and add the whole garam masalas one by one. After that temper with the rest of ingredients shown under table "to temper" heading. Now add ginger and garlic. Saute till the raw smell leaves. Now add onion slices with little salt. Saute till color of onion turns brownish. 

(4) To this add chopped tomato. Saute once and pour thin coconut milk. Close the vessel with a lid and allow to boil till onion slices are cooked well and coconut milk is completely dried off. 

(5) To this add chilly powder, coriander powder and mix well till the raw smell leaves. Immediately add 1 cup of water and allow to boil. Once water starts boiling add potato pieces and egg pieces upside down. Allow to boil for another 5 minutes in medium flame. 

(6) Now pour the thick coconut milk to it. Heat it for some seconds in low flame. Switch off the flame. Your potato egg curry is now ready. Close the vessel with a lid for 10 minutes before serving.

Have it with appam/chapathi. I had it with appam..

Tips:

• Don't boil thick coconut milk as it  will curdle. 
• Adjust spiciness(green chilly/chilly powder) according to your taste.

Pavakkai Puli Kulambu/Bitter Gourd Tamarind Curry

This is only for those who love to taste that bitterness in Pavakka/Bitter Gourd. Others may step out as i know most of us don't go near this vegetable. It is a vegetable which is low in calories and dense with nutrients. Scroll down and read "tips and variations" section before handling pavakka recipes. The taste of this curry depends on how you handle the vegetable. For puli kulambu lovers you can also try Brinjal Puli Kulambu. 

Ingredients:

Bitter Gourd/Pavakka	1(medium)
Small Onion/Shallots	10
Garlic	5 cloves
Tomato	1
Tamarind	1 small lemon size
Salt	to taste
Chilly Powder	1&1/2 tspoon
Coriander Powder	2 tspoon
Sambar Powder	2 tspoon
Asafoetida Powder	2 pinch
Sesame Oil	1 tbl spoon
Jaggery(optional)	1 tspoon

For Grinding:

Coconut	1/4 cup
Small onion	2
Cumin seed	1/2 tspoon

To temper:

Oil	1 tspoon
Mustard	1/2 tsspoon
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Fenugreek seed	1/2 tspoon

Preparation:

(1) Chop bitter gourd to thin round slices(you can remove seeds and soak in salt water to reduce the bitterness, i didn't removed the seeds). Peel the skin of onion and garlic. Chop garlic and tomato to cubes. Keep it aside.

(2) Also soak tamarind in hot water and make 2&1/2 cup of tamarind water out of it by extracting the juice. Add needed salt to it. Grind the ingredients shown under heading "for grinding" in a mixer and make a fine paste by adding little water. Keep both aside.

(3) Mean while heat oil in a pan and temper with the ingredients shown under heading "to temper" . Add garlic, saute once. Now add onion and tomato pieces and saute for another 1 minute. To this add pavakka pieces with little salt and saute for another 5 to 8 minutes in medium flame till the pieces are almost cooked. 

(4) Once it is cooked add chillypowder, coriander powder and sambar powder and give a quick stir so that the raw smell will leave.

(5) Immediately pour the prepared tamarind juice to it and let it boil. Add the ground paste to it. Mix well and make a salt here. Let it boil in low to medium flame till it reaches the "kulambu" consistency. Add asafoetida powder and jaggery(i didn't used) in the last minute. Your pavakka kulambu is now ready.

Have it with rice and even with dosa or idly..

Tips and variations:

• To reduce the bitterness select bitter gourd which are less green in color and with less thornes.
• Soaking the pieces in salt water will reduce the bitterness,
• Always saute the pieces in oil till it is cooked before boiling in water. This helps to reduce the bitter taste.
• Grinding coconut is optional. If you want to avoid skip it.
• For all types of puli kulambu reduce the water level to the ratio 3:1.
• Adding jaggery gives an extra taste.
• You can also add deep fried pavakka slices.

Onion Chutney/Ulli Chutney

Nothing much to say about this recipe as many of you may know it. This goes well with dosa/idly. Below recipe is from my dear sathya. ClICK HERE To get other chutney recipes.

Ingredients:

Big Onion	1(small)
Small Onion/Shallots	15
Dry red chilly	6
Urad dal	1 tspoon
Tamarind	1 small gooseberry size
Sesame Oil	1 tbl spoon
Salt	to taste

To Temper:

Oil	1 tspoon
Dry red chilly	3
Mustard	1/2 tspoon
Curry leaves	1 sprig

Preparation:

(1) Peel the skin of shallots and cut big onion to cubes.

(2) Heat oil in a pan and add urad dal. Once the color changes add shallots with little salt. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes. To this add dry red chilly and tamarind. Saute till onion turns light brown color. Allow it to cool.

(3) Once it is cooled, grind it in a mixer with 1/2 cup of water. Add little salt too. Make a fine paste. Keep it aside.

(4) Heat oil in the same pan and add dry red chilly (second table). Add mustard. Once it splutters add curry leaves. To this add ground paste. Make a salt test. Once it starts boiling switch off the flame.

Have it with dosa/idly..

Tips:

• I used both big onion and small onion in equal proportion. Small onion gives more taste. You can use either big onion or small onion as per your convenience.
• It is a thick chutney so don't make it watery.

Puli Kuzhambu-no coconut

Hi all, here i'm back with another Tamilnadu style of recipe. I couldn't able to post here for some months as i was enjoying my vacation in India. Well, i'm not used to these types of kulambu. Once on a chit-chat with my friend anchu, i learned this recipe.

Ingredients:

Brinjal (small)	2 to 3
Shallots/Small Onion	10
Tomato (small)	1
Tamarind	1 small lemon size
Salt	to taste
Red Chilly Powder	3/4 tspoon
Coriander Powder	1&1/2 tspoon
Sambar Powder	2 tspoon
Asafoetida Powder	2 pinch

To temper

Sesame Oil/Nallennai	1 tbl spoon
Dry red chilly	2
Mustard	1/2 tspoon
Fenugreek seeds	1/4 tspoon
Curry leaves	1 sprig

Preparation:

(1) Chop brinjal into cube shapes. Take a bowl of water and add 1 pinch of turmeric powder to it. Dip brinjal pieces to the water. Now chop tomato to cube shapes and also peel the skin of onion. Mean while soak tamarind in hot water and make 2&1/2 cup of tamarind juice out of it. Add needed salt to it and mix well. Keep everything aside.

(3) Mean while heat oil in a pan and temper with the ingredients shown under the heading "to temper". To this add small onion and saute for a minute. To this add chopped tomato and brinjal pieces along with little salt. Saute well for few minutes so that the brinjal may shrink and it will be half cooked.

(4) Now add chilly powder, coriander powder and sambar powder to it and saute well so that the raw smell of masalas will leave. Immediately pour the prepared tamarind juice to it and allow to boil. Add asafoetida powder and boil till it reaches "kuzhambu " consistency

Have it with your rice/dosa…

Tips and variations:

• You can also use other veggies like drumstick/lady's finger/bitter gourd.
• Be generous in adding tamarind juice.
• Adjust spiciness according to your taste.
• For all types of puli kulambu reduce water level to 3:1.

Kathirikai Puli Kuzhambu/Brinjal Tamarind Curry

Hi all, here i'm back with another Tamilnadu style of recipe. I couldn't able to post here for some months as i was enjoying my vacation in India. Well, i'm not used to these types of kulambu. Once on a chit-chat with my friend anchu, i learned the basic recipe of puli kuzhambu. Here i slightly varied it to suit my taste. The taste was slurp as it was some what similar to  varutharacha ULLI THEEYAL. Anyway we both starts to love this "kulambu" and so a big thanks to anchu :). CLICK HERE for no coconut puli kulambu recipe.

Ingredients:

Brinjal (small)	2 to 3
Shallots/Small Onion	10
Tomato (small)	1
Tamarind	1 small lemon size
Salt	to taste
Red Chilly Powder	3/4 tspoon
Coriander Powder	1&1/2 tspoon
Sambar Powder	2 tspoon
Asafoetida Powder	2 pinch

To Grind:

Grated coconut	1/4 cup
Small onion	1
Cumin seed	1/4 tspoon

To temper

Sesame Oil/Nallennai	1 tbl spoon
Dry red chilly	2
Mustard	1/2 tspoon
Fenugreek seeds	1/4 tspoon
Curry leaves	1 sprig

Preparation:

(1) Chop brinjal into cube shapes. Take a bowl of water and add 1 pinch of turmeric powder to it. Dip brinjal pieces to the water. Now chop tomato to cube shapes and also peel the skin of onion. Mean while soak tamarind in hot water and make 2&1/2 cups of tamarind juice out of it. Add needed salt to it and mix well. Keep everything aside.

(2) Grind the ingredients shown under heading "to grind" in a mixer by adding little water and make a fine paste. Keep it aside.

(3) Mean while heat oil in a pan and temper with the ingredients shown under the heading "to temper". To this add small onion and saute for a minute. To this add chopped tomato and brinjal pieces along with little salt. Saute well for few minutes so that the brinjal may shrink and it will be half cooked.

(4) Now add chilly powder, coriander powder and sambar powder to it and saute well so that the raw smell of masalas will leave. Immediately pour the prepared tamarind juice to it and allow to boil. 

(5) To this add ground paste. Mix everything, add safoetida powder and make a salt test. Now reduce the flame to low and allow the curry to boil for another 10 minutes or until you reach the "kuzhambu" consistency. Your puli kuzhambu is now ready.

Have it with your rice/dosa…

Tips and variations:

• You can also use other veggies like drumstick/lady's finger/bitter gourd.
• This dish can also be prepared without using coconut.
• Be generous in adding tamarind juice.
• Adjust spiciness according to your taste.
• For all types of puli kulambu reduce the water level to 3:1 ratio.