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.

Carrot Thoran/Carrot Poriyal

Well, i already added CARROT BEANS THORAN during initial days of my blog. Ofcourse preparing thoran is not a big deal. Since carrot thoran is so easy, i used to prepare it for my kid if there are no other vegetables for lunch. Didn't thought of adding this recipe here, but today while clicking photos of drumstick sambar just clicked these snaps too. I hope this may be useful for those who are new to kitchen. Yeah drumstick sambar will be my next post :)..

Ingredients:

Carrot	3(medium)
Salt	to taste

For seasoning:

Oil	2 tspoon
Urad dal	1/2 tspoon
Onion/shallots	2 (chopped finely)
Mustard	1/2 tspoon
Dry red chilly	3
Curry leaves	1 sprig

For grinding:

Grated Coconut	2 tbl spoon
Redchilly Powder	1/4 tspoon
Turmeric Powder	2 pinch

Preparation:

(1) Wash carrots. Peel the outer skin. Grate it using a grater.

(2) Heat oil in a pan. Add the ingredients shown under "for seasoning" heading one by one. Now add grated carrot to it with needed salt. Mix well and saute in between.

(3) Mean while grind the ingredients shown under "for grinding" heading in a mixer without adding water. Make a coarse mixture. Keep it aside. Carrot will be cooked in 5 minutes (If you are chopping carrot to pieces instead of grating just sprinkle water over it and allow to cook by closing the pan with a lid). Now add the ground mixture to it.

(4) Mix once and switch off the pan. Close the pan with a lid and let it remain in stove for another 2 minutes. Your carrot thoran is now ready.

Have it with your rice..We had rice with muringakka sambar and this carrot thoran...

For other THORAN recipes CLICK HERE

Padavalanga Thoran/Snake Gourd Thoran

Many of you may know the recipe, here sharing my mother's recipe. Padavalanga will cook easily and thoran goes good with rice..

Ingredients:

Padavalanga/Snake Gourd	1
Toor dal	2 tspoon
Salt	to taste

For grinding:

Grated coconut	1/4 cup
Garlic	2 cloves
Cumin seeds	1/2 tspoon
Red chilly powder	1/2 tspoon
Turmeric powder	1/4 tspoon

For seasoning:

Oil	1 tbl spoon
Shallots/small onion	3(cut to tiny pieces)
Mustard	1/2 tspoon
Curry leaves	1 sprig

Preparation:

(1) Chop the skin of padavalanga using the sharp side of a knife or use a peeler. Cut it into pieces. Now chop each pieces into tiny cubes. Meanwhile boil toor dal in water for 1 to 2 minute. Make it half cook which is shown in last picture. Drain the water and keep the toor dal aside.

(2) Heat oil in a pan and season with the ingredients shown under heading "for seasoning". Now add half cooked toor dal. Saute once and add chopped padavalanga. Add salt to it. Mix well. Let it cook for some 10 to 15 minutes. Saute in between (If you want to avoid oil, pour 1/4 cup of water to it. Mix once and allow to boil till water dries up and is cooked).

(3) Mean while grind the ingredients shown under for "grinding heading"without adding water and make a course mixture. Once padavalanga is cooked well add ground mixture to it and mix well. 

(4) Switch off the flame. Your padavalanga thoran is ready.

Have it with your rice..

Tips:

• Chop padavalanga into tiny pieces so that it will cook easily while stirring.
• Addition of toor dal is optional. It will enhance the taste.

Parippu Curry

Sorry for not adding photos. I ll update soon….

Ingredients:

Green gram/Moong Dal/Cheruparippu	3/4 cup
Salt	to taste

For grinding:

Grated coconut	1/4 cup
Green chilly	2
Cumin seeds	1/2 tspoon
Turmeric powder	1/4 tspoon

To temper:

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

Preparation:

(1) Heat a pan. Add moong dal to it and saute it for some seconds. Don't saute too much. The raw smell should goes off.

(2) Now allow the dal to cool. Wash it in water. Cook dal in a pressure cooker by adding water and salt to it for 4 whistles. Once the pressure is released mash it well with a spoon or spatula.

(3) Mean while grind the ingredients shown under "for grinding" heading by adding little water and make a coarse paste.

(4) Pour the ground paste into the dal and mix well. Add more water or salt if needed.

(5) Heat oil in a pan. Add dry red chilly and mustards. Once it splutters add curry leaves. Pour this to the prepared dal.

(6) Mix everything. Your parippu curry is ready.

Tomato Rasam

Another rasam recipe which i got from my MIL.Try and enjoy this delicious rasam…..

Ingredients:

Tomato	1(big,chopped)
Garlic	5 cloves(crushed)
Chilly Powder	1/4 tspoon
Pepper Powder	1/2 tspoon
Coriander Powder	1/4 tspoon
Turmeric Powder	1/4 tspoon
Asafoetida Powder	1 pinch
Cumin Seed Powder	3/4 tspoon
Coriander Leaves	1 sprig
Tamarind	1 lemon size
Salt	to taste
Oil	1 tspoon

To Temper:

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

Preparation:

(1) Soak tamarind in hot water and extract the juice. Add 3 cups of water to it. Mix with salt and keep it aside.

(2) Heat oil in a pan. Add crushed garlic to it and saute till the raw smell goes off. To this add chopped tomato and turmeric powder with little salt.

(3) Saute till tomato turns juicy. Now add chilly powder, coriander powder, pepper powder and cumin seed powder to it and stir till the raw smell goes off.

(4) Pour prepared tamarind juice to it and allow to heat. Mean while temper (kaduvarukkal) with the ingredients shown under the table "to temper". Add it to rasam. Also add asafoetida powder and garnish with  coriander leaves(i didn't used due to out of stock). Your rasam is ready. Close the vessel with a lid to retain the flavor.

Have it with rice…

Tips:

• Don't allow rasam to boil.

Nadan Sambar-Easy Recipe

Sambar, a well known and south india's popular dish ryt? Already i added "sambar" in my blog. It follows the traditional way of cooking. This is almost the same but will ease you….

I always found difficult to cook veggies, and dal separately while making sambar. Time consuming eh??? I discussed it with my best friend sathya during a chit-chat.Oh yeah!!!She gave me a new recipe which she used to follow. I prepared the same and found it easy too. So here i'm sharing her recipe with you all :) Happy cooking….

Vegetables:

Lady's finger	7 (cut into 2 inch piece)
Beans	10 (cut into 2 inch piece)
Cucumber	1/2 (small,peel the skin and cut into cube shapes)
Carrot	2 (cut into round shapes)
Small onion	8 (peel the skin)
Green chilly	3 (medium,cut into round shapes)
Tomato	1 (chopped)
Drum stick	1 (cut into 3 inch piece)
Broad beans	7 (remove fibre from sides and cut into 2 inch piece)
Potato	1/2(peel the skin, cut into cubes)

Ingredients:

Toor dal	1/2 cup
Coriander powder	1/2 tspoon
Turmeric powder	1/4 tspoon
Sambar powder	1 tspoon
Asafoetida powder	1 pinch
Chilly powder	1 tspoon
Salt	to taste
Tamarind	one lemon size(soak in hot water and extract the juice)

To temper:

Oil	2 tspoon
Mustard	1 tspoon
Dry red chilly	3
Curry leaves	1 pinch

Preparation:

(1) Wash and cut all the vegetables. Take toor dal in a pressure cooker. Add the "vegetables"as listed above to it along with turmeric powder,salt and little tamarind water. Pour water around the level of vegetables. Mix once and cook in pressure cooker for about 5 whistles.

(2) Switch off the flame. Once pressure is released add tamarind juice and salt to your taste. Mix well. Again heat it. Add chilly powder, coriander powder and sambar powder to the ingredients. Once it starts boiling add asafoetida powder.

(4) Mean while temper with the ingredients shown under "to temper" heading. Pour it to the sambar and switch off the flame. Your sambar is now ready to serve.

Have it with your rice/dosa/idly…

Tips:

• You can add or reduce various vegetables as your need.

Easy Mango pickle/Manga Achar

This is an easy mango pickle recipe which is specially made during sadyas in my native place.

Ingredients:

• Mango-1
• Green chilly(chopped)-4
• Red chilly powder-3 tspoon
• Coriander powder-1 pinch
• Water-1/4 cup
• Salt to taste

For Seasoning:

• Oil-1 tspoon
• Dry red chilly-2
• Mustard-1 tspoon
• Curry leaves-1 pinch

Preparation:

(1) Wash and clean mango. Chop into small pieces. Don't peel its skin.

(2) Take a bottle and add chopped mango, green chilly,water and salt. Cover the bottle and keep it for one day. Have a look over my horlicks bottle on day 2 :) (This is "uppilitta manga"…You can try this too by adding more water without proceeding to next step)

(3) On next day take out the bottled contents in a vessel. Add chilly powder and coriander powder. Mix well ( you can make a salt test here).

(4) Drain water from mangoes and keep it aside.

(5) Heat oil in a pan. Add dry red chilly. Then add mustard. When it crackles add curry leaves.Now pour the water that you kept aside to this seasoned ingredients.

(7) Now pour it to the mango slices. Mix well.

Your mango pickle is ready....

Replace it to your bottle.....

Tip:

• Add small amount of water because water will oozes out from mango itself that u can notice on day 2. Add more water if you want more gravy.

Ada Pradhaman/Ada payasam

Ingredients:

• Ada-250 gm
• Jaggery/sharkkara-1/2 kg
• Elakka/Cardamom-6 to 8 
• Cashew-10
• Raisin/Unakka Mundhiri-2 tbl spoon
• Sago/Chawwari-2 tbl spoon
• Coconut milk(onnam pal/thick)-1 cup
• Coconut milk(rendam pal/medium thick)-2 cup
• Ghee-1+3 tspoon
• Tiny coconut slices-2 tspoon

Preparation:

(1) Crush ada into small pieces. Keep it aside( Nowadays crushed ada is available in market).
(2) Mash jaggery into fine pieces. Keep it aside.
(3) Heat ghee in a pan. Fry coconut slices, cashewnuts,sago, raisin one by one. Keep it aside
(4) Boil 4 to 5 cups of water. Once it starts boiling add crushed ada into it. Cook it till it is done(Tip: Becomes soft.If u have doubt crush a piece and make sure). Switch off the flame. Drain the excess water. Again add cold water into  it. Wash well and drain the water using a filter to remove the stickiness. Keep it aside.
(5) Heat a  deep bottomed vessel. Add cooked ada into it. Then add jaggery pieces. Add 3 tspoon of ghee. Keep on stirring in low-medium flame till the contents turns thick( Tip:it starts to separate from the vessel. Here jaggery will melt and combine with ada. Stirring is bit tough. So be on full energy :)).

Alternative step for no:5.....
Heat a bottomed vessel.Add jaggery pieces with little amount of water. Stir it and melt the jaggery. Then add cooked ada and 3 tspoon of ghee. Keep on stirring till it turns thick.

(6) Add medium thick coconut milk. Keep on stirring in between low-medium flame. When coconut milk reduces to half the quantity add thick coconut milk. Heat for another 5 minutes. Add crushed cardamom.
(6) Switch off the flame and add the fried coconut slices, cashew nuts, sago and raisin. Mix well.

Your ada pradhaman is ready:)

Happy onam....

Sharkkara Varatti/Sharkkara Upperi

Ingredients:

• Raw banana-1
• Jaggery/Sharkkara-1/2 cup
• Cumin seed-2 tspoon
• Cardamom-2 tspoon
• Sugar(optional)-1 tbl spoon
• Oil to deep fry

Preparation:

(1) In a mixer grind cumin seed,cardamom and make a fine powder. Keep it aside.

(2) Peel the skin of banana and cut into small cubes approximately 1 inch length.
(3) Heat oil in a pan. In low to medium flame deep fry the banana slices. Fry it till it is crispy and golden color ( Tip:you can check it by crushing one piece. If it is soft cook till it turns crispy. It will take 20 to 30 minutes). Keep it aside.
(4) Heat a bottomed pan and add jaggery with little amount of water. Stir it. Now Jaggery will starts melting. Stir till it completely melts. Strain it if jaggery has any impurities. Reheat the jaggery solution. Keep on stirring till the consistency reaches thick(Tip: You can check the consistency level by adding one drop of solution in cold water. If it didn't dissolve in water your solution is perfect else continue stirring).
(5) In low to medium heat add the fried banana pieces into the jaggery solution. Mix well and stir it. Keep on stirring. Add two tspoon of grinded cumin and cardamom powder in between.  Continue till all sides are perfectly coated with jaggery.
(6) Switch off the flame and allow it to cool. Once it is cooled garnish it with sugar. that is sprinkle sugar and mix well. Your Sarkkara Varatti is ready. Have it with your sadya:)

Tips:

• Thoroughly peel the skin of banana else the color will be dark during frying. Fry till crispy.
• Add small amount of water to jaggery for melting.
• Stirring of jaggary with banana slice is bit difficult.  Make sure the solution to be in correct consistency. If jaggery is not coating to the pieces add 1 table spoon of rice powder to it and stir well.

Inji Curry/Ginger Curry

Inji curry is a part of Kerala sadhya which will be served next to pickles. Of course ginger has lots of health benefits too. So spare some time and try this recipe by your own. The recipe is from my mom :) .

Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves:1 medium size bottle

Ingredients:

Ginger	100 gm
Chilly Powder	1/4 tspn
Coriander Powder	2 tspoon
Asafoetida Powder	1/2 tspoon
Fenugreek Powder	1 pinch
Salt	to taste
Tamarind	1 gooseberry size
Oil	1 tbl spoon

For Seasoning:

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

Preparation:

(1) Peel the skin of ginger and chop into thin round shape slices(Try to make uniform shapes. If u make it too thin you can easily saute it).

(2) Heat oil in a pan and add chopped ginger. Keep on stirring till it turns brownish. In between if you found the pieces dry add more oil( Take care not to burn the pieces). Allow it to cool.

(3) Mean while soak tamarind in water and extract the juice(Don't soak in too much of water. Tamarind juice should be thick). Keep it aside.

(4) Once the ginger pieces are cooled, grind it in a mixer and make a fine powder without adding water. Take it in a bowl.

(5) Add chilly powder and coriander powder to the ground powder. Mix well. Then add tamarind paste and salt. Make a taste test here(To make correct consistency water can be added. Don't make it too watery).

(6) Heat oil in a pan. Temper with the ingredients shown under "For seasoning" heading. Now pour the ginger curry to it and mix well. Once it starts boiling add asafoetida powder and fenugreek powder. Mix once and switch off the flame. Close the pan with a lid so that the flavor sets well.

(7)Your Inji Curry/Ginger curry is ready

Once it is cooled store it in an airtight container and enjoy with rice.

Tips:

• Stirring process will take some time. If u want to save time keep the chopped ginger pieces in direct sunlight for 2 to 3 hours before stirring.
• Try to cut the slices too thin. 
• Add chilly powder according to your taste because ginger itself is spicy.