Puli Inji

Puli Inji, a sweet and sour pickle or sauce in an essential finger-licking side dish served as part of Kerala Sadya.This is a sweet and sour ginger pickle from Kerala where ginger is cooked in a sweet and tangy tamarind sauce.Though there are many side dishes prepared for sadya like avialy, Kootu Curry, Kaalan, Olan, Saambhar,pickle,etc... no sadya is served without puliy inji.This is the first dish which i will prepare a week before Onam comes....The first lick on this tangy sauce makes your taste buds stand up and enjoy your meal.This is awesome.Each home it is prepared in differently fried ginger , tamarind and jaggery being the stars of this dish. This comes in the category of 'thodu curry's. So do prepare this to have a complete authentic meal from Kerala.

Ingredients

1. Ginger skin removed and sliced - 3/4 cup
2. Tamarind - 2 lime size balls soaked in 1 cup warm water
3. Green Chilli - 3 chopped
4. Curr Leaves - 2 Sprigs
5. Mustard Seeds - 1 Tsp
6. Dry Red Chilli - 3
7. Jaggery / Sharkara grated - 3/4 cup
8. Water - 1 cup
9. Turmeric powder - 1 Tsp
10. Red chilli powder - 1 Tbsp
11. Asafoetida/ Kaayam - 1/4 Tsp 
12. Fenugreek/ Uluva/Methi seeds - 1 Tsp
13. Salt - as needed
14. Coconut Oil - as required

Preparation

• Heat an earthen pot / non- stick sauce pan (not iron pan),  add coconut oil,splutter mustard seeds, then add dry red chilli and 1 sprig of curry leaves .
• Add green chilli and sliced ginger and fry nicely to golden brown. Keep aside.

• Squeeze the soaked tamarind,extract the juice and keep aside.
• In the same pot/pan add grated jaggery, tamarind extract, water, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, asafoetida,1 sprig of curry leaves and salt. Mix well.
• Let it boil and cook on low flame,till the gravy thickens and reduce to pulpy texture.

• Now add the fried ginger mix, kept aside and mix well and remove from heat.
• Heat a pan, add fenugreek seeds and dry roast it. Immediately powder it using a mortar. Add this to the prepared tangy sauce. Mix well.

• Let it cool and reach room temperature before store it in air tight container. You can serve it after one hour of preparation. If stored properly will last for 3 weeks.

Cucumber (Kakkarikka) Pachadi | A Special Side Dish for Onam Sadya

  

Cucumber(Kakkarikka) Pachadi is an authentic Kerala festive recipe, made during the festive seasons of Onam,Vishu and even served for wedding sadya's in Kerala.
I love and like to make this pachadi as it has a very good flavour and very easy to make.Hope you too try this for Onam...

 

Ingredients

1. Cucumber(Kakkarikka) - 1 Big
2. Grated coconut - 3/4 Cup
3. Mustard Seeds - 1/4 Tsp
4. Ginger chopped - 1/2 Tsp
5. Green chilli - 2
6. Yogurt -1/2 Cup
7. Jeera powder  / cumin powder - 1/4 Tsp
8. Curry Leaves - 4 to 5 leaves
9. Salt - as needed

To Temper

1. Coconut Oil - 1 Tbsp
2. Mustard seeds - 1 Tsp
3. Curry Leaves - 1 Sprig
4. Dry red chilli - 3

Preparation

• Wash  and peel the skin of cucumber.Grate it to fine shreds as shown in figure. Add some salt and mix well. Keep for 5 minutes.

• In a mixer grind to a smooth paste of coconut, green chilli, ginger,mustard seeds. Add in yogurt and mix well.

• Drain the salt water from shredded cucumber and add the coconut - yogurt paste. Mix well. Sprinkle jeera powder and curry leaves , mix properly. The pachadi should be quite thick and not watery. 

• Heat oil to temper, add in mustard seeds, let it crackle and dry red chillies, curry leaves. Pour this onto the pachadi.
• Serve as a side dish for rice at lunch.

Beetroot Pachadi | A Kerala Sadya Recipe | Kerala Onam Special Recipe

Pachadi is one of the special traditional side dishes that is served during festivals , especially )Onam ,Vishu and also during Hindu marriages.The use of vegetables and even fruits vary so much and also in their taste. The main ingredient being freshly grated coconut ground to smooth paste along with ginger, green chillies, and mustard seeds and yogurt and is mixed with variety of raw or cooked vegetables.  

Today i made Beetroot Pachadi , which is a bit sweet in taste. This was on my list from quite sometime.The final verdict from my family was "Delicious", i loved the rich colour that Pachadi had was truly amazing to have with rice.

Ingredients

1. Finely chopped or grated beetroot - 1 cup
2. Water - 1 cup
3. Grated coconut (grind o smooth paste) - 3/4 cup (I had previously made coconut paste was 1/2 cup)
4. Green Chilly - 2
5. Chopped ginger - 1/4 Tsp
6. Mustard Seeds - 1/4 Tsp 
7. Yogurt - 1/2 cup
8. Salt - as needed

To Temper

1. Coconut Oil/ Oil - 1 Tbsp
2. Mustard Seeds - 1/2 Tsp
3. Dry Red Chilli - 2
4. Curry Leaves - 1 Sprig

Preparation

• Cook grated beetroots in 1 cup of water till it turns soft. It takes just around 4-5 minutes to cook the beetroot. Cook until all the water get absorbed. Cook on medium flame. (Be careful not to get burnt beetroot.)

• Meanwhile grind the grated coconut, green chilli, mustard seeds and ginger to a smooth paste. 
• Add in yogurt and grind just once.
• Add this grind paste to the cooked beetroot, also add salt and cook for a couple of minutes.(i cooked for 1 minute on sim flame).Remove from flame.

• Heat oil for tempering, add curry leaves and mustard seeds. When mustard seeds starts to sizzle and pop add the dry red chilli halves into it.
• Pour this on to the pachadi and mix well.

 

Do check out my Special Pineapple Pachadi - Kerala Style  
and Pineapple Pachadi - Kerala Sadya Style

Pottukadala Thenga Chutney

 

This is a really smooth chutney with goes well with crispy dosa . This has a unique taste...

Ingredients

1. Pottukadala / Roasted Gram Daal - 2 Tbsp
2. Grated Coconut - 1 cup
3. Green Chilly - 2
4. Yoghurt /Curd - 2 Tbsp
5. Salt - as needed

Tempering

1. Coconut Oil / Oil - 1 Tbsp
2. Mustard Seeds - 1 Tsp
3. Dry Red Chilly - 2 -3
4. Curry Leaves - 1 Sprig

Check out the recipes for Super Spongy Dosa ,DOSA 

Preparation

• In a mixer grind roasted gram daal, coconut, green chilly, yoghurt and salt to a nice smooth paste without any grains of daal. Transfer it to a serving bowl.

• Heat oil in a kadai and crakle mustrd, add dry red chilly and curry leaves. 
• Pour this onto the chutney. Mix and serve with dosa / idly or upma.

Notes

• If the chutney is a bit thick you can little water.

 

Linking this to Healthy Diet running at Nandoo's Kitchen and Priya's . Also to Click Cook and Devour give away event, WTML June 2014 hosted By The Big Sweet Tooth event by Gayathri

  

Chilli Onion Chutney - Easy Chutney for Idly/Dosa

Are you tired of sautéing and then grinding for chutney.... when you are in a hurry to go office??? Here is an easy recipe for a chutney you can make at home for idly or dosa...

Source - Rak's Kitchen

Ingredients

1. Onion chopped - 2 small
2. Kashmiri Dry Red Chilly - 8-10 (Depending on your level)
3. Garlic - 3 - 4 flakes
4. Curry Leaves - 1 Sprig
5. Salt - as needed
6. Asafoetida - 2 pinches

To Temper

1. Oil - 1 Tbsp
2. Mustard seeds - 1 Tsp
3. Urad Daal - 1 1/2 Tsp

Preparation

• In a mixer grind onion, red chilly, garlic, curry leaves and salt with 3 Tbsp of water to a slightly coarse paste.

• Heat a pan with 1 Tbsp of oil, splutter mustard seeds and then add urad daal. 
• Pour ground paste to it , mix well and let it cook for a minute. Off the flame.
• Finally sprinkle asafoetida.
• Serve hot with idli or dosa.

 

Sending this to 1st anniversary celebration with giveaways ! of cook click n devour 

Linking this to Healthy Diet running at Nandoo's Kitchen and Priya's . Also to Come, join us for Breakfast

  

Special Pineapple Pachadi - Kerala Style

Hi friends.... i think it is now almost two months that i have not been blogging. After i was back from Kerala.. i was feeling really lazy to type , post and even cook special for m blog.Did i really ignore my blog??? i feel yes.I wanted to cook some dishes and post for Vishu, but unfortunately at home here was no internet connection for a month. I have prepared this special pineapple pachadi for Vishu,(luckily i took these beautiful clicks) which i had written it down in my cook book long back. It is really a special one...the sweet and sour blend of pineapple and plantain just lifts your taste buds, also it has the richness of the added dry nuts in it.

This can also be served a dip too..

Ingredients

1. Ripe Pineapple - 1 Big
2. Ripe Plantain(Kerala Banana) - 1/2 of 1 Big One
3. Turmeric powder - 1/4 Tsp
4. Red Chilli powder - 1 1/2 Tsp
5. Salt - as needed
6. Water - as needed
7. Sugar - 1/2 cup
8. Cashew Nuts - 25 gms
9. Grapes - 1/4 cup
10. Mustard - 1/2 Tsp
11. Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup
12. Crushed Mustard Seeds- 1/4 Tsp

To Temper

1. Coconut Oil (Must) - 1 Tbsp
2. Mustard Seeds - 1/4 Tsp
3. Dry Red Chilly - 3
4. Curry Leaves - 2 to 3 Sprigs
5. Raisins - 1 Tbsp

Preparation

• Cut pineapple into very fine pieces.Cut the plantain into two from the middle lengthwise and then cut into small pieces.
• In a sauce pan, put both pineapple and plantain. Then to it add turmeric powder , red chilly powder and salt. Add a cup of water to it. Mix well.Then cook it closed. In between give a stir.
• Add water if not enough to cook to soft.
• When it is cooked and water is absorbed, add sugar and cashew nuts to it.
• Stir it continuously on medium flame.You can see that the sugar is getting caramelized and colour changes(let it be light brown in colour).When it is dried remove from heat and let it cool.
• In the meanwhile, in a mixer just crushed grated coconut and mustard seeds.
• Wash the grapes and wipe with a cloth.
• Now when the pineapple-plantain mix is cooled add the coconut mix and grapes to it and mix gently and combine.
• To temper heat a kadai, add coconut oil,when hot, add mustard seeds,let it crackle
• Add dry red chilly , curry leaves and raisins. When raisins puff up , off the flame and pour this over to the curry.Mix well.
• Finally add the crushed mustard seeds.
• Serve with rice , or even as a spread.. You can even call it as a Chutney.....

Check out other dish with Pineapple

 

Linking this to Lets cook for father's day

Pachamulaku Thengaa Chammanthi

Ingredients

1. Grated coconut - 1/2 of a coconut
2. Green Chilli - 3- 4 nos.
3. Garlic - 2
4. Curry Leaves - 1 Sprig
5. Salt - as needed

Preparation

Simply grind all the ingredients to a coarsely ground smooth paste .(It should not be a smooth paste, a bit grainy)

Notes

• Do not add water
• If you use a mixer , it gives a different taste .

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Sending this to cook-with-comfort event by Sapana

Coconut Chutney

Ingredients

1. Grinding
2. Grated coconut - 1/2 Cup
3. Green Chilly - 3-4
4. Yogurt - 1 Tbsp
5. Water - 1/4 cup
6. Salt

For Tempering

1. Oil - 1 Tbsp
2. Mustard Seeds - 1/4 Tsp
3. Split Urad Dal - 1/4 Tsp
4. Dry Red Chilly - 1
5. Asafoetida(Kaayam) - A Pinch
6. Curry Leaves - 1 Sprig

Preparation

• In a mixer grind the ingredients from grated coconut to salt. 
• For tempering, heat oil in a small kadai, heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, add split urad dal,dry red chilly, curry leaves. Off the flame add asafoetida(Kaayam).
• Pour this onto the chutney.
• Serve with dosa (Dosa),Idli etc

Sending this to Lets cook Preserves, Jams and Chutneys by Simply.food

Tomato Chutney

Ingredients

1. Onion - 2 medium
2. Tomato (well ripe) - 2 Big
3. Turmeric powder - 1/4 Tsp
4. Kashmiri red chilly powder - 1 Tsp
5. Red Chilly powder - 2 Tsp ( adjust according to yours)
6. Asafoetida (Kaayam) - a pinch
7. Oil
8. Water - 1 Tbsp

Preparation

• Heat a kadai, add oil, add chopped onion to it. Saute till the onion turns pink and soft.Add chopped tomato. Saute and let the tomato cook well.
• Add turmeric,kashmiri and red chilly powder. Saute for 1 minute.Off the flame add asafoetida(kaayam). Keep it aside to cool.
• In a mixer , add the onion-tomato mix,salt and water. Grind it to a smooth paste.

Linking this to Lets cook Preserves, Jams and Chutneys of Simply.food