Ghee rice/Nei chooru

Ingredients:-

Ghee - 1tbsp
Refined oil - 1tbsp
Onions - 2 medium, sliced
Green chillies - 2(slit lengthwise)
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
Cinnamon stick - 1" piece
Cardamom - 1
Cloves - 2
Basmati rice - 1cup(washed and drained)
Water - 2cups(if you are making rice in a covered sauce pan) or 1.5 cups(if you are making in a pressure cooker)
Salt - to taste
Kismis - 10
Cashewnut - 10

Preparation:-
Take a sauce pan and add refined oil(1/2 tbsp) and ghee(1/2 tbsp). When its hot, add dry fruits(cashew nut and kismis). Kismis will fatten up and become light brown and cashew nut will become slightly brown. Take a perforated spoon so that you can filter and remove the dry fruits from oil. Add half the quantity of sliced onions to the oil and fry till it becomes brown. One easy way to quicken this is to add little salt. Once the onion turns brown, transfer it to a plate. Dry fruits and fried onions will be used for garnishing at the end.

In the same kadai, add rest of the ghee and oil(1/2 tbsp each). When its hot, add cinnamon stick, cardamom and cloves. Fry them for few seconds and add onions, green chilies and ginger garlic paste. Fry till the raw smell goes. Add basmati rice to this and fry till rice is coated in oil. Add 2 cups of hot water if you are planning to prepare this in the same sauce pan. Cover and cook for 20 mins in small flame. When its almost done, add salt and give it a good mix.

If you are planning to make it in pressure cooker, add 1.5 cups of water to the rice and cook for 2 whistles.

Once cooked, remove it to a serving bowl and garnish with the dry fruits and onions.

You can have this with vegetable kurma/curry.

Chuttaracha chammanthy

Chuttaracha chammanthy is a typical kerala style chutney to be had with rice. The name derives from the way the coconut pieces are burnt in fire and then ground.

Ingredients:-
Coconut pieces - 8 long ones(long enough to be held with tongs as we have to burn it in flame)
or grated coconut - 1/2 cup
coriander - 1tbsp
Red chillies - 5
Tamarind - 1 fat pinch
Refined oil - 1tsp
Salt - to taste

Prepartion:-
Burn coconut pieces in flame till it becomes slighly brown. Or, fry the grated coconut in a kadai until it turns brown. Remove it to a bowl. Add oil to the kadai and fry red chillies and coriander until it lets out a nice aroma. Please make sure not to burn them. Set it aside and allow it to cool. Once cool, add the burnt/fried coconut, coriander seeds and red chillies along with the rest of the ingredients and grind it to a coarse paste. Add 1-2tbsp water maximum while grinding.

Chammanthy is ready and you can mix it with rice and have it along with papad.

Peanut chutney

Ingredients:-
Peanuts - 3/4 cup
Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup
Red chillies - 2
Tamarind - 1 tiny bit
Salt - to taste
Water - 1/4 cup

Preparation:-
Heat a kadai and dry roast peanuts and red chillies until it becomes slightly brown and lets out a nice aroma. Let it cool and remove the skin and set aside. Take a mixie jar and add the peanuts and coconut along with other ingredients   with little water. Remove it into a bowl and the chutney is ready. You can have it with idli or dosa.

Saambar saadam

Ingredients:-

Rice - 1cup
Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Carrot - 2 medium, chopped into thin discs or any shape of your choice
Beans - 1/2 cup(when chopped fine)
Potato - 1 small, chopped into cubes
Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
Sambar onion(small one) - 10 nos
Tamarind - 1 lemon size ball soaked in water(1/4 cup)
Hot water - 4 cups water for cooking rice and daal.
Water - 3/4 cups additional for extracting tamarind pulp. Add 1/4 cup water at a time and extract.
Salt - to taste
Sambar powder - 2tbsp
Gingely oil - 1 tbsp
Ghee - 1tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Chana dal - 1tbsp
Curry leaves - few

Preparation:-
Pressure cook rice, daal and vegetables in 4 cups water along with turmeric powder. Once the pressure releases, mash the rice-daal-veg and add salt. Set this aside.

Heat a kadai, add gingely oil and then ghee. When it turns hot, add mustard seeds, when they crackle, add chana dal and curry leaves. Fry till chana dal turns slightly brown. Now add the rice-daal-veg to this and mix well. Now add the extracted tamarind pulp(1 cup) to this and let it come to a boil. Add sambar powder and mix it well. At this point, if the mixture is too thick, add little hot water and loosen it. Transfer it to a bowl.

You can have this sambar saadam with onion raitha and papad.

Pacha mouru(Buttermilk)

I went out for Onam to have sadya(meals) at a local mallu restaurant and quite liked the mouru served towards the end. Here's the version

Ingredients:-
Curd - 1.5 cups(300 ml)
Water - 0.5 cups
Shallots(small onions)-4
Green chilli - 1 long
Curry leaves - 2 strands
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Salt(Kallu uppu is better) - to taste


Preparation:-
Crush the ingredients except curd. Add it to a blender along with curd. Whisk it nicely and add around half a cup of water. Again whisk to have a consistent texture.Transfer it to a bowl and enjoy the pacha mouru. If you don't have blender, juicer jar of your mixie will also do. Or, we can also prepare buttermilk using the traditional way by using 'matthu'.

Veg Daliya/Broken wheat Upma

I heard about 'Daliya' from one of my colleagues and wanted to try it out. It was nothing but the 'oosi gothumai' which I was aware of. My mom used to prepare this upma when we were kids and I disliked it. I liked the bombay rava upma than this one. But, now as a mother I am liking things which I used to hate as a child mainly for the nutritional aspects it brings forth. My kid likes to eat this with curd.

Ingredients:-

Carrot - 1 medium, cut into inch long pieces
Beans - 5, cut into small
Onion - 1 medium sliced
Mint leaves - 10-15, chopped
Green chilly - 1 long, chopped finely
Garlic - 3, chopped finely
Broken wheat - 1 cup
Oil/ghee - 1tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Water - 1.5 cups
Salt - to taste

Preparation:-

Heat a kadai or cooker and put oil into it. Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds. When they crackle, add onion,garlic and green chillies and fry them till onion becomes translucent. After that add the veggies along with mint leaves  and saute for a minute. Add the turmeric powder and broken wheat and fry it till the wheat is coated with oil/ghee. Add required salt along with 1.5 cups of water. Cover the cooker and put the weight. Wait for a whistle and switch off the flame. Have this upma with plain curd and pickle. 

P.S:- If you like it to be more spicy, add chilli powder. 

Masala Cabbage

I saw this on Youtube by Srirangam Radhu mami and liked it instantly.

Ingredients:-
Cabbage - 1cup, finely chopped
Onion - 1 medium, finely chopped
Garlic - 2, finely chopped
Green chillies - 1 long, finely chopped
Besan/gram flour/kadalamaavu - 1tbsp
Refined oil - 1 tsp, 1tbsp
Garam masala - 1tsp
Salt - to taste
Turmeric powder - 1tsp

Preparation:-

Dry roast the gram flour in a kadai for around 2-3 minutes until you get a nice aroma. Set this aside

Heat oil in a kadai. Add garlic, onion and green chilles. Once the rawness of this goes off, add cabbage. Add
salt and turmeric powder at this point and fry it till the cabbage becomes cooked. Cabbage should not be covered and cooked. Do not add any water to cook the cabbage. Once the cabbage is cooked and dry, add the roasted gram flour little by little, mixing it simultaneously. Add 1tbsp oil to this, and continue to mix it. Fry this for around 2 minutes. Transfer this to a bowl. You can have it with rice and vatha kuzhambu/milaghu kuzhambu etc. 

Soya Chunks Paratha

I was watching Zee TV the other day and accidentally came across few clips of Sanjeev Kapoor preparing few dishes. This was one of them. I am a great fan of Soya chunks and I decided to make this for dinner with my own modifications. It came out really well and tasted yummy.

Ingredients:-
Nutrela Soya chunks(mini) - 1 cup
Mint leaves - 10-12(finely chopped)
Coriander leaves - 1-2(finely chopped)
Green chilli - 1 long, finelly chopped
Garlic - 2, finely chopped
Onion - 1 small, finely chopped
Potato - 1 medium, boiled, peeled and then grated
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Refined oil - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste

Preparation:-
Boil soya chunks in enough water after adding little salt. Once it becomes soft, drain and set aside to cool. Once its cool, squeeze out the excess water from the chunks and add it to a mixer jar and just run it once so that it becomes granular. I have seen my mother granulate the chunks this way as my folks used to hate the chunks coz it used to give them a non-veg feel.

I have used mini soya chunks here. Even soya chunks granules is also available in the market, that can also be used. Change the quantity and processing of granules accordingly.

Heat a kadai, add refined oil. Add garlic to this. Once the garlic lets out its flavour to the oil, add onion and green chillies. Let the rawness of onion and green chillies go off. Add the mint and coriander leaves and fry it for a minute. Now add the soya chunks and give it a good mix . Mix it well and add grated potato at this point. Add garam masala and salt. Mix everything uniformly and check the taste. Let this stuffing cool.

Prepare chappathi dough and stuff it with the above mixture like you do for any other paratha. Cook it on the tawa. This paratha can be consumed along with pickle and curd. 

Soya chunks Pulav

Ingredients:-

Soya chunks - 1 cup(200g)
Potato - 1 medium, cut into cubes
Onion - 1 large
Ginger - 1inch piece chopped finely
Garlic pods - 5 chopped finely
Green chillies - 1 large chopped finely
Garam masala - 1tbsp
Chilli powder - 1tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Ghee/oil - 1tbsp
Basmati rice - 1 cup(washed and drained)
Water - 1 and 3/4 cups
Salt - to taste

Preparation:-

Boil the soya chunks in salt water until soft. Drain the water and allow it to cool. Heat a kadai, add oil/ghee to it. Add onion, green chilly, ginger and garlic and fry them until the rawness goes off and the onion turns translucent. Add potato and soya chunks to this. Fry it for 2 mins and add the powders. Give it a good mix and add the basmati rice. Fry this for few mins until the basmati rice is coated with ghee and masala. Transfer this to a pressure cooker. Add water and salt to this. Once the steam comes out, simmer the stove and put the weight on and keep it for 3 whistles. Once the pressure releases, separate the rice using a fork. This can be had with tomato and onion raitha.

Soya chunks curry

Ingredients:-

Nutrela mini soya chunks - 1 cup(200g)

Onion - 1 large, chopped fine

Tomato - 1 large, chopped fine

Green chilly - 1, chopped fine

Refined oil - 1tbsp

Garam masala - 1tbsp

Red chilli powder - 1tsp

Coriander powder - 1tbsp

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Salt - to taste

Preparation:-

Boil water along with little salt. Add soya chunks and boil until soft. Once soft, strain the soya chunks from the water. Allow it to cool. In the meantime, heat a kadai and add oil to it. Add onion and green chillies. Once the onion turns translucent, add chopped tomato. Add salt to speed up the cooking process of tomatoes. Once the tomato-onion mixture turns mushy, add the garam masala, coriander powder and chilli powder. Fry it for 2 mins, make sure this is not burnt. Squeeze the water out of the drained soya chunks using your hands and add to the kadai. Again fry it for few mins until the soya chunks is coated with the mixture. This curry is more of a dry kind. Add water if you like your curry to be gravy type.

P.S:- One variation to the above preparation can be made by marinating the boiled soya chunks(after squeezing out of the water) in the coriander powder, chilli powder and garam masala mixture for some time. Add this marinated chunks to the tomato onion mixture after it turns mushy.