Vellarikka Pulissery

A quick ozhichukoottan (curry, liquidy side-dish) for those busy days..



Ingredients

Vellarikka, chopped into chunks - 1 cup
Green chillies - 2, slit lengthwise
Salt - as needed

To grind to coarse paste
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Small onions - 3
Turmeric powder - 2 pinches

Curd - 2 cups (medium consistency)

For Tempering
Coconut oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Dried red chilly - 2
Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Method

1. Heat a manchatti. Add the vellarikka pieces along with half cup water, slit chillies and some salt. Let the pieces get cooked well (they become transparent once cooked).
2. Meanwhile grind the ingredients mentioned into a coarse paste.
3. Once the vellarikka is cooked, add the ground coconut paste into this mixture and let it steam through.
4. Add the beaten curd into it and stir continuously (ensure its in low heat, or it will curdle). Once steam comes through, immediately switch off the stove. Keep stirring for some more time, to cool it down a bit.
5. In a separate pan, add oil. Splutter mustard seeds. Then add the curry leaves and dried chillies till they become crisp. Add it along with the oil to the curd mixture. Stir well.

Muringakka Thakkali Curry / Drumstick & Tomatoes in Ground Coconut Sauce

I was thinking of making traditional "Muringakkai Manga curry" when I saw both drumstick and green mangoes sitting in the fridge. I clean & cut the drumsticks , next I get onto the green mangoes..but they had gone bad!! Now what do I do? I thought..green mango gives tanginess to the curry, so why not add tomato instead? So I went ahead, added drumstick, tomato, chillies and also a small potato along with the traditional arachukalakki (ground coconut mixture)..alas..it turned out to be a yummy chaarucurry.



Ingredients

Drumsticks - 2
Tomato - 1 big
Green chilly - 2
Potato - 1 small (optional)
Salt - as per taste

To be ground to paste
Coconut - 3/4 cup
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Green chilly - 1 or Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp (as per your spice levels)
Garlic - 1 clove

For Tempering
Coconut oil - 1 tbsp
Small onions - 2
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Dried chilly - 1



Method
1. Wash, clean and cut the drumsticks to 2 inch pieces.
2. In a manchatti or kadai, add the drumsticks, roughly chopped tomatoes & potato. Add enough water and boil the same.
3. Meanwhile, in the small jar of mixer, add all ingredients mentioned under "To be ground to paste" and grind to a smooth paste. If needed, add some water.
4. Once the veggies are cooked, add the coconut mixture to the manchatti and mix well. The consistency should not be too thick or too thin. Adjust salt. Cook till the mixture starts to boil (it should not be allowed to boil too much). Switch off the stove and keep covered.
5. In a small pan, add coconut oil. Splutter the mustard seeds, add the thinly sliced small onions, curry leaves and dried chilly. Saute till the onions turn brown and crisp. Add them immediately to the gravy and keep it closed for sometime for the flavors to set in.

Churakka unakka chemmeen curry / Bottle gourd and dried prawn in coconut gravy

This is one dish that my grandmom makes with churakka / bottle gourd and trust me ..it tastes awsome...and we like dried prawns in almost everything..



Ingredients

Diced churakka / Bottlegourd - 2 cups (cleaned, peeled and diced)
Dried prawns - 1/2 cup (slightly roasted, head n tail removed and thoroughly washed)
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

To grind
Shallots - 6, thinly sliced
Green chilly - 2
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Grated coconut - 1 cup

For tempering
Shallots - 2, thinly sliced
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Dried chilly - 2
Salt - as per taste
Coconut oil - 1 tsp



Method

Boil the bottlegourd pieces in 1 cup of water, along with required salt, turmeric powder and chilly powder. When they are half cooked add the washed dried prawns. Let them get cooked well. Meanwhile, in the small jar of the mixer, grind the items mentioned under "To grind" to a coarse paste. Add this paste to the almost cooked bottlegourd. Add more water if needed (it should have a medium thick consistency). Switch off the stove once the coconut mixture is about to boil.

In another pan, add coconut oil. Once hot, add the sliced shallots, dried chilly and curry leaves. Let the onions turn brown and crisp. Add them to the coconut gravy, stir gently and close the lid immediately for the flavors to set in. 

Moru kachiyathu / Curried curd

A must-have curry for lunch & dinner in the district of Kottayam! In my place, this is made only when one of us have stomach problem :) .. So after getting married, I got used to having moru kachiyathu on a daily basis. I don't mind having it as it tastes good and is very good for our tummy. The only thing that puzzles me is the malayalee proverb - "Meenum Morum cherilla" - which means fish and any any form of curd should not be taken together, its against ayurveda. However in Kottayam, people people have to have this moru along with the fiery fish curry..

Ingredients

Thick curd, beaten well - 2 cups
Water - 1 cup (if curd is thin, then no need to add water, just take 3 cups of curd)
Ginger - 1 inch piece, crushed or sliced
Small onion - 3, crushed or sliced
Green chilly - 2, slit
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Dried chilly - 2-3
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Salt - as per taste
Powdered cumin - 1/2 tsp

Method

In a kadai, add 1 tbsp coconut oil. When its hot, add fenugreek seeds and let it crackle. Then add mustard seeds and let them crackle too. Now add curry leaves, dried chilly and saute for a while. Add crushed small onions, ginger, slit chilly and saute them till they are slightly crisp. Now switch off the stove and add well beaten curd + water mixture while stirring continuously. Switch on to low flame and keep stirring till the curd is somewhat hot (it should not boil). Switch off the flame, keep stirring for some more time. Then it take off the stove and allow to cool. Once properly cooled, add cumin powder and salt. 

Chakkakuru manga curry / Jackfruit seeds and mango in coconut gravy

Until I got married, I hadn't heard of this dish! In my own house, meat was the main dish and we used to hate vegetable of any sorts..God had his own plans... I got married...First few days went by, where we had beef fry, chicken etc along with some veggies. I was happy... After a week, the meat dishes began to disappear, and some weird looking dishes began to appear. I hadn't heard of many ... chakkakuru olathu (stir fried jackfruit seeds), thaalu curry (curry made of the stem of colocasia plant), chakka puzhukku, pathila thoran (a thoran made of 10 different types of edible leaves) and so on were their names. I was literally struck dumb by the variety of veg dishes my MIL cooked. In my own house, veg dishes meant cabbage thoran or beans thoran. I never thought so many of these plants and leaves could be eaten. It was an eye-opener and I loved most of them dishes in the first try itself.

The chakkakuru manga curry was one among them. Whenever we go to India, my MIL carefully packs a packet full of raw jackfruits seeds as it preserves well and this was made from the batch that she gave us in our last visit.

Ingredients

To boil
Jackfruit seeds - around 10 -12
Raw mango - 1 small (cut into small pieces)
Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

To grind
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Shallots / small onions - 3-4
Green chilly - 3
Cumin - 1 tsp

For tempering
Coconut oil - 1 tsp
Shallots / small onion - 2-3, thinly sliced
Mustard seeds
Dried chilly - 2
Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Method

Wash & clean the jackfruit seeds. Remove the outer white cover and slice legnthwise into 4 pieces. 

(Another tip from my MIL - its difficult to slice the seeds as they are really hard. So just pressure cook the whole seed for 1 whistle with little water & salt. After that you can smash the seeds easily).

Boil the mango pieces with the smashed or sliced seeds along with required amount of salt and little turmeric powder in a chatti or kadai.

Grind coconut, cumin, chilly & shallots into a smooth paste.

Add the ground paste to the mango - seed mixture and let it cook well. Just before the mixture boils, remove from heat. 

In a small pan, heat some coconut oil, crackle the mustard seeds. Add the thinly sliced small onions, dried chilly and curry leaves. Stir till the small onions turn brown and crisp and a nice aroma comes. Switch off the flame and add this to the curry and close it with a lid immediately.

Let it rest for sometime. And serve with hot rice.