Vazha Pindi Thoran

Vazha Pindi is the stem of Plantain. It is cool and rich with fiber. Its very good for reducing Cholestrol.
Even if its a good food. It needs lot of physical strain to get this stem from plantain. My father will always do this with great patience. Last week he brought some stem from my home town. Because of its fibre natre we have to remove the fibres with our fingers. Lastly we will get a nice covering for our finger with these fibres.
Recipe
Chop the stem as small as possible. Remove the fibres as far as you can. Pour some oil into the kadai and add some mustard seeds, some urad dal and some kariveppila. After spluttering add the copped stem with salt, chilly powder and turmeric powder. Cook these for 10 minutes in sim mode.
Grind coconut, jeeraka and garlic. Add this to the cooked stem. Allow some time to dry.
Its a great dish in summer times. Its a homely food. Here we get this in shops also.

We can make this recipe more healthy by using some green gram also. For that we have to add cooked green gram to this mixture. 'Vazha pindiyum cherupayarum' is a nice combination in Kerala.

In Kerala different varieties of plantains exists. We can not use all the stems. Some variety stems are not used in cooking. Anyway if you have any plantains try it out.

Veli cheera thoran

Yesterday I had made veli cheera thoran. Its very healthy, tasty and easy to make dish. We have to pluck the tender part of the cheera with leaves. Inspect it thoroughly and wash it. Chop it as thin as you can. Add some oil to the kadai, splutter some mustard seeds. Put these cheera pieces with salt, turmeric powder and chilli powder. In medium flame close the kadai and allow the leaves to cook. Grind the shredded coconut, cumin seeds and some garlic seeds. Add this to the cheera, open the lid and leave them open till the water content evaporates. Its a nice accompaniment with rice.
I like to collect these cheera from yard. Its rich with Vitamin A. Good for our eyes. We have to consider these natural sources of vitamins other than taking artificial supplements.

Moru vellam

Its the traditional thirst quencher of Kerala. It can be prepared easily.

• Blend the curd with some salt and equal amount of water
• Add some curry leaves
• Add some crushed ginger and green chillies
• We can add the leaves of lemon tree(optional)
• If you are too spicy we can add some chilly powder
• If you are so thirsty we can add some pieces of lemon also
• We can use our creativity to make this more appealing than any aerated drinks
• Its the most nutritious and stomach friendly drink in this summer season
• Go and have it and please leave a note to let me know how it tastes....

My earlier post about Moruvellam

Idiappam and Kadala Curry

A typical break fast or 'prathal' item of Malayalaees. Idiyappam is also known as 'Nool puttu' or 'Seva'. Its a healthy combination too. Steam cooked idiyappam is a good energy source for our little ones too.
Idiyappam

Roasted rice powder-2 Cup

Salt-as per taste

Water
To make the dough we have to add boiling water to the rice powder. After cooling make it a smooth dough by hand. Squeeze the dough using an idiyappam maker. Steam with some grated coconut topping. Have it with coconut milk or Sugar.
The most appropriate combination is Kadala curry. Will give the recipe of Kadala curry later

Kappa and Mulaku

Kappa and mulaku is the food of a typical Keralite. Kappa is a delicious starch filled food. Its very nostagic to think about kappa and mulakau chammanthi. We are calling this type of Kappa preparation as 'chenda muriyan' Its also an easy spicy snack for elders.

Pazham pori / Ethakka appam

Pazham pori is ripe banana dipped in Maida(all purpose flour) and fried in oil. An easy to make nutritious snack. Its an all time favourite of children too.

I always make it as a tea time snack. It may be the favourite tea time snack of Kerala too.

Method

Make a batter for the dip. It can be made with all purpose flour. I had made the batter using maida. If we add some rava it will be more crispy. In the matter we have to add a pinch of salt and quarter spoon of turmeric powder only for colour. If the banana is not sweet we can add some sugar too.

Peel the banana and cut according to your aesthetic sense. I had made four slices from a banana I don't like the more lengthy ones:) Dip these pieces in the batter and fry till it reahes the golden brown colour.

Thiruvathira Puzhukku

A very special delicacy on thiruvathira day. Its a great pleasure to write down something that had a great past. The variety of this dish is that its prepared only on the thiruvathira day and its main ingredients are tubers. Most of the tubers are easily availabale from the yard. Now the markets flood with these tubers and today during this preparation my mother in law was talking about the freshness of the tubers they gathered from their own land.

Ingredients

Raw plantain(Ethakka)-1/4 cup

Chinese Potato(Koorkka)-1/4 cup

Elephant yam(Chena)-1/4 cup

Cassava(Kappa)-1/4 cup

Kachil-1/4 cup

Chembu-1/4 cup

Nanakizhangu-1/4 cup

Madhurakizhangu-1/4 cup

Cow peas beans(Vanpayar)-1/2 cup

Chilli powder-2 tb sp

Turmeric powder-1 tb sp

Salt- as needed

Coconut oil-2 tbsp

Curry leaves- as needed

For grinding

Grated coconut-11/2 cup

Cumin seeds-1/4 tsp

Garlic-10 pods

Method

It will take more than 1 hour to finish this because it takes a long time to prepare these tubers. First we have to pressure cook the red cow beans with salt. All these ingredients must be square cut. We have to cook Cassava separately. When we cook it add some salt to it. After cooking drain the water and keep it aside. Then cook all the other tubers (after thorough washing) in pressure cooker. Add the chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt to it. One or two whistles may be enough. Then we have to drain out the excess amount of water. After grinding the coconut with the other ingredients mix this with tubers, cassava and cooked cow beans. Let it boil for sometime for blending the tastes. Add the coconut oil and curry leaves. The delicious puzhukku is ready and its a pretty and mouth watering side dish to rice or kanji. But on thiruvathira day most of ladies are taking this with Gothambu kanji as part of Vratha.