Chakkakuru Mezhukuperrutti~Stir Fried Jack Fruit Seeds

This is one dish my mom's elder sister is a pro at! I love the way Remaniammama makes her chakkakuru mezhukkuperruti. I have eaten her dish way too many times, for sure I love the way she does it because there is alot more love added when she does it for us!

Ingredients:

Jack fruit Seeds - 400gms

Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp

Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp

Garlic - 8 pods, chopped finely

Coconut Slivers (Thengakothu) - 1/4cup

Water - 1/4cup

Salt to taste

Peel the white outer cover off the jack fruit seeds. Then soak them in water for about 2 hours and then remove the brown layer. Alternatively the seeds could be pressure cooked in water and salt for a speedy process. Once the brown layer is off, cut them lengthwise. Into a pan, pour some oil and tip in the garlic and saute for a minute. Add in the jack fruit seeds, along with the turmeric, chili powder,coconut slivers and salt if not added.Saute for about 4-5 minutes on medium heat. Add about a quarter cup water. Cover and cook till the seeds are al-dente. Once the water is evaporated, fry the seeds till they are slightly crispy. Check for seasoning and add more salt if required.

Vegetable assortment ~ Avial

This is my favorite accompaniment for lunch. A dish that is healthy and creamy in texture and is considered essential to a Sadya. To make avial you would need ~

Ingredients:
Seasonal vegetables - Depending on what's available with the vegetable vendor like Drumsticks, raw plantains, potatoes, carrots, yam, ash gourd, dosakai (vellarika) -cut into fingers to yield 3cups
Frozen/ Fresh peas - 1/4cup
Turmeric Powder - 1/2tsp
Green chilly - 2 slit
Dried Red Chillies - 3-4 broken into pieces
Coconut gratings - 1/2cup
Garlic - 3-4 pods
Cumin Powder - 1/2tsp
Yogurt - 1/4cup beaten
Raw mango slices/ Green tomatoes slices- 1tbs
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Shallots - 20 finely sliced
Curry leaves - 2sprigs
Coconut oil to drizzle
Salt to taste.

Into a non-stick pot, combine all the vegetables with a cup of water and turmeric. Cover and cook till the vegetables become tender. Grind the coconut gratings with garlic and cumin to make a paste. Add this masala and the slit green chillies to the cooked vegetables, cover and cook for 5minutes. Once the masala is cooked through add in the mango/ tomato slices and salt. Temper the mustard, curry leaves, shallots and red chillies. Pour the tempering over the cooked vegetables. Simmer for 5 minutes. Take off the flame and add in the beaten yogurt. Once the yogurt has blended in well, drizzle in coconut oil and serve.

Flat beans with coconut slivers

Owing to the busy weekends that we have due to other commitments, lunch on Saturdays is rather elaborate at home. I do ensure there is a vegetable saute, thoran and non-vegetarian accompaniments to compliment the dishes I make for the day. Harini on her blog has posted her recipe on Avarakkai Poduthuval thought I'd try the same except substituted the coconut gratings for slivers simple, because that's what I had stored in my freezer. I was too plain lazy to go through the ordeal of grating the coconut. I have made some minor changes to the original recipe to suit our taste buds.Plus I'm sending in this entry to the Singing Chef and Zlamushka for the event 'Tried and Tasted' from Sunshine Mom's Tongue and Ticklers.

Ingredients:
Flat beans / Ammarapayar - 500gms string clean and chopped finely
Turmeric Powder - 1/2tsp
Shallots - 10-12 finely sliced
Cumin Powder - 1/4tsp
Garlic - 3 pods crushed in a mortar
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Green chillies - 1 slit
Coconut gratings - 4tbs (I have used coconut slivers - 5tbs)
Salt to taste

Into a pan, cook the beans until al-dente with turmeric, salt and a dash of water. Into a wok, splutter mustard seeds, add the shallots and fry till browned. Add in the garlic and fry for a minute. Tip in the cooked beans and fry for 3minutes on medium flame. Add in the cumin powder, coconut gratings/ slivers and green chilly cook for another minute or two. Take it off the flame and garnish with curry leaves. And eat it whilst its still hot!

Triad Combination ~ Vegetable Saute

Baby chechi is a 60 year old woman who makes a living by cooking for others. Since her husband passed away, the sole means of livelihood for her to raise her three daughters was for her to cook. She has the culinary skills to cook any, and I mean 'ANY' Kerala dish. She came to our house in Kerala 5 years ago, and more than a cook she has become an important member of our family. I had seen her come up with this quick saute...and thus sharing one of her delights.

Ingredients:

French Beans - 200gms

Potato - 200gms diced
Carrot - 200gms diced
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Aniseed Powder - 1/4tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2tsp
Green chillies - 1 finely chopped
Garlic - 2-3 pods finely chopped
Curry leaves - a sprig
Salt to taste

Heat a pan and pour about 3tbs of oil, splutter the mustard seeds, add the curry leaves and brown the onions. Tip in the garlic and chilly and saute for a minute,  add in all the vegetables and saute. Fry for about 3-4 minutes on medium flame. Then add in the turmeric, aniseed powder and salt. Fry till all the powders are mingled in. Add a about 50ml of water, cover and cook the vegetable in the steam for another 5 minutes till done or all the water is evaporated. Serve hot and enjoy!!

Stir fried green plantains

The best plantain saute I have had is from my Aunt's house (my mom's eldest sister). When I was 14 I was sent away to boarding school in Trivandrum and my on campus local guardians were my Uncle, Aunt and my notorious cousin. So food was actually not a problem, because I'd be at my Aunt's place for lunch and dinner and after school tea snacks. This saute brings back old time memories of school and boarding days.

Ingredients:

Green plantain - 3 cut into fingers

Turmeric Powder - 1/4tsp

Onion - 1medium finely sliced

Dry red chilly - 4-5 broken into pieces

Curry leaves - a sprig

Salt to taste

Peel just a thin layer of the plantains leaving some green skin behind. Cut them into fingers and dunk them into a bowl of water to avoid discoloration caused by oxidation. Wash them several times and drain. Mix together turmeric powder and plantains with 1/2 cup water into a saucepan. Cover and cook till they are al dente. In the meantime, saute onions in a frying pan till brown, add the garlic and fry for a minute. Add the curry leaves, broken red chillies, salt and then the cooked plantains, fry till golden brown.

Okra stir fried

I wasn't too sure about this vegetable the first time I ventured into making anything related to okra. But then my mum as always came to the rescue and asked me to follow simple recipes that she would make with okra and the result of course was a dish that is tasty and valuable. The art of buying okra too was fascinating, as it was my husband who taught me to buy fresh bright green colored ones, he would gently nip the tip of the okra, and if it nips with a gentle "tch" it means the okra is ready to go into your vegetable basket. The ones that don't break off easily are the ones you would need to leave behind. So for the stir fried okra you would need.......

 

Ingredients:

Okra - 300gms
Onion - 1 medium finely chopped
Green chillies - 2-3 slit
Garlic - 3-4 pods crushed
Salt to taste
Peppercorns - 5-6 crushed

Heat oil in a non stick frying pan and saute the onion, green chillies and garlic on medium heat for about 2-3mins. Tip in the okra, salt to taste and fry till the okra are nice and crisp. Sprinkle the peppercorns just before serving.

Tip: Okra while cooking exudes a slimy ooze, take care not to cover while frying, you could spoon in more oil once in a while to eliminate all the ooze and yet maintain the crispiness of the okra. You wouldn't want the dish to turn out too oily.

Sauteed Beets ~ Blood Turnip Sauteed

Beets are known to have innumerable benefits. My mum kept insisting that we consume this veggie once a week strictly. As obedient as I could get, I prefer sticking to a simple saute, and yes we have this once a week. You could make a thoran (a kerala- style preparation) by adding the natural sweetness of coconut gratings; owing to the fact that beetroots are naturally sweet. But then, I would rather use no coconut  at all and savor the wholesome goodness of this wonderful purple vegetable.

Ingredients:
Beetroots - 2 medium cut into fingers
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Peppercorns - 6-8 crushed
Garlic - 2 pods crushed
Curry leaves - a sprig
Mustard - 1tsp
Salt to taste

Lightly coat a wok with oil, splutter the mustard seeds and curry leaves. Then add the garlic saute for  a minute, tip in the beets and turmeric powder and saute for another 5mins. Add a dash of water, cover and cook for another 3-4 mins till all the water is absorbed and the beets are al dente. Add salt and the crushed peppercorns. And there you have a saute dish ready in a matter of minutes.

Tip: You could chop the beets finely, add about 3-4 tbsp of coconut gratings and some cumin powder to make a thoran. Remember to omit the peppercorns for this kind of a preparation as they don't quite go well for a thoran.

Slowly fried potatoes

This is something I learned from my servant, she has some interesting dishes up her sleeve, which she shares only on special request. She made this for my son who simply loves potatoes in any form like all of us do!

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 4-5 diced and cubed
Sambhar Masala - 1 to 1 1/2 tsp
Salt

With your hands rub the potatoes with salt and sambhar masala and keep aside for about 5 minutes. Heat a wok and lightly coat with oil and fry the potatoes on low fire till nice and crispy. You may experience the potatoes sticking to the pan once in a while, you could spritz in teeny bits of water every now and then to prevent that from happening.

Yardlong beans and Potato Sauteed

On our usual weekend getaways to my in laws, I would admire the way my father in law would pitch in to cook. He has a way of dealing with his vegetables, as if it were fragile and delicate. For this dish he would accurately measure out each bean and cut it with such precision, that itself is a wonder to see.

Ingredients:

Yardlong beans - 400gm cleaned and cut into 1inch pieces

Potato - 3-4 peeled and cut into fingers

Onion - 1 finely sliced

Garlic - 3-4 pods crushed

Green chilly - 1 finely chopped

Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

Aniseed - 1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

Cook the beans and potato with the turmeric and bit of salt and about a quarter cup of water in a non-stick pan till it becomes al dente or the water dries up and the vegetables are pan coated. In a frying pan, heat oil and saute the onions till browned. Add the crushed garlic and chilly, saute for another minute. Then tip in the beans and potato and fry till almost done. Add the aniseed powder and more salt if required and cook well.

Tip: The beans need to be nipped off at the ends. The beans could be held in bundles and hashed to get even sized pieces of about an inch.