Vendakka Pachadi / Okra raitha / Bhindi Raitha

This is a very easy recipe which uses okra. Okra is a popular vegetable rich in dietary fiber. It contains Vitamin A, C, K and antioxidants. It is a good source of folates. It is low in calories. Helps in controlling cholesterol. 

Preparation: 

•  Wash and dry the okra using a clean towel. 
• Slit each okra into four lengthwise. Then chop it into small pieces. 
• Cut the green chilly into 2 or 3 pieces. 
• Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, whole dry red chilly and curry leaves. When the mustards start spluttering add the okra and fry it. Stir continuously, on medium - low flame.
• When the gooeyness disappears, add 2 - 3 pinches salt and the green chilly pieces. Fry until crisp on low flame, so the green color remains intact. 
• Remove from flame and allow to cool. 
• Beat/ whip the curd/yogurt lightly. Add salt to taste. 
• Add the fried okra into the curd and mix well. 
• Serve as a side dish with rice. 

Ingredients: 

Okra - 12 - 15 nos.

Curd/ Yogurt - 3/4 - 1 cup 

Green chilly - 1 - 2 nos.

Salt 

For seasoning: 

Oil -1 - 11/2 tablespoons 

Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon 

Dry Red chilly - 1 (broken into 2 or 3 pieces) 

Curry leaves - a few 

Easy Rice Laddu / Ari unda

Ari Unda is a very popular snack in Kerala. This is an easy version of the traditional Ari unda. With just  three  ingredients. 

Preparation: 

• Wash and soak the rice in water for an hour. Use any boiled variety of rice. 
• Drain the rice. Allow it to drain thoroughly. 
• Heat a thick bottomed pan in medium flame. Add the drained rice into the hot pan and dry roast it, Stir continuously. After some time the rice grains will start popping. Continue roasting until the popping sound comes down to a minimum. Remove from fire. Transfer to another bowl and allow to cool.
• Grind the cooled roasted rice in a mixer bowl. Do not grind to a fine powder. The ground powder should have the consistency of semolina.  
• You can do this step in advance. The roasted rice powder has great shelf life. Preserve in an air-tight container. 
• Grate the jaggery. 
• Grate fresh coconut. 
• In a mixing bowl add the rice powder. Add the grated coconut little by little and mix using your hand, then add the grated jaggery little by little and mix well until you can roll it into a ball like the chappati dough. 
• Take a little mix and roll into lemon  sized ball. Continue this until the whole dough is converted to lemon sized laddus.
• After a day, if any laddu i left over, you can refrigerate. Stays for a week. 

Ingredients: 

With the ingredients given below, i made 21 laddus. 

*Boiled Rice - 1 cup 

Jaggery - 1 cup 

Coconut - 1 cup 

*I used store bought Red Matta Rice. 

Below is the link to the Traditional AriUnda which has great shelf life.
http://ashasnairrajesh.blogspot.com/2016/05/ari-unda-rice-laddu.html 

Pumpkin Curry / Mathenga Pulingary

Pumpkin is a very common backyard vegetable. The greatest  plus-point of pumpkin is that it is a low calorie food item. Our humble pumpkin is very rich in vitamins, especially vitamin A, antioxidants and minerals like calcium, potassium etc. 

Pumpkin is a great cholesterol controller. It is also recommended for those who are trying to reduce their weight. Pumpkin has anti-cancerous properties too. Pumpkin seeds are a great source of fibre and it is good for the heart as it contains mono-unsaturated fatty acids (MUFA).

As far as cooks are concerned pumpkins can be converted into different variety of dishes. One can make curries, soups and desserts. Every part of the pumpkin vine can be cooked and consumed - leaves, fruits, flowers and seeds. 

Preparation: 

• Remove skin and seeds of the pumpkin. Wash and cut it into medium sized cubes. Peel, wash and slice the shallots. Wash and chop the tomato; wash and cut each green chilly into 3 or 4 pieces. 
• Soak lime sized ball of tamarind in half cup warm water. If using tamarind pulp avoid this step. 
• Pressure cook the pumpkin pieces along with turmeric powder, tamarind, salt and 11/2 cups of water, if you are using tamarind pulp. If you are using tamarind water use only 1 cup of water. After the first whistle remove from the stove and set aside to cool. 
• Heat oil in a pan, add the shallot pieces and saute for a minute. Now add the green chilly pieces and tomato pieces. Stir for a minute. Cover and cook on medium flame until the vegetables are well cooked. Remove the lid and saute till the water content goes. Lower the flame, add the red chilly powder, coriander powder, fenugreek powder and the asafeotida powder. Stir a few seconds or until the raw smell goes. 
• Add the cooked pumpkin along with the water into the pan. Stir gently and add salt if needed. Add the jaggery. Boil on medium flame for 5 minutes. Remove from the stove and pour into a serving bowl.
• Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds and dry red chilly pieces, When the mustard splutters, lower the flame. add the curry leaves and asafeotida. Switch off the stove. Pour it over the pumpkin curry. Keep the bowl covered for 10 minutes. Tasty Pumpkin Pulingary is ready. Stir and serve along with rice. 

Ingredients: 

Pumpkin cubes - 1 cup 

Shallots - 8 nos. 

Tomato - 1 small 

Green chilly - 2 nos 

Tamarind pulp - 1 teaspoon 

Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon 

Salt to taste 

Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon 

Fenugreek powder - 1 pinch 

Asafeotida - 2 pinches

Red chilly powder - 1 teaspoon (half teaspoon each of Kashmiri red chilly powder and regular chilly powder.) 

Coconut oil - 1 - 2 tablespoons 

Jaggery grated - 1/4 teaspoon 

For Seasoning: 

Coconut oil - 1 - 2 teaspoons 

Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon 

Dry red chilly - 2 nos 

Curry leaves - 1 sprig 

Asafeotida - 1 pinch 

Ela Ada / Ila Ada

Ela ada is a traditional Kerala recipe prepared with rice flour, grated coconut and jaggery. It can be served as breakfast or an  evening snack. Rice flour can be replaced with wheat flour or ragi - rice flour mix or multi-grain flour. 

Preparation: 

• Boil water, add little salt. 
• Make a well in the center of the flour. Add the boiling water and mix with a spoon or wooden spatula. Cover and keep aside to cool. When cool, add 1 or 2 teaspoons of coconut oil or ghee and knead into a stiff dough. 
• Grate coconut. Grate jaggery. Mix them together with a spoon. Mix a pinch of cardamom powder to the coconut mix. 
• Tear the banana leaves into rectangle pieces. Fresh banana leaves should be exposed to flame for a second or two to make it flexible. Mine had started yellowing as they were a few days old. So it was naturally flexible. 
• Clean the leaves with water. Dry it and smear lightly with coconut oil / ghee. 
• Divide the dough into 6 equal parts. Divide the coconut mix also into 6 parts. 
• Take one part of the dough place it on an oiled leaf piece and flatten it evenly along the length and breadth of the leaf, using your fingers. 
• Place a part of the filling on one half of the flattened dough and fold the other half , along with the leaf over it. Raise the leaf slightly and seal the edges, on all three sides, with a little water. If you don't seal the edges the filling will leak while steaming and all the sweetness of the jaggery will be lost. Repeat the same process. 
• Steam for 20 minutes or until cooked. 
• 
  

Ingredients:  for 6 pieces

Rice flour (store bought) - 11/3 cups 

Fresh coconut (grated) - 1 cup 

Jaggery (grated) - 100 grams 

Cardamom powder - 1 pinch 

Boilng water - 11/3 cups or as needed

Salt  - to taste or 1/4 teaspoon  

Coconut oil/ ghee - 2 teaspoons 

Note: If banana leaves are not available, use aluminium foil. Cut rectangle pieces of dimension 6 "X 10"

Aviyal /Avial

Aviyal is an integral part of Kerala sadya (feast). It is a mixture of different vegetables and ground coconut cooked together. The word aviyal means something cooked or boiled in water. Many stories are there behind the origin of this dish. 

Traditionally aviyal is prepared with elephant yam, plantain, pumpkin, cucumber, drumstick, snake gourd, cluster beans, eggplants, carrots, beans etc. One can use all the vegetables mentioned or whatever is available among them. In North Kerala even bitter gourd is added. Curd / green mango / Tamarind is added to ensure mild sourness. 

Preparation: 

• Peel and wash all the vegetables. 
• Soak a small lime sized tamarind in water. 
• Grate coconut.
• Slice and cut all the vegetables into 21/2 inch long pieces. Cut plantain and eggplants in the end, as it will get discolored on prolonged exposure. 
• Pour 100 ml of water into into a 3 liter pressure cooker. Add all the vegetables and the tamarind. Close and cook for one whistle. Remove from the flame. Keep aside.  Do not overcook. 
• Meanwhile coarsely grind the coconut along with cumin, turmeric, shallots and green chilly. 
• Open the cooker when the pressure is released naturally. Add the coconut mixture and salt, Mix carefully. Add curry leaves. Cover and cook on medium flame for a minute. Then remove the lid and cook until all the water is absorbed. Remove from the stove. Add coconut oil. Avial is ready to be served. Serves 6

Ingredients: 

Cut vegetables - 21/2 cups 

Grated coconut - 1 cup 

Tamarind pulp - 1/2 teaspoon 

Water - 100 ml 

Cumin powder - 1/4 teaspoon 

Green chilly - 3 

Turmeric- a pinch 

Shallots - 4  OR  1 - 2 tablespoons chopped onion 

Salt to taste

Curry leaves - 1 - 2 sprigs 

Coconut oil - 2 teaspoons 

• Note: If you are soaking the tamarind, add 2 teaspoons thick tamarind juice to the vegetables.
• Instead of tamarind if you are using raw mango,add four or five pieces of the mango cut in a similar fashion, and cook along with the vegetables. 
• And if you are using curd, maybe 1/4 cup, add and cook for a minute before adding the coconut mixture.

Sweet Pumpkin Erissery

Pumpkin is a very common backyard vegetable. The greatest  plus-point of pumpkin is that it is a low calorie food item. Our humble pumpkin is very rich in vitamins, especially vitamin A, antioxidants and minerals like calcium, potassium etc. 

Pumpkin is a great cholesterol controller. It is also recommended for those who are trying to reduce their weight. Pumpkin has anti-cancerous properties too. Pumpkin seeds are a great source of fibre and it is good for the heart as it contains mono-unsaturated fatty acids (MUFA).

As far as cooks are concerned pumpkins can be converted into different variety of dishes. One can make curries, soups and desserts. Every part of the pumpkin vine can be cooked and consumed - leaves, fruits, flowers and seeds. 

Method:
1. Remove the skin from the pumpkin, wash and cut into cubes. Pressure cook the pumpkin pieces with 1 cup of water. Set aside to cool.( If you have soaked red gram, pressure cook it along with the pumpkin pieces.)
2. Grind together 3/4 cup grated coconut, cumin seeds, garlic, red chilly powder and turmeric powder into a moderately fine paste.
3. Mash the cooked pumpkin pieces, add the ground mixture and salt to taste. Bring to a boil. If it has thickened too much add a little water to loosen it. Do NOT make it watery.
4. Place a pan on the fire, pour oil, When it starts to boil add all the other seasoning ingredients and stir fry on medium flame. When the coconut turns brown, remove from fire and add the seasoning into the prepared pumpkin erissery and mix well.
Serve with rice.  

Ingredients:

• Ripe Pumpkin - 500 grams
• Soaked red gram - a handful ( optional )
• Grated Coconut - 1 cup (divided into 2 parts, use 1/4 cup for seasoning )
• Garlic - 1 clove
• cumin seeds - 1 pinch
• Red chilly powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Water
• Salt

For Seasoning:

• Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
• Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
• Shallot - 1 ( finely chopped )
• Whole red chilly - 1 ( broken into 2 or 3 pieces )
• Split black gram - 1 teaspoon
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig
• Oil - 2 teaspoons