Pal Payasam

Ingredients
Milk 1 Litre
Sugar 1 Cup
Cardamoms 6 Crushed
Raisins 15
Cashew nuts 10
Rice 1 Cup
Condensed Milk ½ Cup

Method

Cook rice in pressure cooker till one whistle comes up. Open the lid and add milk to it and stir till it becomes thick. Add condensed milk, cashew nuts, raisins and cardamom powder. Serve hot or cold.

Carrot Halva

Ingredients
Carrots 2 kg
Milk 1 litre
Sugar 2 cups
Ghee 1 cup
Carnation milk powder 2 cups
Nuts To taste
Method

Grate carrots. Heat milk to boiling and add the carrots. Cook until liquid is almost dried, stirring to prevent sticking. Add ghee and cook more, stirring often to roast the carrots well (about ½ hour). Add powdered milk and sugar and cook until all the liquid is dried and the mass does not stick to the sides or on the pan. Add the nuts and raisins and turn off the heat. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream.

It could be kept in a refrigerator for up to one week

Ada Pradhaman

Ingredients
Adda 1 packet (ready made available)
Jaggery (Sharkara) 1 kg
Coconut 4 (for extracting milk)
Coconut 1 cup (Cut into very small thin pieces)
Cashew nut 1 cup
Kismis (dry grapes) ½ cup
Cardamom 6 (powdered)
Dry Ginger (Chukku) 1 teaspoon (powdered)
Ghee One cup
Method
Grate the coconut and grind it in a grinder and extract the first milk (say 6 cups). Then add one cup water to the ground coconut and grind it well to take the second milk (diluted milk).

Fry cashew, grapes in one table spoon of ghee and keep it aside.

Cook the ada in 4 cups of water. Once it becomes soft, remove from fire and pour cold water on it so that it does not remain sticky. Drain water from it.

Keep a pan on fire and melt the jaggery in it. Keep on stirring till it is completely melted. Now add the ghee and keep on stirring well. After 30 seconds add the Adda and mix well. Now add the second milk and mix well till it boils. Add cashew and grapes. Mix well.

Remove from the fire and after one minute pour the first thick coconut milk along with the dry ginger powder and cardamom powder. Mix well.

If the payasam is very thick, you can dilute it to your preference by adding more thick coconut milk or drinking milk.

Semiya Payasam (Vermicilli Payasam )

Ingredients
Ingredients
Thin vermicilli 200gms
Sugar 3 cups
Sweetened condensed milk 200gm
Milk 1 litre
Ghee(clarified butter) 3 tbsp
Unsalted raw Cashew nuts 50gms
Black raisins 50gms
Cardomom powder 1tsp

Method

Take a heavy bottom flat vessel. Add the ghee. Fry the cashew till golden brown and remove. Add the raisins and stir for a minute and remove. Add the vermicilli and roast till golden brown. Add more ghee if required. Add the sugar and stir for 5 minutes. Be careful that the sugar does not stick to the vessel. Add the milk and stir on low flame. Take another pan and boil 3 cups of water. Off the gas and add the sweetened condensed milk to the water and dissolve it. Meanwhile the milk would be boiling. Check if the vermicilli is cooked. Do not over cook it. It should be just done. Add the diluted condensed milk and keep on stirring. Check the sweetness. Add more sugar if needed. Keep on stirring till the mixture starts getting thick. Turn off the gas. Add the fried cashew nuts and raisins. Add the cardomom powder and keep covered. Can be served hot or chilled. If the mixture gets thick add some boiled milk to the payasam.

Fish and Mango Curry

Ingredients

2 lbs. fish, cut into big pieces
1 cup chopped onions
4 medium green chilies, slitted
1 marble size tamarind
1 big raw mango, cut into pieces
Few curry leaves
Salt to taste
Grind into a fine paste:
1 cup chopped coconut
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 tbsp. coriander powder
1 pinch turmeric powder
For seasoning:
1 tbsp. oil
1 tsp. fenugreek seeds
1 tsp. aniseeds
Method of Preparation
1. Clean the fish pieces and wash it clearly. Dissolve a pinch of turmeric powder and a pinch of salt in a cup of water and soak the fish pieces to avoid a kind of smell.
2. Soak the tamarind in water and take juice from it. keep it aside.
3. Mix the mango pieces, fish pieces, onions and green chilies in tamarind water with salt. Cook until they become soft.
4. Add the ground items and cook it in low heat until the raw smell has to be gone with the lid on. Season it and add the clean curry leaves.
Let it reach the boiling point and remove it from the heat. Serves: 6
Preparation time: 30 minutes

Coconut pudina chutney

Coconut grated – 1cup
Small onions – 5
Garlic – 1 clove
Ginger – 1/2 inch piece
Mint leaves – 6 leaves
Curry leaves a few
Green chilies – 2
Salt to taste
Juice of lemon – 1

Grind all the above things except limejuice. Mix limejuice to the ground chutney. Serve with biriyani.

Mutton Biriyani

Ingredients

Mutton ½ kg
Onion medium size 6 -chopped finely
Tomato medium size 3- chopped finely
Garlic 2 1/2tab spoons
Ginger 2 1/2tabspoons
Green chilly paste 2 tab spoons
Garam masala powder 1 tablespoon
Yogurt 4tab spoons
Coriander leaves 1 cup
Mint leaves ¾ cup
Ghee ½ cup
Limejuice 4 teaspoons
Chilly powder 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder ¼ teaspoon
Coriander powder 1 teaspoon
Basmati rice 2 ½ cups.

Method of Preparation
Heat Ghee in a pan. Sauté onions till golden brown. Add garlic-ginger-green chilly paste. Fry for two minutes. Put chopped tomatoes, chilly powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, mint leaves and coriander leaves into this. Sauté for a few minutes till the masala becomes thick. Add cut and cleaned mutton pieces and stir. Pour little water [if required] and mix. Cook till mutton is done. Add yogurt.

Boil water. Add enough salt, a pinch of turmeric powder, 2 cardamoms, 3 small pieces of cinnamon, 2 cloves, and 1 spoon ghee into this. Cook rice until it is done and drain. Take care the rice not to be sticky.

Heat a vessel. Pour a little of ghee. Put a little of cooked rice and spread 1 teaspoon of limejuice over it. Put one layer of the mutton masala above it and repeat the process till the rice and masala are over. Close the lid tightly and heat on a low flame for about 10 minutes. Mix before serve. Serve with yogurt and cocunut-pudina chutney and pickle.

Fish Mollie (Fish Molly)

Ingredients

Fleshy fish – 500gms
Onion – 4 nos
Tomato – 3 big
Ginger – 1 inch
Garlic – 10 cloves
Green chillies – 5 nos
Tamarind – 1 lemon size
Coconut – 1
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Turmeric – 2 tsp
Chilli powder – 3 tbsp
Coriander powder – 4 tbsp.
Garam masala – 2 tsp
Pepper powder – 2 tsp
Coconut/vegetable oil
Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
Salt To taste

Method
Cut the fish into 1.5inch cubes. Avoid bony fish. Make a paste of 1tsp turmeric, 1 tbsp chilli powder, 1 tbsp coriander powder, 1 tsp pepper powder, salt and juice of 1 lemon or 2 tsp vinegar. Apply it to the cut fish and refrigerate for atleast an hour. This can be done a day before too. Medium fry the fish pieces and keep separately. Chop the onion and tomato into small pieces seperately. Grate the ginger and garlic. Slit the green chillies. Add the tamarind to 1/2 cup water. Extract coconut milk so that you have one cup of thick coconut milk and two cups of thin milk.Take a heavy bottom vessel with lid. Splutter the mustard seeds in 2 tbsp oil. Fry the onion till golden brown. Add the grated ginger and garlic and chillies. Add the tomato and fry till dry. Add the chilli powder, coriander powder, masala and 2tbsp water. Fry till the masala is fried(be careful not to burn it). Add the two cups of thin coconut milk and the tamarind extract and cook covered. When it starts boiling reduce the flame, add salt and the fried fish pieces. Stir carefully so that the fish pieces do not break. Cook covered for 5 minutes in the lowest flame. Turn off the flame. Add the thick coconut milk and stir slowly. Check the salt and spice. Add if necessary. Garnish with curry leaves. A good accompaniment for rice, chapati and bread.

Kerala fish curry

Ingredients

Fish – 15 Pieces
Chilli powder – 21/2 Tablespoon
Coriander powder – 1 Teaspoon (optional)
Turmeric – A pinch
Ginger ground Two Tablespoon
Garlic – 4 Cloves
Small onion sliced – 10
Curry leaves – 2 Sprig
Kodampuli – 5 Pieces
Oil – 3 Tablespoon
Mustard – ½ Teaspoon
Fenugreek powder – ¼ Teaspoon
Salt To Taste

Method of Preparation

Grind chilli powder, coriander, turmeric, garlic and ½ ginger to a paste. Soak the ‘Kodampuli’ in one cup of water. Heat oil in the pan . Splutter mustard seeds. Fry the cut onions and ginger, when brown add 2 cups of water, salt and soaked Kodampuli together with water. Boil and add fish pieces. Allow it to boil again. Add fenugreek powder and cook till gravy thickens and stir it occasionally. Season it with curry leaves. Remove from fire.

Kerala Special Kozhi Curry

Ingredients

1. One whole chicken ,cleaned and cut in to curry sized pieces.
2. Coriander leaves [malli illa]- 1whole bunch chopped.
3. Onions-4 sliced.
4. Garlic- 6 cloves sliced.
5. Ginger-1big piece finely chopped.
6. Lime- 1/2 a piece.
7. Coconut-1 fresh grated.
8. Oil & salt to taste.

Grind together to a smooth paste:
12 red chillies, 1&1/2 tbspn of poppy seeds [khus-khus], 2 tbspn of coriander seeds,
1/2 tspn of cumin seeds [jeera],1/2 tspn of turmeric powder or whole turmeric 1 -inch piece, 1 tspn of garam masala [optional] & 6 nos of cashew nuts.

Method of Preparation
1. Soak the grated coconut in 1/4 cup of hot water and extract thick milk.
2. Then add1 glass of hot water and extract the thin milk [2nd milk]. you can use the
mixer and remove the thin milk.
3. Add 1/2 cup of hot water and extract the 3rd milk. Grind and extract.
4. Heat oil and fry the onions ginger, garlic, and coriander leaves.
5. Add the ground masala and fry for few minutes till the raw smell evaporates.
6. Now put the chicken pieces and fry ,cook over a low flame till the chicken is well browned ,stir in the 3rd milk and cook. keep adding the 2nd milk simmer for a while.
[As chicken cooks fast be careful while adding the coconut milk, if you find the water is more in the curry don't add any more of coconut milk, and keep the lid open and evaporate the water.]
7. After the chicken is cooked, remove from fire. Let there be enough gravy.
8. Finally add lime juice and the first extracted coconut milk. [Never boil after the thick
coconut milk is added]
9. Serve hot with parotta or rice.