Thiruvathira Puzhukku --- Kerala Traditional Recipe

Thiruvathira  (Arudhra Darsinam ) is a Festival celebrated in kerala on the month of Dhanur masam (Margazhi masam). There are many mythical stories associated with Thiruvathira.

Thiruvathira
An observance called Thiruvathira vrutham (Noyambu) is kept by women on this auspicious day. Vrutham starts on Makayiram day after offering Ettangadi to Lord. They skip rice and only eat ettangadi, koova verukiyathu Puzhukku or wheat preparations. Women wear traditional kasavu set mundu and adorn their tied hair with medicinal flowers Dashapushpam.This practice is called paathira poo choodal. The morning bath in the pond during the season while the climate is extremely cold make the women's body cool and composed.
Thiruvathira kali is performed in the night in traditional homes with Thiruvathira pattu

Ettangadi is different from puzhukku, almost all the ingredients are same but ettangadi is prepared in sharkkara pani and also add dry coconuts. In ettangadi preparation Eight different tubers are roasted in the fire first before cooking. Through this ritual, it is believed that Kamadeva's body represented by the tubers is regained.

 Here I am posting the recipe of Thiruvathira puzhukku.

 Ingredients :

Black chana (kadala)     ½ Cup  (Soak it overnight)

Red cow peas (van payar Red in color)  ¼ Cup (soaking for 4 Hrs. recommended)

Horse Gram (Muthira)     ¼ Cup (soak it along with Red peas for Hrs.) 

Elephant Yam (Chena)     800 gram approx. Half portion of the medium yam

Kachil / Cheru chembu  (coloccasia)    2 or 3 small 
Tapioca and Sweet potato    1 each

Raw Banana-1

Koorkka  big  5 nos

Salt to taste

Turmeric powder   as needed

        For seasoning:

Curry leaves- 3/4twigs
Coconut oil 

         For Grinding:

Green chilly-4
Grated coconut-1 whole coconut
Cumin seeds-1 tsp

 Method of preparation:

Pressure cook black chana (which is soaked overnight) with little salt and sufficient water till 5-6 whistles on medium flame.

Later Pressure Cook Red peas and horse gram together with little salt and sufficient water for up to 2-3 whistles. In case if we have extra water in black chana we can use it for cooking pigeon pea.

In the meantime, blend grated coconut cumin seeds and green chilly.  (do not add water)

Clean and peel all root vegetables and soak it in a vessel containing water.

Cut all the vegetables into cube pieces. Since elephant yam has got more cooking time, take care to cut into smaller size than the other vegetables. Cook all the vegetables in the same vessel in which we cooked Red pea and horse gram so that the left over water can be used for further cooking and can add more water only if required. Salt and turmeric powder can be added too. (in traditional way of cooking we don’t add red chilly powder instead we use green chilly) Cook all the vegetables till done. Add cooked black chana to the vegetables. Stir it occasionally and add coconut thick ground paste too. Cook on low flame till the raw flavor of the coconut is gone and put off the flame. Season it with fresh curry leaves and pure coconut oil. Thiruvathira puzhukku is ready to be served. We should occasionally prepare it since it’s a healthy recipe and also we are using the seasonally available (no hard and fast rules) vegetables.

Uzhunnuvada South Indian Meduvada

This easy and crispy vada recipe is from my friend Jayasree.

Ingredients Needed:

Urad dal (Uzhunnu parippu ) : 1 cup

Rawa            : 3 tablespoon

Green chilly   :3- 4 nos.(finely chopped

Ginger           : 1 inch piece (finely chopped)

Curry leaves  : 1 sprig (finely chopped0

Black Pepper : 10 nos (crushed) 
Salt to taste
Hing (Asafoetida) : 1 pinch
Coconut Oil to fry

 Preparation:

Soak urad dal for 2 hrs. Grind the urad dal In a grinder without water (sprinkle very little water if needed and finding it difficult to grind with no water) The idea is to get a thick paste which is fluffy and smooth. 

In a vessel combine this batter with all other ingredients using your hand. Adding Rawa or semolina helps to absorb the excess water in the batter so that vada will be crispy and oil free unlike restaurant vadas which absorbs too much oil while frying. Keep the batter covered for some time for setting.

Heat Oil in a kadai.Shape the vadas using your palm from a round shape to flat with a hole in the middle; wet your palm in a vessel which is full of water before shaping. this will prevent sticking of the batter and can shape without much fuss. Slide it  carefully into the hot oil in the kadai.Fry it till you get a golden brown and lay them out on a plate which is lined with tissue. Have  hot  vadas with either sambar or coconut chutney.

Polish your Brass and bronze vessels and lamps in a natural way

In kerala we have a tradition of keeping Brass and Bronze vessels and lamps always polished even though not in use. majority of these are passed onto us through our ancestors. I have some too inherited from my Mother In Law's Collection. she always used to keep it shiny and bright by cleaning it with natural ingredients. Its a must  that when vishu or Onam or any festival approaches , this should be polished and keep it presentable. its a ritual still in many houses in kerala.

How to clean these vessels in a Natural way without using any chemicals?

Take a lemon sized tamarind. Add water and make it a thick pulp add some rock salt too.
Scrub it on the vessels nicely. keep it for some time. (Do not keep it for long time since patches would appear ) Wash it thouroughly  with running water and wipe it with a dry cotton clothe. If tamarind is not available you can use lemon too. Scrub lemon along with some salt instead of tamarind. you will get the similar result. In kerala we use irumban puli  (bilimbi)too for polishing the brass. but should be riped one.

Lately some of my friends have started using chemical ingredients buying from the shops. I have never bought or used these chemical ingredients for cleaning the brass vessels.  I.Am doing it in a natural old fashioned way and it shines bright too.

                                                This is Tamarind and irumban puli respectively,

KERALA PAL PAYASAM (MILK KHEER )

With this post, am starting a new series NALA PACHAKAM. I have many male friends who are very good at cooking. Hence I thought of  accommodating their contribution as well in my blog. This special payasam recipe is from my friend Madhu. He has shared a few tips as well for making the payasam more delicious. Since i was so keen to share traditional tips, with so much patience he had shared  the same. Thank you so much Madhu for sharing this wonderful recfipe.
I prepared this as Naivedyam since palpayasam is a favorite prasadam for lord krishna and Naga devatas.

Ingredients 

Unakkalari  - 1 cup

Milk            -  3 Litre

Sugar          -   1 cup or 1 1/4  cup(Depending on your taste)

Kadali pazham (small plantain kerala) - 2 No,s

Tulsi leaves   - 1 Kizhi (bundle)

 

Preparation 

Thoroughly wash the rice, drain and keep it aside. In a heavy bottomed pan, (back in kerala we use brass uruli)  pour the milk and bring it to boil on a low flame. Add the rice in the boiling milk and let it cook on a low flame again, continuously stirring with a spatula, will take time more than one hour. we have to be patient. At this time take a handful of fresh tulsi leaves and place it in a small tidy cotton cloth and make a bundle in malayalam we call kizhi . and put the same in boiling payasam so that the essence and flavor of the leaves will get absorbed into the payasam giving a divine taste. once the rice is cooked well, sugar can be added. Never before because there is always a tendency to harden the rice if we add sugar before its cooked properly, Its time to remove the vessel from the stove when it gets a pale pink colour . and check the constituency as well,

Take two kadali pazham peel it and  cut in to small pieces and grind smoothly in a grinder along with a tablespoon of sugar. Add this paste in the payasam and stir well. This adds a unique taste to the palpayasam especially if we are  preparing it for Naivedyam. Remove the kizhi from the payasam after squeezing it.

Keralites will always have the tendency to compare  the taste with the tastee from prasadams we get from ambalapuzha and Guruvayoor  which is heavenly by all means.

Unakkalari 

If we strictly follow the customs and traditions, we are not supposed to prepare prasadam or neivedyam with white raw rice since its used exclusively for shradham related rituals. Madhu shared this traditional tip and I personally agree with it/. I also stopped using white rice and instead i am using unakkalari which i am bringing it from kerala. In UAE i dont think its available but as a substitute we can use Srilankan Red rice which is available in flour mills here. we will get almost the taste of unakkalari. Hope you will notice this tip next time when you prepare neivedyam.

                                                                  Unakkalari Picture

Also in the final stage we are adding kadalipazham smooth paste for a Unique taste
Kadali pazham is the real king in fruits with immense health benefits, No wonder why its being offered to our deities.

Idly ഇഡ്ഡലി

Ingredients:
Urad dal – ¾ cup
Idli rice – 2 cup Fenugreek / Uluva – ¾ teaspoon
Cooked rice – 3 tbsp
Curry leaves -- 2-3 leaves
water as required to make a thick batter

Preparation

Soak Urad dal , and idli rice separately for 4-5 hours. kindly use white rice if Idli rice is not available. but idly will turn out more soft if we use idly rice. Add fenugreek too while soaking urad dal.

Grind urad dal , fenugreek, and cooked rice adding sufficient water. Do not grind it smooth like dosa batter. ( Idly batter should be thick and dosa batter should be watery. ) Grind idly rice too adding sufficient water again not so smooth. Mix it well and add salt too Cover it with a lid and keep the batter away to be fermented, if we keep the batter overnight on a warm place it will get fermented by next morning. If you are abroad ,and in the AC, it may not work the same way. so kindly keep the batter inside the microwave to get the desired result.

Grease the idli thattu with ghee. Pour the batter with a laddle, In the idli cooker pour some water and bring to boil and transfer the thattu, cover it and steam it for 10 Minuits, once done remove the thattu and allow it to cool down before taking out idlis with a sharp knife or spoon, Serve soft idlis with sambar and chutney .

Mulaku Baji Chilly Baji (Kerala style ) മുളക് ബജി

Ingredients 

Baji Mulaku  7 no.s

Besan Flour   1 cup

Rice Flour  2 Tablespoon

Chilli powder 1 Teas[ppm

Turmeric powder 2 pinches

Baking soda 1 pinch (optional)

Hing A pinch

Ayamodakam Ajjwain  as required (optional)

Salt as required

Water  for making the batter - Batter should be thick not watery

Coconut Oil for deep frying

Preparation 

Make a thick batter using besan flour rice powder by adding required water. Add salt chilli powder turmeric powder baking soda and ayamodakam. Mix well. Keep the batter  for sometime to set. Wash the Mulaku ,, pat dry and with a sharp knife make a slit on one side and remove the seeds. keep it aside 

Heat the coconut oil in a kadai. Dip the Mulaku in the batter one by one, let it be well coated, and deep fry it. Fry till both the sides become golden brown color.  Have it hot with your favorite chutney. Also in the same batter you can make potato or cauliflower baji , chop the vegetables and dip in the batter and deep fry it, in the pictures you can find potato and cauliflower baji too along with mulaku baji. for that you can put  chopped corriander leaves too in the batter, for mulaku baji kindly avoid corriander leaves since its not found in traditional recipe.

Some of my friends have complaint that the besan flour makes their stomach upset. My suggestion is to put ajjwain and a pinch of hing asafoetida while making the batter, it will  help to reduce the digestive issues.

In kerala during monsoon, we make hot mulaku baji in the evenings and have it hot with garam chay sitting on the varandha . laid back enjoying the downpour.  Its indeed a nostalgic  thought  for malayalis around the world

ALOE VERA (KATTAARVAZHA) HAIR OIL HOMEMADE

YET ANOTHER GRANDMA’S RECIPE FOR A HEALTHY SHINY THICK DARK HAIR. DIY at home.

Go back to nature whenever you get time and explore the gifts around. Aloe Vera is a wonder herb for skin and hair.
Aloe Vera ( kattarvazha) hair oil preparation at home.

I prepared this when I was in Kerala.

Take fresh Aloe Vera Leaves from the garden.
Cut into small pieces as shown in the pic.
Grind it in a mixer grinder, till you get a green liquid out of it. Strain it with a cotton cloth (extract it properly)and pour the gel In to an iron kadai. Mix the Aloe Vera liquid with the coconut oil .The ratio of aloe vera to the coconut oil should be 2:1 Heat the mixture on the stove on low flame occasionally stirring  the mixture well. Allow it to boil. Wait till you get a solid substance from the oil and Colour of the oil will turn  dark too. Switch it off and let it cool before storing it in a glass bottle.
Benefits:
It can prevent and treat dandruff, itchy scalp, make hair shiny and also promote hair growth.