Theeyal is one of the most famous. With coconut being Kerala’s staple ingredient for everything sour and sweet, Ulli Theeyal uses shallots and coconut paste in a clever combination , resulting in a flavour packed dish. Theeyal is a good combination with rice or appam.

Ingredients

Shallots / chinna vengayam — 1 cup / 20-22 nos

Tamarind. — small lemon size

Fresh coconut — 1 cup

Coriander seeds —- 1 1/2 tablespoon

Cumin seeds — 1 tablespoon

Whole pepper —- 1/4 tablespoon

Dry red chili — 4

Jaggery — 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder — 1/4 teaspoon

Asafoetida — 1/4 teaspoon

Mustard seeds — 1 teaspoon

Salt — 1 1/2 teaspoons

Coconut oil — 3 tablespoons

Few curry leaves.

Method

Soak tamarind in water. Peel the skin of the shallot and chop them( soaking the shallots in water for 10 minutes makes it easy to peel the skin). Heat one spoon of oil in a deep pan, add the shallots and saute them till they change pink in color; add the tamarind pulp, turmeric powder, salt, asafoetida cover and cook in low heat. In another pan, heat 1/2 spoon of oil in a pan and add the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorn, 3 red chili and fry them till they become red in color, keep aside. In the same pan, heat one spoon oil add the coconut till they change red in color. Grind together all the fried ingredients along with fried coconut, adding sufficient water to get a smooth paste. Add this paste to the cooked onions, mix well and cook for further 3-4 minutes. Heat the remaining oil and add the mustard seeds. When the crackle, add the broken red chili and curry leaves. Add this tempering to the ulli theeyal. Enjoy ulli theeyal with warm rice and pappadam.

Vadukapuli narthangai or wild lemon has its season around August-September,which is around the time Onam festival is celebrated. Usually a pickle is made of it and served for the sadya or feast on Onam. This pickle can be stored in fridge and be used for atleat two months.

Ingredients

Vadukapuli narthangai / wild lemon— 1

Green chili — 1

Dry red chili — 2

Ginger — 1/2 inch

Tamarind — small marble size

Jaggery — 1 tablespoon

Turmeric powder — 1/2 teaspoon

Asafotida — 1/2 teaspoon

Chili powder — 1/2 teaspoon

Fenugreek powder —- 1/2 teaspoon

Mustard seeds — 1/2 teaspoon

Salt — 1 1/4 teaspoon

Sesame oil — 2 tablespoons

Few curry leaves.

Method

Wash and peel the skin of vadukapuli narthangai, remove the seeds and cut them into small pieces. Soak the tamarind in a glass of water. Chop the green chili and ginger.Heat oil in a deep pan add the mustard seeds when they splutter add the green chili, ginger and curry leaves,saute. Add the broken dry red chili and asafotida,sauté ,now add the cut vadukapuli narthangai. Add the turmeric, chili powder,jaggery and salt mix well and then add the tarmind water, lower the heat and allow it to cook till the oil starts oozing out. Put of the heat,add the fenugreek powder mix well. Cool it and then store it in a clean bottle.

Sakkarai pongal is a sweet prepared during festivals or made when you have a Pooja at home. Its prepared with rice,little dal, jaggery and ghee and is a dish of Tamilnadu. Nei payyasam or Aravana payasam also has almost the same ingredients and is famous in Kerala. Being a person from Palaghat, i enjoy preparing both the sweet. Here’s an easy way of preparing sakkarai pongal in a cooker.

Ingredients

Raw rice — 1 cup

Moong dal — 1/4 cup

Jaggery — 1 1/2 cups

Milk — 3/4 cup( optional )

Ghee — 1/4 cup

Cardamom powder — 1/4 teaspoon

Edible camphor a pinch

Cashews & Raisins.

Method

Fry the moong dal till you get a nice aroma. Wash the rice and moong dal add milk ,water and pressure cook. Once the pressure of the cooker is relished ,open it and smash the rice and dal well. Now add the jaggery, mix well add little extra water stir. Keep stirring till the jaggery dissolves ,now add ghee keeping aside one teaspoon. Keep stirring till the ghee is absorbed . Now add the cardamom powder and edible camphor stir everything together. Heat ghee ,fry the cashew and raisins ,add this to the poongal. Your Sakkarai pongal is ready.

Never tried making this payasam when I was in Dubai for so many years where plenty of dates of different varieties were available. But nevertheless tried it today. Its the most simple and quick payasam that can be prepared. Prepare and enjoy the payasam.

Ingredients

Dates — 11

Milk —   3 cups

Cashews — 1 teaspoon

Ghee — 1 teaspoon.

Method

De seed dates and soak in half a glass of warm milk for 15 minutes. Boil rest of the milk in a pan. Grind the dates with milk into a smooth paste. Add the dates paste into to the boiling milk, stir and boli for 3-4 minutes, put of the heat. Heat ghee and fry the cashews and add this to the dates payasam. Enjoy dates payasam.( people with sweet tooth could add 2 teaspoon of sugar while boiling the milk.)

Today being Adi Perukku, chitrannam, which is a combination of variety rice, is prepared. Coconut rice, lemon rice, puliyodharai, ellu sadam and curd rice are prepared. To add to this list l tried kothamalli / coriander rice , which turned out well and everyone at home enjoyed it. So do try kothamali rice which has the freshness of coriander and a few spices .

Ingredients

Rice — 2 cup

Coriander — 1 bunch

Green chili — 1

Dry red chili– 1

Channa dal — 1 tablespoon

Urad dal — 1 tablespoon

Cumin seeds — 1 teaspoon

Whole pepper — 1/2 teaspoon

Mustard seeds — 1 teaspoon

Tamarind — small marble size

Salt — 1 1/2 teaspoon

Peanut. — 2 tablespoons

Sesame oil — 3-4 tablespoons .

Method

Rinse and cook rice. Once rice is cooked, spread it on a plate and allow to cool. Wash the coriander leaves well. Heat one tablespoon of oil and fry channa dal, urad dal, cumin and pepper till the dal turns red in color . Now grind the fried ingredients along with green chili, tamarind and fresh coriander adding half a glass of water. Heat the remaining oil in a pan and add mustard seeds . When they crackle, add the broken red chili, peanut and fry . Now add the paste, salt, stir and cover and cook in sim until the oil oozes out. Once you see the oil oozing out, put off the heat. Add this to the cooled rice and mix well. Enjoy coriander rice with papadam or chips.

Using one of the staple foods of Kerala, Nendra Pazhayam, in a payasam format, is definitely an interesting combination. If I may say, here’s the recipe to a healthy payasam! Please note that the color of the payasam that you will see in the video will be lighter than a regular pradhaman, as I’ve not used the dark colored Kerala jaggery in this recipe.

Ingredients

Nendram pazham — 1
Jaggery — 1/2 cup
Coconut milk — 1 cup
Cardamon powder — 1/4 teaspoon
Coconut bits — 1 tablespoon
Ghee 1 tablespoon.

Another humble sundal recipe, kadalaparuppu sundal can also be prepared on a day when you struggle to make a poriyal/poduthuval for the main kozhambu/kootaan. I’ve added small chunks of raw mango, which gives a lovely zesty flavour to the sundal.

Ingredients

Kadala paruppu / channa dal — 1 cup

Coconut grated — 2 -3 tablespoons

Green chili — 1

Mustard seeds — 1/2 teaspoon

Asafoetida — 1/4 teaspoon

Fresh mango pieces — 2 teaspoons

Salt — 3/4 teaspoon

Coconut oil — 2 tablespoons

Juice of half lemon and fresh coriander leaves .

Method

Wash and cook kadala paruppu in pressure cooker, be careful not to overcook it.( If there is extra water, use a sieve and remove the extra water,the drained water can be added while making rasam or dal.) Cool the paruppu. Grind together coconut and green chili. Heat oil in a pan,add the mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the asafoetida and then add the kadala paruppu . Now add the salt and stir everything together. Cover and cook for a minute . Put off the heat now add the ground coconut, mango pieces, coriander leaves and mix everything together. Add the lemon juice and stir. Kadala paruppu sundal ready.

The most simplest and easiest sweet I have made till date. Simply because the ingredients are simple and always available at home, easy because the method of preparation is soo simple. I learned this recipe from my friend / brother Ramji. I know Ramji from the 90’s through Sai group. Ramji is the one who gave me lot of confidence in cooking especially in large quantities when we would do Narayan seva in Dubai through Sai organization, we would cook food for 300 or even 900 people. The most important part of any cooking is to add the correct amount of salt. A person who had cooked for maybe 15-20 people knew how much salt to add for sambar or any subji or a vegetable pullav. But when you cook for 300 + people I didn’t know how much salt to add, but Ramji would say, You just add the salt and leave the rest to the Almighty and true to his words never has the taste gone wrong. It is not only adding salt but even other spices, and the purchase list, never has it gone wrong . We were a team of 4 people Vijay, Ramji,Priya & myself all through the journey of Narayan seva. Missing on the grand opportunity of doing Narayan seva! Here is a simple yet delicious dish remembering the good old day 🙂

Ingredients
Milk — 4 cups
Sugar — 3 cups
Semolina — 1 cup
Ghee —- 1 cup.

Peanut Sundal is the most simplest sundal made, no waiting or soaking required. Stuffed with nutrition and prepared in the most simplest process, this Sundal will be a sure shot favorite for one and all.

Ingredients

Peanut — 250 gms

Mustard seeds — 1 teaspoon

Pepper- cummin powder— 1 teaspoon

Dry red chili — 1

Asafoetida — 1/4 teaspoon

Salt — 1 teaspoon

Coconut oil — 1 tablespoon

Lemon juice of one lemon

Curry leaves.

Method

Pressure cook peanut with salt for 2 whistles. Heat oil, add the mustard seeds. When it crackles, add the broken red chili and saute. Add the pepper- cummin powder, asafoetida and saute. Put off the heat and add the curry leaves. Add the tempering to the cooked peanut and mix well. After 5 minutes add the lemon juice. Mix well. Peanut Sundal ready. ( for pepper- cummin powder, dry roast 1 teaspoon pepper and 2 teaspoon cummin and powder them coarsely. This can be stored in an air tight bottle for further use.)

Thogayal is a coarsely grinded paste with coconut and fried dal. Here I have a little healthier version of thogayal. I have reduced the qantatiy of coconut and added lots of carrots and fresh coriander. With the rain everywhere, just try this thogayal with hot rice.

Ingredients

Carrots — 2

Fresh coriander — small bunch

Coconut — 3 tablespoons

Urad dal — 3 tablespoons

Dry red chili — 2

Tamarind — small bit

Asafotida— 1/4 teaspoon

Salt — 1/2 teaspoon

Oil — 2 teaspoons.

Method

Wash the coriander leaves well. Scrape the skin of the carrots and cut them into thick slices. Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons of oil, add the urad dal and red chili, saute till the dal changes colour. Put of the heat, add tamrind and asafoetida, saute and keep aside. Heat the remaining oil and saute the sliced carrots for a minute. Grind together carrots, fresh coriander, fried dal mixture and salt, adding little water into a coarse paste. Enjoy Carrot Thogayal with any molagootal or just drizzle little sesame oil over hot rice, add the thogayal, mix well and have it with pappadam.