Richness of coconut milk and sweetness of ripe plantain= Yummy dessert

I hail from the land of coconuts and plantains. This explains why I have so many recipes that call for plantain and coconut. They both make a remarkable combination and makes any dish taste delicious. In Kerala, this particular dish is served mostly for breakfast along with puttu or rice cakes/rice funnel cake. The sweetness from the ripe plantain and the creaminess from the coconut milk enhances the taste of this simple dish greatly. It has different names in different parts of Kerala. Some even call this as Mathuracurry (Sweet curry), plantain payasam, plantain stew etc. I like to have this as a dessert by itself rather than mixing it with puttu.

An easy and yummy dessert  loved by both kids and adults. It’s all natural ingredients and quite healthy too. Since ripe plantains are used, they will impart sweetness to this dish and hence we can avoid the addition of too much sugar. This definitely makes a wonderful dessert and is easy to whip up.

Plantain in Coconut Milk

Ingredients

• Plantain, ripe-2 diced small
• Thin coconut milk- 1/2 cup
• Whole cardamom, smashed- 2
• Rice flour- 2 tbsp mixed in 3 tbsp water
• Thick coconut milk, fat free- 3/4 cup
• Water-1/4 cup, (if needed to thin down the gravy)
• Saffron- 3 pinches soaked in 1 tbsp water
• Sugar- 3 tbsp
• Ghee- 1 tbsp (optional)

Preparation

1. Dice the ripe plantains small. Make sure to use ripe plantains.
2. In a saucepan, combine plantains, thin coconut milk and 2 whole smashed cardamoms .
3. Cook the plantains over medium heat till it gets soft, don’t cook till it turns mushy.
4. If your using canned coconut milk, add some water to thin it down.
5. Soak the saffron in water, keep aside.
6. When the plantains have cooked well, add rice flour mixed in 3 tbsp water without any lumps.
7. Keep stirring while adding the flour to avoid any lumps, the gravy will start to thicken.
8. Now, add the thick coconut milk, combine well and lower the heat.
9. Add soaked saffron and sugar.
10. Let the coconut milk come to a slight boil.
11. If the gravy is too thick you could add 1/4 cup of water to thin it down.
12. Taste and add more sugar if needed.
13. Drizzle ghee over the coconut milk.
14. Remove from the heat and keep aside covered for a few minutes.
15. Serve after it has cooled down or chill it in the refrigerator. It tastes better when chilled.
16. This can be also served along with Puttu or Idiyappam or spread it over crepes.

Dosa stuffed with egg masala, certainly a vegetarian delicacy…

Dosa is one of the popular breakfast dishes in South India. Making dosa batter is quite a breeze, you just have to soak urad dal and rice (1:2 ratio) and grind it to a thick batter. After it has fermented by keeping the batter overnight, you could start making dosas just like you make crepes. The batter can be stored in the refrigerator for a week or so. Usually, dosa which looks like a crepe is served with sambar or chutney. Yet another common way of serving dosa is by spreading potato masala over it and folding it, now this is called Masala dosa.

After a long time I made dosa a few weeks ago. I didn’t want to serve it with sambar, chutney nor as masala dosa. Instead, I served as egg dosa by spreading egg masala over the dosa and folded it. It was different and tasted great.

Egg Dosa

Recipe for making Dosa

Egg Masala

Ingredients

• Oil- 1 tbsp
• Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
• Dry red whole chilly- 2
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig (optional)
• Onion, chopped very small- 2
• Green pepper, chopped very small- 2
• Tomatoes, chopped small-2
• Chilly powder- 1 tsp
• Coriander powder- 1 1/2 tsp
• Tomato ketchup- 3 tbsp
• Eggs, beaten- 2
• Cilantro, chopped- 2 handful
• Salt- to taste

Preparation

1. Place a wok or non-stick pan over medium heat.
2. Add oil, let it turn hot.
3. Add cumin seeds, dry red chilly and curry leaves, saute for a second.
4. Add onion and little salt, saute till onions turn translucent.
5. Add green pepper, cook for a few minutes till it turns tender.
6. Now, add tomatoes and cook till it gets mashed up.
7. Add chilly powder and coriander powder, combine well.
8. Whisk 2 eggs in a bowl.
9. Add the beaten eggs to the veggies, scramble the eggs and cook the eggs.
10. Add tomato ketchup, combine well and cook for a few minutes.
11. Garnish with cilantro.
12. Taste and add salt if needed.

How to spread on Dosa:

1. Spread the dosa batter on the tawa or non-stick pan, let it cook.
2. Spread the egg masala evenly over the dosa, let cook for a few seconds.
3. Turn the heat to low.
4. Fold the dosa over and flip to the other side, cook for a minute.
5. Serve warm along with raita or yogurt.

You cannot stop eating these, so light and airy…

Popovers, as the name suggests it pops out of the muffin pan while baking. Since I used gluten free flour it didn’t pop as it’s supposed to be. I guess if you use all purpose flour, it would work just fine. Anyways, it tasted very light and in one sitting we emptied all the popovers. While making the batter, sugar is not added. So these make an excellent snack or breakfast for those who are cutting back on sugar. Others could pour maple syrup or honey or spread with any fruit preserves and enjoy them. Make sure to make a lot as it will finish in just a matter of minutes. If you are making this for a party, you could top it with ice cream, yum!!!

Gluten intolerant people can try this with gluten free flour and others can make with all purpose flour. You could also do a few variations with the recipe, like adding cocoa powder, raisins, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon. almonds etc to the batter. I added flax seeds.

Popovers:

Ingredients:

• Gluten free or all purpose flour- 1 1/2 cups
• Large eggs- 2, room temperature
• Milk- 1 1/2 cups, room temperature
• Butter, unsalted and melted- 3 tbsp + 1 tbsp for greasing pan
• Salt- 2 pinches
• Flax seeds (optional)- 3 tbsp

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Use room temperature eggs and milk (or slightly warm up the milk).
3. In a large bowl, whisk up flour, 3 tbsp melted butter, eggs, milk and salt without any large lumps.
4. You could even make the batter in a blender or food processor, process it for 30 seconds.
5. Avoid over mixing the batter.
6. Place the empty muffin pan inside the oven to warm it up for 5 minutes.
7. Brush the muffin pan with the remaining 1 tbsp butter.
8. Pour the batter to each cups till it’s 3/4th filled.
9. Bake for 30 minutes till it’s puffed up and turns brown.
10. Serve hot with your favorite syrup or even ice cream
11. I served it with apricots.

A breakfast dish for your loved ones…

I seldom make anything that is drool worthy for breakfast. I am not a breakfast person, not even on weekends. On the other hand, my husband loves to start his day with a delicious breakfast. I have rejected almost all his request for a killer breakfast. Honestly, I get mad at him when he asks for a home cooked breakfast as it’s hard to negotiate with my brain in the morning. By the time my brain comes along my way it would be time for lunch and I’ll be seen busy experimenting in the kitchen.

Having said that, for our wedding anniversary a few weeks ago I tried to get out of my morning comfort zone. After a few moments of tug of war with my heart and brain, finally I succeeded in whipping up a delicious breakfast for my man. Seeing the tiramisu crepes on the breakfast table, he almost screamed with joy and gobbled up effortlessly. After emptying the plate he looked at me and I understood that particular look. That look meant: “It would be nice if you could make breakfast like this everyday”. And I gave the look which said “No way”. Gave him these flowers freshly plucked from my garden along with a warm hug and wished a happy wedding anniversary!

Tiramisu Crepes:

•  Makes: Three sets of 2 layered Tiramisu crepes
• Preparation time: less than 30 minutes

For making Crepes:

Makes: 6 no’s

• All purpose flour- 1 cup
• Egg- 1
• Milk, skim or whole- 1/2 cup
• Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
• Salt- 2 pinches
• Butter, for greasing the pan- 1/2 tbsp/crepes

For making the filling:

• Mascarpone cheese – 3/4 cup
• Powdered sugar- 1/3 cup
• Whipped cream- 1/2 cup

For making coffee extract:

• Instant ground coffee or Espresso- 1/2 tbsp
• Hot water- 1/2 tbsp

Other ingredients:

• Honey- 1 tbsp/crepe
• Whipped cream- for topping
• Fruits of your choice- for garnishing

Preparation:

How to make crepes:

1. In a blender, blend all the above mentioned ingredients for making the crepes except butter to a smooth batter.
2. Place a skillet over medium heat, melt 1/2 tbsp butter on it.
3. Pour one spoonful of batter on the melted butter and spread it into round shape using the back of the spoon.
4. Let the bottom side turn golden in color, flip it over and let the other side turn to golden in color as well.
5. Remove from the pan and keep aside. Repeat this till you use all the batter.

Preparing coffee extract:

1. In a bowl, combine instant ground coffee (any brand) or Espresso with hot water, combine well and keep aside.

For making filling:

1. Using an electric hand mixer, whip the mascarpone cheese along with powdered sugar and 2 tsp of coffee extract till it turns smooth. Avoid over whipping it.
2. Gently fold in the whipped cream into the cheese.

How to assemble:

1. Place a crepe on a wooden board or plate, evenly spread 1-2 tbsp of cheese filling over it.
2. Place a second crepe over the filling, again spread 1-2 tbsp of cheese filling over it.
3. Fold the crepes over to a semi circle shape.
4. Spread 1 tbsp honey over the folded crepes.
5. Top with whipped cream.
6. Garnish with fruits of your choice, I used pomegranate.
7. If you want you could sprinkle some cocoa powder or grated chocolate.
8. Repeat with other crepes.
9. Indulge in this delightful dish for breakfast or brunch.

Tips:

• You could use cream cheese instead of mascarpone cheese.
• Don’t over whip the cheese as it would turn to butter.

A famous Malabar rice roti which is served for both breakfast and dinner…

Pathiri is a traditional roti that originated from Malabar cuisine. Nowadays, it is commonly served in almost all parts to South India. The texture of pathiri is soft and thin that almost everyone finds it hard to ignore, especially when served with chicken or fish curry. I love to pour some coconut milk over the pathiri, followed by spicy meat curry. It tastes divine.

Pathiri and Orotti are not the same, though they are closely related. Both are made with rice flour. For making orotti, grated coconut is also added. Orotti has a thick texture and is usually prepared in orotti (tortilla) press or the dough is flattened using the hands. While pathiri has a very soft and thin texture, the dough is rolled by dusting it with rice flour to thin round shapes(quite similar to making chapati). Pathiri dough should be rolled as thin as possible, otherwise it wouldn’t have a soft texture and it should puff up while cooking.

My favorite way of having pathiri is with mutton curry, Yum!

Pathiri or Thin Rice Roti

Ingredients:

• Rice flour- 1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp
• Water- 1 cup
• Salt- little
• Rice flour- more for dusting while rolling the dough

Preparation:

• In a saucepan, boil the water.
• Sprinkle salt to the boiling water.
• When the water boils, add the rice flour and combine it using a wooden spoon.
• Remove from the heat and combine well till incorporated.
• Let it cool down a bit.
• Knead the mixture when it is still warm till it’s soft and smooth.
• Make medium sized balls out of the kneaded dough.
• Place the dough on a wooden board or chapati making board.
• Sprinkle little rice flour over it.
• Using a rolling pin, roll it to a round shape.
• Keep dusting with rice flour to prevent sticking to the board.
• Roll to thin round shape.
• Heat a cast iron skillet or non-stick cooking pan over medium heat.
• Grease the cast iron skillet with little oil.
• Place the rolled pathiri on the skillet or pan.
• When the bottom side just starts to wilt, in about 30 seconds, flip it over to the other side.
• Let the bottom side get a few light golden spots, flip it over.
• Gently press the sides with a spatula, the pathiri will puff up nicely.
• Remove from the skillet and place it on a plate.
• Wipe off any rice flour left on the cooking pan before you place the next rolled pathiri dough.
• Serve pathiris with your favorite curry.
• You could even pour some thin coconut milk followed by chicken or mutton curry: my favorite way of devouring pathiri.

How to serve Pathiri for kids:

While serving for kids, pour some thin coconut milk over it and sprinkle some sugar on it. This tastes really delicious, kids will love it. This used to be my sister’s favorite food when she was a kid.

Tips:

• Make sure to knead the dough till it gets soft.
• If the dough is not soft sprinkle little warm water while kneading.
• I used store bought non-roasted rice flour, if you want you could slightly roast the rice flour in a pan till it starts to turn light golden in color.

How to make puffed up pathiris:

• It depends on how you flip the pathiri over while cooking. If you cook any of the sides too much it won’t puff up, it will turn little hard as well.
• After you place the rolled dough on the pan, make sure to flip it over as soon as the bottom side starts to wilt: first flip within 30 seconds.
• Second flip: When light golden spots appears on the bottom side.
• Most of the time it will puff up by itself. To encourage puffing, gently press on the sides of the pathiri with the spatula.
• Remove from the heat after it has puffed up.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. We are having a nice relaxing weekend. I am so glad that there are two really good beaches in our city. We have been hitting the beaches every Saturday; motorcycle riding to the beach, swimming in the water and enjoying the sunset has been one of the main attractions of this summer.

Unlike other weekends, this weekend I decided to take a break from cereal and was determined enough to make a healthy homemade breakfast. It has been always hard for me to negotiate with my brain in the morning and to drive myself into the kitchen to make breakfast. On Saturday, I overcame this and made breakfast from scratch. Only requirement I had was not to spend too much time in the kitchen.

I had whole wheat bread and strawberry jam, and my lousy brain tried its best to compromise with me to just have that and to go back to bed. But I didn’t give my ear and started making pancake out of it. The pancakes came out really delicious and very less time is needed to make this. You could serve this for breakfast or as an evening snack.

Bread and Jam Pancake

Ingredients:

• Bread, whole wheat or white-  3 slices
• All purpose flour- 1/2 cup
• Milk- 1/2 cup
• Egg- 1
• Baking soda- 1/4 tsp
• Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp
• Strawberry jam or any jam of your choice- 4 tbsp
• Butter- 1 tbsp/each pancake

Preparation:

• In a large bowl, shred the breads and combine it with milk.
• Break any lumps and make a thick batter with the milk.
• Add egg, flour, baking soda and vanilla extract to it, combine well without any lumps and make a thick batter.
• Finally add the jam to it, you dont have to mix the jam thoroughly to the batter, let there be small lumps of jam in the batter.
• Heat a non stick pan, add 1 tbsp butter for making each pancake.
• Pour 1 spoonful of batter on the butter, spread it to round shape. Cook at medium low heat.
• When the bottom side turns golden brown, flip to the other side and cook that side till it turns golden brown.
• Serve hot, if you want you could smear the pancakes with jam.
• When you eat the pancakes, the bite of small lumps of jam in it gives a sweet taste to the pancake.

This is the perfect breakfast I could ever ask for, as it only takes 2 minutes to make and is quite healthy. This was introduced to me by my hubby, since then I’ve been having this for breakfast quite often. For a few days I added mixed veggies to the eggs, but last week I even tried with trail mix, it was crunchy, chewy, nutty and of course eggy.

So now, you have two choices, either make it with mixed veggies if you are a huge veggie fan or with trail mix if you want to add a crunch to your breakfast. Both of them are equally tasty and healthy. After a bowl of this you would be all set to kick off your day.

2 minute Microwaved Egg Omelette with Veggies:

Ingredients: For one serving

• Mixed frozen veggies or fresh (beans, carrot, corn, peas) chopped small- 1/4 cup
• Egg- 1
• Ground pepper- 2 pinches
• Salt- to taste

Preparation:

• In a microwave proof bowl whisk together mixed veggies, egg, ground pepper and salt.
• Make sure you beat the egg well.
• Microwave the egg mixture for 2 minutes or till it has cooked well at the center.
• Depending on the microwave the cooking time may vary so keep an eye on it.
• That’s it, you have your healthy breakfast ready!

2 minute Microwaved Egg Omelette with Trail mix:

Ingredients:

• Trail mix (peanuts, almonds, cashew nuts, raisins, sun flower seeds and pumpkin seeds)- 1/4 cup
• Egg- 1

Preparation:

• In a microwave proof bowl, combine egg and trail mix using a whisk, beat the egg well.
• Microwave for 2 minutes or until the egg has cooked well in the center.
• You have your crunchy breakfast ready.

Tips:

• I didn’t add oil, if you want you could add little olive oil to the mixture.
• You could even add cheese to the veggie egg omelette.
• Cooking time may vary with the kind of microwave you are using, so watch out for that.

I’ve already blogged about Puttu, Kerala’s famous breakfast dish. Well, if you travel down south in Kerala to Malabar, you will come across mani puttu being served there. Mani puttu is often served in my dad’s family for breakfast or dinner, especially at my aunt’s house (dad’s sister’s). Unlike puttu, making mani puttu is quite a tedious process. While growing up, I’ve always watched making mani puttu with so much awe. Even though it belongs to puttu family and is made with rice flour, preparation of mani puttu is quite different and interesting.

Traditionally mani puttu is made using a mould specially designed for that, which is rather big. So nowadays, you can use Idiyappam maker or seva nazhi with the large holed disc in the mould. To be precise mani puttu resembles to Idiyappam for using rice dough for its preparation and puttu for steam cooking in puttu maker. It should be called as Idiyappam puttu, I have no idea how it got the name mani puttu. Also, it resembles to noodles, so you could even call it as noodles puttu.

When I google searched for mani puttu, I found that steamed rice balls in coconut milk is what some people call as mani puttu. I am completely baffled seeing this, I can only conclude that may be in some parts of Kerala steamed rice balls in coconut milk is called mani puttu and in other parts what I am posting here is called mani puttu. Anyway, I am quite sure that in Malabar and in my family this is called mani puttu, since it’s made using a puttu maker it makes perfect sense to me rather than the other one.

Well, you need an Idiyappam maker or seva nazhi and puttu maker to make this. In North America, some Indian stores might have this. Anyway, it’s a kool kitchen gadget to have.

Tuna Stuffed Mani Puttu

For Making Mani Puttu

Ingredients:

• Rice flour- 2 1/2 cups
• Water- 1 1/2 cups
• Garam masala- 1 tsp
• Salt- little

Other ingredients:

• Rice flour, to sprinkle on the mani puttu
• Grated coconut, to layer

For making tuna roast:

• Oil- 1 tbsp
• Onion, chopped small- 3
• Ginger-Garlic paste- 2 tsp
• Curry leaves(optional)- 1 sprig
• Canned tuna, in water- 2 cans
• Chilly powder- 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
• Garam masala- 1/2 tsp
• Fennel powder- 1 tsp
• Potato, boiled- 2 no’s
• Salt- to taste
• Cilantro, chopped- 1 handful

Preparation:

Making Tuna roast:

• Cook the potatoes by boiling it in hot water or in microwave, peel the skin and keep aside.
• Place a large pan over medium heat, add oil, onions, little salt and curry leaves, saute the onions till tender.
• Add ginger garlic paste, saute for a minute.
• Add the tuna, add chilly powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, fennel powder to it and combine everything well.
• Add little water and cook covered for sometime.
• Put the cooked potatoes into the tuna mixture, mash the potatoes with a wooden spoon.
• Combine everything and add cilantro.
• Let all the water in the mixture dry out, it should be a dry mixture.
• Keep aside, we will be using this to stuff the mani puttu.

Making Mani puttu:

• Boil water in a saucepan, add garam masala and salt to it.
• When the water comes to a rolling boil, add the rice flour and combine with a wooden spoon.
• Remove the pan from the heat and let cool down for sometime.
• When the dough is still warm, place the dough on a wooden board.
• Knead with your hands till it is incorporated well.
• If the dough is dry, sprinkle little warm water and knead.
• If the dough is watery, add little more rice flour while kneading.
• Have the Idiyappam maker or seva nazhi ready with the large holed disc in it.
• Place a handful of dough into the Idiyappam maker, close with the lid.
• Place a plate under the idiyappam maker and start rotating the maker, so that the dough will fall on the plate like noodles.
• Sprinkle little rice flour over the noodles so that they won’t stick together.
• Repeat this with the rest of the dough, make sure to sprinkle with rice flour otherwise the noodles will stick together.

How to layer the mani puttu with tuna roast:

• In a puttu maker, put 1 tbsp of grated coconut as the first layer, layer it with one handful of prepared puttu, then with 1 handful of tuna roast, again with the puttu and close it with its lid.
• I am using a puttu maker which can be placed on the whistle of a pressure cooker.
• Pour 1 cup water in the pressure cooker, close with its lid, don’t place the whistle on it and place it over medium heat.
• When the water comes to a boil, place the puttu maker on the whistle of the pressure cooker.
• This way, the steam from the pressure cooker will get into the puttu maker and it will get cooked.
• Let it steam cook for about 3-4 minutes, remove it and gently turn the puttu maker upside down on a plate.
• The steamed mani puttu will fall on to the plate.
• Repeat this process till you have used all the rice dough.
• There will be some more unused tuna roast, you could serve this along with the mani puttu or make cutlets out of it.

Tips:

• You could use chicken instead of tuna, make sure you cook the chicken before making the roast.
• You can stuff the puttu with tuna or chicken as well.

When I look at vegetables or meat, I ponder for a second if I could stuff something into it. Oh ya I love to stuff. Until now, I’ve successfully stuffed collard greens, red peppers, zucchini, banana peppers and whole chicken. If you can create a hollow in the vegetable then you can definitely stuff them with anything you love.

A few weeks ago, I had bought plantain without even knowing that I could stuff them. I was thinking of making steamed plantain cake or sweet plantain or plantain fritters, I had way too many options. Before starting my cooking, I had a brief food talk with my mom over the phone and I told her that I would be making something with plantain for snack that day. She asked me right away: “have you tried stuffing plantain and pan frying it?” I was like Hmm not really, can I stuff that too? Then she started explaining the preparation methods, at the end of the talk I screamed “Thanks mom” and I rushed into my kitchen to stuff the whole plantain.

I made the same stuffing that I use to make Unnakaya or stuffed plantain fry. I then pan fried the stuffed plantain in ghee/oil. The aroma of the ghee along with the stuffing gave a totally different taste to plantain. It was incredibly easy and delicious. This would make a healthy breakfast or a healthy evening snack for both kids and adults.

Not to forget, plantain is packed with all the essential nutrients to keep us healthy and strong. If you haven’t yet tried plantain, make sure you soon start including it in your diet.

Stuffed Whole Plantain:

Ingredients

• Plantain, ripe- 2 no’s or more

For making stuffing:

• Grated coconut- 1 cup
• Cashew nuts or Almonds, chopped- 1/4 cup
• Raisins- 1 handful
• Egg, beaten-1
• Sugar-2tbsp
• Cardamom powder-1tsp
• Ghee or butter-1 tbsp + 1 tbsp for pan frying
• Oil- for pan frying

For pasting:

• All purpose flour- 2 tbsp
• Water- 1/2 tbsp or so to make a thick paste

Preparation:

• Select ripe plantains for making this.
• Remove the skin of the plantain.
• Using a sharp knife, gently make a shallow slit lengthwise on the plantain.
• Carefully remove the black seeds from the inside of the plantain, make sure you rip the plantain apart.
• If it’s hard for you to remove the seeds, it’s no big deal just leave it there.

How to make the stuffing.

• Heat a non-stick cooking pan, add 1 tbsp ghee, add the grated coconut and the sugar and roast it until it turns golden.
• Add cardamom powder to the coconut.
• In the meantime fry cashew nuts and raisins in 1 tbsp ghee.
• Add eggs to the roasted coconut and scramble the eggs.
• Now, add the fried cashew nuts and raisins and mix everything well.
• Stuffing is ready, allow it to cool down.

How to stuff the whole plantain:

• Take about 2-3 tbsp of the stuffing and gently place it into the slit made in the plantain.
• Using your hands, push the stuffing inside the plantain as much as you can.
• In a small bowl, combine all purpose flour and water to make a thick paste.
• Apply this paste along the slit and paste it, apply some over the top of the sealed plantain too.
• Make sure the gap is closed well.
• Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat, add 1 tbsp ghee and little oil, place the stuffed plantain sealed side down on the oil/ghee.
• Let the sealed side of the plantain turn golden brown, the slit will be closed tightly now.
• Using a flat spatula, carefully flip the plantain and let the other side turn golden brown too.
• When done pan frying, transfer on a paper towel.
• Serve warm for breakfast or as an evening snack.

Happy Easter…

While thinking about Easter dishes, I saw Appam and Beef Stew lined in front of me. In Kerala, these are the two main dishes served for breakfast on Easter day. Appam has been the top favorite breakfast dish of almost all Keralites. Those who have had stew might know that it tastes delicious with appam. Appam and Stew is definitely one of the faithful couples in the Kerala food world.

Appam, which can be referred as “Kerala’s Laced Rice pancake” is made by grinding rice, fresh coconut along with coconut milk. The batter is then poured on a pan used for making appam, which then forms a soft pancake with crispy ends and hence the name lace.

In Kerala, stew is a mildly spicy, creamy dish made using potatoes and coconut milk along with other simple spices. It’s such a flexible dish that you could add any kind of meat to it, beef, chicken or mutton (Goat). When vegetarians are seen enjoying potato stew along with appam, on the other side non-vegetarians will be seen enjoying meat stew with appam. At the end of the meal, everyone would be seen equally happy and satisfied, licking their fingers…

Beef Stew:

Ingredients:

To pressure cook:

• Beef, diced- 1 pound
• Ginger-Garlic paste- 1 1/2 tsp
• Ground pepper- 1/2 tsp
• Green chilly, chopped- 2
• Fennel powder- 1 tsp
• Garam masala- 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig
• Salt- 1/4 tsp
• Water- 1/4 cup

For Making Stew:

• Coconut oil or vegetable oil- 2 tbsp
• Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
• Small onions or shallots, chopped- 10 no’s
• Garlic, chopped- 4 cloves
• Ginger, chopped- 2 inch slice
• Green chilly, chopped- 1
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig
• Potatoes, cubed- 3 no’s
• Garam masala- 1/2 tsp
• Fennel powder- 1 tsp
• Ground pepper- 1/4 tsp or according to your spice level
• Salt- to taste
• Coconut milk- 3/4 cup

Preparation:

• Add the above mentioned ingredients “to pressure cook” in a pressure cooker and cook till 3-4 whistles.
• When the pressure subsides, open the cooker, beef should be cooked well. If not pressure cook for 1 more whistle.
• After the beef has cooked well, reserve the water from the cooked beef.
• Heat a large pan over medium heat, add oil, splutter mustard seeds.
• Add garlic and ginger chopped into the oil, saute till it starts to turn golden in color.
• Add green chilly, small onions, curry leaves and little salt, saute for a few minutes.
• Add the potatoes and pour the water from the cooked beef over the potatoes, cook covered till potatoes are just cooked.
• Don’t over cook or mash the potatoes.
• Now, add the cooked beef to the cooked potatoes.
• Add garam masala, fennel powder, ground pepper and salt if needed.
• Combine well and add coconut milk to the mixture.
• Stir the mixture without mashing the potatoes.
• Let the coconut milk come to a boil and simmer for a minute to thicken.
• If the stew is too thick you could add little water to thin it down.
• Remove from the heat and serve in a bowl.

Appam or Kerala’s Laced Pancake

Ingredients:

• Rice flour- 1 1/2 cups
• Grated coconut- 1/2 cup
• Cooked Rice (Matta rice or Kerala red rice) or Ponni rice- 1/2 cup
• Coconut milk, thick- 1 cup
• Salt- 1/4 tsp
• Instant Yeast- 3/4 tsp
• Water- enough to thin down the batter

Preparation:

• In a blender, grind rice flour, grated coconut, cooked rice and coconut milk together to a smooth batter.
• If the mixture is too thick, add some water while grinding.
• When the batter forms a smooth paste, add salt and yeast to it and grind it for a few seconds.
• Pour the batter to a large bowl, rinse the blender cup using water and pour the water over the batter.
• If the batter is too thick, add some more water or thin coconut milk to it.
• Make sure the batter is not too watery.
• Keep aside the batter for 5-6 hours or over night for fermentation to take place.
• The batter will rise to double the original amount, so use a really large bowl to hold the batter.
• After 5-6 hours, the batter will be ready to make appams.
• If the batter is too thick add some water to thin it down.
• Heat a pan for making appam over medium heat.
• Make sure the pan is not too hot. If the pan is too hot, the batter will splutter when you pour onto the pan.
• Grease the pan with little oil to avoid the appam from sticking to the pan.
• Pour a large spoonful of batter onto the pan.
• Rotate the pan so that the batter spreads evenly onto the pan and forms a thin layer.
• Cover with the lid and cook for a few minutes till the ends of the appam turns crispy/golden brown in color and the middle of the apppam is soft and cooked well.
• Before making the next one, wipe off any crispy appam particles found sticking onto the pan using a paper towel.

Tips:

• You could make the stew with chicken or mutton as well, vegetarians can use potatoes along with carrot/peas/beans etc.
• For making appam batter, I prefer using cooked red rice rather than ponni or white rice.