Have I told you about the Kerala restaurants in Bahrain? I dont know how I missed telling you about it… Anyways, there are so many Kerala restaurants here starting from our typical chaya kada (tea shop) style ones to upmarket Kerala theme restaurants. Our friends who left Bahrain for good say that, the one thing they miss most about this place is the Kerala restaurants here. Ok, I’ve also come across a few who dont appreciate the food in these places. But I should say, it’s a minority. If you are so particular about the qty of ginger, garlic, curry leaves in your dish n how it is chopped/sliced, those sort of things, then I think those places are not meant for you :) If you ask me, some of them do a real good job and you get to taste home cooked style food at a very reasonable price.

Do you remember the “meals ready” board that used to be displayed in front of the hotels back home? You can see that here, also the Malayalam version of “uunnu thayyar” (meals ready). Yeah, that’s another thing I like about living in this part of the world. You dont miss home much :) I’m sure back home this boards are replaced with flex boards n stuff. It reminds me what some people say… if you want to see the real Onam celebration these days, you should go to Dubai ;)

Ok, let’s come back to what we were discussing, Kerala restaurants. Since I make Kerala fare regularly at home, we are not frequent visitors of these hotels. But if I’m in a mood to have an elaborate lunch, I mean the typical Kerala style lunch, we head to one of the these restaurants. For a decent price, you get a wide variety of spread with 2-3 non veg items and 4-5 veg items and dont forget the payasam in the end!

I had this dish for the first time when we had lunch from one of these places a few months ago. I had had potato mezhukkuperatti before, but the combination of kaya n potato was new to me. I liked it so much and concentrated my whole appetite on this. In the end the waiter started giving me a weird look, because I just had a spoonful of rice and almost a plateful of this! From that day onwards I wanted to try this at home.

So, I finally tried this dish at home, if you are thinking whether I got the recipe from the chef… no. It’s a very simple one, you could actually taste all the ingredients and it’s no rocket science. The only difference I felt between my version and the restaurant one is in the looks. While mine had a mat finish look, the restaurant one had a glossy look.  I couldn’t bring myself to add that much oil. You can make it either mat finish or glossy, obviously the glossy one is more tastier.

Here you go…

Cook potato and raw banana separately, with salt. heat oil and splutter mustard. Add sliced onions, salt and curry leaves. Cook till the onions start changing the colour.

Add minced/crushed garlic and cook for 2-3 mins. Add all the masala powders and cook till the oil starts appearing.

Add water and let it boil. Add cooked potato and raw banana and mix gently. Continue to cook on low flame for a few more mins.

 

Shall we bake? It’s been sometime since we baked right? Here is something simple to put together, if you are in a hurry. I was searching for a simple eggless chocolate cake and google took me here. This cake is really moist and I fell in love with its colour :) I think, this will be my go to recipe for an eggless chocolate cake. What I liked most about it is, it isnt very sweet, even with the frosting. Just the right amount of sweetness for me.

I wanted this cake to have a very homely look, because I was baking it for a friend… who is crazy about homemade baked goodies. So what do you think, does it look like a simple homemade chocolatey goodness to you?

You ready with your whisk, measuring cups, flour and apron… shall we roll?

Recipe Source: Food Tale

In a large bowl sift together the all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder and sugar. Make a well…

Add all the wet ingredients one by one. With an electric mixer, beat the mixture on low speed for 2-3 minutes until the dry and wet ingredients are well combined.  You can also use a wire whisk. Do not over beat it.

Pour the batter in the prepared pan and bake in the pre heated oven for about 30 min. Check the cake with tooth pick. Toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake should come clean when the cake is ready.

 

Do you remember how the heroes were introduced in 80′s and 90′s Malayalam movies? I think the most common one was where the hero gets down from an old bus, in front of a chayakada (tea shop). The hero then proceeds to the chayakada, order a tea and some snacks all the while keeping the curious chayakadakkaran (tea shop wallah) on suspense about his trip intentions. Fast forward to today’s movie… the hero alights from a helicopter or at least a S class Benz and goes straight to shoot a gunda (gangster). To be fair, I think the movie makers should not be blamed. They are trying to make realistic movies these days and in today’s reality chayakadas are a rare sight and the roads are crowded with Audi, BMW etc;

May be I can suggest an alternative introduction scene. The hero can alight from his fancy car in front of a Bhel Puri stand. During my past visits to Kerala, I’ve noticed more number of “Yadav Bhel Puri Stand/Corner” than chayakadas. I’m referring to Cochin here. I’m not saying Parippu Vada and the sort has become extinct but looks like they have found a more comfortable space in well lit shelves of bakeries than the “niram mangiya kannadi koodu” (fainted glass box) of chayakada, just like our heroes coming in a fancy car instead of a bus! All I can say is whenever I see a Bhel Puri Stand, a phrase comes to my mind “Kochiyude marunna mukham” (changing face of Cochin), I think I read it in some Newspaper or magazine. Well, I’m not saying this is bad, it’s change! Whether you like it or not, change is the only constant thing or so the experts say….

See what all things came to my mind when I sat down to write about this humble snack, no wonder the typical Kerala communist used to thrive on it  ;) Anyways, parippu vada dominated my evening tea sessions during the last trip. Mummy (my MIL) makes very good parippu vadas. So here’s her recipe specially for you :)

As promised in the earlier post, I do have step by step pictures taken in mummy’s kitchen. Here you go…

Soak chana dal for 2-2.5 hours. Drain the water completely…

Pat dry the drained dal with a clean kitchen towel. Grind the dal in mixie for a few seconds. Please note that that the dal should be crushed and should not be made into a smooth paste.

Add all the other ingredients, except oil, to the dal and combine it gently. Make small balls with the dal mix.

Heat oil in a deep pan. Meanwhile, wet your hands and flatten each ball within your palms. When the oil is hot enough add the flattened dal mix…

Fry the vadas on low-medium heat, till it becomes crispy and a dark shade of brown. Drain the fried vadas on tissue paper…

 

 

Usually when I call my friends, just after saying “hello”, the first thing I ask is “are you busy”? I like to talk to a person when he or she is relaxed and not in a rush. Are you also like that? So let me ask you, are you busy now? Because I’m in a mood to chat today. If you are busy… no probs, go finish your work and come back, I’ll wait for you.

So the other day I told you I was in Kerala, right? The thing is… after our India trip in March, we didnt even put back our suitcases. Yep, we were planning another trip, but not to India. It’s been sometime we had a proper travel holiday. For the past 2-3 years, whenever we plan a trip, it gets jinxed! So this time, we wanted to make it happen so badly and planned ahead for a three week long holiday, everything was almost ready. But…. ten days before our trip, Jose got a flu. We slowed down our trip planning a bit, so that he could take rest and recover fast. Hhmmm… but the flu had more determination than our desire to go for holiday. Anyways, it was good that our suitcases were still outside, because within a day’s notice, we traveled to India. The day we landed (just before Easter), I was down with fever! There you go… So that’s the story about being in India again so soon.

Now this brings me back to the very question that Jose and myself always discuss about. Whether we should plan things or not? Since, nothing in my life has happened as per plans, I thought “planning” is not somebody I can trust completely and so I decided to part ways. But Jose is a believer in planning and gives more chances to him and they continue to be friends. So are you a friend of “planning” or not?

Btw, did I tell you… I’m back in Bahrain now. Reached here yesterday night. I’m happy to be back mainly for one reason… it’s sooooo hot back home. (Sounds silly when say you are going back to the Middle East, because its hotter in India!) Oh, and don’t forget the official and unofficial power cuts! So here’s something that helps you to stay cool.

I used to have “thayir idli” regularly during my college days. After my classes, I used to go straight to Tesschechy’s (my aunt’s) house and she used to make this for me, whenever they had Idli for breakfast. I remember being fascinated with mini idlis during my childhood days and I should say the fascination still continues.

So next time you make idlis at home, try this one. It’s healthy,refreshing, tasty and super easy! We made it once for a tea party at home along with some cookies and cakes, but this turned out to be the star attraction! Again, this time also, I dont have the step by step pictures. I promise to post a detailed one next time, agreed?

 

All set for Easter?  This year, we are celebrating Easter at home in Kerala. This is the first time we are celebrating Easter with family after our wedding. Btw, if you are wondering how I ended up in Kerala, again so soon, that’s another story. I’ll tell you about it in the next post. I know you are busy now and not in a mood to listen to my stories ;) So here’s a chicken dry roast recipe. I dont have step by step pics for this one.  I made it sometime ago and was planning to post on some special occasion. Look’s like now is the time….

We wish you a very happy Easter with your loved ones! May the risen Christ bless you and your family!

Here you go…

 

This fish curry is kind of a revelation to me. So far I thought we use varutharacha (roasted and ground coconut paste) masala only for theeyal and chicken or other meat items. I never knew this can be used for fish curry also. During my recent trip, when mummy (my MIL) said she is going to make varutharacha meen curry, I was quite fascinated by the idea. I was thinking about the different varieties of fish curry that we have in Kerala itself. In my home, if you say meen curry, it’s usually meen vevichathu. I think the only dish where we use coconut milk for fish is fish molly.

Btw, I was on lent that time and I was strongly tempted to break it. The aroma, the colour and the richness of the gravy was too good to resist. And me a poor soul with a weak heart couldnt resist, so I tasted it. Since, the title of “queen of excuses” is conferred upon me by my dear husband, I decided to do justice to the title. So here is my excuse… I tasted it for YOU, yes, for You only. If I had to post the recipe on the blog, I should know how it tastes right? I mean, I want only the best for YOU. Ok, jokes apart, I just tasted it and found it really hard not to lavishly enjoy it. We had it with rice that day, but it’s good with chapathi also. I think, it goes best with puttu, if you like the combination of meen chaaru (fish gravy) and puttu. Try it sometime and let me know, okies? Though I took the step by step pictures, of making the curry, I forgot to get the exact measurements of the recipe from mummy. So she wrote the whole recipe and scanned and sent it to me :)

Btw, have you started planning the Easter Menu? I’m planning to make some kozhukatta for Osana perunnal/kuruthola perunnal (Palm Sunday). Also, if you want to make Indri appam and paalu for pesaha, you can find the recipes here.

Now, back to our fish curry recipe. Here is the pic and the recipe:

Heat a pan and dry roast the ingredients listed under ‘to roast and grind’…

Roast it till it turns golden brown…

Let it cool completely. Add 2-3 tbsp of water to the roasted ingredients and grind it to a thick smooth paste…

Meanwhile, heat oil in a manchatti (earthen pot) or a thick bottomed vessel. Add pearl onions, ginger, garlic and green chilli…

After around 4-5 mins, add turmeric powder and cook for a min or two…

Add ground paste, salt and water. Let it boil. Add cocoum pieces and cook for a few more mins…

When the gravy boils, add fish pieces and swirl the pot, so that the fish pieces are coated with the gravy…

Cover and cook. When the fish is half done, add tomato (refer notes) and continue cooking till the fish is done…

Switch off the gas and add 1 tbsp of coconut oil and curry leaves. Let the curry rests for a while for the flavour to settle in…

 

I’ve always associated this dish with restaurants. I dont have a single memory of having green peas curry/masala from home. I’m not sure why we never made it at home. But that doesnt stop me from having good memories of this dish. As a family (i’m referring to my family back home) we like to eat out. It was and still is an unwritten rule that if we go out, we need to eat/drink something or if that didnt happen we make sure to take some parcel at least.

It was the same during my recent trip also. When I got out of doctor’s room, after my wisdom tooth extraction, I saw a small  greasy brown cover in appa’s hand. For a moment, I was wondering, what he could buy from a hospital? Because if it’s medicine, there shouldn’t be any grease on the cover. Since I’m an easy prey to curiosity, even before talking to my parents, I got hold of the cover and opened it. It had some ethakkappam and parippu vada :)

Btw, another thing that surprised me was that hospitals have a small kiosk these days. In a hospital food counter you naturally expect to have some healthy stuff right? But if you have a look at the the things they sell, you will get an answer why everybody is talking about alarming rate of life style diseases among Malayalees. Kiosks have hardly anything healthy. They mostly have ethakkappam, parippu vada (lentil fritters), uzhunnu vada (medu vada), vegetable cutlet, puffs etc! I’m not surprised, there is a good crowd in front of the kiosks all the time! I know.. I’ve no right to preach or judge but just sharing my observation ;)

Anyways, let’s come back to our green peas masala. Back home on Sundays, after the morning mass… you guessed it. The parcel was appam/idiyappam with peas curry/masala. It was something I used to look forward to, may be because, it was different from what we normally had. Also I like curries with thick gravy. Peas masala always had a thick gravy, so I used to soak the renda (frill) of the palappam with this masala. I like the crispy golden colured renda to be fully soaked with the gravy (ahhhh… I’m literally drooling now). I like it best when appam is soaked in the fish molly’s gravy!

I’ve tried to recreate the peas masala from my memory. It had a similar colour and texture and I guess taste is also somewhat similar. All in all, it pretty much looked and tasted like what I had in my memory. Hope you too will like it. Though it tastes best with appam or idiyappam, I like it with almost anything, be it chapathi, dosa, rice, pulao etc;

Here goes the pics and the recipe…

Soak the dried green peas overnight…

Pressure cook the soaked green peas till its done. Separate the cooked peas and the stock…

Heat oil in a deep pan and add chopped onions. Cook till it turns golden brown. Add chopped ginger and garlic and green chilli. Cook for a few more minutes…

Add masala powders and cook till the oil starts appearing…

Add a tbsp or two of stock to bring the masalas together and mix well. Remove it from fire and let it cool slightly…

Grind the masala to a smooth paste, by adding a little stock…

In the same pan, fry the ground masala for a min or two, add curry leaves, salt and chopped tomato…

Add the remaining stock to the masala and let it boil…

Add the cooked peas and mix well…

Add medium thick coconut milk and let it boil. Cover and cook for a few more minutes…

Adjust the consistency to suit your taste and garnish with chopped coriander leaves…

 

So… I’m back in Bahrain, after almost a month long trip to India. Well, it wasnt completely a pleasure trip. I was down with cold n flu for a few days followed by wisdom tooth extraction followed by a mini watermelon cheek phase for a few more days… But no complaints, all in all it was a good trip. The highlight of the trip was one week stay at my brother’s place in Mumbai. It was an absolute fun week. Usually when I’m in Mumbai, I run from one shop to another, but this time I wanted to spend maximum time with my darling nephews and made the most of it. Also not to forget the late night chatting sessions with my sister in law ;)

Coming to this recipe, it’s my all time favorite “nalumani palaharam” (tea time snack) and I can see many of you saying, mine too :) I think, pazham pori is a weakness for most of the Malayalees. Just the thought of sitting on the verandah on a rainy evening with hot and crispy ethakkappam on one hand and with piping hot tea on another, makes me homesick! Btw, what do you call it… ethakkappam or pazham pori? I like ethakkappam, because pazham pori sounds commercial to me, whereas ethakkappam is very homely! This post is special to me for one more reason, in my 5 + years of blogging, this is the first time I’m posting something which is made by my amma :)

I collected a number of recipes this time but I decided to post this first. For the simple reason that I had ethakkappam almost every other day during this trip! In the end I started wondering whether I should take noyambu (lent) for ethakkappam, though I still refuse to call it as an overdose of ethakkappam. Come on… is there such a thing as an overdose of pazham pori, I think I enjoy the feeling of being stuffed up rather than feeling sorry afterwards for not having it ;)

I forgot to ask you… when you think of pazham pori/ethakkapam what’s the image that comes to your mind? Is it the long yellow coloured pazham pori? Somehow my pazham pori image is always small sized golden brown coloured ones. So I asked amma to make it specifically like that. Anyways, without testing your patience further, here is the step by step pics and the recipe.

We also made some bread fritters with the excess batter, you can see the pic below.

Kerala Banana…

Peel the bananas and slice into thin pieces…

Make the batter with flour, salt, sugar and water…

Dip the sliced banana in the batter…

Fry till it turns golden brown colour…

Drain excess oil…