Pani kashayam / home remedy for common cold and fever

Rainy season is here in Kerala. It is always better to have something made with natural ingredients, than the usual paracetamol.
One small glass of this concoction made with a variety of leaves and other natural ingredients, will help clear your nose and provide relief from head ache.

Yield : 700 ml

Ingredients:

Tulasi leaf - 60

Young guava leaf / Amrood ke patte / pera yilai - 8

Panikoorka / Karpooravalli /  ajwain patte / spanish  thyme - 2

Ginger / inji / adrak- 1 inch

Pepper - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp heaped

Jeera / cumin seed - 1 tsp (not in picture)

Coriander seeds / sabut dhania / malli - 1 tbsp (not in picture)

Water - 1 liter

Method:

Wash the leaves well and remove the skin from the ginger. 

Pound the ginger and pepper.

Add all the ingredients together and bring the water to a rolling boil.

Boil till the water becomes 750 mil.

Strain and drink as hot as possible.

This has to be consumed in for 4 hours. Heat before you drink each time.

Panikoorka Karpooravalli Bhajji / Spanish Thyme fritter

Panikoorka in Malayalam, Karpooravalli in Sanskrit has the scientific name : Plectranthus amboinicus.

This leaf is a great medicine for mild cold / cough and fever. It's juice is administered to (even) new born babies when they have phlegm in their system.

I never knew Bhajji could be made with these leaves.
Thanks to my aunt Mrs. Radha Sreeram for telling me that it was / can be done.

I got a potted plant from my uncle, Mr.Ananthakrishnan.

You can find the quantity of ingredients and basic recipe of Bhajji here.
Batter is made with Besan / chickpea flour, rice four, salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder, dosa batter (optional) & asafoetida powder.
Oil for deep frying.

Enjoy as a snack with tea, or with your dal-chawal.

Pictorial:

Diwali marundu / Deepavali Lehyam / homemade medicine for digestion

ONLY on Diwali / Deepavali day are you forced to get up much before the sun rises (read 3 am) and eat a 'medicine' and not a sweet before having an oil bath!

This medicine or marundu or lehyam is made at home and tastes great initially, but seares the throat towards the end. But my grandmother and mother-in-law would rather swear by it than Digene or any other digestive.
Made on a low fire with constant stirring, a large quantity is made in a cauldron and the house gets a pharmacy smell. It is packed away for travelling bachelors and is given as a quick remedy to any one with digestion problems. Newly delivered mothers are given evil, sadistically large balls as 'gumman' (local name for the gas monster) which has entered the empty womb, needs to be thrown out.

This medicine is not made in my household anymore, but after reading an article, I got reminded of it and my old recipe book + mother-in-law's brain and some vague memories of my grandmom's recipe from my aunts helped me revive this dying medicine. All the usual anti-gas home remedial stuff (ginger, omam / ayamodakam/ ajwain, jeera) are used to make this.
I would ask all of you to make this and keep it stored.
Hope my children don't hate me for making them eat this on an empty stomach this early on Diwali morning!
But if they want to eat all those sweets and deep-fried stuff, they better have this!

P.S. - If you have very young kids at home, you can add a little honey before feeding them.

Ingredients:
Fresh Young Ginger - 1 cup
Jaggery - nearly 3/4 cup
Cloves - 11
Cinnamon stick - 1 1/2 inch
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Pepper - 1 tsp
Cardamom - 2
Ayamodakam / Omam / ajwain - 1 tbsp
Ghee - 2 tsp (optional)

Method:
Dry fry all the spices in a hot pan for a minute and cool to room temperature.
Now powder this and add the ginger.
Grind into a smooth paste.
Measure the ground quantity and take 75% of this quantity jaggery. (Meaning, I got 1 cup of ground spices, so I used 3/4 cup.)
Melt the jaggery in little water and sieve to remove all the dirt.
Into this add the ground spices and start cooking on a low flame.
In the beginning you will not have to stir much, but after it thickens, the stirring has to be continuous.
Once it cooks down to a thick paste, you may add the ghee if you wish.
Heat through and mix well.
Cool and store in a glass vessel / bharani.

Youtube video link: https://youtu.be/n7vRsWSdsMM

Pictorial:

Dry fry the spices

Powder the spices

Powdered spices

Add the fresh ginger. Use young ones, which have lesser fibre.

Finely ground spice paste

After adding the spice mix to the jaggery syrup

45 minutes later, it has thickened enough to add ghee.

How it looks on Diwali day!

Tomato Basil / Coriander Soup

It has been raining heavily here and what better way to enjoy the rains than by having a hot bowl of soup with crusty bread? And this soup is so easy to make!

Tomato - 1 kg, chopped
(If you have the patience blanch and skin and deseed, otherwise just chop fine, like I did!)
Basil / Coriander stalk - 1 handful
Tomato ketchup - 2 tbsp
Onion -1, chopped
Garlic - 4 cloves, chopped
Celery (opt) - 1 stalk
Salt
Pepper
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Cream (opt) - 1 tsp per bowl
Butter / Olive oil / Vegetable oil - 1 tbsp

Heat the oil/butter and saute the onion, garlic and celery on a low flame till translucent.
Now add the tomato, salt, pepper, sugar and tomato ketchup.
Cover and cook for 15 minutes.
Add the chopped basil / coriander stalk and cook covered on low flame for a further 5 minutes.
Now you need to blend this and adjust seasoning.
Then reheat just before serving.
Serve with croutons and swirls of cream.

Masala Tea / Chai

There is nothing as tasty as Masala Tea on a rainy day. Serve it with vada / bonda or banana chips or kadachakka chips and to quote The Carpenters - 'rainy days and mondays' will never get you down.

To make 2 cups
Ingredients:
Water - 1 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Ginger - 1 inch slice
Cardamom - 2 pods
Mint leaves - 6 (optional)
Tea dust - 1 tbsp (Preferably 'strong' variety , do not use tea leaf)

Method:
Pound the ginger and cardamom together.

Boil the water and milk together with sugar, ginger, cardamom and torn mint leaves (if using).

Add the tea and reduce flame. Simmer for 3 -5 minutes until you nearly reach the desired color. It will darken further while resting.

Cover and keep aside for further 2 minutes.

Strain into another vessel.

Serve hot with your favorite snack.

Garlic Rasam (Tamil Nadu)

This rasam has a most heavenly appetizing aroma. This is a recipe from my neighboring state Tamil Nadu, given tome by my old maid, Mrs.Valliammal Das. You will find another version of garlic rasam in Kerala.

To be ground:
Coriander seed - 1/2 tbsp
Dry red chillies - 2 no:s
Pepper corn - 6 no:s
Cumin seed - 1/2 tbsp
curry leaf - 6 no:s
Garlic - 4 large pods (must yield 1 tbsp heaped of garlic paste)

Tamarind - a small lime sized ball, soaked in warm water
Tomato -2 no:s , finely chopped
Coriander leaf / Cilantro - 3tbsp, finely chopped
Salt - 1 tsp, you can add more later, if necessary
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp

To splutter:
Ghee (clarified butter) - 1tbsp
Mustard seed - 1 tsp

Pound the spices together into a coarse paste.
Remove 2 cups of tamarind pulp from the tamarind.

Add all the ingredients (ground spices, tomato, coriander leaf, salt, turmeric powder and asafoetida) to the tamarind pulp. Mix well.
Put this mixture on the stove and keep on a low flame. Do not stir.

When it gets frothy, turn of the flame. DO NOT BOIL. Taste and add more salt if necessary.

Heat ghee. Add mustard seed. When it splutters, add to the rasam.
Serve hot.

Rasam (jeera)

This rasam has a pretty strong taste and is good for people who are suffering from cold. It is a great appetiser too.

Tamarind - small lime sized ball soaked in warm water and about 3 cups of pulp removed.
Salt - 1tsp
Pepper powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seed powder - 2 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaf - 4 no:s
Ghee - 1tsp

For spluttering :
Ghee(clarified butter) - 1tbsp
mustard seeds - 1tsp
cumin seed - 1 tsp
pepper powder - 1 pinch
curry leaf - 2 no:s

Mix all the ingredients with the tamarind pulp and boil till it reduces into half. Then add 2 cups of water to it and boil for about 1 minute. Taste and add more salt if necessary.
Heat ghee. Add mustard. When it splutters, add rest of the ingredients. Add this to the rasam.
Enjoy.