Appam

Appam is a very important part of Kerala cuisine. A great breakfast dish. Crisp lacy on the outside, soft and fluffy in the middle.

Recipe for around 15 - 18 appams is given below.

White rice - 2 cups

Coconut - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 tbsp

Yeast - 1/2 tsp

Cooked rice - 4 tbsp

( I used brown. Using white rice gives a whiter batter)

Salt - 1 tsp

Wash and soak the white rice I water for 2 hours.

Drain the rice and add all the ingredients - except salt and make a fine paste with ample water. Do not make the batter very thin.

Transfer into a tall container as the batter will rise.

Keep aside for 4 - 5 hrs. 

Just before making the appam add the salt to batter.

Mix well.

Heat an appam chatti or kadai with lid.

Do not oil the kadai too much. I use a non stick kadai.

Pour a ladle of batter in the middle of the kadai and twirl.

Cook covered for 1 minute. After a minute the edges would have become crisp and the middle cooked. Notice the holes in the middle.

Do not turn the appam over. Appam tends to stick to one other if placed one on top of other. So spread out on the plate.

Serve hot with kadala curry or stew or mushroom coconut milk curry.

Aam ka panna / green mango juice

Recipe courtesy : Rani Sethi

Summer is here and it is the mango season. The best way to beat the heat is by having loads of liquids - water and juice.

 Mango juice is made from ripe mangoes, but raw mango juice tastes equally heavenly and is much more lighter too.

To know about the health benefits of green mango juice, please visit  - http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aam_panna

There is an ingredient in Aam ka panna called black salt. It is not commonly used in South India. In Malayalam it is called - induppu. 

Health benefits (courtesy Wikipedia) - Kala Namak is considered a cooling spice in Ayurvedic medicine and is used as a laxative and digestive aid. It is also believed to relieve intestinal gas and heartburn.

Ingredients -

Raw mango - 1 kg

Jeera powder - 1 tbsp

Sugar - 1 cup

Kala namak - 1 tbsp

Mint leaf - 1 cup

Wash the mangoes very well.

Pressure cook them in ample water (3 cups) for 3 whistles.

Now starts a long process of extracting the pulp. Use a sturdy sieve to remove all the pulp from he skin and seeds.

(I forgot take a snap of the pulp! )

What should be left will be this

Now add the sugar, jeera powder and black salt. Mix well.

To know if the pulp is balanced, take a spoon of it, mix in 3 spoons of water and taste.

Adjust to suit your taste. Add more sugar if too sour.

The mint leaves.

Chop them fine and add to the pulp.

Mix well.

Pour into a bottle and refridgerate till necessary.

To make Aam ka panna:

Take 2 or 3 tbsp of pulp and dilute with ice cold water. Mix very well as this pulp is thick. Enjoy!

Methi muthia

There is something about Gujarati food which attracts me. And the names are so poetic(?).

This dish is made using fenugreek leaf which is high in iron. And it is steamed. 

Taste bhi, health bhi!

Of course kids might like it deep fried. That is a great way to make them eat this not-so-tasty leaf.

Ingredients for dough:

Fenugreek leaf - 2 cups

Green chilli - 2

Ginger - 2 inch piece

Lemon juice - from 1/2 lemon

Rava / Semolina - 1/3 cup

Wheat flour - 1/2 cup

Besan / kadala mav / channa dal powder - 1 tbsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Asafoetida powder - 1 tsp

Sugar - 1 tbsp

Oil - 1 & 1/2 tbsp 

While the fenugreek leaves do have an acquired taste, the beginners would may be prefer to remove the pungent taste by squeezing out the juice. We do not do so at home. The following step is NOT recommended ....but optional.

Chop the fenugreek leaves finely

Add salt and keep aside for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes squeeze to remove water.

Use this in the recipe. 

Grind the green chilli and ginger into a coarse paste and add to the squeezed fenugreek leaf.

Mix all the dry powders together.

And add to the green mix.

Mix well and add the lime juice.

Make a dough. Add water carefully. The dough loosens easily.

Add 2 tbsp oil and mix well.

If you plan to make deep fried muthias, make small balls, flatten and deep fry now.

For the steamed version 

Divide the dough into equal parts and make thick logs.

Steam for 10 - 15 minutes.

Check 1:

Not done :

Check 2 :

The knife came out easily and the dough was not sticking on.

Now cool the logs.

Cut them into 1 inch thick segments.

Spluttering:

Oil - 1 tbsp

Ground nuts - 1tbsp

Jeera - 1 tsp

Til seeds - 1 tsp

Asafoetida - 2 tsp

Heat oil and splutter the mustard seeds followed by til.

Next goes in the asafoetida powder.

Tip in the cut muthias.

Mix well and fry for 2 or 3 minutes till edges start to brown.

Serve hot with green and sweet chutney.