Thenga Chor (Coconut Rice)

My grandma makes the best coconut rice in the whole world!!!! it is so delicious that even if we make it just like her it wont taste the same. she sure has a magic touch. :) Today i have tried my best to make it just like her i know it doesnt taste like hers but still i tried my best.

In calicut coconut rice is made of matta rice. its round and brown and takes some time to cook. Malabaries usually use this rice. There is also white matte rice but as its not available in singapore i use the brown rice. Another rice which is commonly used is ponni rice. Its white long grain rice and very easy to cook. But my son doesnt like it so i hardly use it.

Back to coconut rice/thenga chor here are the ingredients

2 tbsps dalda or ghee (i used dalda)
4-5 shallots
3 cups rice
1.5 cup grated coconut
1 tbsp methi seeds/ulluva
1 tbsp fennel seeds/perunjeerakam/saunf
7 cups water
salt to taste

In a pressure cooker heat the dalda or ghee and add finely chopped shallots to it

When the shallots are brown add water

Grind the coconut and fennel seeds into a fine paste with less water

When the water boils add the rice, methi seeds, coconut, salt and cardamon to it.

Pressure cook in low flame for 30 mts.

When the steam is gone remove the whistle and mix the rice well.

Now its ready to serve with any chicken curry with gravy!


Srivalli here goes another entry from me for the Rice Mela! i hope your not fed up of me!! LOL!

Neyichor/ Ghee rice

Neyichor/Ghee rice is another very famous rice in malabar. And my kiddos love it. I was late today from my daughter school so i though i'll make this because its easy and fast and i had chicken curry to go with it!!

I usually make neychor and biriyani with kaima or kola rice, which gives an authentic malabar taste! but as didnt have it at home i made it with basmati rice.

Well another reason is i wanted to send this enty for Srivallis Rice Mela!!

All you'll need for this is--

4 cups basmati rice
4 cardomons
4 cloves
a small piece of cinnamon
1 small onion
2 tbsp of ghee
salt to taste
8 cups of water

Heat the ghee in a nonstick vessel or any other heavy bottom vessel.
Add the spices to it.
When the smaell comes out of the spieces add the onions and saute till brown.
After that add water and salt to it.
Once the water boils add rice to it and cook till all the water drains off.

Its so easy and ur kids will sure love this with or without any curry!




Heres the pic of neyichor with chicken curry.

Malabar chicken curry with coconut

Today my daughter had her orientation for her new class K1. (wow! time sure flies!!!) i though i would be back soon so i took the chicken out and didnt cook any thing else and went to her school. but when i came back it was already 11:30am and my kiddos usually have lunch by 12:30 ish. i was like OMG!! what im going to do now..

i decided to make neyichor (ghee rice) and chicken curry. but i knew that with all sauteing and stuff i cant make it by 12:30.


Then my sis called me and told me to come online. While i was chatting with her she gave me this recipe. She told me just mix every thing and toss it into the cooker and add grinded coconut.. i was like what??? no sauteing and no oil???? how come.. she said try it..
And then i just did just like she told me and it really came out good.

chicken 500 grms washed and cut into small pieces
1 medium sized onion
1 small tomato
1 large potato
1.5 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp turmeric pwdr
1 tsp red chilli pwdr
2.5 tbsp coriander pwdr
1 tsp pepper pwdr
curry leaves, mint and coriander leaves - a handful
grated coconut - 1 cup
1 tsp fennel seeds/perumjeerakam
salt to taste

mix all the ingredients except the curry,mint and coriander leaves and coconut and fennel seeds in a pressure cooker. My sis told me not to add water but i added 1/4th cup to avoid burning (i didnt want to take the risk!!)LOL! Cook for 15 mts.

Grind the coconut and fennel seeds to a fine paste with 1/4 cup of water

When the pressure is gone add the coconut paste to it. And cook on a low flame till bubbles appear. Add all the leaves to it.

Serve hot with neychor or any type of pathiris.



This is the first time im cooking a chicken curry oilless!! :) Thanks to my dear sis for sharing such a wonderful recipe with me. I love you and miss you. **sniff sniff** :-)

Lauki Halwa

I have been thinking to make soething sweet for a long time. And when i had a really large Lauki i thought ok then i'll make Laki halwa today. This is the first time i'm trying it and this is a combination of 3 recipes i got from google!

i made it like this...

3 cups of grated lauki
1 and half cups of milk
1/2 cup milk maid
3 cardomons
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp ghee
a pinch of salt

Heat ghee in a non stick and add lauki to it. Once its soft and translucent add milk. And cook on slow fire till the milk reduces. As it reduces all a pinch of salt and milkmaid. Mix well. when it reduces again add sugar and mix till its thick. Garnish with almonds and cashew nuts.

I always cool any desserts and home made halwas coz my kiddos like it that way. I hope u guys will like it!!


im sending this entry for the Sweet Series!! Look out for more halwas and burfies in my blog!

Puttu and kadala curry (Steamed rice flour and brown channa curry)

This is one of the very very famous dishes in kerala. and one of the most popular break fast item too. im blogging this for Srivalli's Rice Mela she really gives a reason to cook and blog! You rock girl!!! :)


Puttu is made of parboiled rice flour. It is first washed and dried and then grinded to make flour. Well actually thats the procedure in kerala.. but since im in Singapore i go for the ready made puttu flour which is much more easier!! LOL!

Brown channa curry or chicken curry or stews goes well with puttu. today morning i made brown channa curry to go with it.





For the puttu you'll need

3 cups rice flour
1 cup water
1-2 cups of scraped coconut
salt to taste

Take the flour in a large bowl and add salt to it. Add the water slowly to it to make the puttu dough. The puttu dough is very loose and should not be any lumps in it. If u find any lumps break it and keep on mixing it.

• If you are using roasted flour you might need more water. so add water accordingly.
  

Now boil water in the puttu kutti (puttu maker). u can see that there are 2 parts of the puttu kutti. Boil water in the below one.

Mean while in the kutti (the upper part of the puttu maker) Add 1 tbsp of coconut. On top of that add 3 tbsp of flour. Again coconut and flour. repeat this till the kutti is full.




But be sure that the top and bottom of the puttu kutti should be filled with coconut layer. Now fix the kutti on top of the puttu maker. And boil it till the steam comes out from the top.

Puttu can also be eaten with bananas and sugar... :)





Now here goes the brown channa curry or kadala curry

1 medium sized onion thinly sliced
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 cups brown channa
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 medium sized tomato cut into small pieces
1 1/2 tbsp coriander pwdr
1/2 tbsp red chilli pwdr (if u want to make it more spicy u can add more.)
1/4 tbsp haldi pwdr
1 spring curry leaves
salt to taste
oil for sauting
4 cups of water

heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add mustard seeds to it. when they splutter add onions and curry leaves to it. When the onions are brownish add ginger garlic paste to it and saute for another 1 mt. After that add tomatoes to it. When the tomatoes are soft add the masalas to it. Once oil separates form the mixture add the brown channa and water to it and presurre cook for 20-25 mts.

And now its ready to serve with puttu!

Paliyakka or Pal vayakka

Pal in malayalam means milk and vayakka means banana. Its not the normal banana you get all over the world LOL! Kerala has a special type of banana that u can cook and eat. And u can also make many dishes of it even when its raw, half ripe and ripe.

Im glad we get the same type of bananas in Singapore!!! with out it ramazan would not be the same ;)

So this is recipe is the ripe bananas with sago and coconut!

2 ripe kerala bananas
1 cup sago or sabu daana
sugar to taste
salt 1/4 tsp
1 and half cup grated coconut
1/2 tsp fennel seeds or saunf
2-3 shallots

• Cut the bananas in to thin long pieces and boil in a vessel with sufficent water
• Boil the sabu daana with sufficent water seperatly.
• Mean while grind the coconut, fennel seeds and shallots into a thick fine paste.
• When the banana and the sago are cooked and soft combine it into one vessal and add the grinded paste to it and cook again.
• Mix well and serve hot!
  

Bread Pudding!

This is one of easiest puddings i have ever made! Even if i have an unexpected guest i can make it with in half n hour!!! And its so yummy!!! and my kiddos love it! And most of the ingredients you need for it will be at home all the time!

The recipe..

5 white bread with the sides trimmed off
1 ltr of milk
11/2 tbsps of china grass pwdr
sugar to sprinkle
3/4th tin condensed milk (if u want to make it sweeter u can add the whole tin)
butter to apply on the bread
2-3 drops of vanilla essence (optional)





Boil milk and china grass pwdr together.
Mean while butter both the sides of the bread and sprinkle sugar on both sides.
Arrange it in one layer on a flat dish.
Pour the boiled milk on top of it.
Let it cool and then refridgerate it.
Serve cool...

This entry goes for the Sweet Series hosted at Paajaka

Parippu vada/ Daal vada

In our place, kerala daal vadas are made of Toor daal. But since i met my dear friend sasikala who introduced me to the Tamil cuisine i have been making daal vadas with channa daal. And ofcourse its tastier than the ones i used to make!

For this you'll need

1 cup channa daal soaked for 3-4 hrs
1 onion finely sliced
3-4 green chillies finely sliced
1 tbsp saunf or fennel seeds
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
salt to taste
oil for deep frying

• grind the daal into a fine paste with out adding water
• mix the rest of the ingredients to it
• make small patties and deep fry!

Malabar Chicken Biriyani!

Biriyani is one of the most famous and lovable dishes in malabar.. name any occation u can find any type of biriyani in the main course. Chicken, mutton,fish,prawn,beef.. every malabari will start drooling seeing it!! LOL!!!

here is my biriyani recipe i made yesterday for my BIL! he gave me a 9/10 for it and when i asked him where did my 1 point go he said he needed more salt in rice! LOL!

here goes my recipe!

onions - 800grms
ginger garlic paste - 5 tbsps
small green chilli - 17 nons (to be made into a paste without adding water)
tomatoes - 250 grms
lime juice - 5 tbsps
yogurt - 2 tbsp
coriander leaves - 1 cup finely chopped
mint leaves - 1/2 cup finely chopped
curry leaves - 2 springs finely chopped
coriander pwdr - 1 1/4 tbsp
garam masala pwder (home made) - 1 tbsp
Chicken - 900 grms
rice - 7 cups (basmati or kola/kaima that u get in kerala)
ghee and dalda - as required
water - 10 cups

Take a large non-stick vessal (see my non stick vessal in pic! )and heat about 2-3 tbsp of dalda. If u dont use dalda u can use ghee i use both for biriyani. Add finely chopped onions



When the onions are brown add ginger garlic paste to it. mix well and when its nicely done add green chilli paste to it. After 2 mts add tomatoes and mix well. Let all the ingredients cook well.






now add the lime juice and yogurt to it. and mix well. Then add chicken, coiander,mint,curry leaver to it and cook for 15-20 mts. Be sure u have got enough ghee or dalda in it so that it wont get burned.

Meanwhile in another vessel heat 2 tbsp of ghee or dalda and add cashewnuts and raisin and fry then till brown. Add one at a time not together. After frying keep them in a seperate plate

Add water to the ghee. When the water boils add salt and rice to it. Make sure that the water is salty enough for the rice (by tasting it) and there is sufficent ghee (insert a spoon in the water and touch and see wthether it oily. (If its not oily u can add more ghee to it).

Close the vessel and cook till all the water drains away. When the water drains it will be more that 3/4th cooked.

Now by this time the chicken will also be cooked. Check whether its cooked if it is lets moove on to the dum part!!

in the chicken vessel add 1/2 tbsp of ghee or dalda in the center and all the for sides. After that put rice on top of it.




Evenly spread the rice and add a pinch of turmeric pwder, garam masala pwdr, the fried raisin and cashew nuts and lil bit of ghee. Like this make 3 layes of rice. And now cook again till the steam comes up. This will take another 15-20 mts. Please note that the chicken will be on the bottom of the vessel and the 3 layers of rice will be on top of it. ie, one layer of chicken and 3 layers of rice.



When the steam comes up turn off the stove and let it cool for 15 mts. After that open up and seperate the rice. Dont sepeate all the rice from the chicken there should be lil rice in the chicken mix.

Now its ready to eat!!! Serve hot with green chutney, raita, pickel!!! yummmmm


this is my second entry for the rice mela!