2 dozen posts in a month!!..yuppiee..presenting, The Mighty "Kappa" had a great fall....

The Kappa Remake (Tapioca or Cassava Root) , or rather..the greatest injustice to the royal kappa..from its mighty place from a main dish, to a noble side server!!

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Its really surprising, how physical distances of just a couple of kilometers even within the same region, brings about such drastic variations to taste and modes of preparation of food.

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My husband hails from the district of Kottayam, which is more agricultural in nature. Almost every home in this region will have "Kappa's" in their backyard, and hence is an inevitable part of the main diet, usually as the main dish, along with Fish-curry.

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Bharathy, of Spicy Chillie, who also hails from Kottayam has a very detailed description of the making of the fish -curry here. Thanks Bharathy, it saved me a lot of effort in tying it all out!!

Myself, on the other hand, is from Kochi, the bussiieee-urban city bout 80 kms from Kottayam, where our homes just get the barest luxury to have "sample cultivations", ie, just one item each of plants..if ever one is interested in gardening or cultivating own crops, this is!!!

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So, kappa's are all purchased from the markets, as far as "Kochi-nivasi's" are concerned, this item just stays as smaller servings, along with "Puttu" for breakfasts. (or atlest, thats how my mom used to prepare it).

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I had purchased a pack of frozen Kappa and prepared it as a "Special -homeward bound-treat" for Santho, last weekend, which was consumed with the greatest of pleasure!

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The same menu was served twice, but got not a sign of rejection..but again, few pieces of the boiled kappa was left behind, which looked too unworthy (as of my thoughts!!) to be served as a main server, and hence..readily settled down for a remake , by chopping it into pieces, and the rest is what you call....the "demobilization" of the "crown prince"!!!

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Pop mustard seeds in oil, saut together chopped onions, ginger, garlic, curry leaves...add in the powders (chillie and turmeric) , the chopped kappa's, salt to taste in little water, brought to boil till it attains a thick consistency.

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There was a can of green peas in my freezer, which I had opened the previous day, so what was left went straight in too, and the can to the bin, of course!

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This was served with Chappathi for dinner...very well knowing what would be the exact comments to come out from my husband.

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I know most bloggers, who say about the appreciation they get for their dishes, but here I am who is the least ashamed to boast about the "distressed look" that my hubby had on his face, to see their royal "Kappa" in this state, all chopped to pieces!!!

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.He had no other choice, but to have it. "Gosh, how can you ever do this "..was what was in his mind. But for me, it was just a warm treat, a taste going back to my mom's kitchen...and once again, taking me back to my...principle "Of girls to learn cooking not from our mothers, but from our mother-in-laws!!!" This is a proof to it"..Hummm, will it be injustice to say so???..or rather I will put in this way.."Girls better learn cooking from that person, whose food your husnabd likes the best! (that's better , isnt it?)

...atleast, I like the way my mom cooks, so had a great dinner!

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This is also my entry to Nandita's Leftover Remake Event.Hope she accepts it, as I am one day late for submission.

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MW Basic, Entry II @ Avial and Weekend Lunch

My second entry to the MW Basic event.....the making of a typical kerala vegetable side-dish, "Avial". It basically consists of all sorts of vegetables, steamed and mixed with a coconut paste/chutney and cooked for a couple of minutes.

While preparing Avial (0r any dish which involves different vegetables that require diffrent levels of cooking time) in a MW, the only thing which we need to keep in mind is the arrangement of the veggies.

As shown in the picture above, arrange the "tough" veggies - yam, potatoes, raw banana, drumsticks, radish, ....all around the outer edge of the MW safe bowl, and the "less tougher" ones like okra (lady's finger), tomato, pumpkin, beans, brinjal, cucumber, ivy gourd, green chillie...all to the centre of the bowl for even cooking. No need to add water. They will cook by itself!

Power: 70-75 %

Time : 4-5 minutes. (Keep for some more time if they are not tender yet. Do not change the power setting.)

For the coconut paste, grind together..coconut scraping, garlic, ginger, cumin and baby onions coarsely in the grinder with just a couple of teaspoons of water.

Add the paste to the cooked vegetables, salt to taste, and keep back in the below setting.

Power: 70-75 %
Time : 2-3 minutes.

Give about 5 minutes standing time . Mix 1 tbs of cooking oil. Avial is done!

A portion of the coconut paste was left behind...didn't have the mind to throw it off..and hence used it to make this tomato-curry...which was my "all time favourite", right from childhood..as its is not hot or spicy, at all. This was done on the stove, simultaneously as the avial was taking form in the MW.

Boil few tomatoes, onions(sliced the way you like...I prefer to cut both as thin circles) in water along with some green chillie, salt and turmeric powder.

Add half a cup of yougurt to the coconut paste, give one run in the mixer to blend it properly, and add to the cooked tomato and bring till boil, or infact, just till bubbles start to form. Do not over boil, lest the coconut and yougurt gets churned.

Pop mustard seeds in oil along with red chillie flakes and curry leaves (a few), and pour over the tomato charu-curry, and mix well. That's it!

just go ahead and have it striaght hot with rice.

That's how I presented the weekend lunch for Santho (hubby), who comes home from work to have lunch. No, not that I dont go for work, of course I do!!..but, I get the luxury of a 2 day weekend (friday and saturday), while he, likle most other private company staffs, gets just one day and a half.

So, last saturday lunch platter was so laid in front of him with rice to be taken along with Avial, Tomato-charu-curry, carrot thoran (just similar to my previous post on Spinach(Palak) thoran, and hence not taking the pain to type the making once again) and cucumber salad.

But guess what...all I got from him was a " Hummm, oookkk" !!

"Whattt, I had prepared all these, fresh and served straight from the pan..and not a single word of appreciation!!!!!...Mmmyy!!..

"Ooh, well....I know how to cheer him up.....

......push the rice aside a bit, and lay this yummy thing just next to it !!!

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That is all what's needed to make his day !!!...happy lunch, deary!

Microwave basic @ Palak Thoran

Srivalli of Cooking 4 all Seasons has come up with various events on Microwave cooking, and this month, its on MW basics. With my just few basic knowledge in this regard, decided to go for it..and as someone , some where..would have said...."things are best explained when done using an example", this is my first entry to the event..

Making of Palak Thoran in MW.

Now the term "Thoran" is one universal name for the side dish prepared for meals, especially rice in Kerala cooking. The basic ingredients just remains the same, only the master-veg keeps changing..be it carrot, beans, cabbage..and here, its Palak.

I purposefully went for Palak, and only prefers it cooked this way in MW, as the stove cooked one just seems to get too soggy once its done. And for all those out there, who are not much good fans of Palak, (just with the lame excuse that it gets sogged up once cooked, inspite of its all healthy aspects)..this is the Full-Stop to it!!!

Ingredients used here:

Palak - 1 bunch

Oil - 1 tbs

Onions - 2 small

Grated coconut - 3-4 tbs

Garlic, green chillie, curry leaves, turmeric powder, salt (as per taste)

The general skeleton of all cooking, remains the same..be it on stove, or in MW.

The 3 basic elements which needs to be kept in mind while cooking in MW is

a) Power

b) Cooking Time

c) Standing Time

and once we get a flavour of the above seetings for each kind of dish (naturally, in course of time, and by trial and error!!)...Eurekkaaaa, we are done!!!!

Back to Palak,

Step 1: Heat the oil.

The main advantage of using MW is that it just requires very little oil compared to stove cooking. Max 1-2 tbs.

Power - High.

Time - 30 secs...always. Needn't go for more than that.

Do note, keep the cover of the dish (MW safe bowl, of course) closed.

Step 2 : Add in the basics

Mustard seeds, onions, garlic, green chillie and curry leaves to the heated oil and mix well with the spoon. MW it in the below setting, again as usual, with the cover over the bowl.

Power - High.
Time - 1 minute.

If using large quantity of onions..say 3-4 , keep for 1 more minute, till you see the light sauted look and colour on them. See image below.

Step 3 : Add in the master veggies

Now add into the sauted mix, the chopped Palak, little turmeric powder, grated coconut and salt. Mix well. Do not add any water!

Once the vegetable is added, (which ever is being used), always keep in mind to reduce the Power-level. Keep it around 70-75 % only, and with increased cooking time.

Power - 75%

Time - 3-4 minutes.

Do mix the ingredients once in between the cooking process...(and see that the salt is as per your taste ). Just press the Stop button, take it out, mix and place it back. Don't worry, the power and time setting, will not be affected, even if you interrupt in between, unless you cut off the power supply.

Once the set time is up, leave it on for a couple of minutes...called the Standing time, because the cooking process will be still on...say, leave it as such undisturbed for 3-4 minutes. Meanwhile, you can finish off washing the other dishes, chopper boards, and cutleries!!! Once you are done..the curry is done too.

Take the dish from the MW, and be very careful in lifting the lid up. We do have the tendency to peep into the bowl to see if it cooked, but get the hot steam land hot straight right on your face!!! Raise the lid in such a manner that it opens towards you, blocking the steam from yourself.

Here you are, with my Palak thoran, which is cooked in very less oil...not the least soggy, and taste much better tooo !!!

Enjoy...try it out, and let me know how it went.

Cheers,

Sona..the kitchen scientist.

Meen pollichathu...the NRI version !!!!

Have you guys ever wondered what would be the inner feeling of a fish, who is aware that its going to turn into a fry?..a chicken, waiting for it to be broiled in a rotiserrie ......oooouuuuuhhhh!!! (not the way to start a food blog..isnt it...I am being devilish!)

Saw the post by Nags and Mishmash on this recipie, and had been longing to try it out ever since..but alas!!..just didn't have the basic infrastructure to go forward with it...you neither have a Karimeen(Pearl-spot), nor the plantain leaf (vaaya-ela)!!

You can never even think of a "Meen pollichathu" without these. But as it was Onam season all in the air for Mallus lately, and as a famous quote goes for all keralites..."Ullathu kondu Onam polae"..(just to mean -Make the best of what you've got), decided to experiment with the next best available resource....the only fish that was available in my freezer(dont know what its called)....and ofcourse, Alluminium foil !!!! (Thats what experiementing is all about, isn't it).

(You make a decision to do something, and nothing's gonna hold you back!!!!)

I had no idea how its gonna turn out to be..as I didn't know for how long I should grill the fish and so, to be on the safer side, followed the recipie by Mishmash, of grilling the fish after lightly frying in oil. (Atleast, the fish will stay cook, and be still edible..if my attempt turns out to be a bumper flop).

Here is my version of Meen Pollichathu, with a twist...!!!

(God bless you, Jack and Rose....!!! I am sorry I had to do this to you...but, thats what cooking non-veg is all to mankind)

May to Aug '07

Mickey-Mouse dosa

Layered Veg Biriyani

Lemon Rice

Oat-meal cookies

Vermicilli Payasam

Tomato Rice

Stuffed Kuboos