Meen Pollichethe

Have been meaning to try meen pollichethe since some time but always thought it was an arduous recipe. But since I had some frozen fish fillets, thought it was the best time to experiment. These fillets come very clean and without any odor. Meen pollichethe ideally needs banana leaves but I had to be satisfied with aluminium foil. Next time I see banana leaves in the market, I am going to grab one only to try this recipe. The popular choice of fish for this recipe is Pearl Fish (Karimeen).

Ingredients

1. Fish - 1/2 kg one can either cut it into small piece or leave the fillets as thus

Lightly coat the fish with 1/2 tspn each of powdered red chilly plus black pepper and 1/4 tspn of turmeric powder along with salt and leave it in the fridge for minimum 30 minutes. Fry this lightly in coconut oil.

For the masala

2. Onion - 1 or shallots 1/2 cup (thinly sliced) I prefer shallots
3. Ginger - 1 tbspn sliced
4. Garlic - 1 tnspn sliced
5. Green chilly - 2 or 3 number sliced
6. Chilly powder - 1 tspn
7. Coriander powder - 1 tspn
8. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
9. Lemon juice - 1/2 lemon
10. Curry leaves - a few
12. Tomato - 1 number cut into small piece
11. Coconut powder - 1 or 2 tbspn (or thick coconut milk 1/4 cup)

Method

Saute Ginger, garlic and green chilly in coconut oil until the raw smell leaves and add the onions. Fry it until the onion becomes soft. Add the powders and then add the tomato. Saute it until tomato becomes soft. Now add the coconut powder. It should be a semi solid masala. Spread half of the masala on the leaf or foil and place the fish above it. Cover the fish with the rest of the masala. Close it well and bake it for 20 minutes. I used my air fryer this time. (160 degrees). After I took it out I also placed it on a pan and let it sizzle for sometime while I placed a heavier pan on top.
The result was good. Had it with boiled tapioca.

I modified the recipe from here.

 

Appam - Lace Hoppers made with Rice and Wheat

Appam in Kerala can trace it's origin to the Syrian Christians. It may have been brought over by the Jews and the original appam may have changed over the years.

There are two kinds of Appam, depending on the amount of coconut and the way it is cooked. Palappam and Vellayappam. The  Palappam requires less coconut and has the lacy outer appearance. It uses coconut milk and is also called kallappam if Toddy is used. Since unadulterated toddy is hard to get in Kerala these days and not at all here in Gulf :), one always substitute yeast for toddy.

The Vellayappam requires more coconut and is made thicker. It is made with coconut ground coarsely. The more coconut you use the more tastier. While I scrimp on coconut, my MIL is lavish with it since she needs only to use the coconut in her backyard! Palappam needs more time if you have only one "Chatti" while if you have a big non stick pan you can make more than one Vellayappam. If you have holes popping up when you pour the mix then you can be sure that the fermentation is right and your appam is going to behave well :)

The batter when it has almost doubled:

Both the appams can be eaten with curries like chicken/mutton/vegetable stew or the kadala curry. No Easter or Christmas morning is complete without the appam and this tradition is still carried out in most households. 

These days it is possible to buy the instant appam mixes and some of them are good.

The traditional Appam Chatti is made of iron. If the vessel is good, it behaves just like your non stick pan and needs no oil. But in case your appam sticks, you can rub a cut onion or potato or fry an egg :) 

The traditional appam chatti made of iron

Palappam

Now for the recipes:

(Palappam) Appam made with rice 

Ingredients:

1. Raw rice / Pachari– 3 cup (you can also use basmati rice of any variety)

2. Coconut - 1 1/2 cup or Coconut Milk 1 1/2 cups
 

3. Boiled Rice - 1 1/2 cup

4. Salt to taste

5. Sugar-3 tblspn

6. Yeast -1/2 to 1 tsp

7. Water as needed

Method

Wash the rice well and soak it for around 3 hours. Grind this along with coconut and boiled rice. Meanwhile let the yeast rise in warm water mixed with sugar. Alternatively you can skip this step and grind the yeast along with the rice. Leave the mixture covered overnight for fermentation. Make sure you select a vessel that can hold the mix when it may double up.

Instead of grinding boiled rice you can also take a cup of water and add 2 or 3 spoons of rice powder to it and boil it until it becomes thick. This can be added to the ground rice. One can also use Kallu or Toddy instead of yeast.

Before the entry of non stick pans, appam was made in iron tava with a dip in the centre. If you are using the iron tava, make sure to rub the tava with a little vegetable oil before making each appam. A non stick tava do not need any oil. 

For making appam, a ladle of mix is poured and the tava is slowly turned around to make the lacy outer. This is left for slow cooking while covered. Excess mix will settle in the center to provide the puffy look. 

One can also make the appam with rice powder and coconut milk. The rest of the ingredients will remain the same. For 3 cups of rice powder you may add 1 and 1/2 cup of coconut milk. If you are using the instant powder: 2 Tbspn powder mixed with 1 cup of warm water equals one cup of coconut milk.

Now for the Appam with Wheat

Appam made with wheat powder

Just trying a different shape!

1. Wheat powder - 2 cup

2. Milk - 2 Tbspn

3. Yeast - 1/2 tspn

4. Sugar - 3 Tbspn

5. Coconut milk - 1/4 cup or more (coconut increases the softness and taste)

6. Salt as required

Mix the above and leave it for fermentation overnight. Make appam as earlier mentioned.

Vellayappam 

Ingredients:

1. Raw rice / Pachari– 3 cup (you can also use basmati rice of any variety)

2. Coconut- 1& 1/2 cup (more if you have!)

3. Boiled Rice -  1& 1/2 cup

4. Salt to taste

5. Sugar-3 tblspn

6. Yeast -1 tsp

7. Water as needed

Method

Wash the rice well and soak it for around 3 hours. Grind the rice and when it is half way through, grind coconut and boiled rice. Meanwhile let the yeast rise in warm water mixed with sugar. Alternatively you can skip this step and grind the yeast along with the rice. Leave the mixture covered overnight for fermentation. 

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Only recently I discovered that one can entirely skip the boiled rice or boiled rice powder. Earlier when rice was pounded at home, the sieving of the powdered flour always left some residue (തരി). The homemakers may have incorporated this into the mix by adding water and boiling it instead of wasting it. ( കപ്പി കാച്ചുക ). Hence if you have slightly roasted rice powder, making appam is a very easy job. Just mix it with enough coconut powder or ground coconut depending on the appam you want, along with enough yeast and leave it for fermentation.
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A bit of history!

Am reading Wilbur Smith's Seventh Scroll and that is when I came across something similar to appam the Injera bread! Upon checking the recipe I find that it is almost similar except for the addition of coconut. So I guess appam must have it's origin in Africa (Ethiopia)! Here is a picture of Injera bread. 

The Injera bread uses the teff flour. It is a flour made with the smallest grain on earth and it seems it is grown in India too. It looks like rice or wheat.

Puri and an Easy Potato Curry

It is not everyday that I let my household indulge in puri. But it is a favourite and the easiest curry that you can make with it is the potato curry.

Now if one asks me which is the best puri that you have indulged in, then there is one answer.. those from the Indian Coffee House! Ahh... how many of you have tasted it? As children, during our long trips to Mavelikara or Trivandrum, a stop at Changanacherry Coffee House was a must. Recently I relived the memories by stopping at Ponkunnam Coffee House. The potato curry still tastes the same. The one I make at home "almost" tastes similar but without the beetroot, the riot of color is missing. I learned this recipe from my MIL who picked it up during her stay in the once thriving township of Gwalior Rayons at Mavoor, Calicut. The township housed Indians from all over the country and hence there was variety in the cuisine. Since it tasted similar to the one at the Indian Coffee House and was an easy one, I have never tried the one my Mother makes at home. She always makes the drier version which is also similar to the Masala Dosa filling. This potato curry is very easy. All you need is to chop, chop, chop and put, put, put everything into a vessel with enough water. There is no sauteing and meanwhile you can prepare the puri for frying.

Since Puri Recipe is common, I am only going to give you a link to another site.

Potato Curry

Ingredients

1. Potato - 4 medium ones, chopped into pieces
2. Big onions - 2 Nos. - finely chopped
3. Green Chilly - 3 or 4 depending on your taste, sliced lengthwise
4. Ginger - 1/2 inch - finely chopped
5. Tomato - 2 nos. - chopped into small pieces
6. Mustard - 1/2 tspn
7. Small Onions - 4-5 finely sliced
8. Red Chilly - 1
9. Curry leaves - a few
10. Coriander leaves - a small bunch

Method

Put all the items from 1-5 into a vessel and pour enough water to cover the potatoes. Once it starts boiling, add enough salt and lower the flame. When potato is cooked, add the coriander leaves and lightly mash a few pieces of potato to make the curry thick. Switch off the flame and in another pan splutter mustard seeds in 2 tbspn of oil. Add the red chilly, onions and curry leaves and fry until the onions are browned. Pour this over the curry and enjoy!

Puttu or Steamed Rice Cake

Puttu or Kerala’s own steamed rice cake is easy to make. All you need is roasted rice powder and a bit of scraped coconut. 

My memory of puttu making takes me yet again to Trivandrum and to my maternal grandmother. Until the end of 80’s most middle class families in Kerala were self sufficient when it came to milk, egg and vegetables. Each family had one or two cows, a few hens and a vegetable garden. At my grandmother’s place, if it was puttu for breakfast, she could be seen supervising the milking man and her maid while her hand would be busy kneading the puttu dough. She had no time to spare so wherever she went, the vessel accompanied her. She would exchange a bit of gossip with the milking man who comes early in the morning, scold her maid and also try to coax my grandfather to get some fresh fish. Oh! how I miss her still! 

I tried my hand at puttu making only after I got married. All along I thought the secret of a good puttu was to make the dough lump free but that was laid to rest by my FIL. He taught me another secret too, while trying to eat the dry puttu that I had painstakingly made for him. He said it does not have enough water and the secret to gauge it is to take the dough in your palm and press it. If it stays together, then it is done, else you need to add water. Thank you Achaya!

But here in Kuwait all I need is my food processor and the right amount of water. My hands don’t even have to touch the rice powder! Anyway, here’s my puttu made with the smallest puttu maker. More common is the longer ones. Earlier they used to be made with bamboo too.

Puttu or Steamed Rice Cake

Ingredients

1.      Lightly Roasted Rice – 2 cups

2.      Water – ¾ cup

3.      Salt – ½ tspn

4.      Coconut – as per your taste

Knead the dough by adding water in small quantities. Don’t forget to add salt! As I said earlier, you can test the dough by pressing it in your palms. Try to get rid of as much as the lumps to get a smooth puttu or else it will turn out like the puttu provided in school and college hostels! One would need lots of curries or tea to swallow the puttu.

Method

Take the puttu steamer and out a Tspn of coconut. Fill the dough until the brim and top it with more coconut. Once the steam starts coming from the top, wait for 2 minutes and transfer it into a plate. 

Continue this process until you finish the dough. Puttu can be eaten with banana or with curries like black channa or egg roast.

Kerala's Puttu is similar to Assam's Pitha. If you don't have the puttu maker you can steam puttu using a good cloth which is steamed over a narrow necked vessel. Hop over to the following blog to get a better look!