Chemmeen Chooru

This is a quick stir fried prawn rice, that's popular among Kerala's Syrian Christian households. It marries the sweetness of prawns with the pungency of kokum, on a plain rice canvas. The rich yellow colour comes from the turmeric marinade, with powdered red chilies adding a hint of red and a load of heat. You can use Kashmiri red chilies or paprika for a more  muted heat level, but a true Keralite stir fry needs to be tongue tingling spicy. In this recipe, although kokum would be ideal, it can be substituted with a sweet vinegar, like sherry vinegar.

On the rice, I've used rose-matta, as it has a mild earthy taste and fluffy gains that retain their bite. If you're using another rice, cook it al-dente before adding it to the prawn, as else the grain would turn to mush in the vigourous sitrring.

Ingredients

• 150 g prawn, cleaned and deveined
• 1 cup cooked rose matta rice
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tbsp pepper
• 6-7 curry leaves
• 1 green chilli, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 inch ginger, chopped
• 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp oil

Method

1. Wash the prawn and marinate it in 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp turmeric and 1 tsp red chilli powder. Rub the marinade into the prawn and leave aside for 30 minutes.
2. Heat the oil in a pan and crackle the mustard seeds and curry leaves.
3. Add the ginger and garlic and fry on a high heat till the garlic starts to brown.
4. Add the onions and chopped green chilli and stir around. Cook until the onions turn translucent.
5. Add the prawns and the remaining red chilli powder and sear the prawns on both sides.
6. Add the sherry vinegar and when it starts boiling, add the water. 
7. Add the remaining salt and pepper and cook until the prawns turn a light pink.
8. Add the rice and stir vigourously until the masala evenly coats the rice.
9. Continue cooking on high heat until it dries out.
10. Serve up hot right off the pan with a cold beer or soda.

Jenji Gaasi

Sweet crab and a spicy coconut gravy; it shouldn't work, the spices should overpower the delicate flavour of the crab...bah that rubbish, this is wonderful and easy way of cooking crab, with the coconut base balancing out the sweetness and the spice to create this wonderful chemistry of flavour. This is a Manglorean dish and is best had with plain streamed rice. I love crab, especially cutting into it and extricating that wonderful meat. I also prefer to cook it with the shell, as it protects the meat from the heat through the slow cooking process. The dish takes around 40 minutes of preparation and 20 minutes of cooking.

Ingredients

• 250 g blue crab, cleaned and cut into large chunks
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 inch ginger, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 medium tomato, chopped into large chunks
• 2 red chilies, reconstituted in hot water
• 1 thumb sized piece of tamarind
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 1 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 6 peppercorns
• 1 star anise
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• salt to taste
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup water

Method

1. Wash the crab, and sprinkle with salt and turmeric. Be restrained with the salt, as the crab will naturally be a little salty. Rub the turmeric and salt into the crab chunks.
2. Dry roast the peppercorns, coriander sees, star anise and cumin together, until they release their aroma. Keep stirring it around to prevent the cumin from burning.
3. Add the roasted spices to the ginger, garlic, fenugreek seeds, red chilies, coconut and tamarind, add a little water and grind into a thick and smooth paste.
4. Heat the oil in a pan, and add the onions. Fry until translucent.
5. Add the tomatoes and fry till it softens.
6. Add the ground paste and stir around. Cook the paste until the oil starts to separate.
7. Add the crab pieces and toss around so that the paste covers the crab. Add the water and salt to taste and cook covered for 8-10 minutes, till the crab cooks through.
8. Once done, take off the heat and let it rest for a few minutes.
9. Serve up over a base of plain rice.

Butter Garlic Prawns

There's this place that recently opened up in Bangalore, Mahesh Lunch Home, which makes a fantastic Crab in Butter-Garlic. Its rich and buttery, and perfectly complements the sweetness of the crab. I've been meaning to make this for quite some time, but never could find crabs at the local store, so I substituted them with prawns. The texture may differ, but it has that sweetness that works wonderfully with the crisp garlic. I've also added some red chili flakes and pepper to add specks of heat to cut through the sweetness. Its great with some lightly salted rice.

Ingredients

• 10-12 medium prawns, shelled and deveined
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4-5 peppercorns, ground
• 1 dried red chili with flakes, finely chopped
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt to taste

Method

1. Add the red chili and some salt to the prawns, and rub it into the prawns. Set aside to marinate for 30 minutes.
2. Heat the oil in a pan, and add the butter.
3. Let the butter foam and add the garlic.
4. Once the garlic releases its aroma, add the pepper and chopped red chili. 
5. Stir around once and add the prawns and salt to taste.
6. Cook the prawns till they turn a light pink and take off the heat.
7. Let the prawns rest for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove and place it on a bed of rice.
8. Pour the butter-garlic sauce over the rice. Add a dash of lime and tuck in.

Egg Kothu Paratha

A street snack that holds fort in Tamil Nadu (particularly Madurai) and Kerala, and quite casually fends of attacks from McD and KFC, this wonderfully spicy scramble is a great snack for when you get the munchies or have some left over parathas. It can be made with leftover rotis as well, but comes out much better with flaky multi-layered parathas, like Kerala parotas or Laccha paratha. At street vendors, its made on iron griddles with cleavers to chop and scramble all the ingredients together, and makes for quite an colourful sight as the vendor tosses and scrambles all of the ingredients together. At home, any thick-bottomed pan will do, as everything is chopped or shredded before cooking.

Ingredients

• 1 multi-layered paratha, shredded
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 inch ginger, chopped
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 1 small green chili, chopped
• 1 bunch curry leaves
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp oil
• salt to taste

Method

1. Heat the oil on high heat and add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds and curry leaves. Let it sputter and release it aroma.
2. Add the ginger, garlic and chili, and fry lightly.
3. Add the onion and cook until it turns translucent, and then add the coriander powder and turmeric powder. Stir around to ensure that the powders coat the onions and let it cook for a minute.
4. Stir in the tomatoes and cook until it turns a little mushy.
5. Pour the egg in and let it form up before scrambling. Reduce the heat and add the shredded paratha and salt to taste.
6. Toss the mixture around so that it evenly coats the paratha, and to further scramble the egg. Shake the pan to loosen the paratha and masala and serve up hot, with a garnish of cilantro for a colourful flourish.

Mutton Donne Biryani

A gloriously minty and ever popular biryani here in Bangalore, with significant variations from one locality to another. This quick and hassle-free biryani comes in colours that vary from bright almost phosphorent green to a muted yellow with specks of green. This biryani can be made with chicken or mutton and needs around 40 minutes to prepare, with the cooking time being around 15-20 minutes. The proportions in this recipe will be enough for around 4 people. Serve with a chilled cucumber and onion raita and a hard boiled egg.

Ingredients

Mutton

• 1/2 kg Mutton, cut into big bite sized chunks
• 1 tsp red chili power
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 cup yogurt
• 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• salt to taste
• 1 tbsp oil

Mint Paste

• 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 green chilies, chopped
• 1 bunch mint leaves, chopped
• 1 bunch coriander leaves with stalks (or substitute with a handful of mint)
• 1 tbsp oil

Biryani

• 3 cups basmati rice, washed and cleaned
• 3 green cardamom pods
• 2-3 strands of mace
• 8 black peppercorns
• 2 inches cinnamon, broken
• 1 tbsp ghee
• salt to taste

Method

Mutton

1. Mix the ingredients, other than the mutton and oil, together to create a thick paste and rub it into the mutton.
2. Set aside for 2 hours.
3. Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and add the mutton with the marinade.
4. Stir and cook the mutton for 2-3 minutes and add 5 cups of water.
5. Close the pressure cooker and cook for 10 minutes, until the meat is tender.
6. Separate the meat from the stock and keep both aside.

Mint Paste

1. Heat the oil and ghee together and add the onions.
2. Fry the onions till they turn brown around the edges.
3. Add the ginger garlic paste and chopped green chilies and let it cook for 2 minutes.
4. Add the mint and coriander and let it cooked covered for another 2 minutes.
5. Take it off the heat, let it cool and make a blitz in a food processor with a little water to make a thick paste.

Biryani

1. Heat the ghee in a cooking pot and add the spices.
2. Cook until fragrant and add the mint paste, rice and mutton.
3. Stir it around to ensure that the paste evenly coats the mutton and the rice.
4. Add the stock, cover the lid and let it cook on medium/high heat till the rice absorbes all of the liquid.
5. Serve with raita and a hard-boiled egg.

Meen Moilee

One of my favourite curries, especially with appams as it adds some bite to cut the sweetness of the appam. Incredibly easy to make, with just a hand-full of spices and loads of coconut milk. It can be made with any tender white meat, like chicken or a firm white fleshed fish, like pomfret, bass. I made this with fillets of Emperor fish, which added a sweetness to the entire dish. You can have this curry with plain rice or appams, the recipe for which can be found here: Appam with Nadan Mutta Curry
Ingredients

• 200 g firm white fish fillets or 400g white fish steaks; cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 cup thick coconut milk (first extraction)
• 1/2 cups thin coconut milk (second extraction)
• 2 cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 inch cinnamon
• 4 green cardamoms
• 2 split green chilies
• 1 inch ginger
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 1 tomato cubed
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Wash the fish and add some salt and half the turmeric to it. Coat the fish evenly with the turmeric and salt and set aside for at least 30 minutes.
2. Crush the ginger and garlic together into a thick paste.
3. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a flat bottomed pan and add the fish. Lightly fry the fish till it turns brown around the edges and remove from the oil.
4. Add the cloves, cardamom, curry leaves and cinnamon and lightly fry it to release its aroma. Add the garlic-ginger paste, onions and green chilies, and fry till the onions turn translucent. 
5. Then add the tomatoes and cook until they turn tender. Then add the thin coconut milk, bay leaf and fish, and let it cook on high heat for around 4 minutes.
6. Add the remaining turmeric, salt and pepper to taste and lower the heat. Let is stew covered for another 5-7 minutes, so that the flavours meld together.
7. Now add the thick coconut milk and let it simmer on a low heat for 3 minutes before taking it off the heat.
8. Add the lime juice after taking it off the heat and let it sit aside covered for 10 minutes before serving.

Appams with Nadan Egg Masala

There's nothing quite like tucking into crisp appams with a sipcy egg curry on a cold wet afternoon. I've been craving appams ever since Nilam decided to flood Bangalore, and while I'm making these on an overcast, but dry, afternoon, I'm telling myself its the sentiment that counts.

The accompaniment is simple enough, a kerala style dry egg masala called Nadan Mutta Roast, but appams are great by themselves with a little sugar or with a coconut based stew. 


Appams

Ingredients

• 2 cups rice flour
• 3/4 cup cooked rice
• 2 1/4 cups water
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 tsp dry yeast
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 4 tbsp sugar
• salt to taste

Method

1. Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water and leave it aside to activate and turn frothy
2. Mix the rice flour, 2 cups water and coconut milk together.
3. Grind the cooked rice with 1/4 cup water to make a thick and smooth paste.
4. Add the paste to the rice flour mix, and run the mix through a food processor to create a thin and consistent batter.
5. Add the yeast-water and sugar to the batter and set aside, covered, in a warm place for at least 2 hours
6. After the batter has risen, add some salt and stir the batter once.
7. Heat an appa-chetti and pour one ladle full of batter, swirl it around to fan out the appam and cover and let it cook on a low flame for 2 minutes.
8. Once the appam is cooked, with the underside turning brown, pull it off the appa-chetti and dig in. With the amount of coconut in there is should just slip off the appa-chetti.
9. With respect to the appa-chetti, I used a non-stick chetti, but its just as easy to make it with a flattish kadai/wok with a lid. Just remember to add a drop of oil and swirl that around the kadai if you're using a non-stick one.

Nadan Mutta Roast (Kerala style Egg Masala)

Ingredients

• 3 hard boiled eggs
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 cup water
• 6-7 curry leaves
• 1 chopped green chili
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 inch ginger, chopped
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp ground pepper
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• salt to taste

Method

1. Halve the hard boiled eggs.
2. Mix the garam masala, coriander power, pepper, turmeric and red chili power together with some water to make a thick paste.
3. Heat the oil in the pan and add the mustard seeds.
4. Once they stop crackling, add the ginger, garlic and green chills, and fry for a minute.
5. Add the onion and sweat them out till they turn translucent.
6. Add the curry leaves and let them splutter before adding the tomatoes and spice paste.
7. Stir the mixture so that the spice paste evenly coats the tomatoes and let them soften.
8. Add some water, salt to taste and reduce the heat and cover to let the masala stew.
9. Once the tomatoes have softened and the masala is pulpy, add the eggs, pour the masala over them and cover and cook for a minute on a low flame.
10. Stir the egg curry once and dry it out uncovered if a little wet, and serve up with the appams.