Kerala Style Pork Fry / Nadan Panniyearchi Ularthiyathu

For special occasions like Easter or Christmas, meat is an inevitable dish in Kerala Christian homes, especially Erachi Ularthiyathu / Meat stir fried! I was surprised that I had not posted a Kerala meat fry recipe even after 5+ years of blogging!! It is because whenever I make meat, it does not last long enough to take pictures and also for such common recipes I have wondered about the need to post as almost everybody knows how to make it :).... But now a days I have been getting many requests for such recipes and hence I will make it a point to post those common Kerala recipes.....If you have any such requests do let me know :).... 

Pork is an absolute favorite of mine… I know a lot of you may be thinking while reading this as to how I could possibly think of eating Pork during Lent ;)....  Sorry guys I made this dish quite some time back and somehow delayed posting it.... Whenever I get hold of Pork, I tend to make Pork Veengali and this time for a change I made it like Kerala Beef fry..... Every home has their own way of making erachi ularthiyathu and this is how we make it at home.... If you are a Pork lover do try this and enjoy it with rice, appam, chapathi, bread or as a short eat with your favorite brand of rum/brandy/whiskey/toddy like a true Achayan (malayali Christian guy) way :D :D

Read More »

Read more »

Nadan Kozhi Mappas / Chicken Mappas / Kerala Chicken Curry in Creamy Coconut Sauce

Kozhi Mappas or Chicken Mappas is a typical Syrian Christian delicacy, which is very common in Kerala Christian homes....Chicken cooked in a spiced creamy coconut milk and served with Palappam or Vellayappam is a regular breakfast in Christian families especially on occasions like Christmas, Easter and is also one of the items in ceremonies like Othukalyanam (Engagements), Weddings, Baptism etc... Back home we used to add potato and carrot along with the chicken and these veggie pieces cooked along with chicken in the gravy tastes delicious! You can make different versions of Mappas by substituting chicken with egg, mutton, beef, fish, duck or with vegetables like Broccoli, cauliflower, ladies finger, bread fruit etc…. Chicken mappas can be served with Palappam, Vellayappam, Chapathi, Idiyappam, Puttu or even with plain boiled rice with spiced yogurt.... 

Read More »

Read more »

Kottayam Churuttu Recipe / Thin Flour Pastry Sheets Filled with Sweetened Rice Filling

Churuttu, is a famous Syrian Christian Palaharam / snack from Kottayam region of Kerala. These cones of syrupy avalose podi enclosed in wafer thin Mandaka / pastry are a favorite of everyone in Kottayam. Mammi cheduthi’s churuttu is one of the palaharam / snack I grew up with and I absolutely love it. Back home we used to go to Kurishu Palli, which is very close to Mammi cheduthi’s house every Friday evening and on our way back we usually stopped at her place to buy a packet of Churuttu. Even now I buy Churuttu only from her place during my vacation; I have tried Churuttu from other places too.... but none of them came even close to Mammi’s churuttu :).... I always wanted to make churuttu at home as the filling is same as Avalose Unda but I wondered how to make mandaka at home..... Got one recipe from Lathika George’s book “TheSuriani Kitchen” and her version of Mandaka is made out of unroasted rice flour mixed with boiling water. Then I did a Google search and found one out here and also a video clipping from a Malayalam channel showcasing Mammi cheduthi’s recipe..... so I made the mandaka combining all and it came out quite good.....  And for filling I used my Avalose Unda recipe,,,,,

Read More »

Read more »

Kuzhalappam Vilayichathu~ A traditional deep fried snack of Kerala

Kuzhalappam, another famous Kerala delicacy my aunt made for me when I was in Kerala. It is a traditional snack of Kerala which can be made in bulk and can be stored for a couple of months. Nowadays it’s common to get Kuzhalappam in bakeries and my home town Kottayam is very famous for Mammi Cheduthi’s Kuzhalappam and Churuttu (another Kerala snack). Usually the store bought ones are made of maida / all purpose flour and are whiter in colour and homemade ones are made of rice flour and are of brown in colour. The kuzhalappams can also be coated with a light sugar or jaggery syrup.

Read More »

Read more »

I am back after my summer holidays…..

Hi everybody…. I am back home after a hectic three weeks in Kerala. After our Europe trip we went to Kerala and it’s been almost 2months since I am away from my blog. Even though I had scheduled some posts, I was not able to respond to your comments or queries on time or to visit your blogs ... School re- opened for my son yesterday and I am trying to settle down slowly…. Since I have not really started cooking new recipe posts have to wait for a little while… I have collected some traditional recipes while I was in Kerala… will make all of them as soon as I settle here…. mean while I will post some pictures from our trip…

While I was in Kerala our little Aaryan celebrated his 7th birthday and as usual I made a cake for him and this time he wanted a Mickey Mouse birthday cake… He loved the cake even though I am not too happy with the look of the final product…. It could have made much better if I had some more time and icing tools with me :( … By the time I finished icing the cake it was already evening and no natural light was available to take a decent photo…. Anyways better luck next time right? ;)

On another note after waiting for a couple of months I finally got the "The Big Book of Baking” that I won on Divya’s blog… thank you Divya for sending such a lovely book! It was lovely to talk to some of my close blogger friends like Ria, Maria, Bindu, Mini and of course my college friend cum blogger Bharathy! Even though we couldn’t meet each other it was lovely talking to you all girls :)

Read More »

Read more »