Yummy Beef Curry With Potatoes

This beef curry was made for my Sunday breakfast with vellayappam. It’s a simple recipe though result is quite rich and spicy. The kids stick to eating just the potatoes from the curry.

I have used veal beef. In Trivandrum, I buy them from Spencer’s at Pattom. I should be in Trivandrum for another three months. Then hopefully I and the kiddos will be in Kochi with my husband. It’s been a tough 16 months of separation. The Armed Forces should send only unmarried officers to non-family stations. Otherwise they should give more vacations to people posted there.

In the picture given, the gravy is quite thick. Actually all the posts so far, they are just normal everyday food. I don’t make them with a recipe book in hand. The photos are original ones with all the shortcuts and mistakes. No particular recipe is followed as such. When I am writing the recipe for the blog I have to think about the quantities used and the proper steps. I have to add the steps that I may have accidently skipped while making it. I mean for a north Indian making aloo paratha, they don’t actually think about the steps or ingredients while making it, it comes naturally. Each time they make it, the recipe maybe slightly different because they lack a certain ingredient or they decided to add an extra ingredient. Hope you got my point.

BEEF CURRY

Ingredients:

• Beef– ½ kg
• Turmeric – ¼ tsp.
•  Vinegar – 1 tsp
• Salt – to taste
• Oil- 2 tbsp.
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Dry red chillies – 2
• Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
• Onion – 2 medium
• Green chillies -2
• Garlic – 5
• Ginger – 1 inch pc
• Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
• Chilli powder – 1 tsp
•  Coriander Powder – 2 tbsp
•  Crushed peppercorns – 1tsp
• Tomato -2
•  Potatoes -2
• Garam masala – ½ tsp
• Thin coconut milk – 2 cups
• Thick Coconut milk – ½ cup
•   Coriander leaves

Method of Preparation:

1.   Clean and cut the beef and poataoes into medium cubes

2.   Pressure cook the beef in 1 ½ cup of water with salt, turmeric and vinegar on medium fire for three to four whistles.

3.   Heat oil, add mustard seeds. When they crackle, add dry chillies and curry leaves. Add chopped onion, ginger, garlic and slit green chillies. Sauté till the onion starts to brown.

4.   On low flame, add coriander powder, chilli powder and turmeric powder. When the masalas are cooked add the chopped tomato and salt. Cook till oil clears.

5.   Add the potato cubes. Mix well. Add 2 cups thin coconut milk. Check salt.

6.   When the potatoes are half cooked, add the beef with its water. Cover and cook.

7.   Add ½ cup of thick coconut milk, crushed pepper and garam masala. Mix well. Check the salt. Do not boil.

8.   Garnish with chopped coriander.

Additional Tips:

• Balance the final flavour with a tbsp of tomato sauce
• Add a tsp of vinegar at the end if a little more tang is need.
• Add more or less coconut milk to adjust the consistency of the gravy.

Kadala Curry With White Chickpeas

Puttu and Kadala curry is a favourite combination for keralites. Kadala is the malayalam term for chick peas or garbanzo beans. The customary way of making Kadala curry is by grinding fried coconut with coriander powder, chilli powder and turmeric. I will give that nadan kadala recipe in another post since it’s a classic recipe. This is not the standard brown kadala curry. I prefer a different recipe with Kabuli channa or white kadala.  

KADALA CURRY

Ingredients:

• White Kadala – 1 cup
• Turmeric – ¼ tsp.
• Salt – to taste
• Oil- 2 tbsp.
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Dry red chillies – 2
• Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
• Onion – 2 medium
• Green chillies -2
• Garlic – 5
• Ginger – 1 inch pc
• Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
• Chilli powder – 1 tsp
• Coriander Powder – 2 tbsp
• Tomato -1
• Garam masala – ½ tsp
• Coconut bits- 1 tbsp
• Thick Coconut milk – ½ cup
• Ghee – 1 tsp

Method of Preparation:

1.  Soak the kadala for eight hours or overnight.
2. Pressure cook the kadala in enough water with salt and turmeric on medium fire for four whistles. Drain the water and keep aside for gravy.
3. Heat oil, add mustard seeds. When they crackle, add dry chillies and curry leaves. Add chopped onion, ginger, garlic and slit green chillies. Sauté till the onion starts to brown. On low flame, add coriander powder, chilli powder and turmeric powder. When the masalas are cooked add the chopped tomato and salt. Cook till oil clears.
4. Add the cooked kadala and garam masala. Mix well. Add 2 cups of the kadala water kept aside from the pressure cooker. Take ¼ cup of cooled kadala with its water and grind to form a fine paste. Add this into the kadala curry so that it thickens.
5.  Add ½ cup of thick coconut milk. And mix well. Check the salt. Do not boil.
6. Fry coconut bits and curry leaves in ghee and pour over the curry.

Additional Tips:

• This goes very well with chappathi. I add potatoes and coriander leaves when i make it as a chappathi side dish.
• Adjust thickness of gravy with more or less coconut milk.

 

  

Kerala Breakfast Recipe - Puttu with Kadala Curry

Puttu with Kadala Curry is a popular Kerala breakfast. We made Puttu with Kadala curry for breakfast yesterday. I took photographs. But I didn’t get time to post it. It's not much fun cooking for myself. My husband is a Naval Officer posted on a ship in the Andamans. He should be transferred to Kochi by June. I am counting days to when we can be together as a family again. My 3 yr son Rohaan has gone to Kannur with my mother-in-law for 10 days. He’ll be back on Sunday. The satisfaction in cooking is seeing your loved ones relish the food you made. 

Anyway Tania was more interested in eating just the Kadala. I’d pick them from the curry, peel them and give to her. She had more than half a cup. For a 2 year old that’s adequate protein for breakfast. She ate a plantain too. I made the kadala curry with white kadala rather than the standard brown ones.

Though Puttu and Kadala curry are the classic combination,it can be had with sweet combinations too. I remember my childhood days in Kottayam, of eating Puttu with lots of ghee and sugar. Honey and plantains makes a lovely combination with puttu. Ammachi used to serve steamed bananas with Puttu with a thinner version of honey called Paani. She sometimes used to add ripe jackfruit bits to the puttu powder. Puttu is made in Puttukutti/ puttu-maker.

PUTTU

Ingredients:

• Puttu Podi – 2 cups
• Salt – to taste
• Water – ½ cup
• Grated coconut – ½ cup

Method of Preparation:

1.  Mix salt in water and add the water little by little to the rice flour and mix it till the powder is moist and resembles fine breadcrumbs. If too much of lumps is formed just run it in the blender for a few seconds.    Keep aside for five minutes.
2. Put one tbsp of coconut on top of the round metal disc inside as the first layer in the puttu-maker .
3.  Add the rice flour till half, then add another tbsp of coconut. Repeat the process, till the mould is filled. Do not press in or pack tightly.  Closethe lid.
4. Fill water in puttu kudam (pot). Place the puttu kutti on the puttu kudam. Cook it on medium flame for around 5 minutes till steam comes out of the holes in the lid.
5. Remove the cylinder from the pot. Push out the puttu on to the serving plate with the metal rod provided with the puttu-maker.

 

 

Additional Tips:

1. We buy readymade Puttu powder. I prefer Nirapara for putuu and Brahmins for iddiappam.
2. To make Puttu powder: Soak the rice for two hours and strain it. Spread the rice in a cloth or a plate and allow them to dry. Grind the dried raw rice to a fine powder in the mixer. It shouldn’t be too fine though. Roast the powder for 5 minutes. Stir it well, while heating.  Allow to cool. Keep in an airtight jar.  Has a shelf life of two months.
3. Can add bits of jackfruit to the Puttu powder.
4. Can add 2 tbsp Egg masala or chicken masala as layers inside for a fancier version.

 ..
 
Check out other Breakfast Recipes:

Vellayappam
Palappam

Green Beans Thoran - French Beans Stir Fry

Hadn’t really planned on adding another thoran posting because the basics of a thoran recipe are same, but then again today’s lunch has Beans thoran and that provides me with a photo opportunity. Cooking anything green reminds me of my husband. To Mobin, vegetable has to be green: achinga, french beans, palak or the normal green spinach, ladies finger, snake gourd.....you get the picture. There has to be one green side dish to the cooked rice. Getting a variety of colours on your plate ensures maximum variety of vitamins and minerals in your diet. So today I’ll be having green beans thoran, yellow Meen peera with some bright red pickle and brown sambar over steaming white hot rice. Yummy!

 

BEANS THORAN

Ingredients:

• French beans – 250 gms
• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
• Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
• Button onions/Shallots - 5
• Grated coconut – ¾ cup
• Green chillies – 1 or 2
• Cumin seeds – a pinch
• Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:

1. Chop the beans as finely as possible.
2. Grind together coarsely the button onions, coconut, green chillies, one sprig of curry leaves and cumin seeds.. Do not blend too much; it has to have a crushed texture.
3. Heat oil. Add mustard seeds, when they splutter add remaining curry leaves.
4. Add the chopped beans, ground masala and salt. Toss well. Sprinkle a little water.
5. Cover and cook on low fire, stirring occasionally to prevent from sticking and burning. About 10 minutes.
6. Garnish with curry leaves.

Additional Tips:

• Adding shredded carrot makes a nice contrast and helps to make the dish more appealing.
• Not covering the beans during the cooking process helps to retain a brighter green colour, but it takes longer to cook the food. Colours are important in our perception and satisfaction of the meals. It makes the food more appetizing. 
• Beans are very low in calories, so they are great for a weight loss diet. Learn more on nutrients in beans   

More Thoran Recipes:

Carrot Cabbage Thoran
Beetroot Thoran

Soft and Fluffy Vellayappams – A Syrian Christian Breakfast Speciality

Though the standard combination is a chicken stew or egg roast, today I made a spicy beef curry with coconut milk. Dipping pieces of appam into the rich gravy of beef and potato; I feel like going and taking a second helping though I have already had my breakfast. Maybe I’ll have it again as an evening snack; provided there’s any left by then.

The most significant meal of the Christians of Kerala, Easter Sunday traditions are incomplete without a grand breakfast of Appam and chicken stew, signalling the end of forty days of lent. Vellayappams are round and thick whereas pal-appams have a thick centre and thin lacy edges. Palappam is made in appachatty while vellayappam is made on a tawa. The batters are slightly different and the end products are quite different. The garlic and cumin give an amazing aroma and flavour to vellayappam.

VELLAYAPPAM

Ingredients for Appam:

• Raw rice (white) – 2 cup
• Cooked rice – 1 cup
• Coconut scraped –2 cup
• Sugar (crystal) – 1½ tbsp
• Garlic- 2 cloves [opt.]
• Cumin seeds- a pinch [opt.]
• Yeast – 1 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Baking soda – ¼ tsp

Method of Preparation:

• Wash and soak rice in enough water for a minimum of 4 hours.
• Grind all the ingredients except baking soda and salt, to a smooth paste with 1 cup water.
• Cover and keep aside for fermentation for 7-8 hours.
• Mix the batter with a ladle. If the batter is too thick, loosen the batter with coconut milk, coconut water or plain water to get required pouring consistency. Batter has to be thick, put smooth enough to pour. This is thicker than palappam batter.
• Heat a flat Non Stick Tava and pour a ladle full of batter. Do not spread the batter with the ladle.
• Cover with a lid and allow it to cook on medium heat for around 2-3 minutes.
• Turn the appam and cook the other side till it is slightly brown.
• Eat it nice and warm with stew or egg roast.

Additional Tips:

• Add a ¼ tsp of baking soda to the batter after fermentation to make appams even softer.
• Stirring the fermented batter too often breaks the bubbles in the batter and makes the appams hard.
• Left-over batter can be refrigerated up to two days.
• Palappam batter is of pancake consistency while vellayappam batter is thicker and vattayappam batter is thickest.

 

Achinga Payar Mezhukkupuratti - Long Beans Saute

One my fond memories of early days of marriage includes an incident with long beans. After the first week of my marriage, we were at my in-laws house when my mother-in-law sent out my husband to buy vegetables. He came back with half a kilo of long beans. Just that and nothing else! His reaction was ‘what else do you need?’ I was so surprised; I mean in my parent’s house long beans weren’t often on the menu. This is my husband’s favourite vegetable. Now in our house, it has become a regular dish; not a week goes by without achinga thoran or achinga mezhukkupuratti.

Long beans sauté or achinga payar mezhukkupuratti as it is called in Malayalam consist of long green bits of achinga sautéed with juliennes of onion, slit green chillies, curry and mustard seeds. Coconut bits or thenga kothu add a nice crunch. It is a quick stir-fry, very simple and tasty. Long beans are a good source of protein, vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin, iron, phosphorus, and potassium, and a very good source for vitamin C, folate, magnesium, and manganese. 

ACHINGA MEZHUKKUPURATTI

Ingredients:

• Achinga – 250 gms
• Oil – 3 tbsp
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
• Onion – 2
• Green chillies – 2-3
• Coconut bits- 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:

1. Cut the beans into 1½ inch long bits. Slice the onions. Slit the green chillies.
2. Heat oil. Add mustard seeds, when they splutter add the curry leaves. After a minute, add the beans, salt and green chillies. Cook till the beans are half done.
3. Add the sliced onion. Sprinkle a little more salt and sauté till the beans are cooked.
4. Add the coconut bits and stir fry on high heat for a minute.
5. Serve hot with rice and other side dishes.

Additional Tips:

• Can sprinkle some water to aid the cooking. 
• Covering and cooking caused the beans to loses their bright green colour and turn dull and limp. 
• Adding freshly crushed pepper at the end gives a special taste and aroma. 
• For nutritive details of long beans, check out long beans: gems in your diet.

Tasty Beetroot Thoran - Beetroot Stir Fry

I love beetroot thoran. This is what I had for lunch today. So I get a photo opportunity and you get a new recipe.  I also made potato mezhukkupuratti today so I could photograph that too and add it to my previous post. So here I embark on my new hobby of photography. Writing recipes was my only intention when I started writing this blog. I am absolutely new to the world of blogging. I was quick to realize photographs were of immense importance. For my first recipe post I copied an image from the image search and that sure left me with a bad taste in my mouth. So here are my very first on food photography. Personally, I like the potato sauté pictures better.

Back to our beetroot thoran, this is a delicious stir fry made using beetroot and coconut. It makes a great combination with hot rice and yellow moru curry. Basic thoran recipe is the same. Beets are loaded with vitamins A, B1, B2, B6 and C. They are also an excellent source of calcium, magnesium, copper, phosphorus, sodium and iron.

BEETROOT THORAN

Ingredients:

• Beetroot – 250 gms
• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
• Dry red chillies – 2
• Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
• Button onions/Shallots - 5
• Grated coconut – ¾ cup
• Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
• Green chillies – 1 or 2
• Cumin seeds – a pinch
• Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:

1. Shred the beetroot as finely as possible.
2. Grind together coarsely the button onions, coconut, green chillies, one sprig of curry leaves, cumin seeds and turmeric powder. Do not blend too much; it has to have a crushed texture.
3. Heat oil. Add mustard seeds, when they splutter add remaining curry leaves and the dry red chillies. Sauté for a minute.
4. Add the beetroot, ground masala and salt. Toss well. Sprinkle a little water.
5. Cover and cook on low fire, stirring occasionally to prevent from sticking and burning. About 10-12 minutes.
6. Garnish with curry leaves.

Beetroot thoran

Delicious Cabbage Thoran - Cabbage Stir Fry

A signature dish from Kerala, this is a delicious stir fry made using cabbage and coconut. Any traditional Kerala Sadhya is incomplete without the Cabbage Thoran. A combination of cabbage and carrot makes a more colourful and tastier dish. Quick to make, nutritious and delicious, it makes a great combination with hot rice and spicy red fish curry. Cabbage is a wonderful vegetable rich in nutrients and antioxidants.The picture given is the cabbage carrot thoran I had for lunch today.

Carrot and Cabbage Thoran

CABBAGE THORAN

Ingredients:

• Cabbage – 250 gms
• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
• Dry red chillies – 2
• Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
• Button onions/Shallots - 5
• Grated coconut – ¾ cup
• Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
• Green chillies – 1 or 2
• Cumin seeds – a pinch
• Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:

1. Shred the cabbage as finely as possible.
2. Grind together coarsely the button onions, coconut, green chillies, one sprig of curry leaves, cumin seeds and turmeric powder. Do not blend too much; it has to have a crushed texture.
3. Heat oil. Add mustard seeds, when they splutter add remaining curry leaves and the dry red chillies. Sauté for a minute.
4. Add the cabbage, ground masala and salt. Toss well. Sprinkle a little water.
5. Cover and cook on low fire, stirring occasionally to prevent from sticking and burning. About 6-8 minutes. Do not overcook.
6. When the cabbage is cooked, turn up the heat and stir for a few minutes till the thoran is dry.
7. Garnish with curry leaves.

Additional Tips:·        

• Shredded carrot, minced green chillies and minced onion can be added along with the cabbage for a more colourful and tastier dish. 
• Adding urad dal along with mustard seeds adds an unexpected wonderful crunch to this veggie dish. Urad dal  aka white lentil....which is simply black lentil split without it's skin. Add them after the mustard crackles and lower the heat to prevent them from burning.
• Did you know that cabbage helps to prevent cancer and it was called the healing drug of the poor in medieval times. Read cabbage facts to find out more.

 

The Perfect Potato Mezhukkupuratti

The perfect potato sauté or urulla kizhangu mezhukkupratti as it is called in Malayalam consist of thin long golden yellow juliennes of potato glistening with a light coating of oil and a sprinkling of small black mustard seeds. The golden yellow colour comes from using turmeric and chilli powder rather than the standard green chillies in mezhukkupuratti.  Crushed button onions and garlic add amazing flavour along with lots of curry leaves.

POTATO MEZHUKKUPURATTI

Ingredients:

• Medium size Potatoes – 3
• Oil – 3 tbsp
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Dry red chillies – 2
• Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
• Button onions/Shallots - 10
• Garlic - 5
• Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
• Chilli powder – 1 tsp
• Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:

1. Cut potatoes into thin long juliennes about 2 inches long and ¼ inch thick. Put them in a bowl of water to prevent discoloration.
2. Heat oil. Add mustard seeds, when they splutter add the curry leaves and dry red chillies. After a minute, add the sliced button onions and crushed chopped garlic. Sauté for a minute.
3. Add the potatoes, chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt. Toss well. Add more oil if needed. Sprinkle a little water.
4. Cover and cook on low fire, stirring occasionally to prevent from sticking and burning.
5. When the potatoes are cooked, turn up the heat and sauté for a few minutes till they are slightly crispy on the outside.
6. Garnish with curry leaves.

      

 

    Additional Tips:

•      Adding a little tomato sauce before the last step makes it a perfect side dish for chapatti. 
•      Hot rice, Moru Kachiyathu, Potato Mezhukkupuratti, Cabbage Thoran with some Kadumanga...I am already drooling. Give me a piece of fried fish and I will be in front of a feast for a King.

Soft Palappams with Lacy Edges - The Best Kerala Breakfast Recipe

A standard sunday morning breakfast in our home; palappam with chicken stew. Ahh...what utter bliss... soft palappams with their crisp brown lacy edges and the soft, white, melt in the mouth centres. My husband likes to soak his palappam centres in gravy while my little ones gobble up the appams without a fuss. as a mother, it is so satisfying to see my toddlers eating happily. Rohaan is three while Tania will turn two in May.

Impressing guest is easy when this is on the menu, whether for breakfast or even a dinner party. Appam and stew is a guaranteed find on most Christian wedding menus. It is a very delicious and healthy breakfast dish to start the day off. This recipe makes it easy to cook a difficult dish. Learn the authentic way of making appam by grinding rice and coconut and enjoy compliments galore from those who surround you.

PAL- APPAM

Ingredients for Appam:

• Raw rice (white) – 3 cups
• Cooked rice – 2 cups
• Coconut scraped – 1 cup
• Sugar (crystal) – 5 tbsp
• Yeast – 1 tsp
• Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:

• Wash and soak rice in enough water for a minimum of 4 hours.
• Grind all the ingredients to a smooth paste with 1 cup water
• Cover and keep aside for fermentation for 7-8 hours.
• Mix the batter with a ladle. If the batter is too thick, loosen the batter with coconut milk, coconut water or plain water to get required easy pouring consistency. This is thinner than vellayappam batter.
• Heat a non-stick wok (appachatty), pour 1 ladle full of batter, lift the wok and rotate it to spread the batter inside, cover and cook over medium heat until its laces turn slightly brown in colour
• Enjoy them hot and crisp with your stew.

Additional Tips:

• Add a ¼ tsp of baking soda to the batter after fermentation to make appams even softer. 
• Stirring the fermented batter too often  breaks the bubbles in the batter and makes the appams hard.
•  Personally, I prefer thin appams, lacy crisp outer edges and flat white in the centre; to make these reduce the amount of batter used for each appam. 
•  Left-over batter can be refrigerated up to two days. I find that cold batter makes good crisp appams. 
•  Reduce the amount of sugar as desired. More the sugar in the batter, faster the appam browns. The sugar caramelizes. 
•  Palappam batter is of pancake consistency while vellayappam batter is thicker and vattayappam batter is thickest.