Duck Roast (Traditional Fare)

We, in Kerala, are familiar with very spicy, masala coated duck cooked in coconut milk.This recipe is very different. The brown colour of the dish is because of the initial roasting with flour. 

Photo courtesy: Priya Abrao

INGREDIENTS: 

Duck: 1 whole with skin on

Maida/plain flour: 2 tbsps

Onion: 3 sliced & deep fried

Oil: 3 tbsps

1. Pepper powder: 2 tsps

2. Worcestershire sauce: 2 tbsps

3. Garlic paste: 1 tsp

4. Ginger paste: 1 tsp

5. Garam masala powder: ½ tsp

6. Salt: to taste

METHOD:

Keeping duck whole, wash & pat it dry.

Grind 1 to 6 to a paste & marinate duck with this for at least 6 hours (overnight is better)

In a wide pan (uruli is ideal), heat oil & put in the whole duck.

Turn around & roast till it browns evenly.

Sprinkle flour on the duck & roast further till the flour gets a golden hue.

Remove duck from pan & cool it.

When cool, cut the duck into 6 to 8 pieces.

Pour 2 cups of water & make a sauce with the flour & oil left in the pan.

Put the duck back into pan, cover & cook till done.

Before taking off the fire, add half the fried onions & stir well.

Serve garnished with the remaining fried onions.

CHICKEN MOLEE (Traditional Fare)

We are very familiar with fish molee. The word “ MOLEE”, I think, is derived from the Portugese word “MOLHO” meaning sauce/gravy.

Kerala tourism popularises this dish almost exclusively using Karimeen/pearl spot, Sear fish or Pomfret. These fish are however seasonal & hence, fresh fish is hard to find.

And it is here that, this recipe becomes relevant. Juices from the chicken flesh gels well with coconut milk just as gracefully & the result is amazing & is there for you to try for yourself.

  

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken: 1 kg

Coconut milk: 1 cup thick

Coconut milk: 3 cups thin

Onion: 1 chopped

Green chilli: 8 to 10 slit

Ginger: 1 tbsp sliced

Garlic: 1 tbsp sliced

Turmeric powder: ½ tsp

Cinnamon stick: 1” piece

Cloves: 4

Cardamom: 2

Pepper powder: 1 tsp

Vinegar: 1 tbsp

Tomato: 1 sliced

Curry leaves: a few

Salt to taste

Coconut oil: 2 tbsps

METHOD:

Clean & cut chicken into medium sized pieces, smear a little turmeric & salt & keep aside for half an hour.

In a kadai, heat oil & add the whole spices, after it splutters add the sliced onion.

When light brown, add the slit chillies, ginger & garlic. Fry for a while.

Put in the chicken & sauté till the chicken flesh turns white.

Now, pour the thin milk, stir, cover & cook.

When chicken is done add salt, thick coconut milk & pepper powder.

Last, add the vinegar & curry leaves.
Arrange the sliced tomatoes over the molee.

Take off fire & serve. 

Papaya Cheese

 I had this recipe with me for a very long time, but I did not ever want to try it, even though I remember tasting guava cheese, which was definitely worth trying.

 I have often wondered why they named it “cheese”, I guess it’s because of the smooth texture & cheesy flavour.

If anyone can give more info on this, please do write.

INGREDIENTS:

Papaya pulp: 2 kgs

Sugar: 1 ½ kg

Lime juice: juice of 2 medium limes

Ghee: 100 g

METHOD:

In a heavy bottomed pan, put in the papaya pulp & sugar. Heat till it boils & lower the flame.

Keep stirring till the mix thickens.

Add ghee a little at a time.

Add lime juice & stir till the mix forms a soft ball & ghee starts oozing from the sides.

Transfer onto a greased plate & let it cool well before cutting into pieces.

The natural colour of the papaya gives the cheese a pleasant eye appeal.  

Peanut Ladoos

 

INGREDIENTS:

Palm sugar/jaggery: 1 cup

Peanuts: 2 cups roasted & crushed

Cardamom: 1/2tsp

Ghee: 2 tsps

 

METHOD:

 

Melt the palm sugar/jaggery with 2 tbsps water, cool & strain to remove any grit.

Reheat the syrup, till it reaches a string consistency.

Add the nuts, cardamom powder & one teaspoon ghee.

Mix well, take off fire, cool a little & roll into small balls.

Grease your palm with a little ghee for easy handling.

Use almonds, cashew nuts, coconut or a mixture of different nuts to make yummy ladoos.

"Thenga Chammanthi/Chutney" (Traditional Fare)

A bowl of hot “Kanji” with cherupayar/green gram thoran & thenga chammanthi brings back memories of the rainy season in kerala.

It was also a part of packed lunch in those days.

Generally, made with tamarind, but, raw mango, star fruit, ‘bilimbi’ etc can be used according to season.
Also, using the grinding stone to grind the “chammanthi” makes an ocean of difference than the blender !

INGREDIENTS:

Coconut: 1 grated

Dry red chilli: 10
Ginger: 1” piece
Shallots: 5
Tamarind: a small ball, marble size
Curry leaves: a few
Salt to taste

 METHOD:

 Grind all the ingredients together, without water.

If using the grinding stone, first grind coconut, red chilli, tamarind, ginger & salt. Crush shallots & curry leaves in the end. Mix all the ground ingredients together & serve.

Green chilli & raw mango can be used to make a green variation.
Also, coriander leaves can be used instead of curry leaves.

 

 

 

Dry Prawns/Unakka Chemeen Ularthiyathu (Traditional Fare)

In summer, small prawns are dried & stored for use during the rainy season. In coastal Kerala, more specific in the Cochin belt, vegetable servings are laced with a sprinkling of roasted dried prawns, whole or powdered to spice it up.

INGREDIENTS:

Dried prawns: 100 g

Red chilli powder: 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder: 1/4tsp

Pepper powder: 1 tsp

Garlic: 1 tsp crushed

Coconut oil: 2 tbsps

Curry leaves: a few

Salt to taste

 METHOD:

Dry roast prawns in a hot pan.

Transfer onto a plate to cool & remove head & tail. Wash & drain.

In a heavy bottomed Kadai, heat oil, add crushed garlic.

When fragrant & light brown, put in the washed prawns & curry leaves.

Fry till it becomes crisp.

Now, add the spice powders on a low flame (so that you don’t burn them.)

Mix well. Take off the fire. Cool & bottle.

You can do large quantities of this dry prawns fry & store to use in chutneys etc.

 

 

 

Duck Vindaloo

Duck is usually prepared with pepper & coconut milk in Kerala. A clear departure from the traditional is this recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

Duck: 1 (about 1.2 kg)

Onion: 3 sliced

Tomato: 3 chopped fine

Garlic: 1 tbsp

Ginger: 1 big piece

Red chilli powder: 2 tbsps

Turmeric powder: 1 tsp

Mustard seeds: 1 tsp

Cumin seeds: 1 tsp

Fenugreek: ½ tsp

Cinnamon: 1” piece

Cloves: 4

Vinegar: 100ml

Curry leaves: a few

Oil: 2 tbsps

Salt to taste

METHOD:

Clean duck, cut into bite-sized pieces, rub in a little turmeric powder, salt, 2 tbsps vinegar & leave to marinate for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the masala paste.

Grind ginger, garlic, red chilli powder, cumin, fenugreek, cinnamon, cloves with the remaining vinegar to a smooth paste.

In a pressure cooker, heat oil, add sliced onions & sauté till golden brown. (the colour of the dish depends on how you brown the onions.)

After this, add the masala paste, curry leaves & fry till raw smell goes.

Now, add the marinated duck & stir till they change colour.

Pour a cup of hot water (200 ml) & pressure cook for 10 minutes after the first whistle.

Open cooker after the steam goes, check if meat is done & evaporate excess gravy.

Adjust salt now.

Serve hot with any rice or roti preparation.

Leave more gravy if you plan to serve with appam or idiappam.  

Chicken Cutlet (Traditional Fare)

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken mince: 500 g

Potato: 150 g

Onion: 2 chopped fine

Green chilli: 2 chopped fine

Ginger: 1 tsp chopped fine

Garlic: 1 tsp chopped fine

Coriander leaves: 2 tbsps chopped fine

Mint leaves: 1 tbsp chopped fine

Pepper powder: 1 tsp

Bread crumbs: 1 cup

Eggs: 2

Garam masala powder: 1 tsp (optional)

Oil: 1 tbsp + for frying

Salt to taste

METHOD:

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan, add the chopped ingredients one by one.

Sauté till onions are transparent.

Now, add the chicken mince, &stir till well combined.

Cover & cook for a while.

Remove lid & dry out the mince well, sprinkle pepper powder & take off fire.

Cool & add mashed potatoes.

Shape into medium sized cutlets, dip in beaten egg, roll in bread crumbs & deep fry.

Serve with tomato sauce.

Olathirachi/Erachi Olarthiyathu (Traditional Fare)

Beef is prepared in many different ways in Kerala, as fries, curries, cutlets, pickles & biryani.

But the traditional “Olathirachi” is the winner.

This can be kept for a few days even without refrigeration, only remember to warm it up every day.

I have used whole red chillies & coriander seeds in this recipe, but you can use the powders instead.

 

INGREDIENTS:

Beef: 1 kg

Shallots: 200 g sliced

Garlic: 2 tbsps sliced

Ginger: 1 tbsp julliened

Green chilli: 3 slit

Curry leaves: a few

Turmeric powder: 1/2tsp

Coconut slivers: half a cup

Coconut oil: 2 tbsps

Vinegar: 2 tbsps

Salt to taste

For the masala

Dry red chilli: 12

Coriander seeds: 2 tsps

Black pepper: 1 tsp

Cardamom: 2

Cloves: 6

Cinnamon: 1 piece

Aniseed/fennel: 2 tsps

Cumin seeds: 1 tsp

Fenugreek/methi: 1/2tsp

Curry leaves: a few

METHOD:

Cut beef into small pieces.

Dry roast all ingredients under MASALA & powder.

In a pressure cooker, put in the meat, masala powder, turmeric powder, ginger slices, green chillies, half the garlic slices, coconut slivers, salt & vinegar. Mix well.

Cover cooker & cook for 10 minutes (time will depend on the beef, for veal meat cook for 10 minutes, regular beef- about15 to 20 minutes.)

In the meantime, heat oil in a frying pan, fry the shallots brown, remove half & add the garlic, curry leaves.

Put in cooked beef with the gravy & simmer till all the gravy dries up.

Brown the meat well & put the remaining fried shallots.

Beef “ olathiyathu” is ready for the table.

Fish Curry Trichur Style (Traditional Fare)

Fish curry down south in Kerala uses coconut paste for the gravy while up north in Kerala, its coconut milk that is largely used.

Here’s such a preparation.

INGREDIENTS:

Fish: 500g as per your choice

Coconut milk: 1 cup thick

Red chilli powder: 2 tbsps (Kashmiri)

Coriander powder: 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder: ¼ tsp

Fenugreek powder: ¼ tsp

Mustard: ½ tsp

Whole fenugreek: ¼ tsp

Shallots: ½ cup sliced

Ginger: 1 tsp sliced

Garlic: 1 tsp optional

Slit green chilli: 2

Curry leaves: a few

Coconut oil: 2 tbsps

Tamarind paste: 1 tsp or 1 small mango sliced

Salt to taste

METHOD:

Heat oil, add mustard & fenugreek, after they crackle, add shallots, ginger, green chilli & garlic.

Sauté till brown & add the powders soaked in a little water. Fry till raw smell leaves.

Pour a cup of water & tamarind, (or mango).

When it boils, add fish & salt to taste.

Cover & cook till fish is done.

Sprinkle curry leaves & pour the coconut milk.

Let it simmer on a low flame for a few minutes.

Done! Fish curry is ready to be served with rice/puttu/tapioca.

Dry Prawns with Mango (Traditional Fare)

 Known as "Konjum Maangayum" in Malayalam.
A very traditional preparation of the high ranges of kerala, where fresh fish was not available so freely as it is now.

INGREDIENTS:

Dry prawns: half a cup

Raw mango: 1 sliced

Coconut: 1 cup grated

Green chilli: 6 crushed

Ginger: 1 tsp grated

Shallots: 1 cup sliced

Turmeric powder: ¼ tsp

Red chilli powder: ½ tsp

Curry leaves: a few

Coconut oil: 2 tbsps

Salt to taste

METHOD:

Dry roast the prawns after removing the head. Wash & keep aside.

In an eathern vessel, add the other ingredients, except oil, one by one.

Last, add the prawns. Mix well with your hands.

Now, pour coconut oil.

Keep on stove to cook, on a slow flame. Stir occasionally.

Add more curry leaves & take off fire.

Good with rice, kanji & boiled tapioca.

"Varutharacha Kozhi" Curry (Traditional Fare)

INGREDIENTS:
Chicken: 500 g cut into bite-size pieces

Coconut: ½ grated

Coriander seeds: 1 tbsp

Dry red chilli: 6

Whole black pepper: 2 tsps

Fennel: 1 tsp

Cardamom: 2

Cloves: 4

Cinnamon: 1”piece

Shallots: 1 cup sliced

Garlic: 10 pods

Ginger: 1’piece

Turmeric powder: 1/2tsp

Curry leaves

Coconut oil: 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

METHOD:

To make the masala paste, first, dry roast coconut, coriander seeds, pepper, chilli, cardamom, cloves, fennel, cinnamon, a few curry leaves, ginger, garlic & shallots to a deep brown colour. Cool & grind without water.(This will give the paste a rich colour.)

In a kadai, pour oil, add chicken, stir till it changes colour.

Add turmeric powder, a cup of hot water.

Cover & cook till 3/4^th done.

Now, put in the ground paste & add water according to the consistency you require.

Add salt & a few curry leaves, simmer on low flame till oil clears on top.

Serve with rice, idiappam or tapioca.

I prefer to use whole coriander & spices for the flavour they impart to the dish, also, you don’t have to worry about adulteration.