Kerala Kozhi peralan

 

There are loads of ways to do the quintessential Kerala chicken peralan (a semi gravy of sorts), but i find this method the easiest. Sure its not a one pot prep, but a really quick one with the aid of pressure cooker. 

Serves 2 as part of main meal (Recipe loosely adapted from The Suriani Kitchen by Lathika George)

Chicken- 500 gms (Bone in pieces. Here I've used chicken thighs)

To marinate

Chilli powder- 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder- 1/2 tbsp

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Pepper powder- 1/4 tsp

Ginger garlic paste- 1/2 tsp

Lime juice- 1/2 tsp

Salt- to taste

Curry leaves- a sprig

Oil- 2 tbsp

Curry leaves- a sprig

Onion- 1 medium, finely chopped

Garlic- 4 pods, finely chopped

Tomato- 1 small, finely chopped

Thick coconut milk- 1/4 cup

Garam masala- 1/4 tsp

Pepper powder- 1/4 tsp

Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients under the marinate section for about half an hour.

When ready to cook, transfer to a pressure cooker , add a sprig of curry leaves and 1/2 cup water and cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes. 

You basically pre-cook the chicken till done (its also OK if its not completely cooked, as you can finish off the cooking in the next few steps, but it would help cut down on time significantly if the chicken is fully cooked).

Open the cooker lid once the pressure has released and keep aside. There should be about 1/2+ cup of gravy in the cooker. 

In a large frying pan, heat the oil and fry the curry leaves for a couple of seconds.

Into it add the onion and garlic and continue cooking till the onion has wilted and turns golden brown.

Toss in the tomato and cook till the oils start to surface.

Pour in the gravy from the chicken along with the coconut milk and bring to a good boil. If you do think the gravy is too much, then cook to almost 1/2 a cup and then only add the chicken.

Once it becomes thick, like it coats the back of a spoon consistency, add the cooked chicken and mix it all well. 

Cook for a further 5 to 7 minutes, or till the gravy completely coats the chicken pieces. Keep doing this on medium heat without the gravy getting burnt or stuck to the base of the pan. If you feel the chicken hasn't been completely cooked in the pressure cooker, then of course keep cooking till its done at this point.

Sprinkle the garam masala and freshly ground black pepper, give one final stir, and take it off the heat.

Cover and keep till ready to serve.

This chicken preparation is best with steamed rice, thoran and parippu curry.

Notes: You can of course do the entire prep in the frying pan without precooking the chicken. Add the chicken after the tomato along cook till done. Then add the coconut milk and cook till the you get the semi gravy consistency. 

This dish doesn't have a lot of gravy and so best had with a gravy accompaniment.

That said, if you did want a little more gravy, then don't dry off almost all of the liquid, but keep enough to use as gravy. You can add more coconut milk also to get a thick gravy.

Fish Molee

This post was supposed to go up on Monday, but like everything else in my schedule, this one also got postponed. Life has suddenly become chaotic. From not doing anything at one point, to coming back home tired after a back breaking day of baking is something I'm truly enjoying, (sans the back aches of course), but in the process I've neglected the blog and have just not been able to blog hop as well. Thanks to all you guys who still manage to stop by and put in a few comments, I promise il come visit you all soon.

Its also been ages since I've actually cooked something nice and even worse, styled and photographed. I'm off to Paris this weekend with a couple of friends and hope to come back with loads of pictures and fun stuff. Its going to be a total foodie adventure, and so I'm thoroughly looking forward to it. Once I'm back, I promise I'll whip up something nice for the blog and make a deal of it here. So till then, here's the simplest fish curry I've ever made...Fish Molee/Molly.

Recipe adapted from Flavours of the Spice Coast by Mrs. K M Mathew

Fish fillets- 250 gms, sliced (I used Tilapia fillets)

Pepper powder- 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Oil- 2 tbsp

Onions- 1 cup, finely chopped
Green chilli- 2, slit

Garlic- 1 tsp, crushed

Ginger- 1 tsp, crushed

Pepper powder- 1/4 tsp

Thin coconut milk- 1 cup

Tomato- 1 small, cut into 4 (i used a couple of baby tomatoes)
Curry leaves- a sprig

Thick coconut milk- 1/4 cup

Salt- to taste

 

Marinate the fish with pepper, turmeric and salt and keep aside for about 10 minutes.

Heat enough in a pan and shallow fry the fish till just cooked, about 1 or 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels and keep aside

Heat oil in a pan and saute onions and green chillies. Cook till the onions have wilted and turns a golden yellow.

Add the ginger and garlic and continue cooking till the raw smell disappears.

Stir in the pepper powder and salt, followed by thin coconut milk and wait for the milk to simmer gently.

At this point add the fried fish and let it cook completely, with the gravy getting thicker and coating the fish.

In goes the tomato and curry leaves. Stir them in and cook till the tomatoes are done.

Finally, add the thick coconut and cook on low heat for a few more minutes and take it off flame.

Serve hot with appam, bread or even rotis.

Notes: The curry is not really spicy, so i will increase the number of chillies to 3 or maybe even 4

It somehow tastes even more fab the next day :)

Any fish of choice can be used. I have tried it with prawns and its yumm

Kerala kappa masala (Tapioca masala)

In my mind I keep thinking I have loads of time and think of taking part in all these cook outs and blog events and such. But then in reality, I am either busy with something or the other or lazy. Being a hard core mallu, I am ashamed at the low number of mallu recipes from down south. Even though I don't make mallu food that often, it is definitely a favourite of ours and I really wished I knew how to make those authentic dishes.

That's when Kerala Kitchen, this group I'm part of on Facebook, decided to do a cook out together. I decided it was the best time to learn some new dishes, and feed my mallu-food-deprived blog some fab dishes from the mother land. But as usual, I waited till the n-th minute to post it. But better late than never right? So here I am with a very popular dish from Kerala- tapioca. Since I couldn't get hold of fresh tapioca, I had to make do with the frozen one. Its not that bad, but if you get fresh ones, that's the best.

The husband loves it to no end, but not in the mashed sort of way, just boiled and served with some spicy onion-chilli chutney. I on the other hand, am not that big a fan of it, but if I do have it, I prefer the mashed one with coconut and such, served with some spicy curry. This prep. is new to me, and since it is very close to the one I prefer, i loved it. I paired it with a fish curry and dinner was sorted. Thanks Nags for the simple, but tasty recipe. 

Recipe adapted from Edible Garden (serves 2)

Tapioca- 500 gms

Garlic- 5 to 6 cloves

Dry red chillies- 2

Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves- a sprig

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Oil- 1 tbsp

Salt- to taste

 

Cook the tapioca till tender. A fork should easily cut through. I pressure cook it with some water for about 10 to 12 minutes. Lightly break/ mash the pieces. (Not too smooth like mashed potato though)

In the mean time, coarsely grind the garlic and red chillies in a spice grinder or with a pestle and mortar.

Heat the oil in a kadai and splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Add the ground mix along with turmeric and cook for a couple of minutes, for the raw taste to disappear.

Tip in the cooked tapioca and enough salt, stir it all together and cook for a couple more minutes, just to heat through the tapioca.

Take it off the heat and serve with your favourite curry or chutney