Prawn cashew delight

Ingredients

large prawns--200gms
cashew nuts--20 pieces(soaked for an hour or two)
shallots-10small ones
onion-i medium sized
red chillies-4-5
ginger garlic paste-1tsp
curry leaves--a few leaves
coconut oil-2tbsp
coconut mil(thick)-half cup. Turmeric powder-a little
salt to taste

Method

Heat a little oil.Add red chillies and chopped onion. Saute well, add ginger garlic paste and remove from fire, grind to a paste.In a thick bottomed pan, add the ground masala, turmeric powder, salt and curry leaves and prawns, soft cashew and shallots. Cook covered with a tight lid till tender.The gravy should be thick. In a glass bowl pour the coconut milk. Over that slowly pour the cooked prawns and cashew . Do not stir. Add a little coconut oil . Your prawn is ready for serving. The coconut milk would slowly form an outer layer and while serving take care to not stir, it will automatically merge.

How about a sadya???????????????

for those of you who are fond of typical malayali sadye(feast) here I go................THE RECIPES OF VARIOUS ITEMS ARE TYPICAL MALABAR STYLE RECIPES. .Those of u from other parts of Kerala may find certain variations in these . However, I do hope these items will have some takers.
A typical sadya in our family includes
1.sambar,2.avial,3.kaalan,4.olan,5.erissery,6.koottukari(either of the two),7.pachadi,8.pulienchi,9.molakapachadi(either of the two)naranga kkari,10upperi(mezhukkupuratti),11.thoran and ofcourse pappadam and varutha upperi(fried banana fritters) and the dessert usually is pradhaman.
We have mainly, ada, palada, parippu chakka pradhaman and nendrappazham pradhaman.Usually boiled rice is served. the sadya or feast starts with neyyu(ghee) and parippu(boiled dal) served with pappadam. Then starts the main course. So here I go with my recipes item-wise.....

SAMBAR
--------------------
ingredients------------
1 vegetable of ur choice(shallots,/ ladiesfinger would be ideal)-chopped 1 cup
2 tuwar /arhar dal--quarter cup
3 coriander seeds-1tablespoon
4 fenugreek seeds-1tea spoon
5 asafoedita--a small piece or 1teaspoon powder
6 whole red chilly--2or 3
7 bengalgram dal-1teaspoon
8 coconut(scraped)--2tablespoon
9 juiceof tamarind (thick)--3tablespoon
10 turmeric powder--1teaspoon
11 mustard seeds, red chillies curry leaves for seasoning and coconut oil for frying.
12 salt to taste

Method
wash and cook the tuwar dal with a pinch of tamarind and salt till tender. meanwhile we can make the masala for sambar.
in a frying pan, heat a little oil and splutter fenugreek seeds, bengal gram dal, coriander seeds, red chillies and as these turn brown, add scraped coconut and fry till an aroma comes. add asafoetida powder after switching off the frying pan. let this cool. by now our dal is cooked and we can add the vegetables. let the vegetables get cooked, while we grind the masala. the ground masala is ready. the vegetable would be almost cooked by now. add tamarind juice and boil the dal and vegetable again. now add the ground masalaand give just one boil. switch off the pan and add a few sprigs of curry leaves.in a frying pan heat oil, add the seasoning, when the mustard seeds splutter, pour the same to sambar. our sambar is ready. now our second item

KAALAN
---------------
ingredients---
elephant yam-100gms
raw banana-1big one
thick curd-1large cup
coconut (scraped)-1 full cup
green chillies--2
pepper powder--1 tablespoon
cumin seeds--half teaspoon
salt to taste
mustard seeds red chillies, a pinch of fenugreek seed , and curryleaves for seasoning. coconut oil--1table spoon

Method
make failry large pieces of yam and peeled raw banana. cook these withsalt, pepper powder and water till well cooked. add the curd . boil till the cur and vegetable mix thickens. grind coconut green chillies and cumin seeds to a fine paste without water or very little water. add this to the curd mix. stir and remove from fire. season with fried seasoning in coconut oil and additional curryleaves. the kaalan is ready. the consistency should be thick.

OLAN
--------
ingredients

ash gourd(tender) 250grams
milk of coconut -half cup

Method
thick coconut oil-1tablespoon salt to taste0
cut the ash gourd in thin slices of 1inch. cook till soft with salt to taste. add coconut milk and raw coconut oil. our olan is ready.

AVIAL
---------------
ingredients
assorted vegetables
ash gourd, pumpkin, snake gourd, raw banana, elephant yam, pachapayar(a kind of beans commonly used in kerala cuisine), drumsticks(not necessary), a very small piece of bittergourd all cut into long thin piecesof half centimeter thickness--2 cups
curd-half cup
very finely scraped coconut -1full cup
green chillies4-5.
coconut oil--2 teaspoons
salt to taste, a few sprigs curry leaves

Method
cook the vegetables till soft but without letting them breakand stick to one another..coarse grind cocunut and green chillies and mix well with curd and add to the cooked vegetable, stir carefully and remove from fire.add curry leaves and raw coconut oil. this shoul be a dry preparation. so we have to be care ful not to add much water.

KOOTTU KARI
-------------------
ingredients
ashgourd, yam, raw banana, all cut into cubes(assorted)--1 cup
chana(bengal gram)dal- 100gms
turmeric powder--ipinch
coconut(scraped)-1cup
salt to taste. mustard and red chilly seasoning. curry leaves , coconut oil

Method
wash and pressurecook chana dal along with the vegetables, a pinch of turmeric ans salt to taste..heat oil and fry coconut till golden and grind with cumin to a smooth paste.mix to the cooked veg and dal.boil and mix well. add the seasoning fried in coconut oil.koottukari is ready


ERISSERI
------------------
this is a variant of koottukari with certain differences.
ingredients can be either yam and raw banana or ripe yellow pumpkin. no need to add any dal.
follow the same method as koottu kari. but while seasoning add a little coconut scrapes too . DO NOT USE ANY DAL,

PACHADI
-----------------
this is a sweet sour dish
ingredients
ripe mango/pine apple/ripe banana,/ yellow cucumber--use any one of these---250 grms
scraped coconut-1 cup
mustard seeds-1 tsp
curd half cup
a little jaggery for the sweet taste.

Method
cook the veg/fruit till tender . mix jaggery and salt to taste, grind coconut and mustard seeds. add to the cooked vegetable. season with mustard red chillies and curryleaves fried in coconut oil

pulienchi and molakapachadi are tamarind based chutneys whick can be preserved for about 15 days.

PULIENCHI.
--------------------
ingredients
tamarind extract of 250 grams of seedless tamarind
jaggery100gms
finely chopped ginger--100 grams
finely chopped green chillies100 gms
redchilly powder1tsp
roasted fenugreek powder1tsp

Method
add 2cups of water to the tamarind extract, add finely chopped ginger and green chillies, salt, chilly powder and jaggery and boil till the mixture reachesa thick consistency. remove from fire and sprinkle the fenugreek powder and cool before preserving.

MOLAGAPACHADI
----------------------
ingredients
extract of 250 gm tamarind.
green chillies slit lengthwise--100 gms
sesame seeds 50 gms
mustard seeds 50 gms
jaggery 100gms
red chillies and mustard for seasoning. a little sesame oil for frying the seasoning.

Method
Add 2 cups of water to the tamarind extract. boil with slit green chillies and salt.Add jaggery.As the mix reaches curry consistency, add powdered mustard and roasted and powdered sesame seeds. season as indicated. cool and preserve

the main items of the sadya are these. dry vegetables like mezhukku puratti and thoran are simply sauted vegetable in coconut oil(mezhukkupuratti) and finely chopped vegetables sauted with smudged coconut scrapes and green chillies(thoran)


dessert!!!!!!!!!!
--------------------
pradhaman is the usual dessert for sadya.
chakka(jackfruit), nendrappazham(kerala bananas) cheruparuppu(moondal) are the usual items used for making pradhaman. one of these, thoroughly cooked, sauted in pure ghee, and mixed and boiled with jaggery, and thin coconut milk till thick consistency and then finally adding thick coconut milk, results in pradhaman. finely chopped coconuts, cashewnuts and raisins are fried in ghee to garnish the pradhaman.



so folks!!!!!!!!!! do try these items and prepare a sadya! hope u will like the items

Sweet dish praised as Ambrosia

Ingredients:-

Raw rice---half cup

Jaggery-250gms(approx)

ghee-2 tb.spoon

Ripe banana-1

Cardamom, Raisins,Cashew nuts,and a few small pieces of coconut

Cumin seed-a pinch

Wash the rice and pressure cook with one cup water and the ripe banana.In a kadhai add the ghee and splutter the cumin seed, and fry the coconut pieces and raisins and nuts,add quarter cup of water and jaggery, stir till the jaggery melts fully . add the cooked rice and banana, cook till a porridge like consistency is reached.serve hot.....................this is a crude form of ney payasam that amma used to make....but for my man this IS AMBROSIA!!!!!!!!!

Why Ambrosia??????????????/

Finally a few days of respite from the grilling heat and the travel to and from school. Am home for a few days. As already planned I would be visiting mon and staying a fortnight with him. He is eagerly waiting to have amma with him and to experience that homely feeling . It is then I decided to make some of his favourite sweets , chutneys and pickles. As I started making the sweets, my husband as a matter of fact and more as a joke, said..hey why don't you blog about your sweets and pickles too? Wow ....that struck me. Why not start a new blog altogether!
My memories take me back to 32 years.....my husband came home in a jubilant mood and told me about a long pending promotion he got. we were married for a few months only and he attributed that to the luck I brought home. Any way... that called for celebration and I made the first sweet dish for him!!!!!!!!!! After having a spoonful of the sweet dish he said....Haay ithaanu ambrosia(this is ambrosia). what he termed as ambrosia is a very simple jaggery and rice sweet. more like the ney payasam amma used to make. But somehow when i decided to create a new blog based on recipes, I knew I must call it AMBROSIA. LET ME START THIS BLOG WITH THE RECIPE OF THAT AMBROSIA ONLY