Plantain Shoot Stir Fry

            When the stem of the plantain is cut after harvesting and the layers are peeled like that of an onion, we can see a cylindrical shaped white soft shoot. We call it as vaazhappindi, unnithandu, unnippindi etc.

Plantain shoot is rich in fibre and is a good remedy for avoiding constipation. It regulates bowel movement. The juice of plantain shoot is good for people having high blood pressure and those suffering from kidney stone (It is considered by the locals as a sure cure for blood pressure and kidney stone)

Ingredients

2 cups chopped plantain shoot

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 sprig curry leaf

1 teaspoon rice

2 dried red chillies cut into small pieces

1 1/2 teaspoon coconut oil

Salt to taste

Method

•  Remove the outer thick shells covering the tender plantain shoot and discard them. Wash the shoot.
•  Cut the plantain shoot into round pieces and chop them fine. Remove fibre that comes off while you cut into round pieces or you chop them.

•  Transfer them into a bowl. Add 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil into it and gently mix with chopped pieces. It will help to remove the fibre present in it while you chop the shoot.
•  Heat a pan with coconut oil. Put mustard seeds. Let it pop in the oil. Now add rice and stir till it becomes golden brown. Add curry leaves and red chilli and stir for 2 seconds.
• Add chopped plantain shoot into the pan, add salt and stir well. Close it with a lid. Stir occasionally.
•  After 5 minutes, open the lid. If cooked properly, it will become soft. (Some shoots cooks fast)
• If cooked, reduce the flame and stir it so that water content if present, evaporates and it becomes dry.
• Now transfer it a bowl. It is ready to serve!

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Ragi Sweet Dosa

                                                                          Ragi or Finger millet is especially valuable as it contains the amino acid Methionine, which is lacking in the diets of hundreds of millions of the poor who live on

starchy staples such as cassava,plantain, polished rice, or maize meal. Finger millet can be ground and cooked into cakes,puddings or porridge.  The straw from finger millet is used as animal

fodder.  Ragi is cleaned , dried and powdered. This ragi flour is used to make different dishes.

Nutritional value of Finger Millet per 100g 

Protein 7.6g

Fat 1.5g

Carbohydrate 88g

Calcium 370 mg

Vitamins - A: 0.48mg

Thiamine (B1): 0.33mg

Riboflavin (B2): 0.11mg

Niacin: (B3) 1.2mg

Fiber 3g

Ingredients

1 cup ragi flour

1/4 cup wheat flour

3 lumps of jaggery

Ghee

Method

                  Mix ragi flour and wheat flour in a bowl. Pour thick jaggery syrup (cooled) to the bowl through a sieve to remove impurities if any. Mix well. If necessary add water to the mixture. The mixture should not be too thick or loose. Keep a non-stick dosa maker over a low flame . Pour 1 spoon of mixture to it and make it round like a dosa. Cook both the sides. Apply ghee on the surface of dosa. Transfer it to a plate.  Repeat the process with the remaining mixture.

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Bitter gourd fry

                               

                          There are many people who doesn't like the 'bitterness' of bitter gourd. this problem can be solved by preparing bitter gourd fry. My grandmother used to fry different things such as bitter gourd, pea, skin of ash gourd, green chilli. lady's finger and so on. These are fried after drying them in the sun. It can be stored for months. 

Ingredients

2 bitter gourds cut into fine round pieces

Salt to taste

1/2 cup loose curd

Coconut oil required to fry 

Method

         Before cutting the bitter gourd into thin round pieces, it should be immersed in salt solution for 3 to 4 hours. If possible clean it using a scrub which would help to remove chemicals which are sprayed to prevent decaying and attack from pests.(It was published by the Health Authority) . Take these pieces of bitter gourd in a pan. Add two teaspoons of water to it. Add salt and keep the pan over low flame. Close it with a lid. Stir occasionally.  care should be taken not to break the pieces. When it is half cooked, switch off the stove. Remove these pieces from the pan spread them on a plastic sheet or cotton cloth and keep it in the sun. In the evening when the sunlight fades, take these dried pieces and dip them the curd which is taken in vessel. Add a pinch of salt to it. Next morning, take these out  and again dry in the sun. In the evening dip these pieces in the same curd that you used the previous day. Continue the process for a week.Ensure that it has dried properly.

        Keep a fry pan over a low flame. Add coconut oil to it. Take only the required quantity of dried bitter gourd. when the oil is hot put it in the oil and stir well. Do not over fr, for it will reduce the taste. It is used as a side dish for rice.

        The remaining dried bitter gourd can be stored in an air tight container. If possible, dry them in the sun once in two weeks.

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Pumpkin Sweet 'n' Salt

           

                     We all like pumpkin. Different varieties of dishes can be prepared with both raw and ripe pumpkins. Tender pumpkins are used for making “Olan” where coconut milk is added to cooked pumpkin.

                   Here is a very easy recipe using pumpkin. Here I have used ripe pumpkin which is slightly sweet. Before cooking the pumpkin, peel the skin of pumpkin, discard it and chop the pumpkin.

Ingredients    

Quarter of the pumpkin, chopped

3 big green chillies each cut into 2, vertically

1 sprig curry leaf

1 dried red chilli cut into 3 or 4 pieces

A pinch of turmeric powder

1 spoon mustard seeds

1 onion chopped

 ¼ cup of water

1 teaspoon coconut oil

Salt to taste

Method

            Wash chopped pumpkin and put them in a pressure cooker. Add green chilli, salt and water. Close the pressure cooker. Keep it over the flame. After two whistles, switch off the stove. Open the lid when all the pressure inside is released. Mix them thoroughly with a spoon.

        Sauté mustard, curry leaves, red chilli and chopped onion. Mix with cooked pumpkin. 

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Tender jackfruit thoran (Idichakka thoran)

                              Jack fruit is a very large fruit from trees native to South western India and Srilanka. In kerala, there are mainly two varieties of jack fruit-"Varikka", which has slightly hard inner flesh when ripe and "Koozha" , which has very soft and dissolving inner flesh when ripe.

                     The skin of the tender jack fruit must be peeled and discarded first. then the whole fruit chopped.

Ingredients.

1 tender jack fruit

3 or 4 small onions chopped

3 green chilli chopped

3 dried red chillies(each cut into 3 or 4 pieces)

3 garlic pods

1 teaspoon chopped ginger

1 cup grated coconut

1 teaspoon coconut oil

2 sprigs curry leaves

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

Salt to taste

Method

•     Peel the skin of unripe jackfruit.
• Wash properly
• Transfer the chopped jackfruit to a pressure cooker. Pour 1 glass of water and add enough salt. Close the lid. Keep it over the flame. Switch off the stove after one whistle. Keep the cooker aside till the all the pressure released(keep it for 5 to 10 minutes)
• Keep the cooked jackfruit to cool. Drain excess water.
• Take a small amount of  cooked jackfruit in a  grinding jar of  mixi. Just one spin is enough to grind the jackfuit. continue with the remaining jackfruit.

•            
• Tranfer it to another vessel.
• Now take onion, green chilli, ginger , garlic and grated coconut in grinding jar and spin once in the mixi. Do not make a fine paste.
• Keep a frying pan over a low flame. add coconut oil.
• When the oil becomes hot put mustard seeds. Let it pop in the oil.
• Now add red chilli and curry leaves and stir it.
• Now  add  coconut -chilli -garlic mixture we have prepared, to the oil and stir well for 1 minute, It is to remove the raw taste of chilli and garlic.
• Add jackfruit to the oil and stir well for  2 to 3 minutes.

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Boiled rice upma(Choru upma)

                                                                  When my brother was a small boy ,everyday he demanded different types of snacks after returning from school. My mother may not get enough  time everyday to prepare different snacks or some days there may not be enough things to prepare snacks. during such occasions she used to prepare boiled rice upma because there will be already boiled rice which she had prepared for lunch.Boiled rice upma is a very tasty dish, very easy to prepare and needs less ingredients. It can be had as breakfast,for lunch or for  dinner, when there are no enough side dishes or curry. It can also be had with evening tea.

Ingredients

1 cup boiled rice

1 onion or 2 small onions

1 sprig curry leaf

1 papad

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

Salt to taste

2 dried red chilli

1 teaspoon coconut oil

1/2 teaspoon ghee(optional)

Method

         Keep a pan over low flame. Pour coconut oil into it. When oil becomes hot, put mustard seeds into it. let it pop in the oil. Cut the papad into 4 or 5 pieces with your hands and put them in the oil. Stir well and allow them to fry. Put red chilli into the pan after cutting it into small pieces and stir well. Add curry leaves and salt. Now add boiled rice and stir well for 2 or 3 minutes. Add ghee and mix well with the rice upma. Switch off the flame. Remove the boiled rice upma to another vessel. Serve hot. If want , you can serve it with coconut dry chutney or pickle or vegetable stir fry or anything you have at home  like chutney powder fish, papad etc.

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Tapioca fry

               

 

                                 This tapioca fry is not the tapioca chips that we usually buy from market. In order to prepare this tapioca fry, we should first boil the tapioca after cutting it into cylindrical pieces.  Then it has to be cut into fine pieces and dried in the sun for 4 to 5 days till it is dried properly. Since all  the water content present in tapioca gets evaporated, it can be stored for months. Usually we dry tapioca during summer season.

Ingredients

1. 1 tapioca.
2. Salt as required.
3. Water required to boil tapioca.
4. Coconut oil required to fry tapioca.

Method

• Peel tapioca and wash thoroughly in plenty of water 2 or 3 times.
• Cut it into 3 or 4 cylindrical pieces.

•  Take water in a vessel and place it on the stove.
• When eater starts boiling put the pieces into it.
• Add required salt.
• When tapioca has cooked properly(Do not overcook), drain water from the vessel.
• Transfer the tapioca to a flat vessel.
• Let it cool.
• When cooled, cut each piece into two, vertically.
• Slice it into fine pieces.

• Spread these pieces on a cotton cloth or plastic sheet and keep it in the sun for 4 to 5 days till all the water has evaporated completely.
• Keep a  pan over the low flame.
• Pour coconut oil required to fry tapioca.(Take only the required amount of tapioca pieces)
• When oil becomes hot, put tapioca pieces into the oil.
• Stir gently.
• Fry till  golden brown color comes. Do not over fry.
• Transfer them to another vessel.
• When cooled , store in air tight container.

Note:   Fry only the required quantity of dried tapioca and keep the remaining for future use.

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