Chatti Pathiri

We are back from 2 short trips. We all had a relaxing vacation, which we all needed so badly. Now coming back after almost 2 weeks of not being in the kitchen, I kind of feel lost in my own kitchen. Do you feel lost in your kitchen when you come back from vacation? It took me sometime to get used to what was there in the fridge or pantry and what wasn't. It is a strange feeling to feel lost in your own kitchen. Even cooking a dish that I must have made a million times can take a wee bit longer and I often forget an ingredient. Does that happen to you? Or should I blame this to - getting old you know, statement that we tend to make often.

In any case, let me start talking about the dish that I have been daunting to make for many years now. For one, I stay away from dishes that contain a whole lot of eggs. I tend to skip recipes that have more then 4 eggs in anything I have to bake or if something that is real drool worthy, I plan to make it when I have some guest over. That way I don't end up eating the dish by myself and everybody gets a share of the cholesterol laden dish he he! Secondly this dish has a lot of prep work, so I almost never have the time to make it. And the other reason is my son can't have a single bite, as he is highly allergic to almost all the ingredients in this dish. But I had to make it, as I craved for this dish way too long and was running out of excuses.

This is a sweet Malabar delicacy and this dish is also made in a different way and that is - with meat as a filling. I love this dish with the meat but my hubby is a fan of the sweet one. So this one is for him. Enjoy!

So here goes...

For the Pandam/Filling:

• 3-4 eggs beaten
• handful of cashews
• handful of raisins
• 4-5 tbsps of sugar ( +/- to your liking)
• 3-4 cardamom pods, crushed, seeds removed and powdered
• 1 tsp of oil/ghee

To Dip the otada:

• 5-6 eggs beaten
• 6-7 tbsps of sugar ( +/- to your liking)
• 6 cardamom pods, crushed, seeds removed and powdered
• 1/2 cup of milk (optional)

For the Topping:

• Handful of raisins and cashews
• 1 tsp of white poppy seeds

For Assembling the dish.

• 1 tbsp of oil
• 1-2 tbsps of sugar

Ingredients to make Otada/Malabar crepe - refer to this. But do NOT assemble the otada (i.e. with the shallots in the recipe, just make the otada/crepe's and keep aside).

Method:

To make the Pandam/Filling

Beat the eggs with sugar and cardamom and set aside.

In a non stick pot, heat the oil add the cashews and raisins, until the cashews start to become light brown and the raisins plump up. Add the beaten eggs, sugar and cardamom mix. Keep stirring to make the consistency of scramble eggs. Keep this filling aside.

Make the Otada/Crepe like this. But make sure the otada that you make should be more or less the size of the pot that you are going to make the dish in.

In another bowl beat the eggs with all the ingredients for the dip and set aside.

Now to Assemble the dish.

Pour oil in a pot that you are ready to cook the dish in. Place one of the otada's/crepes on the oil. Put a little of the egg filling. Take another otada/crepe and dip it in the egg, sugar and milk mix that is kept aside for dipping the otada's/crepes. Sprinkle some sugar. Put some more of the filling followed by the dipped otada/crepe and sprinkle of sugar. Repeat this till you have consumed all the filling and otada/crepes, with the last layer being the crepe. Pour over any of the remaining egg, sugar and milk mix.

Sprinkle the top layer with the white poppy seeds, cashews, little sugar and raisins. Cover and let it cook the dish for 25 - 30 minutes on a low flame till a skewer inserted comes out clean. Let it cool.

Once it is cool enough to handle, remove the lid and place

a dinner plate over the pot and flip the pot upside down. The chatti pathiri will be bottom side up now, slide the chatti pathiri back on to the pot ( the top layer with the cashews, raisins and poppy seeds facing down). Cook the chatti pathiri for another 5-10 minutes on a low flame to get a beautiful golden brown color. Once cool take a serving plate and flip the chatti pathiri over, so that top layer with the cashews, raisins and poppy seeds are on top and serve warm.

This recipe is going to Joy from Fasting to Feasting from Kitchen flavors who is conducting the event.

Chemeen Biryani

It has been a year since I started blogging and after an initial flurry of activity, the frequency of my posts has reduced significantly. My son is now 20 months old and a very active little guy. He keeps me on my toes all day. There is very little that I can do when he is awake, and a lot to do while he naps. Plus, he now only naps once a day.

Since it was Eid-ul-Adha on the 8th, here's wishing everyone Eid Mubarak. Like we do back home, I make it a point to make biryani and Sheer Kurma for Eid. Our friends join us for the meal, we wear new clothes and the kids exchange gifts.

I don't make the typical Calicut biryani - Calicut is where my parents are from, Mumbai is where I was born and raised. Instead, I make a hybrid Calicut-Mumbai style biryani. The Mumbai style requires frying the onions until they are golden brown while the Calicut biryani requires sauteing the onions and marinating the meat/fish with the masalas(spices).

During Thanksgiving we had some friends visiting us and although they were here to have a fun time, we were all glued to our TV, watching the massacre take place in Mumbai. Mumbai is my home and will always be in my blood. In the past decade, I have had the opportunity to live in NYC, Sydney and Brussels. I love these cities but Mumbai is special. My father came to Mumbai from Calicut in his teens and was joined a few years later by my mother after they got married. My parents lived there for more than four decades. My two brothers and I grew up in this city and have such beautiful memories of our life there. For the three days that it took to get the situation under control, I was at the edge of my couch praying to God to end this, and hoping and praying that none of my dear friends would be in harm's way. I was also thankful that my parents no longer lived in Mumbai. Each time I see the picture of that terrorist at CST, I think about the times that my dad stayed late at the office to avoid the rush hour and took the 9:30pm train home - those murderers terrorized CST at about 9:30 in the evening.I pray for the families who have lost their loved ones in this horrible tragedy, and I pray for the survivors who have to live with the memories for the rest of their lives.

Mumbai is a great city, full of life and I LOVE Mumbai and always will.

On EId-ul-Adha we always make Beef/Goat/Lamb Biryani. But since I have been in no mood to cook, blog or blog hop, I am posting this recipe for Chemeen (shrimp) Biryani which I had made sometime ago.

Here is the recipe.

For the Kayam(marinade)

• 1 Lb Chemeen/Shrimp(Use raw uncooked ones)
  
• 3-4 Big Onions, sliced (2 onions fried till they are golden brown and crisp)
  
• 4 Medium size Tomatoes, chopped
  
• 15-20 medium hot chiles (more or less)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
  
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
  
• 3-4 tsp roasted coriander powder
  
• 1 tsp ginger paste
  
• 1/2 tsp garlic paste
  
• small bunch of coriander leaves chopped
  
• 1/2 cup yogurt (preferably whole milk)
  
• Juice of 1/2 lemon(US size) - Indian lemons tend to be smaller so you would need more.

Grind or pulse the green chiles.

Fry 2 sliced onions till they are golden brown and crisp. Fry a handful of raisins and cashews, till they are plump and golden brown respectively. You can fry them in ghee or oil.

Marinade the Shrimp for an hour or so with the turmeric, chili powder and salt. Lightly fry the shrimp in oil till it is half cooked, couple of minutes each sides. Do this in batches, keep it aside.

In the same oil saute 2 onions till it is translucent. Add the ground green chilies, tomatoes, fried shrimp, coriander, yogurt, ginger, garlic paste, lemon juice, turmeric, chili, and coriander powder. Crush one of the crispy fried onion with your hands and add to the marinade(this is the Mumbai part). This give a lovely brown color to the biryani. Add salt to taste and adjust seasoning.

For the Rice:

• 2 1/2 cups Basamti rice (wash and soaked in water)
  
• 1 onion sliced
  
• 1-2 Bay leaf
  
• 3-4 cloves
  
• 2-3' pieces of cinnamon
  
• 3-4 cardamom
  
• Salt to taste
  
• 1-2 tbsp oil
  

In a pot add the oil, and add the bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom. The spices will pop a bit. Add the sliced onion and let it saute, till the onions turn opaque. Now add the saoked rice, fry the rice till it is well coated in oil 2-3 minutes. Now add 5 cups of water. Cook the rice on medium heat till it is not completely cooked(that is - if you take a grain of rice and break it in the middle it should be slightly raw). Drain the rice onto a colander. Keep aside.

Biryani Masala:

• Cinnamon 2 sticks (1 inch each)
  
• 5-6 green cardamon pods
  
• 7-8 cloves
  
• 1/2 nutmeg
  
• 2-3 mace
  
• 1-2 tsp caraway seeds
  
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
  

Lightly roast all of the above in a pan and grind it to fine powder. Store it in an air tight container. You will need only about 1 tsp or so.

Assembling the dish:

In a heavy bottomed pot, put the chemeen/shrimp kayam(marinade). Put half of the drained cooked rice on top of the shrimp. Pour a tbsp of oil on the rice, spread half of the golden fried onion, cashew, and raisins. Sprinkle 1/4 tsp of the biryani masala over. I usually also use a pinch of saffron over the rice. Now put the other half of the rice over the layer of rice and do the same, that is with the onions, cashews, raisins, oil, biryani masala and saffron.

Cover the pot with aluminum foil and tightly close the lid. Cook for 10 -15 minutes on a medium flame or till your house can smell all the fantastic spices. Open the lid and serve hot mixing the shrimp masala with the rice. Serve with coriander chutney, raita and kerala pappadums.

Malabar Erachi (Mutton) Pathiri (Paratha)

Erachi pathiri is a Northern Kerala (Malabar) dish. This dish has a meat stuffing. You will never rarely find this dish in a restaurant, it is always cooked at home. It is usually made during Ramadan, and also sometimes made a day after a wedding with a variety of other dishes for breakfast to welcome the groom. Mothers, sisters, aunts, nieces, all work together preparing a long list of breakfast for the groom and his friends. There is laughter in the kitchen, stories told from childhood, embarrassing situations unraveled, some are kneading the dough, some are slicing the vegetables, batters are being mixed to ferment for the next day, brick ovens are fired up and all this for the love of food, the groom and a building of a new relationship.

Erachi Pathiri is our all time favorite. You can substitute Maida(all purpose flour) for Wheat flour(atta), although the atta version may not be flaky.

This is also a good recipe if you have some mutton pieces left over from a curry. Then all you need to do is sauté some onions and chilies with ginger garlic paste, add the spices, scoop the mutton out from the curry and shred them - the stuffing is ready (you save time cooking the meat separately).

This dish is also lovely if you are going to a picnic and want to pack something from home. The meat, onions and spices give this dish the flavor of a meat curry and the pathiri gives a lovely crispy flaky texture to the dish.

I personally like this dish just as it is. But my husband likes it with a coating of egg, sugar and crushed cardamom pods. As it gives a hint of sweetness to the otherwise spicy filling. This is a true Malabar dish.

Note: The pictures don't have the egg batter. I will update the pictures when I make this next at home with the egg batter.

Ingredients: For the Pathiri

• 2 cups Maida (you could use atta for a healthy version, or use 1 cup maida and 1 cup atta)
• ½ tsp Salt
• Approximately 1-cup warm water
• 1 tsp oil

Method:

Mix all of the above and knead it to a soft dough. Keep aside wrapped in cling wrap.

For the filling:

• 2 large onions sliced finely,
• 3-4 green chilies chopped
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• ½ chili powder
• 2-3 tsp roasted coriander powder
• Salt to taste
• 1 cup Mutton cooked and shredded (recipe below)
• Handful of Coriander leaves chopped
• 1 tbsp oil

Ingerdients for the Mutton:

• 500gms/1lb Mutton/Beef
• 1" Ginger and 2-3 big cloves of garlic (ground to a paste)
• 4-5 Green chilies chopped
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp fennel powder
  
• Few curry leaves

Method for cooking the Meat:

In a pressure cooker, add the mutton with all the other ingredients with 1 1/2 cups of water. Cook the meat for 10 minutes on a high flame and another 15 - 20 minutes on a low flame till it is tender. When the cooker cools down, open it, check the meat if it is tender. If there is gravy(there will most likely be some), keep the lid open and let the gravy evaporate on a high flame. Alternatively you can scoop out the mutton pieces and use the gravy for something else, maybe a soup. Either chop or shred the mutton pieces. You could also make this on heavy bottom pot and cook the meat for an hour till it is tender.

Method for the filling:

Heat oil in a pot and sauté the sliced onions and chilies till translucent. Add ginger garlic paste, sauté for few minutes till you can get a lovely aroma from the ginger garlic and the caramelized onions. Add the turmeric, chili, fennel and coriander powders sauté for 3-4 minutes; add salt and the shredded mutton. Sauté till the onions, the masala(spice) powders and the mutton are all coated and mixed well. Add the chopped coriander leaves and adjust the seasoning. Keep aside to cool.

To assemble:
Divide the dough to 14-16 lime size balls.
Roll 2 lime size balls to around 6-7 " in diameter.
Spread the stuffing on to one of the rolled discs.
Put the other rolled pathiri on top of the stuffing, press and seal the edges with your fingers.

Next, lift the pressed edge of the pathiri and fold the dough towards the filling. Press and fold the edges of the entire pathiri in this way to make a pretty border.
Heat some oil in a shallow frying pan, fry the pathiri one at time till golden brown on both sides. You could serve it hot as it is or follow the next step.

In a bowl, beat 2 eggs, with 2 tbsps of sugar and cardamom powder(3-4 cardamom pods crushed). Dip the fried pathiri in the egg batter and re-fry the pathiri till the egg is cooked and gets golden brown specs. Serve hot.

This recipe is going for the Roti Mela hosted by Cooking 4 all Seasons.

Vella Appams/Hoppers

Appams are to Malayalee cuisine what noodles are to Cantonese cuisine. It takes effort and skill to make but it is made by everyone, regardless of social or economic status. You can have it for breakfast, lunch or dinner, with just coconut milk and sugar or with a spicy non-veg curry. As a kid, I liked my appams for breakfast with a ladle of fresh coconut milk and loads of sugar. As a teenager, I would have it with either mutton or chicken stew. The appam batter is made from rice and grated coconut and then kept out to ferment. The edges of appams have these crispy frills and the center is very spongy.

I have seen many recipes for appams online and most of them use yeast as a rising agent. In southern Kerala, they sometimes use toddy instead of yeast. For me, the taste of yeast is too ‘bready,’ which was not how I ate it at home. Instead of yeast, I use baking soda just before I make them. I also put in a handful of leftover cooked rice while grinding the batter.

Traditionally, we use an appam chatti to make the appams. An appam chatti is a small cast iron wok. Appams can also be made in a small non-stick wok; although I must say that the appams made in an appam chatti beat those made in a non-stick wok in terms of taste and the crispiness (which is very important and what makes an appam, an appam).

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rice
• 1 cup grated coconut
• 1 cup cooked rice
• ¼ tsp of baking soda
• Pinch of sugar
• Salt to taste

Method:

Wash and drain the rice a few times in water. Soak the rice for 4-5 hours.

Grind

• 3 handful of soaked rice,
• 1 handful of grated coconut,
• 1 handful of cooked rice

in a blender with little water. The ground batter should not be very grainy. Grind all the soaked rice this way, with the coconut and cooked rice. Leave to ferment over night. The batter will increase in quantity. Add the baking soda, sugar and salt.

Grease the cast iron appam chatti lightly with a paper towel. Pour a ladle full of the batter and quickly swirl the chatti so that the batter coats the sides of the appam chatti. Cover the appam chatti. It takes around 3-4 minutes to cook. When the center of the appams have risen and the sides begin to turn a golden brown color, the sides will start to separate from the wok.


The appam is ready and can be taken out of the appam chatti. Serve appams hot with coconut milk and sugar or lovely chicken/mutton stew.

Otada(Malabar crepes)

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture after I rolled the Otada - Otada's just disappeared so quickly as I was making them! :-))

Otada, a thin, soft crepe, is a specialty of the Malabar coast of Northern Kerala. It's usually had for breakfast or served as a quick snack in the evening (especially, when you have an unexpected guest, which happens all the time in India). It is the easiest thing to make. We eat it with sugar and caramelized shallots sautéed in ghee. The hot ghee melting the sugar and the crispy shallots are delicious on the crepe. This recipe makes about 15 Otadas.

Otada batter

Ingredients for the batter.

• 1-cup flour (maida)
• 1-cup water
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 egg
• A pinch of salt.

Method:
Mix the above ingredients well with a balloon whisk. The batter should be of a thin consistency. Keep aside.

For the topping.

• 2 shallots (or more if you like the caramelized onion flavor) chopped fine
• 2-3 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)/oil

Method:

Heat the ghee in a small dish, when hot add the shallots and sauté it till they are brown. Keep aside.


To make the Otada.

Pour the Otada batter on a hot non-stick pan. And move your ladle along the batter clockwise (like when you make dosa).

Within a few minutes, the edges of the Otada starts to cook and separate from the pan.

Flipped Otada

Flip the Otada over and cook for a minute or so, it will have small specs of brown color on the flipped side, remove from the pan.

Now to assemble the Otada - Spread a spoon of the caramelized onion and ghee(clarified butter) on the flipped side of the Otada. Sprinkle 1-2 tsp of sugar and roll them or you could also fold them. Serve hot.

Note: Just like a dosa, you HAVE to eat it hot...once it cools down the sugar, ghee and the maida will all stick together and won't taste as good.