Me and my World

Pachadi is basically a side-dish to go with molagootal . Appa, my father would also mix pachadi with rice as a main dish. Pachadi is either made in tamarind water or without. Manga pachadi doesn't have tamarind in it, while senai (yam), vendakai (okra, ladys' finger) and mathan (yellow pumpkin) are cooked in tamarind. Here is the recipe. Ingredients: Senai (yam) - 50 gms, diced 1" Puli (tamarind) - 1 lemon sized ball or 1 tsp paste Manjal podi (turmeric powder) - 1/2 tsp Salt- to taste Coconut - 1/2 cup shredded Kadugu (mustard seeds) - 1/2 tsp Pachai milagai (green chillies) - 1 Karuvepillai (curry leaves) - 2-3 leaves Oil - 1/2 tsp Soak tamarind in a cup of warm water for 15 mins. Squeeze the tamarind so all the juice go into the water, this is tamarind extract. Add about 1 1/2 cups of water to this extract (or to tamarind paste) and bring it to boil. When tamarind boils, add diced yam, turmeric and salt. Let yam cook in tamarind water. Gr...

Molagootal as you can see is my favorite Kerala Iyer food. I had shared recipes for Yelavan Molagootal and Keerai Molagootal . Now its time for Senai Vazhakkai Molagootal. Mezhukku Varatti and Senai Vazhakkai Molagootal are two recipes in which I relish Vazhakkai (Raw Banana). To the recipe now. Ingredients: Senai (Yam) - 250gm, skinned diced to 1" Vazhakkai (Raw Banana) - 1, skinned diced to 1" Coconut - 1 cup, shredded Thoram paruppu (toor dal) - 1 cup, cooked Red chillies, whole - 1 Ullundu (urad dal) - 1 tsp Kadugu (mustard seeds) - 1 tsp Jeeragam (jeera) - 1 tsp Manjal podi (turmeric) - 1 tsp Curry leaves - 4 leaves Salt - to taste Oil - 1 tsp In a pressure cooked, cook in two layers. On the bottom, add yam and raw banana with turmeric. Add just enough water to cover the vegetables. On top, add enough water to cook toor dal. Now put the pressure cooker on the stove and cook for three whistles or until dal is cooked. In a small pan, heat ...