Palappam Ver 2.0

Ingredients:

• Soaked rice (Masoori) : 2 cup
• Grated coconut : 1 cup
• Cooked rice : 1 cup
• Yeast : ½ Tsp
• Sugar : 4 Tbsp
• Salt : to taste

Clean and soak the rice for about 5 to 6 hrs. Then grind it along with grated coconut and cooked rice. The batter consistency should be thin. Then add required amount of salt, sugar and yeast into it and stir well. Cover  and keep it overnight for fermentation. After fermentation, stir it well. At this point, we can check the salt and sugar. Again keep it unstirred for half an hour. Then heat the appachatty in medium flame and pour one big spoon full of batter and rotate the appachatty in clockwise/counter clockwise direction so that a thin film of batter sticks to the top of the appachatty and the major portion stays at the bottom of it. Cover and cook. When the outer portion of the appam turns crispy and golden in colour, remove it. The crispiness and the colour of the outer portion of the appam depends on the amount of sugar in the batter. The more the sugar, the more golden the colour. Serve the hot appam with  veg and non veg side dishes.

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Pesaha Appam and Palu

This is a special traditional food made by Kerala Christians only on Maundy Thursday (pesaha vyazham). So, it is prepared with much reverence and care. The eldest member of the family prays, cuts the appam or the bread and distributes it to the rest of the family members.

Ingredients:
For Appam:
Rice flour 1 cup
Urud dal 2 Tbsp
Coconut 3/4 to 1 cup
Garlic pods 5 to 10
Cumin seeds 1/2 Tsp
Water 1 cup
Salt as required 

Soak urud dal for 20 mins. Pour boiling water and rqd amount of salt into the rice flour and mix well using a big spoon. Allow it to cool and keep it aside. First grind the dal, then grind the garlic pods, cumin and grated coconut (don't grind coconut into a paste). Add this grounded ingredients and cumin seeds into the rice flour mix and combine well using hand. Prepare the batter using little water (like idli batter). Pour it into a lightly greased pan (round pan) and put the cross made from palm leaf in the middle of the batter and steam it well using an idli steamer.

For Palu:
Thick coconut milk 1 cup
Semi thick coconut milk 2 cup
Melted jaggery 1 to 1 1/2 cup
Grounded cumin seeds 2 Tsp

Add the melted jaggery and grounded cumin into the semi thick coconut milk and mix well. Stir it continously till it starts to boil. Then pour the thick coconut milk and heat it in low flame for few mins. Do not boil the milk.

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Varutharacha Chicken Curry

Ingredients:

• Chicken : 1 kg
• Onion : 2 big
• Chopped ginger : 1 Tsp
• Chopped garlic : 1 Tsp
• Kashmiri Chilly powder : 2 Tsp
• Crushed Pepper : 1 Tbsp
• Coriander powder : 3 Tsp
• Turmeric powder : ½ Tsp
• Garam masala : 1 to 2 Tsp
• Grated coconut : 1 cup
• Mustard seeds : 1 Tsp
• Curry leaves 
• Water
• Salt
• Oil

Clean and marinate the chicken pieces with little salt, chilly powder and turmeric powder for 1 hour. Roast the grated coconut in low heat till it turns golden brown colour. Then reduce the flame and add the coriander powder and kashmiri chilly powder into it and stir it well. Remove it from fire and cool it. Grind it into a fine paste. Keep it aside. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add curry leaves, chopped onions, ginger and garlic. Saute it till it turns transcluscent and void of its raw smell, add the crushed pepper, garam masala, and grounded coconut paste and salt. Saute it for a couple of minutes and put the marinated chicken pieces in it. Combine it with the masala and pour little water and cook.  Remove it from fire and serve it with rice, appam and bread.

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