Wanderberry Tales

The festival of Vishu heralds the New Year for the Hindus in the South Indian state of Kerala. Vishukkani, Vishukodi, Vishusadhya, Vishukkaineetom are the  customs and practices symbolic with the Malayalee New Year. ( Know more about these customs ) Even today all these customs are followed with the reverence and sanctity they deserve. There is no festivity without an elaborate Sadhya that serves so many dishes that you get up from the banana leaf stuffed swearing never to eat so much again. Yet if there was even one item missing out of the sadhya you would feel amiss and would call it an incomplete sadhya!  Pachadi is a very common side dish for sadhya which is quick to make and can be made using different vegetables. Simply put, it is tempering the yogurt with veggies that go along with yogurt - Cucumber, beetroot,carrot, pineapple or even bitter gourd to name a few.  Recipe Preparation Time - 30 minutes Serves - 4 Ingredients Ginger – ¼ ...

Festivities seem to gain more vigour and valour when you are away from your home country. Onam is one such festival and you can find onam celebrations happening till it is time for Christmas celebrations. Every weekend for the next two months in the UAE you are sure to find atleast one person in the traditional Kerala kasavu mundu/saree heading for Onam celebration somewhere. Pookalam ( floral designs), Thiruvathira (traditional dance form),vadam vali (tug of war), sadya (the grand meal) all form a part of this rich festival. This year is no less and I am counting on 3 sadyas this year. Just like Cake is to Christmas, Payasam is to Onam! Make a sadya or not -payasam is inevitable. This year I wanted to try some milk based payasam other than the semiya payasam. That is when my cousin suggested pineapple. I googled up a few recipes but wasn't quite convinced to try it out myself. Pineapple Rava Kesaribath is one of my favorite food - that is when it struck me to incorpor...

Onam is here again and it is inevitable that my blog gets adorned with atleast one recipe for the season. I am , as my ex-boss called me NRK - Non Resident Malayalee!! I have spent most of my life in Karnataka and wee bit in Dubai now. I used to look forward to Onam falling on weekends. Only then would I be able to catch all the new movies on Asianet and Surya TV. Vegetarian food was not something I was fond of so sadya was not something that I looked forward to. Occasionally, my sister and I, plucked flowers from my mom's garden and made a small pookalam in our porch. Things changed when I moved to college. With more malayalees, Kerala Kasavu Saree on Onam became a mandate, pookalam a necessity and sadya the inevitable. I slowly began appreciating the vegetarian delicacies on the leaf and eventually falling in love with them. It took a couple of more years to familiarize with the sadya dishes and the last three onam sadyas have been eventful! Looking forward to another on...

Talk of comfort food for Malayalis from that part of Kerala I belong to - Rice and moru curry will top the list. It is quick and brings out the Malayalee'ness'( I am sure no word exists as such in us but I just found it cute). We generally call it moru curry and only recently did I realise that pulissery is also the very same.  A quick win for any lunch is making moru curry without any vegetables added. To bring out the dimensions, we do add cucumber, mango, pineapple or pumpkin. Similarly, you also have a choice of making it with the addition of coconut. The recipe I have put up is without coconut because we like it this way and generally most of the sadhya items do have coconut flavor, so why not keep it away from moru curry? For the people who have not heard about this curry - it is nothing but tempered yogurt based curry. So here is your recipe -  Ingredients (serves - 6 on an average) Yogurt - 2 cups Water - 1 cup + addittional for cooking th...

Time is flying by quite fast. Feels like it was yesterday that we celebrated the last Onam. Onam brings with it a lot of cheer and freshness. The pookalam and the traditional attire is a delight to the eye  and the soul satisfying sadya for your palettes. Both of us are bought up outside Kerala and are not used to varied flavors of payasam or pradhaman. The safe bet has always been the semiya payasam, ari payasam, paripu payasam and palada pradhaman. And this year, it was time to try out something we hadn't tried earlier. While sticking onto the traditional recipe, we have incorporated ari/rice as well ghee fried nenthra pazham chunks as well into the nenthra pazham ari pradhaman that we tried out. Wishing you all a blessed Onam season. Meanwhile here is our recipe. Ingredients (Serves - 6) Nenthra Pazham/Kerala banana - 3 medium Jaggery - 100gm Coconut Milk - thick extract - 1 cup Coconut Milk - medium extract - 2 cups Water - 1 cup Cardamom powder - 1...

Just done with Onam shopping. The crowd at Lulu, here in Dubai was beyond compare. Brands - Nirapara, Eastern, Brahmins, Double Horse setting up their own counters with special Onam discounts and goodies. Phew!! That was one hell of a time wading through alleys with the pushcart avoiding getting hit and making sure you don't hit anyone. I guess that is the joy of this festival.  Onam is that festival that brings together malayalees irrespective of religion. Onakkodi, Pookalam, Payasam, Sadya and all malayalees together whether in India or outside - that is Onam. Today's post is my mother - in  - laws recipe. A dish that I really love - Erissery made with mathenga and vanpayar. Here is the recipe -  Ingredients Onion - 1 small sliced Garlic - 2 pods sliced lengthwise Green Chilly - 2-3 Coconut - 1 cup grated Jeera/ Cumin seeds - 1 tsp Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Mathenga/ Pumpkin - 1/4 kg diced Vanpayar - a handful salt to taste For temperin...

Vendekka or Lady's finger has never been my favorite vegetable. I found it quite slimy and difficult to eat. Marriage makes you do things that you never thought you would. Yes, I do cook Vendekka now and eat it as well because my husband loves it. What my mother could not do in years my husband managed in months! That's what marriage can do to you:) No regrets! Here is a very simple recipe for you this Onam straight from the USA. Safeera is a college mate of mine who sent across this recipe and managed to click some impressive pictures as well using yam leaf plucked from her backyard instead of banana leaf for a change. There you go - Ingredients Vendekka/ Okra/ Lady's Finger - 1/2 kg Tomato - 1 chopped Onion - 1 chopped Green Chilly - 1 to 2 slit Curry Leaves - 1 sprig Coconut Oil Salt to taste Method Slit the vendekka and cut into 2 inch long pieces. Pour the oil into a skillet, add the mustard seeds. When the seeds splutter add curry leaves and gre...

When I was on the lookout for Onam recipes, it was Vineetha who suggested Ishtu. I had no idea that this was an Onam dish that is pretty popular in the Thrissur region. It is quite fascinating to  note that same dish is called by different names with very slight variations in the recipes. Had I not begun a quest of Onam recipes may be I would not have known either. Oh I forgot to introduce Vineetha - she is my TALL friend - yes I mean it literally. One thing I hate doing with her is posing with her for a photograph - so my height is left to your imagination. She is miles across in Brisbane and is currently busy shopping for Onam. This is a recipe from her kitchen. I miss you Vineetha and there goes your recipe - Ingredients: Potatoes - 2 medium diced Onions - 2 medium sliced Ginger - 1 inch piece finely chopped Green Chilly - 2 slit Coconut Milk - 1 cup Water - 1/2 cup Curry Leaves - 1 sprig Coconut Oil Salt to taste Method: Add the potatoes, onions, ginger a...

Sambhar is a traditional South Indian dish. I am not sure which state it belongs to - Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu seems to have adapted it as per their flavors and taste. It adorns the banana leaf for the festivities in each of the states. Sambhar is a popular dish for Onam as well and again the taste differs from the north to the south of Kerala. Here is an easy recipe for Sambhar, if you are hunting for one.  The recipe was sent by Vinitha, my cousin. She is a wonderful cook, probably inherited our grandmother's cooking traits. We have had our fair share of cooking experiments together during the summer vacations at school. Here is the recipe she has for you -  Ingredients T oor Dal - 1/2 cup Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Kaayam/Hing/Asafoetida - 1 small piece Onion - 1 sliced lengthwise Lady's Finger - 4 sliced Potato - 2 medium sized sliced Brinjal - 1 medium size sliced Carrot - 1 sliced Green Chilly - 2 slit Tomato - 1 medium sized sliced ...

I had Kootu Curry just once before for a Onam Sadya at a friend's place. Somehow, I did not quite think of trying it out myself until this Onam season. And I am inclined to believe that I just got the perfect recipe for it. Thanks to Sreelakshmi or should I say her Mom? Sreelakshmi is a good buddy of mine and we have had some really wonderful times together. Hoping to catch up soon:) Thank You Sreelakshmi for this amazing recipe. We just loved it! With no further ado, let us get to the recipe. Ingredients Raw Banana - 2 Yam/ Chena - 1/4 kg Brown Kadala/ Black Channa - 1/2 cup (soaked overnight) Jaggery - 100 gms grated Coconut - 1/2 cup grated + 2 tbsp Green Chilly - 2-3  Jeera - 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp Dried red chilly - 4-5 Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Chilly powder - 3/4 tsp Coconut Oil Curry Leaves Salt to taste Method Soak the kadala overnight. Pressure cook with chilly powder and turmeric powder. Slice Raw Ban...

When it is Payasam, it is kadala parippu payasam that I enjoy the most. Not just me, my sister as well. When everyone devours it hot, we love freezing it and having spoonfuls directly from the fridge:) Our dear akka, back home never misses an opportunity to make her special payasam. She ensures that she makes a huge quantity of it when my sister and I are back home. Only once do we eat it hot and the rest is frozen payasam. If it is payasam at home, our mom is sure to find a lot of used tablespoons lying around in her kitchen from our occasional sneaks into the kitchen for the payasam. Uhh!! Getting a little too nostalgic, am I! So here is your recipe - Ingredients Kadala parippu/ Bengal gram dal - 50 gm Raw Rice - 50 gm soaked in water Jaggery - 250 gm Sago seeds/chowwary/ Sabudana - 50 gm Coconut - 2 cups (take the milk) + 2 tbsp Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp Ghee Soak the rice in water for half an hour and wet grind it along with 2 tbsp of coconut. Fry the s...

The recipe of pineapple pachadi sent by my friend - Vani, who has also been a guinea pig for my cooking experiments before marriage:) The bubbly and talkative girl shares my love for cooking as well. Here goes her recipe and what she has to say about it - Pachadi is a traditional kerala dish usually served as a side dish for meals. Pineapple pachadi is quick to make and delicious to eat. Alternatively, beetroot, cucumber and carrots are also used to make pachadi. This dish is a awesome combo of flavours.If you love the combination of sweet and sourness, you should definitely give this recipe a shot. Ingredients Pineapple chopped-1 cup Green chilly-2-3 (You can alter the spice quotient by going easy on the chillies) Turmeric-1/4 tbsp Curd-1/4 cup +(2-3)tsp Salt -As required To grind: Grated coconut - 1/2 cup Cumin seeds - 1 tsp Green Chilly - 2 to 3 For Seasoning: Oil - 2 tsp Mustard Seeds - 3/4 tsp Red Chilly - 2 tsp Curry Leaves Method Skin the pineapple and c...

Onam is hardly a month away. Till date, I have not made a full fledged Onam Sadhya. This year I intend to, as it falls on a weekend. And thus, I started my lookout for sadhya vibhavangal.  The inspiration for my onam recipe hunt is a batch of freshers who joined my company I previously worked with. During one of our interactions last year they said that they got together for Onam (malayalees and non-malayalees) and made 28 dishes. 28!! My mouth fell open, I could not even recollect 28 dishes for sadhya, let alone make it. This year, a month ahead of Onam I have decided to hunt down recipes from my family and friends. The purpose - definitely is to practice cooking all these recipes before onam and also help similar people like me out there who are hunting for recipes. Onam or not, Inji curry has been my favorite - its tangy, hot and sweet all in one. I just love it. Apart from pineapple pachadi and payasam, this is my hot favorite. This recipe is from my mother's kitchen...