Sunday 6 April 2014

Keerai masiyal and mambazha morukuttan

Good morning, Having a great weekend! Sunday's are always special. No alarm, no running to school or office. Thank God its Sunday! 

Let me introduce you to few of the green leafy vegetables we use. Curry leaves, Pudina leaves and coriander leaves are used for garnishing. We also make chutney and thogayal out of these three leaves. Then comes Keerai - amaranth leaves. There are many varities of Keerai availabe in India. Palak, arakeerai, thandu keerai, molaa keerai, marthangali keerai, kaduku keerai(sarson ka saag) muringa illai, menthiya keerai.. the list is long. 

Today I will share with you Arakeerai masiyal








Arakeerai masiyal

Ingredients


Arakeerai - 1 bunch
salt as required
turmeric - 1 tsp

For the tadka
Coconut oil - 2 tsp
mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
urad dal - 1 tsp
red chilly - 2 broken

Method of preparation

Wash and clean the arakeerai bunch. Remove grass and other types of leaves which may be there in the keerai bunch! Remove the leaves and make sure you remove the outer skin of the stem. If the keerai is tender you can chop it with the stem.

 In kalchatti add hot water and chopped keerai. Add turmeric and salt. Cook Keerai till soft make sure you do not close the keerai while cooking.(The lovely green colour may turn into henna colour!) Off the stove use a hand blender or mattu to blend the keerai.

  In a heated small pan pour coconut oil add mustard seed and urad dal  allow mustard to splutter. Add red chilly (the chilly will get roasted in heat)  pour the tadka on top of the keerai. 

Arekeerai masiyal and morukuttan is the right combination. If you get ripe small mango yummy moorukuttan can be made with it. The small baby mangoes are called chakarakutty manbazham(sugar baby!)! I will share the photo with you once I get that baby mango.

Yesterday I got baiganpalli mango. Small variety. Making morukuttan is very simple. There are many varieties of morukuttan made. Few vegetables used are elavan (ash gourd) drum stick, raw banana,  kanni vellarikai (yellow cucumber) bindi, tomato(!) sometimes I make with chembu (colocasia) or chenai (yam) No wonder its a super hit in UK restaurant. Are there any more vegetables with which you make morukuttan my friends?Please share 

My grandma used to make morukuttan even with dried mango! She was the best cook on earth! Granny used to grow most of her vegetables at home. Like keerai, plantain, tamarind, muringakay, mango, coconut, narthangay and a lot of fresh vegetables were always grown at her backyard. Miss all those lovely childhood days.

I recently read in the hindu newspaper  about an Indian chain restaurant run by Mr.Das (from Kerala) in UK. His speciality is morukuttan! See the respect and honour our morukuttan got. Let me share with you the recipe.


Morukuttan

        


Morukuttan 

Ingredients

Baiganpalli mango - 1 
turmeric - 1/2 tsp
salt as required
jaggery a small piece

Grated coconut - 1 cup
red chilly - 1
green chilly - 3
curry leaves - a few
methi seeds - 1/2 tsp
black pepper - 1/2 tsp(optional)


For the tadka

coconut oil - 2 tsp
mustard seed - 1/2 tsp 
methi seed - 1/2 tsp
red chilly - 2 broken
curry leaves - a few

Note : I use methi seed 1/2 tsp while grinding and use add half tsp for the tadka. Methi seed has got a very mild aroma when added in heated coconut oil. Same with curry leaves a few I use for grinding and a few while making tadka. Adds great flavour to the morrukuttan. A small piece of jaggery is added while cooking mambazham, this adds more taste to the fruit. 

Method of Preparation

Wash and cut mambazham into big pieces. Keep the seed with little flesh. In an earthern pot add (one cup)hot water add chopped mambazham, turmeric, salt and jaggery. Allow the mambazham to cook till tender.

 Grind coconut, green chilly, curry leaves, red chilly, methi seed and black pepper to a smooth fine paste. Add the coconut paste to the mambazham. Allow it to cook further in low flame. 

Now churn/blend on cup of curd. Off the stove and allow the morukuttan to reach room temperature. Now add churned moru.

 In a heated small pan pour coconut oil add mustard seed and methi seed. Let mustard splutter and methi release a pleasant aroma. Add red chilly and curry leaves. Off the stove pour the tadka on top of prepared morukuttan. 

Enjoy and celebrate your Sunday with freshly prepared rice, keerai masiyal, morukuttan and fried appalam. Its a blissful home made lunch!



Morukuttan with chembu (colocasia)





Instead of mango I have added cooked arbi/chembu/colocasia. 






















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