Balekkayi Palya/Kacchhe Kele ki Sabji/Raw Banana Stir Fry

I'm used to eat any dish that my mom makes. May be out of veggies that we get from farm at my grand mom's place or store brought ones. She knows all traditional dishes may be because of the lifestyle they followed when she was a kid. And I very much love those dishes when compared to modern ones. One such favorite dish of mine is using raw banana, balekkayi palya as we call in our language. Whenever I used to ask what are the variations in certain dishes that she brings which make the dish more tasty, she clearly explains me saying the reason behind of adding or not certain ingredients to a curry. It is individual taste which matters but in case of dishes almost me and my mom used to share similar. So never got bored of what she prepares. She tells, for balekkayi palya the seasoning given should be generous else it doesn't taste good. I followed the way she used to prepare and I was very happy with the outcome. It tastes fabulous with rice, I can even eat them as filling for sandwiches replacing potatoes. Anyways lets move on to the recipe.

Olan

If you are my regular reader you would have been definitely waiting for me to finish up writing the Onam delicacies. If you have noticed I had left out Olan recipe and hence the post is up today. I had never ever prepared this olan prior to Onam till date. This was my first try and had got the recipe from a malayali friend of mine. I tried this with Cowpeas and Schmorgurken/Braised cucumbers (a type of cucumber we get here) I started using this type of cucumber lately and started enjoying them in my diet. I hence tried them in Olan on the day of Onam. It was awesome and with minimum spices I could offer this curry with rice to my kid happily. Here I share the recipe.

Shahi Paneer restaurant style

At times I like to pamper myself by visiting restaurants especially Indian restaurants and eat tummy full of meal, starting from soups till desserts. I love the way I get hot curries to eat with Indian flatbreads, all hot. This is just because I never get to eat anything hot especially after I cook as I spend time either taking snaps or serving family. Finally I will end up eating as it is without even warming it up again. Well, not only me, I know all my co-bloggers too would be facing the same. Germany we do get Paneer in supermarkets called as 'hirtenkäse' meant for salads, but I tried it here and it worked like a wonder for me. Yesterday I prepared Shahi Paneer in restaurant style. This time I tried with store bought paneer. In  But I usually make use of home made ones. I had already shared Home made Paneer cubes recipe. Do try this recipe. I bet you would be licking your fingers for sure. I loved it and here goes the recipe.

Cabbage Thoran

I usually prepare cabbage stir fry with chopped cabbage which are not too fine.I have already in my space a way to prepare palya/sabji from cabbage, i.e. Cabbage Palya. For thoran, as the Keralites prepare requires us to chop the cabbage very fine, or grate them or even make use of a food processor to serve the purpose. I grated the cabbage. As grating is involved, it requires no extra water to cook not it takes much time to get cooked. In cabbage thoran usually shallots are used. Even they are chopped fine as the cabbage. But since I'm no to onions on festival days, I avoided onions/shallots in thoran. I prepared it in a very simple way as below.

Puli Inji

A must part of Onam Sadya is an appetizer made out of tamarind and ginger known as Puli Inji. I somehow fell in love with this when I got to eat Onam Sadya for the first time when I was a 3rd standard student in a place called Kanjangad where I did my initial schooling. In a temple nearby we were offered Onasadya meal during Onam. I came home and did enquire my mother about this appetizer as it was very new one for me. For me and my family Onam is just the Onam feast we enjoy may be because though our hometown is in Kerala, we are not Malayalees and hence never knew its significance other than the feast part. Well from past one week I was really not in a mood to blog for my kid was not keeping well. Now that she is getting well I, as promised, writing up for you the puli inji recipe. I apologise for having not updated it one by one then after displaying my onam thali in my previous post of pazham pradhaman. Here goes the recipe for puli inji.

Pazham Pradhaman

Onam is the harvest festival of Kerala, celebrated to commemorate the memory of Mahabali, the Great King. It marks with the annual visit of Mahabali from 'Patala Loka'. This is a festival which is celebrated by all irrespective of caste and creed. Most important part of Onam is Onam sadya, meaning Onam feast. It involves many array of traditional dishes along with desserts mainly payasam. It is served on a banana/plantain leaf. Being away from parent's place after marriage has made me miss one such awesome feast I used to enjoy. I was staying in a residential colony where every year Onam is celebrated with fun and fervor. There used to be many fun games and at the end a delicious feast to dig in. I really missed eating this sadya after I left my parent's place. Never got a chance to visit them during Onam, so as to be a part of this sadya and Onam celebration. Well, now that I couldn't just miss preparing them. We don't have any holiday today as people in Kerala enjoy. So I planned out a small menu for my family to mark Onam sadya yesterday. Well I must say I couldn't prepare much. Just prepared few dishes in small quantities in 2-3 hours that are part of Onam feast and enjoyed. I couldn't miss making pazham pradhaman, semiya payasam, cabbage thoran, olan, puli inji. These things accompanied our lunch yesterday. I'll write up recipes one by one starting from Pazham pradhaman. Semiya payasam I had already updated long back. So here goes the pazham pradhaman recipe.

Sapaada Bhakshya

Satyanarana Pooja is performed in Hindu communities generally on any occasion such as marriage, a house warming ceremony. It is not confined to any festivals. It can be done any day. Most auspicious is doing it on a full moon day. It is believed that for this pooja, even if we do not get any invitation, just if you got to know pooja is there, we should go and hear the katha/story behind this pooja and at the end we should have the Prasad of this pooja and return. I used to love Satyanarayana pooja in my childhood for one main reason, i.e the Prasad we get at the end of the pooja, even now I crave for those sweet cute small dumplings. We are served the panchamrit as well as sapaada bhakshya after the pooja ends. This is a heavenly delicious sweet. It is believed that we are not supposed to do this sweet/Prasad at home if we are not performing the pooja. It is also believed that we are not supposed to prepare this sweet in large quantity. It should be prepared only with specified measure. But I crave for this every now and then. Recently I happened to ask my mother if I could prepare this sweet to satisfy my cravings, but she was like NO, you should not. I remember mom telling me, if at all we are so much desperate to eat this, we can skip any 1 ingredient and prepare this sweet. It makes use of Whole wheat flour, Banana, Cow Milk, Sugar, Ghee. But I was like if we skip banana, no actual taste, cant substitute wheat flour as I won't get the original taste, again can't avoid ghee. Now only thing left was milk and I got an idea as to replace milk with water. Soon called 'amma' as I call my mother, and asked if I could substitute milk with water and prepare this sweet. She was like yes you could if you crave so much. I was relieved. Hence prepared them and enjoyed. I must say they almost reached the original taste as I just skipped milk alone and substituted with same amount of water. Here goes my recipe.

Cream of Sweet Corn

Around a week back I had prepared Cream of Sweet Corn. With one corn I could just manage getting 2 cups of soup. I wished I had prepared more. It was so delicious with the flavor of corn, black pepper and in between the corn kernels to munch, was really refreshing our chilled rainy evening the other day. I love sweet corn in any form. I just need no reason to enjoy them. Now corn is in season and hence I try out all possible delicacies out of them. Here I share a simple recipe for the cream of sweet corn soup.

Panchakajjaya

Every Havyak Brahmin will definitely have this prepared in their house on this day of Ganesh Chaturthi as Prasad. It is prepared and offered to God and then served among family members and friends. Either Panchamruta or Panchakajjaya is prepared. As the name indicates, panchakajjaya is a mixture of 5 ingredients roasted and ground into dry powder which is served as Prasad. Usually in Ganesh temple panchakajjaya is common Prasad. As the tradition goes we are not supposed to have anything without offering to God, the Prasad. Everything fresh needs to be prepared and hence first dish I did was Panchakajjaya for Ganesha today. Very simple yet the most loved by Lord Ganesha. I had a Ganesha temple nearby our house in my childhood, known as Madhur Siddivinayaka  temple in Kerala. The appam and panchakajjaya we get here as Prasad is something we can never replicate at home. Even if we try to prepare we can never achieve the same taste. I as kid and even now love them. Today I wanted to try panchakajjaya and did my prayers in the morning with that as naivedhyam. Here I share my panchakajjaya recipe.

Wheat Flour Modak

'Vakratunda Mahakaaya
Suryakoti Samaprabha
Nirvighnam Kuru Mey Deva
Sarva Kaaryeshu Sarvada'

Ganesh Chaturthi -  Birthday of Lord Ganesh is one of the most popular Hindu Festival. It is celebrated on the 4th day (chaturthi) of  the bright fortnight month of Bhadrapada (August-September) in Hindu Calendar. The celebration continues till Anantha Chaturdasi which is for 10 full days. I have a simple sweet modak recipe for you that could form a naivedhyam for Lord Ganesh. This recipe I learnt from my mom. My childhood days I really miss, esp. festival special dishes by mom. I just couldn't stop myself when I remembered them the other day and hence rang her up to get the recipe of this modak she used to prepare for Ganesh Chaturthi. Here goes her simple sweet wheat flour modak recipe.

Steamed Modak for Ganesh Chaturthi

Modak is something which is a must for Ganesh Chaturthi. I cherish the old days when we had no responsibilities tied upon us, but were just free birds enjoying life. Childhood is the best part of life. Festivals and celebration were fun, best part was eating and eating varieties of sweets and savories prepared for the same.Still remember the days when my mom used to say 'Chauthi dina Chandrana nodabaradu', meaning on the day of Ganesh Chaturthi, we are not supposed to look at Moon as there is a superstition associated with it. Some things I believe for simple reason that it is followed from ancient past by our anscestors. There is a small story associated with this belief.

Indian Butter Cookies/Nankhatai

Who doesn't love these mouth melting butter cookies? Well I guess it would be everyone's favorite. It is mine too. Lately I'm here with an oven for myself. I hence tried these mouth melting cookies in my oven. Was very much apprehensive as this was my very first try in oven. I must say I had a wonderful experience baking these lovely cookies. I felt today is Teacher's day and I should prepare something to mark this special day as what we are today is all due to our beloved teachers who sacrifice their life in moulding us. I got the recipe from my dear sister Shri Kripa. Thanks to her for this awesome recipe. Here I share the recipe for the mouth melting Indian butter cookies.

Soft Mysore Pak

I have had never a day in my life after coming here to Germany that I let go a day without eating a dessert or sweet. You could very well imagine how much am I fond of these sweets from the very drop down list showing the list of desserts in my space. It is much more than any other lists, if you glance my Recipe Index. Well I have no regrets till date for consuming so many desserts. I ensure that I stay fit. That way I am safe even if I have strong cravings. Just the other day I tried soft mysore pak, the way we get in Adyar Anand Bhavan or in Cochin bakeries. They are mouth melting but very high on calories due to the amount of ghee, oil and sugar in it. Heart patients cannot try this even. But others could definitely if you follow perfect exercise regime which may be just a long walk even. As I'm writing this post I'm enjoying the small bite of this sweet. Here I share the recipe of soft mysore pak.

Bread Upma

I can say after coming to Germany, bread has become a staple food for us. Early morning with tea it so happens that even if I have a dosa/crepes batter ready Mr. S will be like 'give me bread'. He says 'I'll eat dosas when I come in the evening from office'. I feel it is only in my case. Are there anyone like me? May not all follow same. He says early morning he doesn't feel like eating a plate full of hot dosas or similar heavy breakfast. Rather he prefers either a toast or two or even milk bread or sandwich bread with jam. A land where the bread dominates, it is no surprise seeing varieties of bread available in the market here. Some have exotic fillings, Some are plain yet tasty. I had recently brought big packs of sandwich bread and they had to be cleared up soon. Thought for a while as what to do and hit Google. Vahchef whom I simply adore gave me a brilliant idea through his bread upma video. Hence the post. It was a hit in my family. I bet that instead of preparing this bread upma to clear the pile of bread in the rack you would start to get sandwich bread exclusively to prepare this stuff. Here goes the simple recipe.