Nei(Ghee) Payasam

Nei payasam takes me back to childhood and the Guruvayurappan temple in  Kerala, where it's served as prasadam(blessed food).  We arrived late and got to eat nei payasam prasadam on plantain leaves served by volunteers.  The temple was having a big celebration with elephants and drums and music.
 
It is also made for Bhagawati sevai puja, a religious function performed for the good of the family and the home.  This puja is performed annually by my sisters family.  I remember her mother-in-law making the decadent and delicious nei payasam in a huge metal urali(vessel/pan) placed over a kerosene stove.  The whole family taking turns to stir the payasam, it was a collaborative effort and the whole family came together to help. The mere thought has me drooling for some. 

Garnished with powdered cardamom(Elaichi)

Knowing how much I loved it, mom improvised the long, hard and time consuming recipe to a much simpler one.  So here goes, Nei payasam in my dysfunctional cooking style.


Ingredients:

•  3 to 4 tbsp - Ghee(nei)
•  2 cups Jaggery(grate for easy melting)
•  1 cup water (to melt jaggery)
•  1 cup cooked basmati rice  (any variety, cooled and separated)

Garnish:

•  1/4 cup golden raisins(kismish)
•  1/4 cup broken cashews or slivered Almonds
•  a pinch or two of elaichi (cardamom) powder 

Method:

1. Heat the water and jaggery and bring it to a slow boil. Allow the jaggery to melt completely, stir continuously otherwise it will burn (2-4 minutes)
2. Continue stirring on medium heat until it starts to thicken (4-5 minutes)
3. In another pan (wok) heat 2-3 tbsp ghee and stir in the rice
4. Stir fry for a couple of minutes
5. Add in the jaggery and stir well
6. Cook while stirring continuously until the ghee starts to glisten on the surface as seen in the picture (7-8 minutes)
7. Heat a tbsp ghee in a small pan, first roast the raisins, remove them with a spoon and add to payasam
8. Roast the cashew in the same ghee and add to payasam. 
9. Top with the elaichi powder and mix well
10. Enjoy delicious Nei payasam.  It is very rich so you can't eat a lot like sweet pongal.  it will stay good for a week or two in the refrigerator 

Served and ready to eat..


Notes: You could garnish with coconut slivers roasted in ghee and a pinch or two of dry ginger powder have seen mom use them on occasion.  I like the cashews and raisins to be soft and incorporated so I add them halfway in step 6 so they could also absorb some of the moisture.

Soul Food / Comfort food - Vethakoyambu with a side of cluster beans and green gram

Authentic "vethal" koyambu is made with vethal's, sun dried vegetables and berries like Cluster beans, bitter gourd, bitter variety of wild berries called shundakai & marthangalikkai in Tamil, I have no idea what their botanical names are. 

During harvest, they are cleaned, cut, salted, dried and stored away to be used on a rainy day.

Vethakoyambu can also be made with broken pieces of pappadam or with fenugreek seeds (Mendhiyam).

When we don't find an ingredient we need, we look for an alternative ingredient available to us.  So here goes my dysfunctional cooking with vethakoyambu made using with fresh vegetables.

Vethakoyambu with onions, capsicum and tomatoes

Ingredients:
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 or 2 capsicum(green pepper) diced
- 1 large tomato diced.
- 1/4 cup precooked tur dal(skinned and halfed lentils)
- 1 tbsp tamarind paste or pulp diluted in 2-3 cups of water
- 1 or 2 tbsp Vethakoyambu powder from grand sweets (or any brand of sambhar powder or home made) depends on the spice level you want.
- 1/4 tsp Asafetida
- Turmeric powder and salt to taste

To Sauté:
- 1-2 tbsp sesame oil(or any cooking oil),
- 1 tsp mustard seeds,
- 2 tbsp chana dal(black gram dal),
- 2 tbsp tur dal(skinned and split Pigeon peas),
- 6-8 curry leaves

For thickening:
- 1 tbsp rice flour (can substitute with besan/chick peas flour) and dilute in 1/4 cup of water. I use a whisk to avoid lumps from forming.
(Double the quantity of thickening mixture if you don't have precooked dal.  Never used dal pre- grand sweets Vethakoyambu powder days.  Its very spicy but tasty and the dal helps.)

Directions:

1. Take oil in a deep wok, or vessel, add the dals and fry until the oil starts to froth, add mustard seeds and allow them pop. then add the curry leaves and stir well.  They will sizzle..
2. Add vethakoyambu powder, turmeric, and asafetida and stir well.
3. Add onions, stir; add capsicum, stir. 
4. Let it cook for a 4-5 minutes on medium heat stirring occasionally
5. Add tomatoes and cook for 2-3 additional minutes.
6. Then add the diluted tamarind and bring to a rolling boil.  Lower heat and let boil for an additional 5-8 minutes until the raw taste of tamarind is completely gone.
7. Add the precooked tur dal softened in 2-4 tbsp of water and bring back to a rolling boil
8. Finally add the diluted rice flour, stirring continuously, allow it to thicken for 2-4 minutes
9. Let it boil for a few more (5-6 minutes) in medium heat. 
10. The more you boil and thicken the koyambu the tastier it gets and the longer it will keep.
11. Take a few tablespoons of koyambu and mix with steamed rice, add a few drops of sesame oil to elevate the flavors.  .

Cluster beans and green gram vegetable side dish

Ingredients:
- 1 lb fresh cluster beans, with the edges removed and cut to inch long pieces OR 1 bag of frozen cluster beans(Guvar, available at Indian stores in the US)
- 1 lb Fresh green Bengal gram in pod(remove from pod) OR 1/2 bag of frozen green chana(available in Indian stores) OR 1/4 cup green or brown dry chana soaked overnight
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
- salt to taste

 For tadka(sauté):
- 2-3 tsp oil
- 1 tsp mustard
- 1 tsp udid dal

Directions:

1. In a wok, heat the oil, add mustard seeds and udid dal, let the mustard splutters and dal is brown.
2. Reduce heat, add the cluster beans and whole green chana, stir well
3. Add turmeric and salt, sprinkle 2-3 tbsp of water cover and cook until the vegetable is cooked but still crunchy, the raw taste gone.  It should take ~10-12 mins to be done, 
4. Remove cover, stir well and continue to cook until the oil starts to glisten.
5. It tastes good as a side dish for sambhar and rasam, too.

My dysfunctional cooking improvised mom's ultimate comfort food of pappadam vethakoyambu and parappu thogayal (lentil chutney) to another great combination of mixed vegetable vethakoyambu with cluster beans curry. The compliment each other beautifully and have become our comfort food.

Cluster beans are slightly bitter and the green chana is slightly bland, together they make a tasty dish.  We love it & our girls love it, too.  It makes a great side with more(buttermilk) koyambu, too.

Avial - Palakkad Iyer delicacy made with mixed vegetables

Avial rice with broccoli, avakai pickle and yogurt on the side
Around - Broccoli-pigeon peas, tender Pumpkin, Raw banana, 
Cooked vegetables and Avial 

Ingredients:

3-4 cups when cut Pumpkin (mathan/perangikai/lal bhopla) light yellow and tender is preferred

3-4 cups when cut Winter melon/pushnikai/elavan/safed bhopla

3-4 Raw green bananas/vazhakai to yield 3-4 cups when cut

1 medium sized potato

2-3 sprigs of Curry leaves
3-4 cups of plain yogurt nicely blended or use thick buttermilk
Turmeric powder and salt to taste

To grind
1 and 1/2 cup grated coconut
10-12 spicy Thai green chillies

To season
1 tbsp coconut oil(taste to make sure it is not rancid)

Directions:

1. Cut the vegetables into finger thin and long pieces 1 and 1/2" long and 1/2 cm wide. Raw banana skin must be pared like you would the potatoes.
2. In a deep wide mouth pan/vessel, add 3-4 cups of water, add curry leaves, turmeric and salt.
3. Add the raw banana and potato first, bring it to boil and cook for a few minutes before adding the winter melon and the pumpkin which cook faster. Add sufficient water as shown in the image above.
4. Cover and cook well. Lower the heat when done.
5. Grind coconut and green chill, add it along with the yogurt to the cooked vegetables.  Add salt as needed..  Mix well and bring close to boiling.
6. Switch off the beat before it reaches a rolling boil else the yogurt will split.
7. Add the coconut oil and stir well
8. Enjoy with steamed rice.

Broccoli side dish recipe can be found here - Tomato Rasam with Broccoli and Soybean vegetable...

Avial and savory pongal are a well known combination, find the pongal recipe here.. Savory and Sweet Pongal....

The above meal is my dysfunctional style of cooking traditional recipes learnt from mom.  

As a main dish avial is mixed with rice, so more gravy is needed.   Avial as a side dish is much thicker in consistency, reduce the water and yogurt quantity used while cooking. also add 1 tbsp of rice flour while grinding, it will help thicken the gravy.

Optional - You can add bitter gourd(parikai/pavakai/karela), snake gourd(podalangai), an drumstick(murungakai/shenga),....remember drumstick takes a long time to cook.  

Simple Palakkad Iyer Meal - Molagutal rice and yogurt rice with mathan(pumpkin) puli pachadi

The meal with yogurt rice, molagutal rice and pachadi on the side
Below- molagutal, ground paste, pumpkin puli pachadi

Mixed vegetable Molagutal

Ingredients:

Pumpkin (with green edible skin preferred) to yield 2 cups when cut

2-3 Raw green bananas

2-3 small potatoes

2-3 carrots
A handful of cauliflower florets
1 and half cup Mung Dal(skinned and halfed mung bean)
2-3 sprigs of Curry leaves
Turmeric powder and salt to taste
To grind
One cup grated coconut
1 table spoon Cumin seeds ,
4-6 whole red chillies
To season
1 tbsp oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp udid dal, 1 red chilli


Directions:

1. Cube the vegetables, raw banana skin must be pared like you would the potatoes.. If pumpkin skin is thin and edible you can keep the skin on.
2. Wash the mung dal well and add to a large deep pan or vessel add 2 cups of water, a pinch of turmeric. Bring water to boil, lower the heat and allow to half cook for a few mins
3. Add the cut vegetables.. first banana and potato, then the pumpkin ladt the carrots and cauliflower, stir well..  
4. Add 3-4 cups of water enough to cover the vegetable, Add the curry leaves and salt to taste.  
5. Cover and cook, the mung dal should be well cooked and soft and mushy.
6. Add the coarsely ground paste as shown in the picture and bring to a full boil
7. Allow it to boil on a medium flame for 5 mins.
8. To season/tadka.  Add oil and seasoning ingredients to a small pan, cover and heat on meduim flame until the mustard seeds splutter and the dal is brown, add to the molagutal as shown.
9. Stir well and enjoy with steamed rice.

Mathan puli pachadi
Ingredients:
A wedge of pumpkin, thinly sliced should yeild 2 cups
1 tbsp tamarind paste or pulp diluted in 2 cups of water
A small piece of jaggery, gur or a 1/4 tsp sugar
For grinding
1/4 cup grated coconut, 3-4 spicy thai green chillies, one pinch mustard seeds or flakes
For seasoning
1 tsp oil, 1/2 tsp mustard, 1/4 tsp methi(fenugreek seeds), 1 red chilli

Directions: 

1. Add tamarind, pumpkin, turmeric and salt to a wok, cover and cook until the vegetable is soft and well cooked.  You can substitute pumpkin with okra(vendakai/bhindi) or egg-plant(katrikai/baingan/brinjal)
2. Add the ground paste, the mustard is very inportant, it adds flavor, bring to a rolling boil and cook for a couple of minutes.
3. Season/tadka with oil, mustard, methi seeds and red chilli.
4. It tastes good when mixed with rice, too.

The above meal is my dysfunctional style of cooking traditional recipes learnt from mom.  A yogurt based raita or pachadi also goes well with molagutal. 

Variations or additions to molagutal - You can also add winter melon, zucchini, snake gourd, or bottle gourd to the molagutal.

Cabbage molagutal is very similar, use same ingredients for grinding and seasoning.  
half cook the mung dal and add finely chopped cabbage, cook well, add ground paste, boil well, season.  It goes well with chappatis or rice.

Spinach or keerai molagutal is slightly different.  Cut and cook the spinach with turmeric and salt. Add pre-cooked tur dal and bring to a rolling boil.  Lightly roast Chana dal, udid dal and two red chillies in a drop of oil to grind with the grated coconut and jeera.  season as above.