Ishtoo/ Mushroom and Potato White Stew...

Idiappam or rice noodles with a potato stew is the perfect light breakfast for a summer weekend, especially if the idiappam is already made. This white stew or ishtoo as we call it, is made with potatoes cooked in coconut milk, flavored with just whole spices, onions and green chilies...no heavy hand with the colored spices. Here I added some sauted mushrooms, and there was no adverse change in taste... the mushroom blended in well.

Another version of this curry is the Kurma where all the spices are added generously and there too mushrooms can be added, though it has to sauteed first separately.  A lot of curries can be made with mushrooms, but  simple is best.. sometimes, a bit of butter and garlic is all it needs. If you are making a mix veg dish,  It needs to be sauteed separately before mixing with other veggies as it gives out its liquid and makes everything else  soggy.

You will need: For 4 servings

Onions- 1 small one

Green chilies – 4-6 (use with discretion)

Mushrooms(White)- 2 cups

White/Idaho Potato-2 cups 

Whole Black Pepper (or Powder)- 1/2 tsp

Whole spices: 1 inch long Cinnamon stick, 3 cloves, 2 cardamom

Thick Coconut milk- 1 cup

Thin Coconut milk - 2 cups

Curry leaves- a small sprig

Salt to taste

Oil-2 tbsp

Preparation

1. Wash and cut the potatoes and mushrooms into slices. Slice the onions and green chilies.

 Grind the coconut and extract the second and first milk or use the coconut milk powder and prepare 1 ½ cup of coconut milk.

2.  Boil the potatoes in a salted water till they are half cooked. Drain and keep aside. Heat the oil in a large shallow pan, add the whole spices and curry leaves. Saute till the fragrance fills the air and then add onions, whole peppercorns and chilies.

3. Saute till onions turn slightly transparent and the add the mushrooms. Saute till it gives out all the water.  It should start browning at the edges. Add the half boiled potatoes and 2 cups of second milk of coconut( or a diluted coconut milk) and salt. Simmer covered for about 5-8 minutes till the potato is fully cooked. 

4. Add the thick coconut milk. Allow it to simmer (but not boil) just for a couple more minutes and then switch of the flame. Adjust salt and seasoning. 

 The curry changes in taste the next day for the worse as the mushroom ages.. Better to make this in small quantities.

Serve hot with pathiri, idiappam, appam, puttu or just paratha.

A quick ode to mushrooms

In a damp room it looms,

Ew!! my son says, its gross to eat fungi!

But it may very well be everyone's "fun guy"

Takes well to all soups and stews

On its own, its a perfect muse.

Absorbing all flavors and spices amply

Blending in as a meat in a meatless curry.

Grill it stuff it , top with cheese

If u like it, say more please.:)

Broccoli Stir Fry..

Fastest recipe ever..
Broccoli is a vegetable I started enjoying after coming here..but now have it in the fridge almost always.  It doesn't take well to being over cooked or being smothered in spices and gravy so most of the Indian veg recipes make it limp and  tasteless.
But stir fry it  or steam it with nothing more than some garlic and red chili flakes and it tastes crunchy and juicy at the same time.
There is no recipe for this... just heat a wok/cheenachatti/ or pan with some olive oil(or sesame oil) and add 2-3 cloves of garlic sliced finely. When the garlic starts to brown, add the chili flakes, broccoli florets,  2-3 tbsp of water and some salt. Cover and cook for 3-5 minutes on medium high heat. It cooks further after you remove it from the flame, so under cook it for crunch. Do not leave it covered, else it gets brownish and loses its glorious green.

Variations: 

• Add some butter in the end.
• Add a squeeze of lemon juice and pepper.
• Steam it plain and toss with creamy salad dressing.
• Steam it and along with cucumbers, carrots, red peppers,toss with olive oil, lemon juice,  salt,pepper and sumac.

Kozhi Ada.../ Savory Meat pockets.

Posting here after a while since I couldn't think anything to write about and didn't feel like cooking too. My stories of our culture and home food fueled this blog and when my mind was preoccupied with other things, thinking about food seemed a luxury. Rhapsodizing about it and posting glory photos of food that is so elaborate that cooking it in itself is a vacation now, seemed even worse!


So I was job hunting instead. All my creativity went to creating cover letters and my photo skills into creating portfolios and resumes...blog hopping shifted to job site hopping...Instead of luscious food posted by friends, all I could see was insipid requirements and disheartening emails. All part of the striving force that we call life.:) That still goes on along with the myriad other demands in a day..:)


But yesterday I had a dream.(yeah,..in the middle of all this.. ) of these crisp delicacies and even the words that I should use to describe them..so here I am, taking a break from my full time occupation to blog. Before you make a beeline for my house, no, I didn't make these.. just remnants of the last visit home.

Kozhi Ada  means a savory crisp pocket filled with spiced chicken..but  its not an ada filled with Kozhi/chicken....the only ones I have eaten are filled with Beef.  I guess its made with chicken too nowadays. The name is a misnomer like the American Chicken Fried Steak , which is not chicken either..

Ada is the Kerala Dumpling.. steamed or fried crescent shaped dough filled with sweet or savory filling.

The sweet filling is mostly coconut and sugar flavored with cardamom powder. And the savory ones range from fish filling to chicken to egg.
They look like samosas but are super crunchy versions of it.. the wrapper is similar to chips or tortilla chips.. and the filling also is very dry and crunchy. They are made so small that you can pop a whole ada in your mouth at one go... bite into one and the dry spicy fillings just spills out..


Now these.. my mom never made .. too much effort , she says...but my mother in law is an expert and so are all members of her family, who are from North of Calicut in Kerala. So if you know anybody from that part of Kerala, ask them for a taste of the best Kozhi adas ever.  We are always lucky to have my MIL or her sister getting us a a big batch of these adas waiting for us when we reach home, which we all fight over. And trying to get it back here without turning into a powdery mess is an adventure in packing.. discovered a new use for Bubble wrap.:)


So if anyone wants to bring some over for me from home, I will give you my address.:)))
Anyway, do try this and try it with patience, as getting the wrappers crispy is the key to a good Kozhi Ada.


You Will Need:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
Salt to taste
Water sparingly
2 Tbsp Dalda/Ghee/ Veg Shortening.


For the Filling:
1 cup Cooked chicken or beef (or raw meat)
1 cup Onions chopped finely
4-5 Green spicy chilies chopped
1 tsp red chili powder (use less for less spicy)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander powder
Fennel seeds- 1/2 tsp
1 tsp Garam Masala
Salt to taste.


Preparation:

Mix the ghee(clarified butter) or veg shortening into the flour along with salt and work it in to resemble crumbles. Add just enough cold water little by little to make a hard dough . Keep aside. 

Cook the meat or chicken with the turmeric, red chili powder, coriander and salt. Shred the cooked meat or chicken with your fingers into strands.
Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped onions, curry leaves, fennel seeds and green chilies. When the onions start getting golden brown, add the meat/chicken and saute on low heat till the meat mixture is full dry and powdery, It is not the like the samosa filling which is a  semi-wet onion mix. Add garam masala and adjust salt.

To Assemble:

Roll out small discs of the dough..about 3 inch in diameter. The  dough should be thin but not too thin. Add 2 tsp of filling on one side, cover with the other side of dough and pinch the edges together in a pattern to make a crescent shape. Keep aside and continue making till all the filling is exhausted.

 Heat oil in a cast iron skillet, and when it is hot, add the adas one by one (not more than 4-5 at a time depending on the size of your pan.. do not over crowd) and fry on medium low heat till golden brown.. It takes patience, as if the heat is too high, the outside will get cooked but not the inside, and if its too low heat, the whole ada will be a soggy oily mess. You need it to get crispy and super crunchy all the way through. If fried well, it stays outside for days.