Fish pickle

Pickles

Pickles add to the spiciness of life. You make it once and use it for months together, so they help you to make life easier. Most of the people love to eat pickles but might not be the healthiest dish. An old saying goes that eating too much pickles may create an acidity problem in the stomach. May be because the pickling process creates some acids as part  of the fermentation.

We can make pickle with almost any food item. Different people prepares pickles in different ways. In many traditional households, they have their own process of preparing and preserving pickles. Pickling is the process of preserving or expanding the life span of food either by anaerobic fermentation (meaning fermentation without air, in a tightly closed jar) in brine (solution of salt) or immersion in vinegar.

Fish Pickle

Today let me write about how to make a non-vegetarian pickle, which is made out of shark fish. This  pickle makes me feel nostalgic because this is one of the best dishes of my mother used to send me to the hostel during my collage days. Whenever I see the fish pickle that reminds me of how me and my friends used to compensate the tasteless mess food with the spicy and tasty home prepared pickles that many of us have brought with us.


Typically fish pickle can be made with shark, sardine, butter fish (moda), seer fish, prawns etc., except mackerel. Here we will used dried shark, and not the fresh shark.

Ingredients:

1) Shark Fish,dry                1 Kg(Cut in to small square pieces and soaked in water about 8 hours, for to remove its salt);
2) Ginger                           1 tbsp, cut in to thin slices;
3) Garlic                           8 cloves;cut in to slices;
4) Green chilly                  6 no(slit through center);
5) Kashmiri chilly powder        2 tbsp;               
6) Curry leaves                   1 spring;
7) Mustard                       1 tsp;
8) Coconut oil                   As needed;
9) Vinegar                       1 tbsp;
10)Salt                         As needed;

Marination

1) Kashmiri chilly powder     2 tablespoon;
2) Turmeric powder            1/2 tsp;
3) Salt 
4) Oil                        For Frying ;   

Method of preparation:

1. Marinate the cleaned fish  with Kashmiri chilly powder (2 tsp), Turmeric powder (1/2 tsp) and salt. Keep this for half an hour. Heat oil in a pan & fry the fish. Keep it aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan and sprinkle in mustard seeds,When they start sputtering add curry leaves, garlic, ginger and chilly pieces, stir well. To this add chilly powder, add fried fish pieces. Switch off the flame and add vinegar. Mix everything well. After it cools down, keep it in glass jar or bottle.

Sandwich with corn

Reminds you of Subway? Well if you or your children are addicted to those footlong Subway sandwiches, then here are some other options for you to try at home. And let's make it a bit 'desi' by adapting the filling a bit.


Sandwiches are typically made by wrapping some food items such as vegetables, sliced cheese or meat between two or more pieces of bread that serve as a container or wrapper. Children today like to take sandwiches as part of lunch, taken to school. Though sandwiches are widely available in restaurants and cafes, they can be very easily made at homes as well. When you make them at home, you can choose to include healthy food within the the wrap, thus making sure that you get the right nutrition out of it.


Today let me introduce one sandwich, which has some healthy vegetables wrapped inside. It contains corn along with carrot, tomatoes and onions as the filing. In this Sandwich I also used cream cheese, especially to make the bread softer and make the sandwich tastier for the children.

Ingredients:


Steamed corn: 1 bowl,
Onion (big): medium size, cut in to cube shapes,
Carrot : 1no (cut in to small pieces),
Tomato sauce: As needed (I typically use 1 table spoon),

Capsicum: One piece (cut into thin pieces),
Salt: As needed
Ghee or oil: As needed


Method of Preparation


Take one pan pour some ghee into this. Add the onion pieces, saute the onions. Once the onions turn golden brown, add the carrot pieces and salt. Saute it well. Once they are cooked well, add the steamed corn and tomato sauce. Mix everything well and, switch off the flame. Keep it aside.

Take two bread slices, and spread some cream cheese on the top. Fill the mixture in between the two slices. Put it in the sandwich maker or a pan. Your sandwich will be ready in 5 minutes.

Egg and drumstick avial

Egg and drumstick avial

Avial  is a dish which is believed to have been originated from the Indian state of Kerala and which is common in Kerala, Tamil as well as Udupi cuisine. It is a thick mixture of vegetables and coconut, seasoned with coconut oil and curry leaves. Avial is considered an essential part of every sadya, the common vegetarian feast in Kerala during the Onam festival and Hindu marriages.

Normally Avial is the combination of most  of the vegetables. Here let me introduce a slightly different variety of Avial . This is one of the egg and drumstick (mutta and muringakka) combination.

Ingredients:
1) Egg                                 3 no (Boiled egg,cut in to 4 pieces,lengthwise)
2) Tomato                           2 no,if big(Cut in to small pieces)
3) Drumstick                       3 no,peel its skin ,cut in to 5 pieces;
4) Savala (big onion)           1 no(cut in to pieces)
4) Coconut                          1 cup,grated.
    Jeerakam                                       1 tsp;
    Green chilly                                   5 no;
    Small onion                                   5 no;
    Turmeric powder                         As needed;
    Salt                                                ,,
    Water                                           ,,
5) Curd                                   ½ cup;
6)Coconut oil                         1 ½ tbsp;

Method of preparation:
1)  Take tomato, onion and muringakka pieces in a vessel, add little water, salt and turmeric powder, cook it well.
2) Grind the 4th items (not in to a pure paste).
3) Add this in to the above vegetable mixture,keep it in flame for some time ,when steam comes keep it in low flame then add egg pieces keep it in flame for some time,to this add curd.
4) Switch off the flame, to this add coconut oil and curry leaf..

Chena puzhungiyathu (Elephant foot yam)

ചേന പുഴുങ്ങിയത്   (Elephant foot yam)

Year end is vacation time and while traveling back home I had a chance to enjoy the old style 'chena puzhungiyathu' with some small onion and green chilly chutney. It was so delicious and nostalgic that I thought I will write about preparing 'chena' as a main dish this time. For those who do not understand what is 'chena' it is called the elephant foot yam in English. Many in our generation wouldn't know that chena can be prepared as a main dish.

Beware: Before you jump in to preparing yam, please be aware that excessive skin contact with the yam fluids can cause itching to many people. So it is advisable using a pair of gloves while working with the yam. In case you get an itching or skin rashes, washing with cold water or applying some coconut oil can be helpful. 

Ingredients:
Elephant foot yam - remove outer skin, cut in to pieces.
Grated coconut -As needed.

For the chutney:
Small onion - 6 no,
Green chilly - 4no,
Salt -As needed.

Method of preparation:
It is pretty easy to prepare the yam. Clean the yam, remove the hard outer peel, cut it into pieces of 2 inch size approximately, and boil it in water with some salt. That is pretty much what it is.

Here is the detailed steps. Take the yam, remove the outer skin and wash clean. Again beware of the skin allergy that the yam fluid can cause. Cut into small pieces of 2 to 3 inches in size. Take enough water in a vessel so as to cover the yam pieces. Add a pinch of salt. You can use a pressure cooker as well. However, turn the flame of after the first whistle itself, otherwise the yam can become over-cooked and watery.

Once it is cooked, drain out the excess water and add some scraped coconut on top (coconut helps to increase the taste as well as any itchiness that some people might experience). Serve hot with the green chilly chutney.

Preparation of green chilly chutney:
Smash the small onion and green chilly together, and mix with salt. Add coconut oil into this and mix well. The coconut oil added into the chutney will helps to reduce spiciness and increase taste of the chutney.