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.

Vattayappam (വട്ടയപ്പം)

Vattayappam (വട്ടയപ്പം)

It has been a while since I posted something here. Let me come back from my break with a delicious snack item, which is also an all time favorite of mine. Vattayappam is Kerala's own fermented steamed rice cake. It is a healthy traditional tea time snack. During Easter season, the christian families of Kerala prepare vattayappam along with kallappam.

In Malayalam,  'vatta' means round shaped. So vattayappam derived it's name from it's shape. It is basically rice and coconut grinded together and fermented with yeast to make it super soft and fluffy. It is a sweet snack, easy to make and doesn't take much time to prepare.

I like to make it not very sweet, but on the other hand place nuts, cherries or raisins on the top for decoration and enhanced taste. You cannot stop eating the vattayappam because the light flavor of cardamon along with the sweet and mellow rice cake melting in your mouth, the thinking brain has to surrender to the taste buds.

 

Ingredients:
Soaked raw white rice (known as pachari): 1 1/2 cups.
Freshly grated coconut:  1 1/2 cups
Cooked Rice: A handful (heaped)
Instant Yeast: 1/2 tsp.
Salt: 1/2 tsp.
Sugar: 2-3 tbsp.
Cardamon seeds: 4 to 5
Cumin seeds (jeera): A pinch
Water: As needed.
Oil to grease, preferably coconut oil.

Method of preparation:

Soak raw white rice (pachari) for about 2 hours. Use a mixer or blender to grind the rice. Add 1 cup coconut, cooked rice, and instant yeast before grinding it. Use just enough water to cover the ingredients. Be careful not to add excess water, the batter should be thick, almost as thick as the idli batter. Add the 3 tbsp of sugar and 1/2 tsp of salt. after grinding for 2 minutes approximately, add 1/2 cup coconut and cardamon seeds. Also add a pinch of cumin seeds (jeera). Grind them again for a minute. Note that you don't have to add water this time. Do not want the coconut to grind too fine either. Pour the batter into a steel or glass bowl. Keep it untouched for 2 hours. See if it has risen because of fermentation.


Now take a round cake  pan, grease it with a few drops of coconut oil. Pour batter, about 3/4 full. Place it into the hot steamer. Keep the steamer open until the steam starts to come. Close the steamer and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes. After that open the steamer and decorate the top of vattayappam with nuts, raisins or cherries as you may like. etc. Again close the steamer and continue cooking. (The reason why I do not decorate the vattayappam at the beginning is that they will go inside the  batter. So it is a good idea to wait for the vattayappam to be half cooked to do the decoration). Once it is well cooked, switch off the steamer and take the pan out. You can even insert a tooth pick to see if it is well cooked.When they are nicely cooked, the sides do come off a bit.

Cut the vattayappam with a knife. If you invert the pan, while it is still warm, invert the pan, to get the pieces out. Try it and enjoy the delicious vattayappam!!