Mathanga (pumpkin) and Vanpayar (red cow peas) erissery

Our first Onam in our newly renovated home. This is one of the dishes that I had not made before , though it is definitely a part of any Onasadya in our homes in Kerala. I was never a fan of pumpkin until I started cooking myself. 

I am going to put up the easiest version. Exactly as I made the dish. With the help of a pressure cooker. 

Pumpkin - 400 gms (peeled , deseeded and cut into cubes)

Vanpayar (red cow peas) - 1 cup or more 

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup

Green chillies - 2 nos

Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp 

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Salt to taste

Curry leaves - 1 stem or more

Coconut oil - 1 tsp 

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

dried red chilly - 2 nos

Soak the peas for 30 minutes and then add about 1 and 1/2 cups water, and pressure cook till three whistles. Once the steam escapes, add the pumpkin cubes, chilli and turmeric powder and cook on a medium flame till the pumpkin turns soft enough to mash. (Leave a few lumps of pumpkin for texture.)

 Do not add any water if possible. Avoid pressure cooking again because the pumkin may be overcooked.

Grind the grated coconut, green chillies and cumin seeds to a fine paste. Add this to the cooker. Once the errisery starts to bubble, turn it off. It should not have too much water or too little. 

In a hot kadai, heat the coconut oil, splutter mustar seeds, curry leaves and the dry red chillies. Add it to the cooker  and stir twice. 

Delicately flavored and great with rice. I think it would make a good curry for chappatis too..

And given below - my husband  and our daughter with our Pookkalam (flower arrangement) -  another tradition of Onam.

Ulli curry

I have no pictures of the entire feast this year.. I was a bit busy to take the snaps before my guests arrived and I did not want to focus on the food while there were others present.

I made Parippum neyyum, Ulli curry, Sambar, cabbage thoran, kaay mezhukkupuratti, kaalan, Olan and Gothambu paayasam.

The biggest hit of all was the Ulli curry . My grandma used to make this to make me eat my daily idlis.. so I thought it was high time I tried to make this. It was a great substitute for the normal inji curry.

Cheriya ulli (shallots) - 250 gms, peeled and cut into rounds

Green chillies - 4 to 5 sliced round

Heat oil, about 1 tbsp temper with

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Dried red chillies - 2 to 3

Curry leaves.

Now add the shallots and green chillies and fry till the ulli is nearly golden brown. keep aside.

Tamarind - 2 lemon-sized portions - extract the pulp

The liquid should be about 2 glasses. To this, add

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Red chilli powder - 2 tsp

Coriander powder - 2 tbsp

Asafoetida powder - a pinch

Salt to taste

Mix everything with the tamarind pulp and bring to a boil..let the liquid reduce to about half the quantity. Add the ulli and green chillies and boil well. Finally add a spoon of jaggery or 1 tsp of sugar.

This is a great side dish for dosas, idlis or rice with curd.

Gothambu (cracked wheat) paayasam

Gothambu paayasam has always been a favourite in our family. Infact at my dad's ancestral home whenever anyone had a birthday, this was the paayasam of choice and I am sure no one would have thought to complain even if it were made on a fairly regular basis....

Ohhh...sooo many great memories......

If one manages to procure the cracked wheat without much difficulty, then it is really easy to make. Otherwise, it could become a laborious process.

In the south, we call the gothambu (wheat)as gothambu nurukku ...or broken wheat. In the north (India), it is available as Daliya, and comes already roasted...which is a blessing when u make this with a clinging child who is cranky due to cold!!!

Incidentally, this is the same thing that is known as 'Couscous ' in Moroccan cuisine.

Gothambu nurukku/ Daliya/couscous - 2 cups

If you have not managed to get the pre-roasted Daliya, you have to sort the good grains and then evenly roast the nurukku. One side will turn brown while the other will stay a bit white.

Make sure that you boil the grains in a very spacious vessel. Else they will just stick together when cooked.

Water - 5 cups water.

Boil the cracked wheat and as it comes to a boil, put off the fire and stir well. Now keep a lid on it. At intervals please keep stirring to separate the grains. there shoild not be much water left as the grains absorb water and get cooked.

Jaggery - 1/2 kilo.

In one glass water boil the jaggery to make a pani. then sieve the liquid jaggery to get rid of the impurities. Keep it boiling and add the cooked cracked wheat.

Cardamom - 4 nos (powdered)

Coconut milk - 1 cup 1st extract(very thick ) and 2 cups 2nd extract

Add the powdered cardamom and 2nd extract of coconut milk . Bring to a boil. Now add the 1st extract. Make sure that this time the paayasam does not boil. Switch off the stove.

Ghee - 1 tsp
Cashew nuts
Raisins

Heat ghee and fry the cashews and raisins and add to the paayasam.

Note: You may fry the cracked wheat in ghee or dry-roast them... the way I described used minimum amount of ghee and is just as tasty.

Onasadya

A small sadya with few items...

Somehow without atleast 4 people to sit down to have it, an Onasadya loses something. however great it tastes. We celebrated yet again this weekend at my cousin's and food tasted infinitely better...

Ofcourse he had also managed to get some banana leaves to serve the feast on..