CHERUPAYAR ULARTHIYATHU / Stir fry with green grams

Everytime I eat this, it reminds me of my cousin Tia.She was ,is and forever will be an ardent fan of kanji and payar :-) I guess 'kanjiyum thayyirrrum payarum' was her favourite phrase when she was a baby! 'Thayir' means 'curd' in Malayalam,our mother tongue. So nowadays it is taken for granted that if Tia is visiting us, we will have kanji 'n' payar ready on the table :)This is a very common dish in every Malayalee household. I love the fact that it is very simple to cook but exceptionally tasty. 

This dish freezes very well! Our family is known for freezing curries because we never know when a guest can pop in :-) It is very often because we are now 73 members on my mom's side alone! :-D

CHERUPAYAR ULARTHIYATHU

Recipe source : Amma

Ingredients:

Green grams/cherupayar - 1 cup

Shallots- 5

Garlic- 5 cloves

Dry Red Chillies- 3

Salt & Pepper -to taste

Curry leaf- 1 sprig

Oil- 3-4 tbsp (we prefer coconut oil)

Method:

• Wash the gram very well under running water.
• Soak green gram in 4 cups water for 20 mins.Drain.
• Using a pressure cooker, cook the gram using 1 1/2 cup water and salt.
• Grind shallots,garlic and dry red chillies together.
• Heat oil, add the ground paste and saute till you get a nice aroma.
• Add the cooked gram and mix well but carefully so that it doesn't get pasty.
• If you like a drier version, pour  another 2-3 tbsp oil and saute well.
• Add pepper to spice up the dish.
• Garnish with curry leaf and serve hot with kanji/rice

That is my idea of comfort food!