MURINGA ELA PARIPPU CURRY

Every year for Good Friday, Amma would make Parippu curry, Pappadam & Rice for lunch. Then we would eat it with a good dollop of ghee poured over it. Ho! Enthoru ruchi aayirunnu! That Parippu curry wouldn't make an everyday appearance on our dining table,maybe once for Onam and once for Good Friday. We always have something non-vegetarian for our meals at home,so making a full vegetarian meal was a challenge or so we'd like to think! We would atleast need a Meen Varuthathu to go along with our rice.

For the past one week, I've been on a non-veg cooking spree,expecially Pork. So I was feeling a wee bit guilty for not cooking anything veg for my food loving family. Jobin and Ian eats everything that is served to them,they are so easy to please! I am the choosy one in the family and I don't eat every vegetable that's been served. Ian is the one that surprises me always. From the time he was born, feeding him has only been a pleasure. He loves to eat and doesn't even ask me what is it that I am feeding him!

So, the other day, I bought some Muringa Ela from the Indian store. Having cooked nothing vegetarian the past few days, I decided on making our usual lavish Saturday lunch a proper vegetarian meal. So this parippu curry made it's first appearance in our house along with some yard long beans mezhukkupuratti. Moringa leaves/Muringaela is a highly nutritious ingredient and pairing it with some dal and rice makes it a complete meal.The recipe for parippu curry is from Aswathy Mathan's book and the addition of Muringaela was my choice.

MURINGA ELA PARIPPU CURRY

Serves 6
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Toor Dal
2 serrano chilies,slit
1 teaspoon oil
1 heaping cup Muringa ela

To grind:
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 pearl onions
2 small cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 cup grated coconut
3 dried bird's eye chilies / onakka kanthari (optional)

To temper:
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon sliced pearl onions
1 sprig curry leaves
2 dried red chilies

Method:
Pressure cook dal, serrano chilies,oil and muringa ela along with just enough water to reach an inch above it on medium heat for 3 whistles*.Once the pressure is released, open the cooker and mash the dal with the back of your spoon.
Meanwhile grind together the ingredients mentioned above. Add it to the cooked dal along with 1 cup of water**. Keep it on a slow flame and cook stirring continuously until it starts to steam gently. DO NOT let it boil. You just want a steady steam.
In a small pan, temper the ingredients mentioned above and pour over the hot dal. Check for salt & serve hot with Kerala Matta Rice.

*I did not soak the dal.
** This dal will thicken as it sits,so if you like to adjust the consistency,add some more water in step 2.

All of us relished this dal along with hot rice and ghee. I did not have any pappadam with me or else, it would have been the most perfect meal! Now that Vishu is just around the corner, I am planning for a mini sadya hoping that it will create some memories for Ian. I honestly don't know how much my new schedule is going to help me in prepping for it,but I will try to make the sadya happen. In the meantime, I hope you guys give this a try and let me know how it went!
 

HOW TO COOK KERALA MATTA RICE

I am sure some of you might have smirked at the idea of writing about how to make the perfect rice. If anyone thinks that cooking some rice is a rocket science,they are so mistaken! Infact,even a child can make it. Here, I am talking about the easiest way to make the Kerala Matta rice. The chubby rice.The fatter the rice grain, the starchier it is. The starchier the rice, the more liquid it needs to cook. It also takes a longer time than its skinnier counterparts.

Many people, including myself must have found out a way which works out best for them. I always went ahead with the pressure cooker method. Infact,that's the quickest way for matta.But,how many whistles do you give it? How much water do you use? What's your proportion of water to rice?
Kerala Matta rice is also known as Palakkadan Matta, Rosematta,Chomanna Ari, Parboiled Red Rice etc.,

I never gave much thought to it until Peramma told me how to go about it. It rocked my world! It's the most easiest way to cook the matta rice without your kitchen filling up with starchy spray everywhere! No more messy countertops/cooker lids / stoves. If you have already figured a way to cook yours without the above mentioned side effects,good for you! It took me a while, you see.

Last weekend,we had this rice talk with our friends and they felt the need to rinse out the cooked rice, add more water and give it another boil, which made it a lengthy process to cook matta.That's when I told them about the method I follow. I really feel that this is the best way to go about it provided, you have a large cooker.If not, try a smaller proportion. Here's how my Peramma told me to do:

THE BEST WAY TO COOK MATTA RICE

Ingredients:
1.5 cups Palakkadan Matta rice
12 cups water

Equipment : Pressure Cooker

Method: Take the measured rice in the pressure cooker and wash it,rubbing the grains,until the water turns clear,about 4-5 times. Add the 12 cups of water and keep the cooker on the stove. Turn on the heat to low,cover the cooker and wait for the steam. It will take anywhere between 5-6 minutes. Place the weight and cook the rice on low heat for 1 whistle. Turn off the heat and let pressure go down on it's own. Open and use as needed.

Updated on 16 July 2014 : This is not an absorption method for cooking the rice. There will be plenty of water after cooking,which can be drained off if needed.If you consume the starchy water as Kanji, you are of course, consuming the starch! :-)