Periamma’s Vegetarian Pulao

# goes well with *chicken with red gravy

                              *spicy chicken or mutton perathal

                              *vegetarian kurma

Ingredients

3 cups of basmati or long grain rice

1 carrot

1 large green capsicum

1 large red capsicum

2 green chilies

2 red chilies

2 bay leaves

2 in cinnamon

4 cardamom

2 staranise

3 shallots

2 pips garlic

1 in ginger

2 cashew nuts

2 tablespoon yogurt

1 cup full cream milk

A little butter

Preparation

1. Rice : Wash it and sieve it. Don’t squeeze the rice too much when you wash it cause the grains might break.

2. Carrot : grate it lengthwise ( 2 in long )

3. Capsicum : cut them into small squares.

4. Shallots, garlic, ginger and cashew nut : blend them into a fine paste.

Method

1.  Melt the butter in a wok. ( use low flame cause butter heats up fast )

2. Add in the bay leaves, cinnamon , cardamom and star anise. Saute.

3. Then add the rice. Stir to mix the butter and butter well with the rice. Keep stirring for 1-2 minutes.

4. Add all the vegetables and stir for 1 minute.

5. Transfer the rice mixture from the wok to the rice cooker.

6. Add the prepared liquid mixture to the rice and top up with water. Add some salt and give it a stir before switching on  

    the rice cooker.    ( 1 cup rice needs 1 ½ cup liquid/water . This is the standard measurement.)

7.After the rice is cooked, cool it a little before stirring it .

 * Stir with a fork to prevent the grains from breaking.

Periamma’s Authentic  Fish Curry

Tips from Periamma

# use fresh fish

## use fresh supply of tamarind pulp            

### use a good quality  curry pot / vessel

Ingredients

1 kg of jenahak fish

10 okras

20 cent sized tamarind

10 shallots

5 pips of garlic

3 green chilies

¼ cumin seeds

 ¼ fennel seeds

¼ mustard seeds

¼ fenugreek seeds

2 packets of Baba’s fish curry powder( small pkts)

1 teaspoon of chili powder

2 tablespoon of canned tomato soup.

2 sprigs of curry leaves

2-3 tablespoon of cooking oil

Preparation.

1. Fish : Clean it and cut it into medium sized pieces.

2  Shallots and garlic: slice them

3. Chili: just slit them lengthwise and deseed

4. Okra : wash then snip off the top and the tip.

   * avoid cutting into two cause okras are quite slimy

5. Tamarind : soak the tamarind in some water then squeeze out the juice and discard the pulp.

6. Curry powder and chili powder : add some water to make a thick paste.

Method

1.  Heat some oil in a curry pot / vessel

2.  Add the spices , cumin, fennel, mustard and fenugreek  seeds, and sauté. ( you can hear the mustard popping)

3. Add in the onions and garlic. Continue to sauté for 1 min then add in the green onions and curry leaves. Saute all the ingredients till you smell the fragrance of the onions.

4. Next, add in the curry paste and tamarind juice Sauté for 2-3 mins then add 1 ½ cup of water.      

    Bring it to boil .

5. Then add the fish and lower the flame a little. Let the fish cook for 2-3 minutes in the gravy.

6.. Stir the gravy gently so as not to break the fish and add the tomato soup

7. Finally drop the okras on top of the gravy and let it cook for a minute.

8. Garnish the gravy with some coriander leaves.

9. Ladle out the fish gently when you serve the curry.

* you could add 2 tablespoon of milk if you feel 

the curry is too spicy. 

( Add the milk after step 7 )
<>Mackerel(ikan tenggiri ) and threadfin fish
( ikan senangin ) are equally good for fish curry.

Valaipoo Vade

# made like parpu vade

## can use either rice flour or channa dal ( chick pea) flour.

·        Rice flour makes it crispy and light.

·        Channa dal flour gives a nice fragrance but adds volume.

### this dish goes well with sambar, vegetarian pilau /pilaf/pulao rice

Ingredients

1 valaipoo

2 large onions

4 red or green chilies ( or 2 dry chilies)

½ in ginger

2 sprigs curry leaves

½ teaspoon fennel seeds

2-3 tablespoon of rice/ channa dal flour

1-2 cup oil for frying

salt

Preparation

1. Valaipoo : clean the valaipoo and chop it up into small pieces manually or use the food processor.

2. Onions, chilies, ginger and curry leaves : Chop them up    finely.

Method

1.  Add the salt , flour, onions, chilies, curry leaves, ginger and fennel seeds to the valaipoo.

2. Mix them well and check the consistency of the mixture. You may need to add extra flour if it’s   too runny.

3. Heat the oil in a wok/small pot.

4. Make even sized balls from the mixture. Lay them on a plate. Flatten one by one as you drop them into the hot oil.

    * If you don’t want to drop the vade directly into the hot oil then flatten the balls on a spatula and drop it into the oil. ( a rice spatula is easy to navigate cause it is short and has a large flat space)

hot crispy vades

5. Fry the vades till they darken. You don’t have to fry them too long cause they cook pretty fast. Drain the excess oil and serve.

Valaipoo Parathal

Valaipoo Parathal

# taste like mutton dry parathal

## valaipoo is rich in Potassium , Magnesium , fibers,  vitamin E and flavonoids

### oil your hand when you are cleaning the valaipoo( prevents the latex from staining your hands)

#### Cook the valaipoo as soon as you clean it cause it turns dark if you leave it too long.

Ingredients

1 valaipoo

1 large onion

5 cloves of garlic

½ in ginger
2 sprigs of curry leaves
4- 5 dry chilies

cinnamon, cardamon,
fennel and cloves

1 teaspoonful of mutton curry powder
2 inches cinnamon stick
3 cloves
2 cardamons
¼ - ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
Some salt
2 tablespoon of cooking oil
1 teaspoon of ghee( optional )

Preparation

1.Clean the valaipoo.

chopping with a food processor

the florets after cleaning

Remove the skin( many layers). Each layer has a row of florets. The florets in the upper layers are a little bigger than the florets in the inner layers. Remove the stamen , a plastic like string which is slightly hard, from each floret. As you reach the inner layers, you don’t have to,  cause the it is soft. Wash the florets n sieve them. Wait for 2-3 minutes  then either chop them up manually or use a food processor to chop them up. Start cooking after you chop them up cause they turn dark very fast. ( you could add a tablespoon of yogurt to the florets if you plan to cook it much later. This prevents it from turning dark) 

2. Slice or chop the onion , garlic and ginger

3. Dry chilies : Slit the chili lengthwise with a  kitchen shears . Remove the seeds then leave the chilies in a bowl of water for about 5 -6 minutes. Clean the inner part of each chili under running water. Then cut each chili into 3 parts.

Method

1/2

1. Pour some oil onto a heated pan/wok.

2. Add the cinnamon, fennel, cardamom , cloves and chilies to the pan. Fry the spices for a minute (till the chilies turn brown ).

3. Followed by the onions and curry leaves. Fry till the onions turn light brown.

4. Add in the valaipoo , the curry powder and salt. 

5. Stir the mixture well and add some ghee before you let the valaipoo cook . ( 5 mins)

6. Keep stirring on and off till the mixture becomes thick and dry.

7. Switch off the stove when you are satisfied with the thickness.

8. Dish out and serve