Chena Kalan ( Onam Sadhya Recipes ) - Kerala Sadhya Recipes

Ingredients

Raw banana - 1
Elephant Yam - 250 grams
Ginger - 1 small
Garlic  - 3
Dry red chilly  - 1
Fenugreek - 1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds  - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder  - 1/2 teaspoon
Green chilly  - 4
Coconut  - 1 cup
Curd - 1/2 cup
Mustard
Oil
Salt
Curry leaves

Add yam and banana in a pressure cooker along with 1/2 cup water and 1 teaspoon salt. Pressure cook it for two whistles. Keep it aside. Now grind coconut, 1/4 cup water, cumin seeds, ginger, garlic and green chilly to a thick paste. Mix it with yam and banana in the cooker. Cook it for a minute. Add half cup curd in the cooker along with salt if needed. Now in a pan, add 1 teaspoon  oil and when it is hot, add mustard seeds, fenugreek, curry leaves  and dry red chilly. Finally mix it with cooked yam and banana. Chena Kalan is ready to have. This is one of the famous Kerala Sadhya Recipe especially during Onam Festival where we get to see lot of veg recipes. And Chena Kalan is one recipe which goes to this group. Am planning to post few more traditional Onam Sadhya recipes in this week. Hopefully if I get time :)

Gooseberry Pickle ( Amla Pickle, Nellikka Achar )

Ingredients

Gooseberry  - 1/2 kg
Water  - 3/4 cup
Gingely oil - 4 tablespoons
Red chilly powder  - 3 tablespoons
Turmeric powder  - 1/4 teaspoon
Fenugreek - 1 teaspoon
Garlic - 50 grams
Mustard - 2 teaspoon
Asoefatida  - 2 teaspoon
Salt
Curry leaves

In a pressure cooker, add gooseberry and water. Pressure cook it for one whistle. Open the lid in two to three minutes. Slowly separate the seeds from Amla. Keep it aside. In a large pan, add oil. Once it is hot, add mustard seeds, curry leaves, fenugreek and garlic. Saute it for one minute. After this add chilly powder, turmeric powder. Saute it for a minute. Now add gooseberry to this and mix it well. Finally add salt and asofateida. Slowly mix it again for a minute. Ensure not to break the Amla's. Pickle is ready. Once it is cool, Store it in an air tight container. It is always  best to use pickle after one or two days.