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. 

Rasmalai (Dessert)

Ingredients

Step 1 :

Rasgullas

Milk - 1 litre
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Water - 3 cups
Lemon - 2 tablespoons
Semolina  (Rava) - 2 teaspoon
Cardomom powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Boil milk in a large pan. Switch off the flame once it is boiled. Add two tablespoon of lemon. Wait for two to three minutes. And you can see the texture of the milk changing. Now pour this in a thin cotton cloth and drain off the water completely by gently squeezing. Also you can hang the cloth for 20- 30 minutes by tieing it properly. 

After 30 minutes,  start kneading the dough. And stop once you feel the greasy texture on your palm. Make sure to knead it in right texture by adding cardomom powder and semolina to this. Ensure not to have too much of moisture as it may break while cooking. Also it may become dry if moisture is less. Start making round chenna balls out of the dough by slightly pressing it with palm to get the round shape. Keep it aside.

In a large pan , heat 3 cups of water and add sugar. Keep stirring when it starts boiling. This helps the sugar to dissolve in  water. Slowly add the chenna balls into the boiling water. Start with medium flame for 5 minutes. Later reduce the flame and cook it for 20 minutes. Make sure to cover the pan with a lid. Slowly flip the chenna balls in between so that it is cooked evenly. You can see the chenna balls size increasing almost double when it starts absorbing the sugar. Switch off the flame. Let it cool in room temperature for 30 - 60 minutes.

Step 2:
Sauce

Milk  - 1 litre
Cardomom powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Almonds -  6
Pistachio  - 6
Sugar - 3 tablespoon
Saffron strands  (Kesar)

Heat milk in a large pan. Keep stirring it in one direction. Add three tablespoons of sugar, finely chopped almonds, pistachios, few saffron strands and cardamom powder. Once the milk become half the quantity, reduce the flame. Slowly add rasgullas into this. Cook it in low flame for four to five minutes so that the rasgullas will absorb the flavour. Switch off the flame and keep it in room temperature for 10 - 15 minutes.  Refrigerate it for 15 - 20 minutes and rasmalai is all set to serve after lunch or dinner.

Prawns Biryani

Ingredients

Onion  - 2
Tomato - 2
Green chilli  -4
Ginger - 1 medium
Garlic - 4 cloves
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 3 tsp
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Spices powder - 1 tsp ( cardamom, cinnamon, cloves)
Biryani Rice - 1 cup
Raisins
Cashew nuts
Ghee
Oil
Salt
Coriander leaves
Curry leaves


Biryani Rice

In a pressure cooker add 1 tablespoon ghee, 1 cup rice, 2 cups of water, 1/4 tsp spices powder and little salt. Pressure cook the rice for 2 whistles. Keep this aside.

Prawns fry & Biryani Masala

In a small bowl, marinate prawns, with salt, 1 tsp red chilly powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and mashed ginger and garlic. Keep it for 15 minutes. Fry these prawns in a pan when the oil is hot. Fry in medium flame for 3-4 minutes. Now for Biryani Masala, Take a pan, add little oil. Once it is hot, saute onion first. Then add tomatoes, green chilly and saute it again for three minutes. Now add, red chilly powder, turmeric powder, pepper powder and garam Masala. At the end add little salt.

Baking

In a large microwave bowl start with adding Masala at the bottom. Then add rice and on top of the rice. Add curry leaves, coriander leaves and spices powder. Also, spread fried onions, raisins, cashew nuts and fried onions on top of it. Bake it for 4 minutes. Prawns Biryani is all set to have.

Note: Make sure to use small prawns or shrimps for Prawns Biryani as it tastes good. Add salt in Masala  and in prawns separate while frying it. For garnishing,  use spices powder, fried onions, raisins, cashew nuts and coriander leaves.