Anitha Jayaraman

Oh yes, it a Kerala item, I thought I will give it a shot. I did not try it from scratch, instead I used the readymade puttu maavu(flour) from the shop. You need the Puttu kozha for cooking.

Puttu rolls

Required items – Puttu flour, Salt, Grated coconut and water

• To the flour, add little water and allow it to soak for 5 mins. Add a pinch of salt.
• After which use your hand to press & break the flour into tiny pieces.
• Put a pressure cooker on stove with water and let it boil.
• Wait until you see the vapor passing our of the cooker’s needle on top.
• Take the puttu Kozha and add the flour and grated coconut alternately.
• Close it and fix it on the cooker’s needle.
• Let it cook for 10mins, now remove the puttu kozha and use its rod to push the puttu from backside.

Kadalaicurry

Required Items – Garbonza beans(Chenna), Onions, tomatoes, Coconut milk, Chillie powder, salt, Coriander powder

• Pressure cook the beans for one whistle.
• Fry the cut onions and then tomatoes in oil
• To this add the chillie powder and salt and fry for a while.
• Add water to make it a gravy.
• To this add the boiled beans and mix them thoroughly with the gravy.
• Let it cook for a while. Add coconut milk to suppress the spice.

I made this for Satyanrayana Pooja. I would classify Kesari as one of the items that can be bravely attempted inspite of not being allowed to taste before pooja. Its a matter of ’sweet content’ and the appearance of the cooked food will guarantee the other aspect which is ‘properly cooked’.

Required Items - 2 cups of Rava(Sooji), sugar 2.5 cups, 1 cup ghee and other flavoring items.

• Fry the rava in a spoon of ghee until it turns light brown.
• Add 3-4 cups of water to the fried rava and allow it to boil and cook well.
• Once its cooked, slowly add the sugar. Keep stirring.
• Sugar will melt and bind the cooked rava.
• Add the remaining ghee while stirring. Also add Kesari powder.
• Once its cooked, add ghee fried cashews & raisins
• To this add cardamom powder and Pachai karpooram(camphor used for flavoring)