quick cooker carrot pal paysam and a girl's day out in the city!

Gosh has it been a long time since my last post! Where to begin. Well I started working with a non-profit. Even though it is only part-time and I get to work from home,  it has been challenging managing deadlines and conference calls, what with having to report to a toddler as well, who we all know is the most demanding kind of boss!

While I have been cooking some and photographing a little, sadly blogging was put on the back burner. I wished for more hours in the day, but what I was really lacking was motivation.

And then last week, much needed motivation came  in the form of my lovely friends and super talented fellow bloggers Vijitha, Prerna and Kankana.  Along with two other new friends, Viji's Mom and our kids, we took a day off from our everyday routines to meet up in the city. We had been planning and discussing this for weeks. The night before we all made and packed snacks for the little ones, yummy beetroot parathas, ragi patties, chocolate loaf and some vattayappam from me ( recipe coming soon) I was so excited the night before I could hardly sleep, just like before long ago school excursions!

On the morning of our trip, I had a long call from work and all along I kept thinking of the bus I had to take to go meet the girls and if I missed it (which I did) I would have to wait an hour for the next one.  Thankfully T came to the rescue dropping me off to the ferry landing so that I could take the ferry to San Francisco and I must say we traveled in style! My little monkey and I thoroughly enjoyed our ferry ride and I am so glad I ended up missing that bus.

 

If there is one thing that I learnt in life is that everything is much, much better shared with a gang of girl friends. Whether it be prawn pickle in a hostel mess or pre-exam panic, or a beautiful outing. I miss my girl friends and roommates from my college and hostel days a lot and was beginning to think I would never be able to enjoy that kind of female bonding again. I am so thankful to have met some good friends even after moving here and at this stage of my life as a mom, when I think I need friends most!  We talked and laughed and munched, wandering through the market, pushing our strollers with our naughty toddlers along, while around us the city whirled and buzzed. Smartly suited professionals out for lunch waited patiently behind us as we discussed and debated what to order at the numerous little stalls within the ferry building.Young couples out on a date and nosy little pigeons edged out of the way of not one,  not two, but four strollers and us large group of chattering women, brandishing our cameras and clicking away. We must have been quite a sight!

I only took my point and shoot along and left the photography to the experts, but then they decided they wouldn't let me eat my ice cream in peace and suddenly, my melting malted chocolate cone from Humphry Solocome was caught up in the middle of a full blown photo-shoot.  I love that picture taken by Prerna and you can see Kankana and Viji's versions on their blog posts, beautifully capturing our magical day at the San Francisco Ferry building.

There was a farmers market happening that day and some of the girls bought gorgeous heirloom carrots to take home. Since they posted their carrot dishes as part of or impromptu group blogging activity to record our magical day out, I thought I too would blog about this super easy and very delicious cooker carrot pal payasam- a perfect spring time dessert!

Pal payasam is a sweet milk pudding that is commonly served in temples as prasadam in Kerala and most of South India. Phirni is a similar sweet dish, popular in North India which is served in clay pots which impart an earthy flavour and draw out the water, making the pudding thicker and creamier. While we add a handful of rice to give the sweet some body, it is not really a rice pudding, more of a milk pudding I think!. I used basmati rice although traditionally a special type of payasam rice called Unakalari is used in Kerala which imparts a pinkish colour to the pudding. You could use brown rice, but do not use glutinous or sticky Asian rice. This payasam is mainly sweetened milk which is slowly cooked, stirring for hours until it has reduced and tastes somewhat like condensed milk. Often it is made with creamy buffalo milk.

I made this in the pressure cooker, so it was super easy and quick, but you can also make this in a slow cooker or the traditional way-cooking it in a wide pot ( so that there is more surface area for the water in the milk to evaporate faster) until the milk has reduced to half it's original volume, though you have to watch that the milk at the bottom of the pan doesn't burn, so you have to stir it occasionally.

I added some grated carrot which melded very well, imparting their sweetness without overpowering the flavour of the milk which is the star. Sometimes a pinch of cardamom powder or saffron is used, and the pudding is  usually garnished with chopped nuts, but I agree with purists that this is not necessary as you don't want anything distracting from the wonderful taste of the reduced milk. 

4 Ingredient, quick and easy Carrot Pal Payasam

Ingredients:

• Carrots 6 medium ( omit for traditional pal payasam)
• Kerala Rosematta or Basmati Rice 1/4 cup ( Not sticky or glutinous rice) 
• Sugar 1/2 to 1 cup ( You can easily adjust  sweetness depending on your preference, start with less and you can also add more sugar if needed at the end) 
• Milk 4 cups ( I used whole milk) 
• Ghee or butter 1 tbsp
• Chopped nuts for garnishing ( not necessary) 

Directions

Pulse the rice in a blender a few times to break it up. Do not grind it to a powder. 

(I skip this step if I'm in a hurry.)

Wash the broken rice and let it drain in a strainer

Grate the carrots using a box grater or food processor

Heat the ghee or butter in a large pressure cooker or a heavy pot 

Add the carrots and cook, stirring until they no longer taste raw

Add the sugar and stir for a few minutes more until the sugar melts completely

Now add the rice and the milk  and mix everything well

If you are using a pressure cooker, put the lid and the whistle on. 

Cook on medium heat until one whistle.

As soon as the whistle goes, switch the heat on to low for about 10 more minutes and then switch off the flame.

(If you leave it on for too long, the pressure cooker may leak all over your kitchen so be careful!)

Once you have switched off the heat, leave it on the stove until all the steam has gone.

(Go do something else like paint your nails or read that blog post you had bookmarked!)

Once all the steam has gone, open the pressure cooker and taste. If you want you can add more sugar now.
Stir the payasam occasionally on med-low flame (with the lid off) to thicken it more to your liking.
Serve warm or chilled ( I prefer it chilled as it gets a little thicker and creamier)

Keeps well in a lidded container in the fridge for a few days. Make sure it has cooled before keeping in the fridge.

The taste of this payasam is rich and luxurious and I was craving it for days after it was all over. You might think that 1/4 cup of rice is not much but it really bulks up, absorbing the milk and you really don't want to add more. Even if you are a cardamom freak like me, and be tempted to add some or other spices- don't. Let the reduced milk flavor shine through!

I will be sending my carrot pal payasam to The Kerala Kitchen hosted by Jehanne of The Cooking Doctor this month 

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Kerala Beans Stirfry/ Payar Mezhukkupuratti

When ever our large clan gets together in Kerala, all the women folk converge at the kitchen table and you will hear them laughing and talking as their fingers fly splitting open long pods of beans into neat little piles of shiny plump little beans. We kids used to run around the group of aunties who didn't seem to mind or even notice us as they peeled and chopped onions, pounded spices, sizzled mustard seeds, stirred curries and efficiently cooked enough food to feed an army or one hungry brood!

This time when I visited Kerala, I very eagerly joined my aunts in the kitchen. They were very patient with how slow I was compared to them and they overlooked the fact my pile comprised of more pod bits. I still don't have the patience to carefully pry open even the stubborn tender parts of the bean pod which house the tiniest of beans so I break off that part of the pod with the skin though my aunts can coax a bean out of even the narrowest parts of the pods.





This simple garlicy and spicy stir fry of beans is made very often and it's one of my favourites. I could eat a bowlful and it is very easy to make, if you can get past the pesky shelling or do what I do and simply break up the pods into little sticks if you don't mind the skin like me.


I was very happy to see these long beans at the farmer's market here. I think they are called Red Chinese long beans here and are available all year round. As soon as I saw the bunch I immediately wanted to make them into this beans stir fry which is all I can imagine making with them! You can use any variety, even french beans which you wouldn't be able to shell but simply break up. 


This type of preparation using just oil and spice sometimes onion and garlic is called "Mezhukkupuratti" in most parts of Kerala, meaning smeared with oil. It is often used to cook a variety of vegetables and is one of the most basic and popular ways to cook vegetables in South India. Thoran is a similar vegetable preparation but with the addition of shredded coconut and often tempered mustard seeds as well.


I know I post a lot of cake on this blog. I enjoy baking and I do love cake. But what we eat most of the time are simple vegetable or lentil dishes like this that get cooked in a hurry, usually about an hour before  dinner time and it's too late and too dark to take pictures. This year I hope to share more of these delicious and healthy dishes which very unfairly didn't get the attention that they deserve. Hopefully this will motivate me to also start cooking earlier, not scramble around in the evening trying to throw a meal together. Thankfully quick, healthy meals like this can also be super delicious!

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Red Moong and Squash Erissery for Veggie Belly as I'm off to India!

I am heading off to India next week! Am really excited-  this will be the little one's first visit to India to meet his adoring great grandmothers, uncles, aunts and cousins! Am also quite panicked because this will be the first time that I am travelling alone with the troublesome toddler, without his Pappa to keep him in check and provide entertainment.

As I am running around like a headless chicken packing tiny t-shirts and miniature nail clippers and all the other sundry things the monkey and I will need,  I decided I also wanted to do a guest post for Sala of Veggie Belly who is on a cross country road trip! How cool right? As a kid my parents would drive us down to Kerala almost every month and I LOVED it! making pit-stops at road side dhabbas for parottas, quarreling with siblings for the window seat, singing out loud and watching the changing landscape as we whizzed by, cities melting into villages and then forests and hills and fields, and the excitement as we spotted "our" river and the road curved into my grandmothers driveway.... and I might get to do atleast some of that soon. Hope that you are having an awesome time Sala, thank you so much for haing me over to guest post for you!

(Update: This picture won me my very first DMBLGIT award for photography! )

Since Sala is part Malayali and loves Kerala food, I am sharing one of my favourite everyday Kerala dishes, Red Moong and Butternut Squash in Coconut ( Van Payar Mathanga Eriserry ) -something simple yet comforting and delicious, and perfect for the transition to the fall season that I will be missing out on. I think it will  make a really different yet delicious addition to your thanksgiving feast :)

Eriserry is a typical lentil dish from Kerala like parripu (Dal or Yellow Moong stew) and cherupayar (Green Moong) and is part of everyday meals being nutritious and easy to digest. It is also often part of the Onam Sadhya or harvest feast. I like to serve eriserry with a heaping mound of rice, pappadam and pickle and don't forget the payasam for dessert!

Do head over to Veggie Belly for the rest of the post and the recipe and well as drool at Sala's glorious vegetarian fare including such awesomeness as chocolate beetroot cake and lovely Chettinad fare!

Also sending this off to this month's Kerala Kitchen hosted by the lovely Divya of Easycooking. Don't forget to send her all the Kerala inspired dishes you cooked up this month!

And please DO pray that the little monkey and I survive our trip ( and each other!) See you all next from India :)

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ada payasam for onam (sweet flattened rice and milk pudding from Kerala)

Tuesday September 11 2001. Ten years. Gosh has it been that long? I am not from New York. I have never been to New York but I am sure like me, almost everyone around the world will remember what they  were doing that day. Early in the morning, I was in my college hostel room in India prepping for a test when my roommate rushed in with the day's news paper. I will never forget the look on her face. Shock, disbelief. Such a senseless tragedy that impacted so many innocent lives.

I remember asking my grandfather after a trip to the zoo when I was eight or so, which animal he was thought could be the scariest and he answered "Man". I understand today how much cruelty and at the same time, how much goodness man is capable of.

By contrast, September is the beginning of many celebrations in India. There are many religious festivals during this time starting with Ramzan to Ganesh Chaturthi to the week long Diwali celebrations in October and ending with Christmas and the universal New Year's festivities when the air is thick from the smoke of fireworks. In Kerala this weekend many Malayalis like me, whether they be Hindus or Christians or Muslims would have wished each other a Happy Onam although Onam is a Hindu festival unique to the state. They believe that during Onam the good king Mahabali visits the homes of his people and so special feasts are prepared and a carpet of flowers laid out to receive him. Today it is celebrated by one and all. Who would not like to share in a delicious feast? I wish we all can find more such happy reasons to come together.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Onam weekend. I enjoyed having my mom here in the US for Onam and the two payasams she made. The first is my favourite and very simple to make,  in fact I would call it beginner's payasam. Am sending this off to Divya who is hosting this month's edition of The Kerala Kitchen  as well as to Shulie for her Rice Love event :)

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