Pazham Pori/Ethakka Appam/Ripe Plantain Fritters ~ Keralite's Favorite's Teatime Snack

Pazham Pori is one of the most popular teatime snack among Keralites. You can find this snack in any paart of Kerala, every roadside restaurants, dabas, college canteens, railway stations have them. I doubt there will be any Malayali who do not like this delicious and crispy snack and so do our family. Ripe Plantains/Nethra Pazham/Ethakka is used for making this awesome snack. It is quite ezee to make Pazham Pori if you have some all purpose flour and ripe plantains in your pantry. Since my in-laws are home I mostly have these bananas at home.

Last time when I got this banana home, my son started telling my MIL 'Amma used to make snack with these bananas with sweet filling at our old home'. My MIL didn't have any clue as to what he is talking about since he said it was not Pazham Pori. When I came back from work she told me about him bugging for some 'unknown' snack with plantains. I immediately knew he was talking about 'Unnakkaya' - another famous snack from Kerala/Malabar which I always used to make before moving to our new home.  He wanted me to make it again and I absolutely didn't have the energy and patience to go through all the elaborate process of steaming  the plantain, making the filling, rolling them with utmost patience and then deep fry them. So I thought of making this Pazham Pori which is really Ezee to make and equally enjoyable by kids and everyone in the family. Make them for the evening snack and enjoy with your loved ones!!!!



Ingredients Used:-

1. Ripe Plaintains/Nenthrakkaya/Kerala Banana - 3
2. Maida/All Purpose Flour - 1Cup
3. Rice Flour - 2 tbsp
4. Baking Powder - ¼tsp
5. Salt a pinch
6. Sugar - 2 tbsp
7. Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp
8. Water - ½ Cup(use as needed)
9. Oil for deep frying

Preparation Method:-

• Cut the banana into half from the centre. Peel of the skin of both halves. Run the knife between each half to thinly slice them into at least 6 slice. Repeat for the bananas and set aside to make the batter
• Add all purpose flour, Rice flour, baking powder,salt, sugar and turmeric powder into a bowl. Add water little by little till you get a lump less, thick batter. Batter should not be too runny, kind of cake batter consistency.
• Heat up a kadai and pour oi to deep fry, keep in medium-high heat.
• Dip banana slices one by one in the batter and drop into the oil. You can add up to five-six slices at a time according to the size of the pan used for frying
• Turn the banana slice to cook on both sides. Make sure not to burn but fry till the covering get a golden brown color.
• Drain off to the paper towels to remove any excess oil
• Repeat the process with rest of the banana slices. Enjoy with hot steaming Chai/Tea !!!

Kerala Style Egg Puffs With Puff Pastry

Frozen Puff pastries are so very easy and handy, great and quick way to prepare snacks, may it be sweet or savory choice is all yours. Every time I buy them I end up making these egg puffs first, as they are easy to make, very filling and satisfying snack especially for kids and even grown up kids like us ;) Some boiled eggs, puff pastry and a simple onion masala cooks up this awesome snack.

Many of my friends ask me where to buy the puff pastries, so just in case you are confused check out for them in the frozen sections where you find other frozen foods. Its normally available in most of the super markets, so next time you find them you know what to make. Try out the recipe by yourself and enjoy some warm homemade egg puffs with a cup of Hot Chai!!!!!!

Ingredients:

1. Puff Pastry - 1 Sheet
2. Boiled Eggs - 5
3. Pepper powder ~ ¼ tsp(optional)
4. Turmeric powder ~ ¼ tsp
5. Garam masala ~ ½ tsp
6. Salt ~ ¾ tsp +  ¼ tsp(check for the taste and adjust accordingly)
   
7. Onion finely Chopped - 2
8. Ginger, Garlic finely chopped or crushed in a mortar ~ 2 tsp
9. Green chilly
10. Curry leaves a sprig
11. Oil of your choice ~ 2 tsp

Preparation Method:-

• Pre-heat the oven to 400 Degree F.Thaw the Puff Pastries according to the package instructions, it normally takes 45 mins to 1 hour. 
• Peel of the shell from boiled eggs and cut them vertically into two equal halves. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper on top of the boiled eggs from the ¼ tsp pepper powder and salt(Sprinkling salt n pepper is optional, I do it though)
• Heat a frying pan, pour oil, saute the onion till translucent. Add the crushed/chopped ginger-garlic, green chilies and saute till raw flavor disappears.
• Add curry leaves, turmeric powder, garam masala and saute well till the masala leaves it raw smell and combined well with onion mix. Make sure the masala mix should be dry(You can add some chopped veggies as well like carrot, green peas etc if desired)
• Once the pastries are thawed cut them vertically into three pieces through the folded lines. Cut them again horizontally into three again to get nine pastry squares

• Take a spoonful of onion masala and keep in the middle of each pastry squares, top each of them with egg halves. 

                      

• Dip your finger in water and apply it on the edges of the pastry squares.Pull the corners towards the center diagonally and seal them.

                                    

• Line them in a baking sheet and bake for approximately 15- 20 minutes or until the pastry top becomes   golden brown and crisp.

                          

• Take out of the oven and let it cool for couple of minutes. Enjoy warm with a cup of tea!!!!!!!

Notes :- 

1. I cut the pastries into 9 squares but I would suggest you to cut into 6 pieces (3 through the folded  lines and 2 horizontally) to make six puffs as I felt the egg filling was heavy compared to pastry sheets. or cut one egg into four pieces and keep one small piece in each squares. But either way you won't have any problem in folding or making them.
2. Instead of applying water and sticking the pastries together you can beat an egg well to make egg wash. Brush the egg wash on four sides before folding and top of the pastry after folding to get a shiny, crispy and perfect finishing when you bake.

Sending this to The Kerala Kitchen hosted by Jehanne at The Cooking Doctor

Irachi Pathiri - Meat stuffed Roti

Irachi Pathiri is a very popular food snack in Malabar region and is a very important Ramadan dish. Me and my sister was a die-hard fan of this dish when we were kids. Achan(dad) used to get this for us from one of the Thalaserry bakery or 'Thattukada'(Street food stall). Having this spicy meat filled rotis with a hot cup of 'Chai'/Tea gives you a different experience which I really cannot put together in words, the spice and the hot is just a wonderful combination. I used to have slight wet eyes sometimes when I have it. The only complaint we had was we used to get very less bites of meat, onion always tried to outsmart the meat. I'm sure bakers were more interested in making money by putting less meat and more onion along with customer satisfaction. Guess what I hope now a days onion being costlier than meat they might be adding more meat and less onion for making this dish ;)

It was in my teen when I realized that these are just deep fried rotis stuffed with meat masala. Don't really remember when we started making this at home but these were made only over the weekends then. After coming to US I hardly made it once or twice, if you observe my menu I will have very less deep fried dishes. So this was made couple of days back when my sister who is in India for a vacation told me that she is having 'Chicken Pathiri' and I couldn't stop myself making it. I did not made it very spicy considering my two little ones, but still it simply tasted great. So friends lets go through the process of making this awesome Chicken masala stuffed Irachi Pathiri. Enjoy!!!!!

Ingredients used :-

For Chicken Masala Filling:

Chicken breast - 2 halves(if u can get minced chicken that's better)
Onion - 2 finely chopped
Garlic minced - 3 pods (a tbsp)
Ginger minced - 1 tbsp
Green Chilly - 2 finely chopped
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp
Curry leaves a sprig
Oil for deep frying + 2 tbsp for making masala
salt to taste

For Roti's:

Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Salt - 2 tsp
Water as needed to knead the dough

Preparation Method:-

• Knead the dough by adding water and salt as of for Chappathi/Puri. Cover and set aside till Chicken masala is done.
• Wash and clean the chicken. Cut it into very small bite size pieces. Marinate with salt, turmeric powder, chilly powder and pepper. Set aside for 15-20 mins.
• Cook the chicken in medium heat until soft without adding any water. Shred the chicken with your fingers if you feel they are bigger bites
• Now heat up a frying pan, add 2 tbsp oil and saute onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies, curry leaves, salt and saute till onion turns translucent.
• Add the chicken and saute well for a while, add garam masala and stir to mix everything evenly.
• Cover and cook for another 5-7 mins in medium heat. Switch off the flame and let it cool.
• Make small lemon size balls out of the dough and roll into small round rotis of puri size.
• Top up with a tbsp of chicken masala, now place another roti on top of the masala and seal the edges by pressing with your fingers or folding a small portion of the edges of the bottom roti towards top and closing it. Repeat the process with rest of the rotis and masala.

                                                     

• Heat a wok or kadai, pour oil for deep frying and wait till the oil is hot enough. Add each pathiri in the oil and fry on both sides. Take out and place oin an absorbent paper and press to remove excess oil if any. Repeat the process with rest of the pathiris.

                                     

• Serve warm with a hot cup of Chai/Tea. Enjoy!!!!!

Note:-
1. Seal the edges properly, otherwise oil will go inside the stuffing and Pathiri will become very oily.
2. You can use mutton(lamb), beef or any meat of your choice to make the filling. I personally like mutton masala and feel thats the best for making Irachi Pathiri.

Unniyappam/Unni Appam (Neyyappam)

Unni Appam is something that my son can never say 'no' to, he sits on Kitchen counter top to see me making them and starts eating from the time its out of the pan. When my Grandma and Aunt used to make it when we were kids I used to gaze at them the same way and I always thought its a tedious job until I started making it by myself. Though I used to cook pretty much before marriage I started making Unni Appam only after marriage especially because I wanted to make them for 'Vishu Kani'. This is yet another recipe from my Grandma which I've been making from couple of years and never went wrong. You can make this as a tea-time snack/ kids snack and for special occasions like Vishu etc

Though I've given the title 'Neyyappam' also, in Kannur(Northern Kerala) 'Neyyappam' is entirely different from 'Unniyappam' that is made of almost same ingredients but little bigger in size and different in shape. I refered them 'Neyyappam' just bcause in many parts of Kerala Unniyappam is also known as Neyyappam as they are made in Neyy -Ghee I guess. So check out for the recipe here, making them at home and Enjoy!!!!!!!

Ingredients:-

1. Rice flour(not the fine/smooth flour, preferably puttu podi) - 2 cups
2. Maida - 1 cup
3. Broken Jaggery pieces ~ 2 cups(Use around 6 to 8 jaggery cubes if you are not having big Jaggery Chunks) 
4. Water ~ ½ Cup
5. Banana - 2(Palayankodan is normally used, I used Yellow Chiquita since I get those here) 
6. Cardamom powder/Elakka Podi- 2tsp
7. Dry Ginger powder/Chukku podi - 2 tsp
8. Sesame seeds - 2 tsp
9. Chopped Coconut Slices ~ 2 tbsp
10. Water as and if needed
11. Oil/Ghee to deep fry

Preparation Method:-

• Melt Jaggery in a pot/pan by adding ½ cup of water. Strain to remove the impurities if any and set aside to let it cool completely.
• Mash or Grind the banana with out adding any water and set aside.
• Roast the sesame seeds and set aside(optional). Ghee roast the coconut pieces and set aside(optional).
• Add Rice flour and Maida into a bowl, pour the melted jaggery to it, stir well with a spoon to mix. 
• Add the ground/mashed banana and stir again. Add the cardamom powder, dry ginger powder, sesame seeds and chopped coconut slices and mix everything very well.
• Here you can decide if you need to add more water. If the batter is very thick add water little by little. The batter should be of almost Idli batter consistency(make sure not to make them runny and thin, its ok if it is a bit thicker but if its too runny appam will not hold up together)
• Set aside the batter for around around 2 hours.
• Heat up the stove with Appam Pan/Vessel, pour ghee/oil just to fill half way of the holes in the pan.
• Pour a spoon full of batter into each holes, let it cook for few minutes till the bottom become light brown color.
• Gently turn each appam  upside down with a spoon or fork(be extra cautious and do it very slow if you are not used to it, wear a hand gloves and keep a safe distance from the pan just to be cautious)

                                            

• Let it cook for few more minutes, check on both sides for the brown color and take them out of the pan with bamboo skewers/puttu stick or with a spoon or a fork.