Diwali wishes!

Wish you all a great Diwali.

Happy cooking. I am looking forward to reading all those great posts.

Here is a small and lovely e-book on Diwali sweets, I found here: http://sify.com/downloads/diwali_sweets.pdf

JFI for Jackfruit

This month JFI has Jackfruit as the star and it is hosted by Jai and Bee. I love jackfruit, obvious isn't it... I especially love the green, unripe kind as a vegetable. I usually make it Kerala style with lots of coconut. This time I decided to try a new way as a Biryani. I used frozen green jackfruit. For this recipe, I think the frozen ones are sturdy. The canned kind would turn into a mush.

For this JFI, I made Kathal biryani and Elai adai.

I had never imagined anyone else using green jackfruit except Keralites. But from so many recipes that are available, I know I am wrong on that. The biryani actually tastes so much like a Chicken biryani. Jackfruit is quite meaty in texture when cooked.

Kathal biryani (from Sanjeev Kapoor)

Raw Jackfruit (cut Into 11/2" Cubes) 12 pieces
Rice 11/2 cups
Green Cardamoms 4
Black Cardamoms 2
Cloves 5
Cinnnamon 2 1"sticks
Sea Salt to taste
Oil 2 tbsps+to deep fry
Onions (sliced) 4
Caraway Seeds (shahi Jeera) 1/2 tsp
Ginger Paste 1 tbsp
Garlic Paste 1 tbsp
Turmeric Powder 1 tsp
Cumin Powder 1 tsp
Coriander Powder 2 tsps
Red Chilli Powder 1 tsp
Tomatoes (deseed And Chopped) 1 cup
Yogurt 11/2 cups
Coriander Leaves 1/2 bunch
Saffron a pinch
Milk 2 tbsps
Garam Masala Powder 2 tsps
Mint Leaves 1/2 bunch

Cut the jackfruit into slices. Peel and cut into cubes. Wash and soak rice. Parboil the rice with a little sea-salt and half of the whole garam masala (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves). Drain the parboiled rice and keep aside.

Heat sufficient oil in a kadai and deep-fry the jackfruit cubes. Drain and keep aside. In the same oil deep-fry half the sliced onions till golden brown and crisp. Drain and keep aside.

In another pan heat two tablespoons of oil, add shahi jeera and the remaining crushed whole garam masala. Add the remaining sliced onions and sauté for a while. Add ginger paste, garlic paste and continue to sauté. Add turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder, chopped tomatoes and continue to sauté for two to three minutes. Add the fried jackfruit cubes and stir. Add yogurt, sea salt and chopped coriander leaves. Dissolve the saffron in lukewarm milk and keep aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Take a large casserole, arrange half the jackfruit mixture. Over this spread a layer of rice. Sprinkle saffron milk, garam masala powder, mint leaves (torn),. Then repeat these layers once again. Top it with fried sliced onions and mint leaves. Cover with aluminium foil and cook in the preheated oven for about 20 to 25 minutes. Serve hot with a raita .

I also made Ammupatti's elai adai. Her way of making it is similar to my mom's. I used store-bought rice flour and roasted it without coloring the flour. I also used thawed frozen banana leaves available in Asian grocery stores.

It tastes so good warm with the fragrance of banana leaf. You can also make it with parchment paper but nothing to beat banana leaf.



The filling is some delicious chakkai varatti.

Another dessert I love with jackfruit is chakkapradhaman. You can make chakkapradhaman in two ways- with jackfruit varatti or without. Check out my recipes here and here. Making the jam in microwave is much easier than making it on stove-top!

Chayote squash subzi , the Andhra way

This is my contribution of to RCI event for this month that focuses on Andhra cuisine and hosted by Latha. I have a great taste for the Andhra foods such as Gutti Vankaya kura, the biryani and the mouth-watering avakkai pickle- possibly everyone has. But from the many blogs which specialize in this cuisine, I have learned so much about the home-style foods that you never see in restaurants. And I make some of these simple recipes regularly at home like Indira's ridge gourd curries, Sailu's Black pepper rice. It is good to see healthy eating habits crossing state borders, isn't it?



For this RCI, I am making a dish that made me respect the tasteless chayote squash a teeny bit more. I consider chow-chow or chayote squash to be quite boring. My MIL and mom makes it as a kootu but somehow this vegetable never seems to absorb any flavors, just my opinion...

In the past year, I have learned two new ways of preparing this vegetable. And this recipe is one of them I found at Pachakam.com and I found it when I was searching for an interesting way to make this squash. The cooked vegetable is coated with a thick and coarse sesame-red chili powder. Adding groundnuts and sesame to curries is quite common in Andhra cuisine, making it very tasty. I like to make this extra-spicy because the sesame in the powder does tame a lot of the heat. We eat this with phulkas.

Chayote squash subzi (with very slight modifications from original)

2 chayote squash, peeled and diced
1 large onion
1 inch ginger, peeled and grated
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tomato, finely diced (optional)

Roast and powder coarsely:
1/3 cup white sesame seeds
a pinch of salt
3-4 red chilies

Seasoning:
1/2 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric
Salt to taste

Heat oil. Add the seasoning ingredients except turmeric and salt. When mustard pops, add garlic, ginger and turmeric. Then add onions, and saute till translucent. Add the cubed squash and salt. Mix and cover and cook on low-medium heat till soft and well-done. Add tomatoes if using. Tomatoes make it a little sticky and watery but nice and tangy. You can leave it out if you want a dry curry.

Lastly, toss in the sesame powder. The quantity of powder may seem a whole lot but you need this to give taste. Adding a tbsp or two, will not help much...

Garnish with cilantro. Done!