Cooking Kerala Matta Rice with Instapot

 I had to do a far and long search on the world wide web to arrive at these nifty surefire steps to get perfectly cooked matta rice every time, when using an Instapot (IP).

1. matta rice - washed & soaked for at least 30 min and drained. use a 250ml cup.

1.5 to 2 cups if using 3Qt IP

        3.5 to 4 cups if using 8Qt IP

2. Fill the IP container with water up to the 1/2 mark and turn saute on to warm up the water.

3.  Add the rice and then add enough water till the level is just below the Max mark.

4. Close lid and set vent to seal mode

5. Pressure cook on high for 12 min. Make sure 'keep warm' is selected.

6. Once cooking is done, wait until keep warm timer climbs up to 10-15 min

7. Wait until all pressure is released naturally or keep the IP under sink faucet and direct a gentle  thin stream of cold water to accelerate the process

8. Open, drain and enjoy delicious matta rice cooked to perfection!

I've noticed that rice drained this way, stays hot enough serve for quite a long time even if left as-is in the strainer.

Best Shrimp (chemmeen) Roast

This shrimp roast recipe gleaned from this vlog is simply to die for. With the shortest cooking time on the planet and a high taste quotient, this roast is a must have in our gatherings. Quite a savior I'd say since meat options are slowly receding from our cooking as we are going squarely into those age brackets that require us to be more health conscious . I don't know that shrimp is any more healthier than meats, but I am just going with that thought for now.

In The Mix

Mix 1

Shrimp - 1lbs cleaned (about 16-20 in number for an idea on the size)

pepper - 1/2 tsp or as desired

turmeric - 1tsp

dry red chili flakes - 2 tsp

chili powder - 1 tsp

salt to taste 

Mix 2

coconut milk - 1/2 cup or more

coconut oil - 2 tbsp

dry red chili flakes - 1 tsp

pepper powder - 1/4 tsp or as desired

curry leaves - 2 sprigs

salt to taste

garlic cloves - 4 to 5 peeled and crushed

coconut oil - 1-2 tbsp (no need to cover the full pan)

How To Do

Take all Mix 1 ingredients and mix well together. Set to marinate for a minimum of 30 min.

Take all Mix 2 ingredients and mix well together. Set to marinate for a minimum of 30 min.

After 30 min are over, heat a flat pan large enough to place the shrimp in a single layer. Keep at medium to high heat and add the coconut oil. 

Once the oil is heated, place the shrimps in a single layer. Cook for 1 minute.

Turn the the shrimp over (one-by-one helps), Sprinkle garlic and curry leaves over the shrimp and cook for 1 minute.

Add the coconut milk mix at this time gently over the shrimp. Mix together gently and cook for a minute or two depending on how much gravy you'd like to remain.

Remove from heat and enjoy over hot matta rice.

Best Cabbage Thoran

 Without much ado, I want to post some recipes from the web here that we have ended up using a lot. This is the first of such recipes. Adding here for easy reference. 

This is an unbelievably yummy 'thoran'. It gets its taste from marinating the veggie before cooking. Yup, you heard that right, veggies can be marinated! Another charming feature is the uber short cooking time. Shouldn't take more than 4-5 minutes! Here you go.

In The Mix

Mix 1

cabbage - 1 head, washed and sliced

shallots - 2, peeled and sliced round

green chili - 2, sliced round

curry leaves - 2 sprigs

salt - to taste

Mix 2

coconut oil - 3 tbsp

mustard - 1 tsp

curry leaves - 2 sprigs

dry red chili  - 2 halved 

grated coconut - 1/2 to 1 cup

How To Do

Prepare all of the Mix 1 ingredients and mix well by squeezing well together.

Set aside to marinate for at least 30 min.

On a crunch, you can prepare Mix1 with all except the salt the day before and keep in the fridge overnight and cook the next day after mixing with salt first.

Heat oil in large pan. Break mustard once oil heats up and the add cumin.

Mix in curry leaves and dry red chili and now add Mix1.

Cook uncovered on medium to high heat for 1-2 min, then stir together.

Cook for another minute, then add the coconut and mix well.

Gather the mix together in pan and cook for 1-2min.

Now remove from heat and keep covered for 5-10 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Guess what's cooking this year?

 Nothing much is getting cooked here. That is for sure. We started our home remodel this February and after stints at a rental home and two airbnb's we are now back home with our cat. Zeus, our cat even had an adventure without us where he stayed with a friend of my daughter for about 7 weeks while were at an airbnb that didn't take pets. So why is there no cooking still? Because the house is not fully done. We sort of forced our way back in once we got PGE to give us power through heartfelt petitions sent to the CEO. We hadn't reckoned that while we could move the big utility company to help us, we couldn't move our contractor that easily! So here we are, in the house with no cooktop, but with oven, with bathrooms some of which has a shower but no hot water etc. We do hope the work will soon be done and we can ease back into the ordinary days of our lives without the daily interruption of workers and dust. 

An Old Tale

We are in Christmas stretch now so Thanksgiving is certainly old news. I want to leave my usual TG note here especially since it is quite useful as a reference. Molu had gone off to college for the first time this year and Kannan has started higher studies. Thankfully both Universities are not too far from us and it was nice to have us all together for more than the usual weekend. Went for the full bird this time and was rewarded with a good gravy. This has become easier over the years and the TG 101 posts have made it even more so. Turkey was a 10-12 pounder organic one pre-ordered from Whole Foods as always. Alton Brown is still the king when it comes to turkey roasting and gravy making although I skipped the apple onion step inside the turkey while baking and it still turned out moist and yummy. As we head towards Christmas, I want to wish a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all readers. Leaving you a plate stuffed with items from this year's TG table.

Rice, Coconut, Jaggery Dumpling aka Kozhukatta for Lazarus Saturday

This nostalgic snack seems to be connected to the Eastern Church origins of Kerala christianity.  The native name in Malayalam seems to have originated from the shape and content of the snack  which is stuffed with a coconut and jaggery mix. Here 'kozhu/kozhi' is for hen and 'katta' could be for the egg shape. This is my conjecture upon finding that the Saturday before palm Sunday has no commonly used name in Roman catholicism while it is celebrated as Lazarus Saturday in Eastern Christianity. A sweet snack named lazarkia is made in Greece and Cyprus to celebrate Lazarus Saturday. That day is simply known as 'kozhukatta sani' in our families and 'sani' of course is Saturday.

In The Mix

rice powder - 1 cup

hot water - 1 cup or more

olive oil - 1 1/5 tbsp

salt to taste

grated coconut - 2 cups

jaggery/'sarkkara' - 200 grams

water - 3/4 cup

cumin powder - 1 tsp

cardamom powder - 1 1/2 tsp

ginger powder - 1/4 tsp

How To Do

Boil water in a pan and add oil and salt to taste. Remove from heat and set aside. Add rice powder in and keep stirring with a spoon until cool enough. Then knead by hand for a minute or so. Make into a loose ball shape and set aside.

Heat water and add the jaggery in. Keep stirring until all jaggery melts. Add cumin, cardamom and ginger powders. Check salt and add as needed. Once the syrup thickens, add coconut and keep stirring until all the water evaporates. The mix should stay soft and pliable.

Take dough in the shape of a small lime and flatten out with your hands. Fill with the jaggery mix and close all back together to form a ball or 'katta'. Add some oil to your hand if the dough sticks. Repeat until dough and mix are done. Be sure to ward off hands that reach for the jaggery mix if you have any hopes of yielding a decent number of these snacks. Be aware that this hand might as well be yours too:-)

                   

Steam cook for 15-20 minutes, let cool and enjoy!

Fish Biriyani!

 The sheer convenience of working from home has turned me into a biriyani maker to my own surprise. It is happening mainly due to the fact that I can make a plan and prepare fried onions and raita ahead of time. Planning is more organized because of weekly online grocery shopping where I am sure of what we can have that week. So just add chicken, beef or lamb to the list, then tomatoes, cilantro and mint and you are pretty much set so long as you have biriyani rice, cashew nuts and raisins in stock. H always signs on to make papads which is one less worry. My dwarf lime tree has yielded enough for a year and the limes are preserved through freezing or simple refrigeration which covers for any lime needs. Same story with the curry leaf plant. There is always a container or two of yogurt and enough eggs in the house to round it out.   

Not sure if I'd ever tried making fish biriyani before but now that it is done, there is no looking back. Absence of daily commute is essential for this activity as otherwise a quick trip to the Indian grocery store for frozen king fish (neymeen) may not happen at all. The main advantage of this fish is a single round bone in the middle which is easily discarded.  A fact that was quite agreeable to my bone weary son who likes biriyanis in general. Molu seemed reluctant to fight with the fish at all but I am sure she will come around. Chicken is her goto for biriyani.

Elements of most biriyanis are the same but the protein here being fish, I didn't resort to my trusted Instapot this time. Alas, not much was lost and the final product more than made up for the sad omission of this trusted utensil. On top of recently acquired biriyani knowhow, I also referred to this vlog from salukitchen. There is a quite efficiency in this smart lady's no-nonsense yet tasty, gourmet quality and flavorful recipes with which she sustains her five person family on a regular basis. A feat not easily achieved even if one tried. Without Doordash to fill in the gaps, I am sure to be a nervous wreck by the end of the pandemic stay at home period where the distinction between work and home gets blurrier by the day. Simply closing the laptop just is not enough separation anymore I tell ya. Ok, 'nough rambling for now and let us go to our recipe for the day and see where that takes us.

In The Mix

red onions - 4 big (2 for masala, 1 for seasoning)

olive oil - enough to coat

salt to taste 

cashews and raisins - a handful each for seasoning

raita, papads

king fish - 5 or 6 large disc like fleshy pieces with skin on to hold shape

    turmeric powder  - 1 1/2 tsp

    kashmiri chili powder - 5 tsp or as needed

    garam masala - 3 tsp

    crushed black pepper - 11/2 tsp

    salt to taste

basmati rice - 6 cups

water - 7 cups

    cinnamon - 2 small pieces

    bay leaf - 1 or 2 small

    cardamom - 4

    cloves - 3

    olive oil - 1 tbsp

    salt to taste

cinnamon - 2 thin 1.5" pieces

cardamom - 2

bay leaf - 1 or 2 small

cloves - 2 or 3

ginger-garlic paste - 3 tsp

tomatoes - 3 medium or 2 large chopped

yogurt - 2 tbsp

coriander - 1/2 tsp

curry leaves - 1 or 2 sprigs

lime juice - from 1/2 a lime

salt to taste

cilantro - a bunch, chopped

mint - 1/2 a bunch chopped

olive oil - as needed

How To Do

Make ahead steps:

Make raita and refrigerate. Fry papads and keep in an airtight container. Air fry 3 sliced onions tossed with oil, salt at 390 for 6-8 min on each side. Remove 2 onions worth and fry remaining onions for 2 min on each at 390 or till golden.

Wash and drain the rice and add to rice cooker along with water. Add all italicized ingredients under rice to this, stir gently mainly to mix in the salt and cook as usual. The outcome is always perfectly cooked biriyani rice.

Mix all italicized ingredients under fish and use 1/2 of it to marinate the thawed fish. Make sure not to use extra water as there is enough water in the fish itself. Set to marinate overnight or for at least 15 minutes outside. 

Preheat to 300C if using oven for baking.

Heat oil in a flat pan and fry cashews and onions and set aside. Keep pan on low heat especially if using a cast-iron pan as it distributes and holds the heat evenly.

Add more oil as needed and shallow fry fish pieces for 1-2 min on each side or until 75% cooked. Remove and set aside.

Add the second set of cinnamon, cardamom, bayleaf and cloves to the same oil and saute for 1-2 min. Add fried onions set aside for masala and mix well. Add curry leaves, ginger garlic paste, remaining half of mixed spice powders along with coriander powder and saute all together till aroma rises in the air. Check salt and add as needed.

Add chopped tomatoes, saute for 2-3 min, add 1/4 cup cilantro, 2 tbsp mint, yogurt and lime juice and stir well together for 3-4 min. 

Now add the fish pieces one by one, making sure to cover each with enough masala. Cover and cook for 5 min on low heat. 

For stove-top baking, remove all except some masala and one or two pieces of fish and layer with rice as given below. Cover and cook for 5-7 min and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

For oven baking,  slightly grease an oven safe dish with oil and layer bottom with some masala and one or two fish pieces. Then add the rice, sprinkled on top with golden onions, fried cashews, raisins, cilantro and mint. Add another layer of masala and fish and top with rice layer sprinkled with all the seasonings. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 10 minutes at 300C. 

Remove from oven and let cool for 10 min before serving with raita and papad. It behooves you to remember the location of fish pieces so the digging in won't break them before it gets on the plate. Yum.. I am drooling since all of it is just a memory now. Until next time..😋