Friday, December 23, 2011

Kerala




Egg and Veggie Kothu Paratha



Kothu means minced and paratha as you all know is Indian flaky bread, Kothu Paratha is a street food available in the southern parts of India and is usually made with chicken and lamb. I have tried making it here with eggs and vegetables, but you could make it ony with vegetables too. I usually use leftover chapatis or parathas to make this dish, I think flour tortillas would also work. I also used cooked asparagus in this again any leftover vegetables can be use in this dish. This is such a balanced dish as it has all the food groups and can be served for breakfast, packed for lunch or even eaten for dinner.

Eggs - 2 beaten
Parathas/Leftover Chapatis/ Kerala Parottas broken into small pieces - 3 or 4 cooked
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - a few
Onion- 1/2 chopped
Green Chilli- 1 minced
Ginger and garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Cabbage 1/2 cup chopped
Carrot 1 chopped
Green Pepper 1/2
Asparagus 1/4 cup cooked
Salt to taste
Chilli pwd 1/4 tsp
Soy Sauce 2 tsp
Oil 2 tbsp


Heat 1 tsp oil, add the beaten eggs and scramble the eggs.
Remove the eggs, add the rest of the oil.
Add mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves.
Add onion and green chillies, once the mustard seeds splutters.
Add the ginger /garlic paste, cabbage, carrot and capsicum.
Add salt and a little chilli pwd, once cooked add the asparagus.
Add soy sauce, and the parathas.
Stir well, add salt only if needed. Once everything is well combined, remove from heat.
Add lime juice and cilantro leaves and serve.

If it is too dry add a little water, I like mine a little dry, traditionally some curry or veg kurma is added to make it less dry.

Nadan Egg Curry


This is a great dish to serve at dinner and goes well with a variety of breads. I used ground coconut in this dish but the traditionally coconut milk is used. In Kerala this might be even served for breakfast.
Hardboiled eggs - 4
Coconut Oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves 3 or 4
Onion - 1 chopped fine
Green chillies - 1 chopped fine
Ginger and garlic paste- 1 tbsp
Tomato -1 medium sized chopped fine
chilli pwd - 1/2 tsp
coriander pwd - 1 tbsp
turmeric- 1/4 tsp
pepper a pinch
garam masala - 1/4 tsp
coconut about 2 tbsp ground to a paste or 1/2 cup coconut milk
salt to taste

Heat oil, add mustard seeds and curry leaves.
Once it splutters add onion, saute well.
Add ginger garlic paste and tomato.
Add the chilli pwd, coriander pwd, turmeric pwd, pepper, garam masala and salt and 2 tbsp water, fry well
Adding water keeps the masala from burning.
Once everything is well cooked add the coconut milk or ground coconut(this is what I used)and eggs, cook on low heat.
Serve with rice, appams or parathas.