ISHTOO

Dish of the Day- Ishtoo
Place- Kerala

Ishtoo is Kerala's traditional stew made with potatoes swimming in coconut milk. Mallu cuisine uses a lot of coconut and this is a classic example of a coconut-laden Malayali dish.

As to how its name came about, I have a theory. When they first tasted it, Britishers probably called it stew and Indians couldn't pronounce it very well so the pronounciation of 'stew' was tortured by Keralites until it agreed to be called 'ishtoo'! But this is just conjecture on my part- please don't go around quoting my theory. Although on second thought, I would love it if someone quoted me..;)

The first time I ate ishtoo was at a friend's place. Poppu calls us for an aunthentic, traditional home-cooked South Indian meal every Onam and I personally await it more than my own harvest festival! The best part about it is we get to eat on banana leaves and we have to fold it up and keep our steel tumbler on the leaf once we're done. There's just some charm to these customs which makes me proud that I'm a South Indian.

I'm dedicating this post to Mini aunty who took time out to give me this recipe. She makes the world's best fish curry, and some day she'll teach me how to..:)

How to Cook it Up:- (serves 4 people)


Potatoes..............4 to 5 medium potatoes, peeled & cubed
Onions..................1 medium coarsely chopped
Ginger..................1 inch piece
Green chillies.....6 to 7
Curry leaves.......2 stems
Coconut oil...........1 tsp
Coconut milk.......1 cup of the thick milk (first extract) and  3 cups of the thin milk (second and third extract)
Salt to taste


Directions:-

* These days, you get the dried and liquid variants of coconut milk in the market. For each cup of thick milk, you can dilute it with one cup of water and use it as thin milk. If you want to do things the old-fashioned way (and I would suggest you do that because the flavour gets enhanced in a way I can't explain), here goes.

1) Grate 2 coconuts. Sprinkle some warm water over it and knead it slightly to squeeze out the milk. Strain it using a muslin cloth and keep it aside. This is the first extract or the thick milk.

2) Repeat the kneading, squeezing, straining procedure to get the second and third extracts.

Now back to the ishtoo.

1) Boil the potatoes, onions, ginger and green chillies in the thin coconut milk and keep stirring it continuously because it has a tendency to crack.
2) Then lower the flame to a simmer and leave it like that until the potatoes get cooked.
3) Add salt and the thick coconut milk to it and let it cook for some time- but take it off the flame before it starts to boil.
4) Sink in the curry leaves and drizzle it with coconut oil.


Ishtoo HAS to be eaten with Vellayappam- a Kerala version of the Tamilnadu dosa. If not, it goes really well with hot rice too.

PAZHAMPURI

Dish of the Day- Pazhampuri

Place- Kerala.

The first thing I tasted in Kerala was Pazhampuri so this dish holds special memories for me. 

When I told my Mallu friend that we were going to Kerala for our Industrial visit, the first thing he told me to do was to get off at a random station and order Pazhampuri. I didn’t even know what that was but it sounded exciting and because even has a passion for food like me, I trusted him.

I waited excitedly for us to get to the first station in Kerala so that I could start looking for fresh, hot pazhampuri.  So when the train pulls into Thirur, I hop out in search of it.

I was insanely excited on seeing vendors with big vats of oil in front of them, insisting that theirs is ‘fresh’; but once you pop one into your mouth, you realize that their definition of fresh ranges from three days to a week old! Still, this fried sweet dish that is the specialty of Mallu street food, appealed to me and Malavika. (We’re the only two South Indians in class!)

For those of you who are clueless about what Pazhampuri is, they’re banana fritters, which are invariably fried in coconut oil since Kerala is famous for its coconut trees and pretty much everything there is cooked in coconut oil. 'Pazham' means fruit and in this case, it's banana because ;like coconut, banans are also readily available in God's Own Country.

* ‘zh’ in Tamil and Malayalam is pronounced as ‘r’ while rolling your tongue and touching it to the roof of your mouth. So this is in fact, “pa- rum- puri”. :)

How to Cook it Up:-

Ripe Bananas……….……………………4

All purpose flour/ Maida……………1 cup

Fine rice flour …………………………...2 tbsp

Turmeric powder ……………………...a pinch

Baking soda………………………………1/8 tsp

Sugar………………………………………..1 tsp

Salt…………………………………………..1/4 tsp

Coconut Oil……………………………………………for frying

Directions:- 

1)Cut each banana lengthwise and then breadthwise into 4 pieces.

2)  Mix the maida, turmeric powder, rice flour, sugar, salt and baking soda with a little water to make a batter with a consistency that’s not too thick and not too thin.

3) Heat oil in a kadhai and dip each banana piece into batter before slowly putting it into the oil to fry.

4) Turn the heat down to medium and fry all the pieces the same way.

5) When one side turns light golden brown, turn it over and let it stay in the oil until the other side also looks like that.

I personally love eating this hot with vanilla ice- cream. Mmmmm. Yummy! J