Kerala Recipes:

A selection of recipes learnt from the women in the villages. (Collected by Fio Brady, Trainer, Sept 2011, during cooking classes with local women) Sambar Sambar is a vegetable curry which can use any vegetables you have available. In the following recipe, the vegetables the women used were those available at the time, but this does not have to be adhered to. Ingredients: 2-3 carrots 3-4 onions 4 potatoes 1 pumpkin 3-4 ladies fingers (local vegetable) 3 drumsticks (local vegetable) half a marrow half a snake gourd (local vegetable) 4-5 fresh green chillies approx 3 chopped tomatoes approx 4 tartari (a local dried vegetable) approx 1 cup of dried lentils 1.5 tspn mustard seeds 1 tspn chilli powder 2 tspn turmeric powder 1.5tspn sambar powder 1 tspn salt Method: 1. 2. 3. Chop all the vegetables into small pieces and place in a pressure cooker (or large pot) Add salt, 1 heaped tspn of turmeric powder and the lentils to the vegetables. Add sufficient water to cook the vegetables and leave to boil for 15 minutes in a pressure cooker or longer in a pot. Heat some oil and fry the mustard seeds, chilli powder and sambar powder. Add the chopped tomatoes. Stir, adding 1 tspn of turmeric powder. Add the boiled vegetables to the fried spices. Add a lot of water so as to make the curry liquid. Allow to boil for a few moments whilst stirring. Remove from the heat and serve. Avil This is another vegetable curry which can use any vegetables you have available. When this was made during the women's class, they used the Same vegetables as in Sambar (they are not repeated here), but the method was different: Ingredients: Same vegetables as in Sambar

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

3 fresh green chillies 1.5 tspn turmeric powder 1 tspn salt 1.5 tspn mustard seeds approx cup of grated coconut A few drizzles of coconut oil Chop the vegetables small as well as the fresh green chillies Place the vegetables and chillies into a large pot. Add salt, turmeric and a little coconut oil Add water and boil in a pressure cooker for 10-15 minutes or longer in a normal pot Fry the mustard seeds until brown Add the grated coconut to the vegetables and then add all the mix to the mustard seeds Allow the mixture to boil until the vegetables are fully cooked and the water has significantly evaporated (this dish is to be served quite dry) Thoran

Method:

6.

Ingredients: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. half a bittergourd (local vegetable that could be replaced potentially with cabbage or courgette) 2-3 onions approx 1 cup grated coconut 3-4 fresh green chillies Chop the bitter gourd and onion small. Mix them by hand in a bowl and add a pinch of salt. Crush the grated coconut and the chopped green chillies. Fry the bitter gourd and onion in some coconut oil. When it has slightly browned, add the coconut and chilli mix and continue to fry until heated and a little browned.

Method:

4. 5. 6. 7.

********* If guests wish to take a cooking class from some of the local women, it might be best to kindly ask your guides and/or the crew to leave you with them. The women tend to open up less when men they know are present, but can be quite unreserved after a little time cooking and no men to disturb them. Getting to know them whilst cooking is a rewarding experience also.