Chuvanna Cheera/Red Spinach/Amaranth Aviyal Travancore style

Amaranth is a very nutritious leaf vegetable found commonly in the tropical regions. The leaves are very good source of vitamins & minerals & hence its good to include this nutritious leafy vegetable in your diet. In different parts of Kerala, this leaf is used to cook different dishes. One of the most popular one being cheera aviyal. This is made by cooking the amaranth leaves & mixing it with ground coconut & spice mixture and tamarind. Amaranth leaf is also used to make cheera thoran which is yet another popular menu item in a malayali household.

Banana Peanut Smoothie

Banana Peanut smoothie/milk shake... You can call it whatever you like... It is a refreshing, healthy, nutritious and tasty drink that can be made in no time. This is very similar to the Sharjah shake that we get in bakeries & fresh fruit juice joints in Kerala.This smoothie is made by blending banana, peanut & little sugar (optional) to a smooth consistency. Due to the presence of all healthy ingredients, this is one of the guilt free smoothies that you can have. 

Appam / Hoppers

Appam is a very popular breakfast item in Kerala & Tamil Nadu. This also prepared in Sri Lanka where it is called Hoppers. This is a type of pancake made with fermented rice & coconut water batter. This is usually a breakfast item, but its also had for dinner. There are many variations of Appam such as Kallappam, Vellayappam, Milk Hoppers, Egg hoppers etc. Appam goes well with Chicken curry, Egg curry, Stew etc.

Potato Koottu Curry/Potato Curry

Potato Koottu curry is what we call the potato curry in the southern part of Kerala. This is a popular accompaniment for idiyappam, appam, chapathi/roti etc in Kerala. Different versions of koottu curry are available. Some people make it adding coconut milk, some make it adding urad dal vada/ uzhunnu vada which is a special occasion delicacy. Here I've made yet another version of potato koottu curry thats cooked without the coconut milk or uzhunnu vada. The recipe includes Big Onions, potatoes, Spices, Masalas etc. It can be eaten with Chapathi/Roti, Idiyappam/String Hoppers, Idly, Dosa etc

Idiyappam/String Hoppers

Wishing all malayalees a very Happy Kerala Day! Idiyappam is one of the most popular breakfast item in Kerala. It is also prepared in other parts of South India & Sri Lanka. This is a very healthy steamed breakfast which is also very easy to make.

To make the idiyappam/string hoppers you need a special tool which is called idiyappam/string hopper press. You can find different types of idiyappam press in the market. You can buy any of those, as they all work perfectly well.

This is the idiyappam press I used to make idiyappams.

Idiyappam is made up of rice flour & it is steamed and served with potato koottu curry or chicken curry or egg curry.

Perumpayar / Vanpayar / Red Beans Thoran

Vanpayar thoran is a very quick & easy to make side dish. This is a highly nutritious & healthy dish. In this recipe, the vanpayar is cooked & then mixed with a ground coconut mixture made of garlic, cumin seeds & spices. This mix is then cooked & combined well with the cooked vanpayar to be relished with rice. This thoran goes well with matta rice.

Daal Tadka

Tadka daal is a very popular north indian dish. It is usually eaten as a side dish for roti/chapathi, rice etc. The daal is cooked & then a tempering of mustard seeds, onions & spices gives this dish a beautiful aroma & flavour. This dish can be prepared using different varieties of daals/lentils available in the market.

Parippu / Kerala Daal Curry

Parippu is an unavoidable dish for any sadya menu in Kerala. The preparation of this dish is entirely different from the north indian daal.

Cabbage Thoran

Moru Kachiyathu / Yoghurt curry