Lonan's Tender Coconut Pudding for The Kerala Kitchen!

 I have wanted to make tender coconut pudding for a while now. Finally when my father brought home a bunch of perfect tender coconuts  from, of all places- a charity auction for the local church community, I jumped at the chance. Divine providence, even in matters as small and unimportant as my longing for tender coconut pudding ! This recipe is from Lonan, a famous cook in Kerala who's recipes are hailed as being fail-proof by my mom and aunts.One bite of this silky smooth, refreshing tender coconut pudding and you will be transported instantly to the almost assaultingly green and peaceful Kerala.

I have been having a happy but hectic past month here in India, hence the lack of updates. Hope you have all been well and those in the US had a good thanksgiving feast and ate an extra slice of pie for me since I left before I could bake even one, though I did have more than my fair share last year!



Here its cloudy and chilly with the heavens threatening to pour down on us and warnings of floods and dams bursting. All around sombre reminders of how much at the mercy of God and nature we always are..

Inspite of the gloomy weather I have been having a wonderful time with my family and friends here who I am meeting after 3 long years. Been trying to take a break from the Internet and maximize our time visiting my mom-in-law and watching mallu movies, managing to do a little bit of shopping and lots of cooking and baking up a storm with her as she is an awesome baker herself and makes the world's BEST tea cake.Her cook Sarah also taught me finally how to roll and make the perfect fluffy fulkas and crispest dosas!



I also had the awesome opportunity to renew my spiritual life through a Catholic retreat for 5 days. So that's where I was the last week, in total peace, away from the pull and tug of everyday distractions and really close to God and learning so much more about my faith.



During my self imposed Internet break, I received the nicest surprise- my first ever DMBLGIT (Does My Blog Look Good in This) Photography Award! for the picture in my post here. Am thrilled beyond words!

Also ecstatic that despite Ria and I being off on holiday, our cooking event featuring the cuisine of our homeland The Kerala Kitchen has been going on in full swing thanks to our AWESOME members! Thank you ladies for all the deliciousness and especially to our wonderful hosts including this month's host Fajeeda of Faji's Hot Pot and the host for December Sonia of Dinner Recipe Guide 

Fajeeda, here is a delicious tropical dessert full of the taste of Kerala for your roundup!

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Orange Layer Cake with Orange Bavarian Cream for Diwali

Diwali fireworks are bursting around us as I type. We have all been sitting in the balcony with the little one who was very impressed by the pretty starbursts, although he does not like the noise too much and is now with his great-grandmother, my Ammama who has come to my parents home here in TN all the way from her beloved farm in Kerala to be with our little monkey. He is sitting on her lap with his fingers in his ears, wearing cotton shorts and the thin cotton sleeveless t-shirt  like all kids here since it is very warm. An amusing sight for me since I am so used to seeing him all the time in his Oshkosh hoodies in the US. Hope my Indian friends are having a wonderful Diwali and everyone is enjoying the feastive ahem festive season!

The picture above is the result of about half an hour on the terrace of my parents home, trying to capture atleast one star-burst before it vanished into the dark sky. The cheeky fireworks kept teasing me, bursting on one side then the other while I lumbered around with my heavy camera until I caught this one and decided it would have to do. There were much prettier ones and I ask you to please ignore the slight blurriness of what I managed to capture and see it for what it really was -a burst of little diamonds scattered in the night sky. 

Diwali is a Hindu religious festival celebrating the return of Rama and Sita after years of exile and is spread over five days. It is great that I was able to be in India during this time.You just cannot help getting caught up in the excitement, whatever be your own religion. For me atleast means fireworks, beautifully bedecked women in their finest saris, jewelry and with jasmine in their hair, but most of all - sweets! It just would not be Diwali without the mandatory boxes of ghee and cardamom scented sweets that would arrive from friends. Cake is not typical to Diwali but I was inspired to make this cake yesterday. Why would I bother making laddoos or mysore pak when all I have to do is step outside to Sri Krishna Sweets, that institution of south Indian sweets practically next door to my parents home? I love Sri Krishna's and I loved them even more today when I read an article about how they are trying to preserve traditional sweets and snacks by renting out spaces for mamis near their homes to get together and cook up murrukus and jaelabis for sale, providing them a source of  income as well.

But back to the cake - layers of soft, airy sponge with a touch of citrus zest and just sweet enough orange Bavarian cream with segments of fresh orange that burst as you bite them-citrus fireworks in your mouth!

The sponge cake is made with a lot of eggs but no butter. It is quite dry and slightly eggy-smelling on its own. But it absorbed the simple syrup I made with orange juice and sugar like a...well, like a sponge and becomes moist and tender with a filling and frosting. So for a layer cake, do not look past this simple sponge cake which is also quite easy to make and very easy to remember. If you are looking for a plain tea cake to eat on it's own, check out these instead. I was itching to add a dash of cardamom powder which  think would have been perfect with the orange but my kid brother (no longer a kid really) does not like cardamom too much so I controlled myself. Besides Diwali brings about a cardamom overdose anyway!Which ever way you try it -with or without the cardamom and for whatever reason you find to bake it, you will love it! Even if your Bavarian Cream does not set like me -I don't know why :( and is a little runny, it still tastes really, really good! 

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Hello from India!

Hope you are all doing great. I missed you! Thank you to all of you who wished and prayed for our safe trip here. Our flight down could not be more pleasant. The monkey was as good as gold, charming the Flight Attendants who took turns carrying him around.Though often he tried climbing over my shoulders which was not fun for me, trying to stand on my head to converse in very confident streams of gibberish to the amused co-passengers behind us!

I must confess I hardly missed blogging otherwise, these last two weeks that I was without the internet and all its attractions/addictions! We were busy travelling to my mom's and dad's homes in Kerala and enjoying meeting our large families, who were meeting the little one for the first time. 

We have been marveling at sights like this:

He makes climbing coconut trees look easy

And rekindling memories

The old Amby that is about the same age as me. Wait, that didn't come out right!

And creating some new ones!

My flower obsessed little monkey

The little monkey is completely enjoying all the attention he is getting though I am hoping he doesn't get too used to it! He is also gleefully discovering such  new and fascinating (for him) things like colourful clothes pins, ceiling fans (a-FAN-uh!) and crows (Kaa-kaas)  and most of all newspapers ( shame on his net addicted parents). Everyone is disappointed that he has ignored their gifts of fancy toy cars with flashing lights and beeping horns and other toys and prefers rolling a big plastic bucket around and throwing news papers in the air and chasing bits of paper around the room. I am thrilled that he finds so much glee in such simple things- atleast at the moment! 

Of course his mamma is more interested in all the awesome food. Oh the food! I have been FEASTING eating many wonderful meals like this:

Pearl spot (Karimeen) Fish Fry, Dal ( Parippu), Beef and Chinese Potatoes ( Koorka)

And cooking and baking and learning a lot from my grandmom and aunts and now that I am connected to the net again I will be posting some awesome recipes. See you soon with a recipe and not just pictures!

Red Moong and Squash Erissery for Veggie Belly as I'm off to India!

I am heading off to India next week! Am really excited-  this will be the little one's first visit to India to meet his adoring great grandmothers, uncles, aunts and cousins! Am also quite panicked because this will be the first time that I am travelling alone with the troublesome toddler, without his Pappa to keep him in check and provide entertainment.



As I am running around like a headless chicken packing tiny t-shirts and miniature nail clippers and all the other sundry things the monkey and I will need,  I decided I also wanted to do a guest post for Sala of Veggie Belly who is on a cross country road trip! How cool right? As a kid my parents would drive us down to Kerala almost every month and I LOVED it! making pit-stops at road side dhabbas for parottas, quarreling with siblings for the window seat, singing out loud and watching the changing landscape as we whizzed by, cities melting into villages and then forests and hills and fields, and the excitement as we spotted "our" river and the road curved into my grandmothers driveway.... and I might get to do atleast some of that soon. Hope that you are having an awesome time Sala, thank you so much for haing me over to guest post for you!

(Update: This picture won me my very first DMBLGIT award for photography! )



Since Sala is part Malayali and loves Kerala food, I am sharing one of my favourite everyday Kerala dishes, Red Moong and Butternut Squash in Coconut ( Van Payar Mathanga Eriserry ) -something simple yet comforting and delicious, and perfect for the transition to the fall season that I will be missing out on. I think it will  make a really different yet delicious addition to your thanksgiving feast :)

Eriserry is a typical lentil dish from Kerala like parripu (Dal or Yellow Moong stew) and cherupayar (Green Moong) and is part of everyday meals being nutritious and easy to digest. It is also often part of the Onam Sadhya or harvest feast. I like to serve eriserry with a heaping mound of rice, pappadam and pickle and don't forget the payasam for dessert!



Do head over to Veggie Belly for the rest of the post and the recipe and well as drool at Sala's glorious vegetarian fare including such awesomeness as chocolate beetroot cake and lovely Chettinad fare!



Also sending this off to this month's Kerala Kitchen hosted by the lovely Divya of Easycooking. Don't forget to send her all the Kerala inspired dishes you cooked up this month!



And please DO pray that the little monkey and I survive our trip ( and each other!) See you all next from India :)

whipped cream cake- soft airy and cloud-like!

I am totally enjoying having my mom here. Whenever I am with her I hardly even enter the kitchen and happily relax and enjoy her delicious cooking. Everything -even things that I make all the time like dal and even coffee tastes better when mom makes it for me. Mothers have some extra special kaipunyam or magic touch, don't you think?

But I am always game to make the dessert so when she said she felt like eating cake, I happily obliged with this treasure from Rose Levy Beranbaum who is considered the Queen of cakes. This cake is apparently one of her most popular and with good reason. It is tender, airy and cloud-like. Perfect as a simple tea cake or as a layer cake underneath oodles of frosting and it is my current and absolute favourite- a definite must try for all cake lovers! 

Here is a close up shot so you can see how tender it is! Similar to an angel food cake in texture but minus all those eggs and so much easier to make! 

The main fat comes from heavy whipping cream and not butter. Yes you read that right, this unusual cake contains no butter, instead using cream. I am dying to buy a carton of cream and make this again with some simple whipped cream frosting or my favourite chocolate nutella ganache frosting with the leftover cream, or maybe slathered in some dulce de leche , or with some juicy fruit? Mmmm the possibilities! Since we practically inhaled this cake though, you can guess that it's pretty awesome on its own! 

Wait! There's more. Click here for the recipe »

ada payasam for onam (sweet flattened rice and milk pudding from Kerala)

Tuesday September 11 2001. Ten years. Gosh has it been that long? I am not from New York. I have never been to New York but I am sure like me, almost everyone around the world will remember what they  were doing that day. Early in the morning, I was in my college hostel room in India prepping for a test when my roommate rushed in with the day's news paper. I will never forget the look on her face. Shock, disbelief. Such a senseless tragedy that impacted so many innocent lives.



I remember asking my grandfather after a trip to the zoo when I was eight or so, which animal he was thought could be the scariest and he answered "Man". I understand today how much cruelty and at the same time, how much goodness man is capable of.

By contrast, September is the beginning of many celebrations in India. There are many religious festivals during this time starting with Ramzan to Ganesh Chaturthi to the week long Diwali celebrations in October and ending with Christmas and the universal New Year's festivities when the air is thick from the smoke of fireworks. In Kerala this weekend many Malayalis like me, whether they be Hindus or Christians or Muslims would have wished each other a Happy Onam although Onam is a Hindu festival unique to the state. They believe that during Onam the good king Mahabali visits the homes of his people and so special feasts are prepared and a carpet of flowers laid out to receive him. Today it is celebrated by one and all. Who would not like to share in a delicious feast? I wish we all can find more such happy reasons to come together.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Onam weekend. I enjoyed having my mom here in the US for Onam and the two payasams she made. The first is my favourite and very simple to make,  in fact I would call it beginner's payasam. Am sending this off to Divya who is hosting this month's edition of The Kerala Kitchen  as well as to Shulie for her Rice Love event :)

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grilled chicken wings indian style for the last few weeks of summer

This has been one glorious summer. Beautiful sunny days just meant to be spent outdoors. Picnics, barbecues  melting ice cream, fairs, trips to the park and the  farmers market and a bounty of fruits and veggies and grilling. Let's not forget the grilling!

Especially when it came with views like this..

and days like these..

This is a picture I love of the little monkey going for a walk (or rather a run!) with his Ammama, after which he brought me this flower, sometimes its a leaf or a twig. Once it was a tiny rock. Toddler treasures! 

But back to the grilled chicken which made this summer complete. Simple to make on a grill or under the broiler or even on a pan on the stovetop. Easy and delicious! 

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