Oottupura

Koova Kurukkiyathu (Arrowroot Pudding)

2007-01-29T20:53:00.000-08:00

Koova is the Malayalam word for Arrowroot. Arrowroot is a plant mostly found in West Indies and the white powder extracted from this plant is used in the preparation of this pudding. This powder has no aroma and resembles corn starch. I have not come across any recipes with this as the main ingredient, but it finds use as a thickening agent for soups and sauces. It also has some medicinal properties and can be given to convalescing patients.

In our family, we make a pudding out of Koova on the day of Thiruvathira. Thiruvathira is the women's festival of Kerala, observed on the Thiruvathira star of Malayalam month Dhanu (December-January). It has many legends associated with it. According to some, it is the day Kamadeva was destroyed in the fire of the third eye of Lord Shiva. According to another version it is the birthday of Lord Shiva. It is believed that by taking vratha or fast on that day you can bring long life to your husband. Even unmarried girls take up the fast in the hope for a good husband. The vratha for this festival involves avoiding eating of rice preparations for the whole day.

There are many festivities associated with this festival. On the day before Thiruvathira, women keep awake till midnight. At midnight they observe Pathirapoochoodal (adornment with flowers) and prepare a dish called 'ettangadi' from eight ('ettu', eight in Malayalam) different tubers. They also participate in Thiruvathirakkali, a traditional dance form of Kerala. On the day of Thiruvathira, they assemble at the pond and take bath singing various songs mainly related to Kamadeva. Since rice preparations are taboo this day, the main food for the day include wheat preparations and fruits. Usually the 'vratha' starts in the morning by taking plantains, tender coconut and coconut water. Arrowroot pudding is taken for breakfast. A dish called Thiruvathirapuzhukku made from tubers is another specialty for the day.

Below is the recipe for arrowroot pudding as it is prepared in our family

Ingredients:

Arrowroot powder - 100 gm
Jaggery - 100 gm
Coconut - 4 tabsp
Ghee - 1 tsp

Method:

Mix the arrowroot powder with enough water to make a thin batter. Melt the jaggery in water and boil to form a syrup. Slowly mix the arrowroot batter in the jaggery syrup and keep stirring in medium heat until it becomes semi-solid. Stir in the coconut and mix well. Keep on slow fire for few more minutes and top it with ghee.

It is usually eaten along with banana chips and plantains for breakfast. This pudding can also be served as a desert, chilled.

Mixed dosa & ulli-mulaku chammanthi

2006-08-07T12:54:00.000-07:00

At home, the breakfast on weekdays is invariably idli or dosa. My mom prepares the batter for the whole week during the weekend. First two days it will be idli. As the batter becomes 'old' the idlies will be hard & sour. So she starts preparing dosa. By wednesday or thursday the batter will be almost over and it will not be sufficient for the whole family. So my mom mixes atta and maida to the dosa batter and prepares the dosa. She also makes a chutney with shallots & red chillies fried in coconut oil. The combination is deadly and dosas just disappear from the plate. For some reason the 'real' dosa or wheat dosa never tasted so well with this chutney.
Now onto the recipes:
Mixed Dosa

Dosa batter - 1 cup
Atta - 1/2 cup
Maida - 1/2 cup
Water - as required

Slowly mix the atta, maida and water to form a smooth batter. Mix this batter with the dosa batter. Prepare dosas in the usual way.

Ulli-Mulaku chammanthi

Shallots - 10
Red chillies - 5
Curry leaves - 3-4
Coconut oil - 2tsp

Heat the coconut oil in a wok. Add shallots, red chillies and curry leaves and fry until brown. Take off the heat and sprinkle a little salt on top of the fried mixture. Let it cool for a while and then coarse grind in a blender & the chutney is ready.

Welcome to Oottupura!

2006-07-19T14:31:00.000-07:00

'Oottupura' in Malayalam means "feeding/dining hall". Traditionally, Oottupuras are associated with temples where free meals are served to all devotees. In Kerala, big temples like Guruvayoor,Vaikom and Ettomanoor still have spacious oottupuras situated in the temple premises serving a large number of people daily. The food served in temple oottupuras is typically the "naivedyam" (Food offered to God) of the day which include "nedyachoru" (Naivedyam Rice) and payasam.

Oottupuras are sometimes used to conduct functions like marriages and stage traditional artforms like Kathakali. Traditional houses like Namboodiri illams also have oottupuras attached to the main building. We used to have an oottupura in our ancestral house complex and it was used for family functions like marriages, birthdays and 'upanayanams'.

This is my Oottupura on the web, where I plan to cook and serve traditional Kerala vegetarian food. I would like to utilize this space to share the tastes and smells that I grew up with. Even though the main purpose of this weblog is to collect all the traditional recipes that we prepare in our family, I would also like to include my experiences in trying out recipes from other regions of India. I am also interested in learning principles of Ayurveda used in preparing balanced meals. I am hoping that keeping this food journal will be a great learning experience for me.