Culinary Skill

I never thought I will have an entry named “Culinary Skill” in my blog :)
Cooking is an interesting subject for many but not me. Despite, I survived for the past 3 years with my innovative styles and styles derived from my roommates.
My roommates were mostly from North India, so was my cooking style.

Today I was chatting with my colleague on the various Indian dishes. I was always under the impression that North Indians (include all states) have more variety of dishes than the South. But then I started counting the number of dishes that my mom used to make. The count went on. There are large variety of dishes which are peculiar to Kerala, be it vegetarian or the spicier non-vegetarian, be it the rice flavoured savoury 'appams' or those crunchy chips variety, be it the delicious seafood delicacies or the leafy or root vegetables Kerala has it all. Each dish has its unique taste. It was now that I realized that I don’t know to cook any of the stuffs from my own land – Kerala except Sambhar and Rasam.

Well that’s not good. My son should be able to taste each of stuff that his mom loves to eat. Though not a pro, I should learn to make those dishes.

Well let me list down all the items that my mom cooked.
I will start with vegetarian since my husband is a vegetarian. Pssst…I have been a core non-vegetarian and I like non-veg more.

Breakfast:

Idli (savoured with coconut chutney/ ulli chamandi/ Sambhar)
Dosa
Appam
Pathiri
Kozhikatta
Puttu (with kadala/pappadam/pazham)
Nool puttu
Upmaav (made of rava/podiari/sevaya/Lapsee)
Ada

Curries:

Sambhar
Avial
Kalan (kaya/chena/mango)
Olan
Kuruk kalan
Rasam
Elishery
Malagusham (7-8 types)
Pachadi
Paripu (Daal)

Muringadaella curry
Cherupayar

Payasam:
Paripu pradaman
Pazham vazhatiya payasam
Chakka Payasam
Palada (My all time favourite)
Ari payasam (with milk or sharkara)

Pickles:

Pulinchi
Vadopuli
Kadumanga
Maangakari

Sabji:
Varieties of sabji’s with 95% of the vegetables in India.
Most of the sabjis are less spicy like mezhukupurati

Snacks

Unni appam
Paripu vada
Uzhunu vada
Kaya varuthatu
Achapam
Sharkara upperi
Pazham pori
Muruku
Pooram varuthatu
Avil kuzhachatu
Cherupayarum sharkarayum
Kuva verukiyathu


Yumm.. it’s an exhaustive list. Also I have forgotten few names. Sista please help me. So for now I will stop here and will start with my favorite section Non-Veg. I prefer mostly small sea fishes and chicken – Only home made.

Chicken…. exclusively the one cooked by my dad. I am not sure of his recipe, but whatever style he tries it turns out very tasty.
My mom is a pro in fish curry. All my friends and relatives love her style and they specially come to have fish cooked by her.
verum puli
verum puli with pacha manga
Malsyam patichadu with kodampuli
varutha arachu vechatu
Kurumolaku arachu vechatu
Roasted fish
Fried fish

Well I am very hungry now. It’s been ages since I had fish. I will have to wait for mom for non-vegetarian.
But I can start with my lessons for vegetarian dishes. So here I take the oath that I will cook at least one of these vegetarian dish every week. :)