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One of the most well-known harvest celebrations in Kerala, Vishu is a festival that not only marks the beginning of spring but also the beginning of the Malayalam New Year. This year, Vishu will be celebrated on 14 Apr, 2024. On this day Keralites get together with their family, indulge in delectable cuisine and lot more. One of the most anticipated parts of the Vishu celebrations is the 'vishukaineetam,' a monetary gift given to youngsters by their parents and other elderly relatives. Once you've filled your pockets, the next thing you'll want to do is sit down to a delicious meal, also known as Kerala Sadya, with your loved ones.
To celebrate the harvest, people throughout Kerala make up seasonal recipes that are both simple and delicious. Here are a few dishes to try on Vishu.
Inji puli - Different regions
Ingredients
Tamarind - 1 lime sized piece
Ginger – 200 grams
Green chillies - 5
Jaggery- 100 grams
Roasted red rice – 50 grams
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 1 pinch
Fenugreek powder - 1 tsp
Water – 1 cup
Salt to taste
Method
To make a pulp, soak the tamarind in one cup of water for a while. Then, strain the pulp into a mud pot or kadai and add the chilli powder, turmeric, salt, and let it cook on low heat. Slice the ginger very thinly and cook it in coconut oil until it gets crispy. Also, cut the green chilies into round pieces and fry them.
Grind the fried ginger into a rough powder. Then, add the ginger powder and the fried green chilies to the tamarind water that has been boiling. Keep cooking the mixture over a heat. When the tamarind water evaporates and the mixture thickens, keep boiling the mix.
Before grinding it into a powder, dry roast the uncooked red rice. Let it cool. Before turning off the heat, toss in this mixture and continue cooking for five more minutes. Get the puli inji on the table.
Save it in a clean, airtight glass jar and utilise it within a few weeks.
Vishu kanji - Palakkad
Ingredients
Raw rice - 1/2 cup
Matta rice - 1/2 cup
Split green gram (dry roasted with skin) - 1/2 cup
Butter beans - 2 tsp (dry roast, pound to remove skin)
Water - 1 litre
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Salt to taste
Method
Put everything in a pressure cooker and cook it for six whistles, except the coconut.
To adjust the consistency, put in some water. Top with grated coconut and serve the hot curry along with pappadums and kondattam.
In Kozhikode, a twist is to boil the rice in water before adding coconut milk and ground cumin.
Vishu katta - Thrissur
Ingredients
Raw rice - 1 cup
Milk extracted from two medium-sized coconuts or 400 ml of ready-to-use coconut milk
Cumin - 1/2 teaspoon
Dry ginger powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Method
Let the rice soak for one hour. To begin, begin by extracting the milk from the coconut; the very first extract should not include any water (onnampaal). To get semi-diluted milk (randaampaal), add warm water to the leftover shredded coconut and purée in a blender. If you like your milk thinner (moonaampaal), just repeat the process again and set it aside. The result should be six cups. Just as the moonampaal starts to evaporate, add the randaampaal and continue cooking the soaked rice.
Once the rice is cooked for 3/4 of the way through, add salt. Then, add onaampaal, cumin, and dry ginger powder. Set aside one tablespoon of the thick milk. Sauté the rice until it becomes sticky and starts to release some oil. Spread the thick coconut milk on a dish or banana leaf and flatten. While it cools, cut it into squares and top with jaggery syrup.
Karayappam - Kannur
Ingredients
Raw rice - 1 cup (soaked for 4 hours)
Cooked rice - 1 cup
Maida - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Water - 1/2 cup
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp (just before frying the appams)
Coconut oil or refined oil to deep fry
Method
Mix all the ingredients, excluding baking soda, in a grinder. Set aside for at least eight hours, preferably overnight, and dilute itwith water if necessary. In a paniyaram or appam pan, add baking soda right before frying. Once chilled, serve.
