Urllakizhangu / Kizhangu Ishtew / Kerala Ishtu / Potato Stew

This stew is normally made to go with Appam for breakfast in many Malayali homes. Appam ishtew is a typical breakfast item from Kerala. Although nowadays this breakfast is mostly limited to weekends since weekday mornings mean rushed breakfasts. Appams can be paired off with chutney or potato stew or vegetable stew or egg roast or a varutharache curry (egg or vegetables). We mostly make urllakizhangu or kizhangu ishtu / ishtew (that's potato stew in Malayalam) at home, a practice that my mother-in-law follows. And a combination I have fallen in love with.

My mother makes an orange colored coconut chutney to go with appams at home. And after marriage, I have mostly made potato ishtew to go with the appam. This ishtew is different from the one prepared for a sadya (feast served on a banana leaf) in the sense that this has onions and is watery. The best thing about making potato stew is that you pile everything into the pan and leave it to cook without having to add ingredients (except coconut milk) in stages. So here goes the recipe:

Ingredients
Potato - 2
Green chillies - 2
Ginger - 1 inch
Coconut milk (thick) - 1/2cup
Curry leaves - 8-10
Coconut oil - 1tsp
Salt as per taste

Peel the potatoes, wash it and slice it into pieces, slit the green chillies, cut the ginger into juliennes and keep aside. Heat a pan add about a cup of water and add the potatoes, ginger, green chillies, curry leaves, a little salt and cook on medium heat. Check after about 10 minutes if the potatoes are almost done. Make sure the pan still has water and add 1 tablespoon of coconut milk and cook on low heat till the potatoes are completely done. Then add the rest of the coconut milk, adjust with more water if needed and let it come close to a boil. Drizzle coconut oil and a few curry leaves on top, close the lid and take off the heat.

Get the appams ready and serve the ishtew with it.

Tips:

If using full coconut milk from a can or tetrapack, water it down (3 coconut : 1 water).

The lite coconut milk can be poured straight to the cooked potatoes.

 

State Bhavan Canteen Review - Malayali food experience at Kerala House

We were craving to eat Malayali food for sometime and hence decided to check out the canteen at Kerala House at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. The place primarily caters to the staff and guests staying there and attracts a few office goers from the area around. So go at a decent hour else food may run out because they cook limited quantities and do not expect too many people to come. We reached there at about 2.30pm and the man at the counter asked us to wait for a few minutes. On peeping inside we saw there were tables free and checked again with the man at the counter. He informed us that they had run out of rice and fresh coupons would be issued only once they were sure there was enough food!

The vegetarian thali is the standard available at the Kerala House canteen and then one can buy fish curry or fry or chicken curry or fry separately.

Once seated, a waiter brought a bowl of sambhar, a jug of rasam, a jug of sambhaaram (spiced buttermilk), a jug of water and glasses to the table. Slowly the waiter came with plates served with a cabbage thoren (sabzi), achaar (pickle), onion slices and payar mezhukaperati (long beans sabzi). The rice was then served. We had to ask for the papadam and they gave us broken bits and said they ran out of papadams. They also had fish curry and fry and chicken curry and fry, which one can order with the thali for additional money. We ordered the ailaa / bangda (mackerel) fish fry to go with the thali. They served the Kerala red rice and I bit into 2 stones when eating, guess they did not clean the rice in a hurry to cook it! The waiters don't come around so often with second servings so we had to call them over twice.

The verdict - the food was average - keeping aside the fact that I bit into stones and the fish was not salted and spiced enough. The rasam with garlic and the sambharam spiced with ginger was really good. They seemed to have made the payar mezhukuperati fresh after running out of cabbage thoren.

Don't expect the Andhra Bhavan's efficient standards here. It is a small room in the parking space partitioned off with wood. The waiters don't wear a uniform and there are about 7 to 8 tables in all here. There is a lot of old furniture from the guest rooms and a couple of old discarded cars (an Ambassador and a Standard NE) lying about in the parking space and this is right at the entrance!

Overall the Kerala House food was just ok, to be visited only if in the area.

 

P.S. Thoren in Malayalam is any vegetable cooked with a tadka of mustard seeds, green chilly and curry leaves with grated coconut added in the end. Mezhukuperati is when there is no grated coconut instead coconut oil is sprinkled in the end to the vegetable.

Puttu and Kadala curry - YUM!!!

Puttu (steamed rice cake) and kadala (black gram) curry, a favourite Malayali breakfast, so warm and filling on a wintery morning. Add a malayali chaaya (tea) to this to round off the meal!