A vacation to enjoy the rain :-)

Hey you guys…….

I am back J Like most of you, I have also been through a very hectic schedule at work and at home. At home, we have a canine family member now – her name is Mickey – a cute little puppy who loves to run around everywhere. We took her to our hometown this time when we took our vacation. Needless to say, she just loved all that extra space to run around, in the yard.

So the vacation was really to enjoy the monsoon season in Kerala. In my school days, every year, come June 1^st, the monsoon shower never failed to show up. But this year, though we were there till June 6^th, except for a day where it rained about 2-3 hours, the dark clouds and the rain Gods didn’t bless us with their presence L

Thankfully we enjoyed that single rain we got. But the depressing weather afterwards pulled us down the mood elevator.  And as you can imagine, we decided to cheer us up with food. Hot bajjis, pazham pori, cutlet, various fish available locally, traditional cuisines took up most of our time - we ate, ate and ate. A gastronomical treat from the good old days – food does have a way of transporting you to your past. That reminded me of a quote – ‘’good old days; when beer foamed and water didn’t ’’ ;)

I know my mom must have mentally sent a thank you note up when we all finally left ;)

One of those days, with the traditional cuisine – Aappam, I made mutton stew. Aappam is a soft lacy hopper made from a batter of rice, cooked rice, grated coconut, yeast, salt and sugar. Once the batter is fermented, it is made in an aappachatti which is a deep bottom wok. So when you pour the batter, you get a thick fluffy center and a thin layer on the sides. Since my intention here is to post the mutton stew recipe, without further ado, let me get onto that.

The stew served with aappam is a curry made with coconut milk and not the western style stew. You can prepare a vegetable or a mutton stew. Both go well with aappam.  

Recipe

Ingredients

Mutton – 1 kg (I was serving 8 adults and a 3 year old).

Carrot – 2 Nos (cut into small blocks).

Potato – 1 No (cut into medium sized blocks).

Onion (big) – 2 Nos (slice).

Green Chillies – 3 Nos.

Ginger – piece of 1 inch size.

Peppercorns – about 10 to 12.

Pepper powder – 1 teaspoon

Curry leaves – 2 sprigs.

Coconut milk – thick 1 cup, thin 2 cups.

Green cardamom – 2 nos.

Clove – 2 nos.

Cinnamon – 1 small piece.

Coconut oil -1 teaspoon.

Salt to taste

Preparation

• Cook mutton, potato, pepper powder and salt in a pressure cooker for about 3 whistles. Set this aside.
• In a pan, add oil. When the oil is hot, add the spices – green cardamom, clove, cinnamon, crushed peppercorns.
• Once they start giving the aroma, add ginger, green chillies, sliced onions. Saute till the onions become translucent.
• Add the carrot now (you can also include other veggies like beans, peas).
• Pour the thin coconut milk extract and let the veggies and spices cook in it. Ensure the stove is only in a medium heat.
• Tip: Cover the pan but do not forget to stir occasionally.
• Once the veggies are almost cooked, add the cooked mutton and potato and let the entire mix simmer for another 5 min. 
• Tip: If you get really tender mutton, you can add it and potato along with other veggies and cook in the pan itself (no need to use the pressure cooker then). I use pressure cooker to reduce the cooking time.
• You will notice that the thin coconut milk has reduced a lot. Add the thick coconut milk at this stage.
• Keep stirring it and when it is about to boil, switch off the stove.
• Add curry leaves and the coconut oil.

Cover the pan and let it rest for 5 min. Serve hot with aappam or cooked rice.

Garnishing note: A vacation to enjoy the rain - only there was no rain - ended up being a vacation to relish the good old cuisines J