Pineapple Puliserry

½ Cup pineapple, cleaned and cut into 1 inch pieces, about 3 cups
½ Cup water
½ Tsp turmeric powder
1 Tsp red chilli powder
2 Tsp sugar (optional)
3 Cups yogurt / curd
1 ½ Cup fresh grated coconut
4 Green chillies, chopped
¾ Tsp cumin seeds
4 Sprigs curry leaves
1 Tbsp coconut oil
¾ Tsp mustard seeds
½ Tsp fenugreek seeds
4 Red chillies, broken into two pieces each
Salt to taste

Method:

1. In a kadai, cook the pineapple pieces along with the water, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and sugar until it’s tender and soft.
2. In the Ultra Vario+ Mixer Grinder, grate 1 ½ cups of fresh coconut using the coconut scraper attachment
3. Use the Ultra Vario+ Mixer Grinder to grind the grated coconut, green chillies, cumin seeds and 2 sprigs of curry leaves along with half of the yogurt / curd to a fine paste*. Add this paste to the cooked pineapple along with salt and mix well. Let it simmer on low heat.
4. Beat the remaining yogurt / curd with a fork or a whisk and add to the simmering curry and mix well. Bring the curry to a boil and cook for a minute, stirring all the time till the curry is heated through. Care should be taken to not let the curry curdle in consistency. Remove from flame and set aside.
5. In a small frying pan, heat the coconut oil and temper with mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, 2 sprigs of curry leaves and red chillies. Pour this over the pineapple curry and stir gently.
6. Note: Roasted and finely powdered fenugreek powder can also be sprinkled at the end over the puliserry instead of using the fenugreek seeds in the final tempering.
7. Nisha recommends using a small earthen pot to cook the puliserry as it enhances the flavour of the dish. She also suggests buying a ripe but firm pineapple as it’ll not disintegrate during the cooking process unlike a very ripe and soft one.
*Use the highest speed setting in the Elgi Ultra Duramix 750p for 45 seconds to get a fine paste.

We are kick starting our Onam recipe marathon with Cecy Kuruvilla’s recipe for Cabbage Thoran. This is a fairly easy and quick dish to cook and a great introduction to Kerala cuisine for a beginner.

Use your Ultra Endura+ Pressure Pan as a kadai. You can use the lid to cover (without the whistle).

Cooking with stainless steel means your dishes remain Ultra healthy. Read More >>

The Thoran is a vegetable side dish that is synonymous with Kerala and its cuisine. It comprises of shredded vegetables cooked to a dry and al dente consistency with a generous dose of grated coconut. The vegetables are not over cooked and it retains its crunchy texture and vibrant colour in a Thoran.

Cabbage thoran

1 Small cabbage, cut into thin long strips, about 4 cups
2 Tbsp coconut oil / vegetable oil
½ Tsp mustard seeds
1 Medium onion, chopped
3 Garlic cloves, chopped
2 Sprigs curry leaves
2 Green chillies, chopped (optional)
2 Tbsp coriander leaves, chopped
¼ Tsp turmeric powder
½ Tsp cumin powder
¼ Tsp black pepper powder
¾ Cup fresh coconut, grated
¼ Cup water
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a your Ultra Endura+ Pressure Pan. Add the mustard seeds and let them crackle. Add the chopped onion, garlic, curry leaves, green chillies and coriander leaves and stir till the onion turns translucent. Then add the turmeric powder, cumin powder, pepper powder, salt and grated coconut and give it a quick stir. Finally, add the cabbage along with the water. Cook the vegetables covered and on low heat for about 12 minutes, placing the lid of the cooker on top to create steam. Stir occasionally. All the water should evaporate and the vegetables should be just cooked. Check for salt before serving, add more if needed.
2. Cecy suggests that cabbage can be replaced with beetroot or spinach in a Thoran. The beetroot can be grated coarsely while the spinach can be chopped finely, before cooking.
3. Look out for more recipes in the following days, to add to your repertoire, just in time for cooking up a feast on the day of Thiruvonam.

Sunayana Arun draws a lot of inspiration to cook from her late mother and a handful of her talented aunts. She has her roots in Ezhupunna, in Alappuzha district but currently lives in Kodaikanal. She started cooking soon after the first of her three children was born. She started out cooking simple homely food but now her repertoire ranges from elaborate Andhra-style Biriyanis to light and fluffy Banoffee pies.

Sunayana enjoys cooking Kerala-style seafood and meat dishes and has in fact a special following for these dishes among friends and family. She is also fond of baking with her daughters, often baking cookies and brownies for various causes in their school campus. She also bakes excellent carrot cakes and churns out flavourful ice creams in her home kitchen.

Sunayana believes in talking to her plants in her kitchen garden and harvests the best produce possible by tending to it with meticulous care. The rhubarbs from her garden make one of the best Rhubarb crumbles one can taste. She also crochets a lot in her spare time while she is not busy in her kitchen or her garden.

Sunayana shares with us her family recipe for a humble dal that has just a handful of ingredients but is utterly delicious. A dollop of this creamy dal on the banana leaf during Sadya provides the much needed relief from the spicy and sour notes of the other dishes.

Katti Paruppu

1/3 Cup peas dal, washed and soaked for half an hour
½ Cup 1st coconut milk (thick coconut milk)
1 ½ Cup 2nd and 3rd coconut milk (all coconut milks made from 1 whole coconut)
1 Green chilli, cut along the length into two pieces
1 Medium onion, sliced
1 Potato, peeled and diced into ½ inch cubes
1 Sprig curry leaves
1 Tsp ghee
Salt to taste

Method:

1. In the Ultra Endura+ Pan, add the soaked dal, 2nd and 3rd coconut milk, green chilli, sliced onion and cubed potatoes. Cover the pressure pan and cook on high flame. After the first whistle, reduce the flame to low and cook for 5 more minutes. Remove from flame and set aside.
2. Once the pressure releases, open the pan and add the thick coconut milk. Add salt and ghee as well. Bring the dal back to a gentle simmer and remove from flame.
3. This dal is thick and creamy in consistency. The potatoes pieces can be partially mashed, if desired. The above recipe gives enough dal to serve 6 people in an Onam sadya. If you are cooking this dal as part of your regular lunch, it is sufficient only for about 4 people. In the above recipe, Sunayana says the peas dal can be replaced with split Bengal gram.

Aviyal

1 Small or ½ large country cucumber, peeled, deseeded and cut into long batons, about 1 cup
1 Green plantain, only the outer layer peeled leaving behind most of the skin, cut into long batons
1 Big carrot, peeled and cut into batons
½ Snake gourd, peeled, deseeded and cut into long batons, about 1 cup
1 Long drumstick, cut into 1 ½ inch pieces, the skin partially peeled
1 Small wedge ash gourd, peeled and cut into long batons, about 1 cup
10 Long beans / thattakai, cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
1 Small wedge yam, cut into long batons
3 Small brinjals, cut into 4 wedges each
½ Raw green mango, cut into long batons with skin
1 ½ Cup, fresh grated coconut
4 Tbsp coconut oil
1 Green chilli, chopped + 2 green chillies cut along the length into two pieces each
3 Shallots / small onion, chopped
4 Sprigs curry leaves
½ Tsp cumin seeds
¼ Tsp turmeric powder
½ Tsp chilli powder
1 Lime size tamarind ball, soaked in ¼ cup water and make into a paste
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Soak the green plantain, yam and brinjal pieces in water to avoid discoloration during preparation.
2. In the Ultra Mixer Grinder, grind the grated coconut along with the chopped green chilli, shallots, turmeric powder and 2 sprigs of curry leaves. Do not add water while grinding and let the mixture be coarse*.
3. Heat a Ultra Endura+ Pressure Pan and add 1 tbsp coconut oil, add the yam, green plantain, brinjal and carrot and stir quickly for about 2 minutes. Remove and set aside. In the same kadai, heat 1 more tbsp of coconut oil and add the rest of the vegetables and stir quickly for 2 minutes and keep aside.
4. In the same pressure pan, return the first set of vegetables and pour enough water to barely cover them, place the lid and cook for whistle. Once they are about half cooked add the rest of the vegetables along with the chilli powder, tamarind paste and salt and cook without whistle fill cooked. Add more water, if required.
5. Poke the yam and test to see if it’s done as it is the toughest vegetable to cook in this mix of vegetables. If the yam is done, the rest of the vegetables will also be cooked. Now gently stir in the coarsely ground coconut mixture and cook on low flame, covered for a couple of more minutes. Finally, drizzle the remaining 2 tbsp of coconut oil and 2 sprigs of curry leaves as garnish before serving.
6. The lack of curd / yogurt in this recipe may surprise a few. Recipes for Aviyal vary across families and across regions within Kerala. Devi does suggest that about 1 cup of yogurt can be substituted instead of the tamarind paste in the Aviyal, depending on preference. But she highly recommends using tamarind especially if you are using yam in the recipe as it has the capacity to offset a certain prickly feeling yam can cause on the tongue and throat sometimes.
7. The Aviyal is a medley of vegetables that compliments the rest of the sadya dishes and is a shining example of how truly wholesome and flavourful our traditional Indian dishes are.
*Use the Slo-grind speeds to achieve a uniformly coarse and dry mixture.

Ultra believes that innovation is the key to a great culinary experience. Whether it is how we design our products or how you use them to make tasty, nutritious food, it’s innovation all the way. Which is why we’ve stepped beyond the convention to bring you recipes you can bake with your Ultra Pressure Cooker. This simple, sinful Choco Lava Cake recipe by eminent home baker Sruti Nakul, will leave you smacking your lips for more.

Choco Lava Cake

Butter 2 Tbsp.
Coco Powder (Unsweetened) 4 Tbsp.
All-purpose Flour (Maida) 1/2 Cup
Brown Sugar (Powdered) 1/2 Cup
Milk 3/4 Cup
Good quality Chocolate 110Gms.
Baking Powder 1/2 Tsp.
Salt – to taste

Method:

1. Take a length of Aluminium foil. Fold it 4 times over.
2. Wrap it over the bottom of the inverted glass.
3. Pinch and fold the corners of the foil and turn it into a liner.
4. Height of the liner should be around 3 – 3.5 inches.
5. Spread salt evenly in the base of a Ultra Pressure Cooker
6. Place a cooker plate or any other stand over the salt, to place the liners.
7. Close the lid of the pressure cooker and pre-heat for 10 minutes on medium to high flame.
(Do not use the pressure cooker whistle.)

To make the batter:
1. Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl to remove any kinds of lumps. Stir well with a whisk.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate together.
3. Add the milk and the melted chocolate/butter mixture to the dry ingredients.
4. Mix well with a whisk to make the batter
5. Grease the foil liners with melted butter and fill it half with batter.
6. Place the half-filled liners in the pre-heated pressure cooker.
7. Bake on a medium to high flame for 10 minutes.
8. Once done, the cake looks firm from top but the center will jiggle a bit.
9. Take the cake out and serve it warm as it is or with ice-cream.

Kalpana’s culinary journey started as a pastime with a simple cooking food blog featuring healthy, wholesome food recipes that make home cooking easy and breezy. She soon went on to become a noted food blogger and social media influencer. Her passion lies in cooking simple home cooked meals that are delicious and healthy. She shares lunch box stories from her day-to-day life that has inspired many to cook and pack food from home.
When you find great new ways that better the tried and tested, it’s called innovation. So that’s exactly how it feels to bring a whiff of freshness to the rich flavours and sizzling aromas of pulao with Kalpana Sareesh’s brilliantly fresh recipe – Tawa Pulao.

So how does she manage the perfect blend of these exotic spices in a coarse and even texture? And no prizes for guessing! It’s the Ultra Duramix 750P. The unique Slo Grind function does it with so much ease, maintaining the right flavour without heating up or grinding it too fine!

Tawa Pulao

Making the Pav Bhaji Masala
Ingredients:

Red Chilli: 8 Nos.
Kashmiri Red Chilli: 8 Nos.
Cinnamon- 1 Inch piece
Black Cardamom- 3 Nos.
Coriander Seeds- 2 Tbsp.
Cloves- 8 Nos.
Pepper- 1 Tsp.
Cumin Seeds- 1 Tbsp.
Fennel Seeds- 1 Tbsp.
Mango Powder- 1 Tsp.

METHOD

1. Dry roast all the above ingredients (except for mango powder), cool and grind to smooth powder. Now add mango powder, grind again and transfer to a dry container.

Making the Pulao
Ingredients:
Cumin seeds – 1 Tsp.
Green chilli, ginger and garlic – 1 Tbsp., crushed
Onion- 1 No., finely chopped.
Tomatoes – 1 Cup, finely chopped.
Capsicum – 1/4 Cup, finely chopped.
Carrot and Beans – 1/4 Cup, cooked.
Potatoes – 1/4 Cup, cooked.
Green Peas – 1/4 Cup, cooked.
Red Chilli Powder – 1/2 Tsp.
Pav Bhaji Masala – 2 Tsp.
Cooked Rice – 2 Cups
Fresh Coriander – 2 Tbsp., finely chopped
Lime juice- 1 Tsp.
Salt- 1 Tsp.
Butter- 2 Tbsp.

Tip: Use the Ultra Pressure Cooker as a pan. Made from high quality stainless steel means your dishes remain Ultra healthy. Read More >>

METHOD

1. Heat butter in the Ultra Pressure Cooker, add cumin seeds, wait until it crackles
2. Then saute the chilli garlic ginger paste for a minute.
3. Add onions, saute for a minute.
4. Add the capsicum, cooked carrot beans, cooked potatoes, cooked green peas and saute until it’s well-mixed.
5. Add tomatoes, cook until it turns mushy (approx 2 minutes).
6. Now mash with the ladle /masher.
7. Add salt, chilli powder and pav bhaji masala
8. Mix them well and add 1/4 cup water
9. Cover and cook until the spices get cooked well with the veggies.
10. Add the rice and gently mix it with the veggies and masala.
11. Drizzle lime juice, sprinkle fresh coriander and plate

Classic Chole

2 Cups Kabuli Chana, soaked overnight
10-12 Pieces Dried Goosberry / Amla
1 Onion, finely chopped
2 Tomatoes, pureed
2 Green Chillies, Slit
2 Teaspoons Ginger, cut into juliennes
1 Teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
1 Teaspoon Dry Mango Powder (Aamchur)
½ Teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
½ Teaspoon Dry Ginger Powder
½ Teaspoon Black Salt
1 Bay leaf
2 Tablespoon Ghee
2 Teaspoons KasuriMethi, crushed
1 Teaspoon Ginger Jullienes, for garnish
Salt to taste

Ingredients for dry roasted masala
2 Tablespoons Coriander Seeds
2 Teaspoons Cumin Seeds
1 Teaspoon Black Pepper Corns
1 Teaspoon Anardana (dried pomegranate seeds)
½ Teaspoon Carom Seeds (Ajwain)
4-5 Cloves
1 Small piece Cinnamon
2 Green Cardamom
1 Black Cardamom
1 Star Anise
1 Bay Leaf

METHOD

1. Use the Ultra Pressure Cooker: Add the soaked chole, dried amla, salt and 4 cups water
2. Put the lid on and pressure cook for 2 whistles, and slow cook for 20 minutes
3. When done, discard the dried amla pieces and Keep aside
4. Slow roast the ingredients for masala
5. Heat a pan, add coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black pepper corns, anardana seeds, carom seeds, cloves, cinnamon, green cardamom, black cardamom, star anise and bay leaf
6. Slow roast on medium heat
7. Use the Ultra Mixer Grinder: Add the ingredients to the Ultra Mixer Grinder Jar and grind into a fine powder. Keep aside
8. Heat ghee in a pan, add the bay leaf
9. Add the finely chopped onion and sauté until it turns golden brown
10. Add the tomato puree, sauté until its cooked well
11. Add the spice powders – red chilli powder, dry mango powder, garam masala, dry ginger powder, black salt and the prepared dry roasted masala
12. Saute until the masala cooks well
13. Add the chopped green chillies and ginger juliennes. Mix well
14. Add the cooked chole, ½ cup of saved water from boiling, season with salt and mix well
15. Add water to your desired consistency, simmer for 5 minutes
16. Add the crushed kasuri methi, mix well and switch off the heat
17. Add it to the Serving dish, garnish with ginger juliennes on top, and serve along with hot steamed rice

Mango Lassi

2 Cups mango, cut into cubes
1.5 Cup Yogurt
1 Teaspoon Ginger
1 Tablespoon Honey (optional)

METHOD

1. The slo-mo feature of Ultra Mixer Grinder to be used: Add the mango cubes and ginger to the mixer jar, run the appliance on the slo-mo feature for 2 minutes to make a pulp
2. Add the yogurt and honey (if using), pulse it for a couple of times
3. Serve in tall glasses

Hot Chocolate

3 Cups milk
1/3 Cup semi-sweet chocolate, grated
1 Tablespoon white sugar
1/2 Teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 Egg

METHOD

1. Pour milk into a microwave-safe container and cook on High for 2 minutes.
2. Mix in chocolate, sugar and cinnamon.
3. In a small bowl, whisk an egg until smooth, then mix it into the chocolate mixture.
4. Return to microwave and cook on High for 3 to 4 minutes or until foamy (be careful not to let it boil.)
5. Whisk again until smooth and pour into 3 mugs. Garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon if desired.

That delicate hint of spice balances the sweetness of chocolate and sets the perfect flavour for a novel or your favourite movie