I should have posted this recipe years ago! If you make a list of top ten comfort food of Keralites, “Kanji and Payar” (rice porridge and dal) will be a strong contender for the top slots. Steaming kanji with slightly mashed cherupayar thoran, freshly grated coconut drizzled on top and some pickle and pappad on the side! Ohh.. I miss home now :((
Back home we used to have kanji and payar mostly during lent season, also the days that follows Easter and Christmas. When we want our tummys to recover from the food abuse caused by heavy feast during Easter and Christmas, we go for kanji and payar.
Here you go with the recipe. Please dont forget to read the “notes” part before proceeding with the recipe.
Dry roast the cherupayar for 2 mins in a pressure cooker (refer notes). Add 2.5 cups water to the roasted cherupayar and pressure cook. Once the pressure drops, open the cooker and drain the excess water…
Combine coconut, sliced small onion, chopped garlic and green chilli, pepper powder, cumin (if using), turmeric powder, curry leaves and salt in a bowl. Mix it well using your finger tips (njeraduka)…
Heat oil in a wide pan and crackle the mustard seeds. Add the coconut mixture and cook for 2-3 mins…
Add cooked cherupayar and mix well. You can add 2 tbsp hot water, just to make sure the payar and coconut mixture is well combined. Cover and cook for 2-3 mins on low flame…
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup Cherupayar (whole moong beans/green gram)
- 2.5 cups Water
- 1/2 cup Grated Coconut
- 3 Small onion/shallots (sliced)
- 1/2 tsp Chopped garlic
- 3 Green chilli (chopped)
- 1/4 tsp Pepper powder
- a pinch Cumin ((optional))
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1/4 tsp Mustard seeds
- Curry leaves
- Salt
- Oil (I used coconut oil)
Instructions
- Dry roast the cherupayar for 2 mins in a pressure cooker (refer notes). Add 2.5 cups water to the roasted cherupayar and pressure cook. I cooked it for 6 whistles on high flame (refer notes). Switch off the flame and keep it closed till the pressure drops, 10-15 mins. Open the cooker and drain the excess water.
- Combine coconut, sliced small onion, chopped garlic and green chilli, pepper powder, cumin (if using), turmeric powder, curry leaves and salt in a bowl. Mix it well using your finger tips (njeraduka).
- Heat oil in a wide pan and crackle the mustard seeds. Add the coconut mixture and cook for 2-3 mins. Add cooked cherupayar and mix well. You can add 2 tbsp hot water, just to make sure the payar and coconut mixture is well combined. Cover and cook for 2-3 mins on low flame. Switch off the gas and serve hot with Rice or Kanji.
Thanks Maria for this recipe – it’s perfect or should I say “fail-proof”! I just followed it blindly & it’s so delicious! Having grown up outside Kerala I’m not that great at Kerala cooking. My family loved the taste of this dish. <3 thanks again!
Hi Maria,
It’s a great recipe. I tried saving it on BigOven but got the message that the site is blocking the clipper from functioning. It used to work before.
Hi Shynu,
Thank you :) I’m not sure why it happened like that, I will check it out.
Cheers
Maria
Thanks for this yummy recipe.. Feels like home :) Tried it and it came out perfect, just like my mom’s!
Hi Sijo,
You are welcome :) Good to know that it tasted just like your mom’s cooking!
Thanks a lot for the comment.
Cheers
Maria
Dry roasting the payaru gave the consistency to the thoran towards the end. Valuable hint indeed!
Thanks Ragu :)
simple & tasty…thank you so much
You are welcome :)
Awesome Maria!! thanks for posting this.. I think a lot of us Mallu kids grew up with this as a staple in our menu…[Could you also tell me how to make the kanji bit of it :) ]…Thanks.
Thanks Livyat :) Yep, kanji and payaru makes me nostalgic all the time.
I’ll try to post kanji also sometime..
Cheers
Maria
Hi, the dish really awakens childhood memories… It will taste good,
even if you saute the cherupayar with some crushed small onion and red chilli flakes (mezhukkupuratti)
But want to comment something on health point of view, if we drain the excess water out, we are actually draining most of the nutrients… Better way is to reduce the amount of water.. Also if we germinate the seeds, it is even more nutritious and it cooks really fast and also, it tastes just the same. But we should not overcook, if it is germinated… :)
Hi, the dish really awakens childhood memories… It will taste good,
even if you saute the cherupayar with some crushed small onion and red
chilli flakes (mezhukkupuratti) But want to comment something on health
point of view, if we drain the excess water out, we are actually
draining most of the nutrients… Better way is to reduce the amount of
water.. Also if we germinate the seeds, it is even more nutritious and
it cooks really fast and also, it tastes just the same. But we should
not overcook, if it is germinated… :-)
Thanks Bhadra for sharing the info here, appreciate it very much :)
Tried this today for lunch.Came out really well.Perfect side dish for rice/kanji.Thank you maria dear for sharing this recipe.Hope all is well at your end.God bless !!
Hi Tina, how are you?
So you tried it on the same day itself, eh, great! You are welcome dear..
We are doing good by God’s grace. Hope you guys are also fine.
Take care,
Maria