Cooking web notes

For people like me, 'kanjiyum payarum' (rice gruel and green gram) is synonymous with comfort food. I think its pejorative when kanji is symbolized with poverty or ill health. But it is true.  Some consider it the poor man’s food. Let me begin in defense for this hearty meal stating the cultural relevance the food has in Kerala. On Good Friday, Jacobites (a Christian denomination) after spending a day in prayer and fasting eat Kaji at church in fellowship.  The muslims, during the season of Ramdhan often break their fast with kanji and thereafter following up with their Iftar party which serves party food. I need to add, after fasting for an entire day nothing feels as good as 'Kanji and payar' as my friends say.  Hope this helps to see Kanji as an integral part of our culture. Apart from this without any religious connotation this is equally enjoyed as a dinner and some times even for breakfast by many families.  Even though kanji started being used on somber occasions or talked as food for the poor it was clearly a energy booster. It shakes off melancholy.  I know it must be the sugar kicking in but I hope I have made my case.



Now,  let’s do a comparison with soup. If you take a close look, this dish is a healthy vegetarian soup except that starch and protein are prepared and served separately and each has to make his/ her individual soup on the table. The rice gruel is served with cooked green grams spiced with black and red pepper, mustard, shallots and curry leaves. To substitute the bread, crepes, croutons etc that goes with soup we serve pappadam with the gruel. Pappadam is a thin disc or call it wafer made with black gram or urad dal. These are mostly shop bought and fried at home. You can see how spices,  plentiful in our part of the world, are incorporated to make a hearty soup. Now you know why I call it ‘comfort food.’

Ingredients :

For kanji(serves 2)

Parboiled rice- 1/2 cup
Water- 2-3 cups(there should be enough water left after cooking !)

Method:

1. Wash the rice and pour water.
2.Cook in a pressure cooker for upto 2-3 whistles or until rice is done.

For green gram/cherupayar thoran

Moong beans(green gram)- 1/2 cup
Salt- To taste
water- 3/4 cup
turmeric powder- a small pinch
Grated coconut- 2 Tbsp
Red chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
Red chillies- 2
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves- 1 sprig
Oil- 1 Tbsp



Method:
1.Wash and clean the green gram. Cook in a pressure cooker after pouring the water and adding salt and turmeric.
2.Cook on high heat till the first whistle and then simmer and cook for 2 more whistles or at least 15 minutes.( This time period is for my medium sized cooker. This may vary for your cooker !)
3.heat oil in a pan and do the normal seasoning by spluttering the mustard and sauteing the red chillies and curry leaves.
4.To this add the red chilli powder and stir cook for couple of minutes on low heat.
5.throw in the coconut and the cooked green gram , mix well.

Serving Suggestions.

Sprinkle some salt on the kanji and mix well. Serve with green gram thoran, pappad and a pickle of your choice.Sure you will go for a second serving :-). You could serve simple gravies like pulissery with this.
While talking about pulissery I must say that the kanjivellam (water in which rice is cooked) when mixed with some pulissery and a pinch of salt makes a healthy summer drink.