Kerala food: Karimeen, The Fish of God’s Own Country

Karimeen (Pearl Spot or Pearlspot), which belongs to the Cichlidae family is a perennial favorite with the fish loving Keralites. It is a brackish water fish found in the lakes, rice fields, canals and ponds of South India and Sri Lanka but can survive in fresh water and highly saline water for short periods.

There are dozens of recipes for cooking karimeen. One interesting factor is that deciding how to prepare karimeen, to a great extent, would depend on the size. Over sized karimeen and the tiny ones are not good for the pan. Ideally, fish that number five to seven per kilogram should be taken for frying. Usually people end up paying more for larger fish which may not be suitable for the recipe in mind.

The photo (copyright reserved) above is a fried karimeen from Olavipe.

What does one do with karimeen that is larger than the one in the photo?

We bake them in the traditional way. Marinated full fish is kept in a chatti (earthen vessel) that is over fire, with banana leaves under and above the fish. The chatti is then covered with its lid and embers are placed over it. Every few minutes the fish is turned over and coconut oil poured on it. Properly done, there is no other karimeen preparation to beat this, according to me.

The size of of a mature karimeen, though it might impress people, is not a yardstick of the taste. Karimeen from the Vembanad Lake and Ashtamudi Lake are much more delicious than the ones from, say, Veli Lake near Trivandrum and Chilka Lake in Orissa. Also, cultured karimeen is less tasty than the ones growing naturally.

Some people confuse karimeen with pomferet and tilapia. The taste and texture of each are different. The pictures given below should help in identifying the different species.

Pomfret (image from Wikimedia Cmmons)

Tilapia (image from Wikimedia Commons)

Karimeen is a healthy food. Traditionally, coconut oil is used for cooking it. Both the fish and coconut oil contain Omega3 Factor which is cardiac friendly according to modern research. However, there is strong opposition to coconut oil from some quarters.

Use whatever cooking medium you prefer, but karimeen will still taste really good.

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Also see: Kerala food: Kappa (cassava or casava, yuca, manioc, Manihot esculenta)

Kerala food: Peechappam, a forgotten item?

How many people make peechappam (it may have other local names) these days? When I asked Velayudhan, our chief cook at Thekkanattu Parayil, Olavipe, to make peechappam, he had to think for a minute to remember the item.

Peechappam is a tender steamed rice cake. The name means squeezed appam. The prepared dough is squeezed in the palm before steaming, and the fingers leave dimples on it. Though easy to make, tasty and versatile, it is lesser known than the other famous Kerala appams like palappam (lace hopper) and idiyappam (string hopper).

Peechappam is an anytime food – breakfast, lunch, dinner. It goes well with pickles, curries, preserves, honey, syrup, and chutney.

A modified version is to make patty shaped stuffed peechappams. There is a large choice of fillings – vegetables, shrimps and other seafood, cheese, corned beef, sliced sausages, chopped bacon rashers or ham and so on. It can be an excellent snack or a full meal.

The basic recipe for peechappam is:
2 cups rice flour
1 cup grated coconut (not too mature). The coconut can be coarse or fine grated, or even ground, according to preference.
Jeera to taste (Powder, crushed or whole)
Salt to taste.

Method:
Mix the ingredients in hot water
Squeeze small portions of the dough with fingers. If stuffing is used, place it inside the dough, roll into balls and shape them.
Steam till done. (Note: Over steaming will make the appam hard.)

I have translated the recipe Velayudhan wrote down for me in Malayalam. Photos (copyright reserved) are by Rijo (top) and me. The first one is the traditional peechappam Velayudhan made yesterday. It was more succulent. The stuffed ones were made by an assistant cook today. They are a bit too hard.

Click on the images to enlarge them.

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Also see Kerala Food: Breakfast range

Kerala kitchen – some implements of the past

Recently, I came across some quaint old kitchen implements in the Archives at Thekkanattu Parayil, Olavipe. Assuming that you too might find them interesting, I am presenting a few photographs below:

This is an old noodles maker which was used for idiyappam (string hoppers). The handle on top is pressed and turned to make the dough into strings.

This too is an idiyappam press, made of wood. Now metal presses and screw extruders are used mostly.

Grated coconut is an essential ingredient in many Kerala recipes. This beautifully carved grater is, I think, made from a single block of wood. Notice how nicely the collection bowl is shaped.

Curry salt used to be kept in the kitchen in wooden boats like this.

This type of curd churner may be still in use in some old houses.

(Photos by me. Copyright reserved. Click on them for enlarged view.)

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Also see:

Kerala Food: Breakfast range

Kerala Cuisine: Manga thera (mango mat) recipe

Kerala Cuisine: Manga thera (mango mat) recipe

Now is the season for making manga thera. Here is the description of how we make this delicacy at Olavipe.

Thera is produced by spreading (by hand) several layers of mango pulp thinly on mats made from kaitha (pandanus or screw pine) leaves, and then sun drying it. This can also be done on muram, an almost flat grain winnowing pallet woven from bamboo strips, or panampu (bamboo mat). In all these, the nice pattern of weaving would show on the bottom layer of the thera.

Cots or benches are put out in the sun, on which the mats are placed. The drying is done during the hottest time of the day, say, from 11 AM to 4 PM. Flies and insects won’t be around in the heat. But one has to go out in the sun to do the spreading. The advantage with muram is that it can be brought in to add new layers and put out again.

Usually smaller, juicy nattu manga (native mango) and not the larger table fruits are used. (See: Mango Memories). These are pounded in wooden mortars with the skin on and the pulp taken and sieved. It should be viscose enough to spread thin and even. If required, a little water can be added.

The first three or four layers should be mango pulp only. This is to give the thera a light sour taste. If the mango is too tart, a little sugar can be added. Each coating should be applied when the previous one is almost but not fully dry. Otherwise the new layer won’t stick properly.

For further layers a new ingredient is required – parboiled rice dipped in water and roasted, powdered and strained. Add it in the proportion of ¼ to ½ cup to four cups of pulp, along with sugar as required. Three or four layers of this should be enough.

Then two more layers with 1 cup rice powder to 4 cups pulp and sugar as required. But before this, the edges of the thera should be carefully loosened from the mat. Give a final polish with say ½ cup pulp. Cut into desired size pieces – we normally have 1”x 5” – and dry.

Notes: (1) The proportions are only indicative. Sugar content should be adjusted according to the natural sweetness of the mango. (2) When rice powder is mixed the consistency should be right to spread thinly and evenly. (3) The number of layers with rice powder should be actually determined by the desired thickness. (4) The more the final drying, the thera would be harder but the shelf life would be longer. (5) Some people do not use rice powder or sugar but only mango pulp.

Tail piece: In his interesting blog MUSINGS FROM ANTIQUE ORIGINS Murali Ramavarma talks (http://muralirvarma.blogspot.com/2007/12/nostalgic-thoughts-on-new-year-eve.html) of mangaathira and a special pulisserry made from it. Sounds delicious!

[With inputs from my wife Annie and sister Kochuthresia.]

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Also see: Mango trees: 'ottu mavu' and 'nattu mavu'