A delightful Malabar dessert with rice dumplings and plantains in a jaggery coconut milk sauce…
Alhamdulillah, Ramadan is going super fast and it is kind of making me sad. It has been extremely busy but one side of me hasn’t been very well health wise and has affected my ability for going to Tharaweeh prayers. Apart from that worry, it has been good. All I can do is be grateful to the Almighty Rubb.
Last December, I had gone home for roughly a month to attend two weddings in HD’s family. Just like every trip, this one was hectic too. I hardly had time to rest, and more than that, even hardly ate at home. During one of those rare days, my MIL made this dish with leftover pathal dough in the fridge. The only way I know to make it is how umma makes it, where the “pidi” or the dumplings is as complicated as making the pathiri. I had so many questions – will the dumplings stick to each other, won’t they dissolve into the liquid, etc. All my doubts were dissolved when I took the first spoonful. The first thought in my head was, “If this is so easy, why shouldn’t I make it more frequently?” 😉
So this Ramadan, thanks to a collaboration with a brand called Tasty Food, which is a pioneer in introducing the Pathal Podi in the UAE, I got to recreate the dish from my recent memory. The no-involvement of hot boiling water makes it very convenient. All you need to do is to add sufficient normal water to the rice flour, pull them together to make a dough, roll them into small roundels and cook them. All the tips and tricks will be noted in the recipe card below. I served it for Iftar and HD had a whole big bowl of it. He enjoyed it a lot, Alhamdulillah. I am glad that this dish didn’t have to wait too long to come on the blog, thanks to that collaboration. 😉
Let me tell you that this is not the only version to make this curry. There are so many versions across various places of Malabar. Like this Kayi Curry – which has plantains and chana dal in a sugar sauce. Even in this recipe, you can add cooked chana dal for an extra bite, but since my MIL didn’t add it then, I chose not to add it. Makes it a lazier version. 😉 There are even versions of the pidi in a simple coconut sauce, without any additions to it. Isn’t it amazing how the same base gives rise to so many different recipes? 🙂
You can watch the Instagram reel over here. I have done a voice over in Malayalam, and though it is crappy, I guess I have done a good job for the first time. 😉 Off to the recipe…
Madhura Curry | Kayi Pidi Curry ~ Malabar Plaintain and Rice Dumpling Dessert
Ingredients
- 1 cup pathal podi refer notes, plus more
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup water refer notes
- 3 cups water divided
- 200 gm jaggery cubes
- Salt to taste
- 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
- 2 plaintains ripe, chopped roughly
- 3/4 cup thick coconut milk I used canned
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 3-4 shallots peeled and sliced
Instructions
- Combine the pathal podi, salt and water and bring together to a dough. If the water is more, add a little more powder and vice versa.
- Spread a thin layer of oil on your hands. This will avoid the dough from sticking too much. Take out balls from the dough, roll in between your hands and using your fingers, make small rounds and drop it into a plate.
- As you finish each portion, sprinkle a little pathal podi all over the rounds and coat. Repeat these steps till the entire dough is used.
- In a small pan, add 1/2 cup of water along with the jaggery cubes and allow it to melt on a low flame. Set aside.
- In a larger pan, bring the remaining water to boil along with a pinch of salt and cardamom.
- As soon as it boils, add in the pidi rounds completely and give it a soft stir. Don't stir vigorously. Keep boiling it till the rounds start floating all around and the liquid looks glossy, approximately within 10 minutes.
- Add in the jaggery and give a good mix. Add the plaintains and cook for another five minutes, or till it softens.
- Add in the thick coconut milk, give it a stir, just bring to a boil and switch off.
- Heat the ghee, fry the shallots till brown and add into the pidi.
- Serve hot and enjoy.