Erissery is one of the traditional dishes of Kerala (my home state), where you can find subtle tastes in myriad of simple vegetable preparations. Amma used to make pumpkin erissery and snake gourd erissery most of time. I love it with crunchy roasted coconut added as seasoning.
This is one of traditional dish prepared during Valla Sadya in Aranmula Pardhasaradhi Temple, a famous temple in Kerala. It is offered during the temple festival during the month of August-September of every year, the month of Chingam (Malayalam calendar). During this festival a snake boat race is held along with a feast. For the race, every snake boat will carry the deity and all of them try to come first, but there is no competition. This feast is also held as an offering to the God in return as thanks giving. The feast consists of more than 60 mouthwatering dishes. One belief is that God will be present among the people coming to the feast, so if anybody asks for a particular dish it has to be served (the one reason for preparation of over 60 dishes). Aranmula is also famous for its Aranmula Kanadi /Aranmula metal mirror. This mirror which cannot be bought anywhere else is made of special metal alloy and not from glass .Ingredients for making this mirror is kept as a secret; it is front surface reflection mirror, which does not have secondary reflections and aberrations like usual back surface mirror. It was so famous that one piece is kept at a British museum in London. Next time during my visit to Kerala, I am planning to get one.
Coming to the recipe, when I saw the You Tube clip about valla sadya,
I came to know a lot of variations in cooking traditional recipes in particular for feast, such as adding cumin powder and ground ginger powder in sweet dessert (Payasam) and several new curries, sweet pudding recipes. I want to try some of them. This varutha erissery got my immediate attention and I decided to give it a shot.
This recipe is traditionally made with Chena/ Suran/elephant yam, and Ethakaya/raw plantain and Vanpayar (Red Gram). I don’t have any chance of getting elephant yam fresh. Skipped that made with Burro banana and black eyed peas instead of raw plantain and red gram. It is really simple preparation with the star ingredient being coconut. You need to take about half a coconut for grinding into a paste with garlic and half to fry until golden brown and incorporate into the curry. Spice factor in this curry is black pepper. There is no presence of cumin which is you can encounter in other erissery curry. This is recipe I noted down from the chef in that you tube clip. He didn’t give any quantities, so quantities mentioned here is my contribution. Here goes the recipe.
One year ago: Spinach sesame seed stir fry
Print recipe from here
What you need
Monthan kaya/ Raw banana/ Burro banana: 3 cups ( chopped into bite size cubes)
Black eyed peas: 1 cup
Coconut grated: ½ cup
Black pepper: 1 teaspoon
Salt: 1 teaspoon
Turmeric: ¼ teaspoon
Mustard: ¼ teaspoon
Oil: 1 tablespoon
Red chili: 2 no ( halved into two)
Garlic: 2 cloves
Curry leaves: 2 sprig
Water: 2 ½ cups
How I made
First wash and peel the skin of raw banana and cut into bite size pieces and set aside.
Then pressure cook the raw banana pieces along with black eyed peas, turmeric, ½ of salt, 1 ½ cup water and black pepper for 3 whistles. For about 15 minutes.
In the mean time grind ¼ cup of grated coconut with garlic cloves into fine paste with ¼ cup of water and set aside.
In a small pan fry the rest of coconut until golden brown color or about 8 minutes in medium flame with continue stirring to prevent burning and set aside.
To the cooked banana and black eyed peas- mixture add coconut –garlic mixture and cook for another 3 minutes.
In a small pan heat oil and add mustards seeds, red chili and curry leaves once mustards starts popping switch off the flame and add this seasoning to the cooked banana, black eyed peas, coconut ,garlic mixture along with fried coconut.
Enjoy with rice and a stir fry.
Preparation time: 35 minutes
Yield: 6 serving
Verdict: Tasty
Will you make it again: Yes
This traditional dish is going to Hearth and soul blog hop vol 32
This is Swathi ( Dr. Ambujom Saraswathy Ph.D) from Zesty South Indian Kitchen who loves to explore cuisines from all over the world. Whenever possible I try to to give an Indian touch to several of the world cuisine, and has weakness for freshly baked bread. All the recipes you see here are created by me and approved after taste-test by my family.
momsnetwork says
Mouth watering recipe, South Indian food is my FAV!
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Butterpoweredbike says
I'd really love to try an elephant yam, but I'm delighted at your adaptation of the recipe. I have visions of snake boats in my head now. Thanks for sharing with the Hearth and Soul hop.
J L Health 918-836-0565 says
That looks amazing! Especially with the roasted coconut...Yum!
Thanks for sharing with the hearth and soul hop.
Ananda Rajashekar says
oh love this i have had as a kid looks awesome 🙂
Joanne says
I just posted a recipe for black-eyed peas too! I love the sound of these flavors with them, though. Mmm coconut.
Jay says
wow...very innovative combo Swathi...sounds delicious..Tasty appetite
Rachu says
My erissery never comes out with this color.. Will definitely try your way.. Looks so good..
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Sarah Naveen says
oh i love this..looks so perfect and yummy!!
Umm Mymoonah says
Hmm, looks so yummy with very clear instructions.
RAKS KITCHEN says
Recipe sounds very nice,would love it! Nice post!
Ellie (Almost Bourdain) says
This dish is so interesting and I love all the flovours!
Vandana Rajesh says
The erissery looks so good..have a Kerala chicken fry on my blog...reminded of home.
Miriam says
I have to admit, I've never had banana and blackeyes peas before. But hey, everything tastes good with coconut milk, right? 🙂 Miriam@Meatless Meals For Meat Eaters
Victor says
Bananas and coconut, that is a weird combo in my opinion. I guess it is these kind of things that I have to experiment. Thanks for sharing!
Reeni says
I love seeing your traditional dishes Swathi! And learning of your traditions. Looks very delicious!
divya says
looks yummy and delicious...very new to me...
Swathi says
Namitha, we too don't add garlic in the errisery, but this one is highlight of aranmula vallasadaya where they add garlic and coconut.
Faith says
This dish is new to me and I would love to try it! It sounds really delicious, especially with the coconut in there!
Gulmohar says
adipoli erissery...we do not add garlic in any sadya items (in central Travancore) ketto....It has been a long time since I had been to Aranmula..My elder one had her "chorunu" there 🙂
Adelina says
I first ran into the dish called Erisery about 8 years back, at a party- and loved it. Evidently, wrote down the recipe- but yours is so well explained, and different too- raw banana would make a super yummy stew, I believe!
Claudia says
A beautiful combination of texture and flavor in that dish. The bananas look a lot like what we call apple bananas here.
Jackie says
I've never seen that raw banana dish before and I love South Indian food. I'm glad I found your blog. Absolutely scrumptious photos!
JACKIE at PHAMFATALE.com
Viki's Kitchen says
That mirror seems a piece of wonder. Now I will visit those links you have given. 60 dishes in a day...wow...lucky you:) Try everything and publish for us dear. Anecdote is very nice and will give every reader a slight glimpse of the festival. I tried pumpkin erissery once and its in draft, thanks for your recipe. I will try it soon with suran and other ingredients. Mouthwatering one!
Dimah says
Looks absolutely delicious and flavorful! great recipe!
Peggy says
I'm definitely intrigued by the combo of black eyed peas and bananas! Going to try this soon!
Kairali sisters says
Varutha erissery adipoli aytunde tto swathi.
michelangelo in the kitchen says
This is an exciting dish to try! Green bananas! I have green plantain and I can't wait to make this. A sure surprise gourmet food. Thank you for this healthy and delicious recipe!!!
garlutti says
Very interesting introdution about kerala and the temple feast. Looks
delicious and tasty.
Priti says
Wonderful combo and looks gud ..
Indie.Tea says
I've never had that... But it sounds interesting..
sanjeeta kk says
Love the delicious & authentic recipe from Kerala!
Lite Bite
Padhu says
Love Kerala Cuisine .Erissery looks fabulous.
Prathibha says
Lovely kerala special..looks really yumm
Rekha shoban says
adipoli ayyitunde da....healthy one!
Pushpa says
Thanks for sharing Swathi,nice to know about traditions,curry looks delicious.
Roshan says
nice recipe
Gayathri Kumar says
Very yummy combination..
Soumya says
adipoli erissery...will try this...
aipi says
Thanks for sharing this authentic recipe 🙂
US Masala
Elsa says
Yum! Great recipe!
HGourmet Foodie says
i can imagine the aroma from roasted coconuts.. it adds nice tropical flavor to the dish..Love the pics!!!!
PALATABLE says
Healthy and yummy combo, never tried cooking this way...
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Chow and Chatter says
looks great and festival sounds like fun stayed in a house boat in kerala
Priya Sreeram says
my favourite and it looks rocking !
Sangi says
yummy curry.. love the roasted coconuts added to it.. will try it sooner..
Priya says
Absolutely inviting erissery,sooo tempting..
Marus says
Looks delicius... I like very much. Good week
simply.food says
Looks delicious.very tasty
VineelaSiva says
HAi Swati its very different curry never had this combination will give a try.Thank for sharing the recipe with us.
G.Pavani says
rich n nice comb.Looks delicious..
savitha ramesh says
extraordinary dish...wonderful dish
Yummy Team says
Njan dha valla sadyade video kandu kondirikkunnu..Thanks for sharing it ketto 🙂 Varutha erisseri looks adipoli..Kandittu sharikum kothi varunnu..
Ameya says
Wow, what a unique combo! I love black-eye peas and coconut, but never would have thought of adding plantains, which I also love!! Looks scrumptious 🙂
kitchen queen says
excellent combo.
sinfullyspicy says
This is a yum recipe with roasted coconut Swathi.I loved reading abt kerala and the temple feast.I like raw banana fritters a lot..This curry sounds nice to try out.
? says
Swathi, thanks for sharing this recipe. Am interested in the variations in the traditional recipes across Kerala.
In the Valluvanad area, garlic is not used. Good, informative post.
Hamaree Rasoi says
Nice combo of banans and black eyed peas.Looks delicious.
Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi