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In the Kitchen Toolkit: Terracotta chatti by The Green Heirloom
Nothing beats the charm of a simple clay pot to cook an Indian meal. Watch the full episode to find out if it’s a good fit for your kitchen or not
A thousand cookware designs may come and go, but nothing ever beats the charm of a simple clay pot to cook an Indian meal. These cooking pots are not very different from what our ancestors used in the Harappan Valley, if we carefully look at the remains found here or compare them—which I recently did that at the Bihar museum housing Indus Valley artefacts.
To test out this chatti, I picked a dish called pulissery, a delectable south-Indian gravy from Kerala. It is the southern rendition of the great Indian kadhi, with the added flavours of grated coconut and a slightly elevated spice palate. The gravy is made using buttermilk and depending on the season, I add a fruit for tang. While last season was all about summer mangoes, this season, I used chunks of pineapple to add a complex flavour note to it.
I love how the chatti cooked the dish evenly, minimal stirring of the pot was needed throughout the process. Terracotta adds an earthy note to your gravy that's hard to miss. Unlike a stainless steel pan, terracotta pots have a temperament and need to be cleaned and seasoned properly before cooking, especially during its first few months. But for these tips and more, you’ll have to see our full episode of ‘The Kitchen Toolkit by Beautiful Homes’.
Recipe for Pineapple Pulissery
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 cup pineapple (cubed)
- Paste of 1 chilli
- 4-5 dry red chillies
- 2 tsp red chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 cup fresh coconut (grated)
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tsp mustard seeds
- 8-10 curry leaves
- 1 pinch fenugreek seeds
- 500 ml yoghurt
- Salt as per taste
METHOD:
- In a blender, grind coconut with cumin seeds. Add 3-5 tbsp of water to smoothen the mixture and keep aside.
- In a heavy-bottomed pan, add all the pineapple and season it with salt and chilli powder.
- Add chilli paste to this, with 4-5 curry leaves and add enough water to cover the fruit.
- Add turmeric powder to the pan and cook this mixture covered, on medium flame for 10 minutes.
- Once most of the water has evaporated and the fruit has softened, add coconut paste and cook further for 4-5 minutes.
- Add yoghurt and mix well. Do not overcook this mixture as the yoghurt may start splitting if boiled too much.
- In two minutes or less, once the ingredients have mixed well, take it off the flame.
- Using a tempering pan, heat coconut oil and add fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds, dry red chillies and leftover curry leaves to it.
- Once the ingredients begin to crackle, pour it on the pulissery and stir-in the tempering.
- Best served with red matta rice.
