Cheera

Dried chanakam using as the main manure for cheera

Pachacheera is more nutritious than the red one

'Cheera krishi' from my chitta's house at Changanacherry. They are very tasty. They use only chanakam(cow dung) and gomuthram as the fertilizers and pukayilakazhayam as pesticides. Whenever I buy cheera from shop it will not cook well, may be because of the chemical fertilizers.

Thazhuthama-Pictures from Kochi

Pachacheera -Shots taken from Thammanam

Cheera(spinach) is the widely availabe leafy vegetable in Kerala. Mainly its of two types, pacha cheera(green)and chumanna cheera(purple in colur). This leafy vegetable is rich with vitamins, minerals and anti oxidants. The other cheera varieties are velicheera(mysore cheera), sambar cheera, kuppa cheera, valli cheera, ponnamkanni cheera, agathi cheera, mullan keera, madhura cheera, kozhuppa, thakara and thazhuthama.

Most popular dishes with cheera include cheera avial with chakka kuru, vellarikka and manga.
Cheera thoran is also a tasty and nutritious for children.
Popoye the cartoon character always eats spinach for vigorous attacks. I always tell this to my son to eat some cheera for good health.

Dasha pushpam-Ten sacred flowers will bring health and wealth to our family

kumbalanga

Kumbalanga, seeds can also be seen

There was a surprise in the back of my home at Changanacherry. During my last trip I was surprised to see some Kumbalanga in the top of 'pulimaram'(Tamarind tree). It was the first time in my home we tasted a kumbalanga from our own soil. Kumbalanga (Ash gourd) is a very common vegetable in Kerala. This vegetable is of two types:small(ney kumbalanga) and the big one. Ney kumbalanga(vaidya kumbalanga) is used for medicines in Ayurveda. Its used to make 'Kushmanda rasayana'. Vaidya Kumbalanga is a health rejuvanator.

Kumbalanga is an inevitable part of our vegetarian recipies . During summer season we must include Kumbalanga in our daily diet. Immature fruits of Ashgourd are known as Ilavan. Kumbalanga is used to make sweets and candys.

Kumbalanga with Moru(buttermilk), Kumbalanga with parippu, Olan, Aviyal, Sambar, Molosium and many more. This vegetable is a medicine for Diabetis and Obese. Kumbalanga juice is a remedy for your belly stomach and it is a proved remedy for Peptic ulcers. It is rich with vitamin B and C. This vegetable has a cooling effect. It increases the amount of urine and purifies the body.
During my hostel days our warden had a special 'kondattom' for us. Dried peel of Ash gourd fried in coconut oil. Before drying they will add salt to it. It is also delicious.

In devi temples kumbalanga is used for guruthi poojas.

More about Kumbalanga tholi kondattam

Kattar vazha