Our 2008 Christmas party

For the Christmas parties we host, usually there will be lots of snacks and drinks as starters and it will be concluded with a meal of traditional Malayalee entrees and a dissert. This time we tried to change it little bit. The food was served in multiple courses, which was started with the traditional cake and wine course and finished with a delicious tropical fruit salad.

These were the items and some pictures from the party. Vinaya will post the recipies of each item soon.

First course: Fruit cake and wine.

Vinaya makes her Bay Area famous fruit cake during every Christmas season. The original recipie was obtained from Liji Shaji in Memphis and she had perfected it over a period of last 10 years.

The wine was a pleasantly sweet and aromatic Moscato by Trader Joe's.

Second course: Spinach and egg-drop pasta soup and a California crab salad



Recipies for both these items were taken from the annual cookbook of "Food and Wine" magazine. The salad is just an assemblage of local produce and seafood items.



A Fume Blanc wine by Smoking Loon was well paired with this soup and salad course.

Third course: Lamb curry and bread

Australian lamb bought at Costco was slow cooked to thick but still running gravy so that bread can be soaked in to eat. Freshly baked Italian and French style breads were bought from an Asian and Trader Joe's stores. But the regular white French bread goes better with the lamb curry. Kids will love this combination and make sure that the curry is not too hot for them.

Okra (Vendakka) mappas was prepared for vegetarians.


Fourth course: Duck stew in coconut milk and appam

This is the classic Malayalee dish that entered the menus of five-star hotel restaurants in India. In Bay Area, young duck can be bought at any Asian store, and make sure that excess fat is removed before and during the cooking. The duck we get in Kerala is smaller in size and has no fat.

Vianya religiously follows her mother's classic recipe with very little spices except for a masala rub in the beginning.



Ishtoo was made for vegetarians.

For appam, Vinaya has multiple recipes and she will post them here soon. However, during cold season, it is not easy to get the appam batter fermented properly, though that process is very easy during summer time.

For the lamb curry and duck stew courses, Fume Blanc and Riesling wines were served, and they seem to have paired well. It is not good to serve big red wines for these dishes, though Pinot Noir may be ok.

Fifth course: Tilapia roast in banana leaf



This is a take on the traditional Kerala meen pollichathu recipe. Tilapia fish fillet is lightly marinated and pan seared first and later baked it with a sauteed shallots, ginger and black pepper mix wrapped in banana leaf.

Sixth course: Malayalee meal



No party is complete without little rice in the end. For par-boiled rice, moru curry , payaru thoran, and cheera thoran were made. And any left-over item from the previous courses could be used here as well.





A slightly sweet Riesling will be the best wine at this stage to wash down the spiciness accumulated on the pallets thus far, before moving onto the dissert course.

Dessert: Tropical fruit salad

This fruit salad with canned tropical fruits, condensed milk and sour cream is very easy to make and a huge hit among guests.