There are certain things which stay etched in your memory long after you have eaten it. The first time I ever ate Sannas were in the now defunct Kokum restaurant in Anna Nagar East , Chennai. I was piqued by these fluffy white things which looked like idlis & tasted like Appams. They were so delicious with Goan style Vindaloo. That is what we tried to recreate today for our late brunch with a difference. Sannas are usually made with rice, coconut & palm toddy . In Saraswat homes, urad dal may also be added , giving it a more idli like flavor profile. Here we have steamed our kallappam batter( Appam fermented with toddy) with some extra sugar . So this is pretty much a vattayappam meets sanna sort of a thing. To pair with Sannas , I have made a Kerala style Beef Vindaloo. The Portuguese traders brought Carne de vinha d'alhos to India which was essentially meat in garlic & wine. So the Portuguese bastions in India gave their own twist. One of the early ones was Kochi, so this vindaloo is a typical dish of the folks there with Anglo Indian & Portuguese heritage . What makes it distinctive is the use of vinegar, ground mustard & moringa bark. This is something I discovered by chance when I posted my take on Bridget White Kumar 's pepper chicken on instagram. Simi told me about this particular marinade which goes into her friends mum's recipe . That is when I discovered even moringa bark works as a meat tenderiser. This along with a paste made from a bunch of other spices like red chillies, ginger , garlic, pepper, cardamom, clove, cinnamon ,salt ,f enugreek, beef & chopped shallots is left to marinate overnight. Today morning I sauteed some chopped onion, green chillies & curry leaves in extra virgin coconut oil. Added the marinated meat ,seared it for a few min, added 3 tsp of sugar. Pressure cooked it for 7 whistles till the meat was tender . The final product should be mildly spicy, sour & sweet almost picklish in flavor because of the use of vinegar & ground mustard. No wonder this is locally referred to as Vinagiri erachi or Vinegar meat. Goes quite well with the fluffy Sannas. Wednesday Win :) #foodloose #vindaloo #sanna #wednesday #vindalho #vypeen https://www.instagram.com/p/B_Re18Al6fr/?igshid=1x0yyrnh6i9ak
