Olan

There is no tempering at all: the coconut oil and curry leaves go in raw at the end.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 700 g ash gourd, sliced thin
• 150 g pumpkin, sliced thin
• 120 g red cowpeas, soaked overnight
• 4 green chillies, slit
• 400 ml thick coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 20 curry leaves
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 200 ml water

Method

1. THERE IS NO TEMPERING AT ALL: THE COCONUT OIL AND CURRY LEAVES GO IN RAW AT THE END. Its article makes this the defining thing twice over. It is "set apart by its light seasoning where coconut oil and curry leaves are STIRRED IN AT THE END RATHER THAN FRIED INTO A TEMPERING" -- and then, in case that was not clear enough: it LEAVES OUT the mustard-seed tempering, chilli powder and turmeric used in many Kerala preparations, SO THE TASTE RESTS ON THE COCONUT MILK AND THE COWPEAS. Every other dish here ends with something popped in hot oil. This one does not, and adding it would be making a different dish.
2. SO THERE IS NO TURMERIC AND NO CHILLI POWDER EITHER. The pot stays pale. Four slit green chillies are the only heat and they are there whole.
3. THE GOURD IS SLICED THIN, WHICH ITS ARTICLE SPECIFIES. Thin slices, not cubes. They cook in eight minutes and stay translucent.
4. THE COWPEAS ARE BOILED SEPARATELY AND FIRST. Its article's order: boiled until soft, and THEN the gourd simmered with chillies and salt until tender. Cooked together, the gourd disintegrates long before the beans are ready.
5. THE COCONUT MILK IS POURED IN AND WARMED THROUGH WITHOUT A HARD BOIL. Its article's words. Boiled, coconut milk splits into oil and curds, and in a dish with nothing else in it there is no hiding that.
6. IT IS A MILD DISH AND ITS ARTICLE CALLS IT ONE TWICE. Nothing here is browned, fried or toasted. It should taste sweet, faintly green and of coconut.
7. THE OIL IS RAW AND IT IS TWO TABLESPOONS. Stirred in off the heat with the leaves. Raw coconut oil is the whole seasoning.
8. THE SUBSTITUTIONS ITS ARTICLE ALLOWS ARE REAL ONES. Yellow pumpkin for the ash gourd, black-eyed peas for the red cowpeas.
9. IT IS EATEN FROM A BANANA LEAF AS ONE OF SEVERAL SIDE DISHES. Its article places it among the dishes of the sadhya, the vegetarian banquet eaten at Onam.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes