Olan (Serves 6-8)– Onam 2011 special

Happy Onam to all my dear friends and sorry for not being prompt with my recent posts. It was a hectic last month, both personally and professionally. Lets kick start the wagon once again with a recipe which is exclusively Malayalee in origin and is an unavoidable ingredient of any traditional festival/sadyas. It is easy to make and is a very healthy preparation that suits any kind of palettes and stomachs...Enjoy..

Ashgourd/kumbalanga 1 cup, peeled and cubed
Red cow peas/ Vanpayar ¼ cup
Green chilly 3 nos, slit
Thin coconut milk 1 cup
Thick coconut milk ½ cup
Curry leaves be generous
Salt as needed
Coconut oil 2 tsp

Preparation

Pressure cook the cow peas along with salt with 1 to 1 ½ cups of water to 3 whistles. Allow pressure to release itself and drain any extra water. Keep aside. Now in a deep pan cook the ashgourd/kumblanga along with green chillies adding around ½ cup water and few curry leaves and salt. Once the ashgourd/kumbalanga is cooked to soft, add the thin coconut milk along with the cooked cow peas. Bring this to a boil and continue boiling to the consistency you want (generally it has a semi thick gravy). Next add the thick coconut milk, and a few more curry leaves. Switch off flame and drizzle coconut oil on top and keep covered until ready to serve. Before serving adjust salt if needed.

Notes: As ashgourd/kumbalanga is not available in this part of US, I have used lauki/churakka (in Malayalam) which gave a very similar taste.

Cheers!!!
Suji