This Recipe Will Make You Fall in Love With Ash Gourd Again
A dish that is all about elegance in simplicity, olan uses just a handful of ingredients. Cooked with green chilli and coconut milk, it is subtle and comforting with the merest hint of lingering heat. Our learning on this one: choose a great coconut oil to finish the dish, and that will make all the difference.
Barely adapted from Veena’s world
Ingredients
1 cup red cow peas
2 cup ash gourd, diced
3 green chillies, slit
2 shallots, sliced
A generous handful of ginger, sliced and pounded well
2 extracts of coconut milk from 1.5 coconuts
1 sprig curry leaves
3 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp turmeric
Salt, to taste
Method
Soak the cow peas in water, then pressure cook in salt until firm but done.
Dice the ash gourd evenly
Massage the gourd with shallots, ginger, green chillies and curry leaves.
Add a pinch of salt, half a cup of water and allow to cook
As the water reduces, add in the cooked cow peas and continue cooking
Add in the thin coconut milk, bring to a boil. Add the thick coconut milk, allow to simmer, do not let it boil again.
(If your coconut milk is not very sweet, you can add in a pinch of sugar)
Remove from heat. Garnish with fresh curry leaves, and finish with the fresh coconut oil.
ALSO ON THE GOYA JOURNAL
