Kaalan with Plantain

Ingredients

Vegetables:

Plantain (raw/green banana) – 1 piece, Indian shallots – 2 or 3, green chili – 1 or 2, curry leaves

Do a symmetric4 on the plantain, and cut it into small pieces (see pic). Longitudinally cut the green chilies.

Spices

Tumeric powder – one teaspoon, red chili powder half teaspoon, cumin seeds – half teaspoon, mustard seeds – one teaspoon, fenugreek seeds – half teaspoon, crushed black pepper – a pinch or two, red chilies – 1 or 2.

Others

Yoghurt (NOT sweet) – one cup, grated coconut – half cup (~ 50 grams). Salt.

Cooking Process

Add the chopped plantain, green chilies, turmeric powder, red chili powder, salt, and a few curry leaves to a pot. Add hot water at least an inch above the level of the contents of the pot. Let it cook on medium heat until the plantain is ready.

Grated Coconut Paste Preparation

This dish uses a Grated Coconut Paste as the thickening agent. Curries that use this technique are called “Thenga aracha curry”. The basic idea is to create a grated coconut-based thickening agent. Shallots, cumin (or fennel seeds, mostly for nonvegetarian dishes), and potentially many other ingredients will be ground along with grated coconut to make a paste. The paste shouldn’t be too watery.

In a mixer, add the grated coconut, cumin seeds, shallots, a very small pinch of crushed black pepper (one or two black pepper would do), and water below the level of the coconut. Grind it well until a paste is formed. The consistency we need is not very thin/watery.

Add this grated coconut paste to the pot of cooked plantain, and lower the heat. Let it cook for 3 to 5 minutes on low heat. Remove the pot from the stove, add the yogurt, and mix well. Never let the yogurt boil. Sprinkle black pepper on top and mix well. Add more salt if needed.

Tempering

Many Kerala curry preparations involve this last step of tempering (“Varuthidal”). If you are inexperienced, I would recommend you to use safety goggles as this step will involve some mini explosion in the pan/wok with hot coconut oil. Most of the time, mustard seeds, curry leaves, and red chili (and other ingredients)are heated in coconut oil and added to the dish. Tempering brings a lot of flavors to the dish and makes the dish complete.

In a small wok (“China chatti”) or pan, heat coconut oil on medium heat. Add mustard seeds to the hot coconut oil, and let them explode. Once most mustard seeds are exploded, add fenugreek seeds. Once the fenugreek seeds start turning brown, add curry leaves (this will also cause a few small explosions, depending on how fresh the curry leaves are). Cut the red chilies into two with your hand and add this to the wok/pan, stir it. Don’t let the red chili stay in a place in the wok/pan for a long time, it sure will turn black and ruin the dish. Once the red chili starts to change its color to brownish/blackish, remove the wok/pan from the stove and pour it over the contents of the pot. Cover the pot with a lid. Let it stay there for a few minutes.

Serving

Before serving, mix the context of the tempering with the gravy of the curry, letting the flavors spread. It goes great with rice. Better with thick parboiled rice, which has an outer layer that can absorb the gravy. Basmati rice also goes fine with Kaalan.