Kalan, a Tasty South Indian Dish

Kalan is a special preparation of Kerala, a must recipe for festivals like Onam and wedding sadhya or any other great feast. It is a thick vegetarian side dish and very tasty too, and can be preserved for few days.

Items needed

• Fresh raw Kerala Banana - 2
• Water - 1 1/2 cups
• Chilly powder - 2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Pepper powder - 1 tsp
• Coconut scrappings - 250grams
• Cummin seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Green chillies - 2
• Thick and sour curds - 250 ml

  For seasoning -

• Mustard - 1 tsp
• Fenugreek - 1 tsp
• Cooking oil - 30ml
• Red chillies - 2
• Curry leaves - 3 leaves

• Wash the banana and remove the skin. Cut them into 1" thick pieces.

• Cut the green chillies in round shape.

• Cook them in water, with chilli powder, turmeric powder,pepper powder and salt.

• Grind coconut and cummin seeds together, to a fine paste.

• Add the coconut paste to the cooked bananas.

• Beat the curds well, and add to the cooked bananas.

• Simmer it and stir occasionally till the mixture becomes to the boiling point, and remove from the fire. Don't allow it to boil too much.

• Season it. For this, heat a frying pan on the stove, and add the cooking oil. When the oil is heated add mustard seeds. Allow mustard seeds to splutter. Then add fenugreek seeds, red chilli pieces and curry leaves. Pour it over the dish.

Tips:

1. After cooking the bananas, excess water should not be there. So use just adequate water to cook.

2. Instead of Kerala bananas (nenthra kaya), you can use yam in the same way. Also if you want to use both banana and yam, use half quantity of each.

3. Kalan should not overcook. The actual taste will change.

4. It tastes better after keeping for 2-3 days.

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