A simple and tasty dish which you can prepare when you’ve nothing much left in your pantry. Here I’m using young grated coconut. Young coconut is the fresh and ripe ones which is different from tender coconut and has more water contant and less oil. You can use old dry coconut, which is more oily and the taste and colour of the dish will be different. Here I’m not using any oil. The oil which you see in the dish is purely from the roasted coconut. Another ingredient here is the winter melon. Winter melon helps to prevent water retention in the body. This is prepared in 3 stages. You can prepare the first two stages at the same time in different pans and in the third stage incorporate everything together.

Preparation time: 10 mts

Cooking time : 15 mts.

Serves :4

Stage 1

Ingredients : 

  • Winter melon – 200 g(cut it small, lengthwise)
  • Onion – 1 (medium, cut into cubes) If you have shallots use 15
  • Green chilli – 2(slit in the middle)
  • Curry leaves – 1 stem
  • Water – 1 cup

Mix all the ingredients and cook in medium flame. It takes only a few minutes to cook the winter melon. Switch off the gas when it starts to become transparent and water reduced to half.

Stage 2

Ingredients for roasting:

  • Fresh grated coconut – 1 cup
  • Shallots – 3(small)
  • Chilli powder – 1 tsp
  • Coriander powder – 1/2 tsp
  • Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
  • Curry leaves – a few leaves

Method:

  1. Dry roast the coconut and shallots till dark brown in colour. Once it turns light brown stir continuously otherwise there is a chance to burn it.
  2. Switch off the flame and add rest of the ingredients and saute it till all the dry powdered spices are also roasted.
  3. When it’s slightly cooled grind it in a mixer. At the beginning just pulse it for a few times till it starts to break down and release oil. Scrape the sides if needed.
  4. If it’s possible to grind fine like that, its the best. If not then you can add up to 1/2 cup of water and grind it to a fine paste.
  5. Add the paste to the cooked winter melon and cook for 2 more minutes.

Ingredients for the last stage:

  • Tamarind – 1 small lime size ( or tamarind pulp 1 tsp)
  • Water – 1/2 cup

Soak the tamarind in water for 5 mts and add it to the winter melon and allow it to boil. If you’re using tamarind pulp then mix it in water and add it to the pan. When the gravy is a bit thick switch off the flame. It’s best with steaming white rice.

Notes:  

  • You can include other vegetables like carrots, drumsticks, elephant’s foot or even potato to this dish.
  • Since we’re roasting the coconut and adding tamarind it’ll stay fresh for a longer time. Even a couple of days in the fridge.