Chiranga Olan | Bottle Gourd Olan | Churakka Olan | Surakka Olan | Lauki Olan

When the family loves Olan, I try to sneak in as many kind of veggies as I can into it :) Cheranga as such is not liked by us, but Olan with it is an exception. We love it when the bottle gourd is paired with the mild coconut milk and the soft crunch from the boiled red eyed beans.. I have already made olan with Zucchini and Pumpkin & Ash Gourd and this one is no different from them. It is simple to make and healthy and yummy too :) So let's see how to make this easy Olan with bottle gourd..

Serves: 2-3 persons

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Soaking Time: 8 hours

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

I Used:

Cheranga/Bottle Gourd Red Eyed Beans/Vanpayar	- -	1 cup - cubed ¼ cup heaped (after boiling)
Green Chilly	-	2 nos - slited
Salt	-	As Needed
Coconut Milk	-	½ cup
Curry leaves	-	2 sprigs
Coconut Oil	-	1 tbsp

The Way:

1. Rinse and soak the vanpayar (red beans - I used 1/8 cup of the beans to soak) overnight for around 8 hours. In the morning, discard the water. Take the beans in a pressure cooker. Add enough water (around 2 cups) and salt and pressure cook till done. It took me 2 whistles in high and 2 in low. Keep aside

2. While they get cooked, extract the coconut milk and keep ready. I used around ½ cup of grated coconut and ¼ cup of water and ground it in a mixie till the coconut was smoothly ground. Then using a muslin cloth, extracted the milk from the ground coconut

3. Cut and discard the skin of the bottle gourd. Discard the thick pith if it's too ripe. Then cut them into thin cubes as shown in the picture. The thickness should not be more than ¼ inch along both width and length

4. Now take the cut pieces in a saucepan and add required salt and green chilly along with little water (¼ cup) (Instead of water you can also use 2nd coconut milk and boil the bottle gourd) and cook it till done. It will take around 15-20 minutes to get cooked

5. If there is excess water after cooking the bottle gourd, I remove them. Else the coconut milk becomes very thin

6. Add the cooked beans (a heaped ¼ cup) without water to the veggies. Give a gentle stir

7. Then add in the coconut milk and curry leaves and again give a gentle stir. Check the salt now. Add if required. Once the coconut milk is added, it should not boil. It should only get warm. And it would take about a minute or so. Switch off the flame. Add coconut oil and just swirl the pan

Transfer to the serving dish and serve along with rasam and pickle or as a dish in your Onam Sadhya leaf !

Cheers,
Chitz

Vanpayar Thoran | Kerala Style Red Cow Beans Thoran

I love eating legumes.. And lentils too :) And for me this is one favorite way to eat Vanpayar (Red Eyed Beans).. I loove to pair it with some moru kachiyathu, matta rice and any non vegetarian dry dish. Ahh, bliss :) I like it more when I add some grated coconut to it but Deeps and Dhruv prefer it without coconut. It is such a simple dish and comes in very handy when you run out of stock of veggies :) Only thing to remember is to soak the beans overnight :) So shall we see how to make this yummy & simple thoran..

Serves: 2-3 persons

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Soaking Time: 8 hours

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

I Used:

Red Eyed Beans/Vanpayar	-	¼ cup heaped
Coconut Oil	-	2-3 tbsp
Mustard Red Chilly	- -	¼ tsp 2-3 nos (broken)
Shallots Garlic	- -	12-15 nos (sliced) 5 nos (sliced)
Curry leaves	-	A sprig
Salt	-	As needed

The Way:

1. Rinse and soak the vanpayar/red beans overnight for around 8 hours. While making the thoran, discard the water. Take the beans in a pressure cooker. Add enough water (around 2 cups) and salt and pressure cook till done. It took me 2 whistles in high and 2 in low. Keep aside

2. Meanwhile peel and slice the shallots and garlic

3. Heat the coconut oil in a pan. Splutter the mustard seeds

4. Then add the sliced shallots and curry leaves

5. Also add in the sliced garlic and saute till they slightly turn colour and become soft (around 6-7 minutes)

6. Now add in the boiled beans/vanpayar and give a stir. Keep on high flame and allow all the water to evaporate off (If you like it semi dry, then you can adjust the consistency accordingly) 

7. Finally add the grated coconut and saute for another minute or two. Switch off the flame and serve with a gravy of your choice

Notes:

• Do not cook the beans very mushy. It tastes nicer when they are not soggy and just cooked right
• If you like the dish super dry, then saute coconut first for a minute or two after the shallots and garlic have changed colour. Then finally add the cooked beans
• if you do not like garlic flavour, you can skip that

Cheers,
Chitz

Olan | Kerala Olan Recipe | Kumbalanga Mathanga Vanpayar Olan with coconut milk | Onam Sadhya Recipes

Ash gourd, Yellow pumpkin and Red Eyed Beans in coconut milk

Olan is one of my favourite Kerala recipes. It's a subtle dish that tastes mild and creamy. It can be made with or without coconut milk. I like both versions but I love the one with coconut milk more ! There can be many combinations of this recipe, with vanpayar (red eyed beans) and without it. You can also add both kumbalanga (ash gourd) and mathanga (yellow pumpkin) or either one.. It is a quintessential dish in an Onam Sadhya. 

When I make it on normal days mostly there will be some spicy side like a fish fry or chicken gravy. Else there will be pickles :) This time I had it with rasam and some tangy mango pickle. Another kinda comfort food for me :) If you use pressure cooker to cook this recipe, then it will be ready in less than 30 minutes. Slow cooking in a pan will time. So while making for an Onam Sadhya go with pressure cooker as it saves time for you. So let's see how to make this yummy and comforting Olan now..

Serves: 4-5 persons

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Soaking Time: 8 hours

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

I Used:

Ash gourd/Kumbalanga	-	½ cup heaped (after cutting)
Yellow Pumpkin/Mathanga	-	½ cup heaped (after cutting)
Red Eyed Beans/Vanpayar	-	½ cup heaped (after boiling)
Green Chilly	-	2 nos
Coconut Milk	-	½ cup
Salt	-	As needed
Curry leaves	-	A sprig
Coconut Oil	-	1 tbsp

The Way:

1. Rinse and soak the vanpayar (red beans - I used ¼ cup of the beans to soak) overnight for around 8 hours. While making the olan, discard the water. Take the beans in a pressure cooker. Add enough water (around 2 cups) and salt and pressure cook till done. It took me 2 whistles in high and 2 in low. Keep aside

2. While they get cooked, extract the coconut milk and keep ready. I used around ½ cup of grated coconut and ¼ cup of water and ground it in a mixie till the coconut was smoothly ground. Then using a muslin cloth, extracted the milk from the ground coconut

3. Cut and discard the skin of the ash gourd and pumpkin. Discard the seeds along with the soft middle portion as well. Cut them into thin pieces as shown in the picture. The thickness should not be more than ¼ inch along both width and length

4. Now take the cut pieces in a cooker and add required salt and green chilly along with little water (¼ cup) and pressure cook it till done. I kept 1 whistle in high and 2 in low. Alternately you can cook in a pan as well, only difference would be that it would take time

5. Now once the pressure is released from the cooked veggies, open the cooker. Again switch on the flame. If there is excess water after cooking the veggies, I remove them. Else the coconut milk becomes very thin. Add the cooked beans (a heaped ½ cup) without water to the veggies. Give a gentle stir

6. Then add in the coconut milk and curry leaves and again give a gentle stir. Check the salt now. Add if required. Once the coconut milk is added, it should not boil. It should only get warm. And it would take about a minute or so. Switch off the flame. Add coconut oil and just swirl the cooker

Transfer to the serving dish and serve along with rasam and pickle or as a dish in your Onam Sadhya leaf !

Cheers,

Chitz

Mathan Erissery | Mathan Vanpayar Erissery | Onam Sadhya Recipe for mathanga erissery

Yellow pumpkin cooked in boiled red eyed beans and a coconut sauce tempered with fried coconut tadka

Mathan/Yellow pumpkin is a very tricky ingredient to cook for a person who is not very fond of sweets or a sweet taste in the dishes ! Anyone be there? In that situation? I know, it is very difficult to please the non veg savvy taste buds of my husband with vegetarian recipes. And pumpkin also falls in that category. The only one that he seems to like and eats without a sulken face is this Yellow Pumpkin Kootu. And erissery is always no for him. 

So here in this post I will not say that I conquered in making my husband eat pumpkin with this beautiful recipe, but I would definitely say that it is a personal favorite. I love pumpkin and I love this erissery. It is a little time consuming to make, compared to this simple Mathanga Erissery,  with the overnight soaking of beans and grating of coconut and all, but for me, it's totally worth it ! I like to pair it up with a tangy puli kuzhambu or rasam even ! The sourness from the gravy and the sweetness from the side dish totally pairs up well and makes a hearty meal :) Do let me know how it turned out ! 

Other Sadhya recipes:

Beans Thoran

Beetroot Thoran
Cabbage Thoran

Mathanga Erissery

Mampazha Pachadi | Pazhutha Manga Pachadi

Mambazha Pulissery | Mambazha Kaalan

Chembu Kumbalanga Moru Kootan | Taro-Ash Gourd Pulissery

Pulissery | Kachiya Moru | Mor Kuzhambu
Sambar | Kerala Style Varutharacha Sambar with no Coconut

Homemade Ada for Adapradhaman

Recipe Source: Ma

Serves: 3-4 persons

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

I Used:

Mathanga/Yellow Pumpkin	-	2 cups (cubed)
Red Eyed Beans/Lobia Red/Vanpayar	-	½ cup
Red Chilly powder	-	1 tsp
Turmeric powder	-	¼ tsp
Salt	-	As needed

To Grind:

Coconut	-	½ cup
Green Chilly	-	1 no
Cumin seed	-	½ tsp
Pepper	-	4-5 corns

To Temper:

Coconut Oil	-	2-3 tbsp
Mustard	-	½ tsp
Red Chilly	-	2 nos
Curry leaves	-	A sprig
Grated Coconut	-	3 tbsp

The Way:

1. Rinse 2-3 times in water and soak the red eyed beans/vanpayar in water overnight (6-8 hours)

2. In the morning, pressure cook the beans along with salt for 2-3 whistles until it is 3/4 th cooked. Then add the cubed pumpkin/mathanga pieces to it along with red chilly powder and turmeric powder

3. Pressure cook again in medium flame for 2 whistles. If you do not want to pressure cook the pumpkin, then you can cook it without the lid or without the whistle. This way it will take a little longer for the pumpkin to get cooked

4. Grind the ingredients under 'To Grind' with a little (1-2 tbsp) water to a smooth paste

5. Once the pumpkin is cooked, add the ground paste and give a nice stir. Cook now inn simmer for another 3-4 minutes till the coconut paste blends in well with the cooked beans and pumpkin. Once done switch off the flame

6. In another tadka pan/kadai heat coconut oil for the tadka. Splutter mustard and then add broken red chilly and curry leaves

7. Now add the grated coconut and fry till they are deep brown in colour. Once done add the tadka to the cooked erissery and give a quick stir

Serve with matta rice and a hot or tangy gravy of your choice !

Cheers,

Chitz