Recipe: Kalan

Sometime ago, I had written up the recipe for Rasakalan. Kalan is a more popular version of the curd (yoghurt) based dish, which is a must for Onam and other big occasions. This is also called "Kurukku kalan" as it is prepared by thickening (kurukking) beaten curds by boiling.

Ingredients:

Raw banana(the kerala nendran banana is the best if available)	1 no.
Chena(jameen kand/karunaikizhangu/suvarne gadde)	200gms.
Beaten, thick sour curds	6 cups
Turmeric powder	2 tsp.
Pepper powder	1 tbsp.
Salt to taste
Coconut	1 cup
Green chillies	6 nos.
Curry leaves	2 sprigs
Methi seeds	1 tsp.
Mustard seeds	1 tbsp.
Red chillies	3 nos.
Oil for garnish(In Kerala, coconut oil is used for garnishing, which imparts a special flavour to the dish)

Preparation:

Wash and cut the vegetables into 2" square pieces. They should be thick. Cook the vegetables, in just enough water, adding turmeric powder, pepper powder and salt(this could done in a pressure cooker).

Transfer the cooked vegetables to a wide mouthed thick bottomed heavy pan, and add the beaten sour curds and boil, stirring occasionally, until the gravy is thickened to a semi solid consistency.Remove from stove. Add a sprig of curry leaves.

Fry the methi seeds to a golden brown in a drop of oil and grind to a fine powder and add to the gravy.

Heat oil in a pan. When it smokes add, the mustard seeds. When the mustard splutters, add the red chillies broken into halves and curry leaves and add to the gravy.

(The Kurukku kalan is usually prepared up to this stage and stored . It will keep good upto 1 month even under room temperature. Whenever needed, ground coconut and green chillies is mixed and used.)

Grind the coconut and green chillies to a thick paste, adding curds, if necessary. Do not add water while grinding. Mix to the thickened gravy.

Enjoy with boiled rice or chappathi or Poori.

This is the kurukku kalan.

Update: Based on a comment left here, I've posted an addendum up top along with my other Onam related posts.