Friday, May 12, 2006

Recipe: Rasakalan

The word rasa in Tamil or Malayalam means "taste", so rasakalan means, a very tasty kalan. Kalan is a very famous curd based curry of Kerala, which is a must for all big functions, like marriage or festivals, like Onam.

This again is a special dish of my mother, who makes it even on a routine basis and she makes wonderful rasakalan. I have learnt it from her and I should say everybody who tasted the dish has loved it.

Now for the recipe. The below vegetables add a special taste to the dish. It can be prepared with only few of the vegetables mentioned, in case of non-availability. The raw mango and arvi (taro root) add special taste to the dish. In short, each vegetable imparts a unique taste to the dish and when all the tastes blend, it makes the dish, rasakalan.

Ingredients:
Pumpkin(red)100gms.
Ashgourd100gms
Raw banana1 no.
Drumstick1 no.
Raw mango1 no.
Arvi(colacacia)100gms
Chena (elephant yam)100gms
Turmeric powder1 tsp
Salt to taste
Jaggerya small piece
Sour curds2 cups
Coconut1 cup
Green chillies4 nos.
Red chillies4 nos.
Methi seeds1 tsp.
Mustard seeds2 tsp.
Oil1 tbsp.
Curry leaves2 sprigs


Method:

Wash and cut all the vegetables into cubes. Cut drumsticks into 2" pieces. Cook the vegetables, adding turmeric powder, salt and jaggery, in 3 cups of water.(this can be done in a pressure cooker).

Meanwhile, heat ½ tsp oil and fry ½ tsp methi seeds and 2 red chillies. Grind the coconut with the fried methiseeds, red chillies, and green chillies, adding little curds, to a smooth paste.

When the vegetables are cooked, add the ground paste and beaten curds. Allow to boil once and remove from the stove and add one sprig of curry leaves.

Heat the remaining oil, add the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start spluttering, add the remaining methi seeds, red chillies cut into small pieces and one sprig of curry leaves. When the methi seeds turn red in color remove from stove and add to the rasakalan.

Enjoy with boiled rice, idli, dosa or chappathi.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

dear maami,

since it's pumpkin season where we live (germany) i'm getting our type red pumpkins a lot. I was reading rasakalan recipe... i have everything except ashgourd and mango. What can I use to replace the pulippu taste of mango?

Ammupatti said...

HI Latha

As I have said elsewhere in my blog, just dont worry about things you dont have. Just make do with what you have in your hands. Use sour curds instead of mango. Your yummy reasakalan will be ready. Let me know how it turned out.

Best wishes