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Recipe: A Coconut Condiment – Coconut Podi

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I’ve spoken often about how I love growing many of my own ingredients, whether at home or on our farm. I’m excited about sharing this new series about one that is a staple in so many dishes here, and which I’m fortunate to have a lovely homegrown supply of. That hero ingredient is the coconut, and over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing several recipes that star it. We have our own coconut trees in the backyard, and I am always looking for ways to put the yield to use. The coconut climber came by recently, to harvest the trees, and from this abundance of crop I’m making as many things as I can. For any recipe at all that calls for coconut, I use a fresh one. Even coconut milk is squeezed at home.

Kicking off this series is a condiment, coconut podi. Condiments are popular across Indian cuisines, and South India has a fair share. Dry podis (“podi” means “powder” in Tamil) and wet chutneys, as well as semi-wet, semi-dry variations are made using a variety of spices, dals and ingredients like curry leaves, raw mangoes and more. The idli podi, for instance, is made to last long. Coconut is not an ingredient that can be be kept for that long, so this one has a shorter shelf life. But I can almost guarantee that you’ll reach out so often for it that your stock won’t expire. If made correctly, this coconut podi remains fresh for around 3-4 weeks, stored at room temperature.

One of the reasons why I was especially keen to make a coconut condiment is that I personally love the Sri Lankan sambol, and wanted to see if I could make a vegetarian version of sorts. While sambol uses seafood, I feel this recipe is similar. Like sambol, this podi is not a finely-ground one, and has many tiny coconut pieces. My friend Akila also encouraged me to try this experiment out, and she was happy to share her own basic coconut podi recipe. I’m always aware that different communities and families have their own ways of making the same recipe.

With Akila’s recipe as a base, layered with things I learnt from other recipes I’ve tastes over the years, and finally through speaking with various families to retain some kind of local authenticity, I added my own touches: tamarind and curry leaves.

While I was growing up, we often ate some kind of podi mixed with ghee and rice. It was the perfect impromptu go-to in case the day was too busy to prepare a curry or a dal, and I still reach out for this for the same reason. This podi is also delicious with a bit of ghee and a dosa, or to add flavour to yoghurt. One of the great things about any podi is that it tends to be easy to carry to work, since it won’t cause a mess or have a strong smell in one’s lunch carrier, whereas a curry might.

It smells divine as it roasts, however. The morning that I made this coconut podi, using those freshly-harvested coconuts, my whole home was filled with the most beautiful aroma as it was being prepared. Everyone wanted to have it for breakfast, immediately, lured by that fragrance. I wonder if the same thing will happen in your home!

Coconut Podi

(Yield: 2 cups)

1 cup fresh coconut (shredded)

2 tablespoons urad dal

2 teaspoons sesame oil

¼ teaspoon asafoetida

2 -3 dry red chillies

¼ teaspoon mustard seeds

Salt to taste

6-8 curry leaves

1 marble-sized ball of tamarind

 

Add oil to a pan. Once it has heated, add the asafoetida, urad dal, mustard seeds, tamarind, red chillies and curry leaves.  Roast until the urad dal turns golden. Set aside.

In the same pan, dry-roast the coconut on a low flame, using just a few drops of oil, until it turns reddish in colour. Set aside.

Use a spoon to remove only the urad dal from the earlier mixture. Coarsely blend the remaining ingredients together, adding salt. Use a blender, and keep it at room temperature. Once a coarse blend is achieved, add the urad dal and blend everything again. The reason for adding the dal only at the end is so that there is a bit of crunch in the podi. You’ll see what I mean when you taste it!

You may also want to add just a pinch of jaggery to this recipe, if you’d like to enhance the flavour with some sweetness. That was an element I used in some trials of mine, and ultimately eliminated from my final version. If you’d like to, you can eliminate the curry leaves too. It all depends on what combination of spice, sweetness and tang (which comes in this case from tamarind) you most enjoy.

Store at room temperature, and enjoy with dosa, idly, rice, roti or any combination you prefer.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing more coconut-ty goodies, from anytime staples to festive specials. Please do subscribe to this blog, so that you’ll know as soon as a new post goes up! Don’t forget to let me know in the comments what you think of the recipes, too. As always, I love hearing from you about how you’ve translated my recipes to suit your own tastes!

 

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Recipe: Beat The Post-Festive Blues – Broccoli & Almond Soup

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As I write this in the days after Diwali, the home and the kitchen table are empty. For a few days, the house was abuzz with visiting friends – all we did was eat, compare notes on each other’s specialties, learn, devour and enjoy our time together. Now, even the family have all gone back to their respective workplaces – and it’s me time. How do you re-enter the kitchen after the busiest time of year has quietened down? I cleaned up the home, missing everyone deeply, while contemplating food, love and life. And then I decided to follow the order of the typical restaurant menu, and start with a soup.

A soup is the perfect post-festive dish both as a detox for the infinite quantities of sweets consumed, and as comfort food that beats the empty-nest blues. As the monsoon continues, I’ve made three things a part of my regular intake: lots of water, this remedy for the sniffle season, and this delicate yet flavourful broccoli and almond soup.

Occasionally, I like to shift from my mainstay local, seasonal vegetables and bring a little bit of the exotic into my kitchen. In Chennai, it is quite rare to find organic “English” vegetables, as we call them here, so when I came across some organic broccoli at my grocer’s, I picked up a few fresh bunches. To these, I added another ingredient from afar: organic almonds from Kashmir. If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know that even when I go adventuring in my culinary repertoire, I like to add a homegrown twist to anything foreign. And this is where my trusted curry leaves, packed with nutrients and not just a spicy flavour, come in.

Almonds are well-known for their benefits, and are one of the first types of nuts that are recommended as substitutes for unwholesome snacks. Rich in healthy fats, vitamin E, magnesium, antioxidants and other nutritious elements, they reduce blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. They happen to be a favourite in the cakes that are baked in the re:store kitchen, so there are always some on hand – whether to pop into my mouth on the go or to toast and drizzle over a blues-busting soup like this one.

Broccoli is so healthy a vegetable that you may have noticed that it’s almost a synonym for so-good-it-has-to-taste-bad for children’s characters in films and books! This is of course simply untrue, for it’s a tasty ingredient that can be used in versatile ways. From vitamin C to anti-inflammatory Omega 3 fatty acids to antioxidants and studies that support its consumption as being preventative of cancer and heart disease, a bunch of broccoli really is a bouquet of benefits. And as it is rich in fibre, it promotes detoxification – which is what makes it ideal for a post-festive diet.

 

Broccoli-Almond Soup

(Yield – 4-5 cups)

Ingredients

2 tablespoons + 1 tablespoon virgin olive oil

150 grams diced broccoli florets

3 tablespoons chopped onions

1 small cup washed, finely chopped coriander leaves

3 garlic cloves (smashed) + 3-5 garlic cloves (sliced)

2 cups vegetable broth

2 cups water

½ tablespoon ground black pepper

Salt to taste

2 sprigs curry leaves

3 tablespoons + 1 tablespoon slivered, toasted almonds

1 teaspoon lemon juice

 

Heat the oil in a medium-sized saucepan. To this, add onions and garlic. Allow them to sauté till golden, before adding the broccoli. Continue sautéing for a few minutes.

Next, add the vegetable broth, cover the pan with a lid and leave to cook for 10 minutes. Then remove the lid and let the dish cool a little. Blend in the coriander leaves with the rest, and add more water to adjust the consistency of the soup to your preference. Finally, add salt and pepper as well as the slivered, toasted almonds.

In a separate pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and fry the sliced garlic cloves. As they turn golden, add the curry leaves and turn off the flame. Just the rich, warm aroma of this garnishing as it is being prepared will lift your mood!

Just before serving the soup, pour the cloves and curry leaf garnishing on top. I added a dash of lemon too. Sprinkle the last of the slivered, toasted almonds as the final touch.

I love my soups with a bit of crunch, and the broccoli and especially the almonds bring texture to this simple dish. Perfect for when you aren’t up to making full meals, when you’re feeling under the weather, or when you just need to cut back on the sugar and carbs, this lovely one-pot meal is light and healthy yet so filling. A cup or two of this broccoli-almond soup with just the sound of afternoon rain for company is so satiating. Please try it. I’d love to know what you think in the comments.

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Recipe: Little Millet Rice With Green Beans Poriyal

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Having lived in Tamil Nadu my whole life, the traditional local cuisine has always been a part of me. Millets were a staple in ancient times, replaced more recently by rice and wheat. Unlike what most contemporary nutritionists believe, Macrobiotics suggests that rice, in moderation, does not have negative effects on health. Adding millets into one’s diet, as a healthy alternative or addition to rice, can boost the health quotient without compromising on taste. More importantly, millets are gluten-free, offering a great solution for those who are gluten intolerant.

Nowadays, the health-conscious hark on about quinoa, which is a great superfood –  however, it is not native to India. They tend to ignore the affordable local millets, which offer the same (if not a greater) amount of nutrition and could themselves be superfoods!

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Recipe: The Curry Leaf & Raw Mango Cooler (aka “Madras Summer”)

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What does summer look and feel like in your city? Here in Chennai, temperatures have been crossing 40 °C (104 °F) – and we’re bracing for May, usually the hottest month of the year! The streets are at their sunniest and most scorching, but pleasantly lined by flowering trees and stalls selling fruit. A few weeks ago, on a short road trip, water mirages accompanied me all along the highway. As for what the season feels like: sweat, thirst and the longing for a cool breeze and a chilled beverage are our primary sensations at present. Come visit, I say – just not today!

Fortunately, there’s a method to the madness of every season. Traditional wisdom and the science of macrobiotics make the best culinary use of fruits, vegetables and grains that thrive at different times of the year. Here in the subcontinent, if there is one kind of produce that is ubiquitous with the sweltering, sultry days of summer, it’s the mango.

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