Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Olan

Olan is a typical Kerala dish and a must in Sadya (big feasts). This is a less spicy dish so everyone including children enjoys it.The main ingredients are Black-eyed Bean, Pumpkin, Ash Groud and Coconut Milk. This is a very easy dish and good to serve along with Cooked Rice or Chappathi.The dish is extremely nutritious and healthy, it is supposed to be very easy to digest and light on the stomach. This dish is low in calories. The White Pumpkin is rich in calcium and vitamins B and C and has a high fibre content. The Orange Pumpkin is rich in Vitamins A and B, protein and calcium The Black eyed Beans (Lobia) though a high calorie food is rich in protein, calcium and vitamins A and B.Olan is prepared in ina way thatis could besaid that no Sadya (Feast) is said to be complete without the olan.

The following recipe is meant to serve for 4 adults.

Ingredients of Olan:

Black Eyed Beans (Van Payar): 1/2 Cup
Ash Groud (Elavan / Kumbalanga): 1 Cup
Pumpkin (Mathan) : 1 Cup
Green Chilies (Pacha Mulaku): 3 to 4 nos
Coconut Milk (Thengapal) thick: 1/2 Cup
Coconut Milk (Thengapal) thin: 1/2 Cup
Curry Leaves (Kariveppila): 5 to 6 nos
Coconut / Sunflower Oil: 1 tablespoon
Salt: to taste

Preparation:
Soak the Black eyed beans overnight. Pressure cook it the next day till 3/4th done. Don’t cook it completely else it will get mashed in the olan. Remove the skin of the White Pumpkin and Orange Pumpkin (the skin of the orange pumpkin can be retained as it gets cooked, provided the skin is tender, if very tough to cut then please de-skin it) and cut it into small square pieces. The chopping of the vegetables is also very important in Olan. It has to be cut into square pieces only.

Cook the vegetables and the half done black eyed beans with salt and the slit green chillies in a little water. When the pumpkins and the beans are completely cooked (don’t overcook the pumpkins, take in a spoon and see if it is soft, that means it is done, don’t cook it to the level that it gets mashed), To the cooked pumpkins and beans add 1cup coconut milk i.e. your second milk (refer to tip) and boil. When it thickens well, add ¼ cup of your first coconut milk.

Bring this to a boil and remove from fire.

Season it by frying curry leaves in 1tbs coconut oil.

Mix well and serve hot.

Tip : Grate ½ a coconut. Squeeze out 1/4cup of the milk from the coconut without adding water, this is known as the first milk which is very concentrated. Grind in a mixie with little water and take one more cup of milk from the coconut.
Nowadays, we can buy coconut milk in a tetra pack, even the ready coconut milk can be used, but incase of using the ready coconut milk, no need to follow the first and second milk etc. just add the coconut milk as per the measure given and follow the method.

**Olan can be prepared with just one type of pumpkin also, that is either the White Pumpkin or the Orange Pumpkin.

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