As most of you know, coconut is the main ingredient in Konkani food. In India, our coconut supply came from my hometown. My pappa and aayi used to make sure we got a fresh batch everytime they visited us or we visited them. We never had to buy it. When we moved to USA, that was one of the things I missed. We got adjusted to frozen coconut here after a while. Though it is not as good as fresh one, it was a replacement. But in September, I started noticing some difference. There was some smell. I threw the whole batch out a few times. I was not ready to do it everytime, as I am more cautious about such wastage these days. So I stopped buying it. Now I was in a pickle, how do I cook without coconut?. Yes, I had many recipes which didn’t involve our favorite ingredient-coconut, but we were terribly missing all our beloved dishes.
Then I started modifying our traditional dishes to suit my new style of cooking. Definitely, you cannot compare these versions with the traditional versions, because the traditional version is so much better. But for now, I am happy with these. I am posting these here because I noticed there are people who ask for non coconut dishes here. I will go back to the traditional and my favorite dishes as soon as possible, but until then enjoy these.
This recipe is a modified version of our all time favorite Jeer-Mirya kadi . V and I simply adore this kadi . It was a bit of a challenge to make this without coconut, which is the main ingredient. I replaced it with buttermilk, I couldn’t believe how good it came out. I knew it would not work out if I just replaced the coconut, so I followed my aayi’s procedure of making taka(buttermilk) kadi . Try it, you will love it.
Ingredients: 1 cup thick yogurt 1 and 1/2 cups water 1 tea spn chilli powder 1 tea spn cumin seeds 1/4 tea spn pepper Ghee 1 tea spn garlic Salt
Method: Beat the yogurt well in 1/2 cup water and keep it aside. Heat ghee and add cumin seeds, pepper. When they start popping, grind to a powder. Heat 1 cup water and add cumin-pepper powder, chilli powder, salt. When it starts boiling, take off the heat. Add the beaten yogurt and mix well (do not heat it after yogurt is added). Heat ghee and add chopped garlic. Fry till it becomes brownish. Pour this over the kadi . Serve with hot rice.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 15mins
Traditionally charcoal was used for a nice aroma to this dish. But these days, people have stopped using it. I am posting the version with charcoal, if you don’t find it, just ignore it and follow the remaining steps.
Ingredients: 1 cup finely chopped raw mango Salt 1 cup grated coconut 3 green chillies /red chillies 2 tea spn jaggery A pinch asafoetida 1/4 tea spn coconut oil 1 piece charcoal(optional)
Method: Mix the chopped mangoes with salt and keep it aside for 10 minutes. Squeeze the chopped mangoes and remove the water to lessen the sourness. (This step is not required if mangoes are not sour). Grind coconut, green chillies, a pinch of asafoetida, salt. Mix the prepared chutney with mango and add jaggery. Heat charcoal till it becomes red. Take it on a spoon or hold it with a tong. Add a drop of coconut oil on this red charcoal. The fumes come out. Drop the charcoal in to the chopped mango-chutney mixture. Close the vessel, to avoid the fumes escaping. Remove and discard the charcoal when the fumes stop. This can also be used with rice as a sidedish.
PS: Though this version is our traditional preparation done at temples or at home, many people add soaked moong dal or chana dal .
