Kalan / Kaalan - Ashgourd and Yam cooked with thick Coconut paste and Yogurt gravy

Kalan / Kaalan

Kalan is the thick version of pulisherry or morozhicha kootan. My favourite too.

You can see pulissery preparation here.

My mothers kalan now I am writing this, I get that taste in my tongue of that kalan she prepares.

Usually the Kalan tastes best a day after it is prepared since the sourness of the yoghurt sets in into the curry.

Hence, Kalan is usually prepared a day before Onam.

Ingredients

Elephant Yam - 100 gms
Ash Guard - 100 gms
Green chillies - 3 nos
Pepper powder - 3/4 tspn
Turmeric powder-1/4 tspn
Kashmiri chilly powder - 1/2 tspn
Yogurt - 2 cups
Fenu greek - 1 tspn
Curry leaves - 6-8 nos
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tspn
Dry red chillies - 4 nos
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tspn

We can also use plantain (raw banana) in it.
I did not get plantain so i cooked with these two vegetables. :)
Plantain are good source of calcium, also vitamin c, helps us build up immune system. It  has minerals such as Iron, Magnesium  and phosphorous. Magnesium is essential for bone strengthening and has cardiac protective role. It has good fibre content too as we are aware.

Process

Clean and Chop the Ash Guard and Elephant yam into small cubes. Add 2 glass of water while cooking. Put chilly powder, turmeric powder, salt, pepper powder and cook in a low flame.

Separately, grind the grated coconut, cumin seeds and green chillies into paste.

Keep it aside.

Once the vegetables are cooked well, add the coconut paste into it.

Mix Well.
Then add butter milk into it slowly, stirring it continuously,then only it will be thick. Keep it aside.

Tempering:

Take a small frying pan and pour 2 tablespoons oil into it.
Once the oil is hot, put mustard into it.Once the mustard completely splutters, add broken  dry red chillies, fenu greek seeds and curry leaves. Stir till the fenu greek turns dark brown.
Add this complete mix into the the curry that was kept ready aside.

Kalan / Kaalan is ready

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