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You are here: Home / Gravy Vegetarian Side Dishes / Kaalan Recipe – Kerala Onam Sadya Recipes

Kaalan Recipe – Kerala Onam Sadya Recipes

November 23, 2015 31 Comments

Its been a while since I posted any Kerala recipes in here so I fished this out from my drafts. I make this quite often since this is one dish with coconut that TH doesn’t mind too much. Not that I refrain from any other coconut-heavy Kerala dish ‘cuz of his slight dislike 🙂

Kaalan is a staple in any Kerala Sadya especially for Onam Sadya. The usual kaalan recipe has both elephant yam (chena) and raw bananas (pachakkai). I add only yam since that’s more readily available here. Also, its important that the curd is slightly sour, otherwise the curry will taste a bit ‘flat’. Adding a bit of tamarind might take care of this, I haven’t tried that though.

Kaalan Recipe - Kerala Onam Sadya Recipes

Kaalan

 KERALA KAALAN RECIPE
Serves 4

Ingredients:
Curd – 1.5 cups lightly beaten to remove lumps, best if slightly sour
Elephant yam (chena) – 1/2 cup, cubed
Coconut – 1/2 cup
Pepper powder – 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Green chillies – 2 to 3
Fenugreek seeds (uluva) – 1/4 tsp
Dried red chillies – 2
Oil – 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves – a few

How to Make Kaalan

1. Heat 1 cup water with the yam pieces and cook till almost done. (A fork inserted should come out easily. Make sure that the pieces are not mushy, just cooked). Meanwhile, grind coconut with green chillies well, with very little water.

2. Add salt, pepper powder and turmeric powder to the pan.

3. Lower the fire to minimum and add the beaten curd along with the ground coconut. After about five minutes, removed from fire and set aside.

4. Heat oil in a pan and temper mustard seeds. Lightly fry the fenugreek seeds (take care not to burn it!) with the curry leaves and the red chillies. Add this to the above curry and mix well. 

If you are not serving Kaalan in a sadya, not to worry. This curry goes well with steamed rice and (a) Kaya Mezhukkupuratti, (b) Okra fry with Peanuts, (c) Kovvaka Mezhukkupuratti, etc
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By nags Filed Under: Gravy Vegetarian Side Dishes, Kerala Recipes, Uncategorized

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Comments

  1. Vidya

    October 18, 2010 at 10:29 am

    Hey Nags,

    This recipe is very good! I made it today, and it came out very well! Can you please tell me how to make Yam and coconut masala curry! 🙂
    I loved you training, now I love your blog!!

    Reply
  2. lemonade

    April 1, 2010 at 1:38 pm

    seems to be working fine! 🙂

    Reply
  3. --xh--

    April 1, 2010 at 1:38 pm

    🙂 this is my dads all time fav dish…

    Reply
  4. krishna

    November 23, 2009 at 6:16 pm

    Just one point. Your recipe says oil. It can't be just any oil. It has to be coconut oil only. It just does'nt taste the same with any other oil. Even if you a flavourless oil for tempering, finally add a generous dollop of raw coconut oil after removing the kaalan from the fire. Simply divine even if TH does not agree.

    Reply
  5. Nags

    November 24, 2009 at 12:57 am

    You are right, of course Krishna

    Reply
  6. Nags

    September 26, 2009 at 12:34 am

    Thanks for dropping by Gopi. Totally agree on the oil-separating step 🙂

    Reply
  7. Gopi

    September 25, 2009 at 6:13 pm

    Hi
    I like you am one of those Keralites that has lived anywhere but Kerala! What is it about some of us?
    That said, the main reason I write is that I love Kerala food execpt that most staple of all – sambhar. I just dislike it. So when I visit Kerala, I have to make up excuses about why I don't like sambhar – allergy to drumsticks; too many onions; no potatoes or too many potatoes (flatulence) etc., etc.
    Well there we go……………..!!

    Quick food comment. I find that the single most necessary step in any Indian recipe is the need for the oil to seperate from the onion/gravy/masala. After that it is a dream.

    Best wishes
    GK

    Reply
  8. chakyar

    January 4, 2009 at 3:45 am

    Would recommend you to post more Kerala veg recipes. Your Blog is promising enough and would be a great tool for the aspiring “better moms” and the newly wed. thanks a ton.

    Reply
  9. Preetha

    December 30, 2008 at 9:34 pm

    Nag, this is called pulisseri and is really easy to make..mostly we use mampazham, ethapazham etc. for this..also we use elavan, yam, plantain etc…kalan ususally takes much longer to prepare..you have to add the curd and leave for long and once prepared that looks somewhat like a semi solid item..

    Reply
  10. Nags

    December 31, 2008 at 12:45 am

    Preetha – Yeah, I know the usual kaalan they serve in sadya is much thicker. I just prefer it watery.

    My mom makes pulissery in a different way. The consistency is the same but the ingredients differ slightly. Will post that soon 🙂

    Reply
  11. Cynthia

    November 8, 2008 at 12:12 pm

    This is an excellent photograph.

    Reply
  12. Meira

    November 5, 2008 at 4:10 am

    damn the network! Can’t view the pics 🙁
    So will come back for sure 😀

    Reply
  13. RAKS KITCHEN

    November 5, 2008 at 8:36 am

    So,this is kaalan!,now I could realize how funny when I posted my kaalan recipe ;p,
    Love the colour and the serving bowl:)

    Reply
  14. Maxx

    November 5, 2008 at 5:50 am

    Ya you have 2 post comments :D.

    Reply
  15. Happy cook

    November 4, 2008 at 12:44 pm

    Just trying if the comment section is wrolking

    Reply
  16. lemonade

    November 4, 2008 at 7:28 am

    seems to be working fine! 🙂

    Reply
  17. --xh--

    November 4, 2008 at 6:45 am

    🙂 this is my dads all time fav dish…

    Reply
  18. Kalai

    November 4, 2008 at 12:53 am

    That’s a beautiful picture, Nags! Looks like a version of mor kuzhambu. Just lovely! 🙂

    Reply
  19. Nags

    November 4, 2008 at 5:32 am

    I guess adding tamarind is not a great idea after all 🙂 Thanks Jayashree 🙂

    Reply
  20. Seena

    November 3, 2008 at 5:24 pm

    love it! my combination is with some spicy red curry.. 🙂

    Reply
  21. TBC

    November 3, 2008 at 3:41 pm

    I’ve never made kaalan here! My mom makes this regularly but the consistency is thicker. I’ve started out wanting to make kaalan so many times but have always ended up making a pulissery instead! 😀

    Reply
  22. ANJALI J.

    November 3, 2008 at 1:18 pm

    I have never heard of this dish.. sounds too tempting. nice pic

    Reply
  23. Aparna

    November 3, 2008 at 11:36 am

    The picture’s beautiful, Nags.
    And as Jayashree says, tamarind doesn’t work here.
    But as weird as it sounds, I don’t (only me) like Kaalan with sour curds, so I make it with fresh curds and up the spice a bit!

    Reply
  24. Divya Vikram

    November 3, 2008 at 7:09 pm

    Pretty picture! Looks lovely..

    Reply
  25. Jayashree

    November 3, 2008 at 9:04 am

    Love the colour of your kaalan. Adding tamarind instead of curd doesn’t quite work out well….it takes something away from the taste of the kaalan.

    Reply
  26. Vij

    November 3, 2008 at 8:40 am

    Yummy kaalan! looks lovely.
    Kaalan, rice n papadam – heavenly combo!

    Reply
  27. Happy cook

    November 3, 2008 at 8:13 am

    I love kalan with plain rice, just the thought make me drool.

    Reply
  28. anudivya

    November 3, 2008 at 6:23 am

    What a lovely pic! Yellow on black, and the kaalan is just awesome. Love the taste of it.

    Reply
  29. SMN

    November 3, 2008 at 5:37 am

    This curry looks close to our majjige huli what we make in karnataka..nice pics

    Reply
  30. Nags

    November 3, 2008 at 7:20 am

    I love the colours too 🙂

    Reply
  31. sig

    November 3, 2008 at 6:42 am

    Love the color combination N… yellow on black, and the shape of the bowl is too cute! Kaalan is an all time favorite of mine 🙂

    Reply

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I am Nags, the face behind Edible Garden, a food and recipes website for the busy (and sometimes lazy!) cook since 2007. My recipes are meant to be quick yet healthy and delicious - Nothing fancy, nothing too difficult. Follow Me On Instagram for real-time food and life updates.

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