Olan

Olan is a simple dish originally from Kerala. Its one of the tastiest dishes to be prepared with minimum ingredients and no spice, except for green chillies. This is an important dish for any sadhya and with Onam around, no one can miss Olan.

The dishes from Kerala have an unique fragrance emitted by the coconut oil which is used liberally in all the dishes. In Olan, coconut oil is added at the end of cooking process so that the aroma stays in the dish. Also, fresh curry leaves yeild the perfect fragrance which is highly apetizing. We can use red pumpkin as well as ash gourd for preparing the dish. Here I'm using only red pumpkin. The black-eyed beans added along with pumkin gives a unique taste to Olan.

Ingredients:
Red pumpkin- 2 cup
Black-eyed beans- 1 cup
Green chillies- 3-4
Curry leaves- Few
Salt to taste
Coconut milk- 1 cup
Coconut oil- 2 tsp


Method:

Pressure cook the pre-soaked beans and keep aside. The beans may be soaked overnight. In a vessel, sprinkle 1/4 cup of water to the diced pumpkin and let it cook along with curry leaves and slit green chillies. Once, they are half done, add the beans and let it cook again. Add salt and the coconut milk. Let it boil for a minute. Dish out after adding Coconut oil and few curry leaves. Serve hot with Rice.

Preparation time: 20 Minutes
Serves: 4 people