Olan is a traditional dish from Kerala cuisine. It is a part of the sadya menu. Olan recipe is easy to make and pretty straight forward.

Onam is celebrated from Aug 20th to 29 th this year. It is an annual harvest festival celebrated throughout India. It is the official festival of Kerala. The whole state is decorated during this  period and many cultural events are held.

Onam sadya is an elaborate menu prepared as offering on the festive day. It consists of at least 26 dishes. Some of them are ada payasam, thoran,  aviyal, pachadi, inji thayir, rice,  kozambu, pulissery,  olan, paal payasam  and banana chips. are some of the dishes. Olan is prepared using ash gourd, red cow peas and coconut milk. For the uninitiated, ash gourd is also known as white gourd, wax gourd and winter melon. It is native to South Asia. In Kannada, we call it as budhakumbalakayi.

I have extracted the coconut milk at home, so I could easily make the thick and thin milk. Two cups of fresh grated coconut yielded 200 ml of thick milk and 240 ml of thin milk.

olan

Ingredients :

• 2 cups of grated coconut
• 250 grams ash gourd
• 1/3 cup lobia
• 2  green chilli
• curry leaves

For the seasoning :

• 2 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1/4 teaspoon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
• 1 green chilli
•  a few curry leaves

Method :

1. Soak the red cow peas overnight.
2. Put the grated coconut in  a cup of warm water and keep it aside for half an hour.
3. Grind it and make a puree. Extract the puree. Keep the thick milk aside.
4. Add half a glass of  water and grind it again. Extract and repeat the process, this is the thin milk. We will be using the thin milk in the beginning of the recipe.
5. Peel the ash gourd skin and cut into cubes. Be careful as you remove the hard skin, lest you hurt yourself.
6. Cook the cow pea for one whistle in the pressure cooker.
7. In a pan, put the ash gourd pieces, boiled cow pea, thin coconut milk and boil on a medium flame. Add curry leaves and green chilli to it.
8. Once the ash gourd is tender, add the thick coconut milk to it. Put salt. Cook for a minute and turn off the stove.
9. Make seasoning with coconut oil and pour it.
10. Olan is ready to serve.

Take a tip:

• White cow pea may be used instead of the red one.
• Do not overcook the cow pea or the ash gourd.
• You can use store bought coconut milk.
• Coconut oil is commonly used in the preparation of Kerala dishes. You can use any neutral oil.
• Do not cook for long time after adding the thick coconut milk.

The other recipes using ash  gourd shared earlier are

dum root halwa

About the event :

Sending this to the Sadya theme at Shhh Secretly Cooking group. The theme was suggested by Priya Vijayakrishnan. She has prepared Vendakkai Pachadi, an  essential of the sadya menu.  It is easy to prepare and makes a good accompaniment.

I was paired with Seema Doraiswamy of Mildly Indian. Seema gave me green chillies and coconut I have made olan. With the asafoetida and curry leaves I had shared, Seema has made Mambazha Pachadi, a dish made with ripe mango. I have bookmarked her Madhura Curry to make sometime.

Pin it for later :

kerala olan recipe

I hope you liked the Onam Sadya recipe. If you ever make Olan in your kitchen, take a picture and tag @foodiejayashree on Instagram or evergreendishes on Facebook.  Until next time, Happy Cooking ! Be happy and cheerful.