There is a vegetable stall in Little India, Singapore, which I absolutely adore. It has all the “Indian” vegetables that I sorely miss and crave for after weeks of eating dishes cooked with just French beans and carrots and broccoli. This stall usually has purple brinjal, drumstick, drumstick leaves, fresh bunches of methi and pudina and kothamalli.. ahh.. its a true delight to go there every now and then. Once, I saw some fresh avarakka (avarakkai in Tamil) and I had to buy them!
I made a simple thoran with it, nothing fancy and we both loved it with some rasam and rice!
Avarakkai Thoran RecipeIngredients:
2 cups stringed and chopped avarakka (leave the seeds in too)1/2 cup grated coconut (fresh or frozen)1/2 tsp jeera/jeerakam2 green chillies, or to taste4 + 2 shallorsA few curry leavesA pinch turmeric powder1/4 tsp mustard seeds2 tsp OilSalt to tasteHow to Make Avarakkai Thoran1. Cook the chopped avarakka in a closed plan by adding about 1/2 cup water until soft. Make sure you don’t have any leftover water by cooking it further with the lid open. Set aside.2. Grind the coconut with the green chillies, turmeric powder, 2 shallots, jeera, some salt and very little water sprinkled on top.3. Heat oil and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add 4 sliced shallots and fry until lightly browned. Then add the ground coconut and fry for 30 seconds.4. Add the cooked avarakka to this and mix well. Adjust salt. Let it cook on low fire for about 5 mins until there is no more moisture left in the avarakka.
Serve Avarakkai Thoran hot with rice and rasam.
Avarakka is one of my fav veggies…thoran is so delish!
Looks so Fabulously Delicious I love thoran recipes.
Thanks for sharing your recipe:)
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Nags, I guess you could send this to Click-Bicolor .. beautiful clicks
lovely dish… we call it simba. I have no clue how to cook it the mom;s style though…
i haven't seen avarakai in a long time! i like it…good you get these rare veggies in singapore.
Lovely dish. I love thorans because of it's simplicity. And aren't you lucky that you get all these vegetables in this vegetable stall. I am dying to get some fresh murangakaai and it's leaves. Hmmm yummm! I get frozen murangakkai here and it really is horrible. Nothing like the fresh ones.
wow! yummy! new recipe to me ..Thanks for sharing !
Sonu – you know the moment you said eggplant and avarakkai, you had me 🙂 Emailing you rightaway!
I have been getting avarakkai for the past 3-4 months. Didn't know they were seasonal!
@red chillies: This is not that avrekalu, this is something called Chappard-avrekai. The bean inside is v small, the entire thing is eaten. I have seen this in the desi store.
Nags, I get only frozen drumstick which taste blegh! Have you tried making sambar out of this? It tastes good!