As most of you know, coconut is the main ingredient in Konkani food. In India, our coconut supply came from my hometown. My pappa and aayi used to make sure we got a fresh batch everytime they visited us or we visited them. We never had to buy it. When we moved to USA, that was one of the things I missed. We got adjusted to frozen coconut here after a while. Though it is not as good as fresh one, it was a replacement. But in September, I started noticing some difference. There was some smell. I threw the whole batch out a few times. I was not ready to do it everytime, as I am more cautious about such wastage these days. So I stopped buying it. Now I was in a pickle, how do I cook without coconut?. Yes, I had many recipes which didn’t involve our favorite ingredient-coconut, but we were terribly missing all our beloved dishes.
Then I started modifying our traditional dishes to suit my new style of cooking. Definitely, you cannot compare these versions with the traditional versions, because the traditional version is so much better. But for now, I am happy with these. I am posting these here because I noticed there are people who ask for non coconut dishes here. I will go back to the traditional and my favorite dishes as soon as possible, but until then enjoy these.
This recipe is a modified version of our all time favorite Jeer-Mirya kadi. V and I simply adore this kadi. It was a bit of a challenge to make this without coconut, which is the main ingredient. I replaced it with buttermilk, I couldn’t believe how good it came out. I knew it would not work out if I just replaced the coconut, so I followed my aayi’s procedure of making taka(buttermilk) kadi. Try it, you will love it.
Ingredients:
1 cup thick yogurt
1 and 1/2 cups water
1 tea spn chilli powder
1 tea spn cumin seeds
1/4 tea spn pepper
Ghee
1 tea spn garlic
Salt
Method:
Beat the yogurt well in 1/2 cup water and keep it aside.
Heat ghee and add cumin seeds, pepper. When they start popping, grind to a powder.
Heat 1 cup water and add cumin-pepper powder, chilli powder, salt. When it starts boiling, take off the heat. Add the beaten yogurt and mix well (do not heat it after yogurt is added).
Heat ghee and add chopped garlic. Fry till it becomes brownish. Pour this over the kadi.
Serve with hot rice.
Serves : 3-4
Preparation time : 15mins
Looks delicious, and that serving bucket is simply adorable!
I simply adore jeer-mirya kadi…………so i would love to try this one too. Will let you know soon. Thanks for sharing such recipes as i too face the problem of scarcity of coconuts here.
yeah i think it looks pretty close to the original dish with coconut…………..ill give it a shot for sure anything without coconut works for my dietician………lol……..Honestly one of these days im going to be so desperate to eat some coconut gravy i might scale a tree myself…………..
Lovely Pics..And nice recipe..I never bought frozen coconut shilpa…I always use a fresh one..It’s available in regular grocery store(Cub,Shoprite,Shop & Stop)…I used to buy a fresh one and break it cut in to pieces,take a tupperware fill it with water and put those pieces in the tupper and i store it in the fridge..it remains fresh for atleast 2 weeks.Try this one..you really will get amazed to see how fresh the coconut is..
Shilpa, necessity is mother of invention, its said! Lovely kadhi w/o coconut! Loved the cute tabya(?) bucket!(I saw it in a restaurant the size of a finger!Adored it totally! ) Tks for sharing ur method!
This sounds amazing. As always your photos are spectacular.
Thank you shilpa for posting this non-coconut dish. I will try it today. We have started dieting so we have to avoid coconut as much as possible. Shilpa, any idea how we can prepare curry or “randai” of pulses (dry moong, dry peas, beans, dry chana etc) without coconut and also how to increase it’s quantity. I mean if we avoid coconut in any dish it becomes very less in quantity and watery.
Shilpa: As far as I know, there is not a single replacement which could be used for everything. I just don’t make those randayis anymore. You have to increase the pulse/vegetable quantity or if there is onion in the recipe, increase it’s quantity. If it is gravy(ambat), I normally use dal(cooked and mashed a bit) or buttermilk. I don’t add coconut to upkaris
Hi Shilpa,
My mom makes Jeere-meere chi Daal.. this kadi is new to me.. will definitely try it out and of course tell my mom too..
regs,
Leona
Looks Yummmmm, very helpful recipe, and i guess i can add some veggies to it too isn’t it?
Tried to follow the Jeer -mirya kadhi link,but my internet and Pc are both working awry,i am simply unable to check out so many places today in blogosphere,so will come back and check the traditional way
Hey Shilpa !
have been following ur blog for couple of months now.. real gud recipes.. keep rocking.. i buy shredded coconut and then keep in the freezer for months and it doesn’t smell.. but u r right nothing beats the fresh one !! have a gud weekend..
Looks Delicious! At my end, i guess everyone will like it because it has no coconut! I too have thrown batches of frozen coconut, as u say it has a peculiar smell… i do not buy frozen coconut anymore 🙁
Hi Shilpa
I was just wondering what to cook today and you have solved my problem .Sounds good , will let you know how it turns out
L K
that kadhi looks really tasty. I must try making it soon.
An amazing buttermilk kadhi. Never knew it could be eaten with rice. I will try this one soon and let you know how it went (as always).
I loved that little bucket!! perfect for the delicious kadhi.
In response to Sujata’s question, I agree with Shilpa.
The best thing to do is soak\cokk more of the dry pulses and gring a handful with the other randayi masala ingredients.
I use the frsh coconut which, mericfully, get here. Hubby is an expert at breaking and grating it.
Ofcourse, when I don’t have fresh coconut, I always depend on Maggi’s Coconut milk powder which I use abt a tbsp or two and dilute in a cup of warm water. It is a little sweeter than coconut milk from fresh coconut- but it gives the same taste and I don’t have to use too much of it either – don’t feel too guilty abt using the coconut in my dishes!!!
Like Shilpa, don’t use cocnut for garnishing my upkaris anymore – just add lots of coriander to make the dish look pretty..
Hi Shilpa,
I love this amazing kadhi….My ajji’s all-time hot favorite dish for lazy afternoons was Jeer-Meerya Kadhi…Thanks for posting this one…defintely trying this one.
Cheers,
Supriya
Wow, I have got to try this the taka kadi way, looks really tempting Shilpa! The best of 2 kadis in one. I too experienced the same with frozen coconut twice in a row now, smells as though spoilt.
I made your original version of Jeer-Mirya Kadi a few days back. I also did a basic tadka and added some buttermilk to the dish. It was a nice change from the regular fare I make.
Thanks for the recipe!
How many varieties are there for this butter milk gravy. amazing. Love the photo Shilpa. Good day. Viji
shilpa,
Will surely try this tonight, but pl post the coconut version
Oh shilpa, thank you so much. this is my fav recipe cooked by my Ajji and I thought i had almost lost it! I am gonna make this asap.
Hi Shilpa,
Wow, you are so innovative. We get the fresh coconut from Chinese stores and grate it (using the ultra grinder attachment) or make peices and use the grinder to grate it. Sometimes I have found very very tarno narllu.. it makes delicious pan pollo.
I will definitely try this recipe with yogurt. Thanks for sharing this.
Anu
very nice recipes, It’s resembles like More kulambu of south india
Interesting recipe Shilpa! The bucket looks so cute 🙂
Liked your idea of substituting coconut. Writing to you after having a good satisfying dinner with your innovative kadi.
well, thats the lovely recipe…
Shilpa: Mamta, Please do not copy and paste contents from other sites/blogs. It is a copyright violation. However you can always give a link to the same which the readers can click and read the article. Here is the article URL.
Dear Shilpa,
With a bad cold and cough, this was tasting divine. I made it for the lunch itself and could not resist to drink of the rest which was as soothing as a oup.thanks a lot
Different recipe. I too miss fresh coconut here. You can send this recipe to Think pepper event being hosted in my blog if you wish..
Shilpa,
It was toooooo yummy…..
I love your recipe. The pics are beautiful. There is a similar dish called majjiga pulusu in andhra that is also made with buttermilk but a slightly different version. I blogged this a while back at http://www.mommyscuisine.com
Thanks for sharing your version.
This sounds interesting. In fact, everything is so new (to me) and interesting. I definitely have to give some of your recipes a try.
hi shilpa….i made this taka kadi today….and it was scrumptious.thanks so much for the lovely recipe.
i have one request though….can u pls give me the recipe for tomato rice?
looks delicious….
I tried it out and really tastes good.
Hi Shilpa
I am from Goa but have lived in Mumbai for long.After i got married i have been living in Dubai for the past 18 years.
Often i call my mom for these traditional recipes but eversince i have come accross your site ,have been refering to your recipes. I truely find them original and simple. Hats off to you for your efforts…..Keep it up!
Hi,
I am a big fan of your recipes.
Have tried few of them and turned out to be good…
Could you plz let me knw how to prepare tomato rice…i prepared today and it was yuck…….
I love that little bucket!
shilpa, last week i threw out a packet of frozen coconut because of the “smell” you’re referring to. lovely kadhi.
YUMMIE! I have used a bunch of things to replace coconutmilk in curry recipes, like soymilk, almond milk, curdled milk, just plain old milk, yoghurt and found out it works quite well! Something to make the spice more creamy right? But at the moment I live in Hawaii with a couple of coconut palms on the land, lucky me. Thanks for the delicious recipes!
your recipe sounds good but than that i like your cute bucket
Hey Shilpa!
Interesting recipe. I tried this and my buttermilk kind of seperated from water. It tasted yummy but am not sure if I got it right?
shilpa: Did you heat it after adding buttermilk?
Put 1 tbsp Baking powder in a large Ziploc (Glad, whatever sealable bag) and place the opened coconut (In a separate smaller ziploc bag) inside it. Coconut stays fresh( y’know what I mean) as long as you want, in the freezer w/o smell or rancidity. Dont let coconut and baking powder mix under any circumstances. Use and reuse.
Made this today and was really tasty.About coconut, I use dried coconut, the flakes in a packet I mean.Any idea whether this is healthy? Being a mallu I use a lot of this coconut.Fresh coconut has always been a headache for me since even the good ones taste very different to the ones in Kerala.Dried coconut on the other hand tastes fine to me.
My amma (grandmother) used to make it this way, with taak instead of coconut. When I read the original version, I felt something was amiss and then on further search, I hit on this one, and then it all made sense. Guess I’ll try the original version someday, but this one is a godsend for the all-konkani meal I’m gonna make this weekend.
hey shilpa,
I was just bored of cooking daals and curries. Just thought of asking this recipe to my mom, but since it is 12:30 am in India,I din’nt know what to do? Then I just went through ur site. Now I’m relieved…………Now i know why u call it aayi’s recipes
Thanks shilpa 🙂 🙂
I love this recipe.
we add curry leaves to the phodni!
When I was in school a friend of mine used to get this kadhi with spinach leaves added to it. it tastes as lovely. Just steam the spinach beforehand for 2 minutes and when the curry is ready just add the leaves to it.
🙂
Had to share it.
This was just delicious. I made some of this right now, and I cant tell you how much I enjoyed it! Thanks as always Shilpa.
Glad you liked it