Elaneer Payasam - Tender Coconut Cooler!

Elaneer Payasam
- A delightful mildly sweet tender coconut cooler!

A Facebook foodie friend’s ‘status’ yesterday was that she had made yummy Elaneer (Tender Coconut) Payasam. This is only the second or third time I’ve heard of this, although regular coconut based payasams are well known! She went on to tell me that Elaneer is suddenly the "in" ingredient, in India. Elaneer payasam is making it in wedding reception menus,  and she had in the past few months  tasted Elaneer souffle, Elaneer cheesecake and even Elaneer Halwa!!

Tender Coconut water or Elaneer!

For me Elaneer screams HOLIDAY TIME! In our school days, every trip between Bangalore and Mysore would never be complete without the mandatory stop near the road-side  Channapatna vendors. I remember Dad, Grandad and Uncles insisting with the vendor to ensure that we got the Elaneer’s with the maximum water, and most tender vazhukkai (tender coconut flesh).

Tender Coconut Flesh or Vazhukkai scraped with a 'coconut spoon'!

Elaneer’s are also the welcome drink in our native village Seeplaputhur. The size of the Elaneers in our village are very tiny, almost like an orange! However, the water is very very sweet, and the vazhukkai most delicate – although just a teaspoon per coconut! You can easily have 4 or 5 of these at one go!

Flash forward – Sydney supermarkets selling Fijian Elaneers with a colourful label promoting weightloss through this nature’s miracle drink!!! These don’t taste quite as great, but better than canned stuff anyday!!

My friend's post was timely last night, as I was left with some fresh home made coconut milk, after making some yummy Thai Green Curry for dinner, and I decided to make this quickie dish asap!

I now understand why it’s a party dish, and yet so simple to make.

Ingredients

Full Cream Milk – 2 cups

Thick Coconut milk  – ½ cup  (This post contains the method for extracting coconut milk)

Condensed Milk – 1.5 Tbsp

Elaneer with flesh – Puree in a mixer. It need not be smooth, as its nice to have some vazhukkai bits in the payasam

Optional Flavourings and Garnish

Cardamom Powder – ½ tsp

Saffron – few strands

Few raisins and cashews fried in ghee.

Elaneer Payasam, ready to be chilled!

Method1. Boil milk, until it has reduced to half the quantity.

2. Add in condensed milk (you can add more if you like it sweet, however this tastes best if its mildly sweet), cardamom and saffron.

3. Add coconut milk. Stir and simmer for few minutes.

4. Switch off the flame and allow mixture to cool

5. Mix in the Elaneer water and pulp mixture, and chill.

6. Serve chilled, garnished with fried raisins and cashews.

Note: The dish tastes great even without the optional flavours, as you simply get yummy Elaneer flavour.

Prune Tomato Rasam and Kadai Bhendi with a Surprise!

Prune Tomato Rasam and Kadai Bhendi with a Surprise

I opened my pantry door wondering what to cook for lunch when my eyes fell on a bunch of Prunes. I  got them mainly for my toddler, as her Doc advised me to give her heaps of fruits and veggys especially fruits that begin with 'P' - prunes, plums, peaches, pears ...

Ha! Easier said than done. My toddler shuns all fruits and veggys. No amount of stories, songs, recipes, or presentation styles can get her to swallow anything remotely fruit or veggy!! The one thing she likes guzzling though is rasam!  

We've seen so many types of rasams like beetroot rasam, pineapple rasam, mango rasam etc. so I thought why not prunes? They are mildly sweet and can't be all that bad mixed with the other flavours.   The result was surprisingly awesome! The prunes did not stick out or anything and blended well with the tastes, and in fact, even added an nice touch of flavour to the rasam rasam. The rasam was guzzled not just by my toddler, but the adults at home as well.  

Prunes

Since I had too much prune and tomato puree made, I just used some of it in a Kadai Bhendi as well. So now you know what the surpise is! Yep! Prunes!  

Prune Tomato Rasam
Ingredients
Prunes - 2 or 3
Tomatos - 2 medium sized
Curry Leaves - a few
Black Pepper and Cumin Seeds coarsely crushed - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Rasam powder - 1 tsp
Garlic pods - 2 crushed
Corriander Leaves - a few
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp



Method
1. Soak prunes for about 10 minutes till soft. Grind the prunes and tomatos with a little water into a paste.
2. Add rasam powder, curry leaves and salt into this paste and bring to a boil.
3. Once the mixture boils well, add the black pepper and cumin powder, as wel as crushed garlic and stir.
4. Once the mixture simmers again, pour in 1.5 glasses of water. Pour in a manner that you get a nice  froth on top.
5. The mixture will slowly rise, at which point switch of the flame. Don't let the rasam boil, as that spoils the flavours.
6. Heat the ghee and sputter some mustard seeds, and add this seasoning to the rasam.
7. Garnish with corriander leaves.

Prune Tomato Rasam

Slurp away with some rice and ghee, or just guzzle it down in a tall glass!

Kadai Bhendi
Ingredients
Oil - 2 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1tsp
Prune Tomato Puree - 2 tbsp
Onion Paste - 1tbsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1.5 tsp
Cumin powder - 1tsp
Corriander powder - 2 tsp
Chillie powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 1tsp
Ladies Finger / Okra -  250 grams with tails and heads removed!

Bhendi (Okra) Cooking Away!

Method
1. Heat oil, and add the cumin seeds.
2. When the cumin seeds sputter, add onion and ginger garlic paste.
3. Keep stirring so that the pastes don't burn. When the colour turns brownish, add cumin, corriander and chillie powders.
4. Fry for a few seconds until you get a great aroma.
5. Add the prune and tomato puree and salt and cook well.
6. When the paste is cooked, and the liquid is reduced such that you have a paste left, add in the okra.
7. Keep stirring on a low flame for a few minutes and cover with a lid.
8. Stirr now and again to prevent burning, until the okra is nice and soft.

Kadai Bhendi with a Surprise Ingredient

This a a yummy side dish with rotis  or rice. Of course, my toddler didn't touch the okra, but she did check out the prune tomato masala gravy, and was licking her fingers away!

Bottom line, I just discovered that Prunes lend themselves very well to many Indian dishes! Maybe, I'll try the other 'P's one by one too!