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Recipes with dry coconut

3 recipes that use dry coconut, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Shev bhaji, takes 45 minutes. It is most often cooked with coriander, onion and turmeric.

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Natu kodi pulusu

Natu kodi means country chicken, the lean, free-ranging birds of Telangana's villages, and their pulusu is a Sunday and festival curry: fiery with chilli, soured with tamarind and thickened with a paste of roasted coconut, poppy seed and whole spices. It is mopped up with rice or jonna rotte. The mistake most cooks make is giving a country bird the timing of a broiler; desi chicken needs 40–50 minutes of slow simmering to turn tender, while ordinary chicken is done in about 20. Food safety: marinate in the fridge and cook until the thickest piece reaches 74 °C. Chef's tip: add the tamarind only once the chicken is tender, as acid slows the softening of tough meat.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Akkha masoor

Akkha masoor is the dish that made the dhabas on the Kolhapur–Pune highway famous: whole brown lentils cooked into a rich, fiery onion, tomato and Kolhapuri-masala gravy, finished with a big knob of butter and eaten with jowar bhakri, tandoori roti or jeera rice. At home it is a weeknight dinner and a favourite on cold evenings. The lentils keep their shape while the roasted dry coconut and red chilli give a deep, nutty heat. The usual mistake is undercooking the onions; they must turn deep brown before the tomatoes go in, or the gravy tastes thin. Slow-cooker: cook everything except the butter on low for 6 hours, then stir the butter in at the end. Chef's tip: toast the dry coconut until it is the colour of a biscuit; it is the secret of the dhaba flavour.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Shev bhaji

Shev bhaji comes from Khandesh, around Jalgaon and Dhule, where dhabas and homes make a gravy black with roasted onion, dry coconut and a dark Khandeshi masala and drop in thick, crunchy shev just before serving. It is eaten with jowar bhakri or chapati, often at roadside eateries in the winter. The mistake almost everyone makes is adding the shev too early; it swells and turns to paste, so add it at the table. Food note: shop-bought shev can contain wheat or regular hing, so check the packet if you need it gluten free. Chef's tip: roast the onion and coconut until truly dark brown, but not burnt; that is where the colour comes from.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Goes well with dry coconut