Breadfruit Thoran - Kadachakka Thoran - Kerala Thoran Recipes

Kadachakka thoran is my mom's most favourite dish. Or atleast that's what she always answered when I was 8 and annoying and constantly asked her questions like "amma, what's your most favourite food on earth". I love this spongy fruit too and when kadachakka (or breadfruit) is in season, we often have this thoran and kadachakka mezhukkupuratti back to back.

Recently, my uncle visited me in Singapore and since breadfruit was in season, she sent me a small wedge. I chopped it up into small cubes and made thoran with it. We had it with chapati and some yellow dal tadka, an unusual combination for a thoran but much enjoyed nevertheless. The best thing about thorans is that it works with most vegetables and is super easy to put together for a quick lunch.

KADACHAKKA THORAN RECIPE

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 4 as a side

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of breadfruit or kadachakka, peeled and cut into small cubes
• 1/3 cup of grated coconut
• 2-3 shallots / ulli
• 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds / jeerakam
• 2 green chillies
• 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
• 2 tsp of coconut oil
• 1/4 tsp of mustard seeds
• A few curry leaves or a small bunch of coriander, chopped, for garnish

How to Make Breadfruit Thoran:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the cut breadfruit pieces, turmeric, and some salt.

2. Sprinkle some water and cook partially covered on low flame until the breadfruit becomes tender - about 8-10 mins.

3. Meanwhile, coarsely grind the coconut + shallots + cumin + green chillies without adding water

4. Add to the cooked breadfruit and mix well. Let it cook for another 2-3 mins.

5. Sprinkle curry leaves or chopped coriander leaves on top. Mix again, and remove from heat.

Kadachakka thoran will also taste fabulous with rice and Kerala Sambar if serving it with chapati and dal is not really doing it for you.

Cabbage Thoran Recipe - Kerala Cabbage Thoran with Coconut for Onam Sadya

Cabbage Thoran, or rather, Thoran in general, is an everyday dry curry for rice made in Kerala using any vegetable of choice, grated coconut, shallots, cumin, and chillies or chilli powder. Thoran is a mild and very lightly spiced with the flavours of the vegetables shining through. In northern Kerala, thoran is referred to as upperi but to us, upperi refers to the Kerala Banana Chips.

When we were newly-weds, it used to irk me that TH refers to every vegetable side dish as "curry". So he'd call Cabbage Thoran cabbage curry! I would keep correcting him and finally he can recognise a thoran. Mission accomplished! To balance our tastes, I always add lesser coconut in a thoran than what someone living in Kerala or has access to lots and lots of fresh coconut would. Even then, Thoran is soul-food for me, and I love cooking up different versions depending on the vegetables in hand.

Cabbage Thoran is a pretty standard dish in any Kerala Sadya Recipe List since it's easy to make and goes well with the Parippu Curry and Kerala Sambar served at a Sadya. Also, if you are someone who dreads the nasty smell of cooking cabbage, fear not. The shallots and cumin seeds in thoran make it go away completely. Trust me on this.

Amma cooks certain types of thoran in a very no-hassle way. Just mix up all the ingredients, add it to the kadai and sort of steam cook it until done. You can leave the thoran to cook and go about the rest of your cooking for the day. We also cook Raw Papaya Thoran in a similar way. Also, here's the recipe for Tamil-Style Cabbage Poriyal, which is made slightly differently.

CABBAGE THORAN RECIPE

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 4 as a side
Recipe source: Amma

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of finely shredded cabbage (I use one of my fave kitchen gadgets for this)
• 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
• 2 green chillies, chopped
• 4-5 of shallots, ulli - chopped fine
• 1/2 cup of grated coconut
• 3/4 tsp of cumin seeds, jeera, slightly crushed
• A few of curry leaves, roughtly torn
• 2 tsp of coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp of black mustard seeds

How to Make Cabbage Thoran:

1. In a wide bowl or plate, mix the cabbage, turmeric, curry leaves, shallots, cumin, coconut, and salt. Let it sit for 5 mins - the cabbage will let out some water.

2. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. The bubbles are because of the coconut oil.

3. When they pop, add the cabbage mixture and stir well to coat the oil and the ingredients well. Pat down tightly and close the pan. Cook on very low heat for 12-15 mins. You can check in between to make sure that the bottom is not getting burned but if you keep the flame super low, you should be fine.

4. Uncover, stir through to make sure the cabbage is cooked (if not, cook for a while longer) and adjust salt if required.

That's it. No-fuss, hands-free Cabbage Thoran is ready!

Kerala Beetroot Thoran Recipe | Onam Sadya Recipes

While the Kerala-style Thoran recipes and the Tamil-style Poriyal recipes are often confused with each other, they do have some differences in how they are cooked.

Thoran is usually made with a vegetable (sometimes two, like this carrot beans thoran) and a coarsely ground mixture of coconut, jeera, chillies, turmeric powder, shallots, and salt. The typical Kerala-style thoran that we make in Kottayam uses no water, not even to cook the vegetable. The most amma does is sprinkle water on the vegetable as it cookes but always before the coconut mixture is added to the thoran.

I have mostly been indifferent to beetroot while growing up. Amma used to make only two recipes with beetroot - one was this beetroot thoran and the other was a carrot and beetroot mezhupuratti which I absolutely loved. Beets and carrots are a great combination and lend their sweetness and colour to each other while they cook together. I need to get the exact recipe of the mezhukkupuratti from amma but meanwhile let's check out how to make beetroot thoran.
Since beetroot takes time to cook, it's best to grate it before making a thoran. if you are patient enough, you can finely chop it but I just peel it, wash it, and hand it to TH who does all the grating work in our home.

Kerala Beetroot Thoran Recipe

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 cups of grated beetroots
1/2 cup of grated coconut
1 tsp of cumin seeds, jeerakam
2-3 shallots, ulli
1 tsp of red chilli powder
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
1 tbsp of coconut oil
1/2 tsp of black mustard seeds
1/2 tsp of split urad, uzhunnu parippu
1 strand of curry leaves
1 tsp of salt (adjust to taste)
1 clove of garlic

How to Make Beetroot Thoran:

1. Heat oil and add the mustard seeds and urad dal.

2. When the mustards pop, add the grated beetroot and some salt. Mix well to coat the beets with the oil and cook on low flame, stirring occasionally.

3. Meanwhile, grate the coconut, shallots, chilli powder, turmeric, garlic, and cumin...

... into a course mixture without adding any water.

4. When the beets are almost soft, add the ground coconut mixture to it along with the curry leaves. Mix well and continue to cook on low flame, stirring occasionally, until the beetroots are completely cooked and soft.

Kerala-Style Beetroot Thoran is now ready. This is a great recipe to make in larger quantities since grating beets is much easier than chopping a bunch of vegetables.

Beetroot Thoran goes really well with Kerala Sambar but on this particular day, I served it with Tomato Juice Rasam and Tawa Yam Fry.

Notes:
- Sprinkle some water if you feel the beetroot is starting to burn as you cook it. Do not add more water than is absolutely required
- You may need more red chilli powder than you think because beetroots are sweet and the dish may need more spice to kick it up a notch

Chicken Thoran-Kozhi Thoran-How to Make Chicken Thoran

Chicken thoran is one of those dishes from my childhood that aatha (amma's amma used to make). It was not everyday fare because you need boneless pieces of chicken to make it and you need a lot to feed a family of 8.

Although generally thoran is a Kerala preparation (pretty much any vegetable can be made into thoran using grated coconut, shallots, cumin, and green/red chillies), I am led to believe this is a Reddiar recipe that first originated in Thirunelveli when the Reddiar community was concentrated there. Maybe they decided to call it thoran after moving to Kerala and being introduced to the concept.

Either ways, this is a delicious chicken recipe and very easy to make even for beginner cooks. If you want to check out more chicken recipes, my favourites are - chilli chicken dry, chicken iguru, pepper chicken masala, and chicken biryani.

Chicken Thoran - How to Make Chicken Thoran

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves 6-8
Recipe source: Amma

Ingredients:
500 gm of chicken, cleaned, deboned, and cut into small chunks
1 tbsp of butter
2 tsp of red chilli powder (adjust to taste)
1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
2 strands of curry leaves
1 cup of grated coconut
3/4 cup of sliced shallots (chinna vengayam, ulli)
2 tsp of garlic-shallot paste (grind together some garlic and shallots)
1 tsp of salt (adjust to taste)
1 tbsp of oil
1 tsp of black mustard seeds
1 tsp of urad dal (ulutham paruppu, uzhunnu parippu)

How to Make Chicken Thoran:

1. We need to cook the chicken first so add the pieces to a pan.

The chicken pieces are cooked in butter and my mom being her true self, whipped up some fresh butter for the dish.

2. Add the butter and red chilli powder and turmeric to the chicken pieces.

3. Stir well and add the curry leaves.

4. Turn on heat to medium-low and cook stirring occasionally for about 10-15 mins until the chicken is cooked and the water it lets out has evaporated. If there's more water left, cook on high flame until it's all absorbed.

5. Meanwhile, get read with your sliced shallots, grated coconut, and shallot-garlic paste.

6. Remove the cooked chicken to a bowl and heat oil in the same pan. Add the mustard seeds and broken urad dal.

7. When the mustard pops and the dal turns golden, add the sliced ulli or shallots.

8. Fry until it turns golden and add the shallot-garlic paste. Fry for another few seconds.

9. Next, add the cooked chicken pieces to this along with salt. Mix well.

10. Finally, add the coconut, mix well and let the thoran simmer for 3-4 mins until the ingredients come together and there's no excess moisture left in the chicken thoran.

Done! This is a fabulous accompaniment to rice and vatha kuzhambu or rasam. In fact, pretty much any kuzhambu without coconut goes very well with it.

Huge thanks to amma's patience while I clicked the step by step chicken thoran pictures in her kitchen. I really got in the way ;)

Raw Papaya Thoran, Kaplanga Thoran, Kerala Thoran Recipes

Raw papaya is one of my absolute favourites. Often called omakka (or kappalanga) in Kerala, it's very easily available in most backyards and makes for a very light side dish. Although the simpler kaplanga ezhukkupuratti is what I would go for first, the thoran comes a close second.

Raw papaya is very easily available in Singapore too, thanks to the Thais and their affinity towards raw papaya salads.

The method used to make kappalanga thoran is very non-fussy and this is how amma makes most of her thorans. You can leave it to cook and focus on other dishes.

Also check out moringa thoran, spinach thoran, and papadom thoran recipes, all from Kerala.

Raw Papaya (Kaplanga) Thoran Recipe

Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients:
1 small raw papaya (kaplanga / omakka)
1/2 cup of grated coconut
2-3 shallots
1 tsp of jeera / jeerakam / cumin seeds
3-4 green chillies
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
1 tbsp of (coconut) oil
1/4 tsp of mustard seeds
A few curry leaves

How to make Thoran:

1. Peel the raw papaya, cut into half, deseed and chop into very small pieces. In malayalam, we'd say "kothi ariyuka".

2. Coarsely grind the coconut with the shallots, green chillies, turmeric and half the jeera. Mix this thoroughly with the chopped papaya along with salt. Add the rest of the cumin seeds whole to this mixture. (Alternately, you can also grind all of the jeera along with the coconut).

3. Heat the oil in a wide pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the curry leaves and after 5 seconds, add the raw papaya mixture. Stir well to combine the oil and make a small mound of it towards the centre of the pan and pat it down firmly.

4. Keep the flame at the lowest possible and cook the papaya covered. There's no need to add any water. (you can use a wider lid for the whole pan as well, it doesn't necessarily have to be tightly closed like below.

5. Let this cook for about 10-15 mins until the papaya is soft. You can mix it in between if you feel like the bottom is burning but if you keep the flame low, it should be fine. I do mix it once or twice in between, pat it down again firmly, close, and cook further.

That's it. Serve hot with rice and sambar or theeyal.

Muringayila Thoran-Kerala Thoran Recipe-Drumstick Leaves cooked with Coconut

Drum stick leaves will always remind me of my maternal grand mom and her immense patience when it came to cooking. As I type this, I can imagine her squatting on the kitchen floor, her tongue flicking out now and then to wet her lips as she plucks out each leaf with great concentration.

 

Needless to say, I did this extremely time-consuming task watching tv and recruited TH to help me too. He did it with an expression that seemed to say "why are we doing this again? I don't feel compelled to eat this thing if prepping it is such a pain you know". I ignored it and kept plucking diligently until I had a large plate full of fresh drum stick leaves.

Then I realised I didn't know how exactly aatha (amma's amma in Reddiar telugu) cooked this so I called amma. She told me you need to rub the leaves with the spices you are going to use and then cook in a low flame with water sprinkled over it. This is how amma makes most thoran although I cook the vegetable first before adding spices. For the drumstick leaves, I decided to go the aatha way.

Also check out drumstick leaves rasam and drumstick sambar recipe.

Muringayila Thoran / Drumstick Leaves cooked with Coconut

Serves 2

Recipe Source: Amma, Aatha

Ingredients:

4 cups drumstick leaves  muringayila
1 cup grated coconut (adjust amount to taste)
1 tsp red chilli powder
A large pinch of turmeric
2 shallots
1/2 tsp jeera / cumin powder
Salt to taste
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds

How I Made It:

1. Remove the drum stick leaves from the stems. Wash thoroughly.

2. Add salt, turmeric and red chilli powder to the washed leaves. Set aside for 30 mins. It will let out water.

3. Grind coconut coarsely with the shallots and cumin powder.

4. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the marinated leaves, stir around to combine. Cook closed on low heat for about 5 mins. Open, add the ground coconut mixture and stir well again.

5. Cook closed for another 5-10 mins until the leaves are cooked through and soft. Make sure you mix in between to prevent browning at the bottom.

Serve with rice and any pulusu / kozhambu of choice.