Idichakka podithooval

Ingredients:
Idichakka (tender jackfruit) - 1 small
Shallots - 7/8
Red chillies - 5/6
Curry leaves - some
Coconut - 2 cups, grated
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Urad dal - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - ¾ teaspoon
Oil - 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste

Method:

Remove the skin of the jackfruit, cut into into small pieces, and boil it with turmeric powder and salt. When it is cooked, shred it using your hands.

Grind 1 cup coconut, shallots, 2/3 red chillies, and curry leaves into a coarse paste.

Heat oil in a frying pan. Add mustard seeds. When they crackle, add urad dal, 2/3 red chillies (broken into small pieces) and some curry leaves. Add the ground paste and saute well.

Add the shredded jackfruit and mix well.

Add the rest of the coconut and mix well.

Postscript:
1) This dish is also called idichakka thoran.
2) Many people do not add coconut to the ground paste. They use it only to garnish the dish.
3) We used round red chillies for the paste and long red chillies for the seasoning.

Padavalanga thoran

Ingredients:
Padavalanga (Snake gourd) - 2 small (cleaned, deseeded and cut into small pieces)
Parippu (Toor dal) - one cup (boiled)
Onions (or shallots) - one cup (cut into small pieces)
Coconut - one cup (grated)
Mustard seeds
Urad dal (split and skinned black lentils) - a little
Cumin seeds - a little
Red chillies - 2/3 (broken into two)
Salt
Turmeric powder - half teaspoon
Curry leaves
Oil - 2 tablespoons

Method:
Heat a frying pan with oil in it. Add the mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the urad dal, cumin seeds, red chillies and curry leaves.
Add the onions/shallots. Add the boiled toor dal, followed by the coconut. Stir this mixture well and keep aside.
Cook the snake gourd pieces with salt and turmeric powder. When it is almost done, add the mixture that you prepared earlier.
Garnish with curry leaves.

Postscript: This is just one easy method of making thoran. We had some leftover boiled parippu at home. Moreover, the coconut was tender; so we added it early on and let the water content in it dry up.
We usually add the snake gourd pieces right after we add the toor dal and cook it until it is done. Then we add fresh grated coconut.
Anyway, this thoran was equally tasty and isn't that what we all want?