Mastering the Art of Olan: A Step-by-Step Guide

By: Zahabiya Ali & Alvira DSouza

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A light, vegan curry.

A warm bowl of homemade coconut stew, made with fresh ash gourd and seasoned with mildly spiced flavours — sounds like a perfect winter whip-up! Olan is a special part of South Indian cuisine, particularly a Kerala dish, served during Onam sadya. At The Beautiful Societies, we bring to your menu, authentic recipes, straight from the expert-chefs’ cookbooks. 

One of the main olan ingredients is ash gourd (also called winter melon or ash pumpkin) - known as a powerhouse in ayurvedic cooking. This healthy curry also requires staple elements like coconut milk, curry leaves and black eyed peas. The best way to enjoy this flavourful and vegan stew is with steamed rice or Kerala red rice. 

For a delectable and easy olan recipe, we’re bringing you a recipe from Girish Saklani, a pro chef in India.

Meet the Chef

Girish Saklani is the Head Chef of the stunning Mulberry Shades Hotel in Bangalore at the foot of the Nandi Hills. Saklani has an experience of over 17 years, working at illustrious hotels like Taj Hotels Resorts & Palaces and Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

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Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon coconut oil

• 2 sprigs curry leaves

• 6–7 green chilies, slit

• 300 grams ash gourd/ white pumpkin

• 1/4 cup black eyed peas (boiled & drained)

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup light/second pressed coconut milk

• ½ cup thick/first pressed coconut milk

Instructions On How to Cook Olan

1. Heat coconut oil in a pan and add in the curry leaves and slit green chillies. Let the green chillies blister a little.

2. Clean and dice the ash gourd. Discard the seeds and the skin. Add in the diced ash gourd to the pan.

3. Add in a cup of second pressed coconut milk (light milk).

4. Add in the salt. Let it simmer for 10 minutes.

5. Add in the boiled and drained black-eyed peas.

6. Add in half a cup of first pressed coconut milk. After adding the milk, simmer for just a minute. Do not simmer for long after adding the first pressed coconut milk (thick milk).

TBS Tips For the Perfect Olan

• Coconut Milk: You may notice the recipe above refers to first and second-pressed coconut milk. In South Asia, coconut milk is freshly squeezed so thick milk means the milk from the first pressing of the coconut and light milk is usually from the second pressing of the fresh coconut. If you live in a place without fresh coconut then here is how you can make the same from a tin or coconut cream bar: just mix ½ cup coconut milk or ¼ of the cream bar with enough hot water to make 1 cup of light coconut milk. For thick coconut milk, you can use 1 cup of coconut milk straight from the can or mix ½ of the cream bar with ½ cup hot water. 

• How it should look: This recipe from Suguna from Kannama Cooks has step by step pictures and also gives you a good idea of how the end product should look.

Keep reading: The founder of India’s best restaurant gives us her recipe for Beetroot Burgers & Mango Salsa