Onam is round the corner; so I thought I would write up a dish or two over the coming weeks and you can try making them for the Onasadhya.
I first had this dish on board the houseboat at Kumarakom. And yes, believe me when I say that all the designated guys in charge of cooking on the various houseboats are world class chefs! I’ve had many friends who’ve been on these houseboats and all of them rant and rave about the meals on board.
Pachadi is more like a side dish. It’s basically yogurt based and can be made with any vegetable of your choice. My personal all-time favourite is with tomato. You may also use cucumber, beetroot and I have even had it with green apple! It’s such a versatile dish.

P.s. if you’re using beetroot, cook the beetroot after the tadka and keep it aside. Once cool, you add the ground coconut and adjust the taste with salt.

Ingredients

• Pineapple – 1 can (either cubes or ring)
• Green chilli – 2 pieces
• Coconut – 1/4 cup
• Yogurt – 2 cups
• Mustard powder – 1 tsp (if you don’t have the powder you may use the seeds)
• Salt/Sugar – to taste

Takda (tempering)

• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Dried red chilli – 2 (break it into pieces)
• Curry leaves – fistful  

Method

• Drain the syrup from the can and cut the pineapple into small pieces.
• Grind coconut, mustard seeds/powder and green chilli in the yogurt till fine and add to the pineapple mix.
• Adjust the taste with salt and sugar (if required).
• For the taduka, heat a little oil and add the mustard seeds.
• Once the mustard seeds crackle, add the dried chilli and curry leaves and add this to the pineapple yogurt mix.
• Serve.

p.s. you may add a pinch of turmeric to enhance the colour of the pachadi 🙂

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