Narla Kheer

I am playing major catch-up with my challenge. I think I underestimated the impact of full time lawyer-ing and being new parents on energy levels, and more importantly how quickly days are turning into weeks and months! How are we already in the last quarter of the year? I cannot seem to decide whether I want 2020 to go faster, or slower as it has been a rather bittersweet one- notwithstanding the ongoing pandemic which we obviously want to see the end of, this year has brought us the biggest bundle of abundant joy, who will be one soon and I already don't want him growing so fast!

Anyway, thanks to all my avid followers (I hope there are at least a few!) who would have been waiting with baited breath for my posts, I have now got back on track. On to my "N" dish, for which I have made Narla (i.e. Coconut) kheer. If you haven't come across this one before, don't be fooled by the word 'kheer', as it is not a sweet dish at all. In fact, we Aamchis also call it the "cheppe kheeri" . "Cheppe" in Aamchi means bland and it sure is - which is why I have never been a huge fan (if it ain't spicy I not likey!). But, complement hot cheppe kheer with a spicy pickle like appemidi/ appinmidi (a type of pickle made with tender (baby) mangoes) it is prettttty divine, and extremely comforting!

Narla or Cheppe Kheeri is made with rice, freshly extracted coconut milk, and with the subtle and gentle flavour of turmeric leaves. The leaves of turmeric taste nothing like the spice (which is quite strong and derived from the root-like stem of the turmeric plant). The richness of the coconut milk and the aroma of the turmeric leaves ("haldi paan") gets amalgamated into the rice on cooking leaving a very smooth, creamy, and fragrant dish.

As I understand it, this is a monsoon dish as turmeric leaves grow in abundance in this season. Further, narla kheer and paattholi (a sweet dumpling made with flour, coconut and jaggery, and steamed in turmeric leaves) are key to the offering made to Devi Parvathi for Gouri puja or Taiyyi (the day before Ganesh Chaturthi).

In our most recent episode of #thoystories with Renuka Nadkarni, Renuka demonstrated this recipe so wonderfully and explained the significance of the dish in great detail.

The little one is turning out to be quite a foodie, but unfortunately narla kheer wasn't so much to his liking. Maybe its an acquired taste (one that he will acquire when he starts having it at every Gouri puja going forward), but perhaps it will grow on him at some point (like it has with me).

Ingredients

1/2 cup rice

1 cup of coconut milk (canned)

2 cups of water (preferrably hot)

5-6 haldi paan/turmeric leaves

1 tbsp desiccated coconut

Method

1. Wash and cook the rice with two cups of water and 1-2 turmeric leaves in the pressure cooker for 3-4 whistles. Note: You want the rice to be slightly over done and soft and the cooking with turmeric leaves infuses the flavour into the rice at the outset.

2. Once the rice is cooked, add the desiccated coconut and coconut milk. Note: As I used canned coconut milk, I found that the desiccated coconut adds a little bit more texture and makes it look more authentic.

3. Add the remainder of the turmeric leaves and let it simmer until some of the coconut milk is absorbed.

And that is it. Yet another incredible simple recipe! As I mention above, the perfect combo is narla/cheppe kheer with some spicy appinmidi!