Olan

This mild dish called 'silver koottan' in our house has many admirers. It is a coconut based dish and has it's roots firmly fixed in the Kerala soil.

During every sadya, huge quantities of olan is prepared so that the non-spicy food lovers could counter the spicy tastes of sambar and relish their sadya.

No turmeric powder and chilly powder is used while making this curry so that the dish remains white and translucent. 
No mustard is spluttered and nothing is ground and added.

My grandmom and mother-in-law (south Keralites) never use coconut milk while making olan; while my paternal grandmother used the milk of at least 3 coconuts for feeding her entire family the same dish!

The way the vegetables are cut into thin slices for this dish.

Slit green chilli(es) is the only spice allowed.

Pumpkin, ash gourd, string beans, chembu (Arvi)  and 'van payaru' (red cow peas) are the usual ingredients used in varying combinations to make olan.

Pumpkin (less), ash gourd (more) is one combination.

Ash gourd and van payar is another combination.

A grand variant is pumpkin, ash gourd, colacasia and string beans mixed olan.

Ingredients:

Van payar / red cow peas - 1/2 cup, soaked for 6 hrs

Pumpkin - 1 cup

Ash Gourd - 2 cups

Green chilli - 2

Salt

Chembu / Arbi / Colacasia - 3 small

String beans - 1/2 cup

Coconut milk - 1 cup, thick

Coconut oil - 3 tbsp

Curry leaf - 10

General instructions:

1. Van payar is soaked overnight and cooked first until soft with some slit green chillies.

2. If using colacasia, boil this with salt and green chilli before adding any vegetable as this takes time to cook.

3. After van payar / chembu gets cooked add the rest of the vegetables and cook till soft and there is almost no liquid / water in the dish.

4. Coconut milk is added and just heated ; not boiled.

5. In the very end raw coconut oil and curry leaf is mixed in.

Pictorial of  making Olan with white pumpkin and vanpayar: