Cucumber Kichadi | Vellarikka Kichadi
Cucumber’s smothered in a creamy coconut and yogurt gravy seasoned with ground mustard seeds. It’s one of the very few sadhya dishes that are not vegan. But that can easily be solved by either swapping the dairy yogurt or curd with your favorite homemade or store-bought non-dairy yogurt, like soy, cashew, almond, or peanut.
In this recipe, I am using silken tofu because it is something that I have on hand all the time and I also love the thick creamy consistency blended tofu brings to the kichadi. When I was growing up my favorite part of this dish was the spicy bite from the ground mustard seeds so I do tend to add a little more mustard seeds than usual. If you are not particularly a fan of mustard seeds, feel free to reduce the amount.
Fun fact, did you know that the mustard plant comes from the same family as broccoli and Brussels sprouts?! They’re very rich in phytonutrients, minerals, vitamins, and anti-oxidants.
Cucumber Kichadi | Vellarikka Kichadi
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cucumber diced
- 1 green chili slit
- salt to taste
Coconut Mixture
- 1/2 cup grated coconut
- 1/2 box (12.3 oz) soft silken tofu regular tofu will also work
- 1-2 tbsp lemon or lime juice juice from approximately 1/2 of a lime or lemon
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 green chili
- 1/4 cup water
Tempering
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 dried whole red chili
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 1 tbsp unrefined coconut oil
Instructions
- Peel, deseed, and dice the cucumber. Typically Malabar cucumber's are used to make this curry but I've made it with other types of cucumbers too and they work just fine.
- Add diced cucumber, slit green chili and salt along with around 1/4 cups of water and cook on low.
- While the cucumber is cooking, add all the coconut mixture ingredients to a blender.
- This is the kind of silken tofu I usually use. Since it's shelf-stable it's convenient to keep a few in the pantry.
- Blend to a smooth paste.
- Add the coconut paste to the cooked cucumber and mix well.
- Cook for another minute or two.
- Meanwhile, heat coconut oil in a pan, when it's hot add mustard seeds, whole red chili, and curry leaves. When you put the curry leaves in be prepared for a lot of spluttering. You can put a lid on right afterward for a few seconds to prevent all the mustard seeds from popping out and to protect yourself from splattering oil.
- Mix in the tempered oil into the cucumber mixture and enjoy!
