Alwathi recipe / Konkani Alwathi

28 Jul Alwathi recipe / Konkani Alwathi

Alwathi is a popular Konkani dish that uses Arbi leaves, corn and raw peanuts. All these are monsoon special items. Its generally prepared on Anantha Chaturdashi, the immersion day, 14^th day after Ganesh Chaturthi and also on Krishna Janmashtami.

I have already posted a recipe Alu Vadi using arbi leaves. These leaves are so versatile, that you can make it dry / gravy or pair it with corn or paneer or dal. I need to stress the fact that some leaves tend to be itchy and so we need to be careful while selecting them. However, itching is a common factor and once you boil the leaves with tamarind, the itchiness vanishes.

Alwathi also has many variations. Some families use corn and some don’t. In our family, we prefer it with corn because the corn cooked with the leaves and the spices taste very soft, juicy and delicious once cooked.

Hog Plum

Secondly, traditionally Konkanis prepare this with a special fruit called Hog Plum (Ambade / Ambazhanga / Amtekai). This fruit is green and looks most like a tiny little green mango almost mistaken for tamil “Maavadu / Vadumangai”. The fruits have a sharp, somewhat acid taste and are edible. These are very seasonal and hence a bit rare to get outside Konkan / Mangalore regions, where they are easily available. Throughout Coastal Karnataka and Konkan people love this fruit for it’s tangy taste. It is used as a souring agent in their cooking.  If you can get your hands on these hog plums, you are lucky and you should try this recipe with them. Else, you can very well replace it with Tamarind as I did. ?

In fact this curry tastes best after few hours. The more you keep, more the corn gets infused with the spices. With its natural sweetness, the corn becomes soft and delicious. Prepare it well in advance and if required heat just before serving.

Print Recipe

Alwathi recipe

Alwathi is a popular Konkani dish that uses Arbi leaves, corn and raw peanuts. All these are monsoon special items. Its generally prepared on Anantha Chaturdashi , the immersion day, 14^th day after
Ganesh Chaturthi and also on Krishna Janmashtami.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Konkani

Keyword: Arbi leaves, corn cob, raw peanuts, hog plum, tamarind

Servings: 3 people

Author: Rama G

Ingredients

• 8 to 10 Arbi leaves (3 cups finely chopped arbi leaves)
• Stems of Arbi leaves, stringed and cut into pieces
• 1 Corn cob
• ½ cup raw peanuts
• 1 gooseberry size tamarind
• ½ cup fresh grated coconut
• 3 green chillies slit
• 1" piece ginger cut into julienne
• 4 dry red chillies
• salt to taste
• __________________
• Tempering
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• Curry leaves

Instructions

• Cut corn cob into 1” size pieces.
• Cut the stems from the leaves and chop the leaves.
• Remove the strings from the stems of and cut into bite size pieces.
• Pressure cook arbi leaves, corn cobs, cut stems and groundnuts with 1 cup water and enough salt for 2 to 3 whistles.
• Grind coconut, red chillies and tamarind to a fine paste.
• When the pressure settles, open the cooker and add the slit chillies and ginger.
• Add the ground paste, mix well and cover and cook till the spices blend together.
• Prepare the tempering and add it to the curry.

Video

Notes

1. This tastes better when served after 2 hours of preparing. hence prepare in advance and heat just before serving.
2. After opening the cooker, remove the corn pieces and mash the leaves well. Then add the corn cobs back and boil.