Kokni food has a unique heritage and today’s recipe is shared by Huda Aagey. A food blogger from India who now lives in the UK while keeping up the kokni food traditions up north.

Tender Cashew Nut Curry

A super nutrious plant based recipe –

Tender cashew nuts or you can say fresh or wet cashew nuts are one of the regional and seasonal delicacies. There are different local names for tender cashew nuts like at my place they are called as “kaju ke beej or cashew beans or biyo” while at some places they call it “gir”. There are several ways to cook these delicious tender nuts including sweet and savoury. This coconut milk based curry is most popular in our area. Though sometimes we make masala fried dry gir but that’s more common in some other places. My mom makes delicious cashew pudding (I will share recipe later, Insha Allah) and one more way is to cook sweet cashew nuts in dessicated coconut and that tastes yummy as well.

Anyway, coming back to this coconut milk based cashew curry, we prefer it with rice flour roti, fried fish or prawns and some chutney and salad on side. Though the nuts are tender they take time to cook to become soft so you can pressure cooke but just take care that they shouldn’t break or become mushy.

When using fresh unpeeled nuts, an important thing is how to peel/clean cashew nuts: they are sticky and absorb moisture from your skin leaving it dry, so be careful while peeling or cleaning the cashews. So there are a few trick to avoid much damage, like…

1. Apply dry rice flour all over the nuts and start peeling.
2. Keep some cooking oil on your hands before peeling the beans.
3. Soak them in warm water for about 15-20 minutes before peeling.
4. Freeze them overnight then thaw before peeling.

Or you can buy the raw cashew nuts which are easy to find in South African stores.

How to make Tender Cashew Nut Curry

Ingredients:

2 cups raw cashew nuts
1 large onion
1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
1 teaspoon fennel seeds powder
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1/4the teaspoon turmeric powder
Salt as per taste
Desi ghee (or cooking oil) 2 tablespoons
1 cup thick coconut milk

Method:

1. Peel, wash and finely slice the onion. Heat pure ghee/oil in a pan and then fry onions till translucent.

2. Add ginger garlic paste, sauté for 2-3 minutes and then add all the powder spices and salt. Let it cook till raw fragrance is gone.

3. Now wash the cashew nuts well and add to the prepared masala. Mix well and then add water just half inch above the cashew nuts masala. Cover and let it simmer till all the moisture has absorbed. Check if the nuts are done. If they are very soft to touch and crack on applying a little pressure with one finger then they are done. Or else add some more water and let them cook for a little more.

4. Once the masala is all dry and starts leaving oil, turn off the flame and let it cool down a bit.

5. Now add coconut milk and bring it to a boil. It’s ready to be served!

By Huda Aagae. A food blogger from India who now lives in the UK. Huda blogs on her little corner of the internet about Kokni food and culture. “I am trying my best to introduce the best of Kokni Cuisine to the world. I make sure to share the most authentic Kokni recipes.”
Visit her blog at https://koknicuisine.blogspot.com/p/about-us.html
Or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/thesaravleysquad/

Find more on the Kokni culture and recipes here.