Sunday, September 23, 2007

Wood Apple or Elephant Apple Chutney

Velagapandu Pachchadi in Telugu



The wood-apple, it may be called elephant apple, monkey fruit, curd fruit, kath bel and other dialectal names in India. It is a favorite fruit to elephants as well as to Lord Vinayaka and has medicinal value. The fruit is round to oval, with a hard, woody, grayish-white, scurfy rind. The pulp is brown, mealy, odorous, resinous, astringent, acid or sweetish, with numerous small, white seeds scattered through it. The rind must be cracked with a hammer. The scooped-out pulp, though sticky, is eaten raw with or without sugar, or is blended with coconut milk and palm-sugar syrup and drunk as a beverage, or frozen as an ice cream. It is also used in chutneys and for making jelly and jam. The jelly is purple and much like that made from black currants. There are 2 forms, one with large, sweetish fruits; one with small, acid fruits. For more details, visit the following site:


http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/wood-apple.html




Ingredients:

Wood apple-1
Green chillies-5
Grated jaggery-1 tablespoon
Cumin seeds-1 teaspoon
Salt-1 tablespoon
Turmeric powder- a pinch
Curry leaves-few
Oil for seasoning-1 teaspoon
Seasoning ingredients-1 teaspoon (urad dal, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, channa dal, fenugreek seeds and dry red chilli pieces).


Method:


1. Wash and break the wood apple using a hammer and takeout the pulp.

2. Grind the pulp along with jaggery, cumin seeds, turmeric powder, salt and green chillies into thick paste.

3. Keep a pan on the stove and heat the oil and add the curry leaves and seasoning ingredients.

4. Add the paste to the seasoning and let it cook for two minutes on low flame.

5. Serve with hot rice and ghee.

Note:
Wood apple has its own unique taste (e.g. bitter guard) and not everyone might like it.

14 comments:

FH said...

We call it Beladakai and they used to sell these outside school,we loved to eat these.Looks great Vijaya, brought good memories looking at it today!:))

Finla said...

Never had this, but it looks good .

Daily Meals said...

You are right Asha! childhood memories are always sweet.


Hi happy cook,
Thanks for dropping by.

Rohini's kitchen said...

Looks great. Never heard about this.

Bhawna said...

wood apple, really never heard abt it, Thanks for sharing

Prajusha said...

vijaya,
never heard abt this chutney. will try sometime.thanks for sharing the recipe

Seena said...

Very tasty looking curry, never had this..your blog looks nice..

Daily Meals said...

Hi Rohini, Bhawna, Prajusha and Seena! Thank you.Mostly we get wood apples during Ganesh Chaturthi time.

Keep visiting:)

Vijaya.

Latha Narasimhan said...

I think it is velampazham! There is a technique to select this fruit! Nice recipe with a rare fruit vijaya!:))
The raw ones are used for chutney. Ripe ones will suot your recipe!

Daily Meals said...

Latha, it should ripen a bit more, but I could not wait for it as it is so hard to get in Singapore. So I made the chutney immediately.

Vijaya.

TBC said...

I don't think I've ever seen this.
What a nice recipe!

Daily Meals said...

Thank you TBC:) Welcome to my blog...

Menu Today said...

Hi Vijaya,
In tamil we call it as vilampazham!!! This fruit is must for ganesh festival.. we make sweet version. Thanks for sharing.

Daily Meals said...

Thanks Menu Today! We too offer this fruit to Ganesha on Ganesh Chaturthi.