Tonak is a very popular dish in the Goan cuisine in the which the legumes or peas are cooked in a coconut based gravy. This particular recipe of alsanyache tonak uses red cow peas also called as Alsane in Goa. You can also replace them with whole masoor dal, green peas or also vegetables to make Mixed veggies tonak, Radish Tonak. There are also non-vegetarian versions of this recipe made with crabs, prawns or clams. We have already posted Crabs Tonak and Prawns Tonak.
In Goa, alsanyache tonak is usually eaten with Pav. But it tastes good with rotis or rice too.
Here is the step by step alsanyache tonak recipe with pictures:
Serves: 3-4
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
Alsane (Red Cow Peas): 1 cup
Onion : 2
Potato: 1 chopped
Cinnamon : 1/2 inch piece
Cloves : 4
Peppercorns : 10-12
Bay Leaf: 1
Coriander seeds: 2-3 tsp
Garlic : 2 cloves finely chopped
Ginger: 1/4 inch piece
Scraped Coconut: 1 cup
Dry Red Chillies: 5 small
Tamarind: 1 marble sized ball
Turmeric Powder: 1 tsp
Salt: to taste
Method of Preparation:
- Heat a little oil in a pan and stir fry the ginger and garlic till brown. Add the cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, bay leaf and coriander seeds and stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Remove and keep aside.
- Heat oil in pan and stir fry one roughly chopped onion till translucent. Add scrapped coconut and stir fry till golden brown.
- Grind the ginger-garlic-dry spices and onion-coconut mixture along with dry red chilies and tamarind. Use around 1/2 cup of water to grind to a smooth paste.
- Soak the alsane overnight. Mix the alsane with the potato and finely chopped onion and pressure cook with a little water for 2 whistles.
- In a pan, mix together the cooked alsane and the ground coconut mixture. Add turmeric powder and salt to taste. Close lid and let cook for 3-4 minutes. Your Alsanyache tonak is ready. If the gravy looks too dry, you can add a little water.
- Garnish with coriander
Note:
- I have used the above measurements of spices several times in India with perfect results. However, sometimes the spices are much stronger (for e.g in the Gulf where I live now). In that case you might want to reduce the spices. I usually reduce the stronger spices by around 25% when I make alsanyache tonak in Bahrain.You may increase or decrease the chillies based on what suits your taste.
- You may increase or decrease the chillies based on what suits your taste.
Alsanyache Tonak
- Alsane (Red Cow Peas): 1 cup
- Onion : 2
- Potato: 1 chopped
- Cinnamon : ½ inch piece
- Cloves : 4
- Peppercorns : 10-12
- Bay Leaf: 1
- Coriander seeds: 2-3 tsp
- Garlic : 2 cloves finely chopped
- Ginger: ¼ inch piece
- Scraped Coconut: 1 cup
- Dry Red Chillies: 5 small
- Tamarind: 1 marble sized ball
- Turmeric Powder: 1 tsp
- Salt: to taste
- Heat a little oil in a pan and stir fry the ginger and garlic till brown. Add the cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, bay leaf and coriander seeds and stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Remove and keep aside.
- Heat oil in pan and stir fry one roughly chopped onion till translucent. Add scrapped coconut and stir fry till golden brown.
- Grind the ginger-garlic-dry spices and onion-coconut mixture along with dry red chilies and tamarind. Use around ½ cup of water to grind to a smooth paste.
- Soak the alsane overnight. Mix the alsane with the potato and finely chopped onion and pressure cook with a little water for 2 whistles.
- In a pan, mix together the cooked alsane and the ground coconut mixture. Add turmeric powder and salt to taste. Close lid and let cook for 3-4 minutes. If the gravy looks too dry, you can add a little water.
- Garnish with coriander
You may increase or decrease the chillies based on what suits your taste.
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