Anecdote
It was Shirin's 40th. We were hand-picked for a Goa holiday and were put up at The Hermitage. Shirin was walking around with a yellow file - the file hid the rooming arrangements which she had arrived at after some hours of work. They were based on psychometric, historical and behavioral analyses. Then we checked in. There were two cottages. One of the two cottages housed the following. Good old buddies Bela, Aarti and Kavita were shacked up together. British friend Kim was sharing a room with the British birthday girl. Yours truly was nominated to room with HR professional and corporate sister-in-law. The boss and friend Vibha had at first dibbed on the couch. It was a wild night, we turned in late. Kim had adios-ed all caution and dived into Goan sea food at a shack with abundance and love. Her guts could not handle all the spice and the oil and the poor thing passed out on the floor. The scared-to-death birthday girl ran around the cottage begging everyone to wake up and rush to the scene, the one thought daunting her the most - Kim had passed out but her eyes were open!!!! We all instinctively rushed to the room. But our Aarti Karmarkar Phaterphekar jumped out of bed and hurriedly started looking for her footwear. At 2 AM in this situation where hysterical night dressed women were running to the scene of matter it was imperative that she had on her footwear.
Can you even imagine the post postmortems to this incident? It has been 5 years, we still are in crazy stitches. Every time.
Drama queen Aarti is truly a drama queen. A single mother to an adorable Ria, she is a stage actor in Hyderabad with some accomplished performances in her acting repertoire. She did not keep her passion only to herself. Generosity comes naturally to her as do a hundred lunges. She co owns an acting course for children where she uses drama as an art and a tool to add on to honing a child's life skills. Crisp in her fashion, clear in her thoughts and honest in her laughter, Aarti is an inspiration. She has taught me to not allow life to deter you inspite of all odds.
Trust the drama angle in this persona. I requested her for a recipe for this blog. She at first gave me a dish steeped in Maharashtrian culture, history and drama - the traditional 'Puran Poli'. She called it easy. I read and re-read; daunted. I guess she understood my inadequacy and the next time shared a lovely refreshing and unusual one-pot. Only that it is not just a one-pot. It is a one-nut dish. And it is absolutely lovably yummy!
Stuff that you must have
A tender coconut with water and flesh in it
A cup of brown rice, soaked and par boiled
A handful of fresh peas
2 medium sized onions
1 large tomato
Half a kilo minced chicken or even boneless cubed chicken
300 grams cubed paneer
Cumin, coriander, chilly powder
Salt to taste
One and a half tbsp olive oil
What to do
Keep the coconut water aside. Ensure the coconut has a lovely white fleshy interior with the cap on.
Chop the onions finely and cube the tomatoes. Lightly golden fry the paneer cubes and set aside. In warm olive oil, toss in the onions and stir until they turn pinkish gold. Time for the tomatoes. In about a minute stir once and spoon in a tsp each of cumin and coriander powder and about half a tsp of chilly powder. Add salt to taste and mix well and cook in low heat for 3-4 mins. Till now the chicken mince should be washed and strained. Add the mince to the cooking paste. Stir well and allow it to cook for 2 mins. Now throw in a handful of shelled peas. In about 4 more mins, add the paneer and in about another min add the brown rice. Once gently blend in everything with your spatula. Now you pour in the coconut water.
The meat, the peas and the rice will almost completely cook in the coconut water. Once it is almost cooked, please taste for salt and keep aside.
Now stuff in the pilaf in the tender coconut. Cover with the coconut cap.Bake in your oven at 160 degrees for 20 mins or so.
How to serve
When you are serving, spoon the pilaf out while scraping the walls of the coconut. Soft bits of flesh will merge with the piping hot rice. Dig in.
Trivia
Coconut water contains zero fat and is high on potassium.
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