Kappalanga Thoran

Kerala's grated raw papaya steamed with turmeric, then crushed through coconut, cumin, and green chilli over a mustard and curry leaf tempering

Origin: Kochi, Thrissur & Kerala

From the journey of Papaya.

Kerala grows papaya without meaning to. A seed spat into the corner of a yard will be a tree inside a year and in fruit inside two, and because one tree gives far more than a household can eat ripe, the green fruit became a vegetable of the everyday kind. Malayalam calls it kappalanga in the centre and the south and omakka through Malabar, and either word on a menu means the unripe fruit. Thoran is the category it falls into: a vegetable shredded fine, cooked barely, and finished with grated coconut crushed to a coarse paste with green chilli, cumin, shallot, and turmeric, over a tempering of mustard seed, dried chilli, and curry leaves in coconut oil. Cabbage, beans, carrot, and the stems of the taro all take the same treatment, and raw papaya takes it better than most because the shreds keep their bite and carry the coconut without going to water. The other Kerala treatments are wetter. Omakka curry simmers the cubed fruit with dal, and erissery cooks it down with coconut and roasted coconut on top. Across the ghats the same fruit becomes Tamil pappali kai kootu and Telugu boppayikaya kura. The plant reached this coast from the Portuguese ports after 1589, and it has been in the yards so long that nobody thinks of it as foreign.

Ingredients

Vegetable

500 g green (unripe) papaya, peeled, seeded, and coarsely grated
0.5 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp water

Coconut Paste

120 g freshly grated coconut
2 green chillies
4 shallots, peeled
0.5 tsp cumin seeds

Tempering

2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds
2 dried red chillies, broken
1 sprig fresh curry leaves

Method

Crush the coconut, green chillies, shallots, and cumin together coarsely, in a mortar or in two or three pulses of a blender.
Heat the coconut oil, add the mustard seeds, and when they crackle add the dried chillies and curry leaves.
Add the grated papaya, turmeric, salt, and water, cover, and steam over a low heat for 8 minutes, until the shreds are tender but still have bite.
Add the coconut mixture, fold it through, cover, and cook for a further 4 minutes.
Uncover, raise the heat for a minute to dry off any moisture, and serve with rice, sambar, and a pappadam.

Notes

A handful of cooked red cowpeas or moong dal is often folded in with the coconut and makes it a fuller dish. The papaya must be properly green. Any orange in the flesh and the thoran turns sweet and slumps.

The Gastrographer

Name: Kappalanga Thoran
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Thrissur & Kerala
Ingredients: 500 g green (unripe) papaya, peeled, seeded, and coarsely grated; 0.5 tsp ground turmeric; 1 tsp salt; 3 tbsp water; 120 g freshly grated coconut; 2 green chillies; 4 shallots, peeled; 0.5 tsp cumin seeds; 2 tbsp coconut oil; 1 tsp black mustard seeds; 2 dried red chillies, broken; 1 sprig fresh curry leaves

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control