Senai Kizhangu (Suran) Porial

I had the opportunity to taste and enjoy this dish very first time during my Under Graduate college days.

After the 2nd year, I moved out with a group of friends (trust me, we did not do any wrong and we were not expelled from the hostel!!!) into an independent house close to the college.  After a few months settling into that house, the house owner offered us an in-house mess option that would be run by his sister and brother-in-law. We said yes and had the opportunity to enjoy some fine home cooked food for some time.

Mess uncle and aunty were very kind and they cooked tasty food for us.  The mess uncle had a Chinese looking olden style Hurricane lamp that he would clean every day evening for about an hour or so just in case there were any power cuts. Because of the Chinese style lamp he was very fond of with, we eventually gave him a nick name “Hiuen Tsang” (with our own pronunciation “Yuan Suang” !!!) and we referred him using that name in our internal conversations.

My mom makes many dishes with Suran, but she never made this Suran Porial.  For your culinary delight, here is the simple recipe for Suran Porial, from Yuan Suang’s Kitchen!

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Senai Kizhangu (Suran) Porial

A plain and simple side dish made with Senai/ Karunai Kizhangu (Suran).

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Indian

Keyword Kara Karanai, Karanai, Karunai Kizhangu, Suran

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4 people

Author Senthil Sadasivam

Ingredients

• lb Karunai Kizhangu (or Suran) chopped

For Seasoning

• 1/4 tbsp Mustard seeds
• 1/4 tbsp Urad dal
• 2 Red chilies broken
• 1 sprig Curry leaves
• 1/2 tsp Hing powder
• 1/2 cup Onion chopped
• 2 Green chilies chopped
• 1 tbsp Oil

Other Ingredients

• 1/4 tbsp Coriander powder
• 1 tsp Turmeric powder
• 4 tbsp Coconut paste or Coconut scrapes
• 1/4 cup Coriander leaves chopped

Instructions

1. Take a pan, pour oil and season with mustard, red chilies, urad dal, curry leaves, hing, chopped onion/ green chilies and fry for 3 mins.

2. Add the chopped Karunai Kizhangu (Suran) pieces, sprinkle some water (do not add too much as suran will also leave out some water), coriander powder, turmeric powder, coconut paste (if using coconut scrapes, add them at the end), salt to taste, mix well and cover and cook till done.

3. Garnish with coconut scrapes (if no coconut paste was used) and coriander leaves and serve.

Recipe Notes

• You can add chana dal, jeera during tadka.
• This mildly spiced dish goes very well with Sambar, Kara/ Fish/ Yogurt Kolambu, Rasam, etc.
• Sometimes fresh Suran is itchy when handled/ tasted.  The itchiness is caused by Calcium Oxalate/ Saponins juice present in that vegetable.  This itchy feeling can be reduced by soaking the cut suran pieces in buttermilk for 10 mins or by boiling the Suran pieces in salt water for few mins. Because I do this to remove the itchy taste, I do not care if some nutritional value is lost in the boiling process.
• You can use this same recipe to make raw banana or potato porial and can experience similar awesome taste!