Swiss Chard and Green Peas Stir Fry with coconut

I cannot not talk about Swiss Chard. It is very easy to grow and provides enormous satisfaction both in terms of harvest and taste. Sowed them in early April and they have started producing leaves in abundance to be used once every 2 weeks. usually the leaves are harvested and the plant intact to stimulate more growth. They will produce till the frost in late November kills off the plant.

After the bulk of the coconut was put to use in the coconut rice there was still some left for making this long forgotten stir fry, not the stir fry itself but the addition of fresh grated coconut.

I got about 2 bags full of chard leaves and combined with some fresh green peas made an excellent stir fry. Off this will go to Green Gourmet event hosted by Preeti of W'Rite' Food.

Grating coconut
In India there are numerous hand cranked and old kitchen tools that do a very good job of grating coconut. The grand daddy of all tools the aruvamanai was probably the only tool I did not carry with me here to the US but it is a nifty tool for grating coconut. Mom instead bought this handy coconut scraper.

hand held coconut scraper

Once the coconut is split in half, the ragged edge is used to scrape the coconut from the shell and it makes beautiful coconut gratings for garnish and cooking.

jagged edge for scraping coconut out

If fancy is not something you fancy, use a sharp knife and cut out small pieces from the shell. Pierce into the flesh till you hit the shell and pry it out. Then use a food processor to grate the coconut.

Swiss Chard and Green Peas Stir Fry
Ingredients
1. 4 cups of packed chopped Swiss Chard leaves
2. 1 1/2 cups of fresh green peas
3. 1/2 onion chopped fine
4. 4 red chilies broken in two, seeds removed
5. 1/2 cup of grated fresh coconut
6. seasonings: curry leaves, mustard - 1/2 tsp, cumin seeds, 1 tsp urad dal
7. 1 tsp oil + salt to taste

Method
1. In a wide mouthed pan (kadai) heat oil, when hot add the urad dal and when it turns slightly brown add the cumin, mustard seeds. When mustard seeds start to pop add the curry leaves and red chilies.
2. Add the onions and saute till translucent
3. Add the green peas mix and let it cook for 4-5 minutes with the lid closed
4. Add the chopped greens, salt and let it cook till the water evaporates (if there is a lot of excess water drain and use it in sambhar or making chapati dough)
5. Add 3/4 th of the coconut and mix it in, turn off the heat
6. Sprinkle the rest of the coconut on top