Cashew Fruit Coconut Based Side Dish (Kaju Bharth)

One fine afternoon my granny and her sisters were chitchatting. Random talks, gossips, sisters catching up after a long time. You can imagine how that goes. :) Any and every topic on earth surfaces during those times. :-)

Me and my mom were cleaning up after lunch and I didn’t pay much attention to their talks. One of my granny’s sister owns huge acres of cashew tree plantains. They were talking about how this years yield has been and my granny who's the oldest among all says you can make delicious bharth (a coconut based spicy side dish in Konkani) using ripe cashew fruit!! Well, I had heard of ripe cashew fruit juice but this ripe cashew fruit side dish is something I had never heard of. I was like wow! really!! I had to try it. 

My granny’s sister, the one who owns the cashew tree plantains calls up the next day and says she followed her sister’s recipe and the bharth (the ripe cashew fruit side dish) turned out to be delicious. Now I had to make this. I tried it the next day and was even more wowed!!

I’m happy I heard their conversation, if not may be this recipe would have got lost. So, here it is, a delicious cashew fruit recipe for you. You can serve this spicy side dish with rice for lunch or dinner. This dish has a distinct taste and smell of ripe cashew fruit. 

So, next time you lay hands on cashew fruit, (called as kaju in Konkani) give this kaju bharth (the Konkani name for this side dish) a try. To make this dish all you need is one ripe cashew fruit. So, give it a try.

Also, do try making delicious ripe cashew fruit juice using water and sugar. Don't you love to devour on ripe cashew fruits? A pinch of salt with chopped ripened cashew fruits tastes lovely!!! 

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe cashew fruit (red/orange cashew fruits preferably as they’re more sweet than yellow ones)
• 1/2 cup grated coconut
• 3-4 dried red chillies
• 1/4 teaspoon of powdered jaggery
• A chickpea sized or 1/4 teaspoon of tamarind
• A pinch of crystal asafoetida
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon of oil

For seasoning:

• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of mustard seeds
• 1 leaflet of curry leaves

Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 15-20 minutes

Preparation Method:

1. Heat a tempering pan, add in oil, crystal asafoetida, dried red chillies broken into pieces.
2. Saute them for a minute on medium heat. Remove the pan off heat. 
3. Let the chillies, asafoetida cool down completely and then grind them along with grated coconut, tamarind, salt, jaggery into a smooth paste using just as much water as required. We need a thick to semi-thick side dish in the end.
4. When you’re almost through to get a smooth paste, add in roughly chopped ripe cashew fruit and grind it for a minute in the end.
5. Transfer the ground chutney into a bowl. Then season it.
6. Seasoning: Heat up a tempering pan, add in oil, mustard seeds and let them splutter. Once the spluttering stops, add in curry leaves, let them sizzle for few seconds and add this seasoning to the dish. Mix well.
7. Serve this side dish for lunch, dinner and enjoy. Hope you like it.

Tags: Cashew fruit, Indian summer, summer recipe, kaju, bharth, kaju bharth, side dish, vegetarian, Konkani cuisine, Konkani food, Konkani recipe, GSB Konkani recipe, vegan, vegetarian recipe, South Canara Konkani recipe, Konkani cooking, GSB Konkani cuisine.