This Narkel Ghonto recipe is a unique Bengali vegetarian or ‘niramish‘ dish where grated coconut has been stirfried with a handful of Indian spices. It strikes a unique balance between the sweetness of the freshly grated coconut and a subtle heat from green chilli.
Here, ‘Narkel‘ means coconut and a ‘ghonto‘ is a kind of dish which uses spices like cumin seeds, ginger and green chilli, and is most often a dry side dish featuring vegetable or a combination of vegetables and other non-vegetarian items.
Served with boiled rice, this narkel ghonto recipe is an ideal side dish for a light meal. It is vegan, gluten-free and paleo-friendly as well.
There are hundreds of Bengali vegetarian recipes under the category of ‘ghonto‘. In fact, even I have a couple of them on my blog. You can check out the winter special, Palong Shaker Ghonto (Spinach & Radish or Daikon based recipe) here.
But this Narkel Ghonto is unique in every sense. And, it is something which I first heard and tasted at one of my aunt’s place. When she served it, we were totally surprised to see a dish made entirely with the coconuts. Generally, it is only added as a topping or to flavour the curries.
I am delighted at its simplicity yet how it gives an amazing side-dish to begin a meal. Scrapped coconut, tempered and cooked with a handful of ingredients gives you a delicious dish.
How to make Narkel Ghonto – Ingredients list
- Coconut – shredded or grated
- Ghee or Clarified Butter – alternate would be olive oil or sunflower oil
- Hing or Asafoetida
- Cumin Seeds & Cumin seeds powder
- Ginger
- Seasonings
There are few things about this Narkel Ghonto that I would like to point out:
- This is a dish made entirely of coconuts. So, if you have trouble with the coconut flavour, then this ain’t for you
- I would strongly suggest you to use a coconut scraper to scrape out fine threads of the coconut. This would make it melt-in-mouth and truly delicious
- If you do not have a coconut scraper, then you can use a food processor to grind the coconut pieces into finer texture.
- If you are like me and do not mind coarser texture, then you can leave the coconut a bit coarse. It would increase the cooking time slightly and would also give a crunch to the dish
- My aunt suggested adding a pinch of turmeric powder to this dish, but I avoided. I wanted to keep it white
- Also, in the end she suggested adding a teaspoon of four or cornflour slurry to the dish. This would absorb the liquid and make it thicker, but I didn’t find it necessary. In case you feel there’s extra liquid in the end, you can use flour or cornflour to manage that
Watch the step-by-step recipe demonstration of Narkel Ghonto here in this video:
Here, I have tried to demonstrate how to break open a coconut at home and then grind the coconut flesh for this dish.
Have you tried this recipe? I would love to hear about it.
Tag me on Instagram @priyankabhattacharya.sa or Facebook @hashdiaries and I will share it further.
This Narkel Ghonto recipe is a unique Bengali vegetarian or 'niramish' dish where grated coconut has been stirfried with a handful of Indian spices. It strikes a unique balance between the sweetness of the freshly grated coconut and a subtle heat from a green chilli.
- 1/2 Coconut – grated or shredded
- A pinch of Hing or Asafoetida
- 2 tsp Ghee Use EVOO for vegan alternate
- 1/4 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 1 Tejpata or Bay Leaf
- 1 Green Chilli
- 1 tbsp Grated Ginger
- 1 tsp Cumin Powder
- Salt to Taste
- 1 tsp Sugar
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Scrape the coconut and keep it aside.
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If you do not have a coconut scraper then chop the coconut into smaller pieces and grind it into a smooth mix.
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Heat a teaspoon of ghee (or EVOO) in a pan and temper it with hing, bay leaf, green chili and cumin seeds.
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As they splutter, add the grated coconut in the pan and stir for next couple of minutes on medium flame.
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Meanwhile, mix the grated ginger and cumin seeds powder with a little water to make a slurry. Keep it aside.
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Keep frying the coconut till it becomes aromatic. But do not let them brown up.
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Then add around 1/4 cup of water, salt, sugar and the ginger mix. Mix everything together. Cover the pan with the lid and allow it to simmer till the coconut is cooked thoroughly.
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Once the water has reduced and the coconut has become soft, add rest of the ghee and garam masala powder.
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Turn off the heat and serve.
Recipe Video
