Zucchini Poriyal, also known as Zucchini Thoran, is a delightful and easy South Indian stir fry made with zucchini (courgette) and fresh coconut, tempered with spices. This dish pairs perfectly with rice and rasam, and it's keto, low-carb, and vegan.
I had never cooked any dish with zucchini until I moved to the USA and was constantly looking for recipes to use. I eventually came up with the idea of making zucchini poriyal, which is similar to broccoli poriyal, purple cabbage poriyal, and carrot beans poriyal.
Poriyal is a South Indian-style stir fry made with vegetables, fresh coconut, and tempering. It pairs well with steamed rice and rasam. You can also check out my zucchini sabzi and zucchini curry.
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Ingredients
- Zucchini (Courgette): Choose zucchini that are bright green and firm. For this recipe, do not peel the skin.
- Onions: finely chopped red onions work best.
- Coconut: use freshly grated coconut for the best flavor. You can also use frozen coconut. Make sure to thaw it.
- Tempering: mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, dry red chilies, hing.
- Oil: your choice of cooking oil.
How to Make Zucchini Poriyal Recipe
Heat 1 tablespoon coconut oil in a pan, add ½ teaspoon mustard seeds, ½ teaspoon cumin seeds, and 3 dried red chilies, and let it splutter for a few seconds.
Add in 1 stalk curry leaves, 1 pinch of asafoetida (hing), and saute for another 30 seconds.
Add 1 small onion (finely chopped) and saute till the onions are translucent and light brown. Takes approximately 2 minutes.
Next, add the 1.5-2 cups of diced zucchini and salt, and stir-fry on medium-low heat until the zucchini is soft and cooked. Turn off the heat, then sprinkle 2-3 tablespoons shredded coconut over the top and combine well.
Serve this poriyal hot immediately.
Serving Suggestions
Serve zucchini thoran as a side dish with steamed rice and rasam. You can also pair it with roti, chapati, or paratha.
Expert Tips
- Ensure that the zucchini is fresh and firm. Additionally, taste a small piece before cooking, as some zucchinis can be bitter.
- Zucchini should be diced into small pieces for this stir-fry recipe.
- Zucchini contains 95% water, so there's no need to add extra water while cooking. Simply cook it on a low flame.
- You can store the leftovers for up to 1-2 days in the refrigerator.
Variations
- You can skip onions in this recipe.
- For added protein, you can add boiled chickpeas, edamame to the zucchini poriyal.
If you like this recipe, then check out other Indian Zucchini Recipes
Explore more Vegetable recipes for your next meal.
Zucchini Poriyal Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 medium zucchini (about 11/2-2 cups)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon cumin (jeera) seeds
- 3 dry red chillies
- 1 stalk curry leaves
- a pinch asafetida (hing)
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 2-3 tablespoons shredded coconut (fresh or frozen)
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat coconut oil in a pan, temper with mustard seeds ,cumin seeds ,red chillies and let it splutter for few seconds.
- Add in the curry leaves ,asafetida(hing) and saute for another 30 secs
- Add the chopped onion and saute till the onions are translucent and light brown.Takes appx 2 minutes.
- Next add the diced zucchini, salt and stir-fry on medium low flame till they soft and cooked.Turn off the gas and sprinkle shredded coconut and combine well.
- Serve the Zucchini Poriyal(Zucchini Stir Fry with fresh coconut) along with Rice and rasam.
Notes
Tips & Variations
- Zucchini needs to be fresh and firm.Also check the taste of zucchini before cooking it, some of them might be bitter in the taste.
- Zucchini should be diced into small pieces for this stir fry recipe.
- You can skip onions in this recipe.
- Zucchini contains 95% of water hence no need to add water while cooking, cook it on low flame.
Nutrition
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Seshan Krishnan
Loved this recipe .
Great for my keto lifestyle.
Bhavana Patil
Hi Sesan, so glad to know you liked the recipe.