Wood apple is known as vilampazham in Tamil. It’s usually offered as prasad on Ganesh Chaturthi.

It has lot of health benefits and it’s very rich in minerals like iron, phosphorus and calcium. It’s also a rich source of vitamin B and citric acid.

The pulp of the ripe wood apple is mixed with jaggery and served.But wood apple that we had bought was not ripe. It was quite raw. So, I made a spicy, sweet and sour chutney with it.

It was very tasty and everyone liked it at home, specially my son:)

Ingredients

Wood Apple – 2
Oil- 1 tbsp
Mustard – 1 tsp
Split urad dal – 1 tsp
Chana dal – 2 tsps
Curry leaves – few
Hing – 1/4th tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder – 2-3 tsps
Coriander powder – 2 tsps
Dry mango powder – 1 tsp
Grated jaggery – 5 tbsps

Wood Apple

Method

Break the hard outer shell of the fruit and take out the pulp and chop it.

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard. When it starts spluttering, add the urad dal, chana dal, curry leaves and hing. Sauté for few seconds and then add the chopped wood apple.

Sauté again for a min and then add turmeric powder, dry mango powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder and salt to taste. Mix well and sauté for few seconds. Add 1 cup of water, close the pan with a lid, reduce the flame and cook till the apple becomes soft.

Add the grated jaggery and mix well. Mash the apple well using the potato masher.
Mix well again and check for the seasonings. Let it cook on a reduced flame for 8-10 mins.

Let it cool for sometime. Serve it with roti/ rice/ idli / dosa 🙂