Watermelon skin Kandhi ( sweet porridge)

   

       In the old days , in our home in Male', the trash was usually thrown by this man, who would come every day pulling his aigaadiya ( a hand-drawn cart) collecting trash and then taking them to the dump yard. During Ramadhan, my mother usually invites him to come over to the house to have some baipen ( rice porridge) with some form of mas huni ( fish and coconut salad) and of course watermelon.
He would usually come after Tharaaweeh prayers ( a special night prayer conducted during Ramadhan nights). While sitting down to eat and chatting with my mum, he would talk about the amount of unnecessary waste people would throw away. I remember him once saying "People throw away a whole boakibaa ( fish cake), for no reason". 

He loved watermelon and he had this meticulous way of eating it, he would first eat the red juicy flesh then take a knife and finely peel off the green skin and finish eating the white rind of the watermelon, the part that we normally throw away. 

It was just a few year back, in Ramadhan month that I read an article in an online newspaper about the amount of waste we throw away during Ramadhan. How families would make various dishes, spaghetti for one person, roshi for another, several short eats, curries and desserts and then all of a sudden, before the day ends, a family member might just suddenly suggest let us go and eat out!. And where does all the food end up? yup into the bin!.

 They could just keep it for the next day or maybe just cook less or plan it out.  Ramadhan isn't just stuffing yourself with food or trying to outdo one another on Instagram. It is about Faith and giving not how much you can cook.  So with this month's Ramadhan coming in during this Pandemic and a lockdown in place, and with almost all countries in shut down, we need to be careful about how we eat and not waste food. 

Now  back to my recipe, I have toiled with the idea of this kandhi for a while, watermelon skin or rather the white part of the watermelon looked a lot like fuhfoo, or winter melon so since I loved fuhfoo kandhi I decided to use the watermelon skin to make kandhi. 

The taste was nice, it did have a bit bitter after taste but,  it went down well. You need to cut the watermelon into really fine small cubes because it takes some time to cook. 

Give it a try and let me know what you think. 

Yield: 6

Author: Nammi

Watermelon skin Kandhi

Ingredients:

• 2 cups finely chopped watermelon rind (white part), which is roughly 1/2 of a small watermelon. 
• 1 pandan leaf ( about 12 inches), cut into large pieces or knotted
• 250g sugar
• 1 inch cinammon stick
• 6 cardamon pods, ends snipped
• 1/2 cup  coconut milk ( I used packed, see note)
• 4 tbsp cornflour
• 3 tbsp rose water
• 3 1/2 cups water plus an extra 1/4 cup water

Instructions:

How to cook Watermelon skin Kandhi

1. The watermelon skin should be cut into really fine tiny cubes and thinly too.
2. Heat a large pan of water and add the watermelon skin and boil till the skin is tender, about 30 to 45  minutes. 
3. Drain and wash in tap water.
4. Heat 3 1/2  cups of water in a large pot, add sugar, pandan, cinnamon, and cardamon pods and cook over medium heat.  Add watermelon skin cubes and let the mixture simmer for about 10-15 minutes. 
5. Taste add more sugar if you like it sweeter.  Mix cornflour (corn starch)  into 1/4 cup of water, and stir it in, mixing it in with a spoon.  Simmer for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally or the cornflour tends to coagulate at the bottom.
6. Once the mixture starts to look thicker, add the coconut milk, simmer 5 minutes, (you can thin it down if you think it's too thick, )and then add rose water and switch off. 
7. Cool and serve lukewarm or chilled.

Notes:

I used the liquid coconut milk that you find in either packets or cans. You can use 2 tbsp of coconut powder dissolved in 1/2 cup water to make thick milk or the fresh first extract of fresh coconut milk. Chill the mixture once it comes to room temperature if serving chilled.

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