Kitchen Essentials: Koithi - Sickle

A koithi was always a must,  in every Mangalorean house.

It is used in the fields and farms to cut grass, on the estate when taking a walk, to break away branches from coffee shrubs that had grown too long, to cut off fruits from the trees without damaging the stems or the fruit. But it was also used within the house.

I have seen women practiced in the art, actually grip the koithi handle between their big and second toes and clean fish with the curved blade and chop vegetables. No need for an adalo, just the koithi would do.

With the introduction of better quality knives, the koithi is slowly being eased out of Manglorean kitchens.

While I personally do not use it to chop vegetables, I definitely need it when I'm cooking with coconuts.

The sharp tip is used to clean up the fibre on the exterior of the coconut. Then using the back of the curved part of the koithi, you hit the coconut hard around its mid section, until the shell cracks.

Using the sharp tip of the koithi,seperate the two halves of the coconut, keeping a bowl or a glass handy to collect the water inside the coconut (which is not as tasty as tender coconut water/ bonda neeru, but its quite drinkable too - very cooling and high in Potassium - so good for rehydration)

This entire process is normally completed on the edge of the kitchen sink to reduce the clean up of the coconut fibres and in case any water spills out of the coconut.