Tender Cashew Stir Fry | Bibbe Upkari is a flavorful and delicious, soft and creamy Mangalorean Konkani stir fry prepared using fresh tender cashews and spices. Serve this as a side dish with steamed rice and dalitoy for a complete vegetarian meal or as a breakfast or evening snack with poori (puri) or chapati.
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What are tender cashews?
Cashew seed attached to the cashew apple (kaju) start growing on cashew trees or kaju trees around the Konkan region of India (coastal Karnataka, Goa, and parts of Maharashtra) in the month of January and these cashew seeds, also known as cashew nuts, become mature by end of April which is then processed and used as snacking item or in a number of recipes including preparation of cashew cheese and cashew butter. Even before they mature, the young cashew seeds are harvested and peeled to get these tender cashews, popularly called bibbo in Konkani. These are softer than the mature cashew nuts that are sold in supermarkets or grocery stores across the world.
These tender cashews are typically sold in vegetable stores in packets of 50 or 100 cashews and are very seasonal and expensive too. These can be stored in the freezer for a month. Yet Konkanis buy them, and some even dry them in sunlight and store them in the freezer to use them year-round. You will compromise on taste by sun-drying, but it is worth it as the taste of tender cashews is unique compared to the mature cashews you buy in the market.
Bibbe Upkari
Bibbo is a konkani word for tender cashew nuts. This recipe is popular in the Konkani cuisine of coastal Karnataka (Udupi and Mangalore). It is prepared mainly during the Ugadi festival (Gudi padwa) i.e. beginning of New Year for southern parts of India or during the summer season when these tender cashews or bibbo are available.
Some of our traditional recipes for Ugadi (Gudi Padwa )
- Mango Rice (chitranna)
- Ugadi pachadi (panakam)
- Gasgase payasam
- Mango curry (ambe upkari)
- Jeev kadgi podi
What bibbo means for amchis or konkanis?
If you meet any Konkanis around this festival, they never ask you how you are. The very first question is tukka bibbo melli ve? tu kitli dille? makkai thode kanu davarta ve? (i.e., did you find tender cashews? How much did you pay? Please buy some for me if you find them again.) Ugadi is complete with this stir fry called upkari in Konkani.
And I still remember my granny and parents telling if there was bibbe upkari for a wedding during the summer season; the event was declared a very grand one 🙂
Because it is expensive and if you are feeding a large family or gathering to increase the quantity of the stir fry, people add potatoes and ivy gourd (tendle or tindora), which is again available in plenty during this season.
How to cook tender cashew nuts?
- These bibbo (cashews) are available with skin on. Put them in hot boiling water and let them soak for an hour or two. You can even put them in boiling water and soak them overnight. This is mainly done to remove any sand and dirt sticking and for easy peeling of the cashews.
- After one hour or overnight soaking, peel the skin and separate the cashews.
- Some people pressure cook at this point so that it cooks faster, and becomes soft and creamy. I prefer this if using mature cashewnuts. But with tender cashew nuts, I like to cook them with water in a pan with the lid on so that I know when to stop cooking further and that these won't turn mushy at all. The choice is yours. If you are pressure cooking, cook for 2 to 3 whistles with enough water and stop.
Ingredients
Cashews: Tender cashews peeled. Around 100.
Coconut oil: Authentic taste comes from tempering with coconut oil.
Tempering spices: Mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal, red chile, green chile, curry leaves, and hing.
Check out the recipe card for the full list of the ingredients.
Step-by-step instructions
- Heat coconut oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When they start to splutter, add urad dal and chana dal. When they become light golden in color, add slit red chile, slit green chile, curry leaves, and saute for a few seconds.
- Add tender cashew nuts, water, and salt to taste and bring it to a boil on high flame. Now cover with lid, lower the flame to medium, and let it cook till the water has evaporated and cashews become soft and creamy (approx 5 to 10 minutes). At this point, if you still feel it's not soft or creamy or cooked through, add a little more water and cook it further.
- Add hing powder and grated coconut, and toss till combined. Sauté for two more minutes. Switch off the flame.
- Serve hot and enjoy.
Tips
- Make sure you soak tender cashew nuts in hot water for at least 1 hour. If you are using skinned mature cashews or regular white cashews, make sure you soak them overnight and pressure cook for faster cooking.
- You can add potatoes, and ivy gourd (tendle or tindora) cut lengthwise to the recipe if desired.
- To know if it's cooked entirely or not, taste one cashew. It should be soft and creamy. If not, continue to cook for some more time.
- I have actually used hing water (solid hing dissolved in water and added). Use good quality hing (powder or solid form). The flavor it gives to the dish is just amazing.
- You can increase the number of chilies if you want the dish spicy.
- I have added freshly grated coconut. You can use frozen or desiccated coconut.
Recipe FAQs
I can give you 100s of them, but some of my favorite ones where you can use tender cashew nuts are
Bibbe song - quick shortcut version or check Batate song. Simply substitute potatoes with tender cashews.
Bibbe human, hinga udda or (Substitute prawns with bibbo in this recipe for Prawns curry )
Valval
Madgane (jaggery paysa)
Bibbe Sukka (substitute mushroom with tender cashews in this recipe)
You can prepare bibbe upkari by using dry mature cashews that are available with skin-on (peel off the skin by rubbing between your palms or by soaking process) or skin-off whole (or split) white cashews that are available in any grocery store across the world. Make sure to choose cashews that are not fried. To get that soft and creamy texture, just soak it overnight and pressure cook for 3 whistles (one on high and two on medium flame) and use it in stir fry.
There will be hardly any leftovers with such seasonal delicacies. But if you have some, you can store it in the refrigerator for 3 days and heat it as and when required. Remember that it always tastes best when done and served fresh.
More ugadi recipes
Recipe card
Tender Cashew Stir Fry | Bibbe Upkari
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups Tender Cashews, peeled or bibbo (around 80 to 100 unpeeled)
- 2 tablespoon Coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon Mustard Seeds
- 1 teaspoon Urad dal
- 1 tablespoon Chana dal optional
- 1 Dry Red chile
- 2 to 3 Green chile
- 2 sprigs Curry leaves
- 1 ¼ cups Water (approx)
- 2 to 3 tablespoon Coconut , grated
- ¼ teaspoon Asafoetida or Hing powder
- Salt , to taste
Instructions
How to cook tender cashews or bibbo?
- These bibbo (tender cashews) are available with skin on. Put them in hot boiling water and let this soak for an hour or two. You can even put them in boiling water and soak them overnight. This is mainly done to remove any sand and dirt sticking to them and for easy peeling of the cashews.2 cups Tender Cashews, peeled
- After one hour or overnight soaking, peel the skin and separate the cashews.
- Some people pressure cook at this point so that these peeled tender cashews cooks faster, and become soft and creamy. I prefer this method if using mature cashew nuts. But with tender cashewnuts, I like to cook it with water in a pan with the lid on so that I know when to stop cooking further and that these tender cashews won't turn mushy at all. The choice is yours. If you are pressure cooking, cook for 2 to 3 whistles with enough water.
How to make tender cashew stir fry?
- Heat 2 tablespoon of coconut oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When they start to splutter, add urad dal and chana dal. When dal becomes light golden in color, add broken red chile, slit green chile, curry leaves, and saute for a few seconds.2 tablespoon Coconut oil, 1 teaspoon Mustard Seeds, 1 teaspoon Urad dal, 1 tablespoon Chana dal, 1 Dry Red chile, 2 to 3 Green chile, 2 sprigs Curry leaves
- Add unpeeled tender cashews, water, salt to taste, and bring it to a boil on high flame. Cover with lid, lower the flame to medium, and let it cook till the water has evaporated and the cashews become soft and creamy (approx 5 to 10 minutes). At this point, if you still feel it is not soft or creamy or cooked through, add a little more water and cook it further.1 ¼ cups Water, Salt
- Add hing powder, grated coconut, and toss till combined. Sauté for 3 to 4 more minutes. Switch off the flame.¼ teaspoon Asafoetida, 2 to 3 tablespoon Coconut
- Tender Cashew Stir Fry or Bibbe Upkari is ready. Serve hot and enjoy.
Video
Notes
- Make sure you soak tender cashews in hot water for atleast 1 hour and if using skinned raw-mature cashews or regular white cashews make sure you soak them overnight and pressure cook for faster cooking.
- You can add potatoes and ivy gourd (tendle or tindora) cut lengthwise to the recipe if desired.
- To know if the cashews have cooked completely or not, taste one cashew. It should be soft and creamy. If not continue to cook for some more time.
- I have actually used hing water (solid hing dissolved in water and added). Use good quality hing (powder or solid form). The flavor it gives to the dish is just amazing.
- You can increase the amount of chilies if you want the dish to be spicy.
- I have added freshly grated coconut. You can use frozen or dry.
Nutrition
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Note: We originally posted this vegan cashew stir fry recipe for yugadi in April 2021. It has now been modified in March 2025 with Expert Chef Tips, FAQs, Storage Instructions, etc.
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