May 25, 2010

Puthucode Pulingari - A variation from the normal pulingari

Puthucode in the title is the name of a village in the district of Palakkad. The village is famous for its Anapoorneswari temple and the Navarathri celebrations. During Navarathri, feast/sadhya is there in the temple. The menu is fixed - Pulingari, Olan and Chadachadayam payasam. The pulingari served is different from the normal recipe and hence it is associated with the name of the village. To know more about this village, read Ammupatti's Thoughts.  During my childhood days, our family made it to atleast one day during the nine day celebrations. As kids, our main attraction was the sadya and the chance to taste the lip smacking pulingari. On one of our visits, we got the souvenir published as part of the festival and the recipe for the famous pulingari was given. From then on, amma made it at home too. It was reseved for special occassions. Not that its difficult to make, but to keep the novelty, its not made often as Sambhar is prepared. In olden days, the vegetable pieces added to the pulingari will be very big. Ash gourd, pumpkin and yam are the veggies added. It is told that after peeling the skin, the whole vegetable is dropped on the ground to break into pieces. The pieces, as is broken, is added to the gravy. During the time when I went, the pieces were not that big, but bigger than what we add in our homes. Just to get that feel, my amma also used to add big pieces. There is no dhanya added here and green chilli is used which is not common in pulingari. Usually pulingari will not have dal added to it. The recipe is simple and easy to make, but the taste is something different from the usual sambhar.





You need

Ash gourd/elavan/kumbalanga - 1/2 kg

Pumpkin/Mathan - 1/2 kg

Yam/chenai - 250 gms

Turmeric - 1/4 tspn

Chilli powder -1/2tspn


Salt to taste

Tamarind - lemon sized

Cooked tuvar dal - 1 cup



To roast

Raw rice -2 tblspn

Methi seed - 1 tspn


Roast raw rice and methi seeds separately till light brown. Powder them separately.

To grind

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup heaped

Green chilli - 2 nos


Seasoning

Oil - 1 tspn

Mustard - 1 tspn

Red chilli - 2 nos
Curry leaves

Method

Wash and peel the vegetables. Chop them into 2 inch cubes. Add two cups of water to the cubed veggies and cook. Add turmeric and red chilli powder and half the amount of salt. The salt is added only for the veggies. The remaining salt will be added to the end. Yam takes more time to cook. You can either cook yam alone in a pressure cooker to speed up the cooking.

When the vegetables are half cooked, extract the tamarind juice and add to it. When the veggies are cooked soft in the tamarind gravy, add cooked tuvar dal and roasted and powdered rice powder.

 Grind the coconut and green chilly to a fine paste by adding enough water. Adjust the amount of chillies according to your spice tolerance.

When the gravy starts boiling, add the ground coconut paste and adjust the thickness of the gravy by adding water. The dal, coconut paste and rice powder will thicken the gravy. Add salt and let it simmer for few minutes.

Remove from fire and do the seasoning with mustard seeds and red chillies. Finally add the powdered methi powder and garnish with curry leaves. The methi powder added at the end gives a nice aroma to the dish.

Enjoy with hot rice with a vegetable side dish and papad.






23 comments:

  1. Looks yummy and this is new to me...nice click

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  2. Love the gravy, must be very very tasty.

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  3. looks tempting and new to me...delicious!

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  4. Simple yet tasty recipe. Love it.

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  5. Hi J,

    A very different dish...combining methi seeds shd render it a nice solid flavour. Somehow reminds me of Mambazha Kuzhambu...Shall try this over the weekend.

    Shobha

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  6. Such a tempting and delicious dish, looks awesome,thanks for sharing..

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  7. Sounds very delectable. I love all the three veggies added therein. However, I just don't get two of those here. Will have to wait to visit India to try!

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  8. lovely dish. looks so good.

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  9. a new dish..i am always in afix when I buy the ash gourd..make a rgular kootu..this one sounds good..

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  10. simple to make but seems delicious.

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  11. Hey im new to ur blog and wow what a lovely blog...its very attractive and i liked all the recipes a lot....thats so nice of you./....and this dish was so colorful and healthy ingredients too.....keep going...happy to follow u...
    Do drop in sometime...

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  12. Iam all set for anything from Palakhad..have bookmarked most of ur recipes. Since I dont use coconut much, its taking time to make them.Will try them as and when i buy coconut.

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  13. This sounds new to me. looks so good. YUM!

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  14. I love all the three veggies used in this,sure should be a delightful dish!

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  15. I discovered this type of pulinkari after I got married when my MIL used to make it. It certainly is different from the usual one we make.

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  16. Never tasted but i feel like having right away. Love the story behind this dish!

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  17. Ahh! My comfort gravy ever!,,Pulinkari!!..Amma used to make this at least twice a week.Miss this one ever since my marriage as my inlaws are not at all fans of pulinkari :(

    Looks so so homely, girl!!

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  18. very tempting, thanks for sharing..

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  19. Wow delicious recipe looks so mouthwatering....

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  20. My recipe
    Pudukkotu Pulungari

    Pumpkin 150 g, Yam 150 g, Ash gourd 150 g, Plantains 50 g,
    Raw rice 10 g, tur dhal 25 g, dried chillies 3, Fenugreek (Mentha) 5 g, Tamarind 50 g, Coconut (shredded) 25 g, Mustard 2 g, green chillies 5 g, Jaggery 20 g, curry leaves, Coconut oil 25 g and some quantity of curry leaves and salt to taste.
    Method:
    1.Cut and cook Ah gourd and yam together in a cooker
    2.Also cook Tur dal in the cooker
    3. Cut and boil pumpkin and plantains
    4. fry rice till they pop and powder it
    5.fry fenugreek (Mentha) to golden brown and powder it
    6.Grind coconut and green chillies together
    7 Extract Tamarind juice and boil it for 5 minutes
    8. Add all vegetables, jaggery, and cooked dhal for 10 minutes
    9.Add rice powder and boil for 5 minutes
    10. Take out from stove and immediately add coconut paste, mentha powder, coconut oil and curry leaves and stir.
    11. Season it with mustard and dry chilies in coconut oil.
    P.R.Ramachander

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  21. Ramachander mama..I feel so happy to see your comment in my blog. I knew you through the Pattars group and the Kerala Iyer site. Thanks for writing in your recipe. I shall try your recipe too sometime. Thanks again.

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