Recipe: Puliyekuthi Poduthuval

Puliyekuthi Poduthuval is a family favourite, especially that of my beloved father. He just loved it. It has a delicious taste, with the combined flavours of the different vegetables that go into it and the tangy taste of the tamarind, all of it enhanced by the aroma of the special powder, freshly ground. The banana used in this recipe is called Mondan or Pondan or Vannan differently in different parts of Kerala.

Ingredients:
Raw banana: 1
Fully ripe Red Pumpkin: 250 gms
Brinjal : 200gms
Ladies finger (Okra): 200gms
Yam (Arvi, Chembu): 200gms
(Some people put arvi leaves folded into small bundles. We don’t use this at home.)
Turmeric powder: 1tsp
Tamarind: lemon sized ball
Jaggery: a small piece
Salt to taste
Curry leaves: 1 sprig

Roast and powder-
Boiled rice (Not cooked but the boiled rice used for idlis): 1 tbsp.
Toor dal: 1tsp.
Methi seeds: ½ tsp.
Hing: size of a pea
Red chillies: 2 or more as per taste
Curry leaves: a few

For garnishing-
Oil: 1 tbsp.
Mustard seeds: 2 tsp.
Urad dal: 2 tsp.
Red chilies: 1 (broken into small pieces)
Curry leaves: a few

Method:
Soak tamarind in little warm water and squeeze out the pulp. Keep it aside.

Dry roast all the ingredients for the powder, in the following order. Heat the pan and add the hing. When it starts getting fried, add the rice (washed). When the rice starts popping, add the rest of the ingredients and fry until they are all a nice pink color with a nice aroma. Cool and grind to a fine powder. Keep aside.

Cut the banana and pumpkin into 2” cubes. Wash and cut the brinjal and ladies finger to 2” pieces. Peel and cut the arvi. Boil the tamarind pulp with 3 cups of water and add the arvi. When arvi is half cooked add the banana and pumpkin pieces. Add the brinjal and ladyfingers when banana and pumpkin are half cooked. Add the turmeric powder, salt and jaggery. Add half cup of water to the prepared powder and make a paste. When the vegetables are fully cooked, add this paste and boil. If the consistency is too thick add a little more water and boil. It should be thicker than sambar in consistency, almost to the consistency of kootu. Even if the consistency is little watery, it will thicken as the curry cools. When the curry has boiled for 5 minutes remove it from the stove. Add a few curry leaves.

Heat another pan. Add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds crackle, add the urad dal and red chilli pieces.. When the urad dal is pink in color and the red chillies get fried, add the curry leaves and pour this tadka into the curry.

Enjoy with rice. This curry is mixed with rice using what we at home call fried oil. This is the oil left over from frying papads etc. This gives a delicious taste to the food. The right accompaniment for Puliyekuthi Poduthuval is Papads. The menu at home on Puliyekuthi Poduthuval day is Puliyekuthi Poduthuval, Rasam and papad.

P.S. Arvi is best peeled after boiling them first. The skin comes off easily. What I do is to wash and put the arvi at the bottom of the pressure cooker with enough water and keep the other vegetables, excepting brinjal and ladyfingers, on top of it in a separate container. I add the tamarind juice, turmeric powder and salt also into the vegetables. Brinjal and ladies fingers are cooked separately. When the pressure cooker is ready, I remove the arvi, peel and cut them, mix all the vegetables and boil for 5 minutes and add the rest of the ingredients.
ENJOY!

This along with the Puzhukku recipe is my entry for JFI Banana.