Senai Pachadi (Yam Tamarind and Coconut)

Pachadi is basically a side-dish to go with molagootal. Appa, my father would also mix pachadi with rice as a main dish. Pachadi is either made in tamarind water or without. Manga pachadi doesn't have tamarind in it, while senai (yam), vendakai (okra, ladys' finger) and mathan (yellow pumpkin) are cooked in tamarind.



Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Senai (yam) - 50 gms, diced 1"
Puli (tamarind) - 1 lemon sized ball or 1 tsp paste
Manjal podi (turmeric powder) - 1/2 tsp
Salt- to taste
Coconut - 1/2 cup shredded
Kadugu (mustard seeds) - 1/2 tsp
Pachai milagai (green chillies) - 1
Karuvepillai (curry leaves) - 2-3 leaves
Oil - 1/2 tsp

Soak tamarind in a cup of warm water for 15 mins. Squeeze the tamarind so all the juice go into the water, this is tamarind extract. Add about 1 1/2 cups of water to this extract (or to tamarind paste) and bring it to boil. When tamarind boils, add diced yam, turmeric and salt. Let yam cook in tamarind water.

Grind coconut, chillies and mustard into paste. Add this paste to cooked vegetables. Bring to boil. Switch off stove. For tempering, heat oil and switch off stove. Add curry leaves. Pour this into the vegetables.

Eat this tangy pachadi with molagootal.

Note:

Pachadi as a side dish is thick, but for mixing with rice pachadi is a little thin (running consistency).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Senai Vazhakkai Molagootal (Yam and Raw Banana coconut gravy)

Image
Molagootal as you can see is my favorite Kerala Iyer food. I had shared recipes for Yelavan Molagootal and Keerai Molagootal . Now its time for Senai Vazhakkai Molagootal. Mezhukku Varatti and Senai Vazhakkai Molagootal are two recipes in which I relish Vazhakkai (Raw Banana). To the recipe now. Ingredients: Senai (Yam) - 250gm, skinned diced to 1" Vazhakkai (Raw Banana) - 1, skinned diced to 1" Coconut - 1 cup, shredded Thoram paruppu (toor dal) - 1 cup, cooked Red chillies, whole - 1 Ullundu (urad dal) - 1 tsp Kadugu (mustard seeds) - 1 tsp Jeeragam (jeera) - 1 tsp Manjal podi (turmeric) - 1 tsp Curry leaves - 4 leaves Salt - to taste Oil - 1 tsp In a pressure cooked, cook in two layers. On the bottom, add yam and raw banana with turmeric. Add just enough water to cover the vegetables. On top, add enough water to cook toor dal. Now put the pressure cooker on the stove and cook for three whistles or until dal is cooked. In a small pan, heat ...
Read more

Yelavan Molagootal (White pumpkin and coconut)

Image
Molagootal is a staple in our Palakkad Brahmin homes. We eat Molagootal every week, and sometimes a few times a week. How? Since Molagootal can be cooked with different vegetables and combination of few vegetables, every concoction of Molagootal tastes, looks and smells different. Genrally Molagootal is made with these vegetables or a combination of theses - Yelavan (White Gourd/pumpkin), Matthan (Yellow Gourd/pumpkin or Acorn suqash) , Vazhakkai (Raw Banana), Senai (Yam), Goes (Cabbage), and Keerai (Amarath or Spinach). Except Keerai , all other vegetables can be used together to make Molagootal .  Molagootal is an wholesome food. Its is mixed with rice and eaten. We sometimes use it as a side dish for chappati. Molagootal has vegetables, paruppu (dal) for protein, rice gives carbohydrates. Molagootal is eaten with Thogayal or Puli Inji or Pilukachal or Tayir Pachadi . I just used Yelavan in this recipe. No to throw away the skin of Yelavan , I use it to ma...
Read more

Manathangali Kozhambu (Black Nightingale gravy)

Image
My friend Karthik Babu seems to have captured the hearts of his roommates with his Kozhambu recipe. We were talking about it when we went to Noodles & Co for dinner. It had been a while since I cooked Kozhambu , but instead of the general paruppu Kozhambu, I wanted to cook Manathangali Kozhambu . Manathangali which is known as black nightshade in English, has antioxidant and anti inflammatory properties. It has lot of health benefits.The leaf of this plant when chewed helps to cure mouth ulcers. According to Wikipedia, traditionally this plant was used to cure tuberculosis. My grandmother used to grow this plant in our garden in Madras, India, and my mom did have her own for quite some time. But now Manathagali is available in the grocery stores (in the U.S too) in the dried and salted variety which can be stored in cool dry place for long years! There are 2 variations of this recipe, one which uses thoram paruppu ( Thuvar dal) and the other which doesn't. Here is ...
Read more