Puzhuku

Puzhuku is generally made during Thiruvadhira day and served along with the sweet Kali. In Kerala people commonly have puzhuku along with kanji. In kerala kanji and puzhuku is also served in some temples as prasadam.

Puzhuku is a dish normally made during the winter season since most of the root vegetables used here is available in abundance. Its said that Kaavath (Kaichil) is a very important vegetable to be used in this dish. I don't know the exact reason behind this. Puzhuku is also called Thiruvadhira poduthuval or 7 kari koottu. Every household has their own way of preparing it. Some prepare it like a dry curry, some prepare like a kootu and still others prepare something like a Sambar with 5 or 7 different vegetables. Kaavathu, Mochai / pacha payar, Koorkai (Chinese Potato), Sweet Potato, kappa, chenai  are some of the vegetables that are generally used.

I am presenting the koottu version of it. This time I had most of the veggies home-grown. So all the more organic :-)

Ingredients:

Kaavath - 75 grams

Kappa (tapioca) - 100 grams

Chembu (taro root) - 75 grams

Koorkka (Chinese potato) - 100 grams

Chenai (elephant yam) - 75 grams

Vazhakkai (raw banana) - 75 grams

Sweet potato - 50 grams

Pacha payar (green gram) - 50 grams

Coconut - 50 grams

Jeera - 1 teaspoon

Green chillies - 4 nos

Salt - to taste

Coconut oil - 2 tablespoon

Curry leaves - few

Method:

• Wash all the vegetables well.
• Separate out the kaavath and chembu. Cook them in a pressure cooker or steamer or with water and throw the water away.
• Cook the pacha payar separately in a pressure cooker,
• Toss the rest of the vegetables with salt and turmeric powder and place them in a steamer and cook till the vegetables are done. (If you do not have a steamer, place the vegetables in a vessel, toss with turmeric and salt and cook in a pressure cooker for one whistle. Do not add water to the vegetables)
• In the meanwhile, grind the coconut, jeera and green chilly into a coarse paste with very little water.
• Mix the cooked vehetables, cooked pacha payar and cooked kaavath / chembu. Check for salt.
• Mix the ground coconut and allow it to boil. 
• At the end add the curry leaves and the coconut oil. Boil it for another 2 minutes.

Puzhuku is ready!!!

Note:

We can also add other vegetables like peas, pumpkin, carrot etc to this.