For the third day of serving root vegetables for the blog, I am here with elephant yam cooked with green gram dal along with ground coconut. This puzhukku was a new find for me, though we have had a fair share of kappa puzhukku (tapioca cooked and mashed a bit).

Elephant yam was a staple in my father’s childhood days it seems. Most of the veggies came from the backyard those days and these grew pretty easily. He tells us that the first time ever he saw cauliflower or cabbage was when he came to Chennai for his job, at the age of 19. Keep in mind that we are taking about late 1950s.

Today I see cauliflower a lot more than yam in the supermarkets. The ones here are picked from the frozen section. Even back home, I prefer to stay away from the vegetable as its a pain to clean it up. Root vegetables in general need a little more extra attention while cleaning up.Now if someone (like my dad, of course), takes care of the cleaning part, I like cooking and eating it :D.

Read on for the pictorial and the recipe.

Pictorial:

 

Pressure cook 1/2 cup green gram dal with 2 cups of diced elephant yam for 3-4 whistles. Let the pressure drop naturally.

Grind together 3/4 cup coconut, 2-3 garlic pods, 2 green chillies (or per taste), 1 teaspoon jeer seeds using a little water to a paste.

In a big pan, heat 1 teaspoon of oil. Add a teaspoon of mustard seeds and 1 dry red chilli.

Once the seeds splutter, add the cooked green gram and yam mix. Add salt as needed and 1/2 teaspon turmeric powder. Pour some water if the mix is too dry – about 1/2 cup or so.

Add the ground coconut paste and mix it in. Let it cook for 5 minutes. Taste test and adjust. Take off the heat. Ideally this is served with kanji/congee, but my husband is not a big fan of that – so this was paired with rice and rasam.

Recipe source: Chena puzhukku

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup green gram dal (pacha payaru)
• 2 cups elephant yam, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• salt

For grinding:

• 3/4 cup coconut grated
• 2-3 garlic pods
• 2 green chilies
• 1 teaspoon jeera (cumin seeds)

For tadka:

• 1 teaspoon oil
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 dry red chili

Method:

1. Pressure cook 1/2 cup green gram dal with 2 cups of diced elephant yam for 3-4 whistles. Let the pressure drop naturally.
2. Grind together 3/4 cup coconut, 2-3 garlic pods, 2 green chillies (or per taste), 1 teaspoon jeer seeds using a little water to a paste.
3. In a big pan, heat 1 teaspoon of oil. Add a teaspoon of mustard seeds and 1 dry red chilli.
4. Once the seeds splutter, add the cooked green gram and yam mix. Add salt as needed and 1/2 teaspon turmeric powder. Pour some water if the mix is too dry – about 1/2 cup or so.
5. Add the ground coconut paste and mix it in. Let it cook for 5 minutes. Taste test and adjust. Take off the heat. Ideally this is served with kanji/congee, but my husband is not a big fan of it so this was paired with rice and rasam.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for recipes from other participants.