• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Index
    • Instant pot recipes
    • Main course recipes
      • Appetizer Recipes
      • Beverages
      • Fall recipes
      • Easy impressive meals for company
      • Baking Recipes
      • Indian desserts for all occasions
      • Salad Recipes
      • Seafood
      • pasta
      • Rice Recipes
      • Breads
      • Vegetable curry recipes
      • Dry side dish recipes
    • Chicken Recipes
    • Traditional Kerala recipes
      • Sadhya Recipes
  • Contact
  • About
    • Around the World
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
elephants and the coconut trees
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Index
    • Instant pot recipes
    • Main course recipes
      • Appetizer Recipes
      • Beverages
      • Fall recipes
      • Easy impressive meals for company
      • Baking Recipes
      • Indian desserts for all occasions
      • Salad Recipes
      • Seafood
      • pasta
      • Rice Recipes
      • Breads
      • Vegetable curry recipes
      • Dry side dish recipes
    • Chicken Recipes
    • Traditional Kerala recipes
      • Sadhya Recipes
  • Contact
  • About
    • Around the World
×

Thiruvathira Puzhukku / Kerala recipe

Last Updated on April 3, 2022

Share
Pin8
Tweet

Thiruvathira puzhukku is a very traditional Kerala dish made with root vegetables.

I have been neglecting the very malayalee side of mine in the past few posts so here is  one of my close to heart dish for you and me to cherish some good old memories...

Do you know when this puzhukku is made.. if not read on to know more about our tradition which is practiced even today.
Thiruvathira is a very important centuries old Hindu festival celebrated by mostly Namboothiri and Nair women of Kerala as the birthday of Lord Shiva. It  falls on the full moon day in the malayalam month of Dhanu ( Dec15 to Jan15) on  Thiruvathira nakshatram (star). This year it is on Dec 18.
It is also believed that Goddess Parvathy  met Lord Shiva after her long penance and Lord Shiva finally took her as his life partner on this day check here for more.

Unmarried women observe a partial fast on this day to get an ideal husband and married women take a fast the next day for the well being of their children.The first Thiruvathira for a newly wedded woman is known as Poothiruvathira.
The fast involves abstaining from rice based food. Nurukku Gothambu Kanji, dosa or upma is made along with the puzhukku and a dessert with    arrowroot (koova veragiyathu)  is served.

Women wear medicinal flowers dashapushpam (10 flowers) on their hair.This practice is called paathira poo choodal.
Thiruvathira kali( dance) is performed in the evening in real traditional homes with Thiruvathira pattu (songs) sung by women in the family.
For all who have asked me if I do Bollywood dance :))))) this is the only dance we perform Thiruvathira Kali  (there would be a large brass oil lamp lit in the middle instead of the floral bed all the rest would look almost same) Be sure to check out the mansion with an inner court yard those types of homes are called Nalukettu.
It is  very auspicious to visit  Shiva temple during this day. Thiruvairanikulam Mahadev Temple is one of them which opens only for 12 days in a year from Thiruvathira day.

Over to the recipe:
For all those who do not have access to fresh veggies- ratalu (kaachil) and suran(chena) are available in the frozen section in most Indian stores.
I donot add turmeric, potato and yucca(kappa) to make this but if u like u can add that too. Garlic is never used for puzhukku made for Thiruvathira.
Ingredients:
Kaachil / Ratalu - 1 cup
Chena / Suran/ elephant yam - 1 cup
Koorka / Chinese potato - 1 cup
Chembu / Taro root - 1/2 cup
Sweet potato / Sharkara valli kizhangu - 1/2 cup
Van payar / Red chori / Red cow peas - 1/2 cup to 3/4 th cup
Kaya / Raw plantain - 1/2 of 1 large
Salt to taste
Curry leaves- few
Coconut oil - 1 tbsp

To grind: (Grind to a thick coarse paste)
Coconut -1 cup
Green chili- 1-2
Jeera - 1/4 tsp

Method :
1.Soak van payar overnight and pressure cook it until soft but not mashed.Keep aside.
2. Cut the tubes into large pieces and raw plantain into smaller piece.Pressure cook all of it  for just 1 whistle adding just enough water and little salt.They should retain shape not mashed .(say 3/4 th cooked )
3.Now add the ground paste to the cooked vanpayar and roots mix gently once and cook on medium flame till the raw smell of jeera goes.By now almost all the water would have dried up and it should be semi dry dish.
4 .Switch off flame and add some curry leave (crush with ur fingers) and  drizzle coconut oil level top keep closed until served.Serve warm with broken wheat porridge, broken wheat upma or wheat dosa.

These pictures are from last year's yes, it is shaky,the steel is glaring, I had no idea how lighting was supposed to be then :)))

Hope u lovely people out there would give this recipe a try.
Meena

Sending this over to 'My Legume Love Affair' event hosted by Simona. 

MLLADec2013Logo
Share
Pin8
Tweet

More Traditional Kerala recipes

  • Spiced Yogurt Drink - Sambharam
  • Moringa leaves stir fry Kerala style
    Moringa leaves stir fry
  • Split pigeon peas curry, Tomato lentil curry,Tomato dal curry , takkali parippu curry
    Split pigeon peas curry
  • cabbage stir fried with coconut , cabbage thoran
    Cabbage stir fry with coconut

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Swathi Iyer

    December 17, 2013 at 3:59 am

    Adipoli Puzhukku, Fresh chena kitan illa, athu kondu try cheyunnilla.

    Reply
  2. Rafeeda AR

    December 17, 2013 at 4:52 am

    last year's pictures!!! u must be kidding... 🙂 this is something so new to me and has all vegetables that i love, along with that cherupayar, yum... i could have all that paathram for myself!!! thank u for sharing the traditions, daily I learn something new... 🙂

    Reply
  3. Meena Kumar

    December 17, 2013 at 5:12 am

    Thank you Aara.

    Reply
  4. Meena Kumar

    December 17, 2013 at 5:14 am

    Sheyy angane parayale..Swathi 🙂

    Reply
  5. Meena Kumar

    December 17, 2013 at 5:17 am

    He hee...I know ...so many things going on it is sometimes difficult to keep up..oh ulli theeyal yummm.
    Thank you Rekha.

    Reply
  6. Meena Kumar

    December 17, 2013 at 5:18 am

    Thank you Smitha.:)

    Reply
  7. Meena Kumar

    December 17, 2013 at 5:21 am

    He hee..Cheru payar alla dear van payar ..
    I know I too learn so much from u all too.Thank you Rafee.

    Reply
  8. Resna Nishad

    December 17, 2013 at 5:34 am

    Aa puzhukkum, pappadavum, acharum kandittu eniiku sahikkan vayya I am drooling.......

    Reply
  9. Meena Kumar

    December 17, 2013 at 5:49 am

    He hee..thank you dear.

    Reply
  10. Beena.stephy

    December 17, 2013 at 6:37 am

    Adipoli puzukku.yum yummy

    Reply
  11. Sona - quick picks/pick quicks

    December 17, 2013 at 7:38 am

    perfect entyr for the event. have had ths once at "the thiruvathira" event at my friends place..but never have made it myself. very healthy and filling !!

    Reply
  12. Shabbu

    December 17, 2013 at 8:00 am

    Yummy and delicious puzhukku..Thanks for sharing,will try..

    Reply
  13. Shweet Spicess

    December 17, 2013 at 3:10 am

    Nice to know about ur malyalee tradition 🙂 and this recipe is so unique Thanks for sharing 🙂

    Reply
  14. Shaami (Shajitha Habeeb)

    December 17, 2013 at 9:06 am

    Ohh ! Thank you Meena enne kurachu samayatheku nattilekku kootti kondu poyathinu.

    Reply
  15. Navaneetham Krishnan

    December 17, 2013 at 9:10 am

    I should start on Kerala dishes too. I am certainly very impressed with this side dish, those ingredients for those awesome flavors.

    Reply
  16. Rekha Vengalil

    December 17, 2013 at 4:31 am

    Heee even I realized that I have not been doing much of kerala n thus made lulu theyal y'day 🙂 puzhukku looks delicious. It's been a while since I had this

    Reply
  17. Smitha Kalluraya

    December 17, 2013 at 4:42 am

    very nice insight to your tradition and glad that people still follow the culture.I have few keralite neighbors and luv the enthu in which they celebrate festivals.

    Reply
  18. Preeti Jaipal

    December 17, 2013 at 10:57 am

    Delicious and healthy side dish... an interesting recipe to me..

    Reply
  19. Sapana Behl

    December 17, 2013 at 11:41 am

    Good to know about your Malayalam instincts ! That curry sounds great !

    Reply
  20. Ramya Venkat

    December 17, 2013 at 6:46 am

    Yummy and love the traditional story of Kerala.

    Reply
  21. Shahina Rasi

    December 17, 2013 at 7:29 am

    Ivide enikk kerala recipes koodippoya vishamamanu...Enikkum ella puzhukkum ishtamaanu ...yeah..I am a typical Mallu...

    Reply
  22. Droolsss...

    December 17, 2013 at 7:42 am

    Puzhukku is something which I don't like but is very much loved by my better half. Thiruvathira is the only time I make this, just for name sake. For the past two years I have been getting this on the day of Thiruvathira from my neighbour(so didn't take the pain of making it). It was nice reading through our traditions of Thiruvathira and a reminder to me that Thiruvathira is tomorrow;)

    Reply
  23. Linsy Patel

    December 17, 2013 at 2:22 pm

    nice info about today's importance and traditional story. all the regions has so much to offer I believe if we just focus on indian menu, we never run out of recipes I guess. this looks so tempting, I love root vegetables so one more way to eat it.

    Reply
  24. Anupa Joseph (Palaharam)

    December 17, 2013 at 5:24 pm

    Loved knowing more about Thiruvathira...Puzhukku looks real good.. ella virichu oru unne unnan thonnunnu...*sigh*

    Reply
  25. nandoos Kitchen

    December 17, 2013 at 5:45 pm

    adipoli .. perfect post for thiruvathira

    Reply
  26. Preetha Soumyan

    December 17, 2013 at 2:15 pm

    AAh puzhukkum... nalla ventha chorum.. pappadavum maathram mathi ennikku....i have heard about this a lot.....and also about this tradition.. but never happened to think of preparing it..

    Reply
  27. Chitrangada

    December 17, 2013 at 2:31 pm

    It's always great to about the customs and culture of other parts of India. Nice post.

    Reply
  28. Razina Javed

    December 17, 2013 at 4:40 pm

    This luks so gud....

    Reply
  29. Bhawna Bagri

    December 18, 2013 at 9:55 pm

    i don't know how i missed this...look so yum and totally new for me..

    Reply
  30. Sangeetha Priya

    December 19, 2013 at 3:14 am

    delicious thiruvathirai curry!!!

    Reply
  31. Simona

    January 01, 2014 at 4:49 am

    Lovely post: thank you for the interesting cultural notes on the festival. Your dish contains a number of ingredients I have never tasted and you really made me want to try the result, which looks lovely. Thank you so much for contributing to MLLA. And Happy New Year!

    Reply
  32. Meena Kumar

    January 01, 2014 at 5:23 am

    Thank you so much Simona Happy New Year to u too.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

FREE Recipes

To keep u - updated and me - motivated :)

Click HERE to Subscribe!

WELCOME

Hey ! this is Meena. Welcome to my space.

My blog has become my medium of expression and a way of keeping me happy.

I started off as novice in cooking and over the years my husband has put up with all my disasters in such a gracious and enduring manner, I owe him a lot for that...

Read More

Popular Recipes

vegan vegetable stew

Vegan Vegetable Stew

best salmon with shallots

Salmon with shallots | Easy stovetop recipe (Video recipe)

Carrot halwa in instant pot 2

Carrot Halwa in Instant pot

Coconut crusted cod fish 1

Coconut Crusted Cod Fish

Umm Ali / Om Ali / Egyptian Dessert / Middle Eastern Cuisine

beetroot wine

Beetroot Wine / Homemade Red wine recipe / Step-by-step recipe for wine making / Easy wine recipe

Footer

↑ back to top

Useful Links

  • Privacy Policy & Disclosure
  • Contact
  • About

Newsletter

Join my mailing list to receive the latest recipes FREE to your inbox!     SUBSCRIBE

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2023 Elephants and the Coconut Trees