
Pulissery or ‘moru curry’ is a traditional Keralite preparation made using curd or yogurt. Nendran pazham pulissery as the name suggests uses a specific variety of banana called the nendran pazham that we get in and around Kerala.
There are a lot of preparations using this banana and this is one of them. The sweetness of the ripe banana combined with the tanginess of the curd/yogurt makes this dish absolutely delicious. This is one of the popular dishes that we prepare for the sadhya or Onam feast.
It goes well with plain rice. I made this during my last visit to India and my family relished it. For people in Qatar, this banana is available at all shops dealing with Indian products.
Pulissery can be made with vegetables like ash gourd, yam, etc or fruits such as mango, pineapple, or banana. It’s a very simple recipe.
The vegetable or fruit is first cooked and then a ground coconut paste and curd are added and cooked to boiling point. Then it is tempered.
This recipe closely resembles the ‘mor kootaan’ or the yogurt curry. The only difference I find based on the preparations in our family is that raw rice is not used while grinding the coconut.
I came across quite a few recipes using garlic too, but since I stuck to mom’s way of preparing I have not used garlic here.
Do try it out my way, and I can tell you that this will become a new addition to your menu 🙂 .
Over to the recipe…
Nendran pazham pulissery
Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped nendran banana (2 small or 1 big bananas)
- a pinch of turmeric powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup water or as needed
- 1 cup curd/yogurt beaten
To grind
- ½ cup fresh grated coconut
- ¼ tsp cumin seeds
- 2 green chillies
To temper
- 2 tsp oil
- ⅛ tsp mustard seeds
- ⅛ tsp urad
- a pinch fenugreek seeds/methi
- 1 red chilly
- few curry leaves
Instructions
- Peel the banana and chop it into small quarter-sized pieces.
- Grind the coconut with the chillies and cumin seeds. Beat the curd and keep aside.
- Cook the banana pieces with the salt, water, and turmeric powder. Once the banana becomes soft add the ground paste and let it boil for a few minutes.
- Once it comes to a boil, reduce the flame and add the beaten curd. Add more salt as needed.
- When the mixture just starts coming to a boil, turn of the stove. Temper with the items given under 'to temper' and pour over the curry.
- Serve with plain white rice or as a sidedish in sadhya.
Hema’s P.S
- The curd used should be moderately sour. If it is too sour it will spoil the taste of the curry.
- You can add more or fewer chillies depending on your spice level.
- I have used coconut oil for tempering. You can use any oil of your choice. Also while tempering add the curry leaves after turning off the flame, as it can fire up.
- The methi seeds should be fried only to mild brown color. It’ll turn bitter if heated up too much.
Do look up my other sadhya recipes
Have made morkuzhambu but haven’t tried this one. Shall try 👍