Buttercup squash and Green lentil made into a Kerala style Pulissery, that can be served as a soup too…
One of the popular vegetarian dishes in Kerala is pulissery, this can be made with a variety of vegetables and fruits like mangoes, pineapple, tomatoes, pumpkin, cucumber etc etc. The veggies or fruits are first cooked till tender, ground coconut is added to it and cooked again. Towards the end, thick yogurt is added and finished it off by adding the tempering.
I have shared the recipes of making pulissery with different kinds of veggies and fruits, please click the link to view the recipes.
This time, I bought buttercup squash and green lentils and made pulissery with it. I didn’t add the tempering at the end, tasted really good and can be served as a soup as well.
Buttercup squash has an amazing sweet buttery taste, this was the first time I cooked with buttercup squash and I loved it. It resembles to Kabocha or Japanese squash. I even tried baking the squash seasoned with ground pepper and salt, tasted phenomenal.
- Buttercup squash, cubed- use half of the squash
- Green lentils- 1 cup
- Chili powder- ¾ tsp
- Turmeric powder- ⅛ tsp
- Coriander powder- 1 tsp
- Curry leaves- 1 sprig
- Salt- to taste
- Water- 2 cups
- Grated coconut- ¾ cup
- Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
- Garlic, chopped- 1 large clove
- Turmeric powder- ¼ tsp
- Green chili- 1
- Water- ¼ cup
- Thick yogurt, beaten- 1 cup
- Salt- to taste
- I used pressure cooker to cook the squash and green lentils. You could cook in a saucepan.
- I only used half of the buttercup squash, peel off the skin and cube them evenly.
- In a food processor or blender, grind the grated coconut along with cumin seeds, garlic, turmeric powder, green chili and water to a coarse paste.
- Into a pressure cooker, add cubed squash, green lentils, chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, curry leaves, salt and 2 cups water.
- Close the cooker with its lid and keep the whistle on it, and cook till 2 whistles or for 20 to 25 minutes till squash and lentil turns tender.
- Remove the cooker from the heat and let the pressure subside.
- Open the lid, the squash and green lentil should have cooked well.
- Add the ground coconut, combine well and cook for a few minutes.
- Taste and add more salt if needed.
- Beat the yogurt in a bowl and add it to the squash/lentil/coconut mixture
- Combine well and cook for a minute. Do not let the mixture come to a boil.
- Remove the cooker from the heat and let cool down.
- I skipped adding the tempering at the end. If you prefer you could add that too (heat oil in a frying pan, add mustard seeds let it splutter, add dry red chili and curry leaves, saute for a few seconds and pour over the pulissery).
- This can be served as a soup or as a side dish along with rice or roti.
