Chena pulissery (yam cooked in coconut and curd gravy)

Ingredients

• Yam ? 1 cup cut into bite sized pieces
• Grated coconut ? 1- 1 1/2 cups
• Curd (sour) ? 1 cup (depending on sourness of the curd. For less sour ones you will have to add more)
• Cumin seeds ? 1/2 tsp
• Peppercorns ? 1/4 tsp
• Green chilly ? 1 or 2 (as per need)
• Turmeric powder ? 1/2 tsp
• Salt
• Oil ? 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds ? 1/2 tsp
• Dry red chillies ? 1-2 halved
• Curry leaves ? a handful

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Preparation

• Cook the yam, pieces in a sauce pan with almost 1/4 cup water and turmeric powder, until done. Set this aside.
• Place grated coconut, curd, green chillies, cumin seeds and peppercorns in the bowl of a blender and blend till you get a coarse mixture.
  Pour this into a strainer and squeeze the mixture well so that you can get approximately 2 cups of juice.
  (If you find this step a little complicated you could skip this step. But see it to that the mixture is blended into an ultra smooth paste which can be directly used for cooking. I have tried both ways but found the former way much better)
• Now take the saucepan with the cooked yam and pour the juice/mixture into it.
  Place this over a medium flame and cook by stirring continuously.
  Do not leave the vessel unattended because the curd may separate giving a bad texture to the curry.
• Stir on till the gravy starts thickening which might take about 15-20 mins.
  Once the curry reaches required consistency, remove from flame and set aside.
  
• Meanwhile, heat some oil in a pan and add the mustard seed. Once the seeds start spluttering, add the dry red chillies and the curry leaves.
  
  Garnish pulissery with this and serve hot with some rice.

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