Today’s guest post is by Krishanthy Kamalraj, who has previously shared her recipe for murukku on this blog. We have another of her lovely snack recipes, with a short intro about the dish from her, today.
Cassava Thuvaiyal
This is somewhat different from Cassava curry. Those days, people in Jaffna usually had cassava plants in their home garden for their own consumption. My grandmother used to make this dish, when we wanted a spicy and filling snack. She dug out immature cassava yam from the garden and made very delicious cassava thuvaiyal for us.
Ingredients
- 1 medium size immature cassava yam
- 2-4 dry red chilies
- ¼ cup small onions
- ¼ cup grated coconut
- Mortar and pestle or Mixer or grinding stone
- Salt to taste
Recipe
1. Thoroughly wash cassava yam and peel the skin.
2. Cut the yam into small cubes.
3. Put the cut cassava pieces in a cooking pan.
4. Add ¼ cup of water into the pan and cook well over medium heat.
5. When cassava has been cooked well (able to slightly smash cassava pieces with spatula), remove from heat.
6. In a mortar, add salt and red chilies. Pound well until it becomes a paste.
7. Add cooked cassava and pound well with pestle until it mixes well with chili paste.
8. Add cleaned small onions into the mixture and pound well.
9. When the mixture has reached the consistency to make small balls, take out from mortar.
10. Using hand, make small balls of the mixture.
11. Now cassava thuvaiyal is ready to serve.
Recipe source: Krishanthy Kamalraj.
A Taste of Sri Lankan cuisine 
Never saw this type of yam, but I love the idea of the cooked puree made into balls with all these flavorings. A great inspiration. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
The cassava in Sri Lanka is also called the manioc and looks more like the ones in the linked article here: Manioc as a cancer cell killing plant. Perhaps you might have seen this in one of the Asian markets.
Thanks for the info. I’ll look for it! 🙂
i was just having a conversation with a friend about the many ways you can cook cassava, these look delicious. I’ll definitely have to try them! xx
Do let me know how it turned out, Rebecca. 🙂
I love cassava. I will have to give this recipe a try.
Hope you enjoy it. 🙂
This is so interesting! In kerala what we do is eat the cassava with a similar chutney made out of onion and red chillies and coconut oil. these balls would be a nice variation!
Indu, we also eat boiled manioc with the chilli paste on the side similar to what you describe. It is a popular breakfast food.
Very unusual. Have coconut need to look for cassava. Must try this!
Do let me know if you enjoyed it, Aneela 🙂
I’m so glad I ate before I visited your blog! Gorgeous curry recipe 😀
I agree 🙂 I like manioca related stuff – manioc curry, manioc chips, boiled manioc with chilli.