Kootu is basically dal and vegetables cooked together. It can be jazzed up in various ways using different ingredients. Each way has its own flavor. Kootu is commonly had with rasam rice or with podi rice. However you choose to have it I assure you it is one pot of wholesome goodness. Any vegetable like beans, cabbage, spinach, brinjal etc can be used for kootu. Lets start cooking shall we.
Ingredients
2 cups avarakai chopped
1/4 cup moong dal
1 tsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard
curry leaves
pinch of turmeric
salt to taste
To roast and grind (Kootu Podi)
1.5 tsp channa dal
1.5 tsp urad dal
3 tsp coriander seeds
2 red chillies
asafoetida
Method
Dry roast the “roast and grind” ingredients and grind to a powder.
The main ingredients in this recipe.
Add dal, veggies and water in a vessel and pressure cook the same. Pressure cooking saves time but feel free to use whatever vessel is on hand.
Heat oil. Season with mustard and curry leaves. Add the cooked dal and vegetables to it. Add turmeric, ground powder and salt.
We dont need to cook it for long since everything is already cooked. So let it boil for 5 minutes or so and turn it off.
Healthy and yummy kootu ready. We had bitter gourd fry and kootu rice.
Enjoy!
Tips
1. Make the powder in bulk and store it. It is easy to make kootu when the powder is already done.
2. Instead of powder we can also use a little bit red chilly powder while the dal and vegetables are cooking. Finally do the seasoning.
3. I avoid coconut for the most part. Coconut can also be added while grinding.
 Kootu on http://cooksjoy.com/blog "Pin It")
Nice kootu! It looks very delicious and lovely! Slurp!
Looks very tasty dear..never tried this..sure to try this yummy curry
@Lakshmi .. Thanks for the feedback. I also do the method which you have mentioned. In fact I did it that way with spinach today .. Will post sometime soon.
prepared this today.
I usually grind coconut,red chillies and jeera without dry roasting.
This was different and tasted better than that.
Used it as a side dish for chapathi as well.
Thankyou…..
I like kootu with freshly grounded spices …n this looks so inviting n yummy recipe…lovely clicks!!!
Looks yum Vardhini….
Yummy kootu,nice recipe dear.
Koottu mus be yummy….you got a nice collection of veggies…
Thick and yummy kootu. Muskmelon is mulampazham in tamil.
Love this kootu very much, simply delicious..
very nice! here we add coconut for most of the gravies..this looks delicious!
Wow Vardhini..the kootu looks great..I love the fresh ground spices in this.
delicious healthy recipe…even i used to make this…nice presentation..
delicious and healthy kootu…