Tanjavur style poricha koottu

Yay yay Yippee Yippe Yay Yay!!

Today is the last day of this month's mega marathon and I am so happy. The reason being this is the first mega-marathon where I am completing my posts ahead in time. Though there was a bit of delays in between; yet my start and finish were perfect I believe. As the last recipe in this protein-rich marathon I am presenting a simple kootu recipe with a mix of toor dal and moong dal.

I learnt this recipe from the blogging world and have tried it 2-3 times now. I am presenting todays recipe with chow-chow as the vegetable but this kootu can be made with many other traditional vegetables like snake-gourd, bottle-gourd, ash-gourd etc.. This is a bit different from the molagootal recipe and I like this because of the spiciness from the pepper.

Ingredients:

chow chow- 1 cup (chopped into small cubes)

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

toor dhall - little less than 1/2 cup

Moong dhall - 2 or 3 tbsp (just fill the less than1/2 cup toor dhall with moong dhall)

For Grinding:

Chann dhall - 2 tsp

Urad dhall - 2 tsp

Black pepper - 1/2 tsp(according to taste)

Coconut - 2 tbsp(can also use more)

Cumin - 1/2 tsp

Red chillies - 1 or 2 (acc to taste)

For Seasoning:

Oil - 2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

urad dhall - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Red chillies - 1 (optional)

Method:

• Pressure cook toor dal, moong dal and chow chow adding the turmeric powder, upto one whistle. 
• In the mean time, fry the ingredients given for grinding to golden brown. 
• Let it cool and grind it into a fine paste. 
• Pre heat a pan, put the cooked dal + vegetable mixture, grounded coconut paste and salt and let it boil nicely. 
• Add water if necessary to get the required consistency. 
• Turn off the stove when you get the required consistency. 
• In a kadai heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, add urad dal, curry leaves and red chillies and fry it till it becomes golden brown 
• Pour it on top of poricha kootu. Garnish it with curry leaves. 

Enjoy this with rice or chapathi!!

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Malabar style koottu kari

The next in-line with lentils as sub-theme is the malabar style koottu kari. This is a must-have item in the onam sadhya at H's place. This time too we made it but I couldn't click some good pics. I had taken some pics in my cell phone as soon as we had made all dishes. And I am posting those pics now. I didn't get an opportunity to repeat the recipe and click pics. Probably I will update good pics later.

Sadya /Feast is an unavoidable part of any celebration in Kerala. There is saying in malayalam “kandam vitum sadya unnanam” which means that “You have to eat sadya/feast even if you have to sell your property for that”. This should give you an idea about the importance of sadya in malayalees mind. Kootu means mingling or a combination, so as the name implies; it is a mixture of black chickpeas or chana dal and combination of vegetables like ash gourd /winter melon, raw plantain/kaya, elephant yam /chena with ground coconut and spices.This is prepared in different styles in different parts of Kerala and it’s semi dry preparation. Some use chana dal /kadala parippu instead of chick peas/kadala. I am posting this recipe exactly as we make it every year for the onam sadya.

Ingredients:

Vellari / Kani Vellari - 100 grams

Raw plantain / Nendra kaaya - 150 grams

Yam / Chena - 150 grams

Kadala paruppu - 75 grams

Turmeric powder : 3/4 tsp

Red chilly powder : 1 1/2 to 2 tsp

Sharkara/Jaggery : 3 tbsp

Salt to taste

For Grinding:

Grated coconut : 3/4 cup

Cumin seeds : 1tsp

For Seasoning:

Grated coconut : 3/4 cup 

Mustard seeds : 1/2 tsp 

Dry red chillies : 2 – 3 

Curry leaves : 1 sprig 

Cooking oil : 1tbsp ( For authentic taste use Coconut oil )

Method:

• Soak kadala paruppu for 2 hours and pressure cook adding enough water and salt.
• Grind together grated coconut and cumin to a smooth paste with little water and keep it aside.
• Cook the vegetables, raw banana, vellari and yam cubes along with 1 cup of water until they vegetables are almost cooked and 95 % of the water is evaporated.
• Now add salt, turmeric powder, red chilly powder and jaggery. Mix well until the jaggery is dissolved.
• Add the ground coconut mixture to the cooked vegetables and mix well. 
• Adjust the salt and cook for a few minutes or until the raw taste of coconut is gone. 
• Add the cooked kadala paruppu to the above mixture. Mix well and cook for couple of minutes. Remove from the fire and set it aside.
• In small frying pan add oil and splutter mustard seeds, dry red chillies, curry leaves and grated coconut and roast it until  golden brown color. 
• Add this over the kootu-kari and mix well. 
• Serve with rice and Enjoy!

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Vengaya thal Vazhaithandu koottu | a gravy with plantain stem and spring onions

Next in line is a simple koottu recipe with toor dal as the main ingredient. This koottu recipe is similar to the molagoottal that kerala-brahmins make. I used plantain stem / vazhaithandu and spring onions as the main ingredients. I had some spring onions growing in my backyard and wanted to try some traditional recipe with it. This koottu was a super-hit at home. Both plantain stem and spring onions have many health benefits. Spring onions are rich in vitamins including Vitamin C, Vitamin B2 and thiamine. They also contain Vitamin A and Vitamin K. In addition, these are good sources of copper, phosphorous, magnesium, potassium, chromium, manganese and fiber. And the best benefit of plantain stem is that it helps in fighting constipation problems. So do try this at your home.

Ingredients:

Plantain stem / Vazhaithandu / Unni kambu - 250 grams

Spring onions (leaves) - a bunch

Toor dal - 100 grams

Coconut (grated) - 4 tbsp

Jeera / jeeragam - 1 tsp

Dry red chillies - 1

Salt - to taste

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Method:

• Pressure cook the toor dal with salt and turmeric powder and keep it aside.
• Chop the plantain stem and spring onion leaves into very fine pieces.
• Cook the plantain stem with enough water and salt. You can also pressure cook it for one whistle.
• Grind the coconut, jeeragam and dry red chilly into a smooth paste.
• In a kadai, add oil. Once the oil is hot add the mustard and curry leaves.
• Add the chopped spring onions and saute for 2-3 minutes.
• Now add the cooked toor dal, cooked plantain stem and coconut paste.
• Mix well, check for salt.
• Let the gravy boil for about 2-3 minutes.

Serve hot with rice and spicy pickle.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging

Marathoners doing BM# 80

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