Kootu With Variety Of Vegetables

Kootu is a lentil and vegetable dish, particularly in Tamil and Kerala cuisines. The etymology for kootu is derived from the Tamil word “kootu” which means “add” i.e. vegetable added with lentils form the dish, which is semi-solid in consistency. Like the curd or moru based dishes, kootu are also side dishes, similar to dhal fry, pachadi and curry, sometimes devoid of the tangy or sourness of tamarind or curds. Kootu is a tasty side dish as well as a very healthy food.

The dish is noted for its nutty and complex flavors and textures, owing to the liberal addition of lentils and coconuts. It is typically less watery than sambhar, but more so than dry stir-fries. All kootus by default have some vegetables and lentils, but many variations of kootu exist.

? Poricha Kootu: A kootu made with urad dhal and pepper is called poricha (means “fried” in Tamil) kootu. Fried urad dhal, pepper, few red chilies, some cumin and fresh coconut are ground together. Moong dhal and the cut vegetables are cooked separately. Then, the ground paste, cooked vegetables and moong dhal are mixed and heated. Vegetables such as beans and snake gourd are common ingredients in this kootu.

? Araichivita Kootu: A kootu which has a powdered (freshly ground) masala in it; the word araichivita in Tamil literally translates to “the one which has been ground and poured.” The ground paste is a mixture of fried urad dal, cumin seeds and coconut.

? Araichivita Sambar: The chopped vegetables and toor dhal are cooked separately. Then, the ground paste, cooked vegetables and dal are heated together to which a ground paste of coconut, Bengal gram, coriander, red chilies, a few pepper corns, a piece of cinnamon is added. The dish is completed with a seasoning of mustard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koottu

1. Take the water in a lead coated vessel that can hold 3 ½ padi of water. Bring the water to boil. Add the pigeon pea, turmeric powder and ghee one after another into the boiling water and keep the vessel closed.

2. Peel off the skin of ridge gourd and raw banana and cut it into small pieces. Clean and cut the cluster beans and broad beans into small pieces.

3. Cut the snake gourd into round pieces and add all the five cut-vegetables one after the another when the pigeon pea is three fourth cooked. Fry the groundnut with a little ghee, remove the skin and add it to the vessel.

4. Optionally we can also use bengal gram or butter beans or cow-peas (black eye beans) or all the four.

5. Fry black gram, red chilli, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and grated coconut individually with little ghee or oil and grind them together into a nice paste adding little water.

6. Combine water and tamarind and prepare tamarind extract as before. Add the ground paste to it and add the mixture to the cooked vegetables and pigeon pea.

7. Add salt to the kootu and mix well. Allow the kootu to thicken. Using ghee, red chilli and mustard season using the method of seasoning in recipe no. 22 (seasoning recipe).

8. Dissolve asafoetida in about 1 ru.a of water and add to the kootu. Optionally, you can add 5 or 6 fried papads broken to pieces or pieces of “curry vadagam” to the kootu.

9. This kootu can be alternatively prepared using any one of the vegetables/tubers.

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