If you ask me for one of my favorite vegetables, the answer would be Beets. I just love beetroot and as weird as it might sound, I love beetroot curry with curd / yogurt rice. I guess I passed on my liking to my children. Both my kids love beetroot in any form. As much as I love Beetroot, I hate the process of chopping the vegetable. Fresh Beets are quite hard and the whole process of peeling and chopping gives me jitters. This was until my mom passed on a very useful tip to process the beets. Once I got to prepping the beetroots this way, I cook with them much more often.
How to easily peel and chop Beetroot?
The answer is pre-cooking the beets in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot. This extra step makes it so easy to peel and chop the beetroot. Once this step is done, this beetroot poriyal takes just about 10 minutes to make. If you are a beetroot lover, then apart from this curry, you should also try the Beetroot poriyal with onion. For this recipe, I used the Instant Pot again to cook the beets and then grated them. And if you want to use beetroot as a salad, try this beetroot walnut feta salad where we use roasted beets. Other recipes, that are a must try is Beetroot Rice and Beetroot Paratha. The color of the rice will make you want to come back for more. Beetroot paratha or beetroot flatbread is a great recipe to make for those who don’t want to eat beets. A great way to mask the vegetable.
Ingredients to make Beetroot curry
Check the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact measurements and printable detailed recipes.
Beetroot - Choose evenly sized beetroot for uniform cooking. If buying beets with leaves, remove the leaves and use them in other recipes like this Instant pot Dal tadka with beetroot green or this Dal made with lentils and beetroot greens.
Seasoning - I like to use coconut oil for seasoning to make any coconut-based recipe. You could also use any regular cooking oil. I season my poriyal with mustard seeds, urad dal, red chilies, curry leaves, and asafetida.
Coconut - Freshly grated coconut is the best to use in the recipe. I use grated frozen coconut which I thaw and then use in the recipe. If these two are not available, then we could also use desiccated coconut.
Salt and sugar - We use salt as needed and I also use a little sugar in my coconut-based curry. This is also a tip taught by my mother that really enhances the flavor of the curry.
Procedure
Wash the beets and pressure cook them for 4 to 5 whistles. If using an Instant pot, place the washed beetroot in the inner pot along with enough water and then pressure cook for 15 minutes. Once cooked, remove it from the cooker and let it come to room temperature. At this point, you will notice that you can peel the skin of the beets just like you do for cooked potatoes.
Peel the beets and chop them into small pieces. Cooking the beets makes the chopping very easy (I could make this curry every day).
Heat oil in a pan and add the seasonings (Mustard seeds, urad dal, red chilies, curry leaves, asafetida).
Now add the chopped beets, salt, and sugar. I always add sugar to any of my coconut-based curry. Why? Because my mother always adds sugar.
Mix well. Reduce the flame and let the beets cook for 5 minutes. Now add the grated coconut and mix it well.
Take it off the flame and serve the beetroot curry.
Expert tips
When choosing beets, always choose small and even-sized ones. This results in even cooking of the vegetable. If the beets are too big, it takes a long time to cook and mostly they cook on the outside and remain uncooked on the inside.
If there is no pressure cook, peel the beets and cut them into small pieces. Once the seasonings are added, add the beets and cook them covered for at least 20 minutes. Check for doneness and then proceed as above.
Frequently asked questions
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