Comfort food is my next post for my third day of the blogging marathon under the theme of cooking from a cookbook. After a busy week, I always look forward to that day, when I can make a comfort meal and just relish it. Kootu is comfort food for me. I love it with rice and paruppu (dal). I also like kootu for the reason that it is a very good way of getting vegetables into a kid’s meals. My kids love to eat sambhar rice over the rasam. Instead of making sambhar, I make kootu on certain days loaded with a vegetable or a combination of vegetables. Most of my South Indian recipes are passed on to me by my mother and some are from Meenakshi Ammal’s cookbook. This recipe though is from a cookbook written by the famous author Mallika Badrinath. The book is called Classic Lunch Recipe (South Indian Vegetarian). I like this cookbook because she has separated the recipes based on the region. There are Kerala, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Chettinadu, Mangalore, and Andhra Pradesh recipes in this book. This recipe is a Tamilnadu recipe and was delicious. Preparation time – 10 minsCooking time – 40 minsDifficulty level – easy
Ingredients to make Chow Chow Poricha Kootu – (serves 4)
Chow Chow (chayote squash) – 2 Kadalai Paruppu/Bengal gram dhal – ½ cup Salt – to taste Sugar – 1 teaspoon (optional)
Grind together
Red chilies – 4 Cumin seeds – 1 tsp Ullutham paruppu/black gram dhal – 2 tsp Oil – 1 tsp Coconut – ¼ cup (grated)
For Seasoning
Oil – 1 tsp Mustard seeds – 1 tsp Ullutham paruppu – 1 tsp Red chilies – 1 Asafetida – ¼ tsp Curry leaves – few
Procedure to make Chow Chow Poricha Kootu
Fry red chilies, cumin seeds, and ullutham paruppu listed under grind together in oil until golden brown. Now add the grated coconut and grind it into a smooth mixture. There is no need to fry the coconut.
Scrape the outer skin on chow chow and cut it into small cubes. Cook it along with kadalai paruppu in enough water until the paruppu becomes soft to the touch and the chow chow is cooked.
Now add the ground paste and salt and cook until the kootu thickens to the required consistency.
Heat oil and add the seasonings. Mix the seasoning with the kootu and serve hot with rice.
This kootu can also be made with other vegetables such as white pumpkin, snake gourd, radish, etc.
More Side Dishes
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