VIRUNDHOMBAL

A healthy and easy kootu recipe for this winter season. During my college days, I learnt this recipe from Aval Vikatan supplement book. After so many years, I made this kootu for lunch. Today's kootu recipe is different with pepper flavour. It tastes good with sambar, rasam, coconut rice, jeera rice and also for roti.  When buying chow chow, choose the ones which have even green on the outside. Also slightly press them with your nail and if it is dry then it is not a very fresh chow chow. The skin on the sides and bottom of the chow chow will be difficult to peel, so try to use a sharp knife or a potato peeler to remove the skin completely.  Moong dal adds an excellent consistency to the chow chow kootu. You can also replace it with toor dal or the combination of moong dal and toor dal. As I told you before, do not pressure cook chow chow because you will lose the beautiful colour and texture in the kootu.  Black pepper, cumin, red chilli, urid dal, curry leaves and fresh...

Karamani Pulikuzhambu is another variety of pulikuzhambu with black eyed peas and brinjal. Black eyed peas are called karamani or thattapayaru in Tamil. We use thattapayaru in sundal or sometimes add in poriyal along with other veggies.  This karamani pulikuzhambu is similar to our Tirunelveli pulikuzhambu with a few variations. Drumstick pulikuzhambu and brinjal pulikuzhambu are quite popular in Tirunelveli. But it doesn't mean that you can make pulikuzhambu only with these two vegetables. You can make pulikuzhambu similarly with vathals, black chickpeas, bitter gourd, karunai kizhangu, etc. and you can use any one of these vegetables for this kuzhambu. But the taste varies a little depending upon the vegetables or vathals we add. Normally we reduce onions and garlic for pulikuzhambu made with vegetables because the garlic flavour will reduce the vegetables taste. For pulikuzhambu we don't make any separate powder and every time we prepare fresh masalas by roasting the spices ...

Bajji milagai is the long variety green chilly commonly used for bajji, sambar and gravy.  As I was asking for recipe ideas with this bajji milagai, my husband suggested me the idea to try a  kootu dish with bajji milagai. The first thing I told him that it will be very hot and it won't taste good for kootu dishes. Then he told me to include carrot, potato in this kootu, so it will reduce the spiciness level. I had no plans to take the video, but my husband asked me to publish the recipe along with the video on the blog.   The kootu was so delicious and it is a best side dish for rice, chapathi and poori. The beautiful orange colour from the carrots, a hint of red colour from tomato in the kootu looks awesome. When you take a first bite, it tastes like regular vegetable kootu . After a few minutes, you feel a little hotness in your tongue. I have removed the pith and seeds in the chilly. For this kootu, I started off by cooking the carrots and potatoes first and then...

Beetroot kootu is one of my favourite dishes with beetroots. It goes well with rasam and puli kuzhambu. If you are planning to cook an easy dish with beetroots, this is going to be your choice because it requires very less cooking methods when compared to other beetroot dishes. Although beetroot stir fry is an easy dish to cook, but the grating works is a tough process for me. In all our kootu recipes we always include dal and coconut. For this beetroot kootu also we add  moong dal and grounded coconut masala and it is a protein and fiber packed kootu. I often don't prefer to cook the kootu in a pressure cooker but for beetroot kootu I prefer to cook in a pressure cooker as it gets cooked easily and perfectly. As with most of our kootu or poriyal dishes we use ground coconut in a good amount which gives an amazing taste for each and every dishes. For the kootu dishes, the moong dal absorbs water and gets blended with the vegetables and the kootu starts to thicken when its done. If ...

Pasalaikeerai Kootu - prepared with pasalaikeerai, moong dal, coconut paste, onions and tomatoes. Today I am going to share the kootu recipe with homegrown pasalaikeerai leaves. This keerai has broad leaves with a tiny pink colour flower in it. These greens can be planted all the time and they will grow quickly. After plucking the leaves try to use them immediately because you will lose the taste when refrigerated.  Making this kootu is quite easy. The first step is to chop the greens. This greens have no tough work for cleaning and chopping when compared to other greens. For this greens, no need to include the stems because it is hard and takes more time to cook. After chopping works you can start preparing the kootu. Just like any kootu recipes, you can add whatever dals you want to make this kootu healthy. It's also a great dish to mix with a bowl of warm rice so that you don't need to prepare any kuzhambu. Now we will see how to prepare Pasalaikeerai kootu with a shor...

Ridge gourd kootu - one of my favourite kootu dish for lunch. Naturally ridge gourd has a soft texture which is suitable for kootu dishes. Mostly we don't add onions, tomatoes and garlic for kootu dishes. For this ridge gourd kootu I have added both chana dal and moong dal. As the ridge gourd has soft texture, it gets cooked easily in a vessel so need for pressure cooking. The dals must be cooked in pressure cooker for the smoother consistency which will be perfect for kootu dishes. My Grandma gave me this idea to include both chana dal and moong dal for this kootu because ridge gourd has high water content moong dal gives thickness to it. After cooking the ridge gourd, the kootu is followed by adding the dals and the coconut paste. The coconut based kootu dishes are popular in most Tirunelveli districts. We all like any  kootu with the combination of dals and coconut small onions cumin paste. In my opinion any kootu dishes must have a mild flavours with a medium thick consi...

Bottle Gourd (Suraikkai) is a wonderful vegetable for kootu. Like the chayote (chow chow) kootu, this bottle gourd kootu also includes moong dal and coconut paste.