Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Mixed Veggie Kootu

My husband escaped to San Diego for a week to attend some users conference, which my mom thinks is some music 'concert'! I am pretty pissed he went without me, to talk about water and GIS, or whatever. Nevertheless, before his flight home, he tells me he wants lunch at home to be a remedy for a week of eating out. "Some Kootu, rasam, rice meals", he said. He'll owe me more if I did this.. hmmmm.

So, this post is about a Kootu (a South Indian Vegetable and Lentil stew) . What is so special about this Kootu I made last Friday?. This is for both veggie lovers and haters to lick clean. People who know me, know how I hate my veggies, and I ate up all the veggies in this Kootu (I swear!) ;). I guess this could work for anyone fussy not getting their fair share of veggies.

The recipe I used is from  one of my mom's friends, and they used to call it "kolamB". Its very simple to make, has veggies, no fats to add!, and yummy! . From what I remember, tt is very comforting to have, especially when recovering from a lot of eating out. This is my go to food when needing to recover from long travel.


I need to get into the habit of clicking pictures before we start eating if I want to blog about it! I screwed up, hence the crappy photo. 

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 chopped potato
1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped beans
1/4 cup peas
(Any other vegetables you like to see with the above, some might like to add soy beans)

Soak and grind : ( For some 10-15 minutes)
2 tsp rice
1 tsp mustard
2-3 dried red chillies
2 -3 tsp grated coconut ( No need to soak it)

1/2 - 3/4 cup  toor dal
1/4 -1/2 tsp turmeric powder
few curry leaves
salt - to taste
  • Pressure cook toor dal along with some turmeric powder.
  • In a medium pan add the veggies, the ground paste, turmeric powder , cooked toor dal, and salt. 
  • Cook on medium flame till it all comes together (~15 mins).
  • Once the veggies have cooked fully to a soft texture, turn off the heat. 
  • Garnish with curry leaves.
  • Seriously! The recipe is over. I told you it would be simple, right? :)

10 comments:

  1. Welcome back Mittu. Kottu, rasam and piping hot rice is a feel good meal for me. The grinding part is something new, I would love to try it.

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  2. Hey Mittu, are you sure - You soak and grind mustard too! Hmm, Lemme try, sounds interesting :)

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  3. Good to see you back in action. Waiting to read more over here! Kootu sounds delicious, alright! Will make this the next time I'm in the mood for a comforting South Indian meal.

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  4. Mitts it looks yumm!I LOVE kootu too!Do we get ready made mixes of the stuff that needs to be ground though? It looked all easy peasy till my erm lazy eye spotted the soaking bit (for how long btw?)

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  5. Hi Mittu Sad we could not meet when I was visiting the US. We had a lovely trip and I am sure you must have had a great holiday.
    Anyway how dare you call that Kolamb as Kottu? ;) Your truly was the friend who gave your mom that recipe and am sure happy its going down her parampara too! he he he :D.
    You write well more like talking to a friend :). Cheers, Happy FSB and share more .

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  6. Agree with you that we have to click the picture before we even taste such an awesome kootu, if we are planning to blog the recipe. I am amazed that it has no coconut in the grinding part and just the dhal renders the consistency. I am a kootu enthusiast and this is one addition to my list!

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  7. Thanks guys. You must try it. Its my fav!.
    @ viji aunty - Ofcourse it was my moms friend- you who gave this recipe to mom. we still call it Kolomb at home dont worry :D. COming up soon is sushma's fav ;)

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  8. @ lataji - after reading your comment I realised that I missed out 2-3 tsp of coconut!!! I have updated the post. Sorry for the confusion.

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  9. Mittu I came back to copy the recipe and saw the edited version...I am making this today, of course I am dropping some marrows and cutting down carrots. Will let you know the result. I am for sure going to lick the bowl clean, all I want to see how the better half likes it!

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  10. Hi, Do you soak mustard and red chillies along with rice?Please reply trying to make this dish. Thanks.

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