Koottus - Mildly Spiced Mixed Vegetables and Lentils

Koottus - Mildly Spiced Mixed Vegetables and Lentils

Koottu is the name given to mildly spiced boiled mixed vegetables, and is usually prepared as one of the side dishes in an elaborate feast. With the addition of dal (lentils) it becomes a course in itself when served with rice. The spices are usually fried and ground with coconut and thus it is also known as Poricha (fried) koottu.

Koottu can be prepared with assorted mixed vegetables, such as carrots, beans, peas, chow-chow (marrow), cucumber and so on. The sight of so many varieties of fresh vegetables soon after returning from the green grocers inspires me to prepare koottu. The same feeling takes me over when I see the itsy bitsy left over vegetables at the end of the week!

Koottu can even be prepared with any one vegetable. Since raw green papaya was abundantly available in our garden we were treated to papaya koottu very frequently. We children and our great grandmother loved the dish very much as it was not very hot or tangy. It was very gentle on our palates, especially when it was prepared with half ripe papayas, which lent a sweet taste to the koottu. We ate and ate the koottu and ripe papayas until we developed an aversion to it, which of course lingered only up to the next season.
Koottu goes very well with chapattis, poories and rice. Here are three variations.

1. MIXED VEGETABLE KOOTTU
INGREDIENTS:
For Dal

Tur dal (Red gram dal) – ½ cup

Mung dal (Green gram dal -½cup
Turmeric powder -1 pinch
Assorted cleaned and chopped vegetables – 2 cups
(Carrots, beans, peas, marrow, cucumber)
Kabuli channa (chick peas) that has been soaked for at least 12 hours – ¼ tea cup
Salt – 2 tsps
For seasoning:
Oil – 1tsp
Mustard seeds -1/2 tsp
Urad Dal (black gram dal) – 1 tsp
Red chilly -1
Curry leaves – 6 to 8 leaves
For the spice paste
Cooking oil -1 tsp
Urad dal (Black gram dal) -1 tbsp
Jeera (cumin seeds)-1 tsp
Red chillies -3
Asafoetida – 1 pinch
Freshly grated coconut – 2 tbsps

METHOD:
1. Wash and tur and mung dals. Cook until soft and mushy with turmeric powder, in 3 glasses of water and set aside.
2. For the spice paste, heat oil and drop in asafoetida, black gram dal, cumin seeds followed by red chilies and fry them till they are reddish in colour. Fry carefully on low flame, till it emanates an aroma. Do this carefully, browned dals loose their flavour and become bitter.
3. Grind the fried ingredients with grated coconut, and set the spice paste aside.
4. Cook the vegetables, along with the previously soaked channa, in a vessel with just enough water.
5. When the vegetables and channa are, add the mushy dal mixture, salt and the spice paste and stir well.
6 .Bring to a boil (2 to 3 minutes) and remove from flame.
7. For seasoning, heat oil and add mustard seeds to splutter; then add the black gram dal and red chillies. When the seasoning becomes red and crisp add curry leaves and pour the whole seasoning into the koottu.



2. SIMPLE MIXED VEGETABLE KOOTTU
INGREDIENTS:
For dal
Cleaned and chopped vegetables – 2 cups (eg. carrots, beans, peas, marrow, cucumber)
Salt - ¾ tsp
Split Bengal gram dal – 1 tbsp
For spice paste
Jeera (cumin seeds) – 1 tsp
Freshly grated coconut – ½ cup
Green chillies – 2
Rice flour -1 tsp
For seasoning
Cooking oil – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Black gram dal – ½ tsp
Curry leaves – a few

METHOD:
1. Soak the split Bengal gram dal in water for at least 20 minutes until soft.
2. Grind the ingredients for the spice paste viz. green chillies, grated coconut and cumin seeds with a teaspoon of rice flour and keep it aside.
3. Cook cut vegetables and the soaked split bengal gram dal in enough water.
4. When the vegetables and dal are soft, add the ground spice paste and salt and boil for 2 – 3 minutes until till every thing blends.
5. Season with mustard seeds, black gram dal and curry leaves.


3. MUNG DAL ‘COOKER’ KOOTTU
INGREDIENTS:
For Dal
Mung dal (Split green gram dal) – 1 cup
Mixed cut vegetables of your choice- 1 tea cup (eg. carrots, beans, peas, marrow, cucumber)
Black pepper – ½ tsp
Jeera (Cumin seeds) - ½ tsp
Asafoetida -1 pinch
Sambar powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
For seasoning
Oil – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Urad Black gram dal – ½ tsp
Red chilly – 1
Curry leaves – a few

METHOD:
1. Take dal and turmeric powder in the separator of a pressure cooker, add 3 cups of water and set it in the pressure cooker.
2. Arrange the cut vegetables in another separator and sprinkle the sambar powder , and set it above the dal separator.
3. Close the lid, and place the weight and pressure cook until 3 whistles.
4. Switch off the flame and allow it to cool.
5. Coarsely crush pepper and cumin seeds with a mortar and pestle, and keep it ready.
6. Open the cooker and take out dal and vegetables, and pour them into a vessel.
7. Add asafoetida, crushed pepper and cumin seeds and boil for 3 minutes.
8. Remove from flame and season with mustard seeds, black gram dal, broken red chilly and curry leaves.
Enjoy the cooker koottu with rice or chapattis.

Yam Kofta Curry

While one thinks of preparing kofta curry, there are lot of option to prepare koftas with. Here is a recipe using the not so common kofta ingredient - elephant foot yam. In my house, yam/chenai is often cooked as mezhukkuparatti ( cooked and stir fried in oil), mostly along with raw banana or sometimes its only yam. Occasionally it features in arachukalaki and in porichakozhambu where cow peas, yam and raw banana are used and its almost like sambhar but taste differs because of the vegetables and grinding ingredients used. When I saw this recipe of Mallika Badrinath, I was happy that I could cook the very common chenai in a different form. This photos were languishing in my drafts folder for a very long time. At last, it has to wait for our dear Valli to announce the Curry mela to come out.

Here are some nutrient information of yam.

Yam is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Potassium and Manganese. The tubers are believed to have blood purifier property.

Now have a look at the plant.

Another closer look.


Lets get on to the recipe now.

For koftas

Elephant yam - 1/4 kg
chutney dal/pottukadalai - 2 tblspn
cinnamon - a small piece
cloves -2
red chilly - 4
salt to taste
bengal gram flour- 2 tblspn
finely cut onions - 2 tblspn
oil for deep frying

For gravy

Chopped onion - 1 cup
tomato paste - 1 cup
turmeric powder - 1 1/2 tspn
red chilly powder - 1 tspn
dhaniya powder - 1 tblspn
jeera powder - 1 tspn
garam masala powder - 1 tsp
salt
oil

Grind together

1 onion
2 green chillies
1 inch ginger
1 tbl spn poopy seeds soaked in hot water for 10 mts

Preparing koftas

Remove outer skin of the yam. Wash and slice yam into thin broad pieces

Heat water in a broad vessel. When it stars boiling, drop yam pieces and remove from fire. Keep closed for 10 minutes. Strain and spread the pieces over a kitchen towel to dry up.

Grind red chillies, pottukadalai, spices for the kofta, together to a powdery consistency in mixie.Finally add salt and yam pieces. Grind to a coarse paste. Keep aside 2 tblspn of this paste to add to the gravy for thickness. Mix chopped onions and bengal gram flour to the remaining yam paste. Prepare small balls and deep fry till dark brown and keep aside.

Gravy prepration

Heat oil in a broad kadai and fry onion till crisp and brown. Add ground paste and stir till oil separates. Add salt and all the powders mentioned for the gravy. Saute for a minute and stir in the tomato paste. Cook for few minutes. Add yam paste and enough water and cook till gravy thickens.

Arrange fried koftas in serving dish ,pour hot gravy on top. Serve hot with chapattis or puris.

You can prepare the dish in two parts. Mixture for the koftas can be prepared and refrigerated for later use. Gravy and frying the koftas can be done together, later.

Chocolate & Nut Chiffon

This chiffon had a soft yet crunchy texture. It also had some moisture filling especially when there are some chocolate oozing out from the cake.

If you are looking for some chocolate cake but not rich yet soft then you may try this.

Recipe for 17cm chiffon tin:

1. Whip egg whites until peak form then slowly add in caster sugar continue whipping until a shiny and smooth consistency.


2. Add in the cornflour and whip until just combine.


3. Mix egg yolks, oil, water, flour, cocoa powder and caster sugar in another mixing bowl until everything well combine.


4. Add in 1/3 of the egg white mixture into (2) until combine. Then add half of the left over egg whites mixture continue mixing. Then mix in the remaining egg whites until well combine.


5. Add chopped chocolate and mix until just combined.


6. Pour into the baking tin then sprinkle chopped nuts on top and bake 40 minutes at 170'C.


7. Turn the cake upside down for cooling before unmold it.