Kadalai Paruppu / Channa Dhal Koottu

Snake Gourd - Channa Dhal Koottu

Usually Koottu is served as side dish. But this can also be served as Main Course.This is prepared in the form of semi solid, neither watery like Sambar nor as dry as Poriyal/DryCurry. Koottu means "to add" in Tamil. Here it means adding Vegetables and Dhal together. Learn more about Koottu here. This is a low oil recipe and so is a good food for aged and babies.

My 1.5 year old son is very much fond of this recipe, for whom I started preparing this often. He likes to have koottu prepared with Yellow Pumpkin and Rasam.. Vegetables cooked with Dhal and Coconut gives a very unique taste. I always wonder how does this tastes so much good inspite of usage of no special masala.

Ingredients:

Kadalai Paruppu / Channa Dhal ½ cup (200 ml cup)

Vegetables 200g

Dried Red Chillies 1-2

Jeeragam /Cumin ¾ tsp

Grated Coconut 4 or 5 tsp

Turmeric Powder ¼ tsp
Asafoetida Powder a pinch

Salt 1 tsp or to taste

Water

For Seasoning:

Mustard Seeds 1 tsp

Curry Leaves 5

Pearl Onions 5

Oil

Preparation:

Grate Coconut.

Grind Together: Coconut, Cumin and Dried Red Chillies.

Chop Pearl onions into fine pieces.

Method:

Cook KadalaiParuppu / ChannaDhal.

Cook Vegetables with enough water in a pan. Add cooked Channa Dhal when vegetables are cooked. Add Turmeric Powder, Asafoetida and Salt.

When it starts boiling, add the Coconut-Cumin-Chillies paste. Boil for some more time till it reduces.

In another pan, heat Oil. When it is hot, add mustard seeds. When popped, reduce flame. Add Curry Leaves and Pearl Onions. Fry till the onions become translucent. Pour this seasoning into the koottu.

Serve with Rice as Main course or as side dish to any Puli Kuzhambu or Rasam.

Serves: 2-3

Suggestions for Vegetables that can be used for Koottu:

Potato (Urulai Kizhangu in Tamil)
Snake Gourd (Podalangai)

Green(Unripe) Banana (Vazhakkai).. (Takes more time to cook..)

Yellow Pumpkin (Manjal Poosanikai )

Note:

Do not drain water after cooking Vegetables or Channa Dhal. It is better to use other vegetables and avoid Potato as we eat more Potato in many other forms.