Keerai Kootu/Spinach kootu/dhal

Kootu is a dhal based gravy with veggies which goes very well with both rice and roti.Today's recipe is a simple yet healthy and delicious kootu with spinach and black eye beans.Usually I cook spinach at least weekly once for lunch and make kootu or spinach sambhar.Sometimes I make this kottu as a accompaniment for rice along with poondu kuzhambhu or karivepillai kuzhambhu.Veggies such as chayote,snake gourd,brinjal and bottle gourd/squash can be used.Now to the recipe.....

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Masoor dhal	1/2cup
Black eye beans/Vellaikaaramani	1/3cup
Spinach/Mullaikeerai(finely chopped)	4-5cups
Onion(chopped)	1no.
Tomato(finely chopped)	1no.
Sambhar powder	1tsp
Turmeric powder/manjal podi	1/8tsp
Oil	11/2tsp
Salt	to taste

To grind 

Ingredient	Quantity
Coconut(grated)	1/4cup
Cumin seeds/jeeragam	1/2tsp

For the Seasoning 

Ingredient	Quantity
Mustard seeds/kadugu	1/2tsp
Cumin seeds/jeeragam	1/2tsp
Urad dhal/ulutham paruppu	1tsp
Red chilly/varamilagai(broken)	2nos.
Asafoetida/perungayam	a pinch

Method 

                        Pressure cook the dhal and black eye beans for two whistles with enough water and a pinch of turmeric powder in a pressure pan.Grind the coconut with cumin seeds along with little water to fine paste and keep aside.Add the finely chopped spinach,onion,tomato,salt and sambahar powder to the cooked dhal.

Cook it in a medium flame till the spinach gets cooked.Once the spinach is cooked add the ground coconut paste and cook it for one boil.

Now in a separate pan do the seasoning with the given ingredients and add it to the cooked spinach.Mix it well and boil it for a minute.

Keerai kootu is ready.

Enjoy....................................................

• Instead of masoor dhal,moong dhal or toor dhal can be used.
• No need to soak the black eye beans if you are cooking it directly in the cooker.Soaked one needs to be cooked in the cooker without adding water in a small bowl,otherwise it becomes mushy.
• Do not cook the spinach for a long time and finely chopped garlic can also be added in the seasoning for extra flavor.

Linking to the HITS event happenings at my space started by Sangeetha of Spicy Treats.

Posted in: Gravy/Side dish,Sambhar/Kuzhambu/Rasam