Keerai Poricha Kootu

Of-late I seem to post a lot of lentil-based recipes in the form of soups and sides. This recipe again is a lentil-based south-Indian recipe called "Keerai Poricha Kootu", a simple, creamy, luscious & comforting side served alongside rice. Though the star ingredients of the recipe is spinach & pigeon-peas, freshly ground paste of coconut, cumin seeds, red chillies/pepper corns adds a great flavor and a spicy kick to the recipe. Hot keerai kootu mixed into rice with potato fry on the side is a killer combo!

This is one of the easiest recipes around where major time is spent on chopping spinach and pressure-cooking/cooling the lentils, pigeon peas. Otherwise, this recipe is a cake-walk in an unbelievably short time. The ingredients list is also quite simple, most of the ingredients will be readily available in a kitchen. The tempering/tadka uses mustard seeds, channa dal, urid dal & hing powder which can easily be stocked up with a short trip to any Indian store.

"Keerai Poricha Kootu" with rice a.k.a. simple, comforting home food at its best!

Basic Info

Complexity - Medium

Prep time - 10 mins

Cook time - 40 mins

Serves - 4

Ingredients

4 cups Spinach, chopped

3/4 cup Toor dal

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

1/2 cup fresh grated Coconut

1 heaped tsp Cumin seeds

1/2 tsp Pepper corns

3-4 dry red Chillies

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

3/4 tsp Channa dal

3/4 tsp Urad dal

1/2 tsp Hing powder

Salt to taste

2 tsp Oil

Instructions

Pressure cook toor dal & turmeric powder on high in 2 cups of water for 3 whistles. Let it cool and then, mash it up with the back of a ladle.

Grind coconut, cumin seeds, peppercorns, red chillies with little water into a fine paste and keep it aside until use.

In a deep pan, bring 1 cup of water to a rolling boil, add chopped spinach, salt and cook until spinach wilts and turns bright green. Now, add the coconut paste, mix well and let everything come to a quick boil. Finally, add mashed toor dal and mix well. If required, add more salt/water to adjust the taste/consistency of kootu to your liking. 

Heat a tsp of oil, splutter mustard seeds, roast channa dal and urid dal until golden brown, fry hing powder and add it to the kootu. Serve hot along with rice.