One of Tamilnadu s traditional dish is the Poricha Kootu . A significant feature of this delicious but different side dish is the absence of any souring agent like Tamrind but accentuated heavily with flavours of coconut 🥥and roasted spices . Nothing too overbearing but pleasantly delightful on the palate.

Usual accompaniments is a Curd raita called Thair Pachadi . Even Vadu manga Jalam makes an excellent side dish . Poricha Kuzhambu is very healthy as it has lots of veggies and lentils . Kind of a one pot dish .

Every once in a while we like to make quick meals without having to make several dishes as accompaniments as for sambar, rasam which needs a side dish to have with meals. Poricha /poritha kuzhambu  comes to the rescue in a healthhy , nutritious way and one can easily satiate the appetite by having a quick lunch by mixing rice with the poritha kuzhambu and having some papads , raita or pachadi.

The variations are many and you can make this with one or more vegetables of your choice and it becomes very enriched.Good to serve to kids who come back from school and a nice way to sneak in as many veggeis of their choice.

Add a dollop of ghee to the hot rice while mixing this poritha kuzhambu and they will not complain. Serve them with some chips and the meal will not go waste.

Poritha Kootu is the famous Tamil meal either festival or even a daily lunch will consist of one of this dish.

Kootu in Tamil means  to add  i.e. vegetables  added to  lentils which form the dish, made of vegetable and lentils and are semi-solid in consistency The Tamil platter for meals usually has a sambar, rasam, kootu, poriyal , papad, pickle, curd  All kootus by default have some vegetables and lentils, but many variations of kootu exist:

·         Poricha Kootu: A kootu made with urid dhal and pepper is called poricha (means 'fried' in Tamil  kootu. Fried urid dhal, pepper and fresh coconut are ground together. The moong dhal and the cut vegetables are cooked separately. Then, the ground paste, cooked vegetable and moong dhal are mixed and heated. Vegetables such as beans and snake gourd are common ingredients in this kootu.

· arachavitta Kootu: A kootu which has a ground (freshly powdered) masala in it; the word araichivita in Tamil  literally translates to 'the one which has been ground and poured.' The ground paste is a mixture of fried urid dhal, gram dhal, dhaniya (coriander seeds) and coconut. The chopped vegetables and the toor dhal are cooked separately. Then, the ground paste, cooked vegetable and dhal are heated together.

Poricha kootu podi : prepare in advance and store to prepare Poritha kootu anytime .

Ingredients:

1/2 cup toor dal

Urad Dhal (1 cup)

Dhaniya 1/4 cup

Pepper - 2 tbsp

Cumin Seeds - 1/4 cup

Coconut ( dry ) - 1 ( optional )

Chilly - 1 cup or as preferred.

Asafoetida - small piece

Some curry leaves .

Oil fry red chilies , pepper and asafoetida, dry roast the rest .

Powder all together to a fine powder .

Store in a dry clean bottle .

Another method is to prepare freshly every time . It is not difficult , but for those pressed for time even simple roasting and grinding can seem to be chore . That is why I have given the powder recioe in the beginning . It is like preparing rasam powder ahead and sticking it .

Ingredients:

To roast and grind :

1 tsp coriander seeds

1/2 tsp pepper

2 tsp udad dal

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp rice or add rice flour to grind with roasted ingredients.

2-3 red chilies as per your taste

Few curry leaves

1 small pinch of asafoetida piece or powder

1/4 cup grated coconut .

For tempering:

1 tsp coconut 🥥 oil

1 tsp chana dal or udad dal

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

Few curry leaves

1 broken red chilly .

Vegetables for the kootu :

You can choose many vegetables as a mix or stick to one or two .

Furthermore kootu is generally an assorted mix of vegetables that are cooked with dal and spices .

Here I am using white pumpkins for example . Podalangai also makes excellent poricha kootu .

3 cups of white pumpkins cut to small cubes .

1 cup cooked mashed moong dal .

Pinch of turmeric powder

Pinch of asafoetida powder

Salt

2-3 tbsp freshly grated coconut for garnishing

Method:

First take a pan , add 1 tsp oil , fry red chilies till crisp , set aside .

Next fry asafoetida small solid piece till they look light, puffed up and crisp . Set this aside .

Roast remaining ingredients, lastly add curry leaves to the hot pan to roast .

Add coconut at the end to roast .

Allow the roasted ingredients to cool .

Grind to a smooth paste .

Take a pressure cooker . I find this easier . But you can cook in a open pan too .

Add the pumpkins to the cooker vessel with very little water from the cooked moong dal as pumpkins have water content too .

Add turmeric powder , salt .

Pressure cook one whistle only . You can switch off the gas when the cooker is about to release . This way your pumpkins will be cooked perfectly. And not all mashed up .

In case you are not comfortable with pressure cooking , cook the pumpkins in an open pan like Kadai etc .

Release the pressure manually but carefully by lifting the whistle slightly to allow the pressure to subside. This way your pumpkins won’t keep cooking due to pressure insides.

This needs to be done carefully .

Now add the cooked mashed dal , dilute if needed , add curry leaves , add the ground paste . Allow the kootu to cook on a very low flame .

Do not boil after adding coconut ground spice mixture .

Check for salt . Adjust if needed .

Finally add fresh grated coconut 🥥. This step is optional but believe me it is absolutely delicious 😋.

Prepare the tempering by adding coconut oil to a tempering pan , heat it , add udad dal or chana dal , add mustard seeds .

Let the seeds crackle , add red chiliy , few curry leaves .

Pour this over the prepare Poritha kootu .

Enjoy with rice and papadam .