Varuthu Araitha Kootu – Vegetable Dal With Freshly Ground Spices

Varuthu – roasted, araitha – ground, kootu – medley. That’s all. Freshly ground spices with cooked dal and vegetables – healthy one pot meal. Poricha kootu and varuthu araitha kootu are stand-ins for the traditional sambar. They are usually made without tamarind. But what the kootu lacks in tang, is made up by the freshly roasted spices. My mom usually made this kootu with odd vegetables lying in the crisper. I used to be puzzled why this kootu was followed by my Appa’s visit to the market :). In the later days, my mom prepared it, even if the fridge was brimming with produce. She used to happily oblige with a tenderly request, knowing how much I loved it.

Varuthu Araitha Kootu

Ingredients
(Serves 2)

Moong dal – 1/3 cup
Mixed vegetables – 3 cups, cubed
(potato, peas, elephant yam, drumstick, chayote squash, white pumpkin, turnips, cluster beans)
Turmeric – 1 tsp
Salt
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Oil – 2 tsp, divided

Spice Mixture

Red chillies – 4
Black pepper – 6
Urad dal – 1 tbsp
Grated coconut – 2 tbsp
Asafoetida – a pinch
Curry leaves – 7 or 8

Method

Cook moong dal until soft. Cook vegetables in water with salt and turmeric until soft. While the vegetables are cooking, heat a tsp of oil and roast red chillies, black pepper and urad dal until golden. Let cool and grind along with coconut, asafoetida and curry leaves to a smooth paste. When the vegetables are cooked through, add cooked dal, the ground spice mixture and salt and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Finish off by adding spluttered mustard seeds in the remaining oil. Serve hot with rice and gingelly oil or ghee. We enjoyed ours with urad dal appalam(South Indian savoury wafer).

This is my entry to No Croutons Required: Indian Soup or Salad, co-hosted by Lisa and Holler.

29 comments:

amna said...

love the bowl, love the pics! i make this spice mixture for pretty much any vegetable but never done it with a medley!

Vegetarian Zest said...

Hi, this is my first visit to your blog. i must say...i'm already loving it.Kootu i thought was made with toor daal but usage of moong daal looks great.

sunita said...

I ove mixed vegetable dishes, and yours looks wonderful :-)

Lavanya Raj said...

I love your araichuvitta sambhar..and now, this kootu is also going to be my favourite.

Chitra said...

Wow,thats a lovely kootu,we used to grind all these items for BG pitlai(pepper omitted).Will sure give it a try!!nice recipe,thanks for sharing:)

Anonymous said...

It looks delicious! Nice preparation.

FH said...

YUM! Dal looks delicious. I made your yummy combo, Pongal and Gosthu for T and T, posted it today, thanks for the recipes! :)

Finla said...

I love anything with varuthu rachithu.
ANd this curry looks so yummy .

Trupti said...

daal looks very delicious Suganya. Lovely click.

Pavani said...

Kootu looks delicious. My tamil friend used to make similar kootu with frozen mixed veggies & moong dal. Great entry.

Cilantro said...

Comforting Kootu, Amma made similar kootu for Thiruvadhirai.... Ammas food is always great tasting.

Anonymous said...

I am going to make this today.. well something similar. Thanks suganya, for i had been hammering my brain since morning & couldn't think of something new with veggies..

I already did the "T&T", or else I would have posted this:-) ur recipes are simply superb.

Anonymous said...

Suganya, I made this just now. Simple, easy & delicious. However I boiled the mung dal & the veggies together, which left a little crunch to the dal & i like it. Thanks!

Raaga said...

very similar to what Amma has taught me :) I love kootu... should make it more often

Manju said...

loved the polka dotted bowl!! varathu araitha kootu is always my favourite accompaniment to sambar!

Manasi said...

Will surely try this !

Mrs.Kannan said...

I used to call this Poricha Kootu..But my version looks watery..Yours looks dry...But looks yummmyy

Anonymous said...

Looks yummy

Sree said...

hey this looks so lovely.i must try this.

Rathna said...

Nice pictures as usual Suganya. I love this kootu and I make the spice mixture the same way, except I've never used so many vegetables at the same time. Wonderful, I'll try next time this way :-)

veggievixen said...

can you cook for me??

A_and_N said...

We call this Poricha kootu at home and I love it. Not done it for sometime now. Your post inspires me! :)

Lisa Turner said...

Just the type of meal I enjoy. Lovely! Thanks so much for your entry.

bee said...

one of your rare white rice occasions?? love the pic with the spices. i tried making quinoa your way in the pressure cooker. it rocks.

Sunshinemom said...

It is a bit like poricha kootu itself. Isn't it? I love most kootu varieties because of the aroma from the tempering. Yours looks appetizing as always:)

Miri said...

I love araitha kootu and kozhambu - something so refreshing about the fresh ground spices!

eatme_delicious said...

Oh this looks so good!!

Irene said...

Wow, this looks really good!

Priyanka said...

sounds good. will try it sometime soon.

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