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.