Kootu Curry/ Mixed Vegetables and chana dal in coconut gravy

This is one of the delicacies served along with the Onam sadhya. Its basically a combination of mixed vegetables along with cooked chana dal, blended in coconut gravy. In this we can add as many vegetables as we like. For eg: yam, carrots and so on.. Instead of chana dal we can also add chana.

During my school vacation time, my grandmother used to make all such traditional kerala dishes for us. Among them, I always liked mampazha pulisserry (mango in yogurt) and this kootu curry the most. So few days back, I thought of making this myself.

If you haven’t tasted this before, I would recommend you to try this delicious preparation of veggies. This is prepared in different styles in different parts of Kerala. Just try this out and I am sure that you will fall in love with this.

Ingredients:

1. Chana Dal- ¼ Cup
2. Pumpkin (diced)- ¼ Cup
3. White Pumpkin (diced)- ¼ Cup
4. Snake Gourd (diced)- ¼ Cup
5. Ash Gourd (diced)- ¼ Cup
6. Raw Banana (diced)- ¼ Cup
7. String Beans- ¼ Cup
8. Coconut- ½ Cup
9. Green Chillies- 3 nos
10. Turmeric Powder- 1 tsp
11. Salt- as per taste
12. Oil- 1 tbsp
13. Mustard Seeds- 1 tsp
14. Red Chillies- 1 no
15. Curry Leaves- few

Method:

1. Cook the chana dal along with salt and turmeric powder in a pressure cooker. Keep this aside.
2. Cook all the diced vegetables with required amount of salt. Grind the coconut along with green chillies to a fine paste.
3. Add the cooked vegetables and ground coconut to the cooked chana dal and mix well.
4. For seasoning add oil in a small kadai, splutter the mustard seeds, red chillies and curry leaves.
5. Pour this over the above curry mixture, mix well and enjoy this delicious magic of vegetables with hot steaming rice.