Koottucurry

I was in a mood to experiement and decided to try something which I have never tried. The taste is something which I remember for sure... I googled, I read many versions in my various cook books, called up one of my friends who is a specialist... Finally, I decided to go with my instinct and go ahead...

In kootucurry, a variety of vegetables and Bengal gram(Kadala) is used. The main difference between this curry and 'Aviyal' is addition of tamarind in Avial. So, lets start?

Ingredients
Bengal gram dal - 1/2cup
Pumpkin, snake gourd,
Long runner beans,
yam, Cucumber - 1/4kg (all put together)
Inner flesh of drum stick - 1/2cup
Grated coconut - 1/2cup
Turmeric powder - 1/4tsp
Green chillies - 3 (split them into 2)
Salt to taste

Coconut oil - 1/4cup
Mustard - 1tsp
White gram dal - 2dsp
Dried red chillies - 3 (each sliced into 3)
Curry leaves - 2sprigs
Ghee - 1dsp
Grated coconut - 1/4cup

Method :
Cook the bengal gram dal with salt and water to a thick gravy. Clean and cut the vegetables into small pieces. Par boil the vegetables by steaming. Grind 1/2cup grated coconut and mix it with turmeric powder and green chillies.
Heat oil and season mustard, white gram dal, dried red chillies and curry leaves. Add the ground coconut mixture. Saute for sometime, till the water dries. Add the cooked vegetables, salt and bengal gram dal. Saute well.
Heat 1dsp ghee and fry the 1/4cup grated coconut in it till golden brown. Add this to the koottucurry and mix well.

Its ready!

Kadala Curry

Kadala curry is another traditional dish of Kerala. Puttu can be accompanied with any savories of your choice, but Kadala Curry is considered to be its better half.

Ingredients:

Black ChickPeas (Kadala) - 1 cup
Sliced Onion - 1 medium
Sliced Green Chillies - 2
Sliced Tomato - 1/2
Ginger-Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp
Curry Leaves - a few
Grated coconut - 1 tbsp
Chopped Coriander Leaves - 1 tbsp
Red Chilly Powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 and 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Mustard Seeds -1/2 tsp

Method:

Soak chickpeas overnight. Cook it in a pressure cooker adding enough water, salt, green chillies, half of ginger-garlic paste and half of sliced onion. Heat little oil in a pan and add grated coconut into it. Fry till light brown and remove it from the pan and clean it well. Keep aside to cool. When it is cooled, grind it along with 2 tsp of cooked chickpeas and coriander leaves. Again add oil into the same pan and add mustard seeds into it. When they pop, add the curry leaves and the rest of onion and ginger-garlic paste. Saute till the onion turn brown. Add all the maslas and tomato into it. Saute well. Add cooked chickpeas along with the water into the pan. Mix well and allow it to boil for 5 minutes. Just before switching off add ground mixture into the curry. Stir well and simmer it for 2 more minutes. Serve hot.
This goes well with Appam, Idiappam or Puri as well.