Beetroot Dal(Beetroot Kootu)

Beetroot Dal(Beetroot Kootu)

 I was not too familiar with Beetroot dal or Beetroot kootu until I got married and was served Beetroot Kootu for lunch with my new family after marriage.I always like to have beetroot as a stir-fry along with rasam or sambhar and not as a dal.I was hesitant at first but it didn't taste quite bad as how I thought and it was tasting really nice.My husband likes this beetroot dal a lot and I was forced to cook it quite often at my house.So this frequent dish made me to tailor the recipe a bit to suit my tastebuds as well. And after slight changes,voila ! beetroot dal became my favourite too.I tried to balance the sweetness of beetroot with some heat from the green chillies(the original version didn't have any and was more on a sweeter side) .The preparation is very simple and the outcome is too delicious to believe that with such simple ingredients one could get such an outcome.It tastes great with chappathi or roti and goes well even with rice and rasam/thogaiyal(chutney).

Beetroot Dal

 Preparation time-20 mins

Serves-3

Ingredients:

Finely chopped beetroot-250 gms

Moon Dal/Pasiparuppu-8 tbsp

Sambhar powder-1 heaped spoon

Turmeric powder-1 tsp

Hing-1 tsp

salt-to taste

Grated Coconut(Ground to a fine paste)-4 tbsp

Oil-1 tbsp

Fresh Coriander leaves-to garnich

To temper:

Mustard Seeds-1/2 tsp

Jeera-1/2 tsp

Urad dal-1/2 tsp

Slit green chillies-1 or 2 (according to your choice)

Curry leaves-few

Procedure:

1.Pressure cook the chopped beetroot and moong dal with turmeric powder,hing and sambhar powder for 4 whistles or till the beetroot and dal are cooked.

2.Once they are cooked,add salt and coconut paste to it .Add water to it if the mixture is too thick and heat it on a low flame for 5 minutes and temper it with the ingredients given for tempering.Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve hot with chapathi,rice or roti.

Tips:

*You can add chopped onions and tomatoes ,by sauteing them one after the other during tempering the ingredients.

*Do not omit coconut paste and sambhar powder as they both are the star ingredients for a superb taste.

Beetroot Dal(Beetroot Kootu)