Hi Ladies, Here we are going to see many types of Kuttu. Kuttu means mixture of dal and vegetables. We generally make 'kuttu with thuvial' or 'Kuttu with rasam'. They are good combination for rice. Share your recipes and comments here with me.
Kuttu/Kootu Varities. These are the varities in Kuttu. Poricha kuttu Puli kuttu Avial Pitlai Yeri Seri Milagu Kuttu Keerai Kuttu Moor Kuttu Sankaranthi kuttu Let us see one by one.
Poricha Koottu Poricha kuttu mean, kuttu with out tamarind. And only veg and dal with some masala. You can use French Beans, Snack Gourd, Chow chow, Ash Gourd, Carrot, Bottle Gourd, Drum stick, Brinjal i.e. Egg plant, Ridge gourd,Cabbbage, paruppu keerai, Green papaya and Drum stick-flowers. To make pooracha Kootu we need any one of the above vegetable and cooked moong dal or thur dal. Ingredients: Any one veg. from the above list. 1 cup cooked dal ( moong or thur dal) 2 - 3 sp Koottu podi 2 - 3 sp coconut salt oil to make seasoning( coconut oil is best) 1 sp mustard seeds 1 sp udad dal Method: Take any one of the vegetable and cut in to small pieces and add any one of the dal and keep it in a pressure cooker and cook it. Put the pan on the stove and pour one spoon oil and make seasoning with mustard seeds and udath dal. Add cooked dal and vegetable in the pan and mix well. Add the Kuttu powder in that.Mix well. Add fresh coconut and mix well. Add salt and let the kuttu cook for some minutes and stir it continuously to avoid sticking. Remove it from the fire and add coriander leaves or curry leaves. Serve with hot rice. Note: I have given here to use moong or thur dal. But I personally use moong for poracha kuttu and thur for puli kuttu. You can do as per your wish and if you want you can mix both dal and use them.
Puli Kuttu For this kootu we must use Thur dal only . Generally in olden days they prepare kootu by cooking dal and the veg. separately but I used keep them both in the cooker and by doing this we can save time, gasenergy and we can avoide over cooking also. I think while cooking you will also feel, what I am saying is correct. Now let us prepare the 'pulli kootu' now and I am going to give 2 varities of the pulli kootu. First you must know the name of the veg. from which we usually prepare 'pulli kootu'. They are Brinjal, 'chow chow', Small Ash Gourd. You can make pulli kootu by using these veg. separately. Ingredients: A.P.P-3 to 4 spoon Shredder Coconut-3 spoons Any one of the told vegetablefor puli kootu-250Gms. Oil for seasoning Kari Patha Thur Dal-1/2 cup(100Gms. approx.) 1 -2 sp Tamarind paste Socked Chenna(or ground nut)-A hand full Mustard seeds-1/2 spoon Powdered Fenugreek-1/2 spoon Turmeric powder-1/2 spoon Method: Cook dal, chenna or ground nut, and the vegetablewhich you have chosen, in a pressure cooker. Pour oil in the kadai and add mustard seeds first. After they burst, add turmeric powder and pour the cooked dal vegetable mixture in it. Now add a tumbler of water and tamarind paste. Add A.P.P, salt, fenugreek powder, kari patha and shredder coconut to that. If you want to smash the coconut, put the coconut in the mixer for a minute and then put it in the puli kootu. Let us allow the kootu to boil for 4 to 5 minutes. But keep a eye on it and it may stick in the bottom of the kadai. So stir it occasionally. Now the pulli kootu is ready to serve. You can have this with plain rice and ghee. For side dish fry 'papped' in the oil or 'vathal'. Even you can use potato chips as side dish to this kootu.
Avial In this we add more coconut and Fresh curd but no tamarind. This a very good dish. You can use this with rice and eat. On the other side you can use this as side dish with Adai and Puliyodhari. To make this you take the following veg. Carrot, Beans, Potato, chow chow, peas, drum stick,. yam, plantain green and brinjal. Ingredients: Take mixed veg. from the above list 250 gms 1/2 - 1 coconut 2 - 4 sp cumin seeds 4 - 6 green chilly Salt coconut oil for seasoning curry leaves 1 piece ginger optional 2 cups fresh curd Method: Cut all the veg. in length wise. That is like a finger. Cook them with or without turmeric powder. In a mixer grinder put green chilies, cumin seeds and coconut and grind well. You can also add ginger in that. Add this masala to the cooked veg. and mix well. Add salt. Put a pan and make seasoning with coconut oil. (mustard seeds and curry leaves) Add the cooked veg. and masala in the pan and mix well Add 2 cups of curd in that and mix well Bring it to a boil and allow it to boil for 2 minutes and stir continuously. Remove from fire and serve with rice or use as side dish.
Pitlai Bitter Gourd Pitlai- my mother used to do pitlai with bitter gourd only. So I am giving the recipe here. We use brinjal also like this but we call it as "Rasavanki' or 'brinjal puli kuttu' not pitlai.:-D This is also almost like pulli kootu. But we have to prepare it in a separate way. So generally Bitter gourd pittali is a special dish for us. After cutting the bitter gourd put some salt in that and mix it with the veg. well and keep it aside for 15 to 30 minutes. During this time you make other preparations for the kootu. Put a hand full of chenna and ground nut in water. Put the kadai and fry the Shredder Coconut in that and fry it till reddish in color. Keep aside. Now remove the water from the bitter gourd and Suzie them well. Keep the bittergourd, dal, soked ground nut and chenna dal together in the cooker. After this you can make the 'pittali' as same as pulli kootu. After finishing the 'pittali' add the fried coconut in it and mix well. That is all. Now the delicious Bitter Gourd Pittali is ready. You can make 'Raithas' as side dish for this. Added to this you can make 'TomatoRasam' also with this. Generally we prepare 'kootu Rasam' or 'kootu thuvail' for a meal.
Yeri Seri This is also one tasty dish.:crazy Ingredients: 2 green plantain 1/4 kg. Yam 1/2 coconut. For Masala: 1 -2 sp blackpepper 2 - 4 red chilly Salt coconut oil to make seasoning 1 sp mustard seeds curry leaves 1/2 sp turmeric powder Method: Cook cut plantain and yam with turmeric powder . Grind blackpepper, red chilies and coconut in a mixer grinder. In a pan make seasoning with coconut oil. (mustard seeds and curry leaves) Add cooked veg. and grind masala. Add salt and mix well. Let it cook for few minutes. Remove the Yeri Seri from the fire and serve with ghee and rice. You can fry Papad as side dish for this.
Keerai/Green Kootu We can prepare Kootu by using green leaves like parapu keerai, meathi leaves, mulai keeri, siru keeri and many keeri varities. we can prepare three types of Kootu by using greens. They are: Pooracha Kootu Puli Kootu Avial Already you know the methods of preparing these types of Kootu. So just replace the veg. by greens and make Kootu with green leaves.
Moor Kuttu "Moor Kuttu" means, we prepare kuttu using fresh thick butter milk or curd. You can use the following veg to make this kuttu. Plantain stem, Ash gourd, Chow chow etc., :idea It is almost similar to 'Avial' but you can taste the difference. Ingredients: 250 gm ash gourd 4 - 5 green chilly 2 - 4 sp coconut 2 sp cumin seeds 1 pieceginger Salt Coconut oil to make seasoning 1 sp Mustard seeds 1/2 sp turmeric powder 2 cups butter milk (thick) Method: Cut ash gourd and add turmeric powder and cookwell. Take green chiliesginger, coconut and cumin seeds and grind them. Make seasoning with mustard seeds and add the cooked ash gourd and masala. Add salt and mix well. Add 2 cups of thick butter milk or 1 cup curd and mix well. Let it cooks for a while and remove from the fire and serve with rice and ghee.
Milagu Kootu To prepare Milagu Kuttu we can use snack gourd or french beans. And you have to use thur dal only. Ingredients: 250 gms french beans 4 tab sp thur dal 2 sp tamarind paste salt oil to make seasoning 1 sp mustard seeds 1/2 sp turmeric powder For masala: 1- 2 sp blackpepper 2 - 4 red chilly 2 - 4 sp coconut 2 sp coriander seeds asafetida curry leaves Method: Cookdal and veg. In a pan fry the ingredients 'for masala' except coconut. Grind like a paste with coconut. Keep aside. In a pan make seasoning with mustard seeds and turmeric powder. Add cooked veg. + dal and tamarind paste. Add salt and ground paste. Mix well. Allow it to boil for a while. Stir now and then. Remove from the fire when it becomes thick. Serve with hot rice and ghee, with tomatorasam. You can make any raitha for this as aside dish.