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You are here: Home / Dal Recipes / Spinach Kootu Recipe – South Indian Kootu Recipe with Spinach

Spinach Kootu Recipe – South Indian Kootu Recipe with Spinach

November 23, 2015 2 Comments

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Spinach (keerai in Tamil, cheera in Malayalam, palak in Hindi) is one of those vegetables that I ate while growing up only because my grand mom told me repeatedly that it would aid growing hair. So I ate spinach in all forms – cheera thoran, palak dal, palak pulao, even keerai masiyal – and I guess I did have thick hair as a child but it was always chopped off when it reached shoulder length anyway. When I fought with my mom over this, she switched the story over and said spinach is actually good for your eyes too. Well, ok. My eyes stay with me forever so that seemed like a good enough reason.

spinach kootu-keerai kootu-south indian kootu recipePin

This was back when I was too young to realise how special a home-grown, organic bunch of spinach actually is. My grand mom would spend hours squatting near them as they grew, often plucking out worms and caterpillars by hand. She was quite an edible gardener, my grand mom. Of all the vegetables we grew on our terrace, spinach was the most successful and most loved by her. She would make a Reddiar-style masiyal (we call it sithondu kooraku) with them which looked like ground henna leaves but was out of this world in its simplicity and flavour.

{My favourite? It’s this chow chow kootu that’s wonderfully flavourful}

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I don’t remember eating a lot of Spinach Kootu as a child but this one is a favourite now and I serve it with both rasam and rice and also chapatis. For pairing with kootu, pick a rasam without dal, like this tomato rasam or this pepper rasam.

SPINACH KOOTU RECIPE

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup of moong dal (cherupayar, paasi paruppu)
3 cups of packed, chopped spinach leaves
1 tomato (optional)
1/3 cup of grated coconut
1 tsp of cumin seeds (jeera, jeerakam)
2 shallots
1/2 tsp of minced garlic
1/2 tsp of red chilli powder
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
2 tsp of oil
1 tsp of mustard seeds

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Wash the dal and add to a large cooking pot along with the spinach, chopped tomato (if using), turmeric, and 2 cups of water.

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2. Simmer until the ingredients are cooked and soft. This takes about 10-12 mins on low flame. If not done, cook longer and add more water if required.

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3. Meanwhile, grind together coconut + shallots + garlic + red chilli powder + cumin seeds with some water to a smooth paste.

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4. Add this to the cooked dal mixture along with 1 cup water. Note that if the cooked dal is watery, you can skip adding more.

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5. Simmer for another 5-8 mins. Add salt.

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6. Heat the oil in a small pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add to the cooked kootu. Mix well.

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Serve spinach kootu hot with rasam and rice or chapati / roti. You can make this kootu with chana dal (kadala paruppu) too.

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By nags Filed Under: Dal Recipes, Gravy Vegetarian Side Dishes, Spinach (Palak) Recipes, Uncategorized

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Comments

  1. SB

    May 2, 2016 at 12:48 am

    I made this for lunch today. Followed your recipe to the.Letter (except for adding a pinch of kayam) and it was deicious served on a bed of Basmati with a liitle pat of Earth Balance butter and the bit of leftover rasam I had from yesterday.

    This will become a dinner staple item here, especially in the summer when I can get fresh spinach from the Farmers Market.

    Thanks for another wonderful vegan recipe!

    Reply
    • nags

      May 8, 2016 at 10:19 am

      spinach kootu is one of my favourites too. thanks for trying and leaving a note 🙂

      Reply

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Hello!

I am Nags, the face behind Edible Garden, a food and recipes website for the busy (and sometimes lazy!) cook since 2007. My recipes are meant to be quick yet healthy and delicious - Nothing fancy, nothing too difficult. Follow Me On Instagram for real-time food and life updates.

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