Fans of 'Ponniyin Selvan' novel can very much connect to Aadi Peruku and Kootanchoru. The novel begins on the day of Aadi peruku and writer Kalki would have excellently narrated about the beauty of Veera Narayana Lake and the people who had gathered there. He would have also mentioned about Kootanchoru and Chithrannam.
I got the recipe for this Kootanchoru from 'Udayar', the master piece from Balakumaran where he would have mentioned clearly about the recipe. Since 'Udayar' book is at my mom's place, I tried this dish out of my memory and I can assure you this will match 80% of the original recipe. I have cautiously chosen vegetables which would have been available those times. I have a slight doubt only in use of Dry Red Chili. And they must have used Ghee for seasoning, where as i have used normal sunflower oil.
That fantastic recipe is here for you all !!!
Recipe For : 4 persons
Preparation Time : 40 minutes
Ingredients:
Rice - 2 cups
Toor Dal - 1/2 cup (Thuvaram Parupu)
Raw Banana - 1 (Vazhakai)
Elephant Yam - 1/4 cup (chopped) (Senai Kizhangu)
Brinjal - 3 (Kathirikkai)
Drumstick - 1/2 (Murungaikai)
Cluster Beans - 10 to 15 (Kothavarangai )
Salt - As required
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Dry Red Chili - 2
Curry Leaves - few
Coriander Leaves - few
Oil - 1 tbsp
To Grind 1:
Small Onion - 8 to 10
Dry Red Chili - 4
Black Pepper - 6 to 8
To Grind 2:
Chopped Coconut - 1/4 cup
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Procedure:
- Chop Raw Banana, Elephant Yam, Brinjal, Drumstick and Cluster Beans into bigger pieces. Grind everything under ' To Grind 1' and 'To Grind 2' separately. Wash and soak rice and toor dal together in 6 cups of water. That's 2.5 cups of water for 1 cup of Rice + Dal. I have used normal Ponni Parboiled rice (pulungal arisi) for this dish.
- Heat oil in a pan. Add all the chopped vegetables. Saute for a minute and then add masala from ' To Grind 1'. Saute till the raw flavor of onion goes off.
- Add soaked rice and dal to a cooker along with water. Add also sauteed vegetables along with 'To Grind1' masala. Add also coconut + Cumin seeds paste from 'To Grind 2'. Add also salt and turmeric powder. Give a good stir to everything in the cooker.
- Cook it for a whistle. Open the cooker after the pressure has completely subsided. Since i soaked Rice + Dal for an hour, and the quantity is also more, it got cooked for me in a whistle itself. You cook according to your way but see to that vegetables don't get mashed up. Adjust the spice according to your taste. Do the seasoning in oil or Ghee with Mustard seeds, Dry Red chili, Curry leaves, Coriander leaves and add it to the rice.
- Enjoy authentic Kootanchoru with Pappad.. You will surely like it!!!
