Thiruvathirai Kali-Ezhukari Kootu
Prep Time : 20 mins
Serves: 4
Recipe Category: Festival Recipes
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian
Author:Padhu Sankar
Ingredients needed
For Thiruvathirai kali
Raw rice – 1 cup
Jaggery – 1 1/2 cup heaped
Grated coconut -3/4 cup loosely packed
Ghee – 1/4 cup
Cashew nuts – 5-6
Cardamom – 1/4 tsp
For Ezhukari Kootu
Mixed vegetables* – 4 – 4 1/2 cups
Field Beans (Mochai) – 1/4 cup
Tur dal – 1/3 cup
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Tamarind – small gooseberry size ball
Salt needed
Fry and grind
Coriander seeds – 1 1/2 tsp
Bengal gram/kadalai paruppu – 1 1/2 tsp
Red chilli – 5-6
Raw Rice – 1/2 tsp
Coconut (grated ) -1/4 cup
For the seasoning
Oil – 2 tsp
Hing/asafoetida – a pinch
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds – 1/2 tsp
Red chilli – 1
Curry leaves – a sprig
For Garnishing
Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp finely chopped
Preparations For Kali
Dry roast rice on low heat in a pan/kadai till it turns light golden brown in color.
Dry grind the rice coarsely like rava. Keep it aside.
Heat 2 1/2 cups of water, dissolve jaggery in it and filter it to remove impurities.
Method
Take a pan/kadai, add the filtered jaggery water and bring it to boil.
When it start boiling, reduce the heat to low, add grated coconut and mix well.
Then add rice rava with one hand and stir continuously with your other hand to prevent formation of lumps.
Add 2 tsp of ghee, mix well and cook on low heat for a few seconds until it slightly thickens.
Transfer it to a vessel and pressure cook for 3 whistles.
Once the pressure subsides, open the cooker.
Heat remaining ghee in a pan and saute cashew nuts until golden brown. Add cardamom powder and the cashew nuts along with the ghee when the kali is hot.
Mix well and enjoy. Thiruvathirai kali is ready. Serve hot with Ezhukari Kootu/thalagam (recipe below).
Note – 1 1/2 cup jaggery was just perfect for my family, if you want more sweetness, increase the quantity of jaggery.
Ezhukari Kootu-Thalagam Recipe (Serves 4-5)
This kootu is called Ezhukari Kootu as it must have a minimum of 7 vegetables out of which mochai, pumpkin and ash gourd are very important for this kootu.
Preparation
Wash and cut all the vegetable into medium sized cubes.Vegetables* I used are Carrot,Broad beans (avarakkai), Pumpkin (parangikkai),Beans, Chow chow (chayote), Cluster beans (kothavarangai), Ashgourd (poosanikkai), Brinjal, Potato and also 1/4 cup of mochai (field beans).
Pressure cook dal with turmeric powder for 3 whistles or until soft. Keep the mochai also is a small cup and pressure cook with a little salt along with dal as you see in the picture below.
Soak tamarind in warm water for 20 minutes, extract its juice and discard the pulp.
Heat a tsp of oil and fry coriander seeds, bengal gram (chana dal), raw rice and red chillies. When dal turns golden brown, add coconut and saute for a few more minutes.
Method
Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add fenugreek seeds, red chilli, hing and curry leaves.
Then add the par boiled vegetables (excluding pumpkin and ash gourd), salt needed and tamarind water. Cook on medium heat until the raw smell of the tamarind goes.
Then add the ground paste, cooked dal, cooked mochai, cooked ashgourd and pumpkin.
Add 1/2 cup of water and cook on low heat for 10 minutes until everything gets incorporated well. Stir in between to prevent dal from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Check for salt.
Turn off the heat and garnish with coriander leaves.(The consistency should neither be watery nor too thick).
Serve hot Ezhukari Kootu with kali.
Enjoy preparing kali and this healthy kootu for this Thiruvathirai.
Note – Due to requests from readers, this post has been updated with step wise pictures.
View Comments (62)
Sweet with savory perfect combo.
yummy dishes.. koottu is so inviting..
Yummy Kali and Thalagam..We don't add tamarind to the veggies and make it more like a kootu. Like your version of Kali..
Nice traditional and yummy dishes dear. Thanks for sharing
wat a fantastic recipe...absolute delicious dish..:)
Can u please give me the recipe for vadakari
Prompt addition before the festival :) Love to see you taking efforts and posting such useful and timely info on your blog. Happy Thiruvaadhirai :)
Awesome traditional recipe
This looks yummy..You have made it awesome.
Aarthi
http://yummytummy-aarthi.blogspot.com/
Authentic and traditional recipe on time... All this is very new to me but great to know!