Cluster Beans or Guvar beans is known as “kothavarai” or “kothavarangai” in Tamil, “gawaar” in Hindi and “gokarakaya” in Telugu. I harvested a kilogram of cluster beans from my organic kitchen garden a few days back. Unlike the ones you get in the market, these are very soft and tender. Today I am going to share with you how to make kothavarangai puli kootu (using tamarind) following this easy recipe which does not require any grinding of masala etc.
Kothavarangai Puli Kootu Recipe
Prep Time : 15 mins
Cook Time : 20 mins
Serves: 2-3
Recipe Category: Kootu-Side Dish
Recipe Cuisine: Tamil Brahmin
Author:Padhu Sankar
Serves: 2-3
Recipe Category: Kootu-Side Dish
Recipe Cuisine: Tamil Brahmin
Author:Padhu Sankar
Ingredients needed
Cluster beans – 1/4 kg or 250 grams
Tur dal – 1/3 cup
Brown Chick Peas (kondai kadalai/kothu kadalai) – 1/4 cup
Tamarind – a small lemon sized ball
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Sambar powder – 1 1/4 tsp
Salt needed
Grated coconut – 1/4 cup
Rice Flour – 1 tsp
For the seasoning
Oil – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Urad dal – 3/4 tsp
Red chillies -2 broken
Curry leaves – a sprig
Preparation
Soak dal in hot water for 15 minutes and pressure cook for 3 whistles, adding a pinch of turmeric powder. Mash it well and keep it aside.(Soaking ensures faster cooking).
Soak tamarind in warm water for 15-20 minutes and extract its juice. Discard the pulp.
Soak brown chick peas (brown channa) in water overnight and pressure cook for 3 whistles or until soft. You can cook this along with dal, keeping it in a small bowl. Adding chick peas is optional but I recommend it.
Cut off both the ends of cluster beans and chop it into small pieces.
Fry grated coconut in a tsp of oil till it changes color and keep it aside.
Mix rice flour in 2 tbsp of water and keep it ready (rice flour is added for thickening the gravy).
Method
Heat a tsp of oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add red chillies, curry leaves and chopped cluster beans. Add turmeric powder and salt needed. Add 1/4 cup of water and cook until the cluster beans becomes tender, stirring from time to time. Alternatively you can also pressure cook cluster beans for 1 whistle.
Once it is cooked, add tamarind water, sambar powder and boil till the raw smell of the tamarind and sambar powder goes.
Then add cooked tur dal, cooked brown channa, fried coconut, rice flour mixture and boil everything together until it thickens slightly. Check for salt. You can adjust the consistency of the kootu according to your personal preferences.
Serve as a side dish for rasam or sambar rice. You might also like my Kothavarangai Paruppu Usili recipe
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View Comments (15)
nice kootu and protein rich too
Great-secret-of-life.blogspot.com
Nice kootu, never tried kothavarangai like this..
never tried this way..
Delicious and inviting kootu..
Divya's Culinary Journey
Delicious one and loved the mat :)
~Today's Recipe~Simple green peas masala / Pachai pattani masala
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The kootu looks yum!! Very nice recipe indeed :)
I like cluster beans lot, this puli looks delicious. I usually make stirfry with them.
delicious and simple to make ......
looks delicious :)
I have not tried this kind of kootu. Mine is always without tamarind. Very interesting recipe. Once I find kothavaranga in the Indian store i will try it Padhu. thanks for sharing.