Kootu (with pepper and coconut): Poritha Kootu

Vegetables like snake groud, Chow-chow, beans, broad beans (avaraikkai), etc. can be prepared by this method.

Ingredients:

Vegetables: ~250 grams

Moong dhal: ~ 75–100 grams

Ingredients to be fried and grinded:

Bengal gram: 2 tsp

Urud dhal: 2 tsp

Pepper: 2 tsp

Jeera: 1 tsp

Coconut: ~2 patches

Ingredients for thudka:

Vegetable oil: small amount

Mustard: ~1 tsp

Urud dhal: 2 tsp

Red chilli: ~2

Curry leaves, small amount, finely chopped

Asafetida: A small amount

Salt to taste

The vegetable and moong dhal are to be cooked well.

The ingredients to be grounded are added to hot oil and fried until golden brown. Allow it to cool. Grind this well.

Add the ground mixture to the cooked vegetable/moong dhal and heat this for about 5–10 min.

Add small amount of oil to a pan and heat the oil. Add mustard and wait until it settles down. Add urud dhal, jeera, red chilli, asafetida powder, and curry leaves to this. Add this to vegetable mixture.

Parapu Urandai Kozhambu

Ingredients:

Tamarind: ~25 grams

Toor Dhal: ~150 grams

Bengal Gram: ~150 grams

Red Chilli: 4–5, or as appropriate according to taste

Fenugreek: ~ 1 tsp

Asafetida: A small amount

Sambar powder: ~2 tsp

Jaaggery: A small amount

Salt: As appropriate

Mustard: 1 tsp

Oil for frying

Method:

Soak Toor Dhal and Bengal Gram in water for ~1–2 hours. Drain the water. Grind coarsely the soaked pulses, red chilli, asafetida, and approx. half tsp of salt. Make small balls of this mixture and steam boil them.

Soak tamarind in ~250 ml water. Get tamarind extract. In this add sambar powder, salt, asafetida, salt and jaggery. To this, add a thadka of mustard and fenugreek. Allow the mixture to boil. Add the cooked dhal balls to this. Garnish with coriander leaves for better taste.