Today’s recipe is going to be a simple day-to-day rice accompaniment and one of the common and most popular side dish that you can see in a typical Tamil Nadu Thali – Kootu. So here I am presenting a simple, no onion no garlic, green and purple cabbage kootu prepared with fresh ground coconut, curry leaves and cilantro masala.
Cabbage is one of my favorite veggie. I love both the dry curry/poriyal and this kootu. When I found red/purple (I call it as purple cabbage, but it is also known as red cabbage) cabbage here, I bought them and tried it right away. So for the past five plus years both red and green cabbages are one among the staple vegetable in our household. Taste wise both red/purple and green cabbage are very similar. The colored cabbage indicates that they have high Vitamin A content. The healthy stage website puts it right, No matter what color you chose, cabbages are a low calorie veggie with good source of fiber, vitamins and other nutrients. So
I buy purple and green cabbage alternatively and last week I had about 1 cup of both the cabbages. I thought of trying poriyal and then I realized I haven’t post cabbage kootu. Also I didn’t post any kootu recipes with my new masala recipe. :-) So here I am with the kootu recipe. Before discussing about the masala, let me ask you all a question? How many of you consume the cilantro, especially curry leaves that we add in sambar, rasam, poriyal and kootu? If you consume them, a big salute to you all. For those who separate it out from food (I am in this list too), here is a trick to sneak them in you food. I have explained about the benefits of curry leaves in my curry leaves chutney and curry leaves powder | Karuvepillai podi post. Every time, when I remove curry leaves from my platter I feel bad. At times, I literally swallow them. That’s when I thought, what if I grind them along with the kootu masala. So tried it and guess what, we all liked it (yes, including vaandu) and from then on, I started to grind a strand of curry leaves and cilantro along with coconut, cumin and red chillies.
For Jeera Milagu Rasam and Milagu Kuzhambu, I grind it along with the masala too. Yet to try it in my arichu vitta sambar. But here is the kootu recipe that I tried,
Ingredients:
- Chopped Green Cabbage – 1 cup
- Chopped Purple Cabbage – 1 cup
- Moong Dal – 3 tbsps
- Salt – 2 tsps
- Water – 2 cups
- To Grind:
- Grated Coconut – ¼ cup
- Dried Red Chillies – 3
- Cumin Seeds – 1 tbsp
- Chopped Cilantro – 2 tbsps
- Curry leaves – 1 strand
- Rosted gram dal / Daliya / Pottu kadalai – 1 tsp (See notes)
- Water – 3 to 4 tbsps
- To Temper:
- Oil – 2 tsps
- Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
- Urad Dal – 1 tsp
- Channa Dal – 1 tsp
- Hing – ¼ tsp
Prep Work:
- Chop both the cabbages and cilantro.
- Grate the coconut.
- Pressure cook the chopped cabbage along with moong dal by adding 2 cups of water for up to 2 whistles. (See notes, if you are not using pressure cooker. I use my pressure cooker separator vessels and cook dal for sambar, veggie for kootu and rice at the same time)
- Grind everything given under “to grind” by adding 3 to 4 tbsps of water and set aside.
Steps:
- Heat the kadai or add oil.
- Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal and hing.
- As it starts to splutter, add the pressure cooked veggie and salt.
- Mix them well and let it simmer for two minutes.
- Now add the ground masala and mix well.
- Check for salt and if required add more.
- Bring it to boil and that’s it. Yummy kootu is ready.
Notes:
- Either one variety of cabbage can be used for this kootu.
- Moong dal is optional. I have tried with and without moong dal. Also adjust the amount of moong dal as per your preference. For this measure, I would go unto ¼ cup or ⅓ cup.
- We grind roasted gram dal to provide thick consistency for the kootu. So if you want thin consistency, you skip and also add more water.
- If you are not using pressure cooker for boiling veggies,
- Just pressure cook the moong dal and mash it well.
- After tempering, add the chopped cabbages and salt. Spring some water and cover and cook till the cabbage becomes soft. After that add the mashed dal and masala and follow as mentioned above.
- Adjust salt and red chillies according to your preference.
- A small half inch piece of ginger can be added while grinding the masala.
📖 Recipe
Green and Purple Cabbage Kootu | Gravy
Ingredients
- Chopped Green Cabbage - 1 cup
- Chopped Purple Cabbage - 1 cup
- Moong Dal - 3 tbsps
- Salt - 2 tsps
- Water - 2 cups
To Grind
- Grated Coconut - ¼ cup
- Dried Red Chillies - 3
- Cumin Seeds - 1 tbsp
- Chopped Cilantro - 2 tbsps
- Curry leaves - 1 strand
- Rosted gram dal / Daliya / Pottu kadalai - 1 tsp See notes
- Water - 3 to 4 tbsps
To Temper
- Oil - 2 tsps
- Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
- Urad Dal - 1 tsp
- Channa Dal - 1 tsp
- Hing - ¼ tsp
Instructions
Prep Work
- Chop both the cabbages and cilantro.
- Grate the coconut.
- Pressure cook the chopped cabbage along with moong dal by adding 2 cups of water for up to 2 whistles. (See notes, if you are not using pressure cooker. I use my pressure cooker separator vessels and cook dal for sambar, veggie for kootu and rice at the same time)
- Grind everything given under “to grind” by adding 3 to 4 tbsps of water and set aside.
Steps
- Heat the kadai or add oil.
- Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal and hing.
- As it starts to splutter, add the pressure cooked veggie and salt.
- Mix them well and let it simmer for two minutes.
- Now add the ground masala and mix well.
- Check for salt and if required add more.
- Bring it to boil and that’s it. Yummy kootu is ready.
Notes
Moong dal is optional. I have tried with and without moong dal. Also adjust the amount of moong dal as per your preference. For this measure, I would go unto ¼ cup or ⅓ cup.
We grind roasted gram dal to provide thick consistency for the kootu. So if you want thin consistency, you skip and also add more water.
Adjust salt and red chillies according to your preference.
A small half inch piece of ginger can be added while grinding the masala.
If you are not using pressure cooker for boiling veggies,
Just pressure cook the moong dal and mash it well.
After tempering, add the chopped cabbages and salt. Spring some water and cover and cook till the cabbage becomes soft. After that add the mashed dal and masala and follow as mentioned above.
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
Anu - My Ginger Garlic Kitchen says
I love both cabbages but I would have never thought of combining them together in one dish. This gravy sounds like a great idea! :)
Srividhya G says
Thanks Anu. Kootu is one of our staple food. :-)
Divya Deepak Rao says
That looks delicious Vidhya! I use cabbage quite a bit & this Kootu sounds telly interesting :)
Srividhya G says
Thanks a lot :-)
CHCooks says
I have always used purple cabbage for coleslaw or salad :) This looks interesting! Lovely as always Sri :)
Srividhya G says
Thanks a lot CH :-)
healthyindiankitchen says
I think I am going to love this with rice. Lovely recipe. Cabbage and lentils go really well together. This looks so delicious?
Srividhya G says
Thanks a lot.. yes this is a perfect combo with rice.