Keerai Mulakoottal

Keerai Mulakoottal

Ideally this is made with any soft keerai or greens. For the occasion of dwadashi, agathi keerai is used.

Note: As per Siddha Medicine, Agathi keerai can be consumed only twice in a month and hence dwadashi is the day for consuming this keerai.  It's packed with iron and other nutrients.

Ingredients:

1. Cleaned and cut greens (keerai) 1 cup
2. Cooked tuar dhal - 1 cup (1/2 cup dhal cooked with turneric and 1/2 cup water)
3. Coconut - 1/2 cup
4. jeera / cumin - tsp , Urad Dhal - 1 tbsp red chillies  1-2 nos - for grinding
5. salt - 1 tbsp or to taste
6. water - for boiling keerai, grinding.
7. coconut oil - for seasoning ( Coconut oil adds to the flavor)

Steps

1. Make sure that your greens contain only the soft part of it. (any stems etc.. can be saved for making a dif. curry).
2. Cook 1/2 cup toor dhal with turmeric and  1/2 tsp coconut oil / ghee ( ghee/ coconut oil prevents dhal from raising and coming out of your cooker and spilling in the stove etc..) and keep it aside after it's cooked.
3. Add 1.5 cups of water and a little salt (it preserves the color of your keerai) and heat it in a vessel.
4. After it comes to a boil add the greens and cook it on low flame.
5. after greens / keerai is cooked then turn off the fire.
6. Filter the keerai and save the water for grinding or adding later.
7. Let your keerai cool down . (grinding hot keerai in mixer will cause it to splash every where).
8. In a pan, fry 2 red chilies and urad dhal until urad dhal turns red ad a sweet aroma arises.
9. Not add that shredded coconut, fired u. dhal, red chilies, and a tsp of jeera to a fine paste. (use the water which was used to boil keerai).
10. If your greens are tender, you can mash it with a potato masher - if not, add it tot he same blender and run it once or twice.( dont grind your greens to a fine paste).
11. Now mix the ground coconut / u. dhal paste and greens in the same vessel and add more (water used to boil greens) water to bring it to nice consistency.
12. Allow the above mixture to boil.
13. Add the toor dhal, which was cooked.
14. Add salt to taste.
15. In a frying pan, add coconut oil, mustard, jeera(optional), u. dhal, one red chilies and allow mustard to splutter.
16. Add the seasoning on top of your gravy.

Keerai Mulkakoottal is done. Enjoy with rice , pickle / pachadi.

This is an all time Palakkad recipe.


Note: Instead of toor dhal, moong dhal can also be used.
Note: Shredded coconut can also be fried with cocnut oil ad added for more flavor.