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Sunday, December 26, 2010

Moru Kootan

Moru Kootan – My husband’s favorite dish. He simply loves this curry made out of sour curd and ground coconut. This can be made with vegetables like Ash gourd, Pumpkin, Raw bananas, Carrots, Yam, or Colocassia (Chembu). Today I am  doing a post on Elavan moru kootan i.e. Ash gourd 


Ingredients                                         Serves 3 to 4 

1.       Elavan (Ash gourd) cut into big cubes – 1 cup
2.       Thick Curd (sour) – 1.5 cups
3.       Grated Coconut – 1 cup
4.       Green Chilies – 2 or 3
5.       Turmeric Powder – a pinch
6.       Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
7.       Dried Red Chillies - 1
8.       Methi seeds  - ¼ tsp
9.       Coconut Oil – 1 tsp
10.   Curry leaves

Method


  1. In a vessel add the chopped ashgourd and about 1.5 cups of water. 
  2. Add turmeric powder and salt and boil until the ashgourd pieces are cooked.
  3. Grind coconut with green chillies into a paste. Use a little of the curd for grinding instead of water.
  4. Add the ground paste to the cooked ashgourd. 
  5. Mix well. 
  6. Now whisk the sour curd without any lumps and add to the coconut ashgourd mixture. Check for consistency and salt. 
  7. Simmer until the kootan froths up. Do not boil after adding curd. Remove from heat. 
  8. Temper with Mustard, Red Chillies and Methi seeds. Garnish with curry leaves. 

16 comments:

  1. Hey Swapna Akka,

    The blog looks so 'Julie and Julia'. It would be nice if you added more of your experiences while cooking it, and anecdotes related to that dish and stuff like that. Take it from a journo, people love reading such stuff.

    And yeah, where is my favourite - molagootam?? u only blogged its lesser cousin molagutiam.

    Love
    Shilpa

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  2. Hey Shils,
    Thanks for your comment. I have done the post on Molaguttal. Try it out and let me know how it turns out.

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  3. Your recipes are wonderful and I love how you use different spices and chilies.I came across your site from the foodieblogroll and I'd love to guide Foodista readers to your site. I hope you could add this ash gourd widget at the end of this post so we could add you in our list of food bloggers who blogged about recipes using ash gourd/wax gourd,Thanks!

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  4. I tried your morukootan. As my moru was little sour my moru kozambu become pulippu. Wht to do? How to correct it? Pls suggest

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  5. Hi Meenakshy

    If the kootan is very sour, grind a little more coconut with a couple more chillies, grind with water, and add to the kootan. Adjust salt and add a little jaggery.

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  6. Isn't this supposed to be pulippu? I use pretty much the same set of ingredients. The moru sour, the moru better, I say. :)

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  7. Thanks for the post. Can I add Nenthra Pazham in Moru Koottan & if so, does it need to be cooked separately? - Krishnamoorthy

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  8. Dear Kaveri
    My mother used to make Morukoottan, the way you have indicated.
    I have tried it slightly differently. You could make a thick MoruKottan, by adding one spoon of Besan or Kadala Podi to the ground coconut and chillie mixture. This gives a much better consistency to the moru kottan.
    Regards
    C V Manian

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  9. Tried this recipe with pumpkin. Used groundnut oil as cocunut was not available. Was delicious. Thanks :-)

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  10. Can we use chembu instead of elavan? If so, what are the changes from the current recipe?

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  11. What goes with it... ( Which veggies beans cabbage,pickle or padam )

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  12. I learnt this recipe from my MIL. Along with the coconut and green chillies I also soak a tsp of cumin and a tsp of raw rice. Grind this together, the cumin gives a nice added flavour and the rice does not allow the curd to split and thickens the curry just right.

    Love your blog.

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  13. Very excellent presentation we always use for thickening and for non curdling use soaked rawricealong with rawcoconut, cumin seeds, green chillie Paste can also add semi roped banana along with yam

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  14. Your recipe for morkootan is very good; adding a little pepper while grinding coconut enhances the taste; got the tip from an elderly lady very good in Palghat cooking

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  15. Thank you very much for sharing and excluding a long boring monologue. This is very easy to navigate and keeps the page mobile friendly

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