Keerai is a healthy side dish made using spinach for buckwheat rice. Keerai Kootu is very nutritious and is made by cooking greens with lentils, onions, tomatoes, chillies, coconut paste, herbs and spices. Learn how to make Keerai Kootu with step by step pictures.
Keerai Kootu is Mittu’s favorite and I’m glad she hasn’t picked up her mother’s habit of ignoring this healthy vegetable, so Keerai Kootu is often made for her. She likes it with rice and I like it with roti. The taste of Keerai Kootu with hot rice and ghee is very pleasant.
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About Keerai Kootu
‘Keerai’ means spinach in Tamil and it is one of the healthy vegetables that you can include in your daily diet. A side dish made with kootu dal, tadka and can be made with any vegetable, Keerai Kootu is one of the main South Indian side dishes.
Keerai Kootu is a South Indian dish made using spinach as the main ingredient. This is the best tasty way to eat green vegetables and even people who do not like green vegetables enjoy it.
Keerai Kootu can be made in different ways and this is a staple recipe that I have been following since I started cooking, so it is clearly Amma’s recipe. This is a light side dish to pair with rice for lunch.
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Kirai Kootu Ingredients
- spinach – Any green variety can be used for this buckwheat.
- Bean lentil – Moong dal is commonly used for buckwheat. You can also use a mixture of lentils.
- Onion, Tomato – Onions and tomatoes are fried and added.
- coconut paste Coconut is mixed with rice flour and water to make a paste.
- tempering – Tadka is made using mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin and asafoetida.
How to make Keerai Kootu step by step
1. Grind coconut with rice flour and water to make a fine paste and keep aside. Cook the dal with a pinch of turmeric powder and enough water until soft, mash well with a ladle and keep aside.
2. Clean the greens by removing the root part. Cut it finely and wash it at least twice, keep it aside and drain the water. Add green vegetables to the cooked dal and let it boil and cook.
3.Meanwhile heat oil in a pan – add the items listed under ‘To temper’, let it splutter, then add onions and tomatoes, cook until the tomato leaves smell raw and the onions turn golden brown. When the greens are half cooked, add it to the greens along with the lentils.
4. When the greens are cooked and mix well with the dal, add coconut paste to it. Bring it to a boil immediately and turn it off.
Serve with hot rice and ghee.
Expert Tips
- Adding a pinch of sugar while cooking greens helps retain the green color.
- You can also add ½ teaspoon sambar powder for taste.
- For more spice add ½ tsp red chilli powder.
serving and storage
Keerai Kootu can be served with rice, roti etc. This buckwheat keeps well in the refrigerator for 2 days, reheat and serve.
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📖 Recipe Card
Kirai Kootu Recipe
Keerai is a healthy side dish made using spinach for buckwheat rice. Keerai Kootu is very nutritious and is made by cooking greens with lentils, onions, tomatoes, chillies, coconut paste, herbs and spices. Learn how to make Keerai Kootu with step by step pictures.
Material
- 1 cup Keerai/Greens I used Arai Keerai
- 4 tablespoon Bean lentil
- 5 small onion
- 1 small size Tomato
- ¼ small spoon turmeric powder
- salt to taste
to Grind :
- ¼ cup Coconut
- 1 small spoon rice flour
- water to make paste
To get angry:
- one and a half tablespoon Oil
- 1 small spoon Mustard
- one and a half small spoon urad dal
- 1 small spoon Cumin
- 1 generous pinch hing
Instruction
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Grind coconut with rice flour and water to make a fine paste and keep aside. Cook the dal with a pinch of turmeric powder and enough water until soft, mash well with a ladle and keep aside.
-
Clean the greens by removing the root part. Cut it finely and wash it at least twice, keep it aside and drain the water. Add green vegetables to the cooked dal and let it boil and cook.
-
Meanwhile heat oil in a pan – add the items listed under ‘To temper’, let it splutter, then add onions and tomatoes until the raw smell of tomato leaves and onions turn golden brown. When the greens are half cooked, add it to the greens along with the lentils.
-
When the greens are cooked and mixed well with the dal, add the coconut paste. Bring it to a boil immediately and turn it off.
-
Serve with hot rice and ghee.
notes
- Adding a pinch of sugar while cooking greens helps retain the green color.
- You can also add ½ teaspoon sambar powder for taste.
- For more spice add ½ tsp red chilli powder.
nutrition Facts
Kirai Kootu Recipe
Quantity per serving (75 grams)
calories 225
calories from fat 72
% daily value*
thick 8 g12%
saturated fat 3g19%
Trans Fat 0.01 grams
Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 3g
sodium 1027 mg45%
potassium 391mg11%
carbohydrates 31 g10%
fiber 7 g29%
sugar 6 grams7%
protein 10 grams20%
Vitamin A 1994iu40%
vitamin C 18 mg22%
calcium 64 mg6%
Iron 3mg17%
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
