Brinjal (Kathirikai) Kootu

I had never thought of making kootu with brinjal(eggplant) till I found a wonderful recipe at Kamala’s Corner – a lovely website with authentic Indian recipes. I have tasted brinjal sambar, baingan barta, brinjal poriyal and the famous ennai kathirikai (stuffed brinjal curry), but brinjal kootu was totally new to me! Being a brinjal lover, I couldn’t resist myself from trying out the recipe 😉 I have tweaked the recipe a little bit to make it a perfect single pot dish!

To all my friends who do not like (read hate) Brinjal / Eggplant: This kootu recipe is very simple, easy to do and can be done in a jiffy if you have cooked dal at hand. You can replace brinjal in this recipe with chow-chow or any other veggie of your choice!

As much as I love adding fresh ground ingredients in my cooking rather than using packed podis (powder), I do find it more time consuming! Roasting the masala ingredients, waiting for them cool and then grinding them to be used in the recipe is bit more taxing than grinding fresh ingredients without prior roasting! Brinjal kootu is one such recipe where you need not roast the “masala” ingredients. Just grind them with little water and use them in the recipe.

Recipe Source: Kamala’s Corner
Time Taken: 25 – 30 mins

Ingredients:

Brinjal: 3-4 (medium sized, chopped into bite size cubes)
Onion: 2 (chopped)
Moong dal (Green gram): 3/4 cup
Chana dal (Bengal gram): 2 tbsp
Sambar powder: 1 tsp
Turmeric powder: 1/4 tsp
Salt: to taste
To grind
Green chillies: 2-3
Coconut flakes: 2 tbsp
Jeera (Cumin seeds): 1/2 tsp
To temper
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves: few
Hing (Asafetida/Perungayam): 1/8 tsp
Cooking oil: 1 tbsp (= 3 tsp)

Preparation Method:

• Wash and clean dals.
• Add a pinch of turmeric powder and cook till soft. (I pressure cooked for 3 whistles)
• Meanwhile heat oil in a pan and do seasoning with mustard seeds,turmeric powder, asafetida and curry leaves.
• When mustard starts to spatter, add onion and sauté till transparent.
• Add brinjal and fry for 2-3 minutes.
• Add sambar powder and salt and fry for another 1 minute.
• Add 1/2 cup of water.
• Lower the flame and allow brinjal to cook well.
• While it gets cooked, add little water and grind coconut, cumin seeds and green chillies into coarse paste.
• When brinjal turns soft, add ground mixture and dal and mix thoroughly. (Mash dal before adding)
• Add water as necessary to adjust the consistency.
• Allow to cook for 5 minutes and remove from the stove top.
• Serve yummy brinjal kootu with hot rice!

No doubt brinjal kootu tastes delicious! Have you tried making kootu with cabbage? There are variety of ways you can make cabbage kootu recipe! Here is my cabbage kootu recipe prepared with chana dal (kadalai paruppu/bengal gram). Click on the picture to read more about it.

Cabbage Kootu:

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