Kerala style Kootu Curry Indian Recipe (Raw Banana Black Chana Curry)
Kootu Curry is one of the famous items in the festival of Kerala, Onam. It is very tasty and easy to make dish. Normally it is
made with Kadala (Black Chana), Pacha Kaaya (Raw Banana) and Chena (Elephant Yam). However the ingredients vary slightly in
different parts of Kerala. So some readers might criticize me about the authenticity of this dish. This dish is made this way
in the Northern side of Kerala. Here you go..
Ingredients:
Black Chana : 1 cup (soaked overnight and cooked in the pressure cooker)
Raw Banana : 2 large (de-skinned, cut into 4 length-wise and then cut into pieces of size 1/2' each)
Coconut - 3/4 cup(freshly grated, frozen or dessicated)
Cummin - 1/2 tsp
Garlic -3 cloves
Dry red Chilli - 4
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - 2 sprigs
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt : to taste
Steps:
1. Once the chana is cooked, in the same pressure cooker, add the banana pieces and a pinch of salt. The cooker should have water enough to cover half of the
Chana. Keep it on the stove, and let it cook for 2 whistles. This ensures that the banana is cooked just right.
2. Switch off the gas and allow the pressure to release.
3. Grind coconut, garlic, cummin and 2 red chillies to make a coarse paste. Add 1/4 cup of water, before grinding.
4. Once the coconut mix is ready, add it to the chana-banana mixture and allow to boil. Add turmeric, chilli powder and salt
as per taste. Mix it well, and allow to cook untill the mix becomes dry. It should be a little sticky, not very dry.
5. Once you get the right consistency, switch off the stove.
6. In a small kadai, heat oil, and add mustard to it. Once they start to splutter, add curry leaves and the 2 red chillies. .
Once they are fried, add a tbsp of grated coconut to the oil, and fry it till the fried coconut aroma spreads.
7. Once all the above are fried enough in oil, switch off the stove and add the ingredients to the chana-banana mixture.
8. Kootu Curry is ready now. It is ideally had with Rice, as a side-dish. It would go well with Chapathi or roti.
Hope you try it at home, and enjoy it.