Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Beetroot Poriyal



Another one of those veggies that I literally ran away from when I was little, I think it was one those major issues with veggies having too much color - red beets, purple brinjals, green spinach and big green and sometimes weirdly red inside bitter bitter gourds - I don't know what I expected a bitter gourd to taste if not bitter!! Anyway thats a whole different story. Now I make beets at such regular intervals that I wonder how I did without them for so long. This is a very simple Poriyal/ Mezhukperutti, I normally have this with Rice, Lemon Rasam and Vattals ... don't ask me if it is a perfect combo but for me its heaven.

Ingredients:
Beetroot - 1 1/2 cup small cubes
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Dried Red Chili - 1
Curry leaves - a few
Green chilli - 1tp 2 depending or taste , substitute - 1/2 tsp red chili powder
Oil - 1 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Heat oil in a saute pan and splutter the Mustard seeds, urad dal, dried red chili and curry leaves. After a minute add green chili and followed by the beetroot. If you are using red chili powder wait for five minutes after adding the beets. Stir occasionally. Add the salt. Cover and cook for 15 to 20 minutes minutes of low to medium heat. You can add 1 tsp of water if you want, but you won't need it as the beets would sweat it out.
Remove and serve hot with rice and any gravy/ sambhar or rasam.


The goodness of Beets

4 comments:

J said...

I make this too and add coconut to mine. I also grate the beets. Nice and homely.

Smitha said...

Hi Jyothsna, I am trying to avoid adding coconut even though by instinct my hand reaches out for it ... can't help it if you are from god's own country! I tried grating the beets but I end up making a slushy mess so I stick to the plain cubes :) But hey ... either way can't beat the taste.

Saju said...

looks so rich in colour. I never used to like beet either, but I love them nopw

Anonymous said...

My host mom used to make this all the time in Madurai. I can't wait to try it out!

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