Kothavarangai Puli Kootu-Cluster Beans Kootu Recipe

Cluster Beans or Guvar beans is known as kothavarai in Tamil, gawaar in Hindi and gokarakaya in Telugu.I harvested a kilogram of cluster beans from my organic kitchen garden a few days back. Unlike the ones you get in the market, these were very soft and tender.Today I am going to share with you how to make kothavarangai puli kootu (using tamarind) following this easy recipe which does not require any grinding of masala etc.

Kothavarangai Puli Kootu Recipe

Prep time -under 30 mins
Cook time -under 20 mins
Serves -2-3

Ingredients needed

Cluster beans - 1/4 kg or 250 grams
Tur dal - 1/3 cup
Brown channa (kondai kadalai /kothu kadalai) -1/4 cup (optional but recommended)
Tamarind - a small lemon sized ball
Sambar powder -1 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder -a pinch
Salt needed

Grated coconut -1/4 cup

For the seasoning 

Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Urad dal -3/ 4tsp
Red chillies -2 broken
Curry leaves - few

Preparation

Soak dal in hot water for 15 minutes and pressure cook for 3 whistles, adding a pinch of turmeric powder. Mash it well and keep it aside.(Soaking ensures faster cooking).

Soak tamarind in warm water for 15-20 minutes and extract its juice. Discard the pulp.

Soak brown channa in water overnight and pressure cook for 3 whistles or until soft. You can cook this along with dal, keeping it in a small bowl.

Cut off both the ends of cluster beans and chop it into small pieces.

Fry grated coconut in a tsp of oil till it changes color and keep it aside.

Method

Heat a tsp of oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add red chillies, curry leaves and chopped cluster beans with a pinch of turmeric powder and salt needed.Cook till soft adding little water. Alternatively you can also pressure cook cluster beans for 1 whistle.

After it gets cooked, add tamarind water, sambar powder and boil till the raw smell of the sambar powder goes.

Then add cooked tur dal, cooked brown channa, fried coconut, a tsp of rice flour mixed with little water and boil everything together.(rice flour is added for thickening the gravy).Check for salt. You can adjust the consistency of the kootu according to your personal preferences.

Serve as a side dish for rasam or sambar rice. You might also like my Kothavarangai Paruppu Usili recipe

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