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Keerai Kootu Recipe-Manathakkali Keerai Kootu

January 8, 2012 by PadhuSankar 23 Comments

Manathakkali which is known as black nightshade in English, has antioxidant and anti inflammatory properties. It has lot of health benefits.The leaf of this plant when chewed helps to cure mouth ulcers. According to Wikipedia, traditionally this plant was used to cure tuberculosis. Since I have these greens growing abundantly in my kitchen garden, I prepare this once in a fortnight. Today let us learn how to prepare keerai kootu using this very simple keerai kootu recipe–


Manathakkali Keerai
Manathakkali Keerai

Manathakkali Keerai kootu
Serves 3-4

Here is a great way to include these wonderful greens in our diet. I have made it as simple as possible for beginners.

Keerai KootuIngredients needed

Manathakkali keerai -1 medium sized bunch
Tur dal -1/3 cup
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Onion – 1 big
Green chilli -1
Ginger -1/2 inch piece
Garlic -4-5 cloves
Tomato -1 (remove the seeds)
Chilli powder – 1/2 tsp
Salt as required

For the seasoning

Mustard – 1 tsp
Urad dal -3/4 tsp
Jeera seeds -3/4 tsp
Red chilli – 1
Hing – a pinch
Oil -2 tsp

Preparation

Pick the leaves alone, wash it well and chop it.

Cook the leaves in less water till soft. Mash it well and keep it aside

Finely chop tomato, ginger, onion and garlic.

Pressure cook tur dal with a pinch of turmeric powder till soft. Mash it well. (I always have the habit of soaking dal for 15-20 minutes in hot water, so my dal gets cooked well and also takes very less time)

How to make Keerai KootuMethod

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add the other ingredients mentioned under seasoning.


Add
finely chopped onion and saute nicely till it turns golden brown.

Then add ginger, garlic and green chilli, saute for a few more minutes.

Add tomatoes, chilli powder and cook till tomatoes become mushy.

Add cooked greens, cooked dal, needed salt and bring it to boil. Serve with hot rice topped with a tsp of ghee or as a side dish for roti and rice.

Easy isn’t it? – very delicious too-try it and let me know.

Variations – You can substitute manathakkali keerai with palak or gongura and follow the same method and measurements.


More Keerai recipes from Padhuskitchen

Mulai Keerai Kootu -Amaranth leaves kootu (Tamil Brahmin style-no onion no garlic recipe).


Keerai Masiyal (Tamil Brahmin style without onion and garlic)

Murungai keerai poriyal (Drumstick leaves curry)

Mint Pulao (Pudina sadam)

Gongura Chutney (pulicha keerai chutney)

Methi Pulao

Coriander rice (kothamalli sadam)

Mullangi keerai poriyal (radish greens stir fry)

Dal Palak (spinach with garlic and lentils)

Spinach raita (Palak keerai pachadi)

Vendhaya keerai rice (Keerai sadam)

Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Padhu of Padhuskitchen.com

Related posts:

Vazhaithandu Soup-Plantain Stem (banana stem) Soup Recipe-Healthy Soup Recipes

Thayir Vadai-South Indian Style Curd Vada-Dahi Vada Recipe

Dibba Rotti Recipe-Minappa Rotti-Andhra Special

Cabbage Poha Recipe-Cabbage Capsicum Aval-Poha Recipes

Filed Under: Side dish, Side Dish For Chapati, Uncategorized Tagged With: Dal, Greens, Health Dish, Uncategorized




Previous Post: « Thiruvathirai kali recipe and Ezhukari Kootu
Next Post: Dhokla Recipe-Instant Dhokla Recipe and Green Chutney »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. faseela

    January 8, 2012 at 8:08 am

    healthy recipe…….

    Reply
  2. simply.food

    January 8, 2012 at 8:37 am

    Healthy and delicious.

    Reply
  3. Aarthi

    January 8, 2012 at 10:12 am

    Totally Yummy..Delciious..Love to try it..Bookmarked

    Aarthi
    http://yummytummy-aarthi.blogspot.com/

    Reply
  4. Roshu

    January 8, 2012 at 10:58 am

    Something new to me….healthy recipe dear!!!!

    Reply
  5. Vimitha Anand

    January 8, 2012 at 3:49 pm

    Healthy kootu… Nice one

    Reply
  6. divya

    January 9, 2012 at 1:45 am

    Wow..that looks super super tempting..nice recipe..

    Reply
  7. gwl

    January 9, 2012 at 3:02 am

    The visit was useful. Content was really very informative. visit giftwithlove dot com(portal to send gifts and flowers to India.).

    Reply
  8. சிநேகிதி

    January 9, 2012 at 4:16 am

    Healthy and delicious…

    Reply
  9. Maayeka

    January 9, 2012 at 4:27 am

    very healthy and delicious daal…can you give me the hindi name for this green..

    Reply
  10. Sandhya Hariharan

    January 9, 2012 at 5:58 pm

    Thats an interesting twist with Manathangali…
    I normally make sambar with dried manathangali or vetta koyumbu

    Reply
  11. Roshni

    January 9, 2012 at 7:36 pm

    Never used manathakkali keerai in my cooking. will have to look out for that keerai in the shop

    Reply
  12. Ananda Rajashekar

    January 9, 2012 at 7:59 pm

    its been ages i have had this, looks very nice!

    Reply
  13. rajirk

    October 7, 2012 at 3:19 am

    i would like to have the seeds of this. as in mumbaiwe do not get it. i can grow the same in my balcomy.

    Reply
  14. Meera

    October 17, 2012 at 7:15 am

    I just made this. Forgot to cook the greens in water before adding to onion,tomato,ginger,garlic mix. So put everything in the cooker for 2 whistles. Came out well 🙂

    Reply
  15. Shweta

    July 28, 2013 at 1:12 pm

    Hi can u tell me what to do with the raw manathakkali fruit which is attached to the stems? Can that also be used along with the keerai in this preparation?

    Reply
    • Swetha Srivathshan

      October 31, 2015 at 5:51 am

      U can also make Kara kulambu using regular recipe but adding fruits (marinated with little curd and salt) while frying onion-garlic. Turns out awesome!

      Reply
  16. PadhuSankar

    July 29, 2013 at 6:53 am

    Sweta – You should not use the fruit for this recipe. You can dry it and make it as manathakkali vathal or just dry it and sow it in your garden. You can get fresh manathakkali keerai from your garden.

    Reply
  17. Raj T

    October 20, 2013 at 1:15 pm

    Excellent–loved the blogpost I have tried and grown Manthakalli in our Compound–
    Rgds
    TR

    Reply
  18. Unknown

    March 2, 2016 at 3:30 am

    Thanks you sister……
    I like manathakkai keerai very nice……

    Reply
  19. Anuradha

    April 3, 2016 at 10:46 am

    Tried this recipe today…wonderful taste..kids and elders both liked…

    Reply
  20. Unknown

    June 27, 2016 at 4:16 pm

    Hi, nice recipe, I also added grated coconut, tasted yummy

    Reply
  21. Unknown

    August 8, 2016 at 12:45 pm

    Hi could please also tell us the hindi names of the vegetables

    Reply
  22. Veena

    August 28, 2023 at 6:53 pm

    Came out good. I liked it. I also added little grinded coconut at the end.

    Reply

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Meet Padhu, the Chef, the photographer, recipe developer and web designer behind Padhuskitchen which features Simple Indian Vegetarian recipes, healthy recipes, kids friendly recipes, Indian festival recipes, traditional South Indian Vegetarian ...

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