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Thiruvathirai kali recipe and Ezhukari Kootu

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Thirivadirai is auspicious for Lord Shiva and falls in the month of Marghazhi. It is on the 8th of January this year(2012). Thiruvathirai kali and Ezhukari Kootu are prepared on this day. Today we will learn how to make Thiruvathirai kali and Ezhukari Kootu/thalagam following this easy recipe with step wise pictures.

Thiruvathirai kali recipe and Ezhukari Kootu

Thiruvathirai Kali-Ezhukari Kootu


Thiruvathirai Kali-Ezhukari Kootu

 Prep Time : 20 mins

 Cook Time : 30 mins 
 Serves: 4
 Recipe Category: Festival Recipes
 Recipe Cuisine: South Indian
 Author:

   Ingredients needed

   For Thiruvathirai kali

   Raw rice – 1 cup
   Jaggery – 1 1/2 cup heaped
   Grated coconut -3/4 cup loosely packed
   Ghee – 1/4 cup
   Cashew nuts – 5-6
   Cardamom – 1/4 tsp

   For Ezhukari Kootu

   Mixed vegetables* – 4 – 4 1/2 cups
   Field Beans (Mochai) – 1/4 cup
   Tur dal – 1/3 cup
   Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
   Tamarind – small gooseberry size ball
   Salt needed

   Fry and grind

   Coriander seeds – 1 1/2 tsp
   Bengal gram/kadalai paruppu – 1 1/2 tsp
   Red chilli – 5-6
   Raw Rice – 1/2 tsp
   Coconut (grated ) -1/4 cup

   For the seasoning

   Oil – 2 tsp
   Hing/asafoetida – a pinch
   Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
   Fenugreek seeds – 1/2 tsp
   Red chilli – 1
   Curry leaves – a sprig

   For Garnishing

   Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp finely chopped

Preparations For Kali


Dry roast rice on low heat in a pan/kadai till it turns light golden brown in color.

Dry grind the rice coarsely like rava. Keep it aside.

preparations for Thiruvathirai kali

Heat 2 1/2 cups of water, dissolve jaggery in it and filter it to remove impurities.

Method


Take a pan/kadai, add the filtered jaggery water and bring it to boil.

When it start boiling, reduce the heat to low, add grated coconut and mix well.

how to make kali

Then add rice rava with one hand and stir continuously with your other hand to prevent formation of lumps.

Tiruvathirai kali recipe

Add 2 tsp of ghee, mix well and cook on low heat for a few seconds until it slightly thickens.

Transfer it to a vessel and pressure cook for 3 whistles.

how to make Thiruvathirai kali

Once the pressure subsides, open the cooker.

how to prepare Thiruvathirai kali

Heat remaining ghee in a pan and saute cashew nuts until golden brown. Add cardamom powder and the cashew nuts along with the ghee when the kali is hot.

Mix well and enjoy. Thiruvathirai kali is ready. Serve hot with Ezhukari Kootu/thalagam (recipe below).

Easy kali recipe

Note – 1 1/2 cup jaggery was just perfect for my family, if you want more sweetness, increase the quantity of jaggery.

Ezhukari Kootu-Thalagam Recipe (Serves 4-5)


This kootu is called Ezhukari Kootu as it must have a minimum of 7 vegetables out of which mochai, pumpkin and ash gourd are very important for this kootu.

Preparation


Wash and cut all the vegetable into medium sized cubes.Vegetables* I used are Carrot,Broad beans (avarakkai), Pumpkin (parangikkai),Beans, Chow chow (chayote), Cluster beans (kothavarangai), Ashgourd (poosanikkai), Brinjal, Potato and also 1/4 cup of mochai (field beans).

vegetables for ezhukari kootu

Pressure cook dal with turmeric powder for 3 whistles or until soft. Keep the mochai also is a small cup and pressure cook with  a little salt along with dal as you see in the picture below.

pressure cooked mochai and dal

Soak tamarind in warm water for 20 minutes, extract its juice and discard the pulp.

preparation for kootu

Heat a tsp of oil and fry coriander seeds, bengal gram (chana dal), raw rice and red chillies. When dal turns golden brown, add coconut and saute for a few more minutes.

Switch off the heat. Once it cools, grind it to a fine paste adding little water.

tamarind extract and ground paste

Cook both pumpkin and ash gourd separately in a little water until soft.

Par boil the rest of the vegetables with needed water and little salt. You can also pressure cook for 1 whistle. But slowly and steadily (be very careful) release the pressure after one whistle otherwise the vegetables will get overcooked. If you are new to using pressure cooker, I suggest that you par boil the vegetables in a pan, to be on the safer side.

easy thalagam recipe

Method


Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add fenugreek seeds, red chilli, hing and curry leaves.

Then add the par boiled vegetables (excluding pumpkin and ash gourd), salt needed and tamarind water. Cook on medium heat until the raw smell of the tamarind goes.

how to make ezhukari kootu

Then add the ground paste, cooked dal, cooked mochai, cooked ashgourd and pumpkin.

ezhukari kootu recipe for Thiruvathirai

Add 1/2 cup of water and cook on low heat for 10 minutes until everything gets incorporated well. Stir in between to prevent dal from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Check for salt.

thalagam kootu

Turn off the heat and garnish with coriander leaves.(The consistency should neither be watery nor too thick).

Serve hot Ezhukari Kootu with kali.

Enjoy preparing kali and this healthy kootu for this Thiruvathirai.

Thiruvathirai kali recipe and kootu
Note – Due to requests from readers, this post has been updated with step wise pictures.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  23. Unknown

    I tried your recipe and it was fantastic. My husvand's a tamilian so I have never done anything like this before. I was kinda confused though while reading if you meant cook the rava in Jaggery water.. I was nervous to put Jaggery water in cooker so called my mother in law :))
    But yeah, the recipe was really bang on. We all loved it including our 16mo old daughter. So, thank you!

    Reply

  25. SASIKALA SUGAVANAM

    Thank you padhu for posting on time so that all of us have enough time to read, try, and relish it! I am a great fan of your blog. With two daughters married and settled abroad when they have any confusion I tell them to check out on your blog for accuracy. God bless you my dear,!

    Reply

  27. Anu

    Hi Padhu,

    I tried your kali receipe … for the first time and came out very well.

    Thanks for sharing such traditional receipe.

    Great work… Padhu.

    Reply

  28. vijaya

    I tried your kali receipe today and it came out very very well, in fact all these years I was doing it like suji halwa that is i used to cook it like upma, i was a little hesitant to try this but it came out very well thank u so much
    I tried doing the salt preparation also in cooker both came out very well thanku once again

    Reply

    • Padhu Sankar

      @Preethi – You can keep it straight in the pressure pan, but take care not to burn it. In that case, you do not have to pressure cook for 3 whistles. One whistle might be sufficient. It depends on the quality of rice.
      @Saaru -Moong dal is not needed.

      Reply

    • Preethi

      Thank you podhu. This thiruvadhirai I followed your method & quantity religiously and it tasted just perfect. As you warned the Kali got burnt a little in bottom and will have to be double careful next time. This method is simpler than my mom's – she used to cook the rawa separately and cook it again in jaggery syrup , tedious it used to be. Thanks.

      Reply

  35. Sudha Jayagopal

    Thank you for your timely recipes. Just for your info, in the mixed veg koottu, we don't use your dal as per our house tradition. We instead use more coconut. Besides the ingredients used for wet grinding, my grandmom would use a TSP of white til, jeera & mustard seeds, dry roast them in a pan, powder it & add it towards the end. It gives a unique talaga kozhambu flavour. Just sharing for its novelty.

    Reply

  36. HK

    Thanks for the recipe Padhu!! Followed it to the hilt today, 11th Jan 2017. 🙂

    Kali probably needed a bit more water in my case since some water had evaporated while boiling jaggery.

    Reply

  39. Unknown

    the kali came out better when i pressure cooked the broken rice separtely and then mixed the pressure cooked broken rice with the jaggery solution and pressure cooked it once more.

    Reply

    • Padhu Sankar

      May be the quality of rice. Cook for another 2-3 whistles. Then it will get cooked. Otherwise, you can cook rice rava separately and then add to the jaggery syrup. But I am following this method for years. At times the rice needs more whistles to get cooked well.

      Reply

  52. Meera

    Hello Padhu.. This recipe is awesome. My mother in law does it in the same fashion but I somehow missed the recipe. Thank you for posting it and it came out awesome. We make it for Aarudra and Thai Pongal day. Keep up the great work.

    Reply

  55. Priya Ravi

    Simply spot on flavours!!
    I have been making this preparation for the last 37 years since I got married ..
    Used to always be stressed and praying the flavours come right…
    Your recipe was perfect and enjoyed making this ..
    thank you

    Reply

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