Centella asiatica, Centella, Asiatic pennywort is a herb, known as Gotu kola in Sri Lankan cuisine, as brahmi booti in Hindi, vallarai keerai in Tamil, kudangal in Malayalam and ondelaga in Kannada. I prepare vallarai dishes often as it is very good for health and also it grows abundantly in my kitchen garden. It is easy to grow vallarai at home. Vallarai keerai is very nutritious and has medicinal properties. It helps to improve memory power and concentration. It is said to promote hair growth and is good for the skin also. It can be helpful in treating skin disorders like eczema and psoriasis. Today we will learn how to make vallarai kootu following our easy recipe with step wise pictures.
Vallarai Keerai Kootu
Prep Time : 20 mins
Cook Time : 15 mins
Serves: 2-3
Recipe Category: Side Dish-Kootu-Greens
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian
Author:Padhu Sankar
Serves: 2-3
Recipe Category: Side Dish-Kootu-Greens
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian
Author:Padhu Sankar
Ingredients needed
Vallarai keerai – 2 cups tightly packed
Moong dal – 1/4 cup
Onion – 1
Tomato – 1
Salt to taste
For Grinding (raw)
Grated Coconut – 1/4 cup
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Fried gram – 1 tsp
Red chilli – 1-2
For Seasoning
Oil – 2 tsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Urad dal -1 tsp
Red chilli -1
Hing – a pinch
Pearl onions – 4-5 (optional)
Preparations
Wash vallarai leaves and keep it aside. You can use the tender stems for making kootu, as you see in the picture below.
Chop onion and tomatoes.
Soak moong dal (pasi paruppu) for 5-10 minutes in hot water. Soaking is optional but I prefer to do it, so that it gets cooked to a mush.
Grind coconut, red chillies, fried gram (pottukadalai in Tamil/daliya in Hindi) and cumin seeds to fine paste and keep it aside.
Method
In a pressure pan or small cooker, add moong dal, vallarai leaves, onion, tomato and 1/2 cup of water.
Pressure cook for 2 whistles.
Once the pressure subsides, open the cooker and mash the contents well. Add salt needed.
Add the ground coconut paste and simmer for 5 minutes. That’s it.
Now we will do the seasoning – Heat a tsp of oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add urad dal, red chillies and hing. Add finely chopped pearl onions and saute until it turns transparent.
Add to the kootu. Enjoy nutritious vallarai kootu as an accompaniment with rice.
Our Lunch that day was – Bittergourd pitlai, cauliflower curry, beetroot pachadi, vallarai kootu and homemade curd.
Check out my delicious Vallarai Thuvaiyal (chutney) which can be had as side dish for dosa and can also be mixed with rice topped with a tsp of gingerly oil.
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ollarai keerai is a boon to mankind I could say. Will you kindly tell me the method to grow it in pots pl. Kindly Update at the earlieast.
I have already posted how to grow vallarai. Click the link "grow vallarai at home" in the introduction or check useful tips page.
its nutritional values are very good.
We live in Vancouver Canada. I don’t know how to grow this at home. It can be grown out in the garden or indoor. our temp drops to _5to 10degrees Centergate for a short time in winter months.