Hearty and delicious Kale Kootu - Kale and Toor Dal in a spiced coconut gravy and some hot rice is all you need on a plate to comfort you!
Last summer I planted a lot of greens in my little veggie bed, as I wanted to make the most of that little space and get as much produce from my veggie garden as possible. Greens were perfect for that – rainbow chard, red amaranth, kale – you can keep harvesting them and they keep growing back. Fresh greens also taste so much more better too.
I got this kale from my third harvest from the vegetable bed and I made my favorite dish to make with green leafy vegetables. This kootu is power packed with the goodness of kale and proteins from the lentils. You can mix it with rice or have is as a side with chapatis or rotis or even just have it as a soup / stew dunking some rustic bread into it.
Kootu can be made with any kind of vegetable you want – greens, carrots, potatoes, squash, mixed vegetables, zucchini and what not! You can also mix and match toor dal and yellow split moong dal as the lentil base.
Check out my Zucchini Koottu recipe here.
Kale Koottu – The Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 bunch Kale, cleaned and chopped roughly
- ½ cup toor dal
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- salt to taste
To grind to a paste:
- ¼ cup grated coconut
- 2 dried red chillies
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
For tempering / seasoning:
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- ½ teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 6-7 curry leaves
Method:
Cook the kale, toor dal, turmeric powder and salt with about 2 cups water, in a pressure cooker or in a sauce pan on the stove top. Cook till the dal is mushy.
Grind together the coconut, red chillies and cumin seeds with a couple of tablespoons of water to form a fine paste.
Add this to the cooked kale and dal mixture. Let is all come to a boil.
Heat the coconut oil in a small pan and add the mustard seeds to it. Once they splutter, add the curry leaves and pour it over the kootu.
📖 Recipe
Kale Koottu - Kale and Toor Dal in a Spiced Coconut Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 bunch Kale cleaned and chopped roughly
- ½ cup toor dal
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- salt to taste
- To grind to a paste:
- ¼ cup grated coconut
- 2 dried red chillies
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- For tempering / seasoning:
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- ½ teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 6-7 curry leaves
Instructions
- Cook the kale, toor dal, turmeric powder and salt with about 2 cups water, in a pressure cooker or in a sauce pan on the stove top. Cook till the dal is mushy.
- Grind together the coconut, red chillies and cumin seeds with a couple of tablespoons of water to form a fine paste.
- Add this to the cooked kale and dal mixture. Let is all come to a boil.
- Heat the coconut oil in a small pan and add the mustard seeds to it. Once they splutter, add the curry leaves and pour it over the kootu.
Tazim says
This looks so delicious! I love things with coconut as an ingredient.
Manju says
Thank you Tazim!
Amy Katz fromVeggies Save The Day says
This looks so delicious! Much better than anything I can get in a restaurant.
Manju says
?? yes and this is a very home-ey recipe that you won't find in many restaurants either.
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says
O sounds delicious! So much flavor there!
Parthasarathy says
What is Kale in tamil
Manju says
Kale is a green leafy vegetable from the cabbage family that is native to Europe and is readily available in the super markets here in the US. I dont think it is available in India, maybe now in some super speciality organic stores, so I dont think there is a Tamil word for it. Sorry, I couldnt be more helpful. If you want to make this recipe, you can substitute any greens with it - spinach or any other keerai.
nicole dawson says
Love how you used kale in your recipe. That's a fun twist on it. Sounds delicious.
Manju says
Thank you Nicole! ?
Mary Ellen - VNutrition says
This looks so delicious! It's only 9am here but I'm craving this right now!
Sravya Reddy says
I tried the same recipe with Spinach. Turned out to be amazing. Thank you Manju!😀