Keera Molagootal

Keerai molagootal is a traditional Palakkad Iyer dish. It is simple to prepare yet tasty and nutritious. Keerai means greens. Amma (mom) used to prepare many dishes from the wide variety of keerai available in India at least twice a week. It is very rich in minerals and vitamins.

Keerai molagootal is best when prepared with arai keerai. But since its not available here, I normally use spinach which tastes equally good. It goes great with rice and thogayal (recipe coming soon...)or arachu kalakki.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Spinach - 1 1/2 cup
Toor dal/red gram - 1/2 cup
Urad dal/black gram - 1 tsp
Red chilli - 1
Coconut oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt

To grind:
Coconut - 1/2 cup
Pepper - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal/black gram - 1 tsp
Red chilli - 1


Method:
Cook toor dal/red gram, mash it and keep aside.
Wash the spinach and cook it in little water, a pinch of turmeric and little salt.Once its cooked blend it coarsely.
Mix this along with the mashed toor dal/red gram and let it boil for 2 mins.
Meanwhile fry 1 tsp urad dal/black gram without oil.
Grind the fried urad dal/black gram, 1 red chilli, 1 tsp cumin seeds and 1 tsp pepper.
Add this to the boiling mixture and let it boil for another 4-5 mins. Add more salt if required. Adjust the consistency by adding water as per your requirement.
Heat oil in a pan. Add the 1 tsp urad dal and 1 red chilli (broken). When the urad dal turns red add the mustard. When the mustard splutter add the contents to the Keera molagootal.
Serve hot with rice and thogayal or arachu kalakki.

Preparation time: 15 mins
Serves: 2 people