Cabbage Kootu and Beetroot Parathas

Kootu is an easy dish to make and goes well with either rice or chappathi. It never fails to amaze me that a few ingredients could make such a flavorful dish. I had some fresh beetroot and wanted to give Vineela's Cusine alphabetic series 'B' for Beetroot Parathas a try. My daughter was absolutely delighted with the purple color and together with the kootu tasted delicious.




Cabbage Kootu

Ingredients:
1. 1/4 cabbage shredded
2. 1 cup moong dal (roasted to slightly brown color)
3. 1/4 red onion diced
4. green chillies - 2
5. tomato 1 diced
5. seasoning mustard, cumin, curry leaves
6. oil - 1 tsp
7. corriander leaves
8. ghee - 1/4 tsp (optional)



For Paste:
9. cumin 1/4 tbsp
10. fennel seeds 1 tsp
11. green chillies 2
12. shredded cocunut 1 tbsp

dry roast the above ingredients (2-3 minutes), add the coconut last and just mix it with the rest of the ingredients and blend it, should be slightly coarse .

Method:
1. Pressure cook the moong dal with a little bit of oil and turmeric.
2. In a pan, heat oil, add the seasoning, cumin, curry leaves and mustard.
3. When the mustard starts to pop add the onions fry till slightly brown
4. Add the diced cabbage and salt cook for a few minutes.
5. Add the tomatoes and cook till they are soft.
6. Now add the cooked moong dal with a little bit of water
7. When the dal stars to boil add the ground mixture, few drops of ghee if desired and cook for a few more minutes with the lid closed.
8. Add the corriander leaves and cook till the cabbage is soft.

The Cabbage kootu goes well with Rice or Paratas. They tasted wonderful with the Beetroot paratas. I used a slight variation in making the paratas, I mixed all the ingredients with the flour and then rolled them out. As you can see my skills do not extend to rolling out good looking perfect shaped paratas but all the same the taste is mouth watering.

Beetroot Parathas



1. Whole Wheat Flour 2 Cups
2. Beetroot grated
3. 1/2 onion finely chopped
4. 3 green chillies seeded and finely chopped
5. corriander leaves finely chopped
6. Flax Seed Meal 2 tbsp (this is high in Omega fatty acids and makes the parathas soft)
6. salt to taste

Mix all the above ingredients, and roll out the parathas and fry on a pan. Here are two do I have to say Absolutely Gorgeous blogs showing how to make Parathas.
Mahanandhi Indira's "Master at Work" Parathas
Saffron Hut's "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder" Parathas