Beetroot Piratal - Beets with Spices

Beets have been a favorite of mine. The earliest memories of beets was this raita made at my grandmother's place. The other favorite way of eating is just a simple stir fry with onions and green chilies and maybe a tiny bit of sambhar powder. You can also make beetroot poriyal like this one but use beets instead of carrots.

when we were kids, we had this cook at home. She made the tastiest recipes and this is a recipe from memory of how she used to make beets. She made a paste of coriander seeds, coconuts and I am guessing chilies and maybe a bit of cumin and pepper corns. It turned out really good. I am not sure if it had the same taste because I don't remember it that clearly.

Here's the recipe in pictures,

Peel and chop the beets into small cubes.
Make a paste with coconut, chilies, coriander seeds, cumin and poppy seeds.
In a wide mouthed saute the onions and seasonings and add in the beets.
When the beets are half cooked add in the blended paste and saute till the moisture evaporates and the beets are nice and dry and the masala coated.

Beetroot Piratal
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients

1. 4 medium sized beets - 2 cups of cubed beets
2. 1/4 cup chopped onions
3. seasonings: mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves
4. salt to taste
5. 2 tsp of oil
For the Paste
6. 1 tbsp grated fresh or frozen coconut
7. 2 red chilies
8. 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
9. a pinch of cumin seeds
10. a few peppercorns
11. 1 tsp of poppy seeds (optional)
    

Method

1. Wash the beets, peel and cut the beets into small cubes.
2. In a wide mouthed pan, heat oil add the cumin seeds, followed by the mustard seeds and when it pops add the curry leaves, followed by the onions.
3. Saute the onions till it starts to brown.
4. Add in the chopped beets and saute till they are half cooked (no need to add water)
5. While the beets are cooking, blend the ingredients under 'For the Paste' using about 2 tbsp of water to a fairly smooth paste.
6. Once the beets are almost cooked, add in the paste and saute till moisture has evaporated and the masala looks coated on the beets. Take about 10 -12 minutes.

Tastes good as a side or mixed in with rice. ike what you are reading? Subscribe!