Zucchini Kootu without coconut

My husband and i went to a place called Sunflower market , a place which has farmers fresh vegetables and fruits.We try to finish shopping there for the week but yeah we get so carried away with all the fresh veggies that we finish shopping stuff for 2-3 weeks.

So yes as i was saying , being new to the united states i dint know half the names of the veggies there.. so i took something that looked like cucumber and asked my hubby what it was.As it turned out its name was zucchini squash and was something like a cucumber but tastes a little different. So anyways i decided to get it.

Both my husband and i are sort of conscious about our health so we try to make healthy stuff for lunch and dinner. So what i did today was i tried to make a healthy Kootu out of it which is something of a mix of ingredients like dhal and spices. As i avoid adding coconut to my dishes as much as possible i decided to go ahead and do it without coconut.

It took me around 35 minutes for the whole process as i am pretty slow in doing this stuff.

Ingredients:-

1. Zucchini - 2 (chop it into small cubes)
2. Moong dhall - 1/2 cup (paasi parupu)
3. Toor dhall - 1/4 cup (Thuvaram parupu)
4. Big yellow onion-1/2
5. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Salt to taste
7. Channa Dhall - 1 tbsp
8. Urad dhall - 2 tsp(ulutham parupu)
9. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
10. Red chillies - 2
11. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
12. Oil - 1 tsp
13. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
14. Urad dhal - 1/2 tsp (for garnishing)
15. Curry leaves - few
16. cardamom-1 piece ground * optional, just for taste

How i made it :

First,i pressure cooked thoor dhal and moong dal with 2 cups water with a pinch of turmeric powder.

Next, i fried channa dhall, urad dhal, cumin seeds, red chillies and Asafoetida powder to golden brown in little oil and then let it to cool.After this , i put them in a mixie and made it to a fine paste.

In the meanwhile , in a little oil i put one piece of cardamom(optional) and fried the onion pieces for 5 minutes. Then i added the zucchini pieces ,a pinch of turmeric(manjal) and salt to taste. The Zucchini cooks fast so it lets out some water itself while cooking.

When it is half cooked,i added the ground paste and mixed it well for about 2 minutes.

Then i added the cooked dhal to this mixture and added some water to make it into a little watery consistency. we can adjust how we want the Kootu to be thick or watery depending on the amount of water we add.

The last step is to sputter the mustard seeds , then add urad dhal and some curry leaves to oil or ghee( ghee makes it so yummy but its a no-no for me when i have an option! with so much fried stuff in this recipe already its hard for me to diet :( ) and pour it on top of the Kootu.

Variations in this includes addition of sambhar powder ,coconut and coriander leaves.I think all kootus have the same recipe just the main ingredients may vary. Since i am a beginner , this is my perception of a Kootu.

Thanks all, let me know how it came out.