THIRUVATHIRAI KOOTU I 7 KARI KOOTU I THIRUVATHIRAI THALAGAM I THIRUVATHIRAI RECIPES

Thiruvathirai kai kootu or 7 kari kooti is very important on the day of Thiruvathirai festival. As I already shared about the festival in my previous post. The kootu contains different types of country vegetables in tamarind gravy. I don’t know how long the storyline is true or not. But I heard it from my relatives (aged people) told the story for making the kootu.

On the day of thiruvathira, one woman’s husband was dead. She didn't inform others about her husband’s dead because of thiruvathirai. So, she decided to do the pooja and forget about her H’s death and do all the pooja works. She went to the garden and picked all the available vegetables and did the kootu and while making pooja, she woke up her husband without remembering as he dead already. But it was a miracle for her, when she woke up him, he just woke up. So the pooja has power to give long life of husbands. This was the story of the pooja I heard. Do you hear the same? I just wanted to share the story with you…

Coming the kootu, it's usually prepared with country vegetables. You can prepare the kootu with 7, 16 or 21 vegetables. In my place the vendors sell 21 vegetables together on the special day.  All the vegetable cooked in tamarind gravy gives unique taste and it will taste better in the next day. We used 21 vegetables as shown in the picture with mochai and tomato to make the gravy.

 

Category	Gravy
Cuisine	South Indian
Preparation Time	30 Minutes
Cooking Time	30 Minutes
Servings	10-12

Source – My Mom

INGREDIENTS

To sauté and grind

Oil – 1 Tbsp

Shallots – 1 Cup

Tomato – 4

Coconut, scraped – ¼ Cup

Mixed Vegetable – 3 Cups  

Mochai – 1 Cup

Turmeric powder – ½  Tsp  

Kuzhambu chilli powder – 5-6 Tsp  

Salt – To taste

Tamarind pulp – 3 Tbsp

To Temper

Oil – 2 Tbsp

Cumin seeds – 2 Tsp  

Mustard seeds – 2 Tsp

Urad dal – 2 Tsp

Curry leaves – Few

Shallots, chopped – ¼ Cup

METHOD

• Heat oil in pan; add onion sauté till translucent and then add tomato sauté it for 3-5 minutes and then add coconut and cool the mixture and grind into smooth paste. (Missed to take the step-wise)
• Pressure cook the mochai with 3 cups of water with little salt for upto one whistle.
• Meanwhile, cut the all vegetables and put it in immersed water to avoid discoloration of the vegetables.

• After reducing the pressure, open the cooker, add turmeric powder, red chili powder, salt and the ground paste. Stir it well and keep it on high flame.

• While the mixture start boils, add the hard vegetables, which take long time to cook and allow cooking for 15 minutes.

• Now add the other vegetables and mix it and allow cooking on medium flame.
• Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan; add cumin seeds, mustard and urad dal wait for sputter.

• Add curry leaves and shallots sauté till golden brown and switch off the flame and keep it aside.

• Now add the tamarind pulp to the gravy and stir it once and let it cook for 10 minutes or the mixture gets thicken but the gravy should be pouring consistency. While cooling it will get thicken.

• Add the tempered mixture and stir it well and switch off the flame.
• Serve it hot…

NOTE

• You can prepare the kootu with 7 vegetables as 7 kari kootu. If you prefer 7 kari kootu use country vegetables.
• Adjust the spiciness according to your taste.
• Chop the vegetables into medium pieces to get a good texture.