Keerai Molagootal

Hope you all had a great diwali and enjoyed the food, lighting lamps and bursting crackers. After having the ghee-laden sweets and savories, I wanted to make something simple, light and healthy. I had a bunch of palak that was waiting to be used up, so I decided to make my all-time favorite palak molagootal.

Molagootal is a traditional and popular Palakkad Iyer dish. It is a mildly spiced dish made of vegetables or greens cooked in a coconut and lentil gravy. It is slightly different from kootu in terms of ingredients and consistency. You can use a mix of vegetables like ashgourd, carrot, potato, drumstick or just with cabbage or any greens. Today I’m sharing molagootal with palak/spinach. This is a very healthy dish packed with the goodness of spinach. Serve this molagootal with hot steaming rice and any thogayal or pachadi.

Keerai Molagootal

TamBrahm style spinach, lentil and coconut curry

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Servings 3

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 25 minutes mins

Ingredients

• 1 big bunch spinach / palak about 200g / 4 cups
• ½ cup toor dal
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• Salt to taste

To grind

• ½ tsp oil
• 2 dry red chillies
• 2 tsp urad dal
• ½ tsp cumin seeds
• ½ cup grated coconut

To temper

• 1 tsp oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• ½ tsp split urad dal
• 2 dry red chillies
• Few curry leaves

Instructions

• Wash the spinach leaves well and let it rest in the colander for few minutes to drain. Then finely chop the leaves.
• Pressure cook the toor dal with 1 cup water and a pinch of turmeric powder for 3 whistles. Mash the dal and set aside.
• In a small pan, heat ½ tsp oil and add red chillies and urad dal. Fry till dal turns golden. Once it cools, grind with jeera and coconut to a smooth paste adding little water.
• In a vessel add the spinach, turmeric powder and about 1 cup water. Cook the spinach uncovered over medium-low heat.
• Once spinach is cooked, add ground coconut paste. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add mashed dal, salt and mix well. Add water if required. Bring to boil and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
• In a small pan heat oil and add mustard seeds. When it crackles, add urad dal, red chillies and curry leaves. When dal turns golden, pour over the molagootal.

Notes

• I have used palak keerai here, you can also use murungai keerai (drumstick leaves), arai keerai, mulai keerai or paruppu keerai.
• After adding the dal, if its very thick then only add water and adjust the consistency.

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: Side Dish for Rice