When I went to Kerala before Christmas I was served this dish while I stayed on a house boat on the back waters, it was served as a side dish along with some fried fish and other accompanying dishes. It was one of the most memorable meals I had while I was there. I loved it so much that I couldn’t want to try to recreate it at home. It is a spiced dish with grated beetroot and freshly grated coconut. Because I loved it so much I decided to make it the main dish and make some Kerala paratha to go with it, (they where another thing I loved when I was there). It was so tasty and was like being back in India.
Recipe from veg recipes of india
Ingredients
- 3 medium sized beetroots or 2 large beetroots, finely chopped or grated
- 4 to 5 tablespoon grated fresh coconut
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 4–5 shallots, quartered or sliced
- 10–12 curry leaves, whole or chopped
- 1 or 2 whole red chilies
- 1 green chili, finely chopped
- ¾ teaspoon ginger, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon red chili powder – optional
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder – optional
- 2 tablespoon coconut oil or sunflower oil
- salt as required
- cinnamon stick
- Indian bay leaf optional
masala powder: spices crushed to a medium coarse powder in a mortar pestle OR use ¼ teaspoon garam masala – optional
- 1 cardamom
- 2 peppercorns
- ½ inch cinnamon
- 1 clove
Instructions
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Heat the coconut oil in a pan
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Add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the cumin seeds.
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The cumin seeds will start to sizzle now. Immediately add the shallots.
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Fry the shallots on a medium flame for 2 minutes.
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Now add the whole red chili, chopped green chili and ginger.
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Fry for a minute. Add the curry leaves.
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Lower the flame & add all the dry masala powders including the crushed and powdered whole garam masala.
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Make sure not to burn the masala.
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Fry for a half a minute and then add the beetroot. Mix the chopped beetroot with salt.
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Cook the beetroot without a lid with occasional stirrings. If the beetroot is grated, they will cook faster. Add a cinnamon stick
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This takes approx 10-12 minutes for grated beetroot.
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You can also keep the beetroot slightly crunchy if you prefer.
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When the beetroot is cooked, add the grated coconut and cook for a minute or two just for the flavors to blend in.
for keralan parathas
For The Dough
- 1 1/4 cups plain flour
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp oil
- salt to taste
- 1/2 tsp oil for kneading
- 1/2 cup hot water
mix all the ingredients in a bowl and knead into a soft ball then cover and leave to rest for 1 hour. After it has rested cut the dough into 5 and oil a work surface and roll the dough out and thin and long as possible then pull the dough and roll onto a snail shape and set aside and continue with the rest. Then take one and roll out into approx 10cm circle and heat a pan with a small amount of oil, fry on both sides for a few minutes until it had a nice colour (approx 3 minutes each side)
This is one of the more simple recipes I have seen for chapati (or keralan paratha depending where you are). I have tried so so many and have nearly thrown in the towel. I am going to give these a try! And how gorgeous and delicious does that beetroot thoran look!!! YUM!!
thankyou x
Has anyone tried freezing the beetroot recipe? I love the look of this but would like to batch cook.
I haven’t tried freezing it, I can’t see why it wouldn’t freeze ok though x