Koottu (meaning ‘adding’) is a quintessential Tamil vegetable lentil stew, and may have been named as such because vegetables are added to a lentil base. Even today, the TamBram version of this utilizes only native vegetables and spices, except for the use of red chilies. My speculation is that this dish may have been cooked with pepper at one time, and was replaced by red chilies only recently. The Palghat version is a very popular dish and is aptly named as ‘mulagoottal,’ which translates to ‘adding pepper.’
The recipe below is a mashup and I use ‘English’ vegetables, and red chilies. Taking a cue from the ‘arachu vitta koottu’ (meaning ‘blend and mix’ variety), I added a combination of pepper, coriander and fenugreek seeds to get some additional kick to this otherwise humble dish.
Traditionally it is cooked with a neutral base, meaning there is no acidic element to this. But I wanted to add a bit of sour taste by including a tiny bit of yogurt in the end to subdue the somewhat overpowering cumin. Finally, the consistency is deliberately kept on the solid side, but if you prefer this to be more liquid, then add an additional cup of water.
This is a very delicate dish, but very simple to cook. You can use cabbage, or spinach or any of the vegetables from the squash or gourds family.
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Potato and Carrot Koottu - Indian Vegetable Lentil Stew
Koottu is a quintessential Tamil vegetable lentil stew. This is a very delicate dish, but very simple to cook. The consistency is deliberately kept on the solid side, but if you prefer this to be more liquid, then add an additional cup of water. You can use cabbage, or spinach or any of the vegetables from the squash or gourds family. It is gluten free and is a vegan dish.
Dice the carrot and potato into small cubes and set them aside.
Add oil (1 tbsp or as needed) to a frying pan and heat the oil on medium heat. Add red red chilies, chana dhal and coriander seeds and fry until the chana dhal becomes somewhat brown.
Add cumin seeds, pepper, fenugreek seeds and fry them all for a few more seconds.
Turn the heat to ‘low,’ add coconut and fry the mixture by continuously stirring it so that it does not get burnt. Fry until the coconut becomes slightly off-white/brown.
Turn the stove off, and allow it to cool.
Using a blender, grind the fried spices into a fine paste, adding just enough (cold) water to achieve a paste consistency. Take extra caution not to heat it up too much during grinding.
Pour the paste into the Inner Pot of the Instant Pot (IP).
Add moong dhal, and the vegetables. Add salt.
Add about 2.0 cups of water.
Close the lid, and cook for 2 min at high pressure. Cool down naturally.
Add ¼ cup of water to the yogurt and mix it thoroughly to form a uniform liquid without any solids.
Open the IP lid when it is cool and when the pressure valve is down. Add the yogurt and mix gently but thoroughly.
When I was a student in India studying for finals, we had a ritual that in the middle of the night to keep us awake, we would all go to the only shop that would be open during those wee hours. It was a small roadside restaurant that served not only tea, but also a locally famous street food called ‘salna’ with parottas. Many would stay awake just to have a taste of this dish, as it was served only at night at this shop. Salna, in those days, was served in roadside restaurants in the districts of Arcot and Madurai. The origin of this dish comes from its sophisticated cousin Korma (derived from a Persian word for braising), and the best of its kind is called ‘Shahi Korma’ or the Royal Korma. As the name suggests, the dish utilizes a braising technique that involves three stages to prepare it correctly. In the early stages, vegetables (and/or meats) are cooked at high temperatures in a spicy sauce to blend in the flavors. This is followed by an extended slow cooking at a much lower temperature. I combined the ‘Royal Korma’ and ‘roadside salna’ recipes to create a democratic version of this dish that is aptly called Korma.
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Vegetable Korma (Salna, Shahi Korma, Stew)
Korma is an excellent side dish for Rotis, Chapatis, Parottas, and Biryanis. It is a very popular Indian dish. I combined the 'Royal Korma' and 'roadside salna' recipes to create a democratic version of this dish that is aptly called Korma. This recipe is vegetarian and gluten free.
Grind all ingredients for 'Masala Paste – I' in a blender by adding half a cup of water and grinding to a paste consistency. Set aside.
Plug in the Instant pot, press ‘sauté’ and ‘adjust’ to ensure the digital display is on ‘more’. This is the high setting for sauté.
Pour the vegetable oil and add bay leaf, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon into the Instant Pot Inner Pot (IP). Fry them in the hot oil for a few seconds.
Add onions, butter and fry them until the onions become soft. It does not need to become golden brown, just soft and transparent.
Add tomatoes and cook them together for a minute until they become soft and lose their shape.
Add the paste (Masala Paste – I), and mix thoroughly.
Add all the vegetables and sauté them until they are blended well with the spices, and the potatoes become somewhat soft. Add water if necessary.
Turn the IP off. Add two cups of water and cool down the base for about 10 minutes.
Add ½ cup of water to ½ cup of yogurt and mix them together thoroughly. Using a spoon, make a fine liquid puree without any lumps of yogurt.
Once the base has cooled enough, slowly add the yogurt to the IP and mix gently without curdling the yogurt.
Close the lid with the vent open. Turn on the IP and change the setting to ‘slow cook’ ‘high heat’ and the set the timer for two hours. Let it cook for two hours.
Once in a while (every half an hour or so) open the lid, and stir the pot well.
Grind the coconut and the cashews together with water to make the second paste. Add the coconut milk to it and dilute it, if necessary. Set aside.
After two hours, open the lid, add the ground coconut mix into the IP. Add water if needed for consistency. Continue to slow cook on high for an additional 30 minutes.
Once done, garnish it with cilantro and serve it as a side dish for Biryani or Parottas.
It is said that if you can cook a good Biryani, you can be a chef at the Nawab’s kitchen! Indeed, it is not for the fainthearted! In my opinion, the ultimate culinary experience is to cook, to smell, and to eat a well-prepared Biryani. Of course, they are not all made equal; the ‘Hyderabadi Dum Biryani’ has always been the uncontested champion of Biryanis. When you cook your Biryani with saffron (without artificial colors), you are preparing a royal food served only in the finest palaces of India! Here is an authentic recipe for Hydrabadi Vegetable Dum Biryani using the Instant Pot. IP is perfect to prepare the dum part, which is the best part of this style of Biryani. It seamlessly infuses the blend of spices and their aromas by slow cooking the rice in near ideal pressure conditions. It is going to take time to prepare this dish right, so do not over commit to prepare too many other dishes. Remember that this dish is designed to be a complete meal, thus many side dishes really are not needed anyway. Simply make a kurma, or raitha or both. Enjoy cooking this meal and Bon Appétit!
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Hyderabadi Vegetable Dhum Biryani
It is said that if you can cook a good Biryani, you can be a chef at the Nawab’s kitchen! Indeed, it is not for the fainthearted! In my opinion, the ultimate culinary experience is to cook, to smell, and to eat a well-prepared Biryani. This is a vegetarian meal and gluten free.
Rinse the rice thoroughly and soak it for at least an hour.
Add a few strands of saffron to a small amount of warm milk and set it aside.
On a non-stick frying pan, add oil and set the stove to med-high. Add 3 cardamom (only the small inner black seeds, and not the pods) to the oil.
Add 3 cloves, 3 small pieces of cinnamon stick, 1 tbsp of cumin seeds and fry until they are lightly brown.
Add green chilies, ginger and garlic and fry them all together for a few seconds.
Add onions and fry them until they become soft. Add salt and butter.
Add all Masala powders. Reduce the heat, then add ½ cup of yogurt, half of the diced mint and half of the diced coriander leaves. (Cooling it down when adding the yogurt ensures that it does not separate.)
Add all the vegetables (carrot, cauliflower, potatoes, and green peas). Adjust heat if needed. Slowly turn them over without making the vegetables fall apart. Cook until the potatoes just become soft. Be careful not to overcook the potatoes - if they overcook, then they will become mushy later in the process.
Ideally at this stage, you should have the vegetables cooked half way through and they are soaked in a thick gravy that is cooked as well. This is the most difficult and important part of the dum recipe for good consistency.
If the curry mix is very dry and all the moisture evaporated, add about 1/2 cup of liquid (puree) yogurt after it has cooled down. Mix gently. Add some fried onion (optional) and set aside.
In a separate large vessel, add 1 tbsp of cumin seed, and 1 tsp of oil. Add 6 cups of water.
In a tea ball, put in 3 cloves, 3 cardamom, 3 cinnamon sticks and a few bay leaves and close it with the lid. Drop the tea ball in the water. Heat the water and bring to a rolling boil. Keep it boiling for a few minutes.
Add the rice. Wait for 3-5 (maximum five) minutes. Do not cook the rice completely (just half way through). The test is that if you take a rice grain, and press it with your fingers, it should break into two halves.
Take the rice out of the container. Strain the rice, and spread it on a on a large plate for it to become dry for a few minutes. Make sure you save at least one cup of this water.
In the inner pot of the Instant Pot (IP), spread a layer of the cooked vegetable gravy mixture (from step #11) evenly at the bottom. Use as much as half of the cooked vegetables and the leave the other half for later. The trick here is to add the liquid part of the vegetable gravy to the bottom. You want more liquid in this layer than the later layers.
Add a layer of the half cooked rice slowly until the vegetable gravy base is covered with rice. Spread the rice uniformly over the cooked base. If the rice is cool enough, use your hand to sprinkle it on. If the rice is very hot, gently spread the rice using a spoon.
To this layer, sprinkle a uniform layer of coriander and mint leaves to cover the rice. Use as much as you like, but if you are not a fan of mint or coriander leaves, you can skip this step as well. Also sprinkle the fried onion (optional) onto this layer.
Note: Do not fill in layers beyond the 4L mark. Remember, rice will still expand a bit.
Repeat the above three steps, i.e., building a layer of vegetable base, then rice and then finally a layer of mint and coriander. Continue to build these layers until all rice and the base are used up. Ensure that the top/final layer is rice.
Sprinkle ½ cup of water over the top layer, preferably the leftover water from the rice preparation step (from step #15). Also, remember the rice and vegetables are only half cooked, so you need some amount of moisture in the pot. For 2.5 cups of rice, you need a total of about one cup of moisture for the rice to cook in.
Sprinkle the saffron milk on the top layer. Add some additional yellow coloring, if needed. Sprinkle some long cut onions and chilies over the top layer.
Close the lid. Close the valve to the 'sealing position' and set to 'slow cook on high' for 30 minutes. This the dum part. The IP may not build enough pressure for the 'floating valve' to pressure position. That is okay.
After 30 minutes, open the lid. Biryani should be done, check the vegetables and the rice. Taste some from the bottom layers. If the rice is not done, add additional minutes.
Mix the rice and serve. Some folks like to serve it without mixing, but I like to mix. Garnish it with onions, green chilies, and cilantro.
