Karunai Kizhanghu(Yam) Kootu

Shama asked me to share my first cooked experience for her FIRST COOKED FOOD EVENT.



So here I go .......

I did Yam Kootu when I was studying my 5th or 6th standard, (don't remember;) ). During summer holidays, my cousins from Bangalore and Hyderabad used to come to stay with us in Chennai. Can't forget those days, it was SO MUCH fun. We used to sleep in open terrace speaking about all those happened in school, home, etc.

Once it was some special day, my mom and my aunties went to temple in the morning. They left us at home since it would be crowded in the temple. They said would come back by 11 am and cook for us. But it was 12'o clock, they didn't turn back. Me, my 2 brothers, 4 cousin sisters, 2 cousin brothers were very hungry. We thought why can't we cook ourselves and surprise them.

But we don't know anything about cooking. So checked kitchen, found a big Yam and some dal in a bottle. After some discussion, me and one of my cousin sister planned to make kootu. There was a kerosene pump stove which we used to boil water. We thought of using it since other stove was too high for us. So we kept it in the middle of the hall and everyone sat around it ;), as we wanted to see how it get cooked:D

Quickly we kept a big pan and cooked the whole dal(later we found that it was 1kg of dal;)) in water. Every 10-15 minutes, water was drying and we kept pouring glasses of water. It took nearly an hour for the dal to cook. In the mid, we transfered the dal to a big cooker as the pan was not sufficient to hold it ;)

Meanwhile we cut yam(3/4 kg) into small pieces. Then added this to the dal and kept mixing them. Everyone wanted to try mixing it. So the ladle was passed to everyone. We added salt, curry leaves, coriander leaves and didn't temper it;) But trust me it tasted heaven, we almost finished half of it just by tasting it ;) Whole hall was messy and we quickly cleaned it before the elders came.

We thought our mummies would praise us today for this wonderful dish and kept waiting for them eagerly. They all came back around 2 pm and brought us lunch from outside. We didn't tell them as we wanted to surprise them. One of my aunty went to kitchen to bring plates and found the cooker on the stove. Instead of praisings, we got scoldings since the pan was spoiled and one whole bottle of dal had been wasted. And since we used green gram, the gravy became too thick, once it was cold :(

But when my dad and grandpa tasted it for dinner, they were praising us a lot. Dad did ate it 2 times with rice, saying it was better than my mum's;) Of course now I understood that it was a lie, he did it just to make us happy!


So now we go for the ingredients.....

Ingredients:
Green gram - 1 cup
Yam - 1 cup, peeled and cubed into small pieces
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Onion - 1 small sized, chopped
Black gram - 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves - few
Green chillies - 4, cut into small pieces
Coriander leaves - few for garnishing
Salt to taste
Oil - 1-2 tablespoons


Method:
Wash and cook green gram in 2-3 cups of water until they become soft.

Add cubed yam to it and cook for 10 minutes, until it is soft. Switch off flame and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan. Allow mustard seeds to splitter in it. Add black gram, curry leaves, chillies, onion and fry until onions turn golden brown.

Add this to the cooked dal and salt to taste.

Mix well and cook for 10 more mintues until it starts to boil.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or rotis.


Cooking time : 30-40 minutes
Serves 3 persons