Keerai/Greens Poriyal

Dearies of sinfully-desilicious, any guess on what is this month’s theme…🤔🤔😉? Next to my last week post ‘Tirunelveli’ Sodhi, comes this week ‘Theni’ koottusaaru, hope you must have inferred the theme, yes, I can hear you, it’s Tamilnadu district’s native special but with an interesting twist, districts that start with ‘T’…sounds impressive…😍😍.

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Koottusaaru or Koottuthanni is basically a farmer’s food. They prepare this curry from the consumable greens which grow as weed in their farm. They prepare two dishes with one ingredient, it’s cost-effective and economical. Are you an inquisitive person? Let me reveal it.

Koottusaaru is a 2 in 1 recipe, very handy and efficient.

1)           They cook the greens in excess water and reduce it, strain this water and prepare a curry.

2)           With the strained greens they make another dish which is Keerai poriyal.

In a way, it reduces their effort and expenditure as they use unwanted, consumable greens grown on their farm and utilize it to make a complete and healthy meal out of it.

What is Koottusaaru or Koottuthanni? – healthy greens cooked water is combined with a ground masala prepared from soaked raw rice and dal with shallots, tomatoes, garlic, and subtle spices.

Keerai poriyal-The strained greens are transformed into another dish, named poriyal with little onion, garlic, and drizzled with grated coconut.

These 2 dishes pair with rice balls or small millet balls which turn out to be an energy booster combo.

As I mentioned early the Theni district is predominantly a farming region, this recipe is not only handy and simple but is also a healthy combo for the diligent and hardworking farmers.

3 in 1 recipe in this combo are –

1)          Koottusaaru or Koottuthanni– simple and subtle gravy from the strained greens water

2)           Keerai/ greens poriyal – a dry side dish from the strained greens.

3)           Ragi Kali/Mudde/ Balls or Urandai soru/ Rice balls– power-packed grain main course.

You can basically use any greens available at your place. Similarly, for the balls, you can use Rice or Finger millet/Kelvaragu/ Ragi. No hard and fast rules, this makes this dish so simple and convenient to make it at your ease. Hope you had a deep insight into this dish, now let’s jump into the preparation.

Clean and wash the greens. Boil 4 cups of water, to this and add the cleaned greens and cook it open in medium flame till it reduces the water to half. It’ll roughly take 10 minutes to yield 2-2 ½ cups of water.

Strain the water and keep it aside to prepare the Koottusaaru or Koottuthanni– a simple and subtle gravy from the strained greens water. Now we are going to make the Keerai poriyal, a dry subzi from these strained greens.

Take a pan or kadai for tempering, add ghee or vegan butter, then add mustard seeds, split urad dal, cumin seeds, and whole red chilli (break and put it).

Once it splutters, add the chopped garlic, sauté for a minute.

Then add chopped onion, sauté for a minute.

Finally, add the strained greens and mix well.

Switch off the flame and garnish with grated coconut.

Super easy and healthy saag/greens subzi is ready to serve.

Serve this super easy and healthy accompaniment to pair with Koottusaaru or Koottuthanni, Urandai soru/ Rice balls, or Ragi Kali/Mudde/ Balls, even with steamed rice, sticky rice, and rotis.

Recipe card

Preparation time: 2 minutes

Cooking time: 3 minutes

Cuisine: Indian, Tamilnadu

Category: Curries

Serves: 4

Author: Manimala

Ingredients:

For Greens stock:

Greens (any) – 1 bunch/kattu

Water – 4 cups

For poriyal:

Ghee or vegan butter – 1 tsp

Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp

Split urad dal – ¼ tsp

Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp

Whole red chilli – 2

Chopped garlic – 1 tbsp

Chopped onion – ¼ cup

Grated coconut – 2 tbsp

Instructions:

1. Clean and wash the greens. Boil 4 cups of water, to this and add the cleaned greens and cook it open in medium flame till it reduces the water to half. It’ll roughly take 10 minutes to yield 2-2 ½ cups of water.
2. Strain the water and keep it aside to prepare the Koottusaaru or Koottuthanni– a simple and subtle gravy from the strained greens water.
3. Now we are going to make the Keerai poriyal, a dry subzi from these strained greens.
4. Take a pan or kadai for tempering, add ghee or vegan butter, then add mustard seeds, split urad dal, cumin seeds, and whole red chilli (break and put it).
5. Once it splutters, add the chopped garlic, sauté for a minute.
6. Then add chopped onion, sauté for a minute.
7. Finally, add the strained greens and mix well.
8. Switch off the flame and garnish with grated coconut.
9. Serve this super easy and healthy accompaniment to pair with Koottusaaru or Koottuthanni, Urandai soru/ Rice balls, or Ragi Kali/Mudde/ Balls, even with steamed rice, sticky rice, and rotis.

Notes:

• As I specified early, you can use any greens from your place according to the availability and season.
• This recipe is very simple, quick, and can be prepared in a jiffy. It’s vegan and highly nutritious as it’s packed with nutrients of greens and power-packed with energy if combined with Finger millet/Kelvaragu/ Ragi kali/ mudde and Koottusaaru or Koottuthanni,. No wonder why it’s a friendly recipe for farmers as it acts as an energy booster.
• There are many variations in keerai/greens preparation especially in Tamilnadu, like masiyal, poriyal, kadaiyal, and koottu. This method is based on the poriyal version.
• Since the greens are blanched well, it doesn’t need any further cooking, just a stir is enough to combine everything together.
• Here, I used vegan butter in the place of ghee, as we have lactose intolerance at home. You can use ghee, which adds an extra notch to the flavour.
• I would like to add my kitchen secret with my leftover greens if you have excess or you do not want to prepare this poriyal with leftover strained greens from Koottusaaru or Koottuthannii and leftover rice
• Add little green chilli and ginger according to the quantity of leftover rice in a mixer, add the leftover rice, grind it coarsely along with these strained greens (do not over grind the mixture, it’ll become too sticky and paste-like).
• Grease your hands with oil or ghee, roll balls and flatten it as discs on greased cling film or plate.
• Flip it on a hot griddle or tawa, roast it on both sides evenly with little oil or ghee. Your instant savoury rice greens pancake is ready to serve with jaggery or onion chutney, coconut chutney or ginger chutney