Manathakkali Keerai Kootu Recipe | Black Nightshade Stew Recipe

Posted on Nov 3rd, 2014

by Sowmya Venkatachalam

Categories:

Manathakkali Keerai which is called as Black Night Shade in english is a very healthy greens. We generally prepare thanni saru which is very healthy and it is a very good home remedy for mouth ulcer. We need to use the leaves as the its stem is bitter and we need to discard. Using this healthy keerai, we make the thanni saru and kootu. Manathakkali Keerai Kootu, a very delicious kootu which goes well with all types of kuzhambu and rasam. One of the important point which we need to keep in mind about any greens is that, it takes a little longer time to digest this keerai and hence it is advisable to consume this during morning hours. We need to avoid eating in the night. Also during rainy season avoid cooking any greens. Enjoy this delicious kootu!

Manathakkali Keerai Kootu Recipe | Black Nightshade Stew Recipe

Preparation and Yield:

Preparation time	15 mins
Cooking Time	30 mins
Servings	3

Manathakkali Keerai Kootu Recipe | Black Nightshade Stew Recipe

Ingredients:

Manathakkali Keerai	1 big bunch
Turmeric Powder	1/4 teaspoon
Moong dal	1/4 Cup*
Salt	To taste

*1 Cup = 250ml

For Grinding:

Grated Coconut	2 tablespoon
Red Chilli	1
Cumin Seeds	1/2 teaspoon

For Seasoning:

Oil	1 teaspoon
Mustard Seeds	1 teaspoon
Red Chilli	1

Method:

Pluck the leaves of manathakkali keerai and put it in a big broad vessel. Add lots of water to the bowl and soak the leaves and leave it for 10 minutes. The sand particles gets settled in the bottom of the vessel. Slowly and gently remove the leaves that are floating at the top without stirring the water. Again repeat the process till we are sure there are no sand particles. Finally add the leaves to the boiling water to get rid of any germs. For any greens, cleaning process takes more time than cooking. But this step is mandatory and hence we should have more patience in cooking greens. Chop the leaves and keep it ready. Pressure cook the moongdal.

Heat a pan and add the chopped keerai. To this add 1/4 cup of water along with turmeric powder and salt and cook in medium flame. The keerai would cook very quickly. Take the grinding ingredients in a mixer and grind it to a smooth paste

Mash the cooked dal and add mashed dal to the cooked keerai and mix well.

Finally add ground paste and mix well. When the keerai kootu starts to boil, switch off the flame. Heat another pan, add oil and when the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and when it starts to sputter, add uriddal and broken red chilli and saute it till the dal turns golden brown. Add these seasoned ingredients to the cooked kootu and mix well