Beetroot - Manathakkali Vathakuzhambu (Beetroot - Sun-dried Black Nightshade Berries gravy)

Category:  Kuzhambu Varieties
Preparation Time: 15 mins  
Cooking Time: 20 -30 mins 
Servings: 4 servings

Vathakulambu, a name that evokes nostalgia for many of us, especially when we’re away from home, where we crave these home-style kulambu varieties.

Beetroot Manathakkali Vathakuzhambu

Vathal refers to sun-dried vegetables or berries. Kuzhambu, a tamarind-based gravy, is typically served with rice in Tamil Nadu, South India. Manathakkali, the black nightshade plant, produces berries which were then sun dried and used in this kuzhambu.  It might look daunting to make these kuzhambu varieties but trust me this is one of the easy preparation and you can store this even for few days in refrigerator. 

Usually, I make vathakuzhambu with dried vathals alone. However, since I had extra chopped beetroot, I decided to add it to the kuzhambu. Initially, I was a bit skeptical about how it would turn out, but it turned out surprisingly delicious. The combination of spiciness, tanginess, and a slight bitterness from the vathals, along with the sweetness of the beetroot, created a perfect harmony. This dish would pair excellently with rice and a kootu, which is a vegetable, coconut-dal-based curry. I served this with boiled matta rice and keerai kootu. Papad or appalam would complement this delightful combination perfectly.

Ingredients

• Beetroot – 1 small to medium, peeled and chopped
• Small pearl onions – around 10, peeled
• Garlic – around 10 cloves, peeled
• Manathakkali Vathal - 2-3 Tbsp / as needed
• Tamarind – lemon-sized
• Vatha Kuzhambu powder / Sambar powder - 2-3 Tbsp / as needed
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Salt – as needed
• Jaggery – a small piece, optional
• Water – as needed

For Tempering

• Sesame oil – 2–3 tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 Tbsp
• Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Dry red chillies - 2
• Asafoetida - a pinch
• Curry leaves - a few

Beetroot Thogayal

Category: Lunch
Preparation Time: 5 mins    
Cooking Time: 10-15 mins
Servings: 3-4 servings

Spicy Beetroot Thogayal

Thogayal is a kind of chutney but it will be thicker and coarsely ground than chutney. Thogayal can be mixed with rice along with a tsp of sesame oil  or can have as a side dish for Morkuzhambu.

Beetroot Thogayal

This beetroot thogayal goes well with hot rice but we can also have it with Idli, dosa or Chapathi.

Thogayal can be made with or without coconut; here I have not used coconut. But if we prefer, we can add little coconut to it. If we are adding coconut, we need to finish off on the same day, we cant store it and use later. Without coconut, we can store it in refrigerator for 1-2 days but mostly we will finish off the same day :) 

Beetroot Thogayal without Tempering

Tempering is completely optional, It tastes good even without it :)

Ingredients:

• Beetroot -  1 big sized, grated
• Sesame oil- 1 Tbsp, divided
• Whole Urad dhal- 3 Tbsp
• Red chillies- 3-4 (Adjust as per taste)
• Black Pepper- 1 tsp
• Tamarind - small gooseberry sized (adjust as per taste)
• Asafoetida- 2 pinches
• Salt - to taste

Vegetable Mini Dosa for kids (Colourful Coin Dosa)

Category: Breakfast / Tiffin /Kids Recipes
Cooking Time: 1-2 mins / dosa

Veggie Mini Dosa!!!!

These vegetable mini dosas are not actually a recipe but its a great way to make kids eat their meal:)  We can add any preferred vegetables to get those vibrant colours. 

In the same way, we can make mini Idlis too and serve it using skewers :) Also we can make delicious podi idlis as a snack.

With the dosa, the one advantage is that we can even make these into any fun shapes our kids like.

I'm sure it puts a smile on your kids face :)

Here I used my Sponge dosa batter so I didn't flip and cook the other side. You can find the recipe for the batter here: Sponge Dosa

So Colourful & Healthy!!

Ingredients:

• Sponge Dosa batter - 2 cups
• Baby Spinach - 1 cup, loosely packed
• Carrot - 1 small, grated
• Beet root - 2 small wedges, grated
• Salt - if needed
• Sesame oil - for cooking dosa

Variations:

Beetroot Sambhar with Freshly ground Masala (Arachuvitta Sambhar)

Category:  Sambhar Recipes
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 30 mins
Servings: 4-5 servings

Beet Sambhar

For the last 1-2 years, I am preparing Sambhar in this way only with freshly roast & ground Masala, since my kid loves it:) Its a bit time consuming, but really worth it. The fresh Masala gives a nice flavour and aroma and of course very tasty than using the Sambar Powder. This time for a change, I added Beetroot in Sambhar and it really comes out very well. Kids who wont like to have beetroot as poriyal will surely like it:)

BeetRoot Arachuvitta Sambhar

 Ingredients: 

For Cooking Dhal:

• Toor Dhal - 1/2 cup
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp (For cooking Dhal)
• Castor Oil - few drops  (For cooking Dhal)
• Water - Around 1 1/2 cups

Veggies:

• Beetroot - 1 no, chopped
• Small onions - 10-12 nos, halved
• Tomato - 1 no, chopped

To Roast &Grind:

• Channa Dhal - 1 tbsp
• Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
• Red chiilies - 1-3 nos (adjust as per spice level)
• Raw Rice - 1/2 tsp (Optional and I didnt use this time)
• Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Methi seeds -  1/4 tsp
• Dry Coconut - 2 tbsp

For Tempering:

• Ghee / Oil -2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Red Chilly - 1 no, broken
• Curry leaves - few
• Asafoetida (Hing) - a generous pinch

Other Ingredients:

• Oil - 1 tsp
• Tamarind - small lemon sized
• Water - as required
• Coriander leaves - for garnishing
• Salt-  to taste

Method:

1. Cooking Dhal: Pressure cook Dhal with required water, turmeric, few drops of castor oil for 3 whistles in medium flame (We can even presoak the dhal for 20-30 mins for faster cooking). Once it gets cooked, mash it up; If we are having more water, reserve a little for adding to the veggies or else take around 1 tbsp of cooked dhal and mix it up with a cup of water and keep it ready
   
2. Preparing Masala: Heat up a small pan, add the Channa dhal and roast it in low flame until it turns golden brown. Then add the coriander seeds, red chillies and raw rice and roast till the seeds start to brown; by this time the chilies would become crisp and rice gets puffed up a bit. Finally switch off the flame and add the cumin seeds, methi seeds and dry coconut, fry well in the heat of the pan itself. Transfer to a plate and alllow it to cool down. Then grind to a fine powder or we can even grind it with little water to a fine paste
   
   
   
   
3. Tamarind Extract: Soak the tamarind in warm water for 15 mins and extract the juice
4. Veggies: Chop the veggies and keep them ready
   
5. Heat 1 tsp of Oil in a pan, add the halved onions and saute for a min
   
6. Add the chopped tomato pieces and saute for 1 min
   
7. Now add the chopped beetroot and saute for 2 mins
   
8. Add the dhal water and allow to cook till the beetroot becomes soft and gets cooked
   
9. Then add the ground masala powder / paste. If we grind to a powder, we can even mix it up with few tsp of water to form a paste so that there will not be any lump formation while adding it. Mix it well and bring it to boil
   
10. Now add the tamarind extract with required salt and allow to boil for 2 mins in medium flame
    
    
    
    
11. Add the cooked dhal and mix well
    
12. Adjust the water quantity and check for salt (Sambhar will tends to become thick while cools down so adjust water accordingly)
    
13. Allow to boil for few mins in low to medium flame 
    
14. Tempering: Heat up a small pan, add ghee / oil, once it becomes hot add mustard seeds followed by cumin seeds. Once it splutters, add red chilly and curry leaves, fry for few secs and switch it off. Finally add the asafoetida
    
15. Pour the tempering over the boiling sambhar and switch it off
    
16. Mix well and garnish with coriander leaves
    
17. Serve hot with Rice or even with Idli / Dosa / Pongal:)
    

Pakoda with Beetroot and Beet Leaves

Category: Snacks
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Servings: 3-4 servings

Pakoda with Beet Root & Leaves

Ingredients:

• Beet leaves, finely chopped  - 2 cups (I used leaves from 3 beetroots)
• Beetroot - a small one, grated
• Besan flour - 1/2 cup
• Rice flour - 1/4 cup
• Corn flour - 2 tbsp
• Onion- 1 no, finely chopped 
• Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
• Home made Pav Bhaji Masala - 1 tsp (can be replaced by Garam Masala)
• Chilly powder - as needed (I didnt use here)
• Salt - to taste
• Oil- for deep frying

Method:

1. Wash well and finely chop the beet leaves; here I used the leaves from 3 beets
   
   
   
   
2. Finely grate the beetroot and chop the onions
   
3. Mix Besan flour, Rice flour, Corn flour, Masala Powders and salt in a bowl
   
4. In a wide mixing bowl, add the chopped leaves, grated beetroot, onion, ginger garlic paste and mix well using hands
   
5. Now add the flour mixture to thees veggies and start mixing them all so everything gets combined well; No need to add any water, the moisture from veggies will be enough
   
6. If its too loose / watery, we can add 1-2 tbsp more of besan
7. Heat oil in a wok (enough for deep frying) and once it becomes hot, add the dough little by little in batches and deep fry them in medium high flame
   
8. It may take around 3-5 mins per batch and once the sizzling sound subsides, take it out and drain the excess oil
   
   
   
   
9. Serve hot!
   

Beetroot Poori

Category: Poori
Preparation Time: 20 mins      
Cooking Time: 20 mins      
Servings: 3-4 servings

Beetroot Mini Pooris:)

 Ingredients:

• Wheat flour / Atta - 2 cups
• Beetroot - 1 no (Small / Medium sized)
• Rava, fine variety - 3 tsp (Optional)
• Ajwain / Omam - 1/2 tsp (Optional)
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - for deep fry

Method:

1. Wash the beetroot and peel off the skin; for the ease of grinding, I had grated it
   
2. Grind the beetroot gratings into a smooth paste. Sprinkle water only if needed for grinding
   
3. In a bowl, add wheat flour, salt, rava and omam; mix well (Here I had not added omam and rava)
4. Add the beetroot puree into the flour, knead well to form a stiff dough. The moisture in the puree would be enough for kneading and if its dry, sprinkle water. Dough should be stiffer than the chapathi dough
   
5. Heat oil in a kadai for frying
6. Divide the dough into equal lemon sized balls, add a drop of oil on the rolling surface and roll them to a small thick circle
   
7. If making for kids, we can cut into different shapes using any lid or cookie cutters
   
   
   
   
8. Once the oil becomes hot, add the poori, gently press with the laddle so it will get puffed nicely
   
9. Then turn it up so it would get cooked the other side
   
10. Once its done, remove it, drain excess oil
    
11. Repeat the same for the rest of the dough
12. Serve hot with Potato Masala / Channa Masala