March 13, 2010

Muringai Poo Kootu (Drumstick blossom and chana dal in coconut paste)



Some of the widely used flowers in daily cooking are vazhai poo (banana), vepam poo (neem) ,muringai poo (drumstick) and the like. I have cooked only with vazhai poo,  all these years. I have heard of vepam poo pachadi and rasam but never got access to vepam poo. Muringa poo is another one which I wanted to try. I hav a drumstick tree in my backyard. And no one will ever try to pick those flowers willingly since they will have to forego the drumsticks instead. Ever since I saw the post at Nirmala's, I wanted to give it a try. Few days back, when my maid was trying to pick the drumsticks on a top branch, the branch broke since drumstick tree is very fragile. And it had so much of flowers. Infact my maid felt bad about it. But the sight of my maid  with the bunch of flowers, brought a huge smile on my face. Without a delibrate attempt, i have got some flowers . I prepared kootu with the flowers the next day. Thanks Nirmala for inspiring me to try it.


 
You need

Muringai poo - 2 cups ( Use more if u can get)

Chana dal - 4 tblspn

Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

Red chilly - 1 nos

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tspn

Salt

Turmeric

Seasoning
Oil, mustard seeds, urad dal and red chilly, broken into two.



 
Method

 
Cook chana dal in pressure cooker till soft but firm. Wash the flowers and cook in 1/2 cup of water with salt and turmeric. When the flowers wither, add the cooked chana dal and let it simmer for few minutes.

Grind the grated coconut, red chilly and cumin to a smooth paste. Add little water while grinding. Add the ground paste to the cooking mix and bring to a boil.

Heat a seasoning ladle with a teaspoon of oil and season with mustard, urad dal and red chillies. Add it to the kootu. Serve with hot rice and sambhar.





8 comments:

  1. When i was living at home we had one drmstick tree which gave us a lot of drumsticks in the season,till one monsoon it fell down.
    I never knew we could use the flouwers for making dishes.

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  2. Totally new recipe for me and looks tasty and intresting!!

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  3. Wow.. this reminds me of my granny who used to make it every time I visit her. Lovely. Very nostalgic and would try to find the flowers here and make this too.

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  4. I have heard of the leaf in adai and molagootal but did not know that the flower was used in cooking as well! Curious to know the taste! Looks very good and tempting.

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  5. I new of only the leaves, but not the poo, I have never seen it too..!!!, looks so like Malli poo, very interesting, looks lovely, and of course envy you !!, aren't you lucky you get all this to try dishes, Thanks for the photos and information

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  6. This is so interesting I have never cooke dor seen this flower before.

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  7. Thanks for trying my recipe and linking too! I bet it would ahve tasted great with fresh flowers.
    Harini, you would find it very tasty and I don't have anything comparable for the taste!

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  8. I've never tasted anything made with muringapoo 'coz like you said, we never plucked the poo as that would mean no drumsticks. This sounds delicious.

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