Chow Chow Kootu With Moong Dal

Chow Chow Kootu with Moong Dal – Chayote Squash Lentil Stew.

Easy and quick recipe for Chow Chow Kootu with Moong Dal. Chow-Chow (Merakai) cooked with lentils and simmered with coconut and cumin seeds. Chayote Squash Lentil Stew.With step by step pictures.

This is an everyday lentil – Chow Chow Kootu recipe. A very simple and quick recipe for chow-chow with lentils. I make this with split moong dal (paasi paruppu ). Lentils are cooked and simmered in a coconut paste and a tempering added in the end. Here is how I do it.

Wash and peel the chow-chow/chayote. Cut into half and remove the seed in the middle. Dice them and keep aside.

Wash half a cup of split moong dal / paasi paruppu and cook it along with the chow-chow in a pressure cooker for 5 minutes or 4 whistles. For every half cup of dal, I add 2 cups of water. I have a neat tip for cooking dal in a pressure cooker. I always had a problem with Indian pressure cookers. The water from inside the cooker will leak out of the whistle opening while cooking and make a whole mess on the gas stove. By placing the dal and water in a bowl and keeping the bowl in the pressure cooker filled with water easily solved the problem. No more mess. Cook the dal and keep aside.

Make a paste out of a teaspoon of cumin seeds, couple of tablespoons of fresh shredded coconut and couple of dried red chilli. I take out the seeds from the chillies. Add up to half a cup of water while grinding. Set aside

Now combine the coconut paste with the cooked lentil mixture in a pan and bring it to a boil on low flame. Add the salt. Remove off heat when it barely comes to a simmer. You do not want to boil it too much.

The tempering: Add a teaspoon of oil to a small pan on low flame. When the oil is hot, add in the mustard seeds and let it splutter. Then add urad dal, curry leaves and hing. Fry till the curry leaves are crisp and the dal is brown. Pour it over the dal.

Serve hot with rice.

Main Ingredients

• 1 medium chow-chow / chayote
• 1/2 cup split moong dal
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the masala paste

• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 heaped tablespoons fresh shredded coconut
• 2 dried red chillies without seeds

For the tempering

• 1 teaspoon peanut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 2 teaspoon urad dal
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon hing

1. Wash and peel the chow-chow/chayote. Cut into half and remove the seed in the middle. Dice them and keep aside. Wash half a cup of split moong dal / paasi paruppu and cook it along with the chow-chow in a pressure cooker for 5 minutes or 4 whistles.
2. Make a paste out of a teaspoon of cumin seeds, couple of tablespoons of fresh shredded coconut and couple of dried red chilli. I take out the seeds from the chillies. Add up to half a cup of water while grinding.
3. Now combine the coconut paste with the cooked lentil mixture in a pan and bring it to a boil on low flame. Add the salt. Remove off heat when it barely comes to a simmer. You do not want to boil it too much.
4. The tempering: Add a teaspoon of oil to a small pan on low flame. When the oil is hot, add in the mustard seeds and let it splutter. Then add urad dal, curry leaves and hing. Fry till the curry leaves are crisp and the dal is brown. Pour it over the dal.
5. Serve hot with rice.

• Author: Kannamma @kannammacooks.com
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins
• Category: Dal/Lentil Dishes
• Cuisine: South Indian

Main Ingredients

• 1 medium chow-chow / chayote
• 1/2 cup split moong dal
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the masala paste

• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 heaped tablespoons fresh shredded coconut
• 2 dried red chillies without seeds

For the tempering

• 1 teaspoon peanut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 2 teaspoon urad dal
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon hing

1. Wash and peel the chow-chow/chayote. Cut into half and remove the seed in the middle. Dice them and keep aside. Wash half a cup of split moong dal / paasi paruppu and cook it along with the chow-chow in a pressure cooker for 5 minutes or 4 whistles.
2. Make a paste out of a teaspoon of cumin seeds, couple of tablespoons of fresh shredded coconut and couple of dried red chilli. I take out the seeds from the chillies. Add up to half a cup of water while grinding.
3. Now combine the coconut paste with the cooked lentil mixture in a pan and bring it to a boil on low flame. Add the salt. Remove off heat when it barely comes to a simmer. You do not want to boil it too much.
4. The tempering: Add a teaspoon of oil to a small pan on low flame. When the oil is hot, add in the mustard seeds and let it splutter. Then add urad dal, curry leaves and hing. Fry till the curry leaves are crisp and the dal is brown. Pour it over the dal.
5. Serve hot with rice.

• Author: Kannamma @kannammacooks.com
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins
• Category: Dal/Lentil Dishes
• Cuisine: South Indian

Find it online : https://www.kannammacooks.com/chow-chow-kootu-with-moong-dal-chayote-squash-lentil-stew/

Mini Pizza Party for children with Dough from Scratch.

Great recipe for making mini pizzas where the children can roll out the dough and bake it themselves. A very forgiving dough which works well every single time. Simple ingredients. No overnight resting required.

Getting the children early in the kitchen is the only way to get them interested in food. My father made my son sit on the kitchen counter and gave him a real knife when he was four. I was scared but he just asked me to let it go. He told he would take care. He did. My father would say, you got to believe the kids. We actually do not know what they are capable of doing because we are scared and over protective and never willing to give them a chance. Starting them early is very very essential.

We had a lot of fun making this pizza from scratch with the children. This is a very very forgiving pizza dough recipe which can be made the same day. No overnight resting is needed. I have made it several times with the kids and they all love to get their hands doughy and saucy and would lick the plates clean. Lets get some flour love. Shall we?

First step, weigh and measure all the ingredients. In a big bowl, add in 420 grams – 3 cups all purpose flour and 1 1/2 teaspoon salt. In a separate bowl mix a tablespoon of olive oil , 1/4 cup water and 3/4 cup milk.

Second step, lets get the yeast working. Take a small bowl and add 1/4 teaspoon of sugar and 2 teaspoon Active dry yeast. Add in 1/4 cup tepid water. Mix well and leave it aside for 5 minutes so it becomes foamy. Indian yeast is temperamental. If it doesn’t foam, discard and start again with a fresh batch of yeast.

Combine all the ingredients (flour mixture, milk mixture and yeast mixture ) together and form a dough. The dough will be very soft. We are not trying to knead yet. We are just combining everything together. Once its mixed, move away for 10 minutes. Don’t do anything. It hydrates the dough and it becomes a lot easier later to knead. Now start kneading. I did it by hand for a good 5 minutes. The trick in kneading is to avoid the temptation of adding flour. Too much flour alters the moisture content and will result in a dry dough. So do not add too much flour while kneading. Knead well until the dough becomes one soft ball. Take a lot of help from the little master kneaders.

First Rise : Once kneading is done, shape the dough into a nice smooth ball and transfer the dough to a well oiled bowl and let the dough rise until doubled. Mine took two hours.

Second Rise : Check every half hour with your little one to see how the dough is getting fat. You will be impressed. Once the dough is doubled, transfer the dough to a work surface. punch the dough down, make a ball and let it rise again until doubled. Another 2 hours. It can be faster or slower depending upon where you live.

Third rise : Turn the risen dough to your work surface and cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. Flatten the dough and start crimping the dough as shown in the picture below to form 8 nice smooth balls.

Lightly oil all the balls and let it rise for half hour before baking. If you are not going to use it right away, refrigerate for up to 6 hours. Let it come to room temperature before proceeding.

Baking Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Flatten each ball to disks on a parchment paper. Press it in shape as necessary with your fingers. Top it with tomato sauce and toppings of your choice and place it on a sheet pan. Bake for 10-15 minutes.

For a children’s party, hand over a parchment paper and a dough ball to each kid and let them flatten and put the toppings of their choice. Mark a small initial on the corner of the parchment for identification. Have a great party with loads of fun.

Yeast mixture

• 1/4 cup tepid water
• 2 teaspoon Active dry yeast
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar

Dry ingredients

• 420 grams /3 cups All purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet ingredients

• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

1. In a big bowl add in the all purpose flour and salt. In a seperate bowl mix a tablespoon of olive oil , 1/4 cup water and 3/4 cup milk.
2. Take a small bowl and add 1/4 teaspoon of sugar and 2 teaspoon Active dry yeast. Add in 1/4 cup tepid water. Mix well and leave it aside for 5 minutes so it becomes foamy.
3. Combine all the ingredients together and form a dough. Once combined rest for 10 minutes. Knead well for 5 minutes until the dough becomes one soft ball.
4. First Rise : Once kneading is done, shape the dough into a nice smooth ball and transfer the dough to a well oiled bowl and let the dough rise until doubled. Mine took two hours.
5. Second Rise : Once the dough is doubled, transfer the dough to a work surface. punch the dough down, make a ball and let it rise again until doubled. Another 2 hours. It can be faster or slower depending on where you live.
6. Third rise: Turn the dough to your work surface and cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. Flatten the dough and start crimping the dough to form a nice smooth ball. Lightly oil all the balls and let it rise for half hour before baking. If you are not going to use it right away, refrigerate for upto 6 hours. Let it come to room temperature before proceeding.
7. Baking: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Flatten each ball to disks. Press it in shape as necessary with your fingers. Top it with tomato sauce and toppings of your choice and bake for 10-15 minutes.

• Author: Kannamma @kannammacooks.com
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins
• Category: Bread
• Cuisine: American/Italian