Pongal Kootu Veg Biryani. As pongal festival is nearing i wanted to post a traditional recipe which we make both for Pongal festival and Thiruvadirai. A little bit of all these veggies make a huge quantity. Find Pongal recipes, bhogi recipe, kaanum pongal recipes.

Pongal kootu is not the traditional one which we make at home. In my place on pongal we make normal raw rice pongal, sweet sarkarai pongal, sambar, papadum and coconut thogayal. But i have been seeing this curry in many blog, so i decided to give it a try. You can have Pongal Kootu Veg Biryani using 28 ingredients and 11 steps. Here is how you achieve that.

Ingredients of Pongal Kootu Veg Biryani

Prepare 1 tbsp of tamarind pulp.
You need 1/2 cup of toor dal.
You need 1 of chopped potato.
Prepare 1 of chopped carrot.
You need 1/2 cup of chopped broad beans.
It's 1/2 cup of chopped French beans.
Prepare 1 of chopped sweet potato.
Prepare 100 grams of pumpkin chopped.
It's 1 of chopped ash gourd.
It's 2-4 of dry red chillies.
You need 1 tbsp of chana dal.
You need 2 tbsp of coriander seeds.
Prepare 1/2 cup of grated coconut.
Prepare 1/2 tsp of fenugreek seeds.
It's 2 tbsp of oil.
You need 1 tsp of mustard seeds.
You need 1 pinch of asafoetida.
Prepare 2 cups of Basmati Rice.
Prepare 5-6 leaves of curry.
It's 1 stick of cinnamon.
Prepare 2 of dried bay leaves.
It's 1 tsp of pepper corns.
Prepare 3-4 of cloves.
It's 1 of star anise.
It's 1 of maze flower.
You need to taste of Salt.
It's 1/2 cup of milk.
It's 3-4 string of strands of saffron.

And i made it today for pongal and enjoyed it with raw rice pongal. I have been making different types of biryani 's over the years, but this recipe which I got from one of my friend is just the ultimate one, which tastes perfect and easy to make. Pongal festival itself is a harvest festival, to show gratitude to the Mother Nature to help us harvest nicely with enough monsoon. Mixed vegetable kootu is very similar to Avial and pongal kootu.

Pongal Kootu Veg Biryani step by step

Tie cinnamon stick, dried bay leaves, pepper corns, cloves, star anise, maze flower in a small piece of muslin cloth and keep aside.
Wash rice and cook them with double water, muslin potli of spices and salt to taste.
In a pressure cooker, cook washed toor dal and mash it well.
In another pan put all the chopped veggies and cover them with little water and cook covered till soft.
In a pan heat 1 tsp of oil and add coriander seeds, chana dal, fenugreek seeds and 2 dry chillies and fry these till the dal becomes little golden in colour.
The add grated coconut and roast it till the coconut is golden in colour, cool it a bit and grind to a fine paste with help of little water.
In the vegetables pot add tamrind pulp, cooked toor dal, ground masala paste and salt to taste and mix well then cook for 4-5 minutes.
Cook till most of the water is absorbed as we don’t want it to be much liquid for biryani..
Heat remaining oil and add red chillies, asafetida, mustard seeds and curry leaves and let them crackle. Now put this tempering in prepared Kootu.
And finally layer the biryani in a microwave safe pot, one layer rice then one layer of Kootu and repeat it till your preference.
Mix saffron with warm milk and pour it over the final layer of rice, close the lid of the pot and microwave for a minute.

Its a South Indian style side dish for rice. Usually my mom makes avial(her signature recipe) for sambar sadam. After marriage, I started loving my mil's mixed veg kootu which she makes for vatha kuzhambu. Both are very similar in procedure with minor differences. Sambar idly, medhu vada, pongal, sweet, mini masala dosa, coffee or tea or butter milk or swt.