Cabbage kootu

I wanted to make something simple for lunch today. I love cabbage kootu with rasam and rice but I don't like my kootu to be mushy. It tastes a lot better when the channa dal retain its form and has a slight chewy texture. To achieve this consistency it is better to cook it in an open pot. This is the way my mom always cooks it. And it tastes delicious. I agree it takes a lot longer than the pressure-cooker method but the cooking time can be greatly reduced if the dal is soaked for 1 hr or so. Slow cooking definitely brings out the best flavour of the dal and cabbage.


Cabbage kootu - simple but delicious

Ingredients
1 ½ cups of finely chopped cabbage
150 gm of channa dal soaked in water for at least ½ hr
2 green chilli slit
1 tomato chopped
1 medium onion chopped
Curry leaves a few
½ tsp of mustard seeds
½ tsp of split black gram
1 tsp cumin seeds

Add water to a saucepan. Add the dal, green chillies, tomato, onion and cumin seeds. Cook till the dal is done. Now add the chopped cabbage and cook for a few more mins. Add salt to the cooked cabbage.
Meanwhile add oil to a pan. Add mustard seeds to the hot oil. After the mustard seeds starts to splutter, add urad dal and curry leaves. When the urad dal turns golden brown in colour, add this tadka to the cooked cabbage and lentils. Serve with rice.
When a food is cooked longer, the GI (Glycemic Index) of the food gets increased which means it causes blood sugar to go up immediately. Hence, it is better to avoid overcooking any food.