Poricha kootu is a classic South Indian vegetable stew that’s served with rice, ghee and appalam / pappadam. Once you have learnt this recipe, there are a number of vegetables that can be cooked in this style in one pot to make your weekday meals a breeze. Let’s dive in…

What is Poricha Kootu

While sambar and rasam are among the better known recipes of southern India, this hidden gem Poricha Kootu (aka Poricha Kuzhambu) no less powerful in terms of taste and deserves a go in your kitchen. A unique blend of roasted black pepper, black gram, cumin and coconut brings out some wonderful flavors. While this recipe can be made with a variety of vegetables, the one that I am about to share is cooked with an exotic vegetable (well, technically a fruit) in the Americas – snake gourd (pudalangai or podalangai in Tamil) which is my family favorite! Without further ado…

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What you will need to make Poricha Kootu

Ingredients

Note: 1 cup = 235 ml

For Poricha Kootu base

1. ½ cup moong dal (split yellow mung bean)
2. 4 ¼ cups water
3. ¼ tsp. turmeric powder
4. 3 cups diced snake gourd
5. Salt to taste (I used 1 ¾ tsp. iodized table salt) 

For grinding Poricha Kootu masala

1. 1 Tbsp. urad dal (husked black gram)
2. ½ Tbsp. black peppercorns
3. 1 tsp. cumin 
4. 2 whole dry red chilis
5. 1 sprig curry leaves (about 10 leaves)
6. 1 cup grated coconut

For tempering

1. 2 Tbsp. coconut oil
2. 1 ½ tsp. split husked urad dal
3. 1 tsp. mustard seeds
4. 1 sprig curry leaves

Equipment

1. Flat bottom pan
2. Flat ladle
3. Small blender
4. Instant Pot / Pressure cooker

A few substitutes for key ingredients

Yellow split moong beans / dal is easily available in most Indian grocery stores. If not available, you can substitute this with masoor dal (red lentils) or toor dal

Snake gourd is a tropical vegetable found in most Indian grocery stores. However, you can substitute this with any variety of squash or green beans

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How to prepare Poricha Kootu – An Overview

For best results, every time you make poricha kootu first pressure cook lentils, then dump-cook everything, and finally temper and serve!

Tips before you begin

📝 Black pepper, split black gram and curry leaves are the heart and soul of this recipe. I would recommend not to embark on this recipe if you are missing any one of these ingredients

📝Roasting and grinding the masala just before making this recipe will give it a finger licking flavor

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How to make Poricha Kootu – Instructions with step-by-step images

Prep lentils, spices and vegetables

Step 1 – Wash ½ cup moong dal and pressure cook by adding ¼ tsp. turmeric powder and 1 ½ cups water. Set your Instant Pot on manual high for 3 minutes with valve on sealing. Turn off heat and set it aside for natural pressure release.

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If using a regular pressure cooker, cook for up to 2 whistles. You can also use a heavy bottom pan for this step and cook until the dal is soft and mushy. Make sure to triple the water as open pot methods use more water

Step 2 – Dry roast 1 Tbsp. urad dal (husked black gram), ½ Tbsp. black peppercorns, 1 tsp. cumin, 2 whole dry red chilis and 1 sprig curry leaves (about 10 leaves) until the urad dal changes color and the spices start to give out a flavorful aroma

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Step 3 – Now add grated coconut and roast it for another minute, turn off the heat and set it aside to cool down to room temperature

Step 4 – While the roasted ingredients cool down, wash the snake gourd under running water, scrape the top layer skin with a blunt knife, slit it open, scrape out the seeds, dice and set aside

Step 5 – Add ½ cup water to the roasted ingredients (from Step 3) and grind to a coarse paste using a small spice blender. Add another ½ cup water and grind it to a smooth paste

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Adding water a little at a time while grinding improves the texture of the ground spice paste

Dump cook everything 

Step 6 – Mash the cooked dal from step 1 with a ladle

Step 7 – To that, add diced snake gourd (step-), the ground paste(step-), remaining 2 ¼ cups water, salt to taste (1 ¾ tsp. salt) and set Instant Pot on manual high for 2 minutes with valve on sealing. Turn off heat and set it aside for natural pressure release

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If using a regular pressure cooker, cook up to 2 whistles. You can also use a heavy bottom pan for this step and cook until the vegetable is cooked to fork tender.

Temper & serve

Step 8 – Heat coconut oil in a tempering pan on medium heat setting. Add 1tsp. mustard seeds and allow it to crackle. Now add 1½ tsp. split urad dal and let it cook until golden brown (this will take about for 30 seconds)

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Step 9 – Turn off heat, add curry leaves, and pour it over the kootu

Step 10 – Enjoy your sublime Podalangai Poricha Kootu with hot steamed rice, home made ghee, and yummy appalams 😋

How to serve Poricha Kootu

Serve poricha kootu with steamed rice topped with a dollop of ghee with a side of fresh pepper corns, mangai pachidi, chips, or appalam / pappadum

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Why Pudalangai Poricha Kootu is close to my heart 

Poricha kootu with papadum was one of my all time favorites. But that did not mean I made the best poricha kootu. I used to make a decent version of it but when I started collecting family favorites from my extended family, I learnt that one of my aunt’s (Mangalam Athai’s) poricha kootu recipe was to die for! Sadly, my aunt had passed away a few years ago. But to my luck her daughter, Jayashree Rajesh, had memorized this and was more than happy to pass it on to me. Her secret tip of roasting grated coconuts along with other spices made this recipe simply sublime. I am delighted to share it here with you all, as such tasty recipes that are passed on by word of mouth deserve to be documented for the future generations to savor. Do not forget to save this jewel in your kitchen diaries! 

Related Recipes

• Sambar
• Tomato Rasam
• Keerai Molagootal

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Recipe Card – Pudalangai Poricha Kootu

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FAQs

Thank you for stopping by. If you’ve tried this recipe, I would love to hear from you. Please add your comments below and / or rate this recipe. Your feedback will help me improve and share better recipes with you. 

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