Kids Corner
'Thengai paal kootu' is another unique,traditional preparation of our family. Our native home had a lovely garden filled with coconut trees and many seasonal veggie plants.Our grandpa is an expert in gardening and took care of those trees like his own kids. He spent most of his time in the garden, watering and de-weeding. Those are golden days wherein we relished home-grown fresh veggies without the invasion of harmful pesticides and chemicals.The trees bore the best coconuts round the year and there was a separate room allocated for storing them in rows. No wonder coconut was a staple in the family, without which not even a single day's cooking went by. I came from a family where coconut is sparingly used in cooking. Other than the jaggery-flavoured coconut milk which is used on Appam, I have'nt tasted any other dishes prepared with coconut milk. So, my MIL's Thengai Paal Kuzhambu was a surprise to me and it just blew me off. Next is this simple, easy and no-fail Coconut milk vegetable gravy,which is an excellent side for anything from Idli, Dosa to Roti to Rice delicacies. It involves minimum effort to whip this up on busy mornings or a tired weeknight. I have used our traditional combination of veggies here, but any veggie of your choice can be swapped in the recipe for a variation.
Preparation time - 10mins
Cooking time - 15-20mins
Serves - 4