Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Cochi-Konkani style Beets

A sect of Konkanis moved to parts of Kerala many many generations ago (I'm talking like 13th century) and over the years have adapted a lot of Kerala in their dialect and cuisine.
They are known as Cochi-Konkanis and their Konkani has so much of Malayalam that I may not understand it too well.

This recipe is from my mom's friend, who's spent the better part of her life in Kerala. This one has garlic, which really makes it different from the regular upkaris / poriyals we make.

I love beets and so does my little one, so I make it quite often in some form or the other. Beets have a good nutritional value, scoring high on potassium, calcium, antioxidants and folic acid ! Juice of beets combined with other juices like carrot and cucumber are supposed to be great for cleansing the kidneys and gallbladder and being a fibrous root, is excellent for eliminating constipation.

All this apart, I love the colour, though my chopping board, peeler, grater, basically half my kitchen and my son's clothes have a nice pink hue when I make anything with beets at home..




What you need -

3 medium sized beets
3 cloves garlic
6-8 curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp oil
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp grated coconut

What you do with it -

Peel and chop the beets into small pieces.
In a pan, add a little oil and season the mustard seeds and curry leaves
Add the beets, salt and a little water and cook covered on low heat
Grind together 3 tbsp coconut, cumin and garlic
When the beet is almost done, add the coconut paste and cook till done
Garnish with the remaining grated coconut

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Love the color of beets, nice to know some things about konkani food.

Manju said...

i love beets cooked like this. I had a couple of friends who feel in the cochi-konkani category and ive had it at their place, but im not sure about the garlic though. Anyway, delicious!! :)

SJ said...

garlic in beets palya-thats something I have not seen. Will try.

FH said...

Great little info about Cochi-Konkanis, didn't know that. Thanks girl. Beet looks fab, I love the color!;0

Deepthi Shankar said...

lovely color of the beetroot there

A_and_N said...

I never knew about the Cochi Konkans!! Thanks for the info, man!

Vaishali said...

Arch, I am half-Konkani and I never even knew about Cochi Konkanis-- that's wonderful to know! I do however make a very similar version of beets-- I can vouch it's delicious!

Sig said...

Never heard of Kochi-Konkani cuisine, the beets look delicious!

Unknown said...

Wow good info dear here...you are so right about the Beetroot..I think that stem always likes to play holi :)...my imagination...anyways your blog is wonderful and the recipes and pics are fab...Thanks for dropping by my blog...

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