Pappali Kai Kootu

The Tamil lentil and vegetable stew made with raw papaya, moong dal cooked to softness and a ground paste of coconut, cumin, and green chilli stirred through at the end

Origin: Madurai & the Tamil Country

From the journey of Papaya.

A kootu sits between a dal and a vegetable dish and belongs to neither. Pulse and vegetable are cooked together until both are soft, a paste of coconut, cumin, and green chilli is ground and stirred in, and the whole thing is finished with a tempering in coconut oil. It is deliberately mild, because it is there to sit beside something that is not: a fierce kuzhambu, a pickle, a dry poriyal. Tamil calls the unripe papaya pappali kai, and it makes a particularly good kootu. It softens without disintegrating, it is mild enough not to argue with the coconut, and it is cheap and available all year, which is why it has quietly replaced older vegetables in a great many households. The Palakkad Iyer kitchens, Tamil families long settled on the Kerala side of the ghats, make the same thing as molagootal, with black pepper ground into the paste in place of some of the chilli. Whether the dal is moong or Bengal gram is a household matter and people are firm about it. Moong gives the softer, sweeter kootu and is the more usual choice for papaya.

Ingredients

Stew

100 g moong dal (split yellow mung beans), rinsed
0.5 tsp ground turmeric
600 ml water
450 g green (unripe) papaya, peeled, seeded, and cut into 2 cm cubes
1.25 tsp salt

Ground Paste

100 g freshly grated coconut
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 green chillies
0.5 tsp black peppercorns

Tempering

2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp split black gram (urad dal)
1 dried red chilli, broken
1 sprig fresh curry leaves

Method

Cook the moong dal with the turmeric in the water until it is soft and beginning to break down, about 20 minutes in a pan or 3 whistles in a pressure cooker.
Add the papaya and the salt and simmer for 10 minutes, until the cubes are tender to the point of a knife.
Grind the coconut, cumin, green chillies, and peppercorns to a fairly smooth paste with a little water.
Stir the paste into the pan and simmer for 4 minutes only, loosening with hot water if it thickens too far.
Heat the coconut oil, crackle the mustard seeds, add the urad dal and fry until golden, then the dried chilli and curry leaves, and pour the whole tempering over the kootu.
Serve with rice, a dry poriyal, and something sharp.

Notes

For the Palakkad molagootal, double the peppercorns and leave out one of the green chillies. Bengal gram (chana dal) replaces the moong and gives a firmer, nuttier kootu; it needs about ten minutes longer.

The Gastrographer

Name: Pappali Kai Kootu
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Madurai & the Tamil Country
Ingredients: 100 g moong dal (split yellow mung beans), rinsed; 0.5 tsp ground turmeric; 600 ml water; 450 g green (unripe) papaya, peeled, seeded, and cut into 2 cm cubes; 1.25 tsp salt; 100 g freshly grated coconut; 1 tsp cumin seeds; 2 green chillies; 0.5 tsp black peppercorns; 2 tbsp coconut oil; 1 tsp black mustard seeds; 1 tsp split black gram (urad dal); 1 dried red chilli, broken; 1 sprig fresh curry leaves

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control