Methi leaves (Vendiya keerai) kootu

From my young age, I have never tried to eat this keerai variety due to its bitter taste. During my pregnency, my mom used to prepare this atleast once a week and for the sake of my baby i started having it. It tasted great and i loved this one with the combination of curd rice.

Items required:

Methi leaves - washed and cleaned
Toor dhal - cooked and mashed nicely
oil, mustard seeds, urad dhal and channa dhal for seasoning
salt

For gravy:
coconut
jeera
black pepper
pottukadalai (roasted gram)
green chilly/red chilly

Method: Grind the items given for gravy and keep it aside. Now heat oil in a kadai and do the seasoning. Now add the methi leaves and mix it with the tadka. Once the leaves are cooked, add the cooked toor dhal and the gravy mix to the kadai. Add enough water so that the methi, dhal and the gravy mix together nicely and let it not be too thick. Add a pinch of turmeric powder and required salt and mix them well. Let the kootu boil nicely for sometime till the mix comes together and the water is no seperate.

Remove from flame. This goes very well with south indian meals and is a great combination for curd rice.

Tips: Do not cut the methi leaves as the bitterness increases when the methi leaves are cut. Try this and let me know your comments :))