Mixed Vegetable Kootu Recipe | Easy Vegetarian

Mixed Vegetable Kootu is a simple, healthy, and delicious homestyle dish of lentils, seasonal vegetables, and freshly pressed coconut milk, tempered with spices and aromatics.

Our mixed vegetable kootu recipe Chettinad style is a staple for lunch at home and is made in kitchens across south India on a daily basis.

Mixed vegetable kootu is also called kadamba kootu or pongal kootu as it is prepared during the Pongal festival, but it is cooked without onion and tomato for religious ceremonies and festivals.
 

Mixed vegetable kootu is somewhat similar to avial.

Kootu is an integral part of a meal in most south Indian households. Although it is popular throughout south India, each region and state has its own unique version of this dish. Not only are there regional variations like this mixed veg kootu recipe from Chettinad, but even within a region, the method or style of making kootu differs from home to home, as does the choice of vegetables.
 

This simple dish is also made for special occasions (weddings, feasts) and for festivals like Pongal (harvest festival in Tamil Nadu), Thiruvathirai (in honour of Lord Shiva), Varamahalakshmi Habba (in honour of Goddess Lakshmi), and Ugadi (lunar new year).
 

Mixed vegetable kootu is nutritious and protein-rich and can be a complete meal on its own. This is comfort food at its best and is a delicious way to incorporate more vegetables into one’s diet and is especially great for getting children to eat more veggies.

Our easy mixed veg kootu recipe results in a dish moderately thick in consistency.
 

You can keep this recipe simple and use carrots, green peas, and cauliflower as we have done in our mixed vegetable kootu recipe or use a mixture of seasonal vegetables like banana (raw), beans (broad beans, cluster beans), brinjal / eggplant / aubergine, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, chayote squash (chow chow), colocasia, cucumber, onion, peas, plantain (raw), potato, pumpkin (white, yellow), gourd (ridge gourd, snake gourd, ash gourd), squash, sweet potato, tomato, yam, and zucchini.
 

Some kootu recipes also use legumes like black-eyed peas, green peas or chana, peanuts, and cashew nuts.

Some recipes use toor dal instead of moong dal, or dals in combination. While any kootu using gourds is usually made with Bengal gram (chana dal) as it helps thicken the final dish.
 

Our mixed vegetable kootu recipe is from Chettinad in Tamil Nadu. Chettinad cuisine is known for its masterful blending of freshly ground spices and its sophisticated use of coconut in various forms, whether grated and used in wet masala, or added in poriyals, or as coconut milk to balance the heat of highly spiced dishes.
 

Follow our simple recipe and learn how to make mixed vegetable kootu Chettinad style and enjoy this hearty comfort food with elements of Chettinad cuisine.

Garnish mixed vegetable kootu with curry leaves. Serve hot with a dollop of ghee—which tastes wonderful—which we have added to the final tempering.
 

Enjoy mixed vegetable kootu for chapathi, with rice or with a flat bread of your choice—roti, parotta, dosa, or appam.  

If you plan to serve kootu with a flat bread, you can make the dish with a thick consistency like in our recipe. It is easier to scoop a thicker curry with a roti. A thinner consistency goes better with rice.
 

Mixed vegetable kootu can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days. It tastes great even the next day, after all the flavours and spices have thoroughly infused in the dish.

For a more substantial Chettinad meal, serve mixed vegetable kootu along with potato karuvattu poriyal, beetroot poriyal, onion sambar, papad, garlic pickle, pomegranate raita, and thayir sadam (curd rice).
 

Get the best recipe for mixed vegetable kootu with step by step video instructions and all ingredients and cooking method below.

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Or see all our Vegetarian Recipes right here!