Vaazhaithandu Koottu / Plantain Stem Dhal

Vaazhai thandu kootu or the plantain stem dhal is a tasty and easy way to consume the vaazhaithandu. It is one of the cheapest item available in any vegetable shop and yet it possesses amazing goodness.
It is good in regulating the water content in our body. Its goodness' list is very long hence i am not going to go into that in detail. Most of the time, the best healthy vegetables or fruits are the cheapest price and hence they are placed in some corner of the shop therefore they get missed out from our eyes.

This is a simple one pot dish with awesome ginger-garlic flavour in dhal. Just transfer all the ingredients in the cooker.. pressure cook them. Tempering it gives the final touch to it.

The tips to choose the right plantain stem / vaazhaithandu from market is here in this recipe link - Vaazhaithandu poriyal

Here is how the recipe goes.

Ingredients:

Vaazhaithandu / plantain stem (pith) - 1
small onion - 7 - 8
tomato - 1 (small)
garlic - 3 pods crushed
ginger - 1/2 inch crushed
green chillies - 2 chopped
yellow split moong dhall - 1/4 cup
turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
salt - as per taste
water - 1 cup

Tempering ingredients:

mustard - 1/2 teaspoon
urad dhal - 1 teaspoon
dry red chillies - 3
asafoetida - 1 pinch
oil - 2 teaspoons
curry leaves - 1 sprig

Procedure:

wash and soak (by the time you cut the other vegetables, the dhal will soak) the yellow moong dhall in a small pressure cooker.
now, cut the plantain stem or vaazhaithandu into small pieces and transfer this to the cooker with dhal.
transfer the cut onion, tomato, crushed ginger garlic, chopped green chillies, turmeric powder, salt, and water to the same pressure cooker along with the dhal and the plantain stem.
cover the pressure cooker and cook it till the contents are well cooked. (7 - 10 minutes)
after the pressure is released, open the cooker and do the tempering with the ingredients under the tempering ingredients list.
garnish it with the coriander leaves if required.
the healthy and tasty vaazhaithandu kootu is ready to be served with any kaara kuzhambu rice as side dish or with chapathi.

Make sure you include vaazhaithandu in you diet at least once a week as this plantain stem is good in fixing water imbalance in our body. And this vaazhaithandu kootu is an easy dish to be made with the plantain stem.

Happy cooking !!