Karnataka Knol Kohl Kootu | Oil-free Kohlrabi Lentil Curry from Karnataka

Whole Food Plant Based Knol Kohl Kootu Recipe

Knol Kohl or Kohlrabi is another common vegetable cooked in many a home. This kootu recipe, like all of our others is aimed at making our everyday dishes healing. We've taken what you make at home regularly and shown you how to make it into a whole food plant based dish with little or no significant additional effort.

Try this traditional Knol Kohl Kootu with rasam and brown rice and send us pictures of your whole food plant based meal.

Karnataka Knol Kohl Kootu | Oil-free Kohlrabi Lentil Curry Recipe from Karnataka

Course: Course 2: Vegetable Dish / Side dish for Lunch & Dinner Meals
Cuisine: Kannada / Karnataka, South Indian
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 2 people

INGREDIENTS

1. 1/4 cup Moong Dal Green Gram Dal / Paasi Paruppu / Paithamparuppu
2. 1 tbsp Peanuts
3. 2 tbsp Fresh Peas
4. 1 cup Knol Kohl / Kohlrabi

Kootu Masala

1. 1/4 cup Coconut Grated
2. 1 tsp Urad Dal Black Gram Dal / Ulutham Paruppu / Uddina Bele
3. 1 tsp Pepper Powder
4. 1/2 tsp Tumeric Powder
5. 2 tsp Miso Paste (Healthy Salt Replacement. See Nutrition Science Highlights below for details)
6. Juice of 1 Lemon
7. 10 Curry Leaves
8. 5 Dates Soaked overnight (or for 20-30 min in hot water) to soften
9. 1 tsp Mustard Seeds

INSTRUCTIONS

Kootu Masala

1. Dry roast urad dal until light brown. Do not allow to darken or burn. Remove from stove and keep aside.
2. Dry roast mustard until it begins sputtering. As soon as it starts sputtering, switch off stove and transfer to a cup.
3. Grind all masala ingredients (except mustard seeds) into a paste, then mix mustard seeds into it.

Knol Kohl Kootu

1. Preferably, soak moong dal overnight or at least for 4-5 hours. Take soaked moong dal in vessel, add enough water to cover the dal and start cooking with a partially closed lid.
2. Peel and chop knol kohl / kohlrabi into small pieces. Add to the moong dal after about ten minutes of cooking. Stir from time to time and add water if required. The final consistency should be a thick, pourable liquid. While this is cooking, you can prepare the kootu masala as outlined above.
3. Once knol kohl / kohlrabi is fully cooked, switch off stove and mix in masala. Garnish with curry leaves. Serve fresh!

Nutrition Science Highlights for WFPB Karnataka Knol Kohl Kootu

1. Why miso paste? Miso paste is fermented & salted soya bean paste. Maximum recommended salt intake is 3 grams per day per person. In addition to helping us restrict salt intake, replacing salt with miso paste also helps by neutralising the negative effects of salt by soya phytonutrients. You can easily make fresh miso paste at home by mixing 100 grams of cooked soya paste with 10 grams of salt, or 10 tablespoons of cooked soya paste with 1 tablespoon of salt. If making at home, ensure to use immediately, or freeze in batches to use later. Or, simply use less than 3.75 grams of salt per day and add 37.5 to 40 grams of soya beans in any dishes, spread through the day!
2. Why mustard seeds? Myrosinase, an important enzyme in cruciferous vegetables such as knol kohl, cauliflower, cabbage, radish, and broccoli, is essential to form sulforaphance, a powerful anti-cancer compound in the body when we consume these vegetables. However, when they are cooked, myrosinase gets deactivated and sulforaphane does not get synthesised. By adding raw or slightly roasted mustard seeds, or a little of any raw cruciferous vegetable to the dish after cooking, we can add myrosinase back into the dish and protect the powerful anti-cancer functions of cruciferous vegetables.