Chow Chow (Chayote Squash) Koottu

A long time back, I had told a friend of mine how to make this koottu and the very next day he said he made it and liked it too. He asked me to post the recipe for the same so that he can refer to it whenever he wants to make it again. Since I was randomized a lot due to other things going on in my life last year, I had completely forgotten about it until last night when I saw this sitting in my drafts. Here you go Karthik, have at it! This post will also mark my return to blogging this year like I had promised in my previous post :-).

Ingredients (2 - 3 servings):

Chayote squash - 2 peeled and chopped
Sambar powder - 1 to 2 tablespoons (adjust this to suit your taste)
Channa dhal - 1/2 cup (using a measuring cup) fried in a drop of oil until it turns light golden brown in color

To grind in to a paste:

Grated/powdered coconut - 3 to 4 tablespoons
Rice flour - 1.5 to 2 tablespoons

For seasoning:

Cooking oil - 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1 tablespoon
Asafoetida - a couple of pinches
Fresh curry leaves - a few

Procedure:

1. Grind coconut and rice flour into a fine paste and set aside.
2. In a deep vessel, cook the chopped chayote squash along with sambar powder and the fried channa dhal until the chayote squash turns soft such that it can be mashed with your fingers.
3. In a pan, heat some cooking oil, pop mustard seeds, add urad dhal and asafoetida and fry until the urad dhal turns light golden brown in color. Add the curry leaves now and transfer the contents to step 2.
4. Add the paste from step 1 to step 2 and some salt, mix thoroughly, bring it to a boil and turn off the stove.

This will go well with vaththa kuzhambu, sambar, podi rice or tomato rasam.