Beetroot Thoran: How to make Beetroot Thoran

While growing up, I hated the sight of beetroot in my food, except for the recipe in this post and beetroot halva. Tastes change with time and now this lovely veggie has become a part of my meal almost everyday.

We used to call all the dry or wet vegetable dishes as bhaji at home. At my husband’s place all dry or wet vegetable dishes are called as sabzi. When I use the word bhaji, they don’t understand what I say.

So for me in proper punjabi language, this recipe is beetroot ki sabzi. But it is not beetroot sabzi. It is not atleast the way the north indian sabzis are made.

My mom used to make this recipe and I used to call it beetroot bhaji. I knew that this was a recipe from Kerala, but technically I did not know the name of this recipe.  I have also had this recipe made by the kerala restaurants in mumbai and the taste of this beetroot bhaji was awesome. I used to love the beetroot in this form, then, and always would ask my mom to make it in this way.

Now, thanks to the internet, I know that tecnically this recipe is of Beetroot Thoran. There are many Kerala recipes that mom makes, but I do not know what they are called in malayalam.

Now what is a Thoran:

Thoran is a traditional Kerala dry vegetable recipe made with grated or finely chopped vegetables like yam (suran), bittergourd (karela) , cabbage (bandh gobhi), carrots (gajar) , beans (beans like chawli beans, french beans) , red amaranth leaves , drumsticks or drumstick leaves. The basic ingredients in which the vegetables are cooked are shallots, coconut, curry leaves, mustard seeds, turmeric powder, green chili or red chili and coconut oil.

Thoran is one of the dishes that is served in the Sadya along with the other dishes. ( A Sadya is a grand feast where a vegetarian meal comprising of various dishes is served on a plantain/banana leaf.)

There are some variations of the thoran like adding ginger, garlic, cumin seeds, chili powder, using onions instead of shallots.

In fact, my mom used to make a thoran of all the vegetables mentioned above.

If you do not like the raw taste of beetroot, than you should try this recipe. Its great. It goes very well with rotis, parathas and specially the Kerala Parota and even cooked rice. You could also have this recipe as a side dish.

In this recipe, I wanted some spiciness that would soften the sweetness of beetroot and coconut. So, I added both red chili and green chili along with ginger. I also added coriander powder, red chili powder and crushed whole garam masala. This was my variation to this recipe and the beetroot thoran was awesome and great.

You have to chop the beetroots finely. You could also use grated beetroot which will cook faster than chopped beetroots.

For all those who do not have fresh coconut, you could easily substitute with dry or dessicated coconut. Of course fresh coconut has a different taste, but the thoran tastes equally good with dessicated coconut too.

Ingredients for the Beetroot Thoran (Serves 4):

• 2 beetroots ( chopped or grated)
• 4 tsbp  grated fresh coconut
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 4-5 shallots (chopped into 4 pieces)
• 10-12 curry leaves (whole or chopped)
• 1 whole red chili
• 1 green chili, finely chopped
• 3/4 tsp finely chopped ginger
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/4 tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 cardamom, 2 peppercorns, 1/2 ” cinnamon, 1 clove ( crushed to a medium coarse powder in a pestle and mortar)
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• salt

How to make the Beetroot Thoran:

1. Heat the coconut oil in a kadai or wok.
2. Add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the cumin seeds.
3. The cumin seeds will start to sizzle now. Immediately add the shallots and curry leaves.
4. Fry the shallots on a medium flame for 2 minutes.
5. Now add the whole red chili,  chopped green chili and ginger.
6. Fry for a minute.
7. Add all the dry masala powders including the crushed and powdered whole garam masala.
8. Fry for a half a minute and then add the beetroot.
9. Mix the chopped beetroot with the rest of the spices.
10. Add the grated coconut and salt
11. Cover and cook the beetroot till it is done.
12. To facilitate faster coking of the beetroot, you could add some 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup of water to the beetroot. Cover it and cook.
13. Serve with rice, chapatis or even parathas.

P.S: The pics are of the same recipe. Its looks different in all the 4 pics that I have posted. Thats due to variations in the lighting and the settings of the camera.

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