Beetroot Palya/ Sauteed Beets

'Sunshine on my shoulders make me happy...... 'goes the song by John Denver, one of my favorite singers who tragically died in a plane crash for his other lovely song says 'I am leaving on a jet plane, donno when I will back again....' The tragedy apart, it is the sunshine that makes me happy. In fact our apartment is so well ventilated that there is ample sunshine in the mornings in our living room, late morning in our bed room and noon, past noon it is our Kitchen. Today, a Saturday everything was late so, as is our lunch. There was copious sunshine in the Kitchen as I was cooking and it gave me energy to go one step further and make a side dish along with our normal rice-dal-huli meal. Had some really sad looking Beetroots in my crisper and had to grant them the deliverance they deserve :) What better way than Palya? Palya by the way is a generic term in Kannada Culinary-Dictionary. It refers to any vegetable-legume which is mildly spiced and cooked till crisp-tender. Commonly the spices associated with this dish are mustard seeds, channa dal, urad dal, jeera, chillies, curry leaves along with an optional coconut, onion and fresh coriander.
Sweeter vegetables like Carrots and Beets do not require the addition of coconut, while blander vegetables like string beans, Ivy gourd goes well with loads of coconut. Strangely, as I write this I figure out there is no Kannada word for Beetroots!



You will need,

Beets 2 big
Oil 1 tsp
Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
Urad Dal 1 tsp
Channa Dal 1 tsp
Hing a pinch
Jeera 1 tsp
Dry chillies 2
Green Chillies 2
Curry leaves 4-5
Juice of 1/2 a lime
Salt to taste
Coriander fresh a few sprigs.

Method

• Chop the beets into fine chunks. Set it aside.
• In a thick bottomed pot, heat the oil. Throw in the mustard, jeera, hing, urad dal, channa dal one by one. Keep stirring till the dals are golden brown in colour.
• Throw in the slit green chillies and broken red dry chillies. Toss one quick time.
  
• Add the beet chunks to the pot, toss well. Add some salt, cover.
  
• Check after a few minutes. If there is enough water, cover and cook. If the mixture looks rather dry add a few tablespoons of water. Cover and cook till crisp tender about 15-20 minutes.
• Finish with lemon juice and coriander. Serve hot with a dal and rice of your choice