Healthy and simple instant pot chow chow kootu recipe with peanuts or chayote squash curry.. This easy kootu not only tastes great with rice, but goes perfectly well with rotis too.
Kootu is a south Indian version of dal with vegetables and coconut. It is a dish that most south Indians do on an everyday basis, especially in tambram households.
I love all kinds of kootu. But chayote squash kootu has to be my all time favorite. Even though we can make poriyals (stir fries) with chayote squash, I feel they were created mainly to be used in kootu . Their soft texture, subtle sweetness works very well when combined with lentils and coconut.
I have a lot of kootu recipes on my blog and you might probably be wondering if I even cook anything other than kootu 🙂 I make these almost 3 to 4 times a week. It is a great way to include veggies in our diet and we also get proteins from the lentils. Since we are primarily rice eaters, kootu goes well as a side or as main dish. Also, I mix them up in rasam or sambar rice for my little ones and they can’t even tell that they are eating veggies.
My mil recently told me that she tried a new kootu recipe that she got from someone she knew. It does not have coconut, no lentils!! And I asked her ” is this a kootu? Are you sure it doesn’t have another name? ” But apparently they call this a kootu too and it tastes very good with chapatis and phulkas too. She used very little ingredients and I love such simple recipes so I immediately gave it a try.
This chayote squash kootu uses Peanuts for thickness and flavor. Apart from peanuts, we have chilies, basic tadka items and you are good to go. This original recipe was made with bottle gourd. But I wanted to try it with chayote squash as that’s what we had and it tasted good! You can have this as a side with sambar rice, rasam rice or vathal kuzhambu. You can also mix this with plain rice and some ghee or nalla ennai. We had some leftovers with rotis and that was great too!
What all vegetables can you use in this recipe?
The original recipe uses bottle gourd. So bottle gourd would be a great option. Since it tastes good with chayote squash, bottle gourd, I am assuming other veggies like zucchini, yellow squash, white pumpkin might taste good too. My mil tried this with murunga keerai ( drumstick leaves) and she found it worked well in this recipe.
Can I add lentils to this?
I haven’t tried this recipe with lentils as my mil tried adding it and she did not like it. But if you want to make kootu with lentils check out my chow chow kootu recipe, mixed vegetable kootu recipe, sorakkai kootu recipe
Simple South Indian style kootu recipe with chayote squash, peanuts and garlic. This no lentil version is good with rice and rotis.
- 3 cups chayote squash chopped ( Can also use bottlegourd)
- 2 tbsp peanuts
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 to 3 red chillies ( use more / less as per spice levels)
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
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1
tsp
Urad Dal 
-
1
tsp
Chana Dal -
A fat pinch of
Asafoetida - 8 to 10 curry leaves
- 11/2 tsp coconut / gingelly oil
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Chop the chayote squash and set it aside.
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Switch on the saute mode in your instant pot and add 1/2 tsp oil. Add the peanuts, garlic, red chilly and saute them for a couple of minutes until the peanuts change color slightly. Grind the peanuts, garlic and chilly with 1/4 cup water into a smooth paste.
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Add the remaining oil to the instant pot and let it become hot. Add the mustard seeds, curry leaves, urad dal, chana dal, asafoetida and let the mustard seeds splutter.
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Now add the chopped chayote squash, 2 cups water, ground peanut mixture, salt to taste and cook on manual pressure cook mode for 2 minutes.
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Let the pressure release naturally.
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Serve with rice, rotis.
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Chop the chayote squash and set it aside.
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Heat a kadai / pan and add 1/2 tsp oil. Add the peanuts, garlic, red chilly and saute them for a couple of minutes until the peanuts change color slightly. Grind the peanuts, garlic and chilly with 1/4 cup water into a smooth paste.
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Now Add the remaining oil to the pan and let it become hot. Add the mustard seeds, curry leaves, urad dal, chana dal, asafoetida and let the mustard seeds splutter.
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Add the chopped veggie , 1 cup water and let the squash cook until it becomes tender. You don't want it to be become too mushy.
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When they are cooked, add the ground paste and let it simmer for a couple of minutes. Add water as needed to bring the curry to the consistency you desire.
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Switch off and serve with rice / rotis.
This recipe can be done with bottle gourd also.
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Hey Pree — Great recipe but 2 cups of water for 3 cups of chayote just doesn’t seem right. could you check please