Wash and pressure cook ¼ cup of toor dal with 1 cup of water and a pinch of turmeric powder, for 4-5 whistles.
Once done, whisk this well and keep aside.
In a pan add 3 tsp of oil and add the mustard seeds and urad dal.
Add the red chili and green chili. Let the mustard splutters and the dal turns golden brown.
Now add the crushed garlic cloves to this.
Saute this for a minute.
Add finely chopped onions.
Cook till they become translucent. Add little salt while cooking.
Once done, add the chopped tomatoes.
Cook for a minute.
Now add in the chopped spinach to this.
Mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add ½ tsp turmeric and ¼ tsp asafoetida to this.
Mix well and add the cooked toor dal.
Grind ¼ cup of coconut and 1 tsp of cumin seeds into a fine paste.
You can add ½ tsp of black pepper corns also to this while grinding.
Add this to the keerai kootu.
Mix this well and add ½ cup – 1 cup of water to adjust the right consistency.
Let this boil for 2 minutes.
Switch off the flame.
Chettinad keerai kootu is ready.