Beetroot Curry

This Beetroot Curry is equal parts healthy and delicious! Beets, spices and herbs come together under 25 minutes to a delicious stir fried beetroot sabzi. Serve this dry Beetroot Curry with grains like steamed rice or millets with a side of Dal, Rasam or Sambar. It also goes well with flatbreads like roti, Chapati or plain Parathas. If you are going grain-free, serve it with Quinoa and a Dal fry.

While you commonly find beetroots used in salads, soups and juice across the world, this beautiful and nutritious root vegetable is used to make curry, sambar, rasam, kurma, kootu and chutney in Indian cuisine.

About Beetroot Curry

This Beetroot Curry is made in South Indian style and is also known as Poriyal in Tamil, Vepudu in Telugu and is similar to the Kerala Beetroot Thoran.

To make the dish, grated or fine chopped beetroots are sautéed briefly with a tempering of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, lentils (optional) ginger/garlic and curry leaves. It is finished off with raw coconut or a spice blend.

Green chilies and red chili (optional) provide the required heat, fresh ginger/garlic impart nice pungent flavors. Lentils provide a crunch and nutty aroma but you are free to omit them if you don’t prefer.

I always stock up on fresh curry leaves which I prefer to throw them in the tempering. However if you do not have, you may omit them or use coriander leaves at the last step for a fresh herby flavor.

Traditionally this beetroot curry is finished off with a handful of raw grated coconut. If that is not your thing, you can leave out that or replace with unsweetened coconut flakes/ dehydrated coconut meat or even with a splash of thick coconut milk, which also adds a little moisture to your dish. Alternately you can also use flaxseed podi, idli podi or spiced peanut powder.

How to make Beetroot Curry

1. Wash 2 medium sized beetroots well under running water and peel them. Cut them to quarters. Grate using a large hole grater or chop finely which ever is comfortable. You can also use a food processor to grate or a onion chopper to chop.

2. On a medium flame, heat 1½ tablespoons oil or ghee in a pan. Add

  • ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
  • 1 sprig curry leaves (pat dry first)
  • 1 dried red chili broken – optional
  • 1 teaspoon skinned black gram (urad dal, optional)
  • 1 teaspoon bengal gram (chana dal, optional).

Let the lentils turn golden & aromatic, then add

  • 2 green chilies chopped or slit (or 1 tsp chili flakes)
  • 2 garlic cloves or ¾ inch ginger (peeled, crushed or fine chopped). Saute for a minute and add 1 pinch of hing (asafoetida).

3. Add grated beets and ⅛ teaspoon turmeric. Saute until they are lightly cooked. If your beets are not juicy and are dry, you can cover and cook on a low flame. Usually chopped beetroot takes longer to cook. Cover and cook them on a low heat until tender. If they dry out, simply sprinkle water as needed and continue to cook.

4. Lastly sprinkle salt as required and ¼ cup coconut (raw/fresh frozen or coconut flakes). Sprinkle lemon juice or 1 to 2 teaspoons spice powder like idli podi or flaxseed podi if you want. Taste test and add more salt, coconut or lemon juice to taste.

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