Kerala Style Beetroot Thoran or Vegan Beet Stir fry with coconut. No Onion No Garlic, Gluten Free, South Indian Vegetarian Easy Side Dish recipe for Vishu and Onam Sadya meals
If you are a Beetroot loving family like us and love South Indian recipes then you must try this easy peasy Kerala Style Beetroot Thoran Recipe or Simple Beetroot Stir Fry with coconut.
Quick and easy to make with very few ingredients, this is an easy Main Course Veg or Side dish served during Sadya meals for Vishu and Onam festival.
Thoran is a Kerala Specialty. Thorans are similar to Poriyals from Tamil Nadu. A Stir Fry of sorts and the only exception is that in Kerala we use ground coconut-cumin and green chillies mix for our Thoran recipes whereas Tamil Nadu Poriyal recipes usually have simple grated coconut.
It is no secret that I am partial to the cumin flavored thorans and love it with Mor Kuzhambu or Mambazha Pulissery too when mangoes are in season.
Beetroots, a root vegetable, also known as Chukandar are highly nutritious. They make great salads and the colour is simply irresistible. We personally love them as part of our diet.
Cooking the Beetroot
Since I am a firm believer of making the most of my 24 hours, I love pressure cooking. Cooking them on stove top with a lot of water does lead to overcooking and loss of nutrients, plus it requires constant attention, which is not possible during busy mornings.
I pressure cook the beetroots with the skin. Once they are cool, I peel them and then chop them into small cubes.
How do you know the Beets have cooked?
Insert a small fork or knife and it should feel soft.
Should beetroots be peeled before cooking?
The skin is quite thick and tough to peel before cooking. I normally pressure cook and the peel is much easier to remove with just a touch of the knife.
You can either grate the beetroots or chop them. We prefer the latter.
If you are a working woman or have busy schedule during the day, Beets make a great option as you can batch cook these and store them in the fridge to use later.
Even for this particular vegetable, the whole activity of cooking and chopping the beets can be done a day in advance. In the morning, you only have to grind the coconut cumin mix and stir fry it in coconut oil for a couple of minutes.
Tip – Always stock grated coconut in your freezer. Saves you a lot of time.
The cooked beetroots stay fresh in the refrigerator for atleast 3-4 days so you can make a variety of recipes using this method of pressure cooking in bulk.
Pro Tip The water that remains after cooking the beetroots should never be thrown. Add it to your wheat flour aata or your dosa batter to make pink dosas or pink rotis / parathas.
Thorans can be made with Shallots too but we being Palakkad Iyers, avoid them. So this is purely a No Onion No Garlic Sabzi recipe.
This stir fry veg packs well in the tiffin box. You can serve it with phulka rotis or plain parathas as well. I usually pack this sabzi for Narayan as work lunch and it stays fresh.
Beetroot Thoran stays fresh in the refrigerator for a couple of days only since it has fresh coconut. The leftovers can be microwaved for a minute and enjoyed warm.
While adults love this veggie, Kids are not cool customers of Beetroots. Either it’s the colour or the earthy taste that drives them away from this vegetable.
Fun ways to feed Beetroot to kids.
- You can add grated beetroot in potato or paneer tikkis with corn and basic masalas.
- Steam and grate some beetroots along with some shredded cheese and grill it as sandwiches for lunch. The cheese masks the taste of the beetroots. Add some green chutney too if you like.
- Add beetroots in pav bhaji to mask its earthy flavor.
- You can also add them along with mashed potato sabzi that you make for masala dosas.
- Grated beetroots or puree can be added to regular wheat flour and made into rotis, parathas that appear pink in colour, appealing to toddlers and school going kids.
- Puree can also be added to idli, uttapam or dosa batter too. Throw in some colourful vegetables like corn, peas, carrots, bell peppers for the added nutrition.
Step by Step Beetroot Thoran Recipe
Wash, cut the top and the bottom hard part of the beetroot and pressure cook.
Once cool, peel the skin and chop them into small pieces.
In a mixer grinder jar, add the grated coconut with green chillies and cumin seeds.
Grind them without any water and keep aside.
Heat a kadhai or heavy bottom pan, add coconut oil with mustard seeds, urad dal and whole red chillies. Once the mustard crackles and the urad dal is brown, add the curry leaves. It will splutter a bit so be careful.
Now add the cooked and chopped beetroots along with salt to taste. Mix well.
Add the ground coconut-cumin-chilli mix and mix once again. Cook this for a couple of minutes, switch off the heat and serve it warm with roti or rice as side dish.
Some Kerala Style Thoran Recipes on the blog
- Achinga Payar Thoran (Long beans)
- Beans Carrot Thoran
- Idichakka Thoran (Raw Jackfruit)
Beetroot Thoran (Kerala Style Beet Stir Fry with Coconut)
Ingredients
- 4 nos. Beetroots
- 1/2 cup Freshly grated coconut 1/2 cup is 125 ml measurement
- 1 tsp Jeera Or Cumin Seeds
- 3 nos. Green chillies
- 1 tbsp Coconut Oil 1 tbsp is 15 ml
- 1 tsp Urad Dal
- 1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds
- 2-3 nos. Whole Dry Red Chillies
- Curry Leaves as required
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Wash, cut the top and the bottom hard part of the beetroot and pressure cook.
- Once cool, peel the skin and chop them into small pieces.
- In a mixer grinder jar, add the grated coconut with green chillies and cumin seeds. Grind them without any water and keep aside.
- Heat a kadhai or heavy bottom pan, add coconut oil with mustard seeds, urad dal and whole red chillies. Once the mustard crackles and the urad dal is brown, add the curry leaves. It will splutter a bit so be careful.
- Now add the cooked and chopped beetroots along with salt to taste. Mix well.
- Add the ground coconut-cumin-chilli mix and mix once again. Cook this for a couple of minutes, switch off the heat and serve it warm with roti or rice as side dish.
Notes
- This sabzi stays fresh in the refrigerator for a couple of days only since it has fresh coconut. The leftovers can be microwaved for a minute and enjoyed warm.
- Quantities of Green chillies can be adjusted. Add according to spice tolerance.
- Coconut Oil can be substituted with veg oil. Traditional Kerala recipes are made with coconut oil.
- The Recipe is Gluten Free and Vegan, Contains No Onion No Garlic.
Beetroot Thoran first appeared on the blog in August 2017. I have updated the post with new pictures, step wise cooking procedure etc.
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We will be back again with yet another exciting recipe .. Until then, stay healthy and happy!
Vidya Narayan
This is the only form in which I will eat beetroot! 🙂
Oh is it !! U are just like my mom. She hates beetroots except this with even more coconut to mask the earthy smell of beets.
Love this with curd rice... Tasty one.. superb
Yes & I love to see the curd rice getting pink while eating. Hahah.. Thanks Ruchi
Ha ha so true dear
Thanks for introducing a healthy recipe
My pleasure entirely.
Wow..lovely recipe Vidya..loved it..will try this soon..what does thoran means..m just curious to know..?
Thanks dear. Thoran in Kerala means a veggie dish which is based on coconut. Here I have restricted the coconut to few tblsps but down south especially Kerala, they use loads of coconut to flavour the veggies & It tastes heavenly. Some add onions also but since we are Palakkad Iyers, we avoid onions in our thorans.
Wow...that is so interesting to know..I also love coconut flavor a lot..thank you so much for the information ?
My pleasure dear & nothing beats extra spoons of coconut over veggies for us Keralites.
Love beets.... it's a great way to enjoy the goodness of beets ???
Absolutely healthy stuff !
Best combination with rice and chapathi!!!it's our all time favorite!!!
Oh absolutely. We love it too. Thanks dear
Looks great! We love beets too, so don't experiment as well. I'd like to try it in Red velvet cake though 🙂
thanks dear & like you I would also want to try it in one of my bakes. I hear it goes well with chocolates too.
Wow. Vidya. It's truly a great coincidence. I just made Beetroot root fry today and I was about to post it and read your Beetroot Thoran. Between I love Beetroot Halwa also very much. 🙂
Lovely coincidence I must say. I haven't tried halwa yet but sounds pretty interesting.
One of my favs. My mom makes very often. 🙂
I will definitely think abt making this now
🙂
Looks gorgeous. I love beetroot thoran 😀 . I was one of those people who didn't like beetroot at first but when I started cooking it myself I realised the fault had been in preparation, and now I'm a convert 😉 . You should definitely try it in chocolate cake. It's so good and makes it extra moist!
Thanks Ellanor. I am equally curious to try it in one of my bakes as its highly recommended by everyone including you now. Yes, you rightly pointed out the problem in consuming beetroots - the method of preparation. Once you cross that hurdle, you will love eating it every week.
This is the only form of beetroot i like 🙂 Thanks for sharing..the thoran looks yummy
Thorans are my weakness too as i love coconut (south indian genes) haha.. thanks dear
Pleasing to eyes 🙂 This is a must try recipe. Thanks for sharing Vidya 🙂
My pleasure dear. Thank you.
A very new recipe for me
Interesting I make thoran with beans and other veggies but never tried with beets , will definitely try this next time ! Thanks for the lovely share Vidya!
My pleasure. I love beans thoran as well & pls do try this the next time u make thorans, im sure u would love it.
Yes will definitely do!
Wow...I love beets and coconut so this is a must try for me and it has chilli so that's me sorted.Thank you so much and I also learnt a bit about your culture from the comments above so thank you 🙂 Love it!
My pleasure & thank you for sharing it !! Beets & coconut make a lovely match. Glad to know you are a chilli lover like me 🙂
Oh, indeed I am !
Usually I don't like beetroot but now after reading your recipe it seems yummy
Beetroots are usually detested for their raw & earthy flavour. If you cook it well, it tastes amazing. Thank you for going thru Masalachilli.
nice food recipe..wishing you a very
Happy Diwali
thank you
I havr been meaning to make beetroot thoran and now I have the perfect recipe. Will try soon!
Thank you Avin, I hope you enjoy the Thoran.