Wash and drain the 3 different dals mentioned in the ingredients.
In a pan, add a teaspoon of oil, roast the chana dal and coriander seeds mentioned in 'roast and grind'. Keep the flame medium and roast. Take it off one the dal turns golden brown. Add the chilies and coconut to hot pan and saute it in the residue heat. Remove it to a separate plate, add the tamarind to this. Let this all cool down completely.
Once the roasted spices cools down, take it in a spice grinder, add ¼ cup water and grind it to a fine paste. Keep this aside until use.
Heat a pressure cooker with oil, mentioned under 'tempering', When hot, splutter mustard seeds, hing, methi seeds and curry leaves.
Next add chopped tomatoes to the hot tempering, sauté them for a minute.
While the tomatoes are getting soft, remove the amount of chopped flowers you require for the kootu from the buttermilk water into a colander.
Wash it well under running water and let it sit in the colander to drain. I took about 200 grams of chopped flowers and there was about another 150 grams, which was used later that week.
Add this flowers to the softened tomatoes and mix well. Saute it for another 1 minute. To this now add the drained dals and a cup of water.
To this now add sambar powder, turmeric powder and salt. Add the ground masala to this. Add 1 cup of water to the mixer, wash and add that water to the cooker and top it with another 1 cup of water. So totally 3 cups of water.
Mix the kootu well. Close the pressure cooker and let this cook in medium flame for 4-5 whistles.
Let the pressure falls on its own. Open the cooker, mix it well with ladle. Serve the kootu with rice.
This delicious vazhaipoo kootu can also be packed for lunch along with a dry curry.