My Fifth Recipe is “Ennai Kathirikai Kaara Kuzhambu”... I was giving a hard thought on what recipe I can add to my blog in the Top 5… RK literally forced me to make this recipe and get it added as the 5th recipe, since it is his most favorite… He calls this as Thaen kuzhambu and we usually prepare this at least once every week... It goes very well with rice topped off with ghee and it would be even better for the next day along with idly or dosa… This recipe is exactly how my MOM used to make… Having this as a base, will post other variations to this dish, in the subsequent weeks…
| Serves | : | 4 |
| Total time | : | 40 minutes |
| Preparation time | : | 10 minutes |
| Cooking time | : | 30 minutes |
Ingredients:-
| Onion | - | 1 Cup (Finely Chopped) | |
| Brinjal | - | 5-6 Small sized | |
| Ripe Tomato | - | 1 Large | |
| Garlic | - | 5-6 cloves (crushed) | |
| Curry Leaves | - | 1 Sprig | |
| Coriander | - | 1 Tbsp (Finely chopped for garnishing) | |
| Tamarind | - | Small lime sized | |
| Sambar Powder | - | 1 ½ Tbsp or (chilli powder – 1 Tbsp + coriander powder – ½ Tbsp) | |
| Turmeric Powder | - | ¼ tsp | |
| Asafoetida | - | ¼ tsp | |
| Salt | - | 2 tsp (Adjust as per taste) | |
| Jaggery | - | ¼ tsp (optional) | |
| To temper | |||
| Oil | - | 3 Tbsp | |
| Mustard | - | ½ tsp | |
| Fenugreek seeds | - | ¼ tsp | |
| Broken Urad dal | - | 1 tsp | |
| Jeera | - | ½ tsp | |
Method:-
| 1) | Soak the tamarind in a cup of warm water with salt for atleast 15-20 minutes. Then extract 3 cups of tamarind juice by adding required water. | |
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| 2) | To the extract add a full tomato followed by the powders (sambar, turmeric, asafoetida). Now, just mix all the ingredients together with your hand, along with crushing the tomato. | |
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| 3) | Now heat a pan or kadai with oil and add the ingredients under “To temper” in the given order, followed by curry leaves, garlic and onion and fry till the color changes to dark golden brown. Caramelizing of onion and garlic is very important since it brings the best taste to the kuzhambu; also take care not to burn the onions and garlic. | |
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| 4) | Now add the brinjals and sauté them for 1 minute until the brinjal skin changes color slightly. Now to this add the prepared tamarind mixture (tamarind + tomato + powders) and give a stir. | |
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| 5) | Once the kuzhambu starts boiling, turn down the flame to medium and leave it till the brinjal gets cooked fully. By that time the raw smell of tamarind and chilli powder would also be gone and the kuzhambu will get thicker and oil gets separated and floats on top. At this stage, you can turn of the stove and add jaggery and mix. Garnish with coriander. | |
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| 6) | Serve hot with rice (with a tsp of ghee)…. Delicious. | |
Notes:-
| • | If you think your kuzhambu has become too thick by the time the brinjal cooks, then add required water, bring to a boil and switch off the stove. | |
| • | The best part of the dish is the way how we cut the brinjals. Cut half of the stem of the brinjal. Then make 2 slits to the brinjal, so that you have 4 pieces connected to the stem. Cutting it this way, will help retain the shape of brinjal and fast cooking. | |
| • | Adding jaggery is optional. If you like a slight sweetness along with the tanginess, you can add jaggery, else you can skip this step. My mom used to add, but I dint. | |
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