Curry Leaves Kuzhambu / Karuvepillai (Write For Us Contest Entry - 28)

Curry leaves is very essential ingredient in Indian cooking. It gives nice aroma as well as good taste to most of the food varieties. It contains lot of iron and is very good for our health. If we use it for garnishing or seasoning, we won’t eat it. But if we use it as main ingredient, we are sure to intake this healthy ingredient. We can prepare curry leaves powder for rice, idly and dosas. You can also make curry leaves thuvayal, kuzhambu etc. Karuvepillain kuzhambu is a type of pathiya kuzhambu. After delivery, this kuzhambu with reduced spice level is good for ladies. Now we are going to learn how to make karuvepillai kuzhambu.

Ingredients:

To grind into paste:
• Curry leaves – Half cup
• Toor dal – Half teaspoon
• Urad dal - Three-fourth teaspoon
• Bengal gram - One-fourth teaspoon
• Mustard Seeds - One-fourth teaspoon
• Fenugreek Seeds - 4
• Red Chillies - 5
• Tamarind – One and half cherry sized ball (upto your taste)
• Sesame oil – 2 teaspoons


For Kuzhambu:
• Shallots - 6 (finely chopped)
• Garlic - 8 pods
• Hing powder – a pinch
• Turmeric powder – One-fourth teaspoon
• Pepper powder – One-fourth teaspoon(optional)
• Sambar powder – 2 teaspoons(optional)
• Salt – As per taste
• Mustard seeds – Half teaspoon
• Sesame oil – 2 tablespoons
• Tamarind juice – Half cup
• Jaggery / Brown sugar – 2 teaspoons
• Water – 1 cup

Preparation:

For paste:

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, bengal gram, toor dal, urad dal, fenu greek seeds, tamarind and fry for few seconds. Add red chillies and fry for a minute.
Add curry leaves and fry for sometimes or until it turns slightly crispy. Allow it to cool.
Grind all the ingredients together and use little water to make them into fine paste.

For Kuzhambu:

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. Once it splutters, add shallots & garlic, fry for a minute.

Add turmeric powder and hing powder. Fry for few minutes, don’t burn shallots or garlic.

Add the grounded paste, tamarind juice, water and salt to it. Close it with lid. Allow it to boil for few minutes. Once it started boiling add jaggery and allow it to boil again.

Once you get thick consistency, remove it from the flame and karuvepillai kuzhambu is ready now.

Serving Options:

You can serve it with white rice, idly, dosas or rotis.
It tastes great with chips, applam or vadam.

Tips:

Kuzhambu must be thick in consistency. Otherwise taste will differ.
Instead of adding tamarind juice to the kuzhambu, you can also add it while grinding.
You can reduce or increase tamarind spice level according to your taste.

Contributed By: Yashodha Anbuchelvan