Showing posts with label Kulambu. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Vadai Kulambu | Masala Vadai Kuzhambu

Vadai Kulambu, a spicy and tasty tamarind based curry from South India. Masala Vadai kulambu is nothing but a puli kulambu/kara kulambu with masala vadai in it. The masala vadai added in the kulambu gives great flavor to the kulambu in addition the soaked vadai also tastes awesome. Both puli kulambu and vadai on its own are great but together it's amazing !

It's one of my go to kulambu recipe when i'm out of vegetables or bored of vegetables. Besides in our family we like to add this kulambu to the rice and keep the vadai as side for our lunch, so no need to make extra poriyal or sides as mandatory :-)

Back in days, in our home town, Tiruneveli, around noon, a grandma used to sell vadai. So people in our area who're looking for a change in their routine cooking would wait for her to buy some vadai to add it in the puli kulambu or mor kulambu. How simple is that, right?

Masala Vadai or Paruppu Vadai

In this kulambu, both masala vadai and paruppu vadai can be added. Masala vadai is usually made from split yellow peas and more spices whereas paruppu vadai is made from chana dal (gram dal)with less spices. Though it has slight variations, in many places, the names are easily interchangeable so it's up to you which vada you prefer in the kulambu

Here in today's recipe, i have used masala vadai which is more crispier than the paruppu vadai and also it's my favorite.

Related: How to make masala vadai/Pattani paruppu vadai

Consistency of the Curry / Kulambu

While making the curry for vadai kulambu, make sure that the curry is little more watery than the preferred consistency of the curry . Because after adding the vadai, it will absorb a bit of curry so it eventually thicken after a while.

Otherwise you end up with kootu like consistency instead of curry. Lesson learnt from personal experience :-)

Related: How to make Pakoda kulambu

Vegetables

Usually while making curry for vadai kulambu, i prefer to avoid any vegetables, only made with some pearl onions and garlic. But if you prefer, you can add drumsticks, it will add more flavor to the curry.

Serving Suggestions

Usually i add only a half of the vadai into the kulambu and serve the rest as it is as sides for more variations.

Though i prefer to make this curry for simple cooking, sometimes adding a poriyal/veggies and dessert would make this simple dish into delicious meal platter !!

Rice with vadai kulambu, rasam, beans poriyal & gulab jamun.

Vadai Kulambu | Masala Vadai Kuzhambu

Preparation Time : 1 hr | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Garlic - 4 cloves

Onion - 1/4

Tomato -1(small)

Tamarind - small gooseberry size

Mustard & urad dal- 1/4 tsp

Fenugreek seed - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Salt - to taste

Red chili powder -1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 & 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Masala Vadai - 6

To grind

Grated coconut - 3 tbsp

Peal onion - 2

Garlic pods - 1 cloves

Cumin seed- 1/2 tsp

Procedure

Soak the tamarind in a 1/2 cup of water for 20 mins, peel the onion & garlic and chop them roughly into pieces, tomato into small pieces. Heat the oil in a kadai, add fenugreek seed, mustard & urad dal, let the mustard splutter, then add the onion,garlic and curry leaves.Saute the garlic in oil for 2-3 mins.

Add the tomatoes, give a quick mix & keep the flame in low. Then add the spices(turmeric, red chili & coriander powder),saute them in the oil for few mins. Make sure to not get burnt.

Extract the tamarind juice from the soaked tamarind and add into kadai.Put all the ingredients listed under "To grind" and grind into smooth paste by adding couple of tbsp of water.

Add the coconut paste into kadai. Next add the salt and bring into boil.

Let it boil until the raw smell goes off and oil floats on the top. Switch off the flame and add the vadai. Let it soak for few mins before serving

Related: How to make masala vadai

Tasty Vadai Kuzhambu is ready to serve. Serve it with steamed rice.

Related: South Indian Kulambu Varieties

Notes:

The vadai has already salt in it, so be careful while adding salt in the kulambu
Sesame oil gives great flavor to this kulambu, so if you have it in stock, use the sesame oil instead of flavorless oil

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Nethili Karuvadu Kuzhambu | Dry Anchovies Curry

Nethili Karuvadu Kuzhambu, a delicious, spicy and tangy curry made with dry anchovies. Couple of months back, I bought a pack of anchovies from the local indian store here and tried this anchovies curry a couple of times and it's one of my favorite dry fish curry with all the country vegetables.

But due to the current pandemic situation, i couldn't source all the vegetables needed for that curry, and i was not satisfied with the taste, so kept the pack aside for a while. Later one day when talking to Amma casually mentioned about the dry anchovies that i had and not able to source all the vegetables.

Immediately she gave me the idea of making it in a slightly different way, as always the next day I gave itself a try to pair with uluntha soru. OMG, it was so delicious and even ST liked it so much given the fact that he is not a fan of both the ulunthu soru and karuvadu kuzhambu but his exact word during that lunch day was "Amirthama iruku". What else do I need, right??

So glad that I nailed the recipe !!! In our family, we have the habit of adding boiled eggs to the karuvadu kuzhambu whether it's served with plain white rice or ulunthu soru, so i'm also following the tradition and always serve boiled egg with dry fish curry.

Back in school and college days, though i like the karuvadu kulambu so much, i didn't mentioned about it when that topic came mainly because most of the people gave you that weird look and ask "Nee athuellam sapduviya??/Do you eat such things?".

Still wondering why karuvadu comes under disgusting food, may be because of this strong umami flavor and have heard people say the same reason over the years including the die heart non vegeterian lovers. But me, I like karuvadu especially for its flavor. If you like dry fish like me, then you must give a try on these curry !! Now let's check on how to make this super delicious nethili karuvadu kulambu

Nethili Karuvadu Kuzhambu | Dry Anchovies Curry

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Nethili Karuvadu/ Dry Anchovies - 20

Drumstick - 1/2

Garlic - 8 cloves

Tomato -1(small)

Tamarind - small gooseberry size

Fenugreek seed - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Salt - to taste

Red chili powder -1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 & 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

To grind

Grated coconut - 3 tbsp

Peal onion - 2

Garlic pods - 3 cloves

Cumin seed- 1 tsp

Procedure

First soak the dry anchovies in warm water for 30 minutes and clean it well. Soak the tamarind in water for 30 mins. Cut the drumstick into 2 inch length and slit it vertically. Peal the garlic and keep it ready. In a mixie jar, add the ingredients listed under "To grind" and grind into smooth paste.

Heat the pan with oil, temper the fenugreek seeds and then add the garlic and curry leaves. Saute the garlic in the oil for 2-3 mins, then add the drumsticks and saute them for couple of mins.

Next add the tomatoes and spices(turmeric,red chili and coriander powder) and roast it in the oil for 30 secs.Take care to not burn the spices.

Extract the tamarind juice from the soaked tamarind and add into the kadai immediately. Add the required salt for the curry(Keep in mind that some dry anchovies might have more salt in it, so under do salt here and if needed add more at the end. )

Add the coconut paste and adjust the consistency of the curry by adding more water. Bring into boil and let it simmer for 8-10 mins or until the oil floats on the top.

Once the raw smell leaves from the curry, add the dry anchovies and mix it well.

Keep them covered and let the dry anchovies cook well.

Tasty Nethili Karuvadu Kulambu is ready. Serve it with boiled rice.

Notes:

As i have already mentioned, depends on the salt in the dry anchovies, you can add more or less salt in the curry. Since i had used this packet of dry anchovies earlier, i knew how much salt is needed, so add it in the curry initially or else i would cook dry anchovies first and after given the taste test only if needed add salt.
Even without drumstick, you can make this curry
In addition to the garlic, you can add some pearl onions too in the curry.

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Karuveppilai Kuzhambu | Curry leaves Kulambu

Karuveppilai Kuzhambu, a spicy, tangy and delicious tamarind based curry with curry leaves as the main ingredient. Curry leaves is known as "Karuveppilai in tamil and it's extensively used in south indian cooking and health care especially for hair growth. Eating a few raw curry leaves daily would benefit your hair growth in a tremendous way and also it's believed to postpone the greying of hair.

Ok, now coming to the recipe, I like curry leaves flavor a lot and use them daily in tempering sambar, chutney and all side dishes. Apart from that, whenever I have excess curry leaves, I would make curry leaves chutney or podi to store.

Curry leaves podi makes an excellent side dish for idli and dosa and comes handy on a busy day when I'm pressed for time in the early morning. This Curry leaves kulambu is my recent favorite and I tried it for the first time a couple of months back only and already made it for a handful of times. It's so flavorful and tastes great with hot rice and drizzle of ghee. Now let's check out how to make this yummy curry leaves curry.

Karuveppilai Kuzhambu

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 30 mins | Serves : 4
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Tamarind - a small lemon size

Garlic - 10

Red chili powder - 3/4 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

To Temper

Oil - 1 & 1/2 tbsp

Mustard and Urad dal - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - few

To roast & grind

Curry leaves - 1/2 cup(tightly packed)

Onion -1/2

Tomato - 1(small)

Garlic - 4

Cumin seed -1/2 tsp

Fenugreek seed - 1/4 tsp

Coconut - 1/4 cup

Oil - 1/2 tsp

Procedure

First let's roast and grind the masala. Chop the onions and tomato into small pieces and keep everything for roast to ready. Heat the kadai with 1/2 tsp of oil, add the fenugreek and cumin seed, let it splutter and then add the onion and garlic. Saute till the onions are translucent.

Next add the curry leaves and saute till it shrinks and then add the tomatoes and coconut. Cook till the tomatoes are soft and let it cool a bit.

Soak the tamarind in 1 cup of water for 30 mins. Then transfer the roasted ingredients into mixie jar and grind into smooth paste by adding water little by little.

In an another kadai, heat the oil for tempering and then temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and then add the garlic and the curry leaves paste.

Extract the juice from the soaked tamarind and add into the kadai. Next add the spices(turmeric, red chili and coriander powder) and salt. Mix it well. Adjust the consistency of the kuzhambu by adding more or less of water by your liking.

Let it comes to boil and simmer it until the oil floats on the top.

Tasty Karuvepillai Kuzhambu is ready.

Related: How to make Curry leaves Podi

For more curries and veggies, check out my collections

Related: How to make Curry leaves Chutney

Notes:

Depends on how vibrant the curry leaves are, the kuzhambu color changes.
Adjust the spice level according to your taste. The given quantity is on little spicer side.
Make sure to cook the curry till the oil floats on the top for great taste

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Garlic Onion Kara Kuzhambu | Poondu Kulambu

Garlic Kara Kuzhambu, a spicy and tangy tamarind based curry without any vegetables and coconut. It tastes great with steamed rice or even with idli and dosa.

In our home, for almost all curries, we add coconut paste , never once Amma made any curry without coconut. Back in India, Amma use atleast one whole coconut for our one day cooking. But now here , i'm trying to use one coconut for a week, because of limited availability of Indian coconut and our inexperience in choosing good one from the store.

Usually we bought two coconuts for a week and half the time, one would be spoiled and we realized that only when break the coconut and in order to avoid an another trip to Indian store, i manage to cook with the available coconut. You would have seen me using coconut & curry leaves in my kitchen, i have treat them as treasure 😜

Ok, now, back to the recipe, because of that coconut story , i have learned to make curries without coconut. To be honest, it was horrible at first, because of my inexperience to balance the spices.

With my repeated attempts, i have learned to make well balanced Kara Kuzhambu / Puli kulambu without any coconut. If you're trying for the first time, even with the exact measurement and procedure, you may end with terrible curry. Not because the recipe is wrong, you have to learn to balance the spices. Every brand of tamarind and chili powder differs in taste, so by practice, you will achieve it.

Like i always say, if i can make it, you can also :-) Now, let's check out the recipe

Garlic Kara Kuzhambu | Poondu Kulambu

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Tamarind - a gooseberry size
Pearl onion - 6
Garlic - 10 pods
Tomato(small) - 1
Curry leaves -few
Fenugreek Seed - 1/2 tsp
Red Chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Sambar powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1& 1/2 tbsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp
Jaggery - a small piece

Procedure

Saute till the onions become translucent, keep the flame in low and then add the spices(turmeric, red chili & sambar powder),saute them in the oil for few mins.

Then add the tomatoes, give a quick mix and add salt.

Extract the tamarind juice from the soaked tamarind and add into kadai and add more water to your preferred consistency.

Let it boil until the raw smell goes off and finally add the jaggery pieces. Cook it for few more mins and switch off the flame.

Delicious Kara Kuzhambu is ready.

Notes:

Keep the flame in low when adding the spices,otherwise it will be burnt easily.
Adding the spices in the oil gives enhanced flavor to the kuzhambu.
Sambar powder that i have used here is home made and haven't had any chilies in it. If your sambar powder has chili in it, reduce the chili powder and adjust to your taste.
Boil the curry till the consistency you prefer.

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Karuvadu Kuzhambu | Thedu Karuvadu Kulambu | Dry Fish Curry

Thedu Karuvadu kuzhambu, a delicious, tangy and spicy curry made from the dry fish,brinjal and drumstick. It's been a long time since i had this curry.Since i'm no expert in buying dry fish, i always avoid buying and making them on my own other than nethili karuvadu which i can easily identity.So whenever i'm at my mom's place, i ask her to make this atleast once during my stay. Yep, today she made it, all i did was took the snap and enjoy the meal hearty.

I have heard from many people that they don't like the dry fish even the die hard non vegetarians too. Though i don't claim me as big non vegetarian fan, still i like certain varieties of dry fish very much like the nethili karuvadu and this thedu karuvadu or as thundam we call it locally. And the recipe that i'm sharing today is my grandma's(paternal), from her, my mom learnt it and it's been made in the same way for decades without any change in the recipe.

My grandma was a big karuvadu/dry fish lover and i guess that i inherited her taste for dry fish. She used to make at least twice a week, in those days, other family members got really bored of repeatedly making karuvadu curry and sarcastically passed jokes about her love for karuvadu. But today when mom makes this curry, at least for an hour we talked about grandma and in that conversation she said something like "ippo yaravathu appadi seithu kudupagalanu iruku" .

Really miss her physically more today, but in our memories, thoughts and in the cooking she taught us, she will always be there. Ok, now coming to this recipe, this karuvadu curry is one of my grandma's signature dish, so if you like dry fish, give it a try once and i'm sure that you will keep this recipe as keeper for future.

Thedu Karuvadu Kulambu | Dry Fish Curry

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 3
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Thundu Karuvadu/Dry Fish - 50 gms
Brinjal - 2
Drumstick - 1
Shallots - 5
Garlic - 8
Tomato - 1
Tamarind - a small lemon size
Sesame Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 spring
To dry roast and grind
Red Chili - 6
Coriander seed - 2 tbsp
Cumin seed - 1/2 tsp
Black peppercorns - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 spring
Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup
Shallot - 10
Garlic - 5
Sesame Oil - 1 tsp

Procedure

First cut the drumstick into 1.5 inch pieces, brinjal into thin circles,tomato into cubes. Peel the onions and garlic. Keep it ready. Take the dry fish, wash it in water thrice and keep aside.

For dry roasting, heat the kadai with oil, add cumin ,let it splutter, then add the black peppercorns roast it for few secs.

Next add the curry leaves. Let it splutter, then add the red chili and coriander seeds, roast them all until it becomes aromatic and slightly changes its color.

Switch off the flame and let it cool. Soak the tamarind in water for 15 mins. And also keep the coconut and shallot & garlic for grinding as ready.

First put the roasted ingredients into the mixie jar and grind into coarse mixture, then add the coconut, shallot & garlic along with required water and grind them into fine paste.

Extract the tamarind juice from the soaked tamarind, add the grounded paste into it and make a thick gravy.

Now for the curry, heat the kadai with oil, add the mustard, let it splutter, then add curry leaves.Next add the roughly chopped shallots and garlic, let it saute in the oil for few secs.

Then add the dry fish, saute it for 2 mins and add tomatoes.Saute it for 2 mins.

Next add that tamarind & the masala mixture into the kadai followed by the binjal and drumstick.

Bring into boil and let it cook till the veggies are tender and the oil separates on the top. Switch off the flame. If you like boiled egg with your curry, boil them and add it in the curry.

Tada, Finger licking delicious Karuvadu Kuzhambu is ready to serve.

Notes:

Here in this recipe, i have used thedu/thundu karuvadu.
You may noticed in the recipe, that i haven't used the salt in the curry, because for us, the salt in the dry fish is enough. so i haven't add any extra salt in the curry
While making dry fish curry, always give a taste test in the end and if needed only add salt.
Adding sesame oil gives great flavor to the curry.
Brinjal and drumsticks are the most opt veggies for dry fish curry and it enhances the taste too.
The given quantity of spices make the curry as little more than mild spice level. So adjust the quantity as per your liking.
We like to have boiled egg with all types of karuvadu curry.

Pages

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Masala Vadai or Paruppu Vadai

Consistency of the Curry / Kulambu

Vegetables

Serving Suggestions

Vadai Kulambu | Masala Vadai Kuzhambu

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Nethili Karuvadu Kuzhambu | Dry Anchovies Curry

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Karuveppilai Kuzhambu

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Garlic Kara Kuzhambu | Poondu Kulambu

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Thedu Karuvadu Kulambu | Dry Fish Curry