Vathal kulambu / Manathakkali Spicy Gravy

Manathakkali vathal Kulambu !!! - An ultimate south Indian food. I ate this kulambu @ my friends place for the first time in a small town call darmapuri, India. I fall in love with this delicious recipe from the day and cant wait to share it with you all :) it goes awesomely well with arisi vadaam and appalam. I tried with potato fries and it was like Wow !!!

Try it and you are definitely gonna love it !!!

Ingredients

Manathakkali Vathal - 10 tbsp

Small onions 20 Nos

Mango pieces (raw or ripened) - 5 pieces

Garlic cloves - 7 Pods

Tamarind paste - Lemon sized soaked in water

Tomatoes - 3

Black pepper - 2 tbsp

Mustard - 1/4 tsp

urad dal - 2 tbsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tbsp

Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder -1/2 tsp

Red chilly powder - 1/2 tbsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Curry leaves - few

Salt to taste

Method

Dry roast black pepper, curry leaves, fenugreek seeds and red chillies . Grind them into coarse powder and keep it aside.

Roast manathakkali with little oil and keep it aside.

Heat a pan with oil, temper mustard,cumin seeds and urad dal with few curry leaves. Now add onions and garlic pods, saute it until it turns golden brown. Add chopped tomatoes,fry for 10 mns.Add turmeric powder, chili powder and the corse paste made earlier with tamarind water.

allow it to boil for 10 mns. Now add manathakali vathal, mango pieces, sprinkle the ghee, add required amount of salt and close the lid for 10 mns and switch off the stove. Serve hot with rice.

You can keep it for 3 to 4 days by occasionally heating it.

ThattaPayaru Kulambu / Gravy

INGREDIENTS

Thatta payar-1 cup

Small onion-10 or big onion chopped-1

Tomato-1

Sambar powder-2 tSP

Garlic smashed-6

Tamarind-1very little(1/4 tSP) (depend on the sourness of the mango used)

For seasoning

Mustard-1 tSP

Fennel seeds-1 tSP

METHOD

In a kadai dry roast the the thatta payar in slow fire for 3 minutes .

Pour 3 cups of water and pressure cook for 5 minutes till the peas get cooked well.

Once the peas get cooked add the onion, tomatoes and sambar powder.

Now add the tamarind extract and the salt needed and cook for further 5 minutes.

Make sure that the curry is little watery.

The curry should be a little bit extra salty and hot so that the taste remains when it is mixed with rice.

When everything is cooked add the smashed garlic pieces before switching off the stove.

Season the gravy with the little oil and mustard seeds.

Serve hot with rice.

Garlic Gravy / Poondu Kulambu

INGREDIENTS

Garlic - 10 to 12 cloves (Big one)

Onion - 1/2

Tomato - 1

Tamarind - Big gooseberry size

Mustard seeds and Urad dal - 1/2 tspn

Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn

Oil - 2 to 3 tspn

Salt - to taste

Rost and make a paste of :

Red chilies - 3 to 4

Coriander seeds - 1/2 tspn

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tspn

Peppercorns - 1/4 tspn

Fennel seeds(perunjeeragam) - 1/4 tspn

Curry leaves - 2 sprigs

Garlic - 4 to 5

METHOD

Finely chop Onion and Tomato.

Soak Tamarind in water for 15 minutes.

Extract about a cup tamarind juice from it and keep aside.

Heat a tspn of Oil in a pan.

Add Red chilies, Coriander seeds, Cumin seeds, Peppercorns, Fennel seeds, Curry leaves and roast till they are light brown, then remove from pan.

Roast 4 to 5 Garlic cloves till they are golden brown. Then make a very fine paste of these roasted items.

Heat little Oil in a pan, add Mustard seeds and Urad dal.

Once the seeds starts spluttering add Curry leaves and Garlic, fry till they are light brown.

Add Onion and fry till they are golden brown. Then add Tomatoes and fry till they become soft.

Add Turmeric powder, ground masala paste and fry for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add Tamarind juice, 1 or 2 cups of water and Salt to it. Keep the stove in high heat and bring the curry to boil completely, then reduce the heat to medium.

Cook till the curry becomes thick and Garlic are soft.

Serve hot with rice.

Morkuzhambu

INGREDIENTS

• 2 medium size Snake Guards (Pudalangai), chopped into small pieces (Or any veggi of your choice)

• 2 Cups butter milk / Curd

• 1 tsp Oil

• 3 tbsp Toovar dal

• 3 tbsp Chana dal

• 1 tbsp turmeric powder

• 1 tbsp chilli powder

• 1 tbsp Mustard seeds

• 2 Small red chilies

• 2 tsp Salt

• 2-3 Stalks of coriander leaves (for garnishing)

For Grinding :

• 2 tsp Coconut, shredded

• 6 curry leaves

• 3 tsp ginger Chopped

• 4 garlic pods

• 2 green chilies

• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

• 2 tsp coriander seeds

METHOD

• Heat oil and saute mustard seeds,red chilly, toovar dal, chana dal ,chopped vegetables, turmeric powder, chilli powder with little salt and water, allow it to boil.

• Once it is cooked , remove it from the stove and

allow it to cool.

• Grind coconut, Ginger, Garlic, Corriander seeds, Cumin seeds, Green chillies and curry leaves in to a fine paste.

• Add this mixture to the vegetables.

• Add buttermilk/ Curd to it.

• Garnish with curry leaves .

It tastes heavenly with white rice .

Pasi Payaru / Mashed Greengram dal

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup whole green gram dal

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

3-4 green chillies (or to taste), slit

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 medium onions, sliced thin

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp urad dal

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp garam masala

Turmeric Powder a pinch

1 tsp oil

Salt to taste

Fresh coriander leaves, chopped, for garnish

1-1/2 cups water

METHOD

Pressure cook the green gram with a pinch of turmeric powder for 3 whistles. Remove when pressure drops naturally.

Heat the oil in a pan and fry mustard seeds, urad dal,corriander seeds, cumin seeds, sliced onions, chopped tomatoes, slit chillies and garlic for 5-10 mns.

Add the cooked green gram dal mixture along with required amount of water and stir well. Add salt to taste along with garam masala and bring the mixture to a gentle simmer. Cook for 3-4 minutes.

Switch off the stove and allow it to cool. Now grind the mixture into corse paste using a blender.

it tastes heavenly with hot rice.

Cauliflower kara kulambu / Gravy

INGREDIENTS

1 Cauliflower (cut into small florets,wash and clean)

2 Full Tomatoes

1 Big onion chopped

2 pods Garlic

2 tbsp black peppercorns

2 tbsp cumin seeds

2 tbsp tur dal

2 tbsp coriander seeds

12-15 curry leaves

4-5 dried red chillies

2 tsp oil (Nallennai for preference)

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp urad dal

1 cup coconut milk

Salt to taste

Water as required

METHOD

Half boil the cauliflower florets in microwave for about 5 seconds and keep it aside without draining the water.

Heat 1/2 tsp oil in a pan, add the peppercorns, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, tur dal, curry leaves, tomatoes and red chilies and fry on medium heat. Take the pan off the heat when the dal turns golden and let it cool.

Grind the roasted ingredients to a fine powder. Then add 1/2 cup water and grind to a homogenous masala paste. It will thicken quite quickly, so add a little more water as required to make it thick and pourable.

Heat the remaining oil in the pan, add the mustard seeds and urad dal, cover the pan and let the seeds pop on high heat for a 30-60 seconds. Add the turmeric powder.

Dissolve the masala paste in 1-1/2 cups water and pour into the pan. Add salt to taste and stir.

Now add the already half cooked cauliflower with water.

Let the kuzhambu come to a boil (add water if it is too thick, but don’t make the kuzhambu runny), now add the coconut milk and then simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes.

Serve hot with Dosa / Idly .

Chettinad Egg Gravy

INGREDIENTS

Boiled egg-4

Small onion-20 or big onion chopped-1

Tomato-1

Chopped ginger-1 teaspoon

10 pods Chopped garlic

Chili powder or sambar powder-1 teaspoon

Coriander powder-1 table spoon

Garam masala powder-1 teaspoon

FOR GRINDING

Cocunut-2 to 3 table spoon

Fennel seeds-1 teaspoon

Cumin seed-1 teaspoon

Cashewnut-8 or Kas Kas-1 teaspoon

METHOD

Boil the eggs. Make a small split in the middle. Grind the coconut paste. Keep the kadai in the stove. In a teaspoon of oil season the curry with a teaspoon of fennel seed, a green chili and curry leaf. Add the onion and garlic pieces and sauté well. Now add the chopped ginger and garlic pieces and sauté that too for few minutes. Finally add the chopped tomatoes and sauté till the tomato pieces get cooked. Now add the chili powder, garam masala and coriander powder. Mix well. Be careful that the powder doesn’t get burned. Now add 2 cups of water and the salt needed. Keep the stove in medium flame and allow the curry to get cooked and reduce to ½ the quantity. Now mix the grounded coconut in a cup of water and add to the curry. Cook for 5 minutes. You will find the gravy thickening due to the cashews in the masala. Now add the boiled egg into the curry and cook for 5 more minutes in medium fire.

It Goes well with steamed rice/ Dosa/ Idly.

Thakali Milagu kuzhambu

Ingredients:

2 Full Tomatoes

2 tbsp black peppercorns

2 tbsp cumin seeds2 tbsp tur dal

2 tbsp coriander seeds

1/4 tsp asafoetida powder

12-15 curry leaves

4-5 dried red chillies

1 tsp tamarind paste

2 tsp oil (Nallennai for preference)

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp urad dal

1 cup coconut milk

Salt to taste

Water as required

Method :

1. Heat 1/2 tsp oil in a pan, add the peppercorns, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, tur dal, curry leaves, tomatoes and red chilies and fry on medium heat. Take the pan off the heat when the dal turns golden and let it cool.

2. Grind the roasted ingredients to a fine powder. Then add 1/2 cup water along with the tamarind paste and grind to a homogenous masala paste. It will thicken quite quickly, so add a little more water as required to make it thick and pourable.

3. Heat the remaining oil in the pan, add the mustard seeds and urad dal, cover the pan and let the seeds pop on high heat for a 30-60 seconds. Add the asafoetida powder now along with the turmeric powder.

4. Dissolve the masala paste in 1-1/2 cups water and pour into the pan. Add salt to taste and stir.

5. Let the kuzhambu come to a boil (add water if it is too thick, but don’t make the kuzhambu runny), now add the coconut milk and then simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes.

Serve hot with Idly or Dosa .