April 28, 2008

Iruvili Kozhambu

This has been my all-time favorite kozhambu of my mom's. And I have never yearned to learn the secret recipe... Until I became a wife and had to think up of new exciting dishes to make everyday. In my defense, I love cooking and experimenting too... And I asked my mom for it and she gave me the recipe. But having the recipe is an entirely different thing than having the final dish made to perfection. I gave it a shot... and it was almost as good as mommy dearest's. So I thought I would be magnanimous and share this simple yet delectable recipe with you all to lend some difference to your taste buds. Its yumm... This pic here doesn't do any justice to the taste of the dish.. but I thought I'd post one anyways...



So here's what you need - (This recipe is for 4 people... adjust accordingly)

For the aracha vizhudhu or the grinding -
1. 1 teaspoon of white rice
2. 2 teaspoons of channa dal (kadalai paruppu)
3. 1/4 teaspoon of methi seeds (vendhiyam)
4. 4-6 dry red chillis
5. 1/2 cup of powdered coconut
6. 1 spoon of oil to fry 1-5 and 1 spoon more to fry 10.
7. 1 cup of buttermilk
For the kozhambu
8. 2 bowls of tamarind juice from squeezed from tamarind roughly the size of a lemon
9. 1/2 cup of chopped tomatoes/ brinjal/ ladies finger/ use your imagination for the thaan (the veggies that go into it)
For the seasoning
10. 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds (kadugu)
11. A pinch of turmeric
12. A pinch of asfoetida
13. 4-5 curry leaves (kadi patha)
and salt to taste.

So how do you go about it?

1. Fry 1-5 using oil and allow it to cool before grinding it in a mixer using sufficient quantity of water for the mixing.
2. Mix the ground paste in the cup of buttermilk and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, start boiling the tamarind juice with the thaan in it.
4. Once it starts boiling, add the turmeric and the asfoetida and let it boil another few seconds.
5. Add in the ground mixture while stirring and let it boil for just a minute before turning the gas off. Additional boiling may result in curdling of the buttermilk.
6. Fry the mustard seeds and the curry leaves separately and add to the kozhambu.

And serve with steamed rice and beans curry....... Delicious! Thanks Amma.

6 comments:

Vasu said...

jaya,a very interesting recipe..have never seen one with both buttermilk and tamarind in it..what kind of veggies do u actually put in this dish?

Jaya said...

Vasudha-> Yeah.. me neither.. You shd try it out. ts halfway between mor kozhambu n sambhar and the taste is very interesting. Yumm yummy!

anusha said...

It looks delicious..I am definitely gonna try it..thanks for the recipe..will let you know how it turned out :)

Jaya said...

Yuppie everyone.. try it out qnd tell me how it works for you! If nothing, its a good change o mundane cooking. :)

Archana said...

Interesting mix of ingredients..never heard of this one before...is it really 2 bowls of puli thanni? I mean...how much of the tamarind paste would I use?

Jaya said...

Archu-> I guess I meant 2 cups of puli thanni. Once you put the aracha vizhudhu into the buttermilk, the 2 quantities have to match sumaara to make a good consistency. Sorry for being a bit unclear.. but back then I was an unseasoned food blogger. :D. Try it out. It's very interesting. And oh, I think my mom may have coined the word "iruvili". No idea what it means.

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