yummy everyday meal: Kathirikkai Kaara Kulambhu/Kuzhambhu

Kaara Kulambhu or Puli Kulambhu is our family's favorite and I make weekly once for our lunch.Last week I got lot of eggplants from my home garden and I wanted to make kaara kulambhu,noted from a T.V show.The recipe sounds simple but the highlight of the recipe is the use of freshly ground masala paste.Here I used the long variety eggplant but the original recipe is with the baby eggplants.

Kathirikkai Kaara Kulambhu/Kuzhambhu

Basic Information

Preparation time 15 minutes
Cooking time 25 minutes

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Tamarind/puli	a small lemon size
Turmeric powder/manjal podi	1/2 tsp
Small round eggplants/kathirikkai	3-4 (sliced)
Shallots/chinna vengayam	10 (cut into 2)
Oil	4 tbs
Curry leaves/karivepillai	few leaves
Salt	1.25 tsp or to taste

To roast and grind

Ingredient	Quantity
Dried red chilly/varmilagai	4-5
Coriander seeds/dhaniya	2 tbs
Coconut(grated)	3 tbs
Curry leaves(optional)	few leaves

For the tempering

Ingredient	Quantity
Mustard seeds/kadugu	1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds/vendhayam	a pinch
Red chilly/varamilagai(broken)	2
Asafoetia/perungayam	a pinch

Method

Soak the tamarind in hot water and squeeze it well,extract the juice.Pass it through the strainer to remove the debris.Keep it aside.
In a pan dry roast the red chilly,coriander seeds and coconut till a nice aroma comes out.put off the flame.After cooling grind it to a thick paste and set it aside.

In the same pan heat a tsp of oil and fry the sliced eggplants/brinjal till it becomes tender.Heat a pan with the remaining oil and do the tempering with given ingredients.Add the broken red chill and curry leaves,asafoetida.To this add the ground paste and fry it for couple of minutes.

Add the tamarind water,turmeric powder and salt.Add around a cup of water and let it boil for 5-7 minutes.At this stage add the fried eggplants and let it boil for another 3-4 minutes in a medium flame.Simmer it for another 2-3 minutes or till the oil floats on the top.Put off the flame and add few more curry leaves.