Poondu kuzhambu

After a weeklong vacation in the grand canyon and Vegas with relatives, getting back home made me feel lonely. The spine chilling winter would keep me and my son house arrested except for the weekly grocery shopping... We came back with terrible cold and in spite of all this whining I do, the trip was the best of all. This is our first trip with another family and we had the best time when we shared our rooms for a few nights... Sharing the small space we have, that is what makes you feel the togetherness and brings the festive mood..

With the refreshing memories of the vacation, let us see a poondu kuzhambhu recipe. I prepared this today as we have not yet stocked up veggies.

After having missed home food for almost a week, this poondu kuzhambhu felt like amirtham...

Ingredients: 

Onion 1 medium

Garlic 1/2 cup

Tamarind 1 small lemon size or 1 tsp of paste

Jaggery 1 tsp

Gingely oil/nallennai 1 tsp

Spice powders:

Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp

Chilly powder 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder 1 tblsp or 2 tsp

Pepper powder 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

To temper:

Mustard

Cumin seeds

Urad dal

 Fenugreek seeds

Curry leaves

Red chillies

How To: 

• Soak tamarind for 15 minutes and prepare extract.
• Add gingely oil to a pan in medium flame. Add mustards and once it splutters,add the items to temper one by one.
• After about 2 minutes add onion and garlic. Fry for less than 5 minutes till brown spots start to appear.

• Add the tamarind extract, chili powder, coriander powder, salt. Allow it to boil for 10-12minutes.
• You can replace the chilly and coriander powder with 2 tsp of sambhar powder.
• Add the jaggery and allow it to boil for 3 minutes. The garlic should be cooked by now. If you are able to smash a garlic with the spatula, it is cooked.

• Add pepper powder at the end and check for salt. Allow it to boil for 3 or 4 more minutes and switch off the stove.

Enjoy with rice.

Appalam or pappad is an excellent wingman for poondu kuzhambu.