Vathakuzhambu

Vathakuzhambu is a traditional dish from South India which is served with white rice, papads. This tangy, sweety, spicy gravy tastes good with a side of any fry or pappads. I have been eating this Vathakuzhambu since childhood and enjoyed this dish with my favorite baby potato fry or Bindi fry. Mostly my mom and my grandma prepare this dish in the same way and their versions are unbeatable. I was fortunate to taste my grandma's Vathakuzhambu even at her 85th age. Recently she passed away after having suffered terribly in the bed for more than 2-3 years. Somehow this dish reminds me more of her.  I love my Grandma and this is my tribute to my lovely special Grandma, my Patty.

Ingredients

Thick Tamarind Extract  -  2 Cups

Small Onions \ Shallots -  10

Oil - 2 tbsp

Gingelly Oil - 1 tbsp

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Sambar Powder - 2 tbsp

Coriander Powder - 1\2 tbsp

Red Chilli powder - 2 tsp

Jaggery - 1 small piece

Salt - To Taste

Water  - 1 cup

Mustard Seeds - 3 tsp

Jeera \ Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Hing \ Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Thoor Dal \ Thuvaram Paruppu \ Kandhi Pappu - 1 tbsp

Dry Red Chilli - 1 or 2.

Curry Leaves - 1 stem.

Method

1. Make a thick Tamarind Extract and keep it ready. Cut the small onions and keep them ready too.
2. Keep all the ingredients handy before starting the preparation.
3. In a round thick bottomed vessel, add oil first. ( Not the Gingelly Oil now). When its heated, add Hing, Mustard Seeds, Cumin Seeds, Thuvar Dal , Dry red chillies, Curry leaves in the order and fry them.
4. When its done, add the small sambar onions and fry them till they turn golden brown.
5. On a low flame, add all the required powders to the contents in the vessel and fry them along with the contents well.
6. Now add the extracted tamarind juice, jaggery, salt and water. Mix everything together and allow them to boil on a medium flame for few minutes with the lid covered.
7. Open the lid and check to see whether the gravy is completely set with no raw smell of the tamarind juice.
8. Finally you could confirm the completion by noticing some oil oozing out of the gravy and the gravy would have become thicker in consistency.
9. Now the tangy, spicy Vethakuzhambu is ready to eat with hot white rice.

Tips \ Variations

Try to make the Vethakuzhambu with some dried Vathals like "Manathakkali Vathal , Sundaikai Vathal, etc." It tastes good with real Vathals. This time I tried using small onions.

Don't forget to add a small piece of Jaggery which is the taste maker to the Kuzhambu.

If you are making this for a festival or for special occasions, you can gracefully add little more Gingelly Oil to make it more delicious and flavourful.

Mamidikaya Pappu \ Mango Dal \ Maangai Paruppu

Mango, an Indian Native fruit is widely used in Indian cuisine. Ripe Mangoes can be eaten as it is and also be used in the preparation of  Desserts, Shakes, etc. whereas Raw Mangoes are widely used in regular cooking. Dishes made out of these raw mangoes always have an unbeatable flavour and they are mouth watering. In Andhra cuisine, a Dal based dish called "Mamidikaya Pappu" is very famous which is made with the combination of Lentils and raw mangoes.  Whenever we get fresh mangoes in our  market, I try to make this tangy, spicy pappu at home definitely. With these raw mangoes, I do make "Mangai Sambar", "Mangai Mor Kuzhambu" sometime..I will share these recipes too in the following week.  I am sure you will love all the Raw Mango recipes.

Ingredients

Raw Mango - 1 Medium ( Sour )

Toor Dal \ Kandhi pappu  - Half a cup

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Salt - To Taste

Green chillies -- 2 Medium

Red chilli powder -- 1 tsp

For Tempering

Oil - 1 tbsp

Hing \ Asafoetida -- 1 Dash

Mustard Seeds -- 2 tsp

Cumin Seeds \ Jeera -- 1 tsp

Urad Dal \ Ulutham Paruppu \ Minna Pappu - 1 tsp

Channa Dal \ Kadalai Paruppu \ Senaga Pappu - 1 tsp

Curry Leaves -- 5 or 6

Dry Red Chillies -- 2

Garlic Cloves --- 1 or 2 crushed.

Method

• Wash and peel the skin off the raw mango. Cut the mango into different medium pieces and keep them ready.
• In a pressure cooker, cook the raw mango along with the toor dal, turmeric powder, green chillies and some water in a vessel inside. Cook them for 4 whistles and switch the flame off.
• When the cooker gets cooled completely, take out the vessel and mash the dal and the cooked mango but leave some pieces of the mango as it is.
• Add required amount of salt and red chilli powder to the Pappu and allow them to cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Finish the tempering process separately and pour them over the cooked mango dal\ pappu.
• Mix them well and its ready to eat with hot white rice with a side of papads.

Tips

If the raw mango is not sour or has ripen a little bit, don't try to make this dish with that mango as the pappu's taste will not be as expected.

Don't add more toor dal while making this Mamidikaya pappu as the dal might inject more blandness to the dish.

Variations

If you don't like to use garlic in the tempering, you can omit Garlic and do the tempering process with the rest of the ingredients.