Vathal Kuzhambu

In spite of the varied eating habits across our country one is able to find some similarities in the various cuisines practised. There are a lot of similarities in some of the dishes that are prevalent in the southern states. For instance this dish which i am discussing today "Vathal Kuzhambu" is cooked as "Pulusu" in Andhra and "Puli Pachadi" in Kerala. May be Karnataka also has something similar to this, which I am not aware of. There is usually a slight variation in the ingredients which make them special.

I remember a reason given by my great grandmother for making this dish. She used to prepare this on days immediately after some festivals or after days when some elaborate eating has been done. It was her belief that after eating heavily throughout the week or during the festivals it was time to give the stomach a rest and eat light. So she would always couple this "kuzhambu" with "sutta applam" (applam which have been roasted over fire), "paruppu thogaiyal" or "keerai masial". When i pen this down i still am able to remember the taste of her keerai and vathal kuzhambu - an amazing taste which my mother who is a great cook has also not been able to replicate. So check out

Ingredients

Tamarind - roll it into a small lemon ball and soak it in 2 - 21/2 cups of water

Vathal Kuzhambu podi - 1 tsp (this is readily available however I will get the method to prepare this in another post)

Salt to taste

Oil (Gingelly oil is preferred)

Vegetable - you could use drumsticks, pumkin, ladies finger, small onions, garlic

(However, tradition calls for some sort of vathal to be used)

Method

Soak the tamarind for around half an hour in water and strain it. In a pan heat oil and temper it with mustard and chana dal. Then add the vegetables and saute for a minute.Then add the podi and saute for another minute. Finally add the tamarind water along with salt. Cover with a lid and allow to cook till the mixture gets thick and oil starts to float on top, on a slow flame. Over the years that i have been making this I realized that the slower and the longer this dish cooks the more tasty it is.