Poondu Milagu Kuzhambu
A flavourful, pepper gravy with garlic and spices to warm your meals. This is not very 'spicy' as the tamarind and jaggery mellow the fiery pepper!
Servings 3
Ingredients
To Roast
- 3-4 red chillies
- 3 tsp peppercorns
- 1 tsp urad dal
- 15-20 curry leaves
- 8-10 cloves garlic
For Kuzhambu
- 2 tbsp tamarind paste, diluted with 1/2 cup water
- 3 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 red chilli
- 4-6 curry leaves
- 8-10 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp ghee optional, use sesame oil to keep it vegan
- 1 tsp jaggery
- 1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
Making the spice mix
- In a pan, add a tsp of oil and roast the chillies and remove
- Dry roast urad dal and peppercorns
- Dry roast curry leaves
- Add a tsp of oil and roast the garlic pods till mildly brown
- Remove and grind to a smooth paste
- Add tamarind paste/tamarind water for consistency
- To the ground mixture, add required turmeric and salt
Making the Kuzhambu
- In a kadai add the oil, red chilli, mustard, curry leaves and garlic
- Roast garlic until golden brown
- Pour the ground spice and tamarind mix to the cooked garlic
- Simmer the kuzhambu for 7-8 minutes
- Add a tsp of ghee/sesame oil
- Add jaggery and simmer for 3-4 minutes
- Add some fresh curry leaves and cracked pepper. Enjoy!
Notes
- For this kuzhambu, sesame oil is ideally suited. I add ghee at the end because of my preferences. It can be skipped if you are keeping the dish vegan.
- Garlic is optional in this recipe.