Pavakkai puli kulambu

  This is one of my husband and my son favorite kulambu. Generally kids hesitate to have pavakkai but my son loves to have it. This is my amma way of preparing puli kulambu. Very simple one and tasty too.

Ingredients:

Pavakkai ( Bitter gourd) - 3 small
Tomato - 1
Small onion - 5
Coconut - 1/2 cup
Jeera - 1 tbsp
Garlic - 3
Homemade sambar powder - 3 tbsp
Tamarind - very small piece
Curry leaves - 2 stem
asafoetida - a pinch
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Mustard seed - 1 tbsp
Jaggery - 1 tbsp

Recipe:

* Chop pavakkai either round or into small pieces.
* Chop onion and tomato into small small pieces.
* Soak tamarind in 1/2 cup water.
* Grind coconut ,jeera and garlic together and make a paste.

Take a thick bottom kadai,add oil. Fry pavakkai first till they are crisper. Once it is fried well, add chopped tomato to it. Cook till tomato is mushy. Now add turmeric powder,homemade sambar powder and salt. Fry for sometime ,till raw smell goes away. Once it is cooked, add grinded coconut paste. If the paste is too thick,add little water and cover the kadai with a lid. Cook till the raw smell of coconut and jeera is faded and mixed well with tomato. Now add tamarind water ,jaggery and bring to boil. Cook this kulambu till it is thicken up .In small kadai,add oil. Once it hot enough, add mustard seed,chopped onion,curry leaves and asafoetida. Fry it and add to kulambu. This goes well with hot rice. 

Note:

* Jaggery is added to give a slight sweetish taste to the kulambu and also the bitterness will also will be balanced.
* Preparing this kulambu using gingerly oil,enhance the taste .
* Those who dont like bitterness of bittergourd can soak chopped bittergourd in salt water for 10 to 15 minutes and use it in kulambu.

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Poricha kulambu

    Those who feel bored of having sambar daily,can try this recipe. Weekly once i make sambar. My  son got bored of it,so i prepare one week sambar,one week bisibela bath,one dhal rice and one week poricha kulambu. This kulambu will be little spicy and tasty. 

Ingredients  :

Tur dal -1/2 cup
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Carrot - 1
Beans - 2
Drumstick - 5 piece

Fry and grind :Urad dal - 2 tsp
Black pepper - 1 tsp
jeera - 1 tsp
Red chilli - 4
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

For the seasoning:
Small onion - 3 no
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Hing - a pinch
Curry leaves - 2  stem

Recipe:

* Chop vegetables into big pieces.
* Chop small onion into small pieces.
* Cook thur dhal in cooker with enough water and turmeric powder.Leave it for 3 whistle. Open the cooker lid ,mash it well and add vegetable pieces . Close the lid and cook for one more whistle.
* Fry the ingredients which is given under "Fry and grind " in less oil and make it into a paste.
              Take a kadai,add oil followed by mustard seed,hing and curry leaves. Once mustard splatters,add small onion.Fry for a minute ,add cooked dhal with vegetables and grounded paste. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes,till the raw smell of grounded paste vanishes.Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rice or roti.


Note :

*  Add very less water while cooking dhal. The consistency of this kulambu should be thick.
*  Vegetables can also be cooked separately.

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Venthaya kulambu(Methi seed gravy)

My mom used to ask me to take venthayam often as it keeps our body cool.One of my friend used to add meethi seed as thalippu for every kulambu.Since my son dont like the taste of bitterness in venthayam,i wont prefer to add it.I like to take it indirectly.so i prepared this kulambu and it came out well and taste yummy .

Ingrediants:

Grinding:
Venthayam - 1 tbsp
Coriander seed - 2 tbsp
channa dhal - 1 tbsp
Red chilli - 6 (my chilli's are not spicy)
Coconut - 2 Tbsp

Kulambu:
Small onion - 6 or 8 shallots
Curry leaves-3 stem
Tamarind - small lemon size or 2 tbsp from tamarind concentrate
Hing - a pinch
Water - 2 cup
Jaggery - small piece
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seed - 2 tsp
Broken urad dhal - 1 tsp
Oil - 3 to 4 tbsp (i used olive oil,but gingerly oil is apt one for this)

Recipe:

* Soak tamarind in 1 cup water or dissolve tamarind concentrate in 1 cup water
* Fry the ingrediants which are in grinding part in very less oil and grind it without adding water.It should be in thin powder consistency.
* Chop small onion lengthy wise.
* Chop curry leaves into small piece

Take a non stick or thick kadai,add oil followed by mustard seed,broken urad dhal,curry leaves and hing.Fry it for awhile.Now add small onions.Fry till onion are soft.Add tamarind water and 1 cup water.when kulambu starts to boil,add the grinded powder,turmeric powder and salt.To get slightly sweet taste,add jaggery.Close the lid and cook till oil oozes out.Stir it often,so that kulambu dnt get burnt underneath.One oil oozes out,switch off the stove and transfer to a bowl.You can serve this with hot hot rice .Best side dish for this is vadagam.

Notes:

* While frying the venthayam ,dnt burnt it .Burnt venthayam will give more bitter taste.
* Adding jaggery will give sweet taste to kulambu aand also those to dont like bittertaste will also like this kulambu.
* Many used to say,too much oil in this.But when u mix this kulambu with hot rice ,the oil and kulambu will give a yummy taste.Main taste is in the oil.once in awhile we can use 2 tbsp more oil.

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