Kaara Kuzhambu (கார குழம்பு ): Puducherry Style

Kaara Kuzhambu (கார குழம்பு ): Puducherry Style

Kuzhambu is a dish common in South India and Sri Lankan Tamil cuisines, and is primarily made of a variety of dals. Kuzhambu is a gravy based on a broth made with tamarind, dhall, tomatoes and can include vegetables. The dish is very popular as a side for rice in the southern regions of India especially in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. The number of varieties of kuzhambu are countless, with each state in the South preparing it with a typical variation, adapted to its taste and environment.
Varieties of Kuzhambu

Vathal Kuzhambu- prepared using vathals, onion shallots
Milagu Kuzhambu - prepared using black pepper
Kara Kuzhambu - prepared using onion, green chili, tomatoes
Mor Kuzhambu- prepared using thick buttermilk, channa dal, ash gourd, okra, pumpkin
Poondu Kuzhambu- prepared using garlic
Vazhakai Kuzhambu- prepared using plantain
Vendakai Kuzhambu- prepared using okra
Poricha Kuzhambu- prepared using mixed vegetables, black pepper, ample amounts of dal

Here I am going to cook Kara kuzhambu of Puducherry style with onion vadagam. Vadagam is a ready-to-use blend of spices that is a French derivative. It is an Indian curry blend with added aromatics such as shallots and garlic. The spice blend is thought to have originated from French colonial influence in the Puducherry region of India.

Indian recipes for vadavam blends vary, but at a minimum most contain pounded onion, garlic, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and fenugreek. The mixture is dried in the sun and then crushed, mixed with castor oil, which has preservative properties, and rolled into balls, which are then dried for several more days.Similarly, occidental recipes for vadagam use onions, garlic, spices and oil, but the drying is done using an oven.

                                   Kara Kuzhambu recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Indian  |  Recipe Category: Lunch
Prep Time:10 mins    |  Cook time: 15 mins     |  Serves: 4

Ingredients

 Tamarind - 1 lemon sized

Tomatoes - 1.5 nos

Green chilly-1 no

Salt - as needed

Turmeric powder -1/4 tbsp

Chilly Powder (dhaniya powder mixed) - 1tsp

Sugar / jagerry - 1/4 tbsp

Small Onion shallots - 4 to 5 nos

Garlic -3 cloves

Curry leaves- 3 or 4 nos

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To Temper :

Oil - 1 tbsp

Vadagam - 1tsp

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Method:

• First chop the onion shallots and mince the garlic well. Soak the tamarind for 20mins and extract the pulp. Grind the tomatoes to a fine paste. In a bowl add salt, Turmeric powder, chilly powder and mix well. Now add the tamarind pulp and tomatoe pulp to it and mix well with your hands.
  
• Now Take a vessel and heat it. Add oil and when it becomes hot add the 1tsp  vadagam and curry leaves. It gives a wonderfull aroma.

• And when it splutters add the green chilly (slit vertically) , garlic and onions. 

• When the onion turns pale add the liquid mixture in the bowl and mix it well with a laddle.
  
  
  
• Allow the kuhambu to boil until the smell of the chilly powder vanishes and it forms into a thick consistency. Now add the sugar and mix it well.U can add boiled eggs to it when its boiling. If u like to add drumstick, saute the drumstick with the onion shallots and let it boil with sprinkled water. When the drumstick is half cooked add the liquid mixture in the bowl.
  
• I always add boiled egg to this kuzhambu as I like the egg white changed into red colour of the kuzhambu. Pierce the eggs with vertical lines so that the kuzhambu enters the egg.