Kara kuzhambu ... no coconut

Kara kuzhambu with no coconut was new to me until I had it at one of our relatives house. She cooks real good food and that too in a jiffy. Last week when we went to their home for a quick visit, it turned out to be a day long visit. As we had been to their afte a very long time, she did not want us to leave home without having lunch. Seeing her love we could not say no and so dropped out others and stayed back for lunch. Oh my god.... she was so fast at work.... something here something there .... and thats it... in no time lunch was ready :)

She made this simple kara kuzhambu for us. When I had it I like a lot but then realised it was completely different from the one I make. She made it without using any coconut which is the usual way of making. Kids loved it too. When we were about to leave she packed some for our dinner too... saying it would taste very good with dosa too. So we had it for dinner too along with dosa. It was too good and as is got the recipe from her and have been making it in my kitchen
  
Try it out and you might like it too

Serves... 4 ppl

Serve option... Hot with rice and  ghee

This is what u'll need...

Onion - 1 small
Shallot/Pearl onions - 15-20
Tomato - 1 
Potato - 1
Brinjal - 4
Garlic - 7-8 cloves
Tamarind - lemon size
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn
Sambar powder - 1 tspn
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tspn
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4tspn
Curry leaves - few
Oil - 2 tbspn
Salt to taste

Here is the stir....

• Soak lemon-sized ball of tamarind in some warm water. Warm water will soften it faster which would help when taking out the juice and pulp

• Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a kadhai. Add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and few curry leaves

• Peel and slice some garlic cloves and toss them into the oil. Fry them for a few seconds till can smell the nice aroma from garlic

• Peel shallots/pearl onions and toss them into the pan. We are not slicing these onions. They taste great when added whole

• Slice one onion thinly and toss it into the pan

• Let this saute on medium flame for a few minutes

• Add some salt to taste

• Chop one tomato roughly and add it to the onions

• Add chopped potatoes and brinjals to the pan. You can add drumstick too, that would taste great

• Add a little salt to the vegetables

• Spoon in 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder and 1 teaspoon of sambar powder

• Saute this for 4-5 minutes on low flame. Pour about 1 cup of water and simmer it for anout 5 minutes

• Once you feel the vegetables are almost cooked through we need to add the tamarind water. Squeeze the tamarind that has been soaked in warm water and extract some pulp and juice. Pour this juice into the gravy

• Let me simmer for a few more minutes and then turn off the flame

• Serve hot with some rice and top it with a little ghee. Enjoy

Note:

• Add vegetables of your choice
• Cook/saute the sambar powder along with the vegetables before adding water to the pan
• Add tamarind water only after the vegetables are almost cooked through