Over the last few years, we have made some really good friends here in Kansas. Since we all have kids of almost same age, we try to meet often for potluck or get-together. My friend Subhashini makes very delicious Tamil food every time we meet. My food intake usually doubles when I am at her home!. My latest favorite is her tamarind chutney – that’s how she translates it to me. She said the Tamil name for the dish is Puli Kuzhambu (hope I am spelling that right). She serves this with curd rice and the combination is just out of this world. I am sure all curd rice fans there would love this on the side. The ingredient quantities are approximates only, change it according to your taste.
Last week I prepared a big batch of this and refrigerated. One day I served it with pongal – I followed Indira’s pongal recipe with matta rice . I don’t usually add vegetables to pongal because we like it simple and plain. Puli Kuzhambu went great with it. It remains good for a week in refrigerator.
Ingredients: 2 cups chopped shallots/sambar onions 3-4 pepper 1 tea spn coriander seeds 1 tea spn cumin seeds 1 tea spn rice 1 tea spn toor dal 4-5 red chillies 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 1/2 tea spn urad dal 1/2 tea spn fenugreek/methi seeds 4-5 curry leaves 2 tbl spns garlic cut into big pieces 2 tea spns thic tamarind extract or soak one big lemon sized ball of tamarind in water Asafoetida/hing Oil Salt
Method:
Heat a little oil and fry pepper, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, rice, toor dal, red chillies. Â Grind to a paste. Now add 1/2 cup of shallots and grind again. Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they pop up, add urad dal, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves. Give it a min. Then add remaining shallots and garlic. Fry for few minutes till shallots turn translucent. Now add ground paste, tamarind, hing, salt. Let it cook. Serve with curd rice . This remains good for a week in refrigerator.
Serves : 5-6 Preparation time : 20mins
Pongal has become one of our go-to comfort foods these days. I end up making a simple pongal with rice and moong dal or a simple pej( Congee with red rice ) on many days when I do not want to cook elaborate meals. Some days when I want to make it more healthy, I add some vegetables to it, then it becomes a one pot complete meal (although my family prefers plain pongal, they don’t complain). Few days back, I added some quinoa to it, which turned out pretty good. I served this quinoa – vegetable pongal with our favorite huli gojju .
I used matta rice/peje tandul here because it gives some body to pongal – I had first read about it at Mahanandi and loved the idea. It does not disappear like the normal white rice.
Here is a wonderful article about Quinoa and its health benefits.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup quinoa 1/2 cup red boiled rice /matta rice/peje tandul 1/2 cup moong dal 1 cup vegetables – corn, peas, carrots 1/2 tea spn black pepper 3-4 green chillies A pinch tamarind 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds A pinch asafoetida(hing) 4-5 curry leaves A pinch turmeric Ghee Salt
Method: Wash quinoa in cold water couple of times. Wash rice and moong dal. Keep aside. Heat ghee and add cumin seeds, green chillies, pepper, curry leaves. Fry for min and then add asafoetida. Add the vegetables and fry for a minute. Then add quinoa, moong dal, rice, salt, turmeric fry for another minute. Now add 4-5 cups of water (start with 4 and if you want it more watery consistency, add one more). Cook till rice and vegetables are done. I normally cook it in rice cooker. Serve hot with your favorite sidedish.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 45 mins
PS: If you do not find quinoa, leave it out and follow the remaining recipe.
