My husband comes home for lunch occasionally. If there is a cricket match going on,
he will come home, catch a few overs, eat lunch, and then head back to
work. Most days, I will have
left-overs from the previous night and he will eat that happily. Otherwise, I
end up making something that he likes.
My kids typically don’t eat a full Indian meal at lunch. They prefer burritos, pasta,
sandwiches, or a veggie burger for lunch.
So this is my chance to make something that my husband likes, but my
kids don’t care for at all.
Onion and tomato vathal kozhambu |
He came home one day last week and I ended up making pongal
and vathal kuzhambu. He loves
pongal. I did
not want to make chutney or sambar.
So decided to make vathal kuzhambu to go with the pongal.
This time, I made vathal kuzhambu with onions and tomatoes. This is how my mom makes it:
Here is what you need:
- lime size ball of tamarind (see note)
- 3 tsp sesame oil (see note)
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp split channa dal
- ½ tsp methi (fenugreek) seeds
- ¼ tsp hing (asafetida)
- 2 dried red chilies
- few curry leaves
- ½ onion, finely chopped
- 1 tomato, finely chopped
- 2 tsp sambar powder
- salt to taste
Note 1: I use tamarind and not store bought tamarind paste because it tastes much better when you extract the pulp yourself. You can use tamarind paste if you are in a rush or if you don't have tamarind handy. Substitute 2 tsp. tamarind paste for the tamarind.
Note 2: Sesame oil gives this dish a unique flavor. You can use any vegetable oil that you have on hand, if you don't have sesame oil.
In my cast iron pot |
Here’s how I made it:
- Soak the tamarind in a cup of so of water for ½ hour. Squeeze out the pulp from the tamarind and save the liquid.
- Heat oil. Add mustard seeds, channa dal, methi seeds hing, and dry chilies.
- Once the mustard seeds sputter, add the curry leaves (be careful because the hot oil can splash).
- Add onions. Fry for a couple of minutes.
- Add the tomatoes. Fry for a few more minutes.
- Add the sambar powder and mix everything together.
- Add the extracted tamarind juice and salt.
- Let this mixture come to a boil and then simmer on medium to low heat till the raw flavor of tamarind is gone (about 10 minutes).
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