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canbrindhaskitchenandtips · 9 years ago

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Spicy Oorkkuzhambu- Spicy Town Gravy (South Indian Style)

My mother-in-law used to make Spicy Kuzhambu called Oorkkuzhambu, which can be used in lieu of Pulikkaichal (Gravy Mix for Puliyodarai Rice). Oorkkuzhambu literally means Town Gravy in Tamil. This kuzhambu can be mixed with rice and taken while traveling instead of Puliyodarai. I made slight variations in the recipe. My son does not like Pulikkaichal and hence I made this for him so that he can keep it in the fridge and use it for a month or two. I am sure he will finish it before that time.

This is for large quantity to store. Scale down the proportions if you want to make less, just for a day or two.

Ingredients:

Tamarind -100 gms or tamarind scoop balls of 1 1/4 inches or a small lime size -7 balls (see picture)

Dry Red chillies- 20 to 25

Dry Kashmiri chillies- 10 to 12

Toor Dhal (Pigeon peas split and skinned)- 1 tbsp

Chana Dhal ( Bengal Gram split and skinned- 1 tbsp.

Coriander seeds- 1/4 cup

Fenugreek seeds- 1tsp

Black pepper- 1/2 tsp

Mustard seeds- 1 tbsp.

Dry Black-eyed Peas- 2 tbsp.

Asafoetida-1 tsp

Turmeric powder -1 tsp

Roasted White sesame seeds- 2 tbsp.

Indian Sesame oil-1/4 cup

Vegetable or peanut oil- up to 2 tsp for roasting the spices

Pink Salt -7 to 8 tsp or as per your taste

Curry leaves- a few sprigs

Steps:

Soak tamarind in water to cover it, microwave for 2 minutes. When cool, squeeze well and extract the juice. Make 5 cups of the juice by gradually adding water to the tamarind pulp, squeezing and filtering it, and then adding some more water to the pulp and squeeze. Do not add all the 5 cups of water at one time into the tamarind pulp.You won’t be able to extract thick juice.

Roasting for the spice powder:

Heat a pan, in medium low flame. Don’t be in a hurry to keep in high flame and then reduce it. Ingredients won’t be roasted evenly.

Add a few drops of any vegetable oil and add the toor dhal and the chana dhal and roast them till they are golden in colour and aroma comes out. Remove from the pan and keep aside.

Add the coriander seeds to the pan, and roast it for about 30 seconds to under a minute, till it is slightly roasted, just hot to touch and you get the aroma. Remove from pan and keep separately.

Wipe the pan. Add the sesame seeds and roast till golden brown and puffed up with aroma. Remove and keep aside. You will need low flame for this.

In the same pan add the fenugreek seeds and roast till golden. Add the pepper at the end , mix well for a few seconds , remove and keep aside.

In the same pan add a teaspoon of vegetable oil and add the chillies. (You can remove the chilli stems before or after roasting. If you are sensitive to the smell of chillies, remove stems after roasting).

Sprinkle ¼ tsp of salt to prevent the chillies from smoking and emit strong fumes that make some people to cough. When the chilies start to puff, turn off the stove. Sauté for 30 seconds and keep aside. They may appear limp, but they will be stiff after some time.

To make the spice powder:

Let the roasted ingredients cool down. In a small mixer/blender container powder the sesame seeds coarsely. It gets powdered very quickly. So watch out. I use a mortar and pestle which would work fine. Remove the powder and keep aside.

Now add the chillies to the mixer first. When they are coarsely powdered, add the coriander seeds and fenugreek seeds and powder them finely. Add the toor dhal, chana dhal and the pepper and powder them well. Remove and keep aside.

Place a deep larger pan on the stove in medium flame. Add ½ of the sesame oil out of the ¼ cup.

When hot, add the mustard seeds and cover. When the mustard seeds pop and sputter,add the black eyed peas and roast them till they brown to a golden colour. Add the asafoetida and mix well. Tear the curry leaves and sauté for a few seconds. Lower the flame and carefully and slowly add the tamarind juice and mix well. The reason to lower the flame is to avoid steam coming out of the hot pan when you add the cold juice. Add the turmeric powder and the spice powder. Add the salt. Mix well. The reason to add the spice powder before the tamarind juice starts boiling is to avoid cool spice powder forming lumps when added to the boiling/hot juice.

Turn the flame to medium. Let the kuzhambu(gravy) boil and cook for about 30 minutes to 45 minutes. Keep close watch and keep stirring often. When the raw tamarind smell has gone and the kuzhambu is thicker add the rest of the oil and mix well. Keep in low flame. The oil slowly gets separated and float to the top. Add the sesame seeds powder. Turn of the stove.

When cool, store in bottles in the fridge. Enjoy the Oorkkuzhambu with mixed with plain rice or with yougurt rice instead of a spicy pickle. You can eat it with anything when you need a chutney.

Tips:

1.If you are using Thailand tamarind which is more sour than the Indian one, you will need a bit less and you have to boil it separately for some time with all the salt as it takes a long time for that tamarind to lose the raw smell. Do the seasoning and add the boiled tamarind. In that case mix the spice powder in ¼ cup of water and add it to the hot juice to avoid lumps of the spice powder.

2. If you do not have Kashmiri chilli which gives a nice flavour and colour, use regular chillies. Instead of 10 Kashmiri chillies use only 5 regular ones.

3. If you are using sea salt, reduce the salt quantity. I use pink salt. If using iodized salt you may need more.Use as per your need and taste. Better to start with less salt.

4. Hold 2 or 3 tsp of spice powder. Since it is a roasted powder, you can add it at the end if needed.

5. If you have fenugreek powder , then you can add at the end.

6. My recipes are based on the ingredients and spices available in Metro Vancouver,Canada. Use the recipe as a guidance for measurements. There may be slight variations in taste and spiciness when you cook because of the differences in spices, tamarind and salt..

You can also use my all spice powder instead of the freshly roasted powder.

Use 2 tsps to 3 tsps per 1 ball of 1.25″.

Here is the link for the curry powder. Add fenugreek powder to the kuzhambu if you use this.

https://canbrindhaskitchenandtips.tumblr.com/post/140489371835/curry-powder

#southindian #indian kuzhambu #spicygravy #oorkkuzhambu #kuzhambu

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