Gayathri's Cook Spot: Ezhu Kari Kulambu/ Thiruvathirai Kulambu

Thiruvadirai is a Hindu festival celebrated in Tamil Nadu and is a festival of Lord Shiva. Read this article to know more about thiruvadhirai. We don't celebrate thiruvadirai at mom's home as well as in law's home. But when I came to Madurai, my neighbour would celebrate this festival and she used to give me a special kulambu prepared with 21 vegetables. It would taste so nice but I never asked her about the recipe. After shifting my house to another area I completely missed that kulambu. So last year I searched the blog world for recipes and found one for the thiruvadhirai kulambu and thiruvadhirai kali which are prepared and given as offering to God on the festival. I have posted the Thiruvadhirai kali (click on link for recipe) recipe. To go with thiruvadhirai kali, I made the thiruvadhirai kulambu/ kootu/ ezhukari kulambu, but I never got to post it. Last month I made the kulambu again to go with rice for our lunch. This is called as ezhukari kulambu as seven different vegetables are used in the gravy. Though it tastes just like what my neighbour used to make, it has less number of vegetables. As it was more than a year, I forgot about the blog from which I got the recipe. So whoever the blogger is, a big thank you for the delicious and authentic recipe. The recipe is so much like arachu vitta sambar.. Today is the turn of Alphabet E in the A-Z themed Blogging Marathon #32.

For The Spice Paste:

Coriander Seeds-1 tbs

Other Ingredients:

White Pumpkin-1/2 cup\

Sweet Potato-1/2 cup

Turmeric Powder1/2 tsp

Tamarind-a small lemon sized

Mustard Seeds-1/2 tsp

Curry Leaves-2 sprigs

Coriander Leaves-for garnish

1. Dry roast all the ingredients given for the spice paste, cool and grind to a fine paste.

2. Pressure cook toor dhal and channa dhal along with turmeric powder and water until mushy.

3. In a separate bowl boil all the vegetables until done. Drain and keep it aside.

4. Now add the vegetables to the cooked dhal.

5. Extract juice out of tamarind and add it to the dhal mixture.

6. Add the spice paste, sambar powder, salt and enough water to make the gravy consistency.

7. Bring this to boil, switch flame to low and let it boil for 5 minutes or until the raw smell of tamarind vanishes completely.

8. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard and curry leaves.

9. When they crackle add it to the kulambu and garnish with coriander leaves.