Ennai Kathirikkai Kara Kuzhambu by Shripriya

Brinjal contest entry by Shripriya Ramakrishnan

Ingredients:

1. Brinjal: Two cups chopped.
2. Sambhar Onion: About 25
3. Garlic - 10 cloves
4. Tomato - 1 big chopped fine
5. Dhania seeds - 1 teaspoon
6. Kadalai paruppu (bengal gram)- 1 teaspoon
7. Milagu(black pepper) - 2 teaspoons
8. Jeeragam(cumin) - 1 teaspoon
9. Red Chillies - 5
10. Coconut shredded: 3-4 tablespoons
11. Turmeric - lemon sized
12. For seasoning: Gingelly oil, turmeric, asafoetida, methi seeds, mustard, toor dhal, curry leaves
13. Salt : as needed. 

Method:
1. Fry the items mentioned in no. 5 through 9 in a teaspoon of oil.
2. In a teaspoon of oil, fry about 10-12 sambar onions, Garlic cloves, and tomatoes until they are cooked well.
3. Grind all the fried items in step 1 and 2 into a coarse paste with coconut and some salt.
4. Soak the tamarind and get the tamarind juice of may be 3-4 cups.
5. In a kadai, pour oil and add the items mentioned for seasoning. Once it splutters, add the rest of the sambhar onions and fry until they are cooked. 
6. Add the cut brinjal pieces. Cook them well.
7. Now add the tamarind juice. Let it boil for some time. Then add the ground paste. Add some salt according to taste.
8. Let it boil until it thickens.
9. Serve it with hot rice. Roasted papad is the best combination.

Variations:
1. If you get small brinjals, slit them with stem intact, coat them in little bit of oil and microwave until it is 3/4th cooked. Then stuff the ground paste in the brinjals, and then add this after frying the sambhar onions and fry for sometime, and then add the tamarind juice and let it boil. Everything else is the same as mentioned in the above recipe.


2. If you want to give it a little chettinad touch, fry about 1 teaspoon of sombu(fennel) along with other items mentioned above for the kuzhambu masala and grind it together. And add about half teaspoon of sombu(fennel) in seasoning also.

3. Those who don't like to add onion and/or poondu, fry and powder the following and use it as the stuffing and karakuzhambu podi: One teaspoon vendhayam, asafoetida, one tblspn each of toor dhal, urad dhal, and chana dhal, red chillies according to taste, and two teaspoons of dhania.

4. You can just make this as poondu-milagu kuzhambu without the brinjals.

Note: I have given some variations at the end and have mentioned how to make ennai kathrikkai kuzhambu there. Since I did not have the small brinjals that is required for the same, I cut the brinjals and made kathrikkai kara kuzhambu.

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