Pongal Puli curry

Puli - Tamarind; curry - a side dish. 

Pongal - Indian Thanks giving festival or Farmer's festival . It comes on the first day of 'Thai month'. or January 14 or 15 th every year. This is a 4 day long celebration, that starts with the cleaning day 'Bogi', Pongal day , the important day 'Pongal day' then comes the 'Cow's Pongal day' the 'Mattu Pongal' and visiting the  family or nearby tours,  'Kanum Pongal'

On Pongal day, we Tamilians prepare a lot of vegetarian foods using almost all the vegetables.

Today's recipe was handed over by my mom to me. Mom used to make this Puli curry on Pongal morning along with Aviyal, dal, white rice and the much awaited 'sweet Pongal'. 

The previous day mom and myself would do a lot of kolam, rangoli paintings in front of our house. Also we used to paint the clay stoves using a red color , white color combo.

Mom used to get up by 3.30 Am or 4 Am, would take bath, cladded in her gorgeous pattu sarees wearing lot of jewelry  and would start preparing these yummy dishes as Pongal offering to the Sun God. While I was a preteen , we used to do this in the front yard of our house. Thatha and appa would help amma by minding the cooking process using palm leaves as fuel and in poojai.

Later on getting palm leaf was not easy in my home town, (even though we own a lot of palm trees), that process seemed laborious. So we started making 'pressure cooker Pongal'. 

I love this festival very much , as it brings back a lot of happy memories for me. So hubby and myself , we together celebrate this Pongal with lot of happiness.

This Puli curry is amma's signature dish.  We make this a lot and would use it as left over sundacurry the next day (mixed with all left over spicy curries).

Click to see my video on 'Pongal Puli curry'.

Root vegetables:

Yam / senai kilangu / suran - 200 gm

Potato / urulai kilangu / aloo - 1

siru kilangu / chiru kizhangu - 5

Sembu / taro root/ colocasia / arbi - 5

pidi karunai kilangu / yam - 1 (small)

other ingredients:

Tamarind - 1 small lime size
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
coriander powder - 3 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
water - 2 cups
salt - 2 tsp (to taste)

To grind:

shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
shallot onion - 5
cumin seeds - 1 tsp

To temper:

mustard - 1 tsp
fenugreek seeds- 1 tsp
curry leaves - 1 sprig
Sesame oil - 2 tbsp
asafoetida - 1 pinch

கிழங்கு வகைகள் 

உருளை கிழங்கு  - 1

சேனை கிழங்கு  - 200 gm

சிறு கிழங்கு - 5

சேப்பங்கிழங்கு - 5

பிடி கருணை கிழங்கு - 1 

புளி சிறிய எலுமிச்சை அளவு 

மிளகாய் தூள் - 1 tsp

மஞ்சள் தூள் - 1/2 tsp

மல்லி தூள்- 3 tsp 

உப்பு - 2 tsp

அரைக்க :

தேங்காய் - 1/2 cup

நாட்டு வெங்காயம் - 5 

சீரகம் - 1 tsp

தாளிக்க:

கடுகு - 1 tsp

வெந்தயம் - 1 tsp

கறிவேப்பிலை - சிறிதளவு 

நல்லெண்ணெய் - 2 tbsp 

பெருங்காயம் - 1 சிட்டிகை

Method:

Wash and peel the root vegetables. Cut them into 2 inch size cubes.
(Take care while handling the yams).
Cook them together till soft (10 minutes). Discard the water and keep aside.

Soak the tamarind in hot water and extract the juice thrice with 2 cups of water.
Add the chilly powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, salt to the tamarind extract and start boiling with the cooked roots.

Grind coconut, onion and cumin seeds with little water and add it to the boiling curry. let it get thick.

Heat oil in a pan. Crackle mustard seeds , add fenugreek seeds , curry leaves and asafoetida. Pour over the boiling thick curry. Switch off.

Pongal puli kulambu is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve as side dish with sweet pongal.
Can be used as kulambu / curry over plain rice or with chapati.

Ripe mango sambar

Other names: Mambazha sambar / sweet mango dhal .

 Last week hubby bought a batch of mangoes, but they were all kind of very sour. While I was wondering what to do with this whole batch of sour mangoes, surprisingly they all turned out very sweet on one day. Now I have a big lot of well ripe mangoes and we have to consume them quickly:) Then this recipe came into my mind to play with my favorite mango and here is that sambar:) I think it is a good recipe for the mango season. Unripe mango sambar is a common one in Tamilnadu but using  ' mango fruit' is quite unusual. I think it is a regional recipe of Tirunelveli. It would be like a sambar with little 'jaggery touch' but more flavorful. Try this and enjoy!

Ingredients:

To pressure cook:

Toor dhal/red gram lentil - 3/4 cup
water- 2 cups
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
asafoetida - 1 pinch
sesame oil- 1 drop
Wash and clean the lentil. Pressure cook the dhal with the above said ingredients for a whistle. Then reduce flame and cook for 10 minutes. Let it cool. Open the lid and add some fresh cumin seeds. Mash well using a spatula. Keep aside.
(we can cook the dhal in stove top also. But we may need to soak it first for 30 minutes or more and cook for 30 minutes).

Other ingredients:

Ripe mango - 1 (big)
Shallot (sambar vengayam) - 5
(choose small variety. Remove the skin, wash and clean. Don't chop).
Tamarind - amla (gooseberry / nellikkai) size ball
cooking oil / ghee - 2 tbsp
(Try to use ghee, as it gives more taste to the sambar).
curry leaves- 1 sprig
cilantro/ coriander leaves (chopped)- 1 tbsp
mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
fenugreek -1/2 tsp
dry red chilly - 3
salt - to taste
Sambar powder - 2 tsp

Method:

Soak the tamarind in 2 cups of hot water and extract the juice by squeezing.
Add the chopped ripe mango , salt and bring it to a boil. Let it boil till the raw smell vanishes. Don't let it overcook, as the mango mashes quickly.
Add the mashed dhal, sambar powder and bring it to a boil.
In the same time heat oil or ghee in a separate wok. Add the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and let the mustard splutter. Immediately add the shallots, curry leaf, chopped dry red chilly and saute well. Continue frying till the shallot starts getting a golden color (not red).
Pour this hot mixture over the dhal. Bring it to only one boil, add the chopped cilantro and switch off.
Mambazha sambar is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve hot over plain cooked rice.
The best side dish would be a spicy arbi fry.
Make some extra sambar, reserve for dinner and serve along with paper roast dosas.

Sodhi

Sodhi is one of the unique and popular dishes in Tirunelveli.Sodhi is otherwise called Thengaipal kulambu / coconut milk stew. Sothi is a delicious gravy made of coconut milk and vegetables. This is served at marriage feasts, especially during the Maruveedu (return marriage) ceremony which takes place the day after a marriage.
Sodhi is a heavy dish so it is generally consumed as lunch only.
I used a thick coconut milk from can. But if you wish to extract the coconut milk then you may need 1/2 of a big coconut.Extract milk three times and keep the first thick milk separate and add it in the last step. Mix the 2 nd and 3 rd extracts and use it to cook the vegetables.
Stick to the recipe to get the perfect 'sodhi'.
(source - my Rukmani aunty)

Ingredients:
Coconut milk (canned) - 4 tbsp
Ginger grated - 2 inch.
Moong Dhal -1/2 cup
Garlic - 2 pods.
Lime/lemon juice - 1/2 (2 tbsp)
Carrots - 1 cut in long slices (50 gms)
Drum Stick - 1 (100 gms)
potato, - 1 cut in cubes (100 gms)
Onion - 1 cut in large cubes
Cabbage - 1/4 of a medium sized cabbaged cut in large pieces. (100 gms)

To grind:
Grated coconut - 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Green chilies - 2-3 (depends on how spicy you want it)

Method:
Cook the moong dhal with garlic in water.
If it is 3/4 th cooked , add all the vegetables and cook it till the dhal becomes mushy.
Take the 2 tbsp of thick coconut milk from the can and dilute it in water to make one can and add it to the boiling vegetables.
(If you are extracting milk, then you may need 1/2 big coconut to do the entire dish.)
Grind the ingredients of the ground mixture.
When the vegetables are tender add the ground mixture and 1/2 can of coconut milk and let it cook for some time.
Now add the remaining thick coconut milk (2 tbsp).
Crush the ginger and extract juice .
Just before you switch off the stove add the ginger juice and cook for a minute and take it off the stove
When Sodhi cools down add salt and lemon juice and temper with mustard and curry leaves. (some people do not temper it).

Serving suggestions:
Makes nearly 700 ml 'sodhi'.Serves 4 people. Serve it over cooked rice.
It should be served more generously like buttermilk so that it runs out of rice.
Do not heat the sodhi as it will give a bitter taste. So try to serve it with piping hot rice. Ginger chutney, sembu (arbi root) fry are suitable side dishes.