Sukku (Dry ginger ) Kulambu - (veg)

Dry ginger (sukku in Tamil)in Kulambu can be very new to many, but it has a lot of curative properties in digestive ailements.We can call this as a native Indian kulambu.Dried ginger is one of the best ingredients that can be included in our cooking for the sake of our family's health.
It is also used as a medicine for people suffering from low body temperatures (chilling in hand and feet), body pain, laziness, common cold (not fever) etc.
Basically people add brinjal or boiled egg or fish to this gravy.
But I am presenting the basic sukku kulambu.
My mom used to make this kulambu atleast once in a month during rainy season and I love it very much while my brothers keep a long face:). This is her recipe and may be passed on from many generations back.

Marunthu kulambu / Medicinal kulambu /Sukku kulambu/ Dry ginger gravy.



Ingredients:
Dry ginger - 1 piece (index finger length)
or Dry ginger powder - 2 tbsp
(soak the dry ginger in hot water for an hour before grinding. I used the ginger powder sold in Indian stores).
Shredded coconut - 1 tbsp (a must)

To roast and grind:
Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp
cumin - 1 tsp
fenugreek / methi seed - 1/2 tsp
fennel/ sombu - 1/2 tsp
mustard - 1/2 tsp
Black Pepper corn - 1 tbsp
curry leaf - 1 brig

To temper:
Black pepper corn - 1 tsp
curry leaf - few
Sesame oil - 1/4 cup

other ingredients:
Shallot Onion - 10
Garlic - 10 pods
Tamarind - 2 inch
Turmeric powder - a pinch
asafoetida / hing - a pinch
salt - to taste

Method:
1.Heat a wok without oil.Dry roast the given items till the curry leaf becomes crispy. Cool them.
Grind them along with soaked dry ginger and coconut into a fine paste with little water.

2.chop the skinned onion and garlic . keep them separately.
Extract juice from tamarind.

3.Heat oil in a wok.
Add the curry leaves and pepper. Pepper may crack, so carefully stand a few steps back:). After the curry leaf becomes crispy, add the onion , asafoetida and saute till the onion turns red.

4.Then add the garlic and saute for a while. Then add the tamarind extract, Turmeric powder, salt .

5.After the raw smell of tamarind goes , add the masala paste and cook covered in very low flame.
(In this stage , we can add brinjal / fish / egg. But I have made a plain sukku kulambu).

6.After the gravy becomes thick and oil starts showing up in the edges, put off the flame.
Sukku kulambu is ready!

Serving suggestions:
The kulambu will have a very mild bitter taste in the end, but that will change after one hour of settling time.
The above said quantity yielded me 16 oz/ 450 ml / 2 cup of kulambu approximately.
Good to go with plain cooked rice or chapathi / dosa / idly.
We can make some extra quantity and can be safely refrigerated for 1 week.
I love it with chapathi:)

Bottlegourd sambar

This is another variety of sambar prepared without sambar powder or Red chillies.It is something similar to my another post 'village paruppu kulambu'.Indian medicine prescribes people suffering from arthritis , menorrhagia and few other problems to avoid tamarind for a certain length of time (or) while taking Indian medicines .
But many of the Indian dishes are based on tamarind only. So our ancestors used to prepare these kind of curry (kulambu) as 'pathiya kulambu ' (meaning - the diet curry) without tamarind and spices. Many a times people have to sacrifice the sour taste completely to get cured in such cases. They never prefered tempering also:)
But my version is a tasty but mild sambar.


Bottle gourd Sambar / Surai kai Sambar / Surai kai puli Illatha sambar / Sambar without tamarind and red chilly



Ingredients:
Bottle gourd - 1 (350 gm)
Thoor dhal (Red gram)- 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Onion - 1
Green chilly - 5
Tomato - 2 (50 gms)
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
garlic - 3 pods
asafoetida - a pinch
Salt - to taste - 1 brig
curry leaf
Sesame oil - 2 tsp

Method:
1.Wash and clean the red gram (Toor dhal). Pressure cook the dhal with chopped onion, garlic, green chilly, Turmeric powder and asafoetida to 5 whistles.

2.Wash the bottle gourd. Slice it in to rounds. Remove the skin and chop them into small cubes. Add 2 cups of water and cook it covered.

3.Microwave the tomatoes with skin On. (Or)Put the tomatoes on boiling water.Remove the skin.
Mash the cooked tomatoes and add it to the cooked bottle gourd.

4.Mash the cooked dhal along with cumin seeds and add it to the cooked vegetables.
Add salt to taste.

5.Tempering:
Heat 1 tsp oil in a wok. Add 1/2 tsp mustard seeds. After it starts crackling add 1 brig curry leaves and a handful of chopped onion.
Fry real good , till you get a nice aroma and red color in the onions.
Run it over the cooked dhal + vegetables and bring to boil.
Immediately switch off the flame after it starts to boil.

Bottle gourd sambar is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Good to go with Idly , dosa, roti or on cooked rice.
Makes nearly 1 liter of sambar.
cooking time : 30 minutes.