Saturday, November 26, 2011

Karuveppilai kuzhambu ready mix powder


I usually make a few 'almost ready to eat' type of dishes for my husband whenever I travel. He finds it hard to eat out every meal. Earlier he may not have wanted to cook for himself, but lately he is happy to have rice with a simple rasam or upma and such. My refrigerator door will be filled with 'post it strips- instructions' for him. I partly cook some dishes and freeze in individual packs like stuffed parathas, roast the vermicelli, onions and microwave the vegetables and so on.

Likewise my mother and one of my aunts have lot more 'pack and carry to wherever you live' ideas for us. For instance, I find it hard to buy fresh curry leaves off the grocer sometimes. My mother's garden has an abundant supply that people in our street just walk in and take bunches for their needs.

Amma would pluck them, clean and dry in shade for me to pack with my other groceries. I store that in bottles and use them. Though this might not match the taste of fresh leaves' they are good enough. The Egyptians will store mint in a similar fashion. Hence my pantry stocks up such leaves too, and my deep freezer will always have a supply of few cut and boiled vegetables for emergencies.

When my daughter started her own cooking in the university, along with rasam powder, paruppu podi etc., my sister's mother-in-law prepared this kuzhambu podi also. It is so easy to make karuveppilai kuzhambu with this powder; just mix in warm water and bring to a boil with some oil added in the start of the process and the kuzhambu is ready to eat.

That recipe is what I am sharing here. The regular recipe for making karuveppilai kuzhambu with fresh curry leaves and spices can be read in an earlier post.

This makes about 200 ml powder which might last a while for you only need two teaspoons for one cup (200ml) of water which will boil and reduce to about 170ml kuzhambu.

Ingredients:
2 cups Fresh curry leaves
100 -120 grams Urad dhal
50 grams Thoor dhal
15 Dry red chillis
1 tablespoon Black pepper corns
2 teaspoons Cumin seeds
1 big lemon size ball of Tamarind
3 teaspoons Sea salt (if using table salt, adjust accordingly)
1 teaspoon Asafoetida powder
1 teaspoon Turmeric powder
1 tablespoon powdered Jaggery
2 teaspoons Oil

Method:
Dry roast separately the two dhals until golden in colour and an aroma wafts from the roasting.
In the hot pan add the salt and roast it until very warm. Tear the tamarind in small bits and toss it n the same pan with the salt for about 5-7 minutes.
Heat the oil and roast the red chillis, pepper and cumin.
Remove these and add to the roasted dhals and the other roasted ingredients.
On a low flame, toss the curry leaves until they wilt and become brittle.
Allow all the roasted ingredients to cool.
Transfer the ingredients, saving the curry leaves and the jaggery to the bowl of the spice grinder and pulse until they are coarsely powdered.
Add the curry leaves and grind further until a fine powder is achieved.
Finally mix the jaggery in this.
Cool well and store in clean glass jars.





To prepare kuzhambu:
In one cup of very warm water dissolve two teaspoons of the powder and mix well without lumps.
Heat 2 tablespoons of gingely oil in a pan. Add some mustard seeds and allow to crackle.



Pour the above mix and cook until the mixture boils and simmer for a further few minutes.
Serve with hot steamed rice, dosais or arisi upma kohukkattai and paruppu adai.

I made this now because I am on a longer holiday with my daughter and my husband gets back to work in order to accommodate his colleagues who are heading home for Christmas.

22 comments:

  1. I am getting the strong aroma here.I am sure the karuvepallai kuzhambu with this podi will taste heavenly.thanks Lata for sharing.
    indu srinivasan

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  2. I love karuvepilai kuzhambu and thsi make ahead version sounds really good since I hate spending long hours in the kitchen everyday.

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  3. I heard lot about this kuzhambu not tried yet. sure I will try

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  4. Lata, I love this! I have no idea what this would taste like, but it is so simple and low calorie AND nutritious, because has no added gunk!
    Any idea if we can do something with moringa plant leaves? My moringa tree gives flowers, but NO fruits! I would love to harvest a few leaves and use them, before winter completely kills my tree! Then of-course, it resurrects in the late Spring and come summer if back to life!

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  5. I love the idea of stocking such dishes for a quick meal. Perfect for a lazy day:)

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  6. This is a nice idea,I make karuveppilai kuzhambu only if I have lots of them. This is nice way to preserve and make anytime!

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  7. REady-mix powder are really handy!!!! I have tried only karivepillai podi!! Kuzhambhu paarkave tempting-a iruku!!!! Must try, Bookmarking it!!!

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  8. Its is handy to keep these powders at home and it also minimises our work. Good job

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  9. flavourful healthy and yummy podi

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  10. Wow! a different idea for making karuvepilai kuzhambu... Sure, would like to give a try..Lovely aroma too!

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  11. I make this kuzhambu by grinding leaves alone. sure this is a nice idea of making powder . we can make it instantly :)

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  12. This is very new to me. Love the flavor of curry leaves!

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  13. I have not come across karuveppila kuzhambu so far, but I can imagine how good this must smell.

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  14. Quite handy to store this sort of ready mix, kuzhambu looks fabulous and definitely aromatic.

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  15. Love love love this podi, looks so interesting and very healthy too ! Am so going to make this when I get a lot of curry leaves :-)

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  16. Yummy , handy recipe. will surey try this.

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  17. Thats a great recipe. This powder works so well for me where I dont have access to fresh curry leaves on a regular basis.

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  18. HI latha,

    thanks for the recipe. I will prepare this powder and send to my son (University). can you please post ready rasam paste?

    thanks a lot again.

    vijji

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  19. MY patti similar kind of podi,I luv karuveppilai puli kulambu ,recently i made it for blogger meet(U missed it)..Its an much appreciated dish...Instant Mix is really helpful in busy cooking hours..

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Hello,
Welcome and thank you for taking time to drop by.
I appreciate your valuable comments and tips.
I sincerely hope to improve with them.
Hope we shall interact often.
Thanks once again,
Lata Raja.