Iru Puli Kuzhambu

A medley of veggies in a spicy tangy gravy. Coconut base blends well with almost all veggies and highlights the taste of the dish. It is one of the quintessential ingredient in South Indian cooking, a part of our everyday cooking. This is one such dish and it literally translates to a dish  that is made with two tangy ingredients - "Tamarind and Buttermilk". An authentic dish from Thirunelveli in the southern part of India. It is similar to "Avial" in taste and pairs well with rice and a spicy dry veggie curry as a side. This is one best way to use up all the left over veggies in the fridge. 

This is for the Blogging Marathon 24 - Gravies from 3 different states. 

Iru Puli Kuzhambu Prep Time: 25 Mins Ingredients 3 cups veggies (1) 1/4 cup Sour curd To Grind 1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds 1/4 cup grated coconut 5-6 nos Red Chillies 1/2 Tbsp Split pigeon peas / Toor Dahl 1/2 Tbsp Tamarind paste To Tempering 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil (2) 1 tsp Mustard Seeds 1 stem Curry Leaves Instructions Chop the vegetables 1" length. Boil the vegetables in water with turmeric powder. You can also pressure cook them for one whistle if you don't have time. Do not over cook the veggies. They should be tender and in shape.  Meanwhile, Heat a pan over medium heat with 1 tsp oil and roast all the ingredients except the coconut mentioned under "To grind". Roast them each separately so that they don't get burnt. (3) Then grind these ingredients along with tamarind paste. Mix the ground paste in sour curd and keep it aside. Once the veggies are 3/4 th  cooked, add the sour curd and the paste and salt and let it boil for around 10 mins more.  Heat oil in another pan and add mustard seeds and once it pops, add curry leaves. Add the tempering to the prepared dish and serve. Serving Serve them with hot plain rice accompanied by any spicy veggies as a side. Note The vegetables used can be of your choice. Mostly carrot, beans, potato, drumstick, shallots are used. Chop them into big chunks, so that they do not get smashed in the gravy.  Coconut oil highlights the taste. You can also use the normal cooking oil but, if you have coconut oil then do use it.  Fenugreek gets burnt easily. Keep it on a medium low flame only for few seconds.