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| Karuveppilai Kuzhambu/Curry leaves Gravy! |
Curry leaves is packed with Vitamins,
minerals and anti-oxidants, which aids digestion, gives better eyesight,
prevents premature greying of hair, helps hair growth and many more..
We should consume it more often, so I
always try to find different ways of including it in our diet. This is a traditional recipe, which is widely
cooked by Achis. I try to make it less
oily.
Whenever, mom finds no vegetable, she
would head straight to the garden,(yes, we had a lovely small garden in our
backyard, which had curry leaves tree, lemon tree, hibiscus and few more
plants) pick stalks of curry leaves and make this gravy. So it’s a ‘rare’ dish,
not cooked often. Her recipe is the most
delicious one, which I feel I can never reproduce.
Ingredients:
Curry leaves – 2 Cups
Garlic cloves (finely chopped) – 6 to 8
Small Onion (finely chopped) – 12
Large ripe Tomato (pureed) – 1
Tamarind Extract - 2 tbsp.
Salt – to taste
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| Karuvepeeilai/Curry leaves! |
Masala:
Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp.
Coriander seeds – 1 tsp.
Black Pepper - 1 tsp. (optional)
Long grain rice – 1 tsp.
Dried red chilli – 3 to 4
Grated Coconut – 2 tsp. (optional)
Dry roast the above spices, except coconut
for 1 minute, let it cool. Grind
everything together with coconut and curry leaves, with little water. Set aside.
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp.
Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp.
Oil – 2 tbsp.
Method:
In a Kadai or deep pan, pour oil and
do the tempering. Stir in finely chopped
garlic, followed by small onion. Sauté
for few minutes, now add the tomato puree and cook for 2 more minutes. (can add finely chopped tomato as well, but sauté well). Combine the ground masala, tamarind extract
and ½ a cup of water. Add enough salt and simmer for about 10 minutes until
everything blends together. The oil would
start floating on the surface and the gravy would have thickened by this time. The gravy is ready to serve with hot rice,
Idli or Uthappam. Nutritious, yet very
delicious gravy is suitable even for children, since it’s less spicy. However, you can add ghee or gingelly oil before you feed the children.
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Curry leaves gravy with Soft Idlis!
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