Receipe 22: Vathakozhambu

I tried this almost 3 months back.. it came out pretty well except it turned out to be a bit too sweet. I tried it with sweet potatoes.. and when i added sugar..it turned out to be more sweet! sigh. I would not say it is very simple to make this. It requires some patience and calm mind :P and soon you will be conjurin' up delicious vathakozhambu..!

What you need?

Vegetables (Choose one from the list)

Sweet potatoes
Lady's Finger
Onion
Drum Stick
Red Pumpkin
Brinjal

If you go for either lady's finger or brinjal, you need to fry them before adding it to the vathakozhambu. For the rest of the vegetables, boil them and keep aside.

You also need-

Channa dal - 1/2 spoon
Urud dal - 1/2 spoon
Toor dal - 1/2 spoon
Tamarind - Lemon size
Mustard
Salt
Asofetida
Curry Leaves
Jaggery/Sugar
Corn flour/Rice flour
Red chillies - 3 or 4
Gingelly oil
Turmeric powder
Sambar powder

Le Method:

Don't forget to first cook the vegetable and have it ready. Next soak the tamarind in nice hot water for a few minutes. Since tamarind water is the main source for vathakozhambu, soak it in about 2 tumblers of water. Filter and keep the tamarind water aside.

Heat 4 or 5 teaspoons of oil in a kadai and add mustard, red chillies, asofetida and all the 3 dal's and fry them slightly till pale golden brown. It is safe to fry them in low flame. We don't want to crack burnt black dals in our mouth! Add the cooked vegetables to this mixture and start stirring.

Pour the tamarind water to the kadai. (Pour it in low flame, else you will land up choking and gasping for fresh air!).

Next, add some turmeric powder and one spoon of sambar powder to it. Also add curry leaves and salt taste and bring it to boil.

Note: If you feel that it is very 'liquidy', add some corn flour/rice flour to it. It will make it nice and thick.

As a last step, add a little jaggery/sugar. Do not add loads of it.. else you will land up with a sweet kozhambu.

Phew! We have made it!