Drumstick curry ~ Murungakkai puli kuzhambu

I love to cook drumstick as often as possible. Wherever i stayed, the home had an drumstick tree. be it my grandparents place or at our village home or at my mom's place or at my boarding hostel and even in the apartment i am in now. It is said that, the drumsticks taste better, when the tree gets good groundwater. unfortunately drumsticks in our apartment do not taste good. we mostly buy out. I like drumstick leaves dal and drumstick sambhar much than this curry! 

Very recently, i learned to make authentic vathakuzhambu, and this murungakkai kuzhambu recipe is the same recipe of vathakuzhambu. i have tried this recipe quite a lot of times and it always came out so good. absolutely this is a finger-licking curry. If you miss your home, then you must definitely try this curry. 

                        

serves - 2
Ingredients:

Drumstick - 1
Shallots / small onions - 8 or 12
Garlic - 8 cloves
Sambhar powder - 2 tsp's
Tamarind - a small lemon sized
Jaggery - a very tiny bit (optional)
Salt to taste

For tempering:

Sesame oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard - 1/4 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Small dry red chilly - 2
Tuvar dal - 1/2 tsp
Hing - 1 tsp

Method:

Chop the drumsticks into finger size pieces. cook the drumsticks in a cup of water for about 5-7 minutes. it always takes 10-15 mins to cook drumsticks. you can also microwave on very high for about 10 mins.

While the drumsticks get cooked, peel the shallots and garlic and set aside. Heat 1/4 cup of water in small cup and soak the tamarind in hot water for about 10 mins at least. then squeeze the tamarind out and set the the thick tamarind extract aside.

Heat a thick bottomed pan, add sesame oil, add mustard and let it pop, then add fenugreek, tuvar dal, dry red chilly, hing and curry leaves, saute them all for a second.

Now add in the garlic and shallots, fry them all, till they are almost cooked. it may take at least 2-3 minutes. once the shallots are cooked, add in the sambhar powder and roast the powder for at least a minute, till the raw smell goes off. then add the tamarind extract to the pan and stir well. finally add the cooked drumstick along with the water cooked and mix well. add salt to taste. add 1/4 cup of water and mix well. if preferred add a tiny bit of jaggery and mix.

Let the curry boil for about 5 minutes, till it thickens. put the curry in slow flame with the pan open, let the curry boil for another 3- 5 minutes.  remove the curry from flame and transfer to serving bowl.

Serve hot with Rice or Idly or Dosa.

Today's meal- murungakkai puli kuzhambu, pattani sundal and garlic rasam

Notes:

The trick in getting the perfect tasty kuzhambu is in roasting the sambhar powder for a minute.
Adding 2 or 3 tsp's of sambhar powder makes the curry spicy and also thick.

and you know what, i finally managed to differentiate between kaara kuzhambu and puli kuzhambu and vatha kuzhambu!!