Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu

Paruppu urundai kuzhambu is a tangy and spicy traditional kuzhambu variety which is a variation to the regular sambar. This is one of the trademark recipes of my mother-in-law. In this recipe, dals are soaked and ground to a coarse paste and made as balls and cooked in tamarind based gravy. This is a perfect accompaniment for rice and does not require any side dish. There are many variations to this recipe in terms of the ingredients. The recipe given below is the simplest one with minimal ingredients and effort.

Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu Recipe

Serves  :  3 - 4 people

Ingredients

For the urundai/balls ( Makes 16 medium sized balls)

• Toor dal  -  1/2 cup
• Channa dal  -  1/2 cup
• Asafoetida  -  2 generous pinches
• Onion  -  1 big sized or 2 medium sized
• Red chilly  -  5 ( I used long variety)
• Salt  -  as required for the urundai
• Coriander leaves  -  few, finely chopped

For the gravy

• Tamarind   -  small lemon sized
• Sambar powder  -  1 tbsp
• Turmeric powder  -  1/2 tsp
• Red chilly powder  -  1/2 tsp
• Salt  -  as required
• Asafoetida  -  2 generous pinches
• Rice flour  -  1 tsp
• Curry leaves  -  1/2 a handful

For tempering

• Gingelly oil  -  1 tbsp
• Mustard  -  1 tsp
• Fenugreek seeds  -  1/2 tsp
• Red chilly  -  2
• Asafoetida  -  a generous pinch

Method

1. Wash and soak both the dals together for 2 hours.
2. Soak tamarind in water for 20 to 30 minutes and extract the juice and discard the pulp. My total juice along with the pulp and additional water added came to 5 1/2 cups.
3. After 2 hours, drain the water completely from the dals and grind it to a coarse paste along with red chillies without adding water.
4. Add salt, asafoetida, finely chopped onion and coriander leaves to this ground paste and mix well.
5. Make small balls out of this.
6. Steam this balls in a steamer for 8 to 10 minutes or until a fork inserted comes out clean. I used my idli plates to do this
7. Take a kadai, add the tamarind extract, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, sambar powder and needed salt and mix well. Allow this gravy to boil well in medium flame till the raw smell completely goes off.
8. Once the gravy has boiled well and reduced in content, add the steamed balls one by one.
9. Mix rice flour with little water and make a paste without lumps. Add this to the kuzhambu. The rice flour paste is added to thicken the gravy and blend the urundais well with the gravy.
10. Add curry leaves and mix gently. Let the kuzhambu boil in medium flame for some more time.
11. Switch off the stove and transfer to the serving bowl.
12. In the same pan or in a small tadka pan, heat oil and once heated add mustard, fenugreek seeds, red chilly and asafoetida. Once they splutter, add this tempering to the kuzhambu.
13. Serve the kuzhambu with hot rice. Though this kuzhambu does not require any side dish, you can serve along with vadam/appalam.

Notes

• Use gingelly oil only for best flavour. 
• I have used equal amount of channa dal and toor dal. But you can reduce the amount of channa dal and add more of toor dal also.
• Add enough water to the tamarind extract as the balls need to be soaked and cooked.
• Some people also cook the balls directly in the gravy instead of steaming and adding. But we have been always following this method of steaming the balls and adding to the boiling gravy.
• You can also saute the ground dal paste in oil before steaming. If doing so, heat little oil, temper with mustard and add the ground paste and saute well. Once done, steam them and proceed.

Enjoy this tangy and spicy kuzhambu with hot rice.