Almost any time you order a ‘full meal' at a Chennai restaurant, your meal is likely to include a whole bunch of gravies that you mix with piping-hot, steamed rice. While most visitors to Chennai will recognise sambar (especially given the popularity of dosa across India), there's one dish that's usually a tongue twister for most people who don't speak Tamil– the kuzhambu. It's the ‘zh' in the spelling that adds to the twist.
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Kuzhambu is almost an all-encompassing Tamil word to denote gravy. Almost every region and community in Tamil Nadu has its version of kuzhambu. For most Tamilians, it's soul food, a comfort meal if you're homesick and a Sunday treat in many homes. A sambar is usually made on a toor dal base, features a spice mix that includes sambar powder, and uses tamarind as a souring agent. A kuzhambu does not usually contain toor dal, uses tamarind and can be made with vegetables, fish or meat. While there are some versions of the kuzhambu that use lentils, it's mostly used as a seasoning and not as the base for the gravy like a sambar. A kuzhambu is usually more spicy and tangy than a sambar.
Recipe - Kongunadu Kozhi (Chicken) Kuzhambu
This flavourful kuzhambu from South-west Tamil Nadu works really well with rice or chapati.
Ingredients:
- 3 tbsp Oil
- ½ cup shallots
- 3 sprigs curry leaves
- 2 tomatoes (chopped)
- 1 tbsp turmeric
- ½ kg chicken with bone
- Salt (to taste)
For Masala paste :
- 1 pod garlic
- 1 inch of ginger
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds
- 1 inch cinnamon
- 2 cloves
- 3 tbsp poppy seeds
For Fried paste:
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp pepper
- ½ tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 3 dry red chillies
- 2 onions (chopped)
Method
- Grind all ingredients mentioned under masala paste with a little water and keep aside.
- Temper the pepper, cumin seeds, curry leaves, coriander seeds and dry red chillies with oil. Roast it for a minute on a medium flame. Add the onions and sauté until they are slightly brown.
- Transfer this fried masala to a mixer jar, add some warm water and grind to a smooth
- paste.
- Temper the curry leaves and the shallots and fry till the onions turn translucent. Add in the chopped tomatoes and turmeric, and fry till the tomatoes are mushy.
- Once the tomatoes are cooked well, add the ground masala paste. Add 3 cups of water. Now add in the chicken pieces with the bone. Reduce the flame to low and let it simmer on a low flame for 30 minutes. Stir it every 5-10 minutes. Finally, add in the salt. Serve it hot with steamed rice or roti.
Recipe - Chennai Meen Kuzhambu
Soul food, Chennai style. Try this with hot rice or idli.
Ingredients:
- 500 gm King fish
- 1 lime-sized ball of tamarind
- For the marinade: 1 tbsp chilli powder / 1 ½ tsp salt / 1 tsp lime juice
Spice Paste:
- 2 ½ tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp pepper corns
- 7 red chillies
- 25 gm garlic cloves
- 25 gm ginger
- 100 gm grated coconut
Tempering
- ½ cup sesame oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- ½ tsp fennel seeds
- 4 sprigs curry leaves removed from stalks
- 100 gm shallots
- 100 gm red tomatoes, chopped
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tsp salt or to taste
- ½ cup chopped coriander leaves
Method:
- Clean and wash the fish thoroughly with turmeric powder, and chop into cubes. Soak the
- Tamarind and extract juice after an hour.
- Drain the fish cubes, and marinate with chilli powder, salt and lime juice for an hour.
- Heat the oil in a kadai, and fry the cumin and coriander seeds, pepper corns and red chillies. When they change colour, add the garlic and ginger and fry for 2 minutes.
- Add grated coconut and remove from the fire. Cool and grind into a smooth paste.
- Heat the oil in a clay pot and temper with mustard and fennel seeds, and when they splutter, add the shallots and brown slightly. Add the tomatoes and sauté till they are soft. Mix in the spice paste, sauté for 2 minutes, add the turmeric powder, tamarind
- extract and salt, and let the mixture simmer for 15 minutes till the masala is well blended. Add a cup of water if the gravy is too thick.
- Add the fish pieces, and gently simmer for about 7 minutes or till the fish is cooked.
- Add coriander leaves and remove from heat, cover, and keep in a clay pot till serving time.
Recipe - Kara kuzhambu
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This vegetarian, spicy kuzhambu is delicious with dosa or rice.
Ingredients:
- 2 Onions chopped
- 1 Tomato chopped
- 1 tablespoon grated coconut:
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- Tamarind (size of 1 small lemon)
- 3 tsp Sambar powder
- 6 tsp Gingelly oil
- 2 tbsp Sundried vegetable (like Pea aubergine)
- ½ tsp asafoetida
- 1 tsp mustard
- 1 tsp fenugreek
- A few sprigs of curry leaves
Method:
- Sauté the onion, tomato, coconut, and garlic in about 2 teaspoons of oil and grind to a fine paste. Let it cool
- Extract tamarind juice and keep it aside.
- In a pan, add 4 teaspoons of oil and sauté the ground paste and sambar powder for a while.
- Pour tamarind syrup over the paste and boil till the raw smell of the syrup goes off
- and the paste blends well.
- In a separate pan, temper the sun-dried vegetables, asafoetida, mustard, and fenugreek
- seeds and curry leaves, and add it to the gravy.