This is yet another chettinad delicacy. No chettinad cookery index will be complete without this recipe. This dish is supposed to be very good and safe for health. This was very famous in chettinad those days mainly because it wont get spoiled even if not refrigerated (if properly cooked) and its taste increases the next day. The problem again in cooking this is the patience to be there with the dish for half an hour in the kitchen. But once you taste this you will realize that its taste is worth all the strain. So on a day you are free and relaxed try your hand on this. Rasam alone will be enough along with this to have a good meal. This will be yummy with curd rice also
Ingredients
Karunaikizhangu-5
Minced onion-1 cup
Green chillies-6
Lemon juice-1 lemon
Turmeric powder-1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Oil -2 table spoons
Procedure
Pressure cook the kizhangu for 10 minutes. Peel off the skin when cold. Smash it nicely without lumps. Add the lemon juice, salt and turmeric powder and mix well. In olden days tamarind pulp was used instead of lemon. But due to the bad effects of too much of tamarind, now a days it has been substituted with lemon juice. Some kizhangu will be scratchy and it will be itching for the tongue. Lemon juice or tamarind will remove that. Keep the kadai in the stove. In two table spoons of cooking oil season the curry with a teaspoon of mustard and broken urudh dhal and little curry leaf. Add the minced onion and splitted green chili and sauté for a while. Now add the smashed kizhangu and sauté for 5 minutes. After that add ½ cup of water and mix nicely without lumps. Reduce the flame and cook stirring in between .After sometime it will start catching the bottom of the kadai. From now on you have to be very careful and have to go on stirring. If it is catching too much add ½ spoon of oil and cook. A stage will come when the whole curry just floats in the kadai like halwa. It will be good if you can cook 5 more minutes even after that. The whole dish will turn little browny. Make sure that the fire is not too much and it does not get burnt. From my explanations don’t get scared. For the experts in the kitchen this preparation will be no matter. Whenever I write a recipe, I will take the cooking experience of my daughter only in my mind and will be giving too much of ideas and instructions. The more time and more thicker you cook the dish the more tasty the dish will be.