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Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Eral Kathirikkai Murungakkai Kuzhambu (Prawns with Brinjal and Drumstick)



Since cleaning prawns is a tough job, I always buy prawns from the lady who brings on her head home. I buy from her for the past 20 years. She as a practice cleans the prawns and takes out the kudal i.e., a long black thread like thing from its stomach. If that is not taken out it will lead to stomach pain. After she cleans and goes, I will make sure that she has taken it out from all the prawns. This Sunday as it is holiday time the town looks deserted as many have gone to their native place and she could not sell her prawns fully. She compelled me to buy more and was telling different recipes. I always make the prawn curry which my younger one loves. So I have never thought about an alternate recipe and that too kuzhambu. She said make vadai adding surakkai. I said I don’t use surakkai. Then she said radish and a handful of prawns will make yummy gravy. The smell of radish also will make my younger one run away from the dining table. So I thought I will make kuzhambu using one brinjal and one drumstick with little small onions and garlic. She said that also will be good and managed to sell ½ kg more of prawns.


The taste of the kuzhambu has no words to describe. My husband who always tries to make fun of my cooking somehow couldn’t resist telling that the dish is one of the best that I have cooked. My younger one who is very choosy also fell for its taste and said if I write a blog on this she will be the first to write the comment as she has tasted it. There was not a drop of gravy left over after dinner.


Those who live abroad may find it difficult to get fresh drumstick. They can try with radish or brinjal alone. A handful of prawns are enough. 100 to 200 Gms of cleaned prawns will be enough.

Ingredients

Prawns-100 Gms (cleaned) more can be added if desired

Brinjal-1

Drumstick-1

Small onion-20

Tomato-1

Garlic-20 pods

Curry leaves-little

Sambar powder-2 teaspoons

Coriander powder-2 teaspoons

Turmeric powder-1/2 teaspoon

Tamarind-gooseberry size

Procedure

In a kadai in 2 teaspoons of gingerly oil or cooking oil season the gravy with a teaspoon of mustard seed and little vendayam and curry leaf. Sauté the chopped onions nicely then the garlic and finally the tomatoes. When they are sautéed well add the sambar powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder and sauté well. Now add the brinjals and sauté in medium fire for 5 minutes. Meanwhile in 2 cups of water mix the tamarind and the salt needed .Once the brinjals are sautéed well add the tamarind salt water. Reduce the flame once the gravy starts boiling. Add the drum stick also. Cook for 10 minutes in low fire. Make sure that the brinjals doesn’t get overcooked. If so reduce the cooking time. Now add the prawns and cook for 5 more minutes. Prawns do not need much time to cook. Let the gravy stay for at least 2 hours before serving for best taste.

The gravy should not be very watery. It should be like puli kuzhambu.

29 comments:

Solai Chidambaram said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

it was awesome.....the best dish i have ever had!!)luv u soo much mom!!!))))

kamatchi said...

Thank you very much for wonderful recipes achi,
Will try this kuzhambu this weekend.If I feel like eating some tasty chettinadu items immidiately I see ur blogs only.
Ur poondu chutney is realy superb...once again thank u achi

Devi said...

Yummy Recipe...

Cham said...

My mom does the kuzhambu aunty, though we don't pair with garlic & pearl onion- we do add a very little coconut paste.
I can see the prawns are small- can be added "raw" in masala vadai- the taste will be awesome and the vadais will be vanished!
Like ur daught comment :)

lavanya said...

Hi Aunty,
All the recipies by you are totally very practical and easy to make.. Previously i used to call my amma and ask for the recipe..Now i am getting all the recipies from your blog itself..Thanks a lot for sharing all the recipe secrets...You can also publish one book with all these recipies...

Madhumita Jena said...

I am from orissa, and we do cook prawns with Drum sticks and Ladies finger. We always have potatoes in the curry too :)

Revathi said...

Amma makes mullangi-yera kozhambu or even nookal-yera kozhambu. yummmyyyyy

Candida said...

Hi, I've used ur rasam powder recipe and i think it's fantastic. I have to say though, sometimes u leave out ingredients in the list, and i get surprised when i read through the method and find a new ing that was not on the list :-)) In this case, its the mustard and fenugreek seeds. can u let me know how much of each? Also u've mentioned 20 garlic pods!!! however ur picture shows about 11? I've cut up 20 pods, and i'm apprehensive coz it looks way too much. Please advise. Am cooking it today, so will leave another comment once cooked.

Solai Chidambaram said...

candida,I dont usually blog on the same day on which I cook.So sometimes I may forget how much nos i have used.But if there is difference in this dont worry use the qty shown in picture.that will be the one I would have used.Here after I will take care that both are the same.However excess garlic for this gravy will be good only.

Fathima said...

Oh It looks so tasty. My MIL prepares Karuvaattu Kulambu also like this. There will no left over rice on that day for night Kanji. Thank you for the time and effort you make in your posts. I tried the kovakka poriyal and the chicken Rasam. They both have become a regular feature in my House. I have one request . My friends Mother (their native is Natarasankottai Spell?)used to make a pulikuzhambu with fried pavakkai. It was heavenly with dosas with no bitterness. The pavakkai was fried. Du you have a recipe for that?

Wolverine said...

maam, im a malaysian and the moment i've stumbled upon your blog it was like a GODS blessing to see so much of variations in chettinad cooking and here i am...everyday trying each of your posted recipes.....tqvm

Indhu said...

My native is Devakkotai, my mom used to prepare this as the same way. It remains me my Mom. U r doing a good job. I used to visit your blog.

Revathi said...

i dont know what it is with mudaliyar cooking and chettinad & kongu naatu cooking. lots of similarities aachi. Amma makes this exact kozhambu. drooling

revathi

H.R. Puff-N-Stuff said...

This food looks... so amazing.
Gonna try some of these recipes!

Kavitha said...

Hi Aachi,
I am a silent follower of your blog.. Its been quiet sometime since you last posted.. Everything alright?
-Kavitha

Solai Chidambaram said...

Thankyou kavitha for ur kind enquiry.Everything is fine.Little bit busy as my younger one is in 12th grade.Busy in the sense that I have to cook and give her in the early hours of the day.So not able to take much time for cooking and taking snaps.Moreover my grandson and daughter have come. surely I will start blogging soon as I am flooded with enquiries of this sort.I love my readers concern on me.Thankyou.

Kavitha said...

Take your time aachi :)
Enjoy your time with loved ones ..

Shiny Vinod said...

Hello Aunty,

I was going to ask the same. Nice to know that your grandson is in India. You should post his pic. We would love to see him.

Shiny

Chitra said...

aunty first 1st of all thank u so much for all lovely recipes u have shared with us....i tried many of ur dishes and always it is a hit...my hubby loves it..i made this prawn curry last week it wa so tasty.... thx again and come back soon to blogging...

Seetha said...

Very good site aunty..

I too love cooking. I'm from Chettinad as well.

Do please visit my blog and give me your blessings.

https://seethaskitchen.blogspot.com

Jothi said...

Nice recipe... Thank you very much for your sharing...

Chandra Selvam said...

Hello Solai

I made aatu kaal soup the same way as your nenju elumbu soup. It turned out nice. Thank you for sharing your recipes.

Chris said...

hey sis made this dish yesterday.A nice twist made to the usual prawns gravy. Eventhou it tasted bit like pulikulambu, the gravy along with prawns was really good. As you said, the 2hrs cooling time really worked the magic in the dish. We all liked it.

Abhirami Muthu said...

Dear Achi,
I am so happy to discover your website. I love the simple easy to make recipes and the more complicated but authentic chettinad recipes even more, because they taste the best.
Thank you for your efforts.
Abhirami.

Shyam Sundar said...

Thank you for the receipe. I had almost clicked bulls eye with most of your receipe, but i cannot click the best with this one.Not sure where i got lost with this one.

1) I was not able to get much curry with the dish, how can increase the kulambu amout in this one.
2) Does adding too much of drum sticks(frozen) will do any bad to this dish.
3) Is there different variety of prawns that should be specially preffered for curries?
4) The curry was great. But i did not feel any prawn taste with the dish.

Thank you for the reciepes. I had stopped other blogs and just following your blog for a long time now.Thank you Shyam

Solai Chidambaram said...

Frozen drumstick is the one which is the spoil sport in reducing the flavor of prawns in the gravy.just use brinjal.increase the qty of onions and tomatoes and to that proportion the chilli powder and corriander powder.To be frank this curry will not give much gravy.it will be tasty if prepared like that only.Use small prawns for good flavor.Big ones will be tough and less in flavor.

Shalini Mahesh said...

hello solai amma....

I really i love ur blog like anything, always i use to refer multi blogs to find new tasty and different recipe. Always i have crush on chettinad items but non of my dishes came out well. I m also same as like ur daughter after marriage i m in US for long time. i m very happy to found your blog. Really i have no words to explain my happiness. Almost i have tried all of ur recipes till date.... everything came great and delicious.. even i got lots of appreciation from my husband too... Thanks a lot for the good work. Keep going amma....

Skl said...

Hello aunty,
We made this dish,it was so delicious,cooked the brinjals perfectly,came out very well,combination with prawns is awesome,we didn't get fresh drumsticks here,so added only brinjal,nice unique tangy hot gravy,thank you,skl