Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu

Originally Posted 17th July 2006

Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu
This is my mother's delicious recipe...
Guess this is the south-indian take on koftas and I must say this is much healthier since the balls of thuvar dhal are steamed (not fried) and this dish is protein rich.

For the Urundais

1/2 cup Thuvar dhal (soak for 2 hours)
2-3 dried red chillies
a big pinch of asafoetida
1 clove garlic
1/3 onion chopped
few curry leaves chopped
1/2 inch piece ginger chopped
Salt

To Grind

1/3 cup coconut shredded
1/4 tsp sombu
1/4 tsp jeera
1 small onion (shallot)

For the Kuzhambu (gravy)

Lime sized piece of tamarind - soaked and juice extracted
1 tsp Chilli poweder
3 tsp Coriander powder
1/4 onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
Salt to taste
2 tsp oil, mustard seeds and split urad seeds, jeera, curry leaves

Method

1. For the urundais, grind coarsely the soaked, drained thuvar dhal, red chillies, 1 clove of garlic, asafoetida and salt. It should not be a fine paste and no water should be added or the balls will become hard.
2. To this, add the chopped onion, ginger and curry leaves.
3. Shape this into small balls loosely (around 1.5 inches diameter) - Do not press too hard to make balls.
4. Steam them in an idli cooker for around 7-10 mins.
5. Grind to a fine paste the coconut, sombu and jeera and shallot
6. In a deep pan, add oil, mustard, urad seeds, jeera. Once the mustard splutters, add curry leaves, chopped onion and garlic.
7. Add the chili and coriander powders and saute for a few more mins.
8. Add the tamarind extract, salt and allow to boil well with sufficient water.
9. Then, add the ground coconut mixture and allow to boil.
10. Add the urundais and allow to cook for some more time (about 5 mins or so) and it's ready to serve with rice.