Keerai Kuzhambu/Amarnath leaves gravy (My home style)

How much ever delicious food we have elsewhere, all of us will always crave for a simple yet mouth watering home made food! I am sure all of you would agree with me. So next in the series of my home style cooking, I am sharing with you all keerai kuzhambu recipe (we call it keera pulla kootu at home). This can be made with any type of greens like ara keerai/siru keerai/mulaikeerai etc. I have used mulaikeerai ( thota koora in Telugu and amarnath leaves in English). Keeping in mind the loads of weddings to be attended in the coming weeks, myself and mom decided to keep it simple this weekend and trust me there can be nothing more satisfying than having such a simple and complete home made food along with your family! Happy weekend :)

INGREDIENTS:

• Any type of greens of your choice - 1 bunch (I used amarnath leaves/thota koora/mulaikeerai)
• Onion - 1 big, chopped
• Toor Dal - 1 cup
• Sambar powder - 2 Tbsp
• Red chilli powder - 1 Tsp
• Fenugreek powder - a generous pinch (methi/vendhayam/menthulu)
• Tamarind - gooseberry sized or Amchur/dry mango powder - 1 1/2 Tsp
• Green chillis - 2, slit
• Mustard seeds - 1 Tsp
• Fenugreek/methi seeds - 2-3
• Oil - 1 Tsp
• Salt - as needed

METHOD:

1. Soak tamarind in warm water for 15 minutes and then extract the juice. Keep aside
2. Wash the greens thoroughly and chop them. Boil them till the leaves soften
3. Pressure cook the dal with enough water for 1-2 whistles (you can also pressure cook it along with rice)
4. In a pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds and methi seeds. Once the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the slit green chillis and saute for a few seconds
5. Now add in the chopped onions and saute till they turn translucent
6. Next add all the spice powders - red chilli powder, sambar powder, methi powder and mix well
7. Add boiled greens, cooked dal, enough water and salt and mix well. Add the tamarind extract or add the amchur powder dissolved in 2 Tbsps of water 
8. Allow the gravy to boil (if you are adding tamarind extract, then it has boil for a longer time so that the raw smell of the tamarind goes off)
9. Remove from heat and serve hot with rice and any dry curry or pappad

Arachu vitta sambar (My home style)

The next 3-4 weekends are going to be really hectic to me, with loads of weddings and other family functions lined up. This also means that I would not get my usual relaxed weekend time to try out new and different recipes. But there is no stopping to my blog! Yes, I am going to squeeze in some time during the weekdays and post some interesting traditional recipes made at home, that have been passed on from my great grandmothers!! I feel this is also a good way in which I can save all these lovely recipes. The first in the series is Arachu vitta sambar. This is the most regularly made sambar recipe at home. We do not use any sambar powder (in fact mom doesn't even store any sambar powder in our kitchen) it is always freshly roasted and ground spices that add flavor to this authentic sambar.

INGREDIENTS:

• Any vegetables of your choice(carrot, capsicum, potato, pumpkin, drumstick, radish etc are generally used) - cut into cubes - 2 cups
• Grated Coconut - 3 Tbsp
• Toor Dal - 1/3 cup
• Tamarind - small gooseberry sized
• Salt - as needed
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 Tsp
• Jaggery - 1/2 Tsp
• Oil - 1 Tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 Tsp
• Curry leaves - a few

To roast and grind:

• Red chillis - 6 - 7
• Asafoetida - 1 small piece
• Cinnamon - 1/2" stick
• Coriander seeds - 1/4 cup
• Fenugreek (vendhayam/methi) seeds - 1/4 Tsp
• Split bengal gram (Kadalai paruppu/chenna dal/senaga pappu) - 1 Tbsp
• Poppy seeds (gasa gasa) - 1-2 Tsp, optional

METHOD:

1. Wash and soak toor dal for 15 minutes
2. Soak tamarind in warm water for 15 minutes and then extract the juice. Keep aside
3. Heat a Tsp of oil in a pan and roast all the ingredients except poppy seeds, under the "To roast and grind" list. Switch of the flame and add poppy seeds (if adding) in the last and give it a toss. Cool them for a while and grind into a coarse powder
4. Add grated coconut to the powder and grind into a smooth paste along with water
5. Boil the vegetables and dal (You can pressure cook them together)
6. Mash the cooked dal
7. Take a heavy bottomed kadai and add the boiled vegetables and tamarind juice along with water. Add salt, turmeric powder and boil till the raw smell of tamarind goes (Off late we are not using a lot of tamarind in our cooking at home and hence the tamarind juice is replaced with 1 heaped Tsp of dry mango powder or amchur powder mixed with water. You can also use readymade tamarind paste)
8. Add cooked and mashed dal, ground paste, jaggery and water as needed and allow it to boil
9. Temper with mustard seeds and curry leaves
10. Serve hot with rice and any dry curry or pappad! This also goes well with idli and dosa :)