Kathirikai Kara Kuzhambu (Spicy Brinjal Curry)

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I have made this curry many times since Ramya posted and as it has become my family favourite esp hubby demands this whenever we get brinjals. As my colleagues requested to post stepwise I kept postphoning and finally found some time to cook and click :) I followed her recipe to the dot with very minor modifications.

Kathirikai Kara Kuzhambu (Spicy Brinjal Curry) Recipe
Recipe Source : Ramya Cooks

Ingredients:

• Brinjals - 6 to 7
• Small onions - 5
• Lemon sized tamarind - 1
• Turmeric powder - a generous pinch
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 2 tbsp

To roast and grind to a paste:

• Tomato - 1 medium sized chopped
• Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup
• Jeera - 1/4 tsp
• Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
• Whole black pepper - 1/4 tsp
• Urad dhal- 3/4 tsp
• Channa dhal - 3/4 tsp
• Dry red chillies - 5

To temper:

• Vadagam(the one used for tempering) / Urad Dhal - 1 tsp
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Curry leaves - few
• Black mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Dry red chillies - 2

Method:

First dry roast all the ingredients under 'to roast and grind' section till golden brown and tomatoes turn slightly mushy and raw smell leaves. Soak tamarind in water for few mins and extract thick pulp out of it.Keep aside.

Grind the roasted ingredients to a fine paste, set aside. Put a '+' mark in the brinjals with a knife and fill in the brinjals with the paste(Reserve the remaining paste.). Stuff all the brinjals and keep aside. Now heat a kadai with oil add onions, turmeric powder and saute till onions turn slightly browned.

Now add the stuffed brinjals and saute until it shrinks. Then add the remaining paste and saute for 2mins. Now add 1.5 cups of water, required salt and simmer.

Keeping lid closed and Cook until the brinjals are half cooked. Now add the tamarind extract and keep in simmer until the curry starts thickening.


It will thicken up to a kuzhambu consisency and oil will start floating... at this stage switch off and transfer to serving bowl. In a kadai, add the items under 'to temper' and add the tempering to the kuzhambu

My Notes:

• Adding the tempering at the last stage gives a strong unique flavouring so dont skip this.
• Adjust red chillies according to your spice level.
• If you dont have vadagam for tempering thenreplace it with urad dhal but still vadagam gives a nice flavour to this curry so I prefer adding it.

This is a spicy curry which is apt with hot steamed rice. This is another take for ena kathrikai kulambu and we all loved it.