Milagu kuzhambu

This is a spicy and tangy sauce made with pepper and tamarind. This is a comfort food during winters and rainy season and kindles our taste buds post-fever.

Black peppers remove the toxins from our body and is called 'Visha kolli' in tamil meaning killer of toxins.

Ingredients:

Pepper--- 2 Table spoon

Dry red chilli --- 4 nos

Coriander seeds--- 1 tablespoon

Toor dal---- 1 spoon Optional ( this is added to thicken the kuzhambu)

Curry leaf --- 5-6 sprig

Tamarind juice extracted from 2 lemon sized balls

Mustard --- 1 tea spoon

Asafoetida -- ¼ teaspoon or its equivalent piece

Turmeric – a pinch

Gingelly oil --- 1 table spoon

( a piece of ginger and a tea spoon of cumin can be added if you desire. This is generally not added in milagu kuzhambu)

Method:

Roast toor dal, coriander seeds, dry red chilli, curry leaf and pepper in 2 tea spoons of gingelly oil and grind them. Add the ground paste to the tamarind pulp and mix in a pinch of turmeric and asafoetida. Dilute the mixture with a cup of water.

In a wok( preferably iron wok), splutter mustard seeds in 1 table spoon of gingelly oil. After it splutters, add the above tamarind and ground pepper mixture and bring it to a boil . (milagu kuzhambu in kal chatti)

Has a shelf life of two days outside refridgerator.

Mix it with hot rice and ghee/gingelly oil.