Milagu Kozhambu

Ingredients:

1. Urad dal - 5 tsp.
2. Pepper - 2 tsp.
3. Red chillies - 3
4. Curry leaves - a lot ( around 30-40 leaves)
5. Asafoetida - 1/2 inch piece
6. Tamarind pulp - 1 cup 
7. Salt - to taste
8. Jaggery - a small pinch ( optional)
9. Oil - 3 tsp.
10. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp.

Procedure:

1. In 2 tsp. of oil, roast asafoetida, pepper and red chilies. Keep them aside. In the same oil, roast urad dal till it turns slightly reddish and keep it aside. Now roast the curry leaves in the remaining traces of oil. Grind them all together.
2. In a kadai, heat a tsp. of oil and season with mustard seeds.
3. Add tamarind pulp and boil till the raw smell of tamarind is gone.
4. Add salt and the ground masala.
5. Boil for 5-10 minutes till the gravy thickens. Add a pinch of jaggery to neutralise the spicy taste.

This kozhambu can be stored for upto a week in the fridge like Vattal Kozhambu.

This tastes good when eaten with paruppu sadam. Add a tbsp. of this as a side-dish for dal rice or just plain white rice with ghee/gingelly oil.

In case you need some cultural introduction to Milagu Kozhambu and do not know how much of  it must be consumed, here is a bit of caution: Since this is quite spicy, make sure you add the kozhambu in a moderate quantity and not pour it into rice like rasam :P

Once I had made this kozhambu and kept in the fridge and my m-i-l thought it was ordinary "saaru" and poured a huge amount into rice. And the rest is history. So be careful!

Vattal Kozhambu

Vattal means dried food. This kozhambu called so because it is not generally made with fresh vegetables, but with dried vegetables, usually, dried manathakkali or sundakkai, but in rare cases it is prepared with other vattal like lady's finger vattal also.
Kozhambu can also be made with fresh onions or fresh lady's finger or methi leaves. For the fresh vegetable version of this Kozhambu refer to Vendhaya Keerai Kozhambu. That recipe differs from this slightly, although both recipes can be used interchangeably.
This is Paatti's version of Vattal Kozhambu.

Ingredients:

1. Manathakkali (Black Nighshade) or Sundakkai (Turkey Berry) Vattal (dried form) - 2 tsp.
2. Tamarind pulp - 1 cup
3. Asafoetida - 1 inch piece
4. Urad dal - 2 tsp.
5. Methi seeds - 1 tsp.
6. Curry leaves - 2-3 sprigs.
7. Coriander seeds - 1 tsp.
8. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp.
9. Toor Dal - 1 tsp.
10. Red chillies - 2 (optional)
11. Gingelly oil - 1 tbsp.
12. Salt - to taste

Procedure:

1. Dry roast Methi seeds. Roast Urad Dal, Hing, Dhania and Curry leaves in 1 tsp. of oil. Grind them all together to make the powdered masala.
2. Heat oil in a kadai. Season with mustard seeds,. When the mustard splutters add toor dal and fry lightly till toor dal starts turning reddish. 
3. Add the vattal and roast till the aroma emanates. Add one or two red chillies if you like a little extra spice.
4. Add tamarind pulp and the masala powder and boil till the raw smell of tamarind is gone.
5. Add salt as required and boil for 3-5 minutes or till the gravy thickens.
6. Switch off the flame.
7. Serve with hot rice with a spoon of gingelly oil and sutta appalam (roasted rice papad).

Vendhaya Keerai Kozhambu

Ingredients:

1. Methi leaves - 2 cups (cleaned and chopped)
2. Tamarind - size of a lemon
3. Solid asafoetida - 1/2 inch piece
4. Red chillies - 2 or 3
5. Sambhar powder - 2 tsp.
6. Oil - 3 tsp.
7. Mustard - 1 tsp.
8. Corn flour - 1 tsp. (optional)
9. Jaggery - 1/2 inch piece (optional)
10. Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Soak tamarind in one cup of water and extract the pulp.
2. In a kadai, heat oil and add mustard.
3. When the mustard splutters, add asafoetida, red chillies and the methi leaves and saute for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the tamarind pulp.
5. Add sambhar powder,salt and bring to a boil.
6. Keep boiling for around 5-10 minutes on a low flame.
7. Add corn flour or rice flour to very little water and make a light paste. Add this to the boiling gravy to thicken it. If you do not want the gravy to be thick, you can skip this step. Also you can add a small piece of jaggery if you like it.
8. Remove from flame and serve with hot rice and ghee/gingelly oil.

The same procedure can be used for Kozhambu with other vegetables. Replace methi leaves with thinly sliced onions, whole shallots, lady's fingers cut into 1 inch pieces or brinjals diced into 1 inch cubes. Add some methi seeds and curry leaves to the seasoning in this case.

Since this kozhambu does not use coconut or dal, it can be stored for upto a week when stored in the fridge.