Vathakozhumbu

Today I din't feel like cooking anything complex.Wanted to make something easy and simple and what can be more simple than "Vathalkozhumbu". I had few Okra's/Lady's finger and made this yummy dish.

The taste of this recipe completely depends on the Sambhar powder used.

Ingredients:

Tamarin - one big lemon size soaked in water and then extracted
Vegatable - (Okra/Onion is commonly used)- 1/2cup(chopped 1 inch)
Sesame Oil - 2tbsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp for seasoning
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4tsp
Curry leaves - few
Sambhar Powder - 1tbsp
Asafoetida/hing - a pinch
Salt - as per taste

Method -

1.In a kadai,heat oil and do the seasoning using mustard seeds,fenugreek seeds,curry leaves and asafoetida.
2.Add the chopped vegetable and saute it for a while.
3.Add the tamarin extract, sambhar powder,turmeric powder & salt
4.Allow it to boil till it gets thick.




Note - The key to this recipe is how well and how long the tamarin water is allowed to boil. Instead of vegetables, we can add "Appalams" (the ones which are fried).The raw appalams are broken into pieces and sauted jes like the way vegetables are done.A good amount of hing/asafoetida adds a great flavour to the dish.This is supposed to be spicy and to be eaten with hot rice.Instead of ghee try using sesame oil in the rice.Generally at home, this recipe is made oily which means add a lot of sesame oil, I try avoiding it.