Kathirikai Kutta Kuzhambu | Brinjal Chickpeas Kuzhambu

I happen to see a Youtube video of Srirangam Radhu and got inspired by the name of Kathirikaai Kutta Kuzhambu. So I decided to prepare it. This is a Tanjore special dish. The reason for this attractive name is, this kuzhambu is a thick gravy and not like sambar or other kuzhambu varieties. Kutta means ‘Short’, that means the kuzhambu is thick and should be only 1/4th of its original water consistency. Also the main change in this kuzhambu when compared to others is that we fry the sambar powder nicely before we add the brinjal and tamarind. Very easy dish to prepare with all available ingredients. It tastes awesome when served with a teaspoon of gingelly oil and sutta appalam.

Like this Kathirikaai Kutta Kuzhambu, Ennai Kathirikaai kuzhambu is also one of the popular kuzhambu variety. In Ennai Kathirikaai Kuzhambu, we first prepare spice powder that we need to stuff inside the brinjal and then stir-fry the brinjal in oil. Here in this Kathirikaai kutta kuzhambu, we are not stuffing the brinjals. We are just stir-frying brinjal and add cooked whole and cook in tamarind water. This kuzhambu should be more thicker in consistency than our usual kuzhambu consistency.

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Kathirikaai Kutta Kuzhambu

Kathirikaai Kutta Kuzhambu is a Tanjore cuisine. This kuzhambu will be in thick consistency where the brinjal and chickpeas are cooked in tamarind water along with other spices. It tastes awesome when served with a teaspoon of gingelly oil and sutta appalam

250 grams Brinjal
1/4 cup Cooked Chick Peas (Frozen Chick Peas also can be used)
1 lemon size Tamarind
3 tsp Sambar Powder
1/2 tsp Coriander Powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 tsp Asafoetida (Asafetida / Hing)
1 tsp Grated Jaggery
1.5 tsp Salt (Adjust to your taste)

For Seasoning

1.5 tsp Gingelly Oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/2 tsp Split Bengal Gram (Channa Dal / Kadalaparuppu)
1 fistful Curry Leaves
1/2 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
1 Red Chili
1 tbsp Grated Coconut

Wash the brinjals and finely chop it and soak it in water. We need to immediately drop the chopped brinjals in water else it will turn black
Heat gingelly oil in a pan, and add mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds
When the mustard seeds starts to sputter, add channa dal, broken red chiili and fry till it becomes golden brown color
Now add the sambar powder and fry well
To this add coriander powder, turmeric powder and fry them all for atleast 5 minutes so that the raw smell of sambar powder and coriander powder goes off well. This is the main step
Add the curry leaves and fry this as well
After 5 minutes, add chopped brinjals and fry it in oil fully
Add the cooked chick peas and mix well
Now add the tamarind juice, hing and salt and stir well. Allow the tamarind mixture to boil well so that the raw smell of tamarind goes off. Keep the flame in medium-low and allow the mixture to boil.
The tamarind juice should reduce to 1/4 of its quantity to get a thicker gravy.
Meanwhile, in a separate pan, add 1 teaspoon of gingelly oil and add grated coconut
Fry it well till it turns golden brown color. Remove the fried coconut from flame
Add the fried coconut to the final kuzhambu and add grated jaggery and stir once and remove the kuzhambu from flame
The yummy Kathirikaai Kutta Kuzhambu is ready to serve with plain rice

Jaggery is optional, the main reason for adding is that it helps in raising the flavour of tamarind and spicy
While frying coconut we can add curry leaves which will add more flavour to the kuzhambu
I have used frozen chick peas. If you don’t get the frozen chick peas or if you don’t like it then you can use the fresh chick peas. In this case we have to soak the chick peas overnight and pressure cook till it becomes soft
Gingelly oil will have its own flavour. For those who don’t get gingelly oil outside India, then we can use Ghee instead of Sunflower oil

Method to prepare Kathirikaai Kutta Kuzhambu:

Wash the brinjals and finely chop it and soak it in water. We need to immediately drop the chopped brinjals in water else it will turn black

Heat gingelly oil in a pan, and add mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds

When the mustard seeds starts to sputter, add channa dal, broken red chiili and fry till it becomes golden brown color

Now add the sambar powder and fry well

To this add coriander powder, turmeric powder and fry them all for atleast 5 minutes so that the raw smell of sambar powder and coriander powder goes off well. This is the main step

Add the curry leaves and fry this as well

After 5 minutes, add chopped brinjals and fry it in oil fully

Add the cooked chick peas and mix well

Now add the tamarind juice, hing and salt and stir well. Allow the tamarind mixture to boil well so that the raw smell of tamarind goes off. Keep the flame in medium-low and allow the mixture to boil.