South Indian
Puli Kuzhambu (Tamil Nadu Tangy Tamarind Curry)
Puli Kuzhambu (Tamil Nadu Tangy Tamarind Curry) is South Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup tamarind pulp (soaked and strained)
- 2 cups vegetable (drumstick, brinjal, or okra)
- 12 pearl onions
- 6 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp puli kuzhambu powder (or sambar powder)
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 3 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 2 dried red chilies
- 15 curry leaves
- 1 tsp jaggery
- 1 tsp salt
How to cook it
- Heat the sesame oil in a heavy pan and pop the mustard seeds with the fenugreek seeds, dried red chilies, and curry leaves.
- Add the pearl onions and garlic and fry until lightly golden, then stir in the vegetable and cook for 3 minutes.
- Pour in the tamarind pulp, puli kuzhambu powder, turmeric, jaggery, and salt, along with enough water to just cover the vegetables.
- Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the oil starts to separate at the edges and the curry thickens, about 20 minutes.
- Let it rest for a few minutes before serving; puli kuzhambu tastes even better the next day, mixed into hot rice.
Serve it with
A South Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Puli Kuzhambu (Tamil Nadu Tangy Tamarind Curry), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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What it is eaten with
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The sharp little thing
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Something cool and fresh
A course labelled with another kitchen's name comes from a cuisine in the same family, which is where this plate usually borrows it from.
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand, so the absences below are as deliberate as the presences. Puli Kuzhambu (Tamil Nadu Tangy Tamarind Curry) carries sesame. It is free of the remaining 9 allergens on that list.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | No | |
| Gluten | No | |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | No | |
| Sesame | Yes | Adai (Tamil Nadu Multi-Lentil Dosa) |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Moderate
- Protein
- Low
- Food groups it covers
- Vegetables
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Puli Kuzhambu (Tamil Nadu Tangy Tamarind Curry) takes about 35 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
Watch someone make it
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More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on tamarind, sesame oil, and drumstick.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from South India.
Does the same job on the plate
Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.