Poondu Kuzhambu/Garlic Curry

This thick, tangy and spicy curry is best with steaming hot rice..Once in a month Appa used to take us to movies during weekend..Mostly we watch a morning show movie in either of these theatres PVT,Ram/Muthuram,Poornakala and then to have full meals at Hotel Bharani or Vasantham. They serve the best karakuzhambu/poondu kuzhambu..I love hotel style Karakuzhambu..The quality of food,quantity,taste and an overall experience is far better than ‘so called’ popular restaurant chains like HSB or Sangeetha or A2B..

I keep trying different combination of ingredients & different recipes..There are so much more you could do with humble Onion, Garlic and other basic Indian spices.

Coming back to the recipe you need 2 whole fresh cloves of garlic. It is better to prepare this curry in sesame oil/nallaennai. However if you don’t have this in stock then replace it with your usual cooking oil. Last saturday I prepared this curry along with some arbi roast curry leaf rice. Will try to link those recipes too.

Print Recipe

Poondu Kuzhambu/Garlic Curry

Course

lunch

Cuisine

tamil

Prep Time

10 minutes

Cook Time

30 minutes

Servings

cups

Ingredients

To Roast and Grind :

• 10 Shallots
• 1 tomato
• 3 red chillies
• 1/2 tsp Saunf
• 1/2 tsp Coriander Seeds
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 cup coconut

Remaining ingredients :

• 2 cups tamarind Thick pulp
• 12-16 Garlic pods
• 1 onion
• 1 Dried red chili
• 1/4 tbsp Methi Seeds
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tbsp Mustard Seeds
• 1/2 tsp Hing
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 cup curry leaves

Course lunch Cuisine tamil Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 30 minutes Servings cups Ingredients To Roast and Grind : 10 Shallots 1 tomato 3 red chillies 1/2 tsp Saunf 1/2 tsp Coriander Seeds 1/2 tsp black pepper 1/4 cup coconut Remaining ingredients : 2 cups tamarind Thick pulp 12-16 Garlic pods 1 onion 1 Dried red chili 1/4 tbsp Methi Seeds 1 tbsp sesame oil 1/2 tbsp Mustard Seeds 1/2 tsp Hing 1/4 tsp turmeric 1/4 cup curry leaves

Instructions

1. Roast the ingredients mentioned under 'roast grind' in a tsp of oil and grind them to smooth paste.
2. Heat sesame oil in a kadai.
3. Add mustard, methi seeds, curry leaves, dried red chili one by one.
4. Let them splutter.
5. Now add sliced onion, garlic pods to the kadai and keep sauteing for about two minutes. (Adding an extra sliced onion is to give extra crunch to the kuzhambu, if you would like to just add garlic alone it is fine, you can skip adding onions :-))
6. Once the raw smell of garlic,onion starts to reduce add the tamarind pulp to kadai.
7. Add turmeric, salt, hing and let the whole mixture boil for about 10-12 minutes.
8. Once the gravy starts thickening remove from stove and serve it along with rice.
9. The gravy will stay good for until 2 days. You can use it as a sidedish to dosa or idli too.