Kara kuzhambu recipe with brinjal and drumstick is a classic recipe with the combo made for each other. Let's see how to make this flavorful kara kulambu.

If you ask which is the best combo of vegetables for making kara kuzhambu means I would say its brinjal and drumstick.
Both the veggies goes well with even sambar and same applies for kara kuzhambu too.
I make this basic kuzhambu and make with other veggies like ladies finger and even Paruppu urundai kuzhambu.
Love it a lot and this tastes great with rice, sesame oil/ ghee or even tastes good with dosa. I make usually the no-coconut kuzhambu like this, but make this occasionally when I have coconut in stock.
Method
- Chop 1 onion roughly and other onion and tomato finely. Peel the garlic. Extract the tamarind juice. Heat kadai with oil and temper with the items given under ‘to temper’ table in order. Add garlic and onion and fry till transparent. After that, add tomatoes and fry till soft.
- Pour the tamarind extract and enough water, salt, turmeric, sambar powder. Add drumstick cut into desired size. Let it boil for 4 minutes. Then add brinjal and bring to boil. Grind coconut and another onion smoothly with little water and add it to the kuzhambu.
- Let it boil until the brinjal gets cooked and the kuzhambu gets thick. Finally add pepper powder and jaggery and transfer to the serving bowl.
Serve with rice and any curry, kootu or poriyal. I had with vazhakkai curry.
Recipe card
Kara kuzhambu recipe
Ingredients
- 4 Brinjal
- 2 Drumstick
- 1 tablespoon Tamarind Indian gooseberry size
- 1 Onion
- 2 Tomato
- 10 cloves Garlic
- 1 tablespoon Sambar powder heaped
- ¼ teaspoon Pepper powder optional
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon Jaggery
- Salt
To temper
- 3 tablespoon Sesame oil cooking oil
- ¼ teaspoon Fenugreek seeds
- ½ teaspoon Mustard
- 1 teaspoon Urad dal
- 1 teaspoon Toor dal
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 1 sprig Curry leaves
To grind
- ½ teaspoon Grated coconut
- 1 Onion
Instructions
Prep
- Chop 1 onion roughly and other onion and tomato finely. Peel the garlic.
- Soak tamarind in ½ cup boiling hot water for 30 minutes. Extract the tamarind juice by adding more water. Total 1 & ½ cups.
- Kara kulambu
- Heat kadai with oil and temper with the items given under ‘to temper’ table in order.
- Add garlic, onion and fry till transparent.
- After that, add tomatoes and fry till soft.
- Pour the tamarind extract and enough water,salt, turmeric, sambar powder.
- Add drumstick cut into desired size. Let it boil for 4 minutes.
- Then add brinjal and bring to boil.
- Grind coconut and another onion smoothly with little water and add it to the kuzhambu.
- Let it boil until the brinjal gets cooked and the kuzhambu gets thick.
- Finally add pepper powder and jaggery and transfer to the serving bowl.
Notes
- Brinjal gets cooked easily, so add it later after drumstick gets cooked almost ¾th.
- You can add any vegetable of your choice. Even any one of drumstick or brinjal alone.
- If you don't have sambar powder, you can try with red chilli powder too. But use 2 teaspoon only and add 1 teaspoon dhaniya powder. You may need a teaspoon of rice flour to thicken the kuzhambu. Dissolve in 1 tablespoon of water and add along.
Divya Kudua
I love the brinjal drumstick combo too.We make a very similar version called sagle which is more like a semi-gravy poriyal - http://www.divyascookbook.com/2010/05/brinjal-drumstick-masala.html
Rasi
Super kozhambu.. one of my fav.. Rak yours looks tempting.. i wish i could take a ladle of it now 🙂
Ongoing Event : I'm The Star
Saraswathi Iyer
Coincidence, I made sambar with this combo. Looks delicious and Nice clicks.
srividhya Ravikumar
never say no to this combo....yummmyy
Aarthi
karakulambu looks so good raji..yummy with rice
Kaveri
I love these kinds of kara Kuzhambu...looks really yum and delicious.
Sudha Sabarish
Never tasted kara kuzhambu before as i dont like it.But my hubby loves it.So will try soon.very tempting.
lata raja
to me paruupu urundai is the best in karakuzhambu....we had a friend during our college days whose mother used to make it and send it for us.....I have the recipe in drafts, have been too lazy to post anything!
I love this version and will find both veggies to try this!
Vishku
Hi.....
Sounds interesting... I have only made sambar and curry ... Will try this...How many onions do you use for this recipe
Kavitha Bhargav
love the second picture with ghee (oil?) on top
Rekha shoban
yummy karakulambu!!!nice presentation and click!
Prathibha
I made similar kind of stew(ofcourse not with coconut) wid pumpkin 2day...looks yumm,love the way the brinjals r cut into the same size as drumsticks..
NiVi
awesome recipe.. my all time favourite..
Sayantani
often make it love the spicy taste with tantalizing flavours.
Sharmilee! :)
Love kara kuzhambu...looks yummo. Its lunch time here and ur kuzhambu makes me crave for it now 🙂 Nice clicks too
Recipe world
Kuzhambu looks delicious! Wanna have it for my lunch now 🙂
Chitra
Lovely post. It made me drool..
notyet100
This curry is new for me,..perfect with a bowl of steamed rice,..:)
faseela
brinjal n drumstick, lovely combo....superb
Rashida shaikh
New to me and seems drumstick goes perfect with brinjal.
S.Menaga
சூப்பர்ர் குழம்பு,சுட்ட அப்பளத்துடன் சாப்பிட சூப்பராயிருக்குமே....
Hema
Murungakkai and kathirikkai in Kara kuzhambu, sema combination, nice preparation and lovely clicks..
jeyashrisuresh
wonderful combo of drumstick and brinjals. mouthwatering here
Ramya
The last clicks is simple irresistible! make me crave for it!
Gayathri Anand
yummy and delicious ...loved ur step wise presentation .
Lavi
eggplant,drumstick makes good kara kuzhambu combo. ur kuzhambu looks absolutely delicious.
Ambika
Absolutely delicious!!! I LOVE kara kuzhambu and the photos are so amazing! Brinjal and drumsticks are perfect for kara kuzhambu!
Suja Manoj
Yummy and spicy kulambu,beautiful clicks..
Anu
looks delicious. Spicy mouth watering kuzhambu..
DivyaGCP
Kuzhambu looks so yummy and very inviting.. Love your clicks..
San
Kara kuzhambu with ghee on it ia always heavenly. This combo is lovely.
Thara
Hi Raks,
pic looks mouth watering:-)
May i know the name of the vessel used in 3rd step, it looks like a transparent one, just curious to know about it.
Krithi's Kitchen
Superb comfort meal!! loving the plating..
Serve It - Stir Fried
Srimathi
Very delicious looking kozhambu. Such perfect presentation.
sangee vijay
love this combination:Drumstick n Brinjal...kara kuzhambu looks more tempting...very nice recipe,going to try this for sure...last picture makes me feel hungry now...paakave sapidanum pola erukku 🙂
Home Cooked Oriya Food
I love this combo too... both my favorite veggies...
Awesome clicks!
Aruna Manikandan
love this combo dear...
haven't tried kara kozhumbu with coconut , must give a try soon
Beautiful clicks 🙂
Laavanya
I love kuzhambus like this.... i made with mochai too sometimes. Yummy.
Uma
My way of making kara kulambu was very simple till my marriage. Learnt the correct version only after marriage from MIL. Just looking at the title I went back to the past 🙂 No doubt, brinjal and drumstick make a wonderful pair which goes well with steamed rice.
Vanamala Hebbar
sambar looks superb..
vidhas
Love this kulambhu, awesome clicks.
vijiraja
raks..it looks so yummy
Nagashree
Yum, I love both veggies and your kulambu looks perfect with rice.
Priti
Looks yum and nice pics
Priya
My mouth is water as I read this post! And I just had my dinner! lol..
Can't wait to try this! Yum!
Mahek
This is a must try gravy for me...
I have one question.. I love the pot on the stove the brown one (what is it?) and I also love the one that you have displayed it in ...where did you buy it??
Shobha Kamath
Simply delicious !
Priyaram
first click super...looks yummy
Vardhini
We make kuzhambu with this combo too. Lovely clicks Raks.
Vardhini
Event: Legumes
Event: Fenugreek/Kasuri Methi
Sowjanya@Ruchikacooks
Looks lovely raji, I made one last week with cauliflower 🙂
Cynthia
I'm drooling here!
Archana
Hmmm what a lovely combo love it. I am drooling and drooling here.
An Open Book
i am making this for lunch today, cant wait 🙂
Jayasri Ravi
Mmm.., that's what your clicks make me.., Love this combo.., I love the smell of drumstick, when I buy them I use them in everything possible :).., If could pick up your bowl.., I don't have to cook anything tonight!
PriyaVaasu
mouth-watering!!!! karakuzhambhu and appalam awesome combo!!! i really envy your Gas-top Glass bowl raji!!!! i m trying my best to get it for me here, kidaika matengarathu!!!! 🙁
RENU
looks nice colorful.
Nikki
i tried it and it was superb......thanks for the recipe......
Maria Albina
Tried this last night, and was superb with cabbage poriyal..
So much I loved this dish, that I saved some for next day's lunch, and trust me its out the world!
Raks Rocks!
Maria Albina
I tried this last night and it was superb with cabbage poriyal...
So much did I loved this one, that I saved it for the next day's lunch, and trust me, it was heaved..
You rock, raks!
Nandini Adhyapak
What variety of brinjal is best for this recipe?
Nandini Adhyapak
Which variety of brinjal is best for this recipe?
Sonia
It says grind one onion with coconut. Doesn't raw onion give a bitter taste?
JeGana
hi!! m a greatest follower of your recipies.. only 2day got d chance to reply u. i made this kara kulambu 2day. it came out so well and evryone @ hme strtd praising me for my cookng skills.. thanku so much.. keep gng good work. for this kulambu i temepered d onion and coconut with 1/2 tsp jeera in a little oil and then ground it to avoid d biter taste of onion.
JeGana
hi! i'm one of the greatest follower of your blog. tried so many recipies but only today got the time to reply you. I tried this kara kulambu and it came out so well that everyone at home loved it and started praising me for my improving cooking skills. A special thanks to you for that. Keep up your good work and keep going.!
P.s: i tempered the coconut and onion with 1/4tbsp of jeera and 10 pepper seeds in oil and then ground it. Dont know it added any taste or not but one of my aunt told me to do this way.
santhu
hi Raks
Big thanks to you. I tried this recipe with out coconut and came out nice ; tangy and spicy !!! I had a question about adding brinjal after tamarind paste. would that work? I heard veggies won't cook if we add tamarind first.
The one correction I did was adding tamarind at the end. thanks.
Sonia Punnen
The dish is similar to sambhar but it tastes delicious.hope to try many of your other recipes too.
aishwarya sethuram
Hi Raks, I have not tried karakozhambu so far! today it turned out so well! Thanks for the wonderful recepie:-)
krsomasundr
Hi Raks, This recipe is great and came out very well.
kamalaveni
Nice kulambu, the stepwise pictures are good, neat and detailed explanation. Please give the onion and Tomotto and tamarind in grams or cup measure.
Ramya Ganeshmurthy
Hi,
Just tried your Kara Kuzhambu recipe and it came out very well.Just wanted to check with you if I could provide a link to yr recipe page from my blog in which I wanted to have links of tried and tested recipes.....
Thanks and regards
Ramya
Raks anand
Sure
S
Excellent combo .Ur proportions are just perfect
chandhra subburamaniyam
If jaggery not available what can I do
Raks anand
Just add white sugar