Milagu poondu kuzhambu recipe, pepper garlic gravy

Milagu poondu kuzhambu or pepper garlic gravy is a south Indian gravy served with rice. Step by step pictures post.

This milagu poondu kuzhambu (Pepper garlic gravy) recipe was sent to me by a reader Ramya Shankaran. Thank you for taking time to send it Ramya. I tried today and loved it. Any tangy spicy kuzhambu is my kind of lunch, I can have it for a week. As Vj and Aj are not fan of tangy kuzhambu I rarely make. Today I made this along with cabbage kootu and thought of posting too. This has pepper in it, so good very flavorful along with garlic.

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Milagu poondu kuzhambu or pepper garlic gravy

Milagu poondu kuzhambu or pepper garlic gravy is a south Indian gravy served with rice. Step by step pictures post.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Indian, South Indian

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Servings 4

Cup measurements

Ingredients

• Small onion / Shallots – 1/4 cup
• Tamarind – Gooseberry size / 1 tbsp
• Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
• Jaggery – 1/2 tsp Optional
• Salt – As needed

To sautee and grind

• Black pepper – 2 tsp
• Red chilli – 4
• Garlic – 1/4 cup
• Jeera/ cumin seeds – 1 tsp
• Onion – 1
• Tomato – 1
• Curry leaves – 3 sprigs

To temper

• Sesame oil – 1 tbsp
• Fenugreek seeds / vendhayam – 1/2 tsp
• Mustard – ½ tsp
• Curry leaves – 1 sprig Optional

Instructions

• In a kadai, heat a tsp of oil and add pepper, red chilli first, give it a stir and then jeera and garlic. Fry for a minute
• Add onion, tomato, curry leaves and fry for 2 minutes in medium flame.
• Option: If you like whole garlic in your kuzhambu, you can reserve 3/4th garlic and sautee just 1/4th of the garlic.
• Cool down and grind to a paste. Add little water if needed.
• Extract tamarind pulp by soaking it in hot water for 30 mins, with a cup of water.
• Heat oil, temper with the items given under ‘To temper’ table in order.
• Add peeled onion and fry till golden. Add whole garlic if you have reserved in first step.
• Add tamarind pulp, salt, turmeric, jaggery and boil for 2 minutes.
• Add ground paste and add more water (1 & 1/2 cups) and mix well.
• Boil until thick (Roughly 5 minutes) and transfer to the serving bowl.

Notes

1/4 cup garlic holds around 15- 18 garlic flakes. Don’t think its too much and will over power the gravy, it will be subtle only.

Milagu poondu kuzhambu method:

1. In a kadai, heat a tsp of oil and add pepper, red chilli first, give it a stir and then jeera and garlic. fry for a minute and add onion, tomato, curry leaves and fry for 2 minutes in medium flame. Option : If you like whole garlic in your kuzhambu, you can reserve 3/4th garlic and sautee just 1/4th of the garlic.
2. Cool down and grind to a paste. Add little water if needed. Extract tamarind pulp by soaking it in hot water for 30 mins, with a cup of water.
3. Heat oil, temper with the items given under ‘To temper’ table in order. Add peeled onion and fry till golden. Add whole garlic if you have reserved in first step. 
4. Add tamarind pulp, salt, turmeric, jaggery and boil for 2 minutes. Add ground paste and add more water (1 & 1/2 cups) and mix well.
5. Boil until thick (Roughly 5 minutes) and transfer to the serving bowl.

Serve with rice and any mild kootu, poriyal. Delicious, tangy and flavorful kuzhambu for rice.