I have been meaning to write about Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu for the longest time. In fact ever since I started the blog, but have been putting it off. I finally made it over the long Holi weekend and what a wonderful treat it was!
Paruppu Urundai literally means Lentil Balls, while Kuzhambu means a gravy made primarily of Tamarind.
I first tasted this super delicious dish about 6 years ago at the home of Mrs. Lalitha Krishnan, who is the mother of one of my friends. She had made Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu for her daughter, who apparently loves the dish, and as I was visiting I had a second round of lunch at their home exclusively to taste this dish. 🙂
Mrs. Krishnan is a super cook and I have had many a sumptuous meal cooked by her. This is the first of many of her recipes that I hope to share with you.
How to Make Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu
Serves: 4
Soaking Time: 2 hours
Cooking Time: 45 Minutes
Ingredients for the Paruppu Urundai
- Tuvar Dal or Split Pigeon Pea – 2/3 Cup
- Red Chillies – 4
- Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
- Asafoetida – A Large Pinch
- Salt to Taste
Ingredients for the Kuzhambu
- Sambar Powder – 1 tbsp
- Thick Tamarind Pulp – 2 tbsp
- Sesame Oil – 1 tbsp
- Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
- Curry Leaves – A Few
- Salt to Taste
Method to Make the Paruppu Urundai
- Wash and soak the Tuvar Dal in 2 cups of water for 2 hours.
- Drain the water and leavethesoakedTuvar Dal in the colander for about 15 minutes to drain completely.
- Add the soaked dal to the grinder.
- Add salt, red chillies, turmeric, and asafoetida.
- Grind to a coarse paste.
- Add the paste to a coldwokorKadhai.
- Dry roast the paste till the raw smell disappears and the paste dries out just bit. Do not fry the paste too much because then the Urundai will be rock hard.
- Let the paste cool.
- Divide the paste into 12-16 equal portions.
- Rolleachportion into a ball (urundai).
- Set aside the Paruppu Urundai.
Method to Make the Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu
- Dissolve the tamarind paste in 1 cup of water.
- In a large vessel or wok, heat the sesame oil.
- Add the mustard seeds and wait till they splutter.
- Add the Sambar Powder, Curry Leaves, and diluted Tamarind Paste.
- Bring to a boil.
- Add 2 cups of water and boil till the Kuzhambu reduces by a third. The Kuzhambu will be watery at this stage; it will thicken after you add the Urundai.
- Reduce the flame.
- Add the Paruppu Urundai to the Kuzhambu. The Paruppu Urundai will sink to the bottom.
- Over medium heat, continue to boil the Kuzhambu till the Paruppu Urundai float to the top. This is how you know the Urundai are cooked. The Kuzhambu would have also thickened and reduced in quantity at this stage.
- Turn off the heat.
- Add salt and mix well.
- Serve with steamed rice.
- Enjoy!
wow! this looks super yummy Aruna. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe. It looks like it will be totally worth the efforts!
Udupi cuisine has something called gojjambode
Ooooooo Parvati, I wish you would not do this to me early in the morning…. Now I am searching for the recipe. 🙂 🙂
And thank you so much for the tip! 🙂
it is called Gojjambode, I think I have blogged about it on parwatisingari.wordpress.com
If not I shall send post it, the only hitch is I am out of town so I cannot send you the pictures.
Will check it! 🙂
Everytime I read your posts, I realize that how less I know about southern Indian cuisine. It’s always idli dosa for us North Indians. How is North Indian food portrayed in southern part?
Chole, Palak Paneer, Alu ki Sabzi and Puri….. Naan if we are generous. South India has its own North Indian cuisine. 😀
😂😂😂😂
I bet! Crazy! Isn’t it? Thank God my food blogging journey is really rewarding.
True that!
Sonal.. I get what you are telling. My friends used to ask me how you can have sambhar daily. But there are n varieties of sambhar and gravies. 🙂
I agree with Aruna. Any dish with paneer is North Indian and South India has its own North Indian. 😉 😉
Between Aruna.. delicious kuzhambu. Whenever I do usili I save some do this kuzhumbu with it next day.
I so agree, Srividhya. There are sambars and sambars. Gravies and gravies.
The South Indian version of North Indian cuisine is much like Indo-Chinese. I would dare any North Indian to recognise it. 😀
And don’t tell me there is more to it!!! 😛 😛
😂😜
These urundai are my favorite 🙂 Very tempting!!!
Love this curry! I was searching for a recipe to make it. Surely, this is my curry tomorrow. I will let you know how I managed it.
Do do….. I look forward to it!
This looks interesting! I’ve never had paruppu urundai before
love it!! 🙂
My all time fav:-) ur version looks slightly different to mine I should try this
It is actually your post on Malar’s group on FB that reminded me to post is recipe.
I’m so glad you shared this – I just had to click over from FF to see what this amazing dish could be. I think I can almost taste it!
I could find so many delicious flavors here, Aruna. I bet this meal is so good. 😀 Thank you so much for sharing & have fun at the party. Have a lovely FF & weekend. xx
oh what an interesting dish this is. Ive never eaten it of course, but up north we do have something very similar to this, its called mangochi ki sabzi which is essentially urad-mung dal pakodi simmered in thin yoghurt gravy. How similar is that to your paruppu urundai kuzhambu :)?!
We Indians from various parts of the country are so similar yet different in food, clothing, and indeed, all aspects of life. 🙂
I love Mangochi ki Sabzi and will try it soon. 🙂
Aruna, I made this curry. Highly appreciated by all. It was very tasty but some of the urundais cracked and broke. How do you keep them as balls? What did I do wrong…any idea?
Perhaps you need to make the Urundai paste a bit drier. That is why I had roasted the paste a bit.
Another tip I had from someone was to add a bit of rice flour or wheat flour. I would think the latter especially would change the taste.
You are right! It could be the dry paste. I remember, it started sticking to the pan. No worries! There is always a next time!
interesting !!
These looks so yummy! 🙂
One of my favorites. Drooling….