Chembu Varutharacha Kari

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        How is it going?  For me, it has been quite a busy day chatting up with my family and friends.  Nevertheless I spun a very tasty, tongue tingling curry.  I have made a variation of this earlier and shared it on the blog.  However,  this one makes me quite excited because its not a usual dish I make and yet it turned out to my taste.

       I am sure you have had a variation or maybe even the same curry before.  It will be interesting to hear from you and know what you call it.  Tart and spicy it goes well with rice.  I am thinking it won't be too bad with rotis either.  Give it a go and tell me how you like it.



Ingredients:
Chembu/Taro - 5 nos

To Fry:
Onion - 1 small size
Coconut - 1/2 cup
Chili powder - 1/2 tbspn
Coriander Powder - 1 Tbspn
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tspn
Oil - 1 tspn

Tamarind - lime sized ball soaked in a cup of water

For Tempering:

Mustard - 1/2 tspn
Shallots - 1 big or 2 small
Red Whole chilies - 2 broken in pieces
Pepper corns - 4
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
Oil - 1 Tbspn



Method:

1. Pressure cook the chembu, skin on and some salt. Peel once cooked and set aside. It takes about 3 whistles on medium flame in a pressure cooker.

Grinding:
1. Heat oil and fry the chopped onions till translucent
2. Add the coconut and fry till you get the fried coconut aroma. Wait till the color changes from white to light golden hue
3. Add in the three powders and stir cooking the powder and you the raw smell of the ingredients changes to a cooked aroma of the coconut and spice mix
4. Set aside and once it cools some add some water and grind it to a fine paste.

Combine:

1. Take the juice of the soaked tamarind using your fingers and throw away the fiber.
2. Add another cup of water and bring the tamarind juice to a boil in a gravy pot and add the cooked chembu and check for salt.
3. I let this mix boil hoping to let this root get some of the salt and tart taste
4. Finally add the ground gravy and let the curry boil and mix
5. Add the tempering and serve



The reddish brown pot you see in the above picture is 'chatti' the earthen pot used in a lot of cooking in Kerala. When cooked in this over a log fire and coconut oil wherever you are in the world you can taste a little Kerala.

The pot is courtesy a very dear friend. She packed it to the US from Kerala and then had it transported from Chicago to Ohio just for me. It will be cheap to just say thank you because the gesture is priceless. Love you J for who you are and for being so thoughtful and kind! Need to also thank another friend who helped bring this from Chicago. I will write all about it when I can get a better decent picture of the chatti and thavi. Love it!

Contributor: Sunitha