Ginjal or kinjal pulusu/kathirikai kaaramani kuzhambu

Hi all, it's been so long to get back to blogging. I had been busy shifting from Germany to Bangalore. Yayy finally in India now, so happy to be back to my home town as I missed our language in Germany. I struggled with the difficult German language a bit there yet Germany was nice to me though. I am excited to let you all know that I'll be sharing my trip experiences very soon(Germany, Paris, Prague, Switzerland, UK, Thailand etc).

Today Iam gonna share kinjal pulusu as it is called in Telugu. This is my favorite gravy passed on from my mom's kitchen. In Tamil they call it as kathirikai kaaramani kuzhambu. This is made with black eyed pea(it's as good as our black eyed peas pop😜)and brinjal(small ones) along with Indian spices. I'll now list down the ingredients necessary. 

Ingredients:

Black eyes pea (2 hands full)

Brinjal Indian variety(small ones from any Indian grocery store)-4 to 5

Cumin seeds-1tsp 

Garlic pods around 7 to 8 

Onion-1

Tomato -1

Turmeric powder 1tsp

Coriander powder 2Tsp

Chilli powder 1stp

Tamarind juice quarter cup

Coconut fresh or frozen thick paste(ground into fine paste-1/2 cup)

Sunflower oil-2 tsp 

Mustard seeds-1 tsp 

Hing/asafotida-1/2 tsp

Curry leaves a few

Coriander leaves a few

Procedure:  

The cooking gets easier if the black eyed pea are soaked in water for about half an hour to one hour in a pressure cooker, add in 7 to 8 garlic pods if they are small and limit them to 3 or 4 if they are strong and large. Next cumin seeds, one chopped onion, one chopped tomato and 1tsp of turmeric powder has to be added along with the required amount of water. 

Now pressure cook all of it for about 2 whistles. Once the steam is down open up and give it a quick mix. It's time to add in our delicious brinjal cut into small pieces, let it cook well in the gravy.  When the mixture comes to a quick boil add in one tsp of chili powder and 2Tsp of corriander powder. 

After about 5 to 7 minutes of boiling add in the tamarind extract or juice to the boiling mixture, let it boil for another 4 minutes. It's time to add in our coconut paste and let the gravy boil for another 5 minutes. We are just one step away from our final tasty gravy and that step is tadka. Take a small Kadai or a vessel, add a tsp of oil then mustard seeds, after they splutter add asafotida and Curry leaves. 

 

At the end for any Indian gravy the corriander leaves is a must for enhancing the flavor and taste.  Take a bowl, serve rice and the awesome kinjal or ginjal or kathirikai kaaramani kuzhambu on it and enjoy your meal. For any queries please post it in the comments below, I'll respond as quick as possible. If you liked my recipe please do post your comments below. I am eagerly waiting to hear from you.