After having all the Diwali stuffs, all we needed is a simple vatha kuzhambu & sutta appalam for our lunch today. As I have shared enough variants of vatha kuzhambu in my blog, I wanted to try & post this Iyengar style milagu kuzhambu/Pepper gravy recipe as it was requested by a reader long time back in my facebook page. I usually make milagu kuzhambu in this way adding onions & garlic. But when the reader asked me to share this no onion no garlic version, I immediately asked my school friend Sumi for her recipe.
Based on the ingredients she told, I browsed few websites and prepared this gravy. As Sendhil is very much fond of pepper recipes, he loved this gravy a lot. Though it is a no onion no garlic recipe, it was very flavourful and yummy. Its very easy to make in busy morning hours as there is no chopping works at all. Even bachelors can give this a try. I found sutta appalam & Daangar pachadi are the best combinations for this gravy. When I read this, I got tempted to try Daangar pachadi. I must try & taste that combo soon. Ok, lets see how to make this yummy Iyengar, brahmin style milagu kuzhambu.
Do check out my Brahmin style easy manathakkali vatral kuzhambu recipehere.
Iyengar milagu kuzhambu
Iyengar style, flavourful pepper gravy/Milagu kuzhambu for rice!
Cuisine:Indian
Category:Gravies
Serves:2-3
Prep time:5 Minutes
Cook time:15 Minutes
Total time:20 Minutes
INGREDIENTS
Tamarind - a big gooseberry size
Salt & Water - as needed
Turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp
To roast & grind
Cooking oil - 1 tsp
Pepper corns - 1.5 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Red chillies - 1 no ( use 2 for more spicy)
Cumin seeds/Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 5-7 nos
To temper
Gingely oil - 1 tbsp
Mustards seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Hing/Asafetida - a big pinch
HOW TO MAKE MILAGU KUZHAMBU - METHOD
Soak tamarind in warm water for 10 minutes and take the extract. Set aside. In the mean time, lets do the roasting part.
In a small kadai, roast all the ingredients given under “ to roast & grind” till pepper corns start to splutter and urad dal turns golden brown. After its cooled down, grind it to a smooth paste adding required water.
In a kadai, heat gingely oil and temper all the ingredients given under”to temper”. Add the tamarind extract, salt, turmeric powder and few pinched curry leaves. Let it boil till its raw smell goes off. Add a small piece of jaggery while the gravy boils. Then add the ground pepper paste and boil well till the gravy thickens a bit.
Remove the gravy. Serve hot with plain rice adding few drops of ghee. Enjoy with sutta appalam & kootu.
Enjoy !
Note
Some people also add 1 tsp of toor dal while roasting. If you want to use toor dal, reduce urad dal to 1tsp.
Add more red chillies or pepper corns while roasting to make a spicy gravy.
If you want to add onions & garlic,chop it finely & saute it after you temper.
Enjoy this milagu kuzhambu mixing with plain rice topped with few drops of ghee & sutta appalam as side dish. It tastes yum!
Last year I shared my mom’s Tirunelveli styleginger legiyam recipe/Inji legiyam as easy deepavali marundhu recipe. But I wanted to try the actual Diwali marundhu recipe at home for long time. Recently I bought deepavali legiyam from Salem “Home foods” as suggested by Sendhil’s friend.
As we liked its taste very much, this time I made diwali legiyam on my own referring my cook book and Chitra amma’s kitchen recipe. I made it using the ingredients which I had in my pantry. Also I din’t want to go for soaking version as I had less time in hand. So I dry roasted everything, ground & prepared diwali marundhu powder and then I made legiyam with that powder. It came out very well.
I won’t say this is the authentic version because I have not used some important ingredients like kandanthipili, arisi thipili etc. But I am sure this will help for digestion of oily & ghee rich sweets and snacks we relish for Diwali. Do try this deepavali marundhu recipe. Its not that much difficult to make as I thought. Anybody can make it easily. Just have a tsp of it in empty stomach for 3 days. It keeps you free from indigestion issues.
I wish all my friends & readers a very happy Diwali. Thanks a lot for trying my Diwali recipes and sharing pictures with me. I am really touched. Do shower your encouragement and support always !
Diwali marundhu recipe
Diwali marundhu recipe using easily available ingredients in pantry !
Cuisine:Indian
Category:Health food
Serves:Serves 4
Prep time:10 Minutes
Cook time:10 Minutes
Total time:20 Minutes
INGREDIENTS
For marundhu powder
Dhania/Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
Ajwain/Omam - 3/4 tbsp
Black pepper - 1/2 tbsp
Cumin seeds/Jeera - 1/2 tbsp
Khuskhus/Poppy seeds – 1 tsp
Cardamom - 1 no
Cloves - 1 no
Cinnamon - 1 no ( small)
Jathikai – a small piece ( optional)
Dry ginger powder - 1 tsp ( use 1 inch piece if u use dry ginger)
For syrup
Grated jaggery - 1/4 cup
Water - 3 tbsp
Ghee - 2 tsp
Sesame oil/Gingely oil - 1 tsp
HOW TO MAKE DWALI MARUNDHU - METHOD
Take all the ingredients mentioned under”for marundhu powder” . Dry roast in a kadai in low flame for 2-3 minutes till you get a nice medicine smell. Make sure you don’t burn them.
Grind all the ingredients to a fine powder. Sieve if you wish. I dint do it. Take the ground powder in a bowl & add water to make it a thick paste. Set aside. In a kadai, take the grated jaggery and add water to cover it. When the jaggery is melted completely, strain the syrup and again boil the jaggery till it becomes frothy.
Simmer the flame at this stage and add the ground paste. Mix well till it starts to thicken in medium flame.
When it starts to thicken, add gingely oil. Mix well. When it gets absorbed, add 1/2 tsp of ghee at regular intervals. When the marundhu starts to leave the sides of pan, add the remaining ghee and remove the kadai from the pan immediately. It looks likes a semi solid paste when hot. Transfer to a plate.
When the marundhu becomes warm, touch it with your hands. If it is non-sticky and if you can roll as soft glossy ball,that's the right consistency. Store in a clean bottle and use whenever needed. If you stir for more time, it will become chewy.
Stays good for months when refrigerated ! Have a tsp of this after a heavy meal or in empty stomach for 3 days. It aids digestion & keep you free from indigestion issues !
Note
As suggested in my book, you can add 2-3 small stick of kandanthipili, arisi thipili and 1/4 tsp of saunf/soambu while dry roasting to make the authentic recipe.
If you don’t want follow roast and grind method, you can soak all the ingredients in water for an hour and proceed as given above.
As soon as the mixture starts to leave the pan and becomes together,remove it from the flame else it will become hard and you have to eat it as a chocolate. But it tastes fine & its health benefits retain in all the ways. So no worries.
U can grind this powder in bulk quantity. Store and use whenever you need.
Have a tsp of this diwali marundhu in empty stomach for 3 days. It will help you for better digestion.
Here is the list of Diwali sweets and snacks recipes commonly prepared in every Indian house. Most of them shared here are South Indian sweets and there are very few North Indian recipes as well.
Diwali has arrived and its just 1 day to go ! I am so much excited to celebrate this year's Diwali as we are celebrating it in our own house :) “Its a very special Diwaliiiiii !! for me “, Full of fun, new dress, mehandi ( I put mehandi every year only during Diwali) , sweets, crackers and special TV programmes. This is what comes to my mind when I think about Diwali.
As I am celebrating here for the first time, I asked Diwali pooja/celebration procedure from my MIL and shared the same here along with collection of Indian especially south Indian diwali sweets & savouries recipes from my blog.Coming to Diwali celebration procedures : On the eve of Diwali, we burn crackers till 8.30 night and then we start to prepare suzhiyan, adhirasam & stack it in a box. We wash & decorate the diyas and other pooja items, put rangolis in house entrance and in pooja room & keep everything ready. In a big plate, we arrange all the new dress by keeping turmeric & kumkum in a corner of the dress.
On Diwali day, we ladies wake up early in the morning around 4 AM, wash the face, light the lamp and keep a small bowl of oil & shikai powder in pooja room. The elder( my FIL) in our home apply little oil and keep a pinch of shikai on our head for sastram. Then we take bath and wear some old clothes.
We ladies enter the kitchen and start to make vada, bajji, idli & sambar. In the mean time, my FIL keep flowers for all the idols and keep the pooja room ready.
After making all neivedyam recipes,we place 2 banana leaves (one for veetu theivam and another one for magamaayi). We serve all the sweets along with vada, suzhiyan, adhirasam and Idli. No need to keep sambar.We also keep some fruits & thamboolam. Then eldest person(my FIL) in the family do the pooja and give dresses to everyone.
We wear the new dress and start to burn crackers. After burning crackers for an hour,we have breakfast( Idli sambar) along with diwali sweets & savouries in banana leaf.In the above picture, I have shared our last year’s Diwali breakfast menu.
After breakfast, we watch all the special programmes in TV & enjoy the whole day without cooking. Every body will have the sweets, snacks, vadai suzhiyan & adhirasam as food for the whole day. This is how we celebrate our Diwali.
Coming to Diwali recipes list, here I have shared the links of all the sweets,savouries & diwali neivedyam recipes like idli, vada, bajji with chutney and sambar recipes & Inji legiyam/Ginger lehiyam in one page for easy refernce. I am yet to post some sweets & snacks . I will include them here as soon as I post it. Most of these sweets need preparation time of 15 to 45 minutes. Lets see the diwali recipes collection below :)
Here is the video for 4 easy sweets & snacks recipes for beginners.
4 easy diwali snacks
Indian Diwali sweets recipes
Collection of Indian Diwali sweets & savouries recipes