TP's KITCHEN - Brinjal Sambar

This recipe is given by my wife and I have prepared this Brinjal Sambar (kathirikka kozhambu). It is a long process and takes almost an hour to cook but the sambar is so good, it is worth the effort. It is very nice to have this sambar with rice and it can also be used as a side dish for Dosai, Chapathi, Adai and Idly. The other advantage of this sambar is you can keep it in the Fridge and use for three to four days in case you have made a large quantity.

The preparation of this sambar has several stages and I would like you to follow the stages as detailed below:

Stage 1: Take 500 grams Brinjal (small brinjals) and slit it on all four sides. You can examine the inside of the brinjal to see if the vegetable is fresh and ensure there are no worms inside. Pour little oil in the fry pan and fry the brinjal till it turns brown.

Stage 2: Put the fry pan on the stove with little oil and add three red chilli. Once the red chillis is fried well remove it and keep it in a plate. Now put the following ingredients in the oil and fry them well: half teaspoon mustard seeds, half teaspoon Jeeragam, little vendayam, one teaspoon of Urudh dhal and one teaspoon Dhaniya. Add to this four pieces of Garlic, 10 -12 small onions (sambar vengayam) One green chilli, little ginger paste, turmeric powder and fry this nicely and finally add back the red chilli which is fried and kept aside.

Stage 3: The masala powder for the sambar should now be prepared by grinding in the mixie the following ingredients: 2 teaspoons of dhaniya, one teaspoon of black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of Jeeragam.

Stage 4: Boil water and add six tomatoes. Once it boils nicely then crush the tomatoes and make it like a thick tomato juice.

Stage 5: Boil water and put tamarind (Periya nellikka alavu) in it and soak it for 5 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind well and remove the pulp. Add one cup water and boil the tamarind water well.

Stage 6: Allow the tamarind water to boil for atleast 2 minutes and then add the tomato paste, Allow this to boil for a while and then add the fried items which are in Stage 2 above. Then add the fried brinjals and allow it to boil for about 3 minutes. Add two teaspoons of salt. Add a few stems of coriander leaf. Once the sambar is well boiled you can switch off the stove. After the stove is switched off you can add the masala powder that is in the mixie to the sambar.

The Brinjal Sambar (Kathirikkai Kozhambu) is now ready to be served.

Try this recipe and let me know your views.

T.P.Anand

Dubai, U.A.E.

24th March 2012