The Indian subcontinent · Volume 22, The Coconut Coast, the Stone Grinder and the Chettiar’s Spice Road
Vatha kuzhambu
Tamil Nadu (Tamil Brahmin)
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 40 minutes
- Researched
- No outside sources linked
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
A Tamil Brahmin tamarind gravy built around vathal, sun-dried and buttermilk-cured vegetables, a genuine piece of pre-refrigeration food technology on a plate.
As tradition built it
Serves 4. About 40 minutes, plus advance drying time for the vathal.
Ingredients
- 1 cup manathakkali vathal (sun-dried black nightshade berries), or dried okra/aubergine vathal
- 3 tbsp tamarind pulp, soaked and strained
- 2 tbsp sambar powder or a dedicated vatha kuzhambu powder
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
- A sprig curry leaves
- 2 to 3 dried red chillies
- 3 tbsp gingelly oil
- to taste asafoetida, salt
Method
- Fry the vathal in gingelly oil until lightly toasted and set aside.
- In the same oil, temper mustard seed, fenugreek, curry leaf, dried red chilli and a pinch of asafoetida.
- Add the tamarind water and spice powder, bring to a simmer, and cook 15 to 20 minutes until the raw tamarind smell is gone and the gravy has thickened.
- Return the fried vathal to the pot and simmer a further 10 minutes, until well infused. The dish improves on standing and is traditionally made ahead.
What a modern chef changes
A dehydrator standing in for the sun, and a buttermilk cure taken seriously rather than skipped
Rung 4
Method
- Soak the vegetable for vathal in buttermilk for at least 6 hours before drying, not a quick rinse, so the lactic fermentation genuinely begins before the drying does.
- Dry on a dehydrator tray at a low, steady temperature rather than relying on unreliable British sun, following Rung 4, for a more even, more reliably reproducible vathal than a windowsill offers.
- Make the gravy a full day ahead and reheat gently to serve, since vatha kuzhambu, like the kudampuli fish curry at Rung 5, genuinely improves with rest.