KARUVEPPILAI-MILAGU KUZHAMBU / BLACK PEPPER-CURRY LEAVES KUZHAMBU

Black pepper often referred to as the "King of Spice", contains so many health promoting and disease preventing properties. In the good old days, my grandmother used to say, pepper can even prevent the snake's poison, from getting into the blood stream..It contains a good amount of potassium, manganese, zinc, iron and calcium and also an excellent source of vitamins. Pepper protects one from respiratory infections, prevents cold and cough and is an excellent antioxidant.
Curry leaves...without realising its health benefits, many of us pick and throw them from various dishes, but if it is used this way,all its goodness is ground to merge with the goodness of pepper, and forcefully it gets into us, to do us good.
Always, after a series of grand wedding lunches and dinners, we crave for this Pepper Kuzhambu, and it helps digestion and if the stomach is sluggish, makes it active again.

Ingredients

Tamarind paste - 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Water - 5 cups

Salt to taste

To season

Gingely oil - 6tbsps

Mustard seeds - 1tsp

Solid hing - 2 pieces

To roast and powder

Gingely oil - 2 tsps

Tur dhal - 1 1/2 tsps

Urad dhal - 1 1/2 tsps

Channa dhal - 1 tsp

Pepper - 1 tsp

Jeera - 1tsp

Coriander seeds - 3tsps

Red chillies - 6

Curry leaves, washed - 1/2 cup

Recipe cuisine: South Indian; Category: Lunch

Prep time: 10mts; Cooking time:20mts; 

Cannot exactly tell the servings. Because, we need just a teaspoon to mix up with a small bowl of rice. Each one's requirement varies. Roughly, you can say, this quantity serves 6 people

                                                            Ingredients getting roasted

In a cooking pan, add water, tamarind paste, turmeric powder and salt to taste

Roasted ingredients powdered

Then added to the tamarind water

Seasoning the above mentioned ingredients done in gingely oil and

poured on top of the tamarind paste + roasted powder mix

Kuzhambu boiling nicely spreading its aroma all over the home

Hot Milagu Kuzhambu ready!

Tips

*Do not hesitate to add the mentioned amount of gingely oil while seasoning, that amount is definitely needed to match up with the spicy nature of the black pepper.

*Tastes great if a dash of ghee is drizzled over when we mix it up with the rice.

*Can be refrigerated and used for a fortnight too. Stays good.

Categories: Healthy Cooking, South Indian Kuzhambus