Here is the third recipe from the Kongu Nadu cuisine – Thattam Payaru Katharikai Kuzhambu. Yes, I am back with one more brinjal recipe. Distinct and unique tangy and spicy gravy loaded with the goodness of black-eyed peas. Usually, for sambar, we use mashed toor dal, but for this recipe, you use mashed black-eyed peas along with cooked black-eyed peas. Didn’t I say it’s distinct?
This recipe calls for a drop of castor oil. Yes, you heard it right. My friend suggested adding a drop of edible castor oil while cooking the black-eyed peas. I was surprised, but its natural laxative nature helps with digestion as well as other gastrointestinal problems. I strongly believe in “Food as Medicine” (Unave Marundu), and these small inclusions prove that again and again. The sad truth is I couldn’t find edible castor oil, so went with gingelly oil instead. I need to buy this oil very soon.
As the name suggests, black-eyed peas play a major role here. You can even skip the brinjals for this recipe. (I didn’t skip. I love both black-eyed peas and brinjal.) When my friend was giving me the recipe options, no wonder I picked this one first. This recipe doesn’t call for sambar powder, and we use red chili powder and coriander powder for spicing it up. The fresh ground coconut and fennel seeds masala balances the spiciness and adds richness and unique flavor to the recipe. I would like to thank my friend S again for sharing all these three wonderful Kongu Nadu recipes. Here are my other two recipes.
Black Eyed Peas & Brinjal Kuzhambu | Kongu Nadu Special
A Kongu Nadu special protein-rich, spicy and tangy gravy prepared with black-eyed peas and brinjals and with fresh coconut masala.
Ingredients:
- Black-Eyed Peas – 1 cup
- Water – 2 cups + 3 cups + for soaking (Water for pressure cooking, for sambar, and for grinding and soaking)
- Gingelly oil or Edible Castor Oil – 2 drops
- Garlic cloves – 2
- Chopped Onion – 1 cup
- Tender Brinjals – 4
- Coriander Powder – 2 tbsps
- Red Chilly Powder – 1 tbsp (heaped)
- Tamarind – small lemon size or 1.5 tbsps of tamarind paste
- Salt – 2.5 tsps
- Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp
- Curry leaves – 1 strand
- For Tempering:
- Oil – 2 to 3 tbsps
- Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
- Cinnamon – 1-inch piece
- Fenugreek Seeds – 1 tsp
- Hing – ¼ tsp
- Red Chillies – 2
- For Grinding:
- Grated Coconut – ½ cup
- Fennel Seeds – 1 tbsp
Soaking and cooking the black-eyed peas
- Soak the black-eyed peas for at least 5 hours and pressure cook the black-eyed peas with two garlic cloves and 2 drops of gingelly oil or castor oil for 3 whistles by adding 2 cups of water.
- Once it’s cooled down, reserve one-half of the cooked black-eyed peas and do not discard the water.
- Pulse the remaining half coarsely and set aside.
Other prep-work
- Chop the onions, brinjals.
- Grind the coconut and fennel seeds by adding about ¼ cup of water.
- If using tamarind, soak it in water and squeeze about 1 cup of tamarind juice. If using a paste, mix the paste in 1 cup of water and set aside.
Preparing the kuzhambu
- Heat the pan/kadai/vaanali and add oil.
- Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, hing, and cinnamon.
- As they start to splutter, add the broken red chilly pieces and curry leaves.
- Fry them for a minute and add chopped onions.
- Cook until the onions turn translucent.
- Now add the chopped brinjals and let it cook for about 4 to 5 minutes until it is semi-soft.
- Add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chilly powder, and salt. Mix well.
- Now add the tamarind water and let it simmer for about 3 to 4 minutes.
- As it starts to boil, add the cooked black-eyed peas and the ground peas. Mix them well.
- Add water according to your consistency preference.
- Check for salt and spice at this stage and bring this to a boil.
- Once it starts to boil, add the ground coconut mixture and bring it to one boil again and turn off the heat.
That’s it. Yummy brinjal black-eyed peas kuzhambu is ready.
Recipe Notes:
- Adjust the salt and spices according to your preference.
- Instead of chopping the brinjals into pieces, you can slit them as we do for ennai katharikai.
- Coriander powder and red chilly powder can be substituted with 2.5 to 3 tbsps of sambar powder.
- I love black-eyed peas, so I went with 1 full cup. You can reduce the black-eyed peas to ½ cup also.
- A drop of castor oil is used while cooking the black-eyed peas. But I went with gingelly oil. If you can find edible castor oil, you can opt for that.
More Black-Eyed Peas Recipes
PS – If you try this thattapayaru katharikai kuzhambu / black-eyed peas kuzhambu, please don’t forget to comment and rate this recipe. If you have any questions, please leave a comment, and I will get to it ASAP. Make sure to follow me on my Pinterest for more healthy and delicious ideas! Follow me on Instagram or join my Facebook Group for more gardening and recipe updates.
📖 Recipe
Black-Eyed Peas & Brinjal Kuzhambu | Kongu Nadu Special
Ingredients
- 1 cup Black Eyed Peas
- 5 cups Water divided, for soaked
- ⅛ tsp Gingelly oil or Edible Castor Oil
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 1 cup Chopped Onion chopped
- 4 Tender Brinjals
- 2 tbsp Coriander Powder
- 1 tbsp Red Chili Powder to taste
- 1.5 tbsp Tamarind or small lemon size
- 2.5 tsp Salt to taste
- ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
- 10 Curry leaves
For Tempering
- 2 tbsp Oil You can add upto 3 tbsp
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
- 1 inch Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
- ¼ tsp Hing
- 2 Red Chilies
For Grinding
- ½ cup Coconut grated
- 1 tbsp Fennel Seeds
Instructions
Prep Work
- Soak the black-eyed peas for at least 5 hours and pressure cook the black-eyed peas with two garlic cloves and two drops of gingelly oil or castor oil for three whistles.
- Once it's cooled down, reserve one-half of the cooked black-eyed peas and do not discard the water.
- Pulse the remaining half coarsely and set aside.
- Chop the onions, brinjals.
- Grind the coconut and fennel seeds by adding about ¼ cup of water.
- If using tamarind, soak it in water and squeeze about 1 cup of tamarind juice. If using paste, mix the paste in 1 cup of water and set aside.
Steps
- Heat the pan/kadai/vaanali and add oil.
- Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, hing and cinnamon.
- As they start to splutter, add the broken red chilly pieces and curry leaves.
- Fry them for a minute and add chopped onions.
- Cook until the onions turn translucent.
- Now add the chopped brinjals and let it cook for about 4 to 5 minutes until it is semi-soft.
- Add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chilly powder and salt. Mix well.
- Now add the tamarind water and let it simmer for about 3 to 4 minutes.
- As it starts to boil, add the cooked black-eyed peas and the ground peas. Mix them well.
- Add water according to your consistency preference.
- Check for salt and spice at this stage and bring this to boil.
- Once it starts to boil, add the ground coconut mixture and bring it to one boil again and turn off the heat.
- That’s it. Yummy brinjal black-eyed peas kuzhambu is ready.
Notes
- Adjust the salt and spices according to your preference.
- Instead of chopping the brinjals into pieces, you can slit them as we do for ennai katharikai.
- Coriander powder and red chilly powder can be substituted with 2.5 to 3 tbsps of sambar powder.
- I love black-eyed peas, so I went with 1 full cup. You can reduce the black-eyed peas to ½ cup also.
- A drop of castor oil is used while cooking the black-eyed peas. But I went with gingelly oil. If you can find edible castor oil, you can opt for that.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
Kuzhambu with black eyed peas is very very interesting. Adding caster oil is even more interesting :-). Love all your Kongu nadu special dishes Vidhya. Thank you for sharing them.
Thanks a lot Pavani. Yeah even I was surprised when my friend asked me to add castor oil. Love these traditional recipes.
Such a comforting dish, my mouth is just watering here. Need some rice and papads now to have this kuzhambu.
That’s a lovely combination… Appalam and this kuzhmabu rice.. yum Thanks Priya.
I love and always looking for chutney and sambar like recipes… i am bookmarking your recipes and will let you know
Thanks a lot Priya.. :-) Would love to hear your feedback.
I love Brinjals and this recipe of kuzhambu looks so yummy! Great recipe.
Thanks a lot :-)
nice kuzhambu. nice clicks. I am the fan of this kuzhambu. brinjal with black eyed peas is a nice combination.
:-) Thanks Gayathri.
So nice and comforting – its been ages I tried this Sri :) Your post is tempting me!
:-) Please do try. Thanks.
Love your recipes dear. Its so traditional and delicious, YUMMY!
:-) Thankoooo
This looks like a recipe to try for sure. I too like the pulses plus eggplant combination
:-) Thanks Rajani.
Sambar with black eyed beans of koorg region is totally new dish for me.. Looks delicious and tasty..
Hi Seena, welcome to my space. Actually its the kongu region the western side of TN. Thanks a lot. :-)
Its looks soo delicious.
Thanks a lot. :-)
Sounds new and interesting recipe to me ! e prepare black eyed beans usually at our home but never used any veggies in it especially Brinjal. .it looks so delicious and very well explained, beautiful share Sri :)
Thanks a lot Jolly. We use lentils in some sambar recipe like Pitlai and in puli kuzhambu (that’s again tangy sambar) :-)
Wow Vidya, just Wow!!! This is THE AUTHENTIC recipe of thatyapayiru kathrikkai! Right from the dollop of castor oil, garlic, soaked tamarind, to one boil after coconut is added. Exactly how my great grandma cooked and how all cooking members of the family were taught! Keep up the good work!!
Thanks a lot Boomerang. :-) :-) Glad to hear. I would like to thank my friend for this authentic recipe. Thanks a ton for your encouraging words and thanks for stopping by. :-)
We make exactly the same in Andhra cuisine, or atleast thats how my Mom and MIL do..:)..we love it with both rice and roti..very good..
oh cool.. Yeah this goes well with both roti and rice. Thanks Valli.
We in Punjab make baigan bharta and aloo baigan only and kids don’t like to eat either of them. so I put brinjal in sambar and they don’t come to know. This is another good option you have given. Thanks for that.
oh for us brinjals goes into sambar and these gravies mainly and then as dry curries and kootu. Thanks a lot Ritu.
This is something new and intriguing to me!
This sounds so full of flavor! I’m totally in love with your excellent share. Delicious and very well explained recipe. It seems you are also big fan of brinjal like my mom and your this recipe will also going to be superhit in my house. Will be making very soon.
Ps: Tried your Mango sweet and sour coconut Curry on the very same day when I had left comment on ur webpage, as i was super excited to make that curry, i have used fresh coconut powder which is always available in my kitchen after soaking it for few minutes… and believe me it was super awesome and very very delicious curry. Thank you soooooo much for such excellent, healthy and innovative recipes.
Oh yeah I go crazy with brinjals. Love them to the core. And thanks again for trying the recipe. Really happy and your comment made my day. Using coconut powder is a great idea.. Thanks for sharing that tip. :-) :-)
wow! mouthwatering share Sri, Kuzhambu looks super delicious and healthy! also love your serving bowls..awesome :-)
Thanks a lot Rani. :-)
Priya @asmallbite
Never heard of this combination before,bookmarked it.
:-) Thanks pa. This is one of the popular combo in Kongu Region.
This is one our fav combos at home…delicious share vidhya :)
Thanks a lot Padma.
The ingredients speaks for its uniqueness – castor oil is a great addition to the recipe, and has numerable benefits too!
Yup.. thanks a lot. A drop of castor oil has tons of benefits. :-)