This item has become kind of a delicacy now a days...... This can be made with either Toor Dal or Channa dal or a mixture of both. My mother used to make this very often and she would use them in Mor Kuzhambu or put them in regular Tamrind base gravy (Puli Kuzhambu) or also make Rasam with it.
In any way you use it, it will be the star of your menu.
To complement this, you can make a regular
Keerai Masiyal.
It is kind of a long proceedure, but well worth the effort.
Since the main ingredient is Dal or lentils, it is a very healthy meal filled with proteins.
Paruppu Urundai
To make around 20 balls:
Toor Dal -- 2 cups
Hing -- 1/2 Teaspoon
Green Chili -- 4 to 5
Red Chili -- 3 to 5
Salt -- 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons
Soak 2 cups toor dal, or (1 cup toor, 1 cup channa) for 2 to 3 hours.
Similar to making the
Paruppu Usili, you start by draining the dal of any water and grinding it with hing, and the chillies, and salt and grind to a coarse to smooth paste. You can add a little water and make a LITTLE runny. (this is where it is a little different from the Usili, for Usili the dal paste should be dry).
Oil - 2 Teaspoons
Mustard - 1 Teaspoon
Curry Leaves -- 2 strands
---> In a kadai, take the oil, add the mustard, curry leaves, and add the dal mixture and saute till it becomes a little thick.
---> Switch off the stove and wait till you can handle the heat of the dal mixture.
---> In a vessel, brush it with some oil so that the balls wont stick to the bottom of the vessel.
---> Now, take about a tablespoon of the dal mixture and make a ball and arrange in the oil brushed vessel.
---> Put the vessel (with all the balls) in a pressure cooker and steam it in a pressure cooker without the weight for 15 to 20 minutes on a medium flame.
---> After you switch off the cooker, take the balls out (so they don't end up sticking together,and let cool.
---> In whatever gravy you choose to float them, put them in that and eat while it is hot...
Mor Kuzhambu... (Nagini Style)
This time, I chose the Mor Kuzhambu to be the gravy.
There are over 15 kinds of Mor Kuzhambu, this one is called Nagini Style, named after Mrs Nagini Kumar , my aunt Mrs Subha Raman's friend.
It is made with yogurt, Coconut, Red Chili, Fenugreek.
You need about 4 to 5 cups of the kuzhambu for the 20 balls to float.
Yogurt -- 3 to 3 1/2 cups
Red Chili - 3
Fenugreek - 3/4 th teaspoon
Coconut - 1/4 cup
---> Roast the fenugreek and red chili in a bit of oil until the fenugreek turns a rosy color.
---> When it cools, add this to the coconut and make a smooth paste in a mixer.
---> Blend the yogurt well, with water and make it like a thick soup.
---> Add the masala you made with coconut and heat on a low flamed stove, and be careful so that this doesnt curdle.
---> Give a tadka to this with oil, mustard, curry leaves and red chili and hing.
Enjoy with hot rice.
Paruppu Urundai Rasam
My niece Sandhya is allergic to coconut, so I put some of the balls in rasam so she also could enjoy them.
For the rasam, you generally make what is called a "Gottu Rasam" or as my patti (Grandma) calls it a mottai rasam :)
This is made with Tamarind water, rasam powder, salt, turmeric powder and a tadka with mustard and red chili, Tomatoes are optional in this kind of rasam, but I added them, since Sandhya loves tomatoes..
Tamarind -- about half a table spoon of raw tamarind
water - 2 cups
Rasam Powder - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Hing - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt - as needed
Oil - 1/2 teaspoon
Curry leaves - 4 to 5 leaves
Red Chili - 1 or 2
---> Soak tamarind in 1 and 1/2 cup warm water and extract all the pulp
---> In a vessel add the tamarind water, rasam powder, salt, hing, cut tomotaes, turmeric powder and bring to boil on a slow medium flame.
---> Once the tomatoes have cooked, add the remaining water in a way that adds some froth to the rasam and wait till it comes to a boil.
--->Once the rasam is frothy on top, switch off the stove and give the tadka, with oil, mustard seeds and red chili.
As the name suggests, this is a south indian version of the Asparagus.
