A dish unique to Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu made with Fenugreek. This is served with steamed rice.
Nanjil Nattu Vendhaya Kuzhambu
Course: KuzhambuCuisine: Indian, TamilDifficulty: MediumServings
6
servingsPrep time
5
minutesCooking time
20
minutesA dish unique to Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu made with Fenugreek. This is served with steamed rice.
Ingredients
Tamarind – A small lemon size
Red Chilli Powder – 1 teaspoon
Coriander Powder – 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder – 1/4 teaspoon
Salt – 1 teaspoon or as per taste
- To fry and grind:
Sambar Onion – 4
Green Chilies – 2
Coconut gratings – 1 cup
Cumin (Jeeragam) – 1 teaspoon
- To dry fry and powder
Fenugreek seeds – 1 teaspoon
Rice – 1/2 teaspoon
- For Seasoning:
Oil – 4 to 5 tablespoons
Mustard – 1/2 teaspoon
Fenugreek – 1/2 teaspoon
Big Onion (medium size) – 1
Tomato – 1
Curry leaves – few
Directions
- Soak tamarind and salt in water and extract the juice. Add enough water and make 3 cups of tamarind water.
- Chop big onion and tomato finely. Slit the green chillies lengthwise.
- In a kadai put the fenugreek and rice separately and dry fry till it changes its color to light brown. Remove, cool it and powder it.
- Same kadai put a teaspoon of oil and add coconut gratings, sambar onion, slit green chillies. Fry till nice aroma comes out. Add red chilli powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder and mix well and fry for few more seconds. Remove, cool it and grind it to a fine paste.
- In a thick bottomed kadai, put the oil. When it is hot add mustard. When it starts pops up add fenugreek. Fry till it become light brown. Add chopped onion and fry till it become transparent. Add tomato pieces and fry till it mashed well. Add tamarind water. Stir well and allow to boil. When it starts boiling, add the coconut paste and stir well. Add curry leaves. If required add little water and again allow to boil. When the kuzhambu starts boiling well, reduce the heat ad sprinkle fenugreek powder. Mix well and remove from stove.
- Note: Instead of chilli/coriander powders, you can fry 5 to 6 red chillies and a tablespoon of coriander in a teaspoon of oil and grind it along with coconut and add.
Wow. how do you aware of this dish as Nanjil Naadu? My mom used to prepare this very well…
Hi Sunil,
I learnt this recipe from our relative who is residing at Colachel/Nagercoil. In Thanjavur and other districts, vendhaya kuzhambu is prepared in different way. But at Nagercoil, it is prepared in the above way and hence I named it Nanjil Naattu Kuzhambu.
Wow..good to hear..Nagercoil samayal is entirely different from others with a unique speciality..
kuzhambu looks so comforting 🙂
I tried this recipe Kamala! it was very different and awesome.
http://recipesfromamma.blogspot.com
I tried this recipe……it was really nice….and gud
Thank you Nandhini for your feedback.
tis came out so well loved the recipe
Thank you for your feed back.
Hi kamala,
I am exploring your dishes for the first time in this site. how many servings are these dishes for ? is it for 2 people or 4 people?
Regards
Mithra
I have given “Number of serving” on top of the Recipes. It is for 6 people.
Hi, Kamala
This recipe looks delicious and I want to try.
Unfortunately we don’t have “samba onion” here in Japan. Do you think if I can substitute with regular onion or shallots, maybe?
Thank you for this recipe and website!!
Hi Naoko,
Thank you for writing.
Yes. You can substitute with regular onion or shallots also.