Pepper Kuzhambu

Milagu (black pepper corns) is universally used in all cuisines to add heat to the dishes. Some Americans have been pleasantly surprised to know that black pepper takes an important place in the exotic range of Indian spices. To many westerners, Indian cuisine is synonymous to spiciness, especially the spicy bite of chillies. They never imagine their familiar and rustic pepper-corns playing a vital role in many of our key dishes.

Contrary to the burning heat of chillies, the sharp sting of black pepper is supposed to heal internal wounds. So, it is customary for black pepper to be used in abundance in comfort foods, home-remedies and foods for sore-throat, fever and other ailments.

Milagu Kuzhambu is basically a thick gravy of tamarind pulp, boiled and reduced in freshly ground black-pepper and a few red chillies. Due to the heavy reduction of tamarind, this Kuzhambu stores well in the fridge - and like good wine, the flavors are supposed to seep in and get better over time. This is yet another popular Tamizh side-dish, but I was quite surprised to not find its recipe in Meenakshi ammal’s book. Maybe the book hasn’t been indexed properly or the dish is called by another name that I don’t recognize.

So, here is my mother’s recipe.

Ingredients:

1. 3-4 teaspoons of black peppercorns (I use 3)
2. 1.5 dried red chillies (or more depending on your level of tolerance to heat)
3. 1 teaspoon of toor dal (lentils) / tuvaram paruppu
4. 1 teaspoon of turmeric (turmeric is another antiseptic; good at healing wounds)
5. 2 inch ball of tamarind (or more, if the tamarind isn't tart enough)
6. A small piece of jaggery
7. Salt to taste
8. 3 Tablespoons of sesame oil
9. 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
10. ¼ teaspoon of hing
11. A few curry leaves (up to 2 strips/sprigs)

Preparation:

1. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of sesame oil in a pan (medium heat)
2. When hot, add the pepper corns and roast for 2 minutes
3. Add thoor dhal and dried red-chillies and continue to roast till the pepper begins to pop. Immediately remove from heat (my mother warns me that the pepper should not be over-roasted)
4. Add the curry leaves to the pan. The leaves release their flavor in the residual heat. Let the ingredients cool.
5. Grind the mixture with a sprinkling of water into a relatively smooth paste (the paste is likely to be a bit coarse)
6. Soak the balls of tamarind in 1.5 cups hot water for about 15 minutes, and extract the rich juice from the tamarind pulp (one basically uses their hands/fingers to squeeze out the juice). Keep adding water to the tamarind until you extract most of the juice.
7. In a saucepan, add the tamarind juice, 2 cups of water, a piece of jaggery, turmeric, salt, and the ground pepper-chill mixture, and heat it over medium-low heat for 15 minutes. Switch over to low heat after the initial raw smell of tamarind dissipates.
8. Heat the kuzhambu for about 40-45 minutes. The resulting kuzhambu should be of the consistency of rich gravy (the kuzhambu continues to thicken as it stays in the fridge)
9. To garnish, splutter some mustard seeds in heated sesame oil. Add a bit of hing and a few curry leaves to the spluttering mustard seeds. Toss it into the kuzhambu to add a burst of fresh aroma of sesame oil, hing and curry leaves.

Pepper kuzhambu is supposed to be spicy, as the tartness of the tamarind demands some spice. Else, the kuzhambu will be bland with just the one-note flavor of tamarind. But if you are apprehensive, you can halve this recipe and add just two teaspoons of pepper. You can also add more jaggery to balance the spice level, as well as to reduce the tartness of the tamarind.

This kuzhambu is ideal with cooked rice (a dollop of ghee on the cooked rice will not hurt at all). It is also a wonderful side-dish for idlis, dosais, and rotis.