Chembu Thandu Kootan | Chembin Thandu Parippu Curry | Chemin Thandu Puli Curry

Colocassia Stalks cooked in dal, tamarind and coconut

So this is kinda continuation post from the last one. This is the gravy that I was talking about in the last post 'Chembila Upperi'. This gravy is slightly tangy (depends on how you prefer to adjust the tanginess, recipe calls for very little tamarind) and all the more dal flavoured. I paired this up with the chembu ila upperi. You can choose any other spicy or hot or subtle side dish as potato fry or kovakka fry or just plain rice, pickle and pappad. This is very easy to make. Just the soaking of the tamarind and dal is gonna take a while. Rest is breeze.. Do try this out when you get hold of some chembu ila and you are sure gonna thank me later ! 

My other spinach recipes are Cheera Parippu Curry, Chembila Upperi, Sirukeerai Paruppu Masiyal, Vallarai keerai Poriyal, Palak Paneer, Cheera Thalippu & Cheera Thoran

Recipe Source: Amma

Serves: 2-3 persons

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

I Used:

Chembin Thandu/Colocassia Stalks	-	10 stalks
Toor Dal	-	2-3 tbsp
Tamarind	-	A small blueberry sized (1 tsp tightly packed)
Red Chilly powder	-	1 tbsp
Turmeric powder	-	2 tsp
Coriander powder	-	2 tsp
Turmeric powder	-	¼ tsp
Salt	-	As Needed

To Grind:

Grated Coconut - ¼ cup (2 tbsp) Cumin Seeds - ¼ tsp To Temper:

Oil - 2 tbsp Mustard - ½ tsp Fenugreek - ¼ tsp Curry leaves - 1-2 sprigs

The Way:

1. Remove the stalks (thandu) from the colocassia (chembu ila) leaves. Peel off the fibre (naaru)  from the stalks. Just use a knife to pull the fibre. Then chop the stalks and keep aside.



2. Soak tamarind in water (I used close to 1 cup water) for 20-30 minutes. Extract the pulp and keep aside.

3. Grind coconut and cumin seeds with a little water (2-3 tbsp) and keep the paste aside.

4. Soak toor dal in water for around 20-30 minutes. you can also cook directly, but soaking helps to cook faster and also it blends smoothly when mashed after cooking. 

5. Then pressure cook the dal for 4-5 whistles.

6. Once cooked, add the chopped stalks, turmeric powder, red chilly powder and salt and pressure cook again for 1 more whistle. The stalks cook fast. So no need to cook for more than a whistle. 

7.Now add the tamarind pulp and allow it to boil for a minute or two.

8. Then add the ground coconut-paste and give a stir. Allow it to boil for 2-3 minutes and then switch off flame.

9. In another tadka pan/kadai heat oil. Splutter mustard and fenugreek.

10. Add broken red chillies and curry leaves. Add the tempering to the gravy and serve.

Cheers,
Chitz