Kovakkai Paruppu Usili - Ivy Gourd with steamed lentils
Ivy gourd prepared with steamed and crumbled lentils - paruppu usili is a much loved Tamil veggie preparation!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup toor dal
- 2 tbsps chana dal
- 2 chillies dried red
- 1/4 tsp asafoetida powder / hing
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 sprig curry leaves
For tempering:
- 2 chillis dried red
- 1/2 tsps mustard seeds
- to taste Salt
Instructions
- Preparation for Usuli:
- Soak 1/2 cup toor dal with 2 tbsp chana dal, either overnight or for 3 hours in warm water. Grind this to a coarse paste with 2 broken dried red chillies, 1/4 tsp of asafoetida powder, pinch of turmeric powder, 1 tsp salt and a few curry leaves without adding any water.
- Steam this paste in an idli-steamer or a regular steamer for 10-15 minutes until the lentil paste is cooked. Remove to a bowl once cooled and crumble into small pea-sized pieces. Keep aside.
- Recipe forKovakkai Paruppu Usili:
- Place the slit pieces of kovakkai in microwave safe bowl, sprinkle some water and cook them on high for 5 minutes. Keep aside.
- In a non stick pan, heat 1 tbsp oil, and put in the crumbled usili. Stir them around on medium flame till golden and slightly crispy. This will take around 5-7 minutes. Keep this aside.
- In the same pan, take 1 tsp oil, put in the mustard seeds and broken red chilli pieces. Once they crackle, put it the cooked kovakkai, salt to taste, stir around for 2 minutes.
- Add the stir fried usili and stir together for 2 minutes until they have come together.
- Serve hot with Mor Kozhambu and rice along with some appalams (Tamilian Papads).
Notes
Notes:
- You could make double the batch, and freeze the lentil 'idlis' for the next time you are making this. Making the Usili is the only time consuming part of this recipe.
- You can also pressure cook the ivy gourd pieces in a cooker-vessel, after sprinkling some water for one whistle to cook them for this recipe.
- Mor kozhambu is the best combination with Usuli as this dish is already heavy with lentils. Combining this with sambhar, which is again made with lentils, makes it a very tough to digest combination. Mor Kozhambu is a Tamil style Kadi made with sour buttermilk and a paste of raw rice, coconut, cumin seeds and red chillies, boiled together with the buttermilk, and a tempering of curry leaves red chillies.