Iyengar Milagu Kuzhambu

Pepper is perhaps the most common cooking spice in the world. Both ground pepper and peppercorns are also powerful herbal medicines, with a wide range of benefits. Black pepper’s health benefits are: aids digestion, helps relieve cough and colds, improves overall health, a powerful antioxidant, reduces inflammation.

Ingredients:

Pepper (Milagu)                         - 2 Tsp.

Red Chillies                              - 2

Hing (Asafetida)                       – ¼ tsp

Tamarind                                   - a small lemon size

Urdh dal                                    - 1 tsp

Coconut                                     – 1 tsp

Toovar dal                                  - 1 tablespoon

Mustard                                      - 1 teaspoon

Jaggery                                       - 1 inch piece

Gingili Oil                                    - 2 tablespoon

Curry leaves                                 - 5 to 6 sprigs

Salt                                                to taste

Method:

• Soak, strain and collect thick tamarind juice and keep it aside.
• Heat the frying pan with 1 tsp of oil. Fry pepper, red chillies, Toovar dal, Urdh gram dal, coconut and curry leaves. Grind this into a fine paste by adding small amount of water.
• Heat the frying pan with 2 tablespoonful of oil and add mustard and when it stops crackling add few curry leaves, Hing and extracted tamarind juice.
• Add turmeric powder and the grounded paste and mix well. Add Jaggery in it.
• Cook till the raw smell goes off and add salt to taste. Boil till oil separates and floats on top.
• Serve with steamed rice and pappad and it tastes best when served  with Inji (Ginger) Thuvaiyal and Paruppu Thuvaiyal.
• 
  

•