The Perfect Remedy

If you are Indian, then there's a good chance you have a periamma. (Literally "big mom," it means "aunt." I like this way of saying aunt—"big mom" just sounds so warm and comfortable, especially compared to a homonym for a little biting insect.) However, I am probably in the minority of Lutheran girls from Minnesota who have a periamma, and I count myself fortunate. Because if I didn't have a periamma, I wouldn't have had someone to come into my kitchen for a couple of hours on a Sunday morning and make us several day's worth of delicious food.

She made us non-Brahmin sambar, garlic rasam, and garlic pepper kuzhambu (despite how it's spelled, to my non-Tamil ears it sounds like korumba). I'd like to specifically talk about the garlic pepper kuzhambu, since it is perfect for winter, which officially started yesterday, and also perfect for the season of colds, flu, bronchitis, and so on, which has been with us for a few months already. This kuzhambu is a common South Indian cold and flu remedy—much better than Vicodin-laced cough syrup. Well, OK, maybe not better, but definitely better-tasting. It is sour, savory, and spicy enough to clear out your sinuses quite nicely.

I tried to pay attention to what periamma was doing, but forgot half of it, so then I asked my mother-in-law. And I forgot about a quarter of what she said, so I then filtered everything through my own personal cooking sensibility. This is the version I came up with. None of the amounts are set in stone; it just depends on your own personal taste. However, there's really no point in doing this if you're not going to make it SPICY. (As an aside, if you are going to be making a lot of Indian food, it pays to go to your local Indian grocery. You can get all the spices, rice, lentils, and everything you need very cheaply. And of course, the regular grocery might not even carry some of the things you need anyway. And also of course, it is really a lot of fun walk through aisles the Indian grocery and impulse purchase fiery hot salty crunchy snacks, and mango pickles, tea, etc...)

If you don't know what some of these ingredients are, and want to know, feel free to ask me. Any Indian grocery will stock all of these ingredients.

1/24/10 update:  My future sister-in-law made this recipe today, and two hours after consuming it, her tastebuds were still on fire. So I feel I should append a warning here: this kuzhambu is really, really spicy. It is supposed to serve a medicinal purpose, that purpose being to thoroughly clear out your sinuses. But feel free to greatly reduce the amount of black pepper and/or red chilies if you are not a glutton for punishment. Because as the recipe stands, it will punish you. Severely. In a good way, if you like that sort of thing.

Poondu milagu kuzhambu (Garlic pepper gravy)*

Ingredients
For the spice mixture:
1/2 teaspoon of oil
2 whole dried red chilies
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 tablespoons toor dal (yellow pigeon peas)

For the rest:
2 tablespoons oil
2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1 teaspoon urad dal (black gram)
8 cloves of garlic**
1/2 teaspoon asafoetida
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 tablespoon tamarind paste (also called tamarind concentrate)
2 cups of warm water
Salt to taste


In a heavy skillet, dry roast the spice mixture ingredients in the 1/2 teaspoon of oil. The spices should give off a fragrance, and be toasted but not burned. Grind the contents of the skillet to make a smooth paste. (I have the Indian grinder known as a Mixie, which is kind of like a blender on steroids. If you are using a regular blender, it's OK to add a little water to the paste to help it grind better.) Set the spice mixture aside.

Dissolve the tamarind paste in the water and keep aside. In a heavy bottomed large saucepan, pour in two tablespoons of oil, and heat mustard seeds, fenugreek, and urad dal until the mustard seeds sputter and pop and the fenugreek has turned a dark, reddish brown. The urad dal should also be a toasted light brown color. Turn down the heat, quickly add the asafoetida, turmeric, and 10 cloves of garlic. Saute the garlic for a few minutes, then add the tamarind water and the spice mixture. You can add salt, but not too much, as the kozhumbu will boil down and become more concentrated. Simmer until the liquid has reduced to make a somewhat thick, syrupy sauce, and the garlic cloves are soft. If it's not thickening as you'd like, you can add a little chickpea flour and it will thicken right up. At this point, you can taste and add more salt if needed. Then you're done. Serve mixed with ghee rice. Or, my mother-in-law says, for a balanced meal with a protein source and everything, make toor dal chutney to have with the rice and kozhambu. I am visiting with the in-laws as I write, and we have tentatively planned to make the toor dal chutney tomorrow. I'll report back on that. In the meantime, this recipe will give the general idea. I had actually never heard of toor dal chutney until I spoke with my mother-in-law about it today. It sounds like an unusual and simple way to add protein to a meal.

*I don't know why kuzhambu translates as "gravy," because gravy in this context sounds kind of gross. Trust me, it's not.
**Garlic is optional. Some Brahmins swear off garlic, as it is said to bring out one's "animal instincts." Apparently this is something to be avoided. As someone who was brought up Lutheran, I can certainly understand that sentiment, but personally I think a little animal instinct never hurt anyone. And I also wonder what foods Lutherans abstain from in order to avoid arousing their animal instincts. I'm guessing the answer is anything with flavor or spices in any form. So if you're Lutheran and don't want to be overcome with raging animal passion, leave out the garlic, chilies, cumin, tamarind, turmeric, fenugreek, asafoetida, and pepper. Ha ha. Just kidding. Probably the turmeric is OK.