Chettinad Masala Kuzhambu (Gravy)

As a tribute to my South Indian side (and also because I bought radishes from the farmer's market recently), I decided to give this new recipe a try. It's a gorgeous sauté of radishes in an onion/tomato gravy with undertones of coconut and fennel seeds. The gravy is different from the usual gravies that I have tried and it came out to be delicious! (Trust me on that, because I would never post anything that I don't find delicious!)

The original source of the recipe says you can use other vegetables too, but I am attempting to use other vegetables in our regular diet.

Recipe Courtesy: http://www.sharmispassions.com/2012/01/chettinad-masala-kuzhambu-masala-gravy.html

Ingredients

• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Bay leaf - 1
• Cinnamon - 1/4 inch piece
• Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Onion - 1/2 of a medium sized or 1/4 cup finely chopped
• Garlic - 3-4 cloves, finely chopped
• Curry leaves - 6

• Radish - 4, sliced thin
• Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
• Water - Keep about 2 cups on hand.
• Salt to taste
• Cilantro leaves - 1 tbsp chopped

For grinding:

• Coconut - 1/4 cup (I had desiccated coconut powder, but that works just as well in my opinion :) )
• Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Onion - 1, chopped finely
• Tomato - 1, chopped finely

Steps

1. We're starting with the ingredients under the grinding step. Heat 1 tbsp of oil and throw in your onions. Once the onions are sautéed well (I almost like them to brown a bit), throw in the chopped tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes are well-softened.
2. Cool this mixture and grind into a smooth paste with the rest of the two ingredients under the grinding section: fennel seeds and coconut. Keep this paste aside.
3. Now let's head back to the rest of the ingredients. Heat the rest of the 1 tbsp of oil in the same pan and when the oil is hot, throw in the bay leaf, fennel seeds, and cinnamon stick. Mix for a few seconds.
4. Add the chopped onions and garlic and mix again for 1 minute or so. Now add in the curry leaves and sautee until the aroma from the curry leaves fills up your kitchen!
5. Now add in the radishes and sautee for 4-5 minutes.
6. Next, put in the coriander powder and red chili powder and mix for another few seconds until the masala powders coat the radishes well.
7. At this point add in a little more than a 1/4th cup of water and salt, and let the radishes boil in this mixture for another 5-6 minutes.
8. Once the radishes look somewhat cooked through, add in the paste made in step 2, and let the concoction boil on low heat for 10-15 minutes. I cut my radishes not so thin so I had to cook for longer. But you really just want to cook until the radishes are somewhat soft. Keep checking every 4-5 minutes or so and add more water as you may need to. My gravy kept drying up fast so I ended up adding a total of about 1.5 cups of water.
9.  Once finished, check for salt and other spices. Then garnish your finished product with ample amounts of chopped cilantro.
10. Serve hot with steaming basmati rice!