POONDU KUZHAMBU / GARLIC CURRY

This is a tangy and spicy curry from South India made with whole garlic pods and shallots..  You can make a vaariety of curries following the same recipe.... for example, with fish, prawns, brinjals or boiled eggs. It tastes really nice with just plain boiled rice and maybe fried appalams (papads) to go with it.

Ingredients:
Garlic cloves ... 15 - 20
Shallots ........ 10
Tomato ... 1 small
Coconut .... 1/2 cup (grated)
Tamarind ... lemon sized
Dry red chillies .. 5-6 (add more if you like spicy curry)
Red chilli powder .. 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder .. 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder ... 1 tsp
Pepper corns .. 1 tsp
Fenugreek/ methi seeds ...1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds ... 1 tsp
Curry leaves .. 1 sprig
Asafoetida ... 1 pinch
Oil .. as needed

Method :
1. Soak the tamarind in half cup of water for about half an hour . Squeeze and remove the thick juice.
2. Peel the garlic and shallots.
3. Grind the coconut to a fine paste.
3. Dry roast and grind dry red chillies, methi seeds, pepper corns and cumin seeds.
4. Grind the Tomato with 5 shallots and 5 garlic cloves.
5. Add the ground spices to this and a little water. Grind together to make the masala paste.
6. Heat oil in a pan and add the asafoetida, mustard seeds, Broken red chillies and curry leaves.
7. When they crackle, add the whole garlic cloves and shallots. Saute for 2 minutes.
8. Add the ground masala paste and the coconut paste and saute adding the salt and spice powders.
9.Now add the tamarind extract and sufficient water to cook. ( quantity of water could be 1 cup or more if you like more gravy.)
10. Simmer until done.

Note: If you like you can do the tempering in the end when the curry is ready. I do iit in the beginning to avoid more oil.

Recipe Source - You Too Can Cook