Kolumbo

One of the specialities of my mom is Kolumbo. This curry goes well with rice, idli or dosa. I usually love mixing Kolumbo with rice and eat it with Pokoras, Ketchup & Onions on the side - one of the best combinations ever. Here is the recipe of this amazing dish.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Toor Dal - 1/2 cup (or 1.75 idli cup)

Vegetables (carrot, cauliflower, potato, beans, Ivy Gourd, eggplant, drumstick) - 1 of each type

Tomato - 2

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Oil - 10 tsp

Coriander Seeds - 3 tsp

Red Chillies - 6

Coconut - 0.5 cup

Tamarind - small piece

Salt - to taste

Chana Dal - 2 tsp

Urad Dal - 2 tap

Fenugreek seeds - 2 tsp

Peppercorn - 9

Cloves - 5

Cinnamon Stick - very small piece

Cumin Seeds - 2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Hing - a pinch of hing

Coriander leaves - 0.5 cup

Curry leaves - 5 leaves

Preparation:

1. Soak toor dal in water for 20 mins.

2. Cut the vegetables into medium sized pieces.

3. Pressure cook the soaked dal along with carrot, cauliflower, potato, beans, Ivy Gourd, 0.5 tsp turmeric powder and 1 tsp oil for 2 whistles. Keep it aside.

4. In another pan, heat 4 tsp of oil, add coriander seeds and let it fry.

5. Add 5 red chillies, 0.5 tsp turmeric powder, tamarind, salt and coconut and turn off the gas. We use less coconut in this masala.

6. Grind the above fried masala along with water into a very coarse paste and keep aside.

7. In another pan, heat 3 tsp of oil, next add chana dal, urad dal, fenugreek seeds, peppercorns, cloves, small cinnamon stick, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and a pinch of hing.

8. Add the above fried mix to the coarse grinded paste and grind it further into a very fine paste. Keep it aside.

9. Separately boil tomato, drumstick and eggplant as they take less time to cook. Don't pressure cook it with the rest as it will melt off in the gravy.

10. In a pan, add the boiled tomato, drumstick and eggplant, add the fine masala that was grinded earlier, water and salt. At this step, if the dal is not cooked properly, then add it to this mixture. Else, if dal is properly cooked, then we can add it in the end once the masala cooks well. Bubbles will start appearing once the masala is cooked well.

11. Once the masala cooks, add dal (if not added earlier) and add coriander leaves.

12. For tadka, heat 2 tsp oil in a pan, add curry leaves, 1 red chillies, 0.5 tsp mustard seeds and a pinch of hing. Add the tadka to the above mix.

Kolumbo is ready to be served.