Vazhakkai Kuzhambu (Spicy Plaintain Curry with Black Eyed Peas)

Lately I have been seeing fresh green plantains in my local grocery store frequently. Plaintain was one of those "hard-to-find-Indian-vegetables" until a few months back. Years ago, plaintains used to be a comfort vegetable like potatoes - mom made it atleast once a week and my mother-in-law makes a variety of dishes with plantains - Puttu, Poriyal, Podimas, Aviyal - you name it. However, I haven't heard a kuzhambu made of Plantain - a hot and spicy plantain gravy. I came across this recipe in a magazine recently and when got more curious, I googled this recipe. I was surprised to see different variations of kuzhambu recipes with plantain! Hmm, I've been missing this yummy version all these days. I couldn't wait to try this recipe and immensely enjoyed it. Hope you all like it.

Ingredients:

• Plaintains - 2 small
• Black-eyed peas - 1 cup (soaked overnight or you can use frozen too)
• Garlic - 3 cloves - minced
• Pearl Onions - 6
• Tomatoes - chopped - 1/2 cup
• Shredded Coconut - 1/4 cup
• Broken cashews - 2 tsp
• Chilli Powder any Kuzhambu powder - 1 tsp
• Corriander Powder - 2 tsp
• Fennel seeds - 2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves and Cilantro - a few
• Tamarind Paste - 2 tsp

Procedure:

• Peel the skin off the plaintains and chop them into 1 inch cubes. Soak in water, so they retain the color.
• Heat oil in a pan and season with mustard and fenugreek seeds and 1 tsp fennel seeds. While they pop, add chopped pearl onions, 2 garlic cloves (retain one for later use) and curry leaves. Fry for a few mins.
• Add the chopped tomatoes, chilli/kuzhambu powder and corriander powder and fry in medium heat until the tomatoes lose shape. You should start getting a nice aroma from the spice powders.
• Transfer this to a pressure cooker and add the chopped plaintains, black-eyed peas and salt to the mixture. Add 1 cup of water and pressure cook for 2 whistle - just to cook the vegetables. The timings vary based on your pressure cooker.
• While this is cooking, make a paste of coconut, garlic, cashews and 1 tsp fennel seeds. Also dissolve the tamarind paste separately in 1 cup of water.
• After letting the steam off from the pressure cooker, open the cooker, turn on the heat and add the coconut paste and mix well.
• Finally add the tamarind juice and boil for 5 - 7 mins in medium heat.
• Garnish with corriander leaves.

You can enjoy this with steaming hot white rice and papad!