Chettinad Pakkoda Kuzhambu | Chettinad Lentil Curry | Pakoda Kuzhambhu Recipe

Chettinad Pakkoda Kuzhambhu

Husband and I are on a vegetarian diet and that's one reason why you would be not find non-vegetarian recipes off late. When we decided to go on this approach, my husband said no sambar and rasams try something different. Being a South Indian we almost live in our staples of sambar and rasam, we tend to cook them up atleast once a week. So I had to take this as a challenge and cook different vegeterian recipes to serve my picky eater. I had bookmarked this Chettinad Pakkoda Kuzhambhu for long and got to try this today. It turned out so good, by tasting it I can say it would go great with rice, dosa, idly or appam. The Curry is not spicy and mild in spice buy packed in flavour. Do give this a try if you want to try something different apart from the routine recipes.

Pakkoda Curry

Lentil dumpling in coconut curry

Pakkodas/ Pakkoras for the curry

PAKKODA RECIPE 

Makes - 12-15 small pakkodas
Prep time - 2 hrs
Cook time - 10 mins

Ingredients

Chana dal - 1/2 cup, washed and soaked for 2 hrs
Red chilli (dry) - 4 nos
Sombu/ Fennel seeds - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Oil- to deep/shallow fry

Method

Soak the channa dal in water for 2 hours, drain excess water and grind along with fennel and red chilli to form a course paste. Now transfer to a bowl add salt and mix well. Heat a pan and add oil to deep fry, once its hot take small pinches of the lentil mixture and fry into fritters for 2 minutes flipping sides. Drain using a slotted spoon and remove excess oil from the pakkoras using a kitchen towel. Set aside

Chettinad vegetarian curry recipe

CHETTINAD PAKKODA CURRY RECIPE

Recipe Source - Priya
Prep time - 10 mins
Cook time - 15 mins
Serves - 4-5 people
Serving suggestions - Appam, Dosa, Idly & White rice

Ingredients

Onion - 2 large, chopped fine
Tomato - 2 large chopped fine
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Bay leaf - 2 
Cardamom - 2 
Cloves - 2 
Cinnamon - 1" piece
Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tbsp
Coriander leaves chopped - to garnish

To grind to paste

Coconut - 1/4 cup shredded
Cashew - 1 tbsp
Kuskus/ poppy seeds - 2 tsp

Method

1. Grind all ingredients mentioned under to grind (coconut, cashew, fennel, poppy seeds) into a smooth paste with the help of some water.
2. In a wide pan heat oil - 1 tbsp add the whole spices - bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves. Once the aroma releases add the fennel seeds, as they change colour add the onions and cook until transparent for a minute. 
3. Add ginger garlic paste and cook until the raw smell goes away (2 minutes). Now add tomatoes and cook for another 3 minutes.
4. Add the ground coconut paste and mix well. Now add red chilli powder and corriander powder and mix well. Let it cook for 2 minutes.
5. Now add 4 cups water and cook for 4-5 minutes with the lid covered and in simmer. 
6. Add the fried pakkodas to the curry and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot along with rice/idly/dosa/appam and enjoy

Chettinad Pakkoda Curry

Cooks Wisdom

Tip 1

While frying pakkodas you can add curry leaves/ onions too but nevertheless they taste great just as it is

Tip 2

Make sure you do not grind the channa dal too fine, it has to be course and I did not add any water, you can add few drops just to help grind

Tip 3

You can skip cashews in the recipe if you are diet concious and you can instead add coconut milk for a light curry

Tip 4

Make sure the curry is bit watery before adding the pakkodas as the curry tends to thicken. Also the pakkodas absorb the water in the curry

Learn how to cook ->

Chettinad Chicken Masala
Chettinad Kola Urundai (Raw Banana)
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