Paruppu Urundai Kuyambu

This recipe is very famous in Tamil Nadu I suppose...I have not heard my friends from other states making this kuyambu. Kuyambu in itself is a thing made by us ...you may treat it this way - "sambhar devoid of dhal". There are many ways of making this variety and one such is Paruppu (toor dhal) Urundai (koftas/balls) kuyambu.

I made this when my friend visited us last year after a long long time and she visited us again last weekend. I asked her what she wanted me to prepare and she mentioned that her husband loved the paruppu urundai kuyambu I made last time they visited and asked me to prepare the same...I too had been contemplating on making this some time and I got an oppurtunity to do it. I was so happy that my friend visited and stayed with us too this time. We both have sons who are two year olds and they enjoyed a lot. My son misses them and keeps asking for them. We are planning to visit them someday....not sure when that is going to be!!

Ingredients:

For the Urundai - (yields about 10 -12 small lemon size)
Toor Dhal - 1 Cup
Red Chillies - 4
Salt to taste
Turmeric -  a pinch

For the Kuyambu -
Tamarind - lemon sized
Sambhar Powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Salt as per your taste
Oil for the tadka
Mustard, Urad dhal, Channa Dhal, Curry leaves, Asafoetida (a pinch) for tadka
Cilantro - for garnishing

Let me first get to the method for making the urundais. Soak the toor dhal and red chillies in water for about 2 hours. Drain the water completely.Grind it without any water in it. Add salt and turmeric.

In the mean while when the toor dhal is soaking. Make tamarind water the way you normally do it for sambhar. Keep it on the stove. In a pan take a teasspoon of oil and add the ingredients for tadka. Add this tadka to the tamarind water. Add the Sambhar powder and salt. Let it boil. When it starts thickening - make small lemon sized balls of the grinded toor dhal. Start adding the Urundais (koftas) one by one. Do this by adding one at a time. Add the next one when it starts floating on top (Do not panic if it starts dissolving when you add the first one. Just add the urundai mixture in a pan and get the excess water out and follow the above process). Finish adding all the urundais. Make sure you make enough kuyambu since there is a chance of these toor dhal balls absorbing lot of the kuyambu into it ..you do not want to be left with just the urundais when you start serving!! Serve the Paruppu Urundai Kuyambu with rice. Garnish the kuyambu with cilantro. My Patti used to make it all the time.