Huli/Koimbu Plain

Huli/Koimbu Plain

Ingredients:


Cut vegetables

• 3/4 cup thoor dhal
• 1 1/2 tsp of rasam powder(sarina pudi, malagapudi)
• 1/2 tsp of tamerind paste
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 cup cut/diced vegetables(fresh beans, squash, eggplant and potatoes, spinach etc)
• 1 large tomato (optional)
• 3 or 4 whole green chilies or 1 big diced green pepper (optional)

Garnishing ingredients:

• 1 tsp of mustard seeds
• 1 tbs of oil or ghee
• pinch of hingh(optional)
• pinch of hingh (optional)
• few curry leaves(optional)

Method:
Cook thoor dhal in a pot with plenty of water( about 3 cups), on medium heat. To reduce the cooking foam from spilling over, place a spatula in the pot. When the dhal is 1/2 cooked add the vegetables, tomato and the chilies. Cook till all the vegetables and dhal are cooked well. The dhal is usually mushed and vegetable should be soft and wilted. Add the salt, rasam powder and tamarind to the pot and let it boil for a minute . Turn off the heat.


Huli/Koimbu

Garnish:
To garnish, heat the oil or ghee in a small spatula(or a pan), splatter mustard seeds, add hingh and turmeric. Pour the contents to the pot. Add curry leaves for flavouring.

Cooking Tips: You can pressure cook the vegetables and the thoor dhal together. Instead of tamarind paste, you can soak real tamarind( small lemon sized) in 1/2 a cup of water for a few minutes. Squeeze the tamarind juice out and use it in the preparation above. Throw the squeezed rind out. Do not make the Huli/koimbu too watery. If you have too much watery content, decant the watery portion into another small dish. To this add some chopped cilantro and use as rasam or soup.
Serving Tips: Serve on hot rice with a tsp of ghee. Can be eaten with roti's, dosaes etc.