Kara Kulambu is a spicy gravy made by cooking veggies with tamarind extract, ground spices, onion & tomato. Kara Kulambu is a popular gravy made in South India and is relished by all for its taste. Kara Kulambu Recipe posted here with step by step pictures.
I have made this Kara Kulambu as it has been our family favorite. Hubby demands this whenever we buy brinjals. As my colleagues requested to post stepwise I kept postponing and finally found some time to cook and click.
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About Kara Kuzhambu
‘Kara’ in tamil means spicy and ‘Kuzhambu’ is curry so Kara Kuzhambu translates to a spicy curry. Kara Kuzhambu is a perfect side dish for rice, idli etc. This is another take for ennai kathrikai kulambu and we all love it.
At times I feel like eating something spicy and hot, so this is the first dish that comes to my mind. Piping hot rice, kara kuzhambu with sutta appalam is such a great combination do try this and enjoy!
Kara Kuzhambu is a tamarind based curry so keeps well for 2 days. I love it even with curd rice, tastes so good. I reserve the leftover curry made for lunch to serve it with idli for dinner, the apt combo.
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Kara Kuzhambu Ingredients
- Tamarind – Tamarind is one of the main ingredient for kara kulambu to give a tangy taste and forms the base for this.
- Masala paste – A masala paste is made by grinding together tomato, coconut, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, whole black pepper, urad dhal, channa dal and dry red chilies.
- Vegetables – Any vegetable like vendakkai, kathirikkai, sepenkilangu or just onion can be used for this kara kulambu.
- Tempering – A tempering is made using mustard seeds, vadagam, curry leaves and red chilies.
- Coconut – Kara Kulambu can be made with coconut, without coconut. With coconut the curry is slightly thick.
How to make Kara Kulambu Step by Step
1.First dry roast all the ingredients under ‘to roast and grind’ section till golden brown and tomatoes turn slightly mushy and raw smell leaves. Soak tamarind in water for few minutes and extract thick pulp out of it. Keep aside.
2.Grind the roasted ingredients to a fine paste, set aside. Put a ‘+’ mark in the brinjals with a knife and fill in the brinjals with the paste(Reserve the remaining paste.). Stuff all the brinjals and keep aside. Now heat a kadai with oil add onions, turmeric powder and sauté till onions turn slightly browned.
3.Now add the stuffed brinjals and sauté until it shrinks. Then add the remaining paste and sauté for 2 minutes. Now add 1 and 1/2 cups of water, required salt and simmer.
4.Keeping lid closed and Cook until the brinjals are half cooked. Now add the tamarind extract and keep in simmer until the curry starts thickening.
5.It will thicken up to a kuzhambu consistency and oil will start floating, at this stage switch off and transfer to serving bowl. In a kadai, add the items under ‘to temper’ and add the tempering to the kuzhambu.
Serve kara kuzhambu with hot rice.
Expert Tips
- Adding the tempering at the last stage gives a strong unique flavouring so do not skip this.
- Adjust red chillies according to your spice level.
- If you don’t have vadagam for tempering then replace it with urad dhal but still vadagam gives a nice flavour to this curry so I prefer adding it.
- This is a spicy curry which is apt with hot steamed rice. This is another take for ena kathrikai kulambu and we all loved it.
- I have used Brinjal – You can use any vegetable of your choice like ladies finger, radish, drumstick, mochai.
Serving and Storage
Kara Kuzhambu can be served with rice, idli, dosa etc. This curry keeps well in fridge for 3 days, reheat and serve it.
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📖 Recipe Card
Kara Kulambu Recipe | Kara Kuzhambu Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 brinjals
- 5 small onions
- 1 lemon sized tamarind
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2 tablespoon oil
- salt to taste
To roast and grind to a paste:
- 1 medium sized tomato
- 1/4 cup coconut
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon whole black pepper
- 3/4 teaspoon urad dal
- 3/4 teaspoon chana dal
- 5 red chilies
To temper:
- 1 teaspoon vadagam
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 10 curry leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 2 dry red chilies
Instructions
- First dry roast all the ingredients under ‘to roast and grind’ section till golden brown and tomatoes turn slightly mushy and raw smell leaves. Soak tamarind in water for few minutes and extract thick pulp out of it. Keep aside.
- Grind the roasted ingredients to a fine paste, set aside. Put a ‘+’ mark in the brinjals with a knife and fill in the brinjals with the paste(Reserve the remaining paste.). Stuff all the brinjals and keep aside. Now heat a kadai with oil add onions, turmeric powder and sauté till onions turn slightly browned.
- Now add the stuffed brinjals and sauté until it shrinks. Then add the remaining paste and sauté for 2 minutes. Now add 1 and 1/2 cups of water, required salt and simmer.
- Keeping lid closed and Cook until the brinjals are half cooked. Now add the tamarind extract and keep in simmer until the curry starts thickening.
- It will thicken up to a kuzhambu consistency and oil will start floating, at this stage switch off and transfer to serving bowl. In a kadai, add the items under ‘to temper’ and add the tempering to the kuzhambu.
- Serve kara kuzhambu with hot rice.
Notes
- Adding the tempering at the last stage gives a strong unique flavouring so do not skip this.
- Adjust red chillies according to your spice level.
- If you don’t have vadagam for tempering then replace it with urad dhal but still vadagam gives a nice flavour to this curry so I prefer adding it.
- This is a spicy curry which is apt with hot steamed rice. This is another take for ena kathrikai kulambu and we all loved it.
- I have used Brinjal – You can use any vegetable of your choice like ladies finger, radish, drumstick, mochai.
Kalpana Sareesh
Kaara kuzhambhu is superr.. not a big fan of brinjals but still love with this paste u hv added.. sure try this sunday..
Roshan
superb curry for rice..
Happy Cook / Finla
Wowo that curry looks super super yumm.
zareena.b
mmmm…. yummmmmy dish of brinjal. Looks very lovely. Bookmarked this.
Prathibha
nice gravy..would be gr8 wid rice..:)
RAKS KITCHEN
I love kara kuzhambu nice recipe, will have to try this way 🙂 Delicious clicks…
An Open Book
not a brinjal fan but im somehow thinking this would be a great curry to start with
jeyashrisuresh
drooling over this kara kuzhambhu. Want to have this with hot rice and papad. My sister makes a similar one and she was telling me for a long time to post that one.
Sudha Sabarish
Yummy kara kuzhambu and delicious.Feel like having immediately.
Rekha shoban
yummy curry,…perfect wit rice!
Kadhyaa
very unique preparartion sounds very interesting for a brinjal fan
Priti
Yum …I would love this …looks so perfect
Priya
Slurp,lipsmacking kuzhambu,love with papads and rice.
divya
OMG,very tempting recipe dear…Amazing clicks.Loved ur curry n the presentation too gud…
divya
OMG,very tempting recipe dear…Amazing clicks.Loved ur curry n the presentation too gud…
Aarthi
Wow..this look delicious
Rashida shaikh
Lipsmacking Brinjal Curry,im gonna try it..your stepwise presentation gives your blog unique look..keep growing 🙂
sangee vijay
very nice recipe, kara kuzhambu looks spicy and inivting…next time will try this way..
Usha
Hi!
This recipe is mouth watering.. lovely snaps! will surely try it.
Suja
Creamy and delicious,looks superb..nice recipe will surely try this..
Angie's Recipes
I would love the curry with more chillies ;-))
Nisha S.
Is it similar to bharwan baingan or bagara baingan?
Nitha
Yummy n delicious..
Amina
Curry looks superb… mouth watering.. liked your presentation very much…
Mitha
how did u read my mind dearie as i was just browsing through some brinjal recipes in ur blog !!!
yes this was the kind of curry which we used to be served during my hostel days in chennai
gonna try this out.
but can we make it a bit more drier?
i mean like some roast with less gravy
what shall i do for that
Sharmilee! :)
@Mitha : This is a gravy kind of recipe and am not sure how it will turn out when made the dried version….You can try this gravy am sure all brinjal lovers will luv it 🙂
Chandrani
Wow!!! curry looks spicy and tempting. Lovely dish.
hemalata
Mouthwatering curry,looks so delicious.
Nikhil Merchant
Ah a brinjal variation, im always looking for ways to make the family enjoy Brinjal, lets try this too..
Cham
I like brinjal the most. Sound delicious with stuffing!
Uma
Mouth watering curry. somehow i was pulled into TN regional wise cooking and bookmarking all when i come across. I am bookmarking this also.
Suma Gandlur
A delicious dish. We make it with sesame seed filling. 🙂
SelvaGanesh
Hi, I tried this today, it came out super-delicious, my little one polished it off:) You have a great blog and good food!:)
Anonymous
Sharmi,
had bookmarked this recipe as I wanted a brinjal curry with gravy like the hostel days ones from long ago in Chennai.Made this today and hubby and I loved it.Did not need anything else with rice.
One of ur most frequent visitor
Sonia
Anonymous
Thanks a lot Sharmilee for the great recipe. I was always a fan of kara kuzhambu during my chennai days, but cooked it first time yesterday. Family loved it and myself can stop having it!!
Regards, ur new visitor – Shibin
Sharmilee! :)
@Sonia : I was just thinking of you the other day and here you are 🙂 Glad t know you liked it a lot!!
@Anonymous : Welcome to sharmispassions!! Thats great to hear…keep visiting, am glad to hear such comments!
Anonymous
Hi
I don't have a good blender that will give a fine paste. Can I just add the grinding ingredients if they are partially ground?
Sharmilee! :)
@Anon : Yeah it will be ok but the curry will be a bit coarse, if you are ok with it then go ahead 🙂
kalyani
tried this n came out really well:-) thankoo sharmi:-) can we usee any other vegie instead of brinjal? like radish?
Gayathri
very nice kozhambu recipe with very good presentation.
Sharmilee! :)
@Kalyani: Yes you can try with radish, drumstick or even with brinjal potato combination
anusha
Hey tried this kuzhambu . Came out very well and How do i get updates on ur recently posted recipes
Prenidha Alan Vijay
I tried this recipe and it was delicious. I came across ur blog recently and loved all the recipes have bookmarked some and going to try it out. Thanks.
Prenidha Alan Vijay
I tried ur recipe it came out delicious thanks
naveen m
Actually I was searching in net for something to do wit brinjal, ended up here…wen I started to cook I thght ll become a worst brinjal curry ever..so I decided to serve it to my bro first…really got shocked to see my bro's expression…he simply loved it n said wat n al u added pls tel me tel me…den nly I tasted…hmmmm simply superb thanks to u a lot
loganayaki A
Hi sharmi, its very nice receipe.. thanks..
cauvery
Came out very well….Thanks for the receipe…
Unknown
Tried it… The taste was awesome.. Got lot of praises… Thank you…
Unknown
Tried it… The taste was awesome.. Got lot of praises… Thank you…