No Onion No Garlic Vatha Kuzhambu with Quinoa/Quinoa Vatha Kuzhambu/Quinoa in Tangy Dry Berries Gravy

If you want to give a twist to your usual Vatha kuzhambu saadham aka tangy dry turkey berries or dry black nightshade berries gravy with rice dish, then you have to look at my today's dish. Actually while i was running the Mega marathon, i picked No onion No garlic dishes as theme for my second week of April's marathon. And i prepared this lipsmacking gravy for the theme, but unfortunately i couldnt post this delicious dish for the theme. However I learned this dish from a Chef who is a good friend of mine. He rocks with so many interesting dishes and i crossed him accidentally through Facebook. When we were chatting i asked him to give a different dish to cook at home but i was looking for a traditional one. Then he asked me what about making no onion no garlic recipes and he suggested me one of his signature dish aka Vatha Kuzhambu without onions and garlic. Immediately he gave the ingredients list and i dished out this lipsmacking Vatha kuzhambu loaded with dry black night shade berries for our lunch.

Am running my second week of blogging marathon with Pick a protein ingredient as theme. I picked Quinoa as Protein rich ingredient, which is one of the World's most popular healthy foods. This tiny grains are gluten-free, highly rich in proteins. They are also highly rich in fiber, magnesicum, vitamin B, iron, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin E and may more. A cup of quinoa makes 8grams of protein, and they are excellent plant based protein source for vegetarians and vegans.Since Quinoa is an excellent source of protein, i couldnt stop myself making this delicious Quinoa Vathakuzhambu and this dish is completely onion-free and garlic-free dish to relish during fasting days. Definitely an interesting dish to sneak quinoa this way. Do give a try.

Vatha Kuzhambu Paste:
1/2cup Coriander seeds
1/4 cup Toor dal
1tbsp Peppercorns
1/2tsp Fenugreek seeds
1tbsp Cumin seeds
1/4cup Curryleaves
6-7 Dry red chillies

For Gravy:
1cup Tamarind extract
1/2cup Gingelly oil
1tsp Mustard seeds
Few Curry leaves
1/4tsp Asafoetidapowder
1/2cup Dried Night shade berries/Manathakkali Vathal
Salt


Heat enough oil in a pan, add few drops of oil, fry the coriander seeds,toor dal, peppercorns, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and fry until a nice aroma comes from.

Remove the roasted spices, add again few drops of oil, dry roast the curry leaves and red chillies.

Take all these ingredients in a mixie jar and grind as paste with enough water.

Heat the gingelly oil in a kadai, let crack the mustard seeds,curry leaves, add the asafoetida powder.

Now add the dried night shade berries and fry them well.  Add the grounded paste, tamarind extractto the pan, bring everything to boil.

Add enough salt and cook in medium flame until the oil gets separates from the gravy.

Meanwhile cook the quinoa with enough water, once quinoa gets well cooked, drain the water and keep aside.

Take the cooked quinoa in a large bowl, add enough gravy, gingelly oil, mix everything well.

Keep the vatha kuzhambu mixed quinoa aside for an hour.

Serve this vatha kuzhambu quinoa dish with your favourite dish or else simply with vathals.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#88.