Sunday, December 03, 2006

Munakkaya Pulusu - Drumstick cooked with Tamarind

Dear Foodies,


I only recently realized that our Indian store stocks frozen drumsticks, and from then on I get a pack of these every time we go grocery shopping. We use it in Sambar and Pulusu, this one above is Munakkaya Pulusu. The difference between Sambar and Pulusu, is that the latter either has no dal in it or very little dal unlike Sambar.

Will be back with the recipe in awhile :-)

I wanted to write about the different tamarind based dishes that we make in our house, but I haven't been able to manage time for that. So I am going to directly jump to the recipe and reserve that thought for another post. This pulusu is extremely easy to make, you will know once you see the ingredients list itself !! I myself was a bit stunned while writing it down and tried hard to see if I missed something ..hehe. All it needs is some tamarind extract, a veggie and some sambar powder. Just leave it to boil to all its glory and its ready to serve :-)

Ingredients:
  • 5-6 nos - Drumstick pieces, 3" in size
  • Golf ball sized Tamarind, pulp extracted or 2 Tbsp - Tamarind Extract
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp - Sambar Powder
  • 1 tsp - Turmeric powder
  • Salt to taste
  • 2-4 cups - Water
  • 1 tsp - Oil
  • 1 tsp Mustard seeds
  • 1-2 nos - Dried red chillies
  • 2 tsp - Rice flour
Procedure:
  1. Microwave the tamarind in a cup of water and extract the pulp.
  2. In a vessel, take 2 cups of water and add the tamarind extract and allow it to boil. Also add salt, sambar powder and turmeric powder. If using fresh drumsticks add them to the water and cook. Since I used frozen ones which turn soft when thawed, I added them after the tamarind water came to a boil.
  3. Once the tamarind has lost its raw smell check to see if the tangyness of the pulusu is to your taste and add water accordingly.
  4. To make the pulusu thick, mix a spoon of rice flour in 2 Tbsp of water and add to the tamarind water and allow to boil.
  5. Do the popu/tadka by heating the oil, add the mustard seeds, once they pop add the red chillies and turn off the heat.
  6. Add this to the Pulusu and serve hot with rice or chapatis !!
Notes:
  • You can use okra, pearl onions, bottlegourd and make a similar pulusu. The okra and onions will have to be sauted in oil before adding the tamarind water.


13 thoughts:

FH said...

Looks great,if only I had some Drumsticks:)

Mythreyee said...

is pulusu, gojju in kannada?

Anonymous said...

I like any curry made of munakkaya and especially munakkaya sambar, but never tried pulusu. Looking forward to see ur pulusu recipe.

Anonymous said...

Hi Priya...drumsticks with tamarind. Now that is so new to me. I love drumsticks and have it with besan flour, will post a recipe on day, i will post a pic and you see the dish looks aweful but does taste lovely. I post when I can...awaiting your recipe...~smile~..take care

Priya said...


@ Asha: :-) hehe, I used to say that whenever I saw drumsticks in other blogs, not any longer :-D A pack of these is a must from the Indian store now !

@ Mythreyee: Pulusu is different from gojju as I know it in our house. Pulusu is liquidy with a near Sambar consistency. And gojju as my mom makes has a near chutney thickness. I don't know what gojju stands for in kannada though :-(

@ Bhargavi: I have eaten munakkaya only in sambar and pulusu, never as a curry !! hehe Could you pass on the recipe for it please, now that I know I can buy them anytime, I would love to try out new recipes with them :-)

@ Dilipji: I've posted my recipe, now my turn to wait for yours :-)

Nabeela said...

Hey Priya, hows the studies going? Must be getting hectic at your end!

Anonymous said...

Your munakkaya pulusu looks great.
The recipe is very much similar to our version of pulusu's(with okra, brinjal, chamadumpa, etc) but we do not use sambar powder,we use jeera powder.
Thx for sharing!

Chandrika said...

Munakkaya pulusu is pretty new to me, though I have known the sambar version right from childhood...Thanks for sharing..
:-))

geet said...

Hi Priya,

I love munakkaya and a love pulusu so when I saw this recipe, i was ecstatic:) I'm going to make it tonight!

geet said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
geet said...

Hi priya.. i did make it last night and it was great! substituted the rice flour for potatoes so that i could get the same consistency and it did turn out well. thanks!

Priya said...


@ Bhargavi & Chandrika: Do try it out , tamarind and drumsticks blend together very well in this recipe. And I just loveeeee pulupu/tangy dishes so this one is a favorite. :-), you can adjust the taste accordingly too.

@ Burgundy: Thank you so much for getting back to me about the result, Thank God u loved it !!! I have been biting my nails :-)
You have a wonderful blog, was reading thru it last night. Hope to see u here more often :-)

geet said...

sure will be popping by more often:) thx for dropping by too!:)

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