Kumbakonam Kaddapa

Kadappa is very famous kumbakonam side dish for idli/dosai. Its a cross between sambar and kurma and a combination that I normally wouldn't think of putting together.

I was really bored of the usual idli-dosai side dishes and wanted to cook up something entirely different. I googled immediately and this kadappa recipe came up. I quickly searched the ingredients list and saw moong dal, potato and a coconut paste. This combination sounded quite weird. And then i thought- I like moong dal, potato - yum, and coconut paste - mm-mm, so whats not to like right? ;). So decided to give this recipe a shot and I was pleasantly surprised at its different yet yum taste. Sometimes certain combinations don't strike a good chord immediately but this one did :). I was happy at discovering this authentic kumbakonam recipe! For me, from now on kadappa goes into my usual list of dosai accompaniments :-).

Kumbakonam Kadappa

Ingredients

Modified from here

Serves - 3
Spice Level - Moderately spicy
Prep Time - 20 min
Cook time - 15 min

Moong dal - 1/4 cup
Potato - 1 Large
Green chilli - 1, sliced thinly
Onion - 2 , sliced thinly lengthwise
Tomato  - 1 , chopped or juice of 1/2 lemon
Coriander Leaves - 1 Tbsp , to garnish
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt - as needed

To Temper

Oil - 1 Tbsp
Hing - a pinch
Jeera - 1 Tsp
Bay Leaf - 1
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Mustard - 1 Tsp
Curry Leaves - to sprig

To grind to a paste

Coconut - 1/4 cup
Green chilli - 2
Fennel - 1 Tsp
Jeera/Cumin - 1 Tsp
Poppy seeds [ khas khas ] - 1 Tsp
Garlic cloves - 2
water - few tbsp to grind with

How do you do it

1. Firstly pressure cook the moong dal with a pinch of turmeric and mash and keep aside. Also pressure cook the potatoes and mash roughly and keep aside.

2. Grind the items under " To grind to a paste".

3. Heat oil in a kadai. Add hing,bay leaf, cinnamon and mustard , jeera - let them roast. Add curry leaves and onion, green chilli and saute till onions are translucent. Add in the tomato pieces, little salt and saute till they are soft and mushy. They should let the juice out.

4. Add the mashed dal and potatoes and stir well. Simmer flame now, as you don't want the dal and potato mix to get burnt. Add in 2 cups of water, remaining salt and mix well. Let them come to a slow boil.

5. Maintain low flame. Add in the coconut paste now and mix well and bring to a slow boil. Let it boil on low flame for 2 minutes. Adjust consistency of the curry at this stage.

6. Switch off flame and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with crispy dosai.

Notes

You can skip the tomato and add juice of half a lemon, but you need to add lemon juice at the end after switching off the flame.

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