Peanuts and Celery Kaarakuzhambu (Curry)

I still remember the first time I spotted a bunch of celery at the supermarket, and marvelled at it as it was a vegetable I had read about, but never seen in all the while I lived in India. I did not have the guts to buy this vegetable as I thought I would not know how to use it.

Soon after we moved to the UK, we were invited to a friends house for a meal. Let me clarify here that the friend was a work colleague of my husband, a Yorkshire woman. This meal is one that I will not forget in a hurry as it was totally different to our typically South Indian dishes and style.

I could barely contain my amazement when the meal started with a slice of melon! Isn't fruit something you end the meal with?? There was more to follow - all of which served to show how ignorant I was when it came to cultures and food habits other than my own.

The meat we were served was slices of what looked like boiled chicken. The expression of disgust, no horror on my childs face when he had a taste of the meat - unforgettable. Part of the meal consisted of whole sticks of celery, which we were expected to eat with various store bought sauces... As you may have guessed, I avoided this as did the rest of my family.

Do you wonder then how it is that I have come up with this recipe?

I have always liked to experiment and try out different foods. How long can we keep eating the same old carrots, beans, cabbage and mushrooms? After a respectable period of time, I decided to give this vegetable another chance. Celery as a crudite is palatable, especially with hummous. The crunchiness of this reminded me very much of 'Vaazha thandu' which I must confess was not one of my favourites as a child. But I had come to love this vegetable as I grew older, appreciating its delicate taste, crunchy texture in the preparations my mum made - used as thin discs in sambar, and fine slivers in kootu.

This comparison with vaazha thandu, prompted my first experiment of using celery in sambhar. This worked well, and soon became a regular. Yes, I did use this in making kootu with celery which was equally scrumptious. Celery soon found a use in many of my recipes, be it a simple fried rice using peas and celery, or as a substitute when I found myself out of onions!

This recipe originated on one of the days when like Mother Hubbard I found my cupboard/fridge bare of vegetables save a few sticks of celery and some peanuts in the fridge. I had been craving some spicy kaarakuzhambu and hoped to find some peppers or brinjal in the fridge, but no such luck. I had to improvise and I did. I hope you like this as much as we all did.


Peanuts and Celery Kaarakuzhambu (Curry)

Ingredients

1 cup shelled raw peanuts
4-5 sticks of celery, peeled and cut into 1 inch lengths
2 tomatoes quartered
Tamarind extract from lime sized ball of tamarind soaked in ½ cup of water
1 onion chopped
1 onion grated, mixed with ½ teaspoon each of coarsely ground jeera and pepper
3 cloves garlic crushed (optional but recommended)
2 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp coriander powder
½ tsp turmeric
2 sprigs curry leaves
½ tsp mustard seeds
¼ tsp fenugreek seeds
½ tsp asafoetida powder
2-3 Tbsp of oil

Cover the peanuts with 1 cup of boiling water and leave aside for an hour. If rushed for time, once water is added microwave for 2 mins and use in recipe.
Heat oil, do the tempering or tadka using mustard seeds, fenugreek and asafoetida.
Add chopped onions and fry a couple of mins.
Add curry leaves and crushed garlic, stir, add ground onion paste and cook till raw smell disappears.
Add dry spice powders, tamarind extract, peanuts, salt and tomatoes.
Let this cook covered for about five minutes.
Add 4 cups water and let this come to a boil. Let it cook on low heat for about 10 minutes
Add celery pieces, salt to taste and cook a further 5 minutes and remove so that celery still retains some of its crunchiness.
Serve hot with rice, or as an accompaniment for idlis, upma or uthappam.