Mains

Thirumaalai Chamba

Posted on by Vijaya Venkatesh
Cooks in: 40 Minutes Serves: 3 People

Many temples in South have their own traditional Prasadam offerings. Only locally available simple ingredients are used for these offerings and the devine taste lingers in the mouths of devotees for a very long time! One such recipe is Thirumaalai Chamba offered to Sowmyanarayana Perumaal of Thirukkoshtiyur. Thirumaalai means sacred evenings. This pasasdham is offered to Perumal in the evenings and then distributed. Only country veggies like raw banana, brinjal, bitter gourd and cluster beans are used for this dish. Small urad dal vada is added and pepper is the only spice used!I wanted to recreate this simple yet very tasty Prasadam recipe with our humble millets and it turned out so well and I happily offered to Him before this margazhi ends. Thanking Him for everything He bestowed us in the year 2019 and praying for a peaceful world in the coming year. Om Namo Narayana!!

Ingredients:

  • 15 small urad vadas fried as tiny bondas.
  • 1/2 Cup Kodo Millet/Varagu
  • 3 Cups of mixed Veggies (raw banana, brinjal, bitter gourd, cluster beans)
  • A small lemon size tamarind
  • 2 Tbsp Ghee/Oil
  • 1 Tbsp Pepper
  • 1 Tsp Salt
  • 1/2 Tsp Mustard Seeds
  • 1/2 Tsp Turmeric Powder
  • 10 Curry Leaves

Directions:

  1. Wash and soak millet for 30 minutes. Drain. Add a cup of water and cook for 3 whistles. Let it cool.
  2. Soak tamarind in water and extract juice twice. The total quantity should be 1.5 Cups.
  3. In a pan dry roast pepper till nice aroma and starts to crackle. Remove and make powder.
  4. In a small cooker add ghee and temper mustard seeds. Add curry leaves, chopped veggies and stir for a minute. Pour the tamarind juice , add salt and turmeric powder. Cook for a whistle. Open after 5 minutes.
  5. Mix in pepper powder and vadai . Add the cooked millet and mix everything well. The Prasadam is ready.

Note:

  • Other millets ike Little, Barnyard, Foxtail can be used for this recipe.
  • Adjust pepper qty according to your taste.
  • The veggies can be cooked in open pot also. Since it takes time, I used a small cooker. Do not overcook the veggies. Let them retain the crunch.
  • Click here or picture below to buy a Mixed Millets Combo Pack of 5.