Thanjavur Kadappa / Thanjavur Kadapa / Hotel Kadapa

In our hometown thanjavur, small hotels on road side used to give a mild yellow colour side dish as a side for Idly, dosas and it tasted very good. We used to fight for those small potatoes hiding in that gravy. That dish was called as Kadappa which was served only in Hotels. This would look like a watery spicy gravy with some small baby potatoes in it. Though I am a big fan of having Idlies with hotel sambar and chutney, I still like to have Idlies with this special Kadappa. Someone who does not like to have Idlies will definitely eat idlies with this special Kadappa dish. Though I make this kadappa dish at home nowadays, still the flavour and exact taste of those road side hotels do not even be compared to mine. Those were so unique.

Ingredients

Potatoes - 10 or 12 small

Onion - 1\2  cut into thin slices lengthwise

Moong Dal \ Payatham Paruppu \ Pesara Pappu  - 2 tbsp

Olive Oil - 2 tbsp

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Dry red chilli powder --- 1 tsp

Salt -- To Taste

Jeera - 1 tsp

Cinnamon Sticks \ Pattai - 2 medium

Lavang \ Cloves - 3 or 4

For Grinding

Fresh Coconut - 4 tbsp

Sombu \ Fennel Seeds -- 2 tsp

Garlic Pods - 5 or 6 big

Green chillies - 3 Big

Khus Khus - 2 tsp

Method

1. Wash the Moong Dal and cook it to a smooth paste in a pressure cooker. Add some water to the cooked dal and keep the Dal water ready.
2. Peel the skin of the potatoes and cook them either in microwave or on the stove.
3. Grind the ingredients as mentioned above and make a smooth creamy paste of the grounded mixture.
4. Cut the onions into thin slices. Keep all the masala ingredients ready on the side.
5. On medium heat, add olive oil first. When its heated, add jeera, cloves, cinnamon sticks to the heated oil. When its roasted, add thin slices of onion and turmeric powder to the Olive Oil.
6. Fry them well for a minute till the onion becomes translucent. Add the grounded paste to the kadai and fry them very well till the raw smell of the garlic completely goes off.
7. After that, add the Dal water to the kadai. Mix them well and add required amount of salt to the contents in the kadai.
8. Add a pinch of sugar too to the kadai. Add 1 tsp of red chilli powder to the kadai.
9. Close the lid and let the kadappa gravy comes to a boil. Then, add the cooked potatoes to the kadappa gravy.
10. Close the lid and let the kadappa gets cooked with potatoes for few minutes.
11. Switch off the heat then and let the kadappa settles down for few minutes.
12. Add a tsp of lemon juice to the kadappa and garnish with coriander leaves to the Kadappa.
13. Serve this yummy gravy to any south indian tiffin varieties or roti.

Tips

• As there is a slight difference between this Kadappa and a normal potato kuruma, don't make this Kadappa gravy in a thick or semi solid state. Make it little watery but with a good punch in its taste.
• You can add extra green chillies while preparing  the creamy paste for the gravy.   As we add the Dal water too, the spice level  might get lowered in the gravy. So, its better to add one or two green chillies extra before grinding the paste itself.