This is an honest to god original recipe from my kitchen. Well. My grandma’s kitchen to be exact!
We’ve been making Kosthu in my house for over 80 years and it’s one of my favourite accompaniments to dosas. So imagine my surprise when I searched for a recipe online while researching this post and couldn’t find one! My grandma and I are particularly fond of this curry and when we’re in charge of breakfast at home it’s always our go to item.
According to legend (a.k.a Grandma’s mostly real but sometimes exaggerated stories), a bus full of tourists once landed up outside my great grandpa’s hotel late one evening. By that time they were running out of most items including sambhar. That’s when they whipped up a quick kosthu in place of sambhar. They also did a whole bunch of other stuff that I’ll leave out so as to not tarnish the good family name, but ‘adjustments’ were made! I for one am grateful to those adjustments! This curry comes together so quickly and is so delicious that you’ll definitely double the recipe next time!
Kosthu is basically a discount sambhar. Say you’ve made a huge bowl of sambhar for lunch. You enjoyed that, it was great but theres a tiny bit left. Wasting food is a big no-no in most Indian kitchens so that tiny bit of sambhar is repurposed the next day to go with your idli or dosa. A quick kosthu was made and the remaining sambhar was added to the curry to flavour it. Thus, discount sambhar!
The quickest accompaniment to dosas and idlis is definitely chutney. Provided you have grated coconut. I lived away from family for 5 years and I never once grated my own coconut so it definitely wasn’t an ‘easy’ option for me. Kosthu requires no grinding and no cleaning of a mixer which is the biggest selling point for me! Enjoy this recipe Godhambu Dosa!
Kosthu
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
- 1 tsp Split Bengal Gram (chana dal)
- 1 Onion (chopped)
- 1 Tomato (chopped)
- 1/2 tsp Salt (or to taste)
- 1-2 Green Chillis
- 1/2 tbsp Ginger (finely minced)
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric
- 1/4 tsp Asafoetida (hing)
- 2 tbsp Gram Flour/Chickpea Flour (besan)
- 4 tbsp Water
- 1 cup Water
Instructions
- Add the oil to your pan and once hot, add the mustard seeds and split bengal gram.
- Once the mustard seeds pop, add your onions, ginger, green chilli and sauté till the edges of the onions turn brown.
- Roughly tear up/ chop the curry leaves and add it to the pan.
- Add the tomatoes and sauté for 1 minute.
- Add salt, turmeric and hing to the tomatoes and sauté for another minute.
- Mix the gram flour with 4 tbsp water and ensure the mixture is as smooth as possible.
- Add half a cup of water to the vegetables and bring to a gentle boil.
- Strain the gram flour mixture into the pan while mixing constantly.*
- Add an additional cup of water until it's at your desired consistency.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Let it boil for 20 seconds before turning it off.
