Puli Inji - Kerala Style

Puli means Tamarind, Inji for Ginger. Puli Inji is a thickish sauce with these two as the main ingredients.  It is served as part of Onam Sadya. Quick n easy to make, it's tangy, slightly sweet and is loved by all!

Puli Inji

 

What You Need -

Tamarind - a medium sized lemon (Soak in 2 cups water and extract pulp, discard seeds)
Jaggery (grated or coarsely powdered) - 2 tbsp
Ginger - 2 inch piece
Green chillies- 2 numbers
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp (adjust to taste)

To Temper -

Coconut Oil - 1 1/2 tsp
Mustard /kadugu - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 3/4 tsp
Curry leaves - a few

Grated coconut - 1/4 cup - to be fried till golden brown (add finally)

Method -

• This dish is done in a single pan. Do the tempering first after heating some coconut oil. Fry till urad dal turns slightly reddish and a nice aroma evolves. Finally add grated coconut and fry until it turns golden colored.
• Soak tamarind in 2 cups of warm water for about 10 minutes and extract the juice. Throw away the seeds and strands. 
• First, add finely minced ginger to the tempering in the pan and then follow with green chillies (Pardon me, I used red chilli padi as I ran out of green chillies that day). 
• Add the extracted pulp of tamarind and let boil together.
• Add salt, chilli powder and turmeric (haldi).
• Finally, add some jaggery to balance out the flavors. The traditional recipe calls for jaggery.

• Let everything boil together and thicken like sauce.

This will be tart yet sweet!
Makes a great side-dish for idlis, dosas and many more! Puli Inji can also be mixed with rice and enjoyed.

This recipe makes 1 and 1/2 cups of Puli Inji. Store in a dry container in the fridge and this stays good for several days. 
 
Check out the Kanjeevaram Idlis that I made recently. My family enjoyed the combo of these idlis with Puli Inji. 

Sending this to "Only South Indian" at Foodelicious