Puli Inji , a Kerala Special condiment with Ginger, Tamarind and Jaggery plays a very important role in Onam Sadhya. You can have this either as pickle or just with hot steaming plain rice. The recipe follows..
Yields for One small cup
Preparation Time : 30 minutes
Ingredients:
Chopped Ginger - 3 tbspTamarind - small lemon size ball
Green Chili - 2
Jaggery - 2 tbsp (Vellam)
Small Onion - 3
Curry Leaves - few
Salt - As required
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Chili Powder - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Dry Red Chili - 1
Coconut Oil - 2 tbsp
Procedure:
- Soak chopped Ginger in enough water along with little salt for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, drain excess water. This is done to reduce Ginger's strong flavor. You can also avoid this step.
- Saute ginger in coconut oil for some time and then take it out. Crush sauteed ginger using a Mortar-Pestle or Mixer-Grinder.
- Chop finely small onions, dry red chili and green chilies. Extract juice from tamarind. Add enough salt, Turmeric powder and Chili powder to tamarind extract and keep it aside.
- Powder Jaggery and take it in a sauce pan. Add 1/2 cup of water to it. Cook in medium flame till jaggery dissolves and then filter it, This is done to remove impurities from Jaggery.
- Heat coconut oil in a pan. When it hot, add mustard seeds and chopped dry red chili to it. When they splutter add chopped onions, chopped green chilies and curry leaves to it.
- After onions turned translucent, add crushed ginger. Add also tamarind extract with the spices which we prepared earlier.
- When the mixture starts to boil, add Jaggery extract and cook in medium flame till it gets thickened. Your delicious Puli Inji is ready to serve!!