Puli Inji

A must part of Onam Sadya is an appetizer made out of tamarind and ginger known as Puli Inji. I somehow fell in love with this when I got to eat Onam Sadya for the first time when I was a 3rd standard student in a place called Kanjangad where I did my initial schooling. In a temple nearby we were offered Onasadya meal during Onam. I came home and did enquire my mother about this appetizer as it was very new one for me. For me and my family Onam is just the Onam feast we enjoy may be because though our hometown is in Kerala, we are not Malayalees and hence never knew its significance other than the feast part. Well from past one week I was really not in a mood to blog for my kid was not keeping well. Now that she is getting well I, as promised, writing up for you the puli inji recipe. I apologise for having not updated it one by one then after displaying my onam thali in my previous post of pazham pradhaman. Here goes the recipe for puli inji.

Ingredients:
Tamarind-1 lime sized ball
Jaggery- 1 1'' cube
Salt to taste
Water-1 cup
Ginger-1'' piece grated
Green chillies-1 chopped
Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
Oil-1 tbsp.
Curry leaves-1 sprig

Recipe:

1. In a bowl add warm water and place the lime sized ball in it.
2. Once it dissolves strain and remove the fibrous portion.
3. Boil the solution and then keep it aside.
4. To that solution add jaggery and let it melt.
5. In another bowl mix well grated ginger, chopped green chillies, curry leaves, salt.
6. In  a pan add oil and when hot add mustard seeds, as they crackle add the mixture prepared in step 5 and fry well till the rawness of ginger is almost gone.
7. Now put the tamarind jaggery solution back on the flame and let it boil.
8. Once it comes to boil add the fried ginger mixture to it.
9. Check for salt, add if needed and cook further for a while and remove it off the flame.
10. Serve after it cools down as it thickens up a bit and also the flavors of both ginger and tamarind get incorporated well.

Click on pictures below to get a pictorial representation of step by step illustration

 

 

Enjoy the dish! n don't forget Eat and Eat little MORE.. :)

 

Sending this to Priya's page WTML owned by Gayathri, Gujarati zaika