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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Karuveppila thogayal/curry leaf chutney

When I was younger, I was always told that curry leaves are good for my hair and that eating the leaves would give me "karu-karu-nnu"(black-black) hair. Maybe it is just one of those tales that parents invent to make their children eat stuff, but I did believe this with all my heart, and never wasted curry leaves. This reasoning doesn't work with my daughter 'coz she couldn't care less if her hair is black,blue or red....so I resort to grinding the curry leaves with other ingredients and mixing it into different dishes.
In one of my previous posts, I've talked about how my grocery store here gives me a whole lot of curry leaves for free every time I go there to get something and about how I put the leaves to good use by turning them into karuveppila podi.
This time round, I have used it to make thogayal/chutney.


What you need:
Curry leaves - 1 cup
Urad dal - 3 heaped tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Ginger - a large piece, chopped
Coconut - 1/4 cup
Tamarind - a gooseberry sized ball soaked in just enough water to cover it
Green chilli - 2 or Red chilli - 3
Salt

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the slit green chillies and ginger and fry on low heat for 2-3 minutes. Then add the urad dal and fry till reddish brown. Add the curry leaves. Stir for a few seconds and switch off the heat. Let it stay in the pan for a while as it will wilt further in the heat of the pan. Once it is completely cooled, add the other ingredients and blend together to a coarse paste, adding as little water as you possibly can.
This tastes great when mixed with rice and topped with a dollop of ghee or gingely oil. It can also be served with idli/dosa.

18 comments:

Uma said...

looks so delicious. Nice color.

Unknown said...

have only tried with a combination of curry leaves and coriander..got to try this sometime..

jayasree said...

Its been a while since I made karuveppila thogyal... I add a tiny bit of jaggery too.

Pari Vasisht said...

Love the colour of the chutney, looks so beautiful. Must be very flavourful with a cup of leaves.

FH said...

I love curry leaves, no matter how good it is for you or not. Most dishes feel incomplete if I don't add curry leaves or cilantro. Chutney looks delicious.

Sowjanya@Ruchikacooks said...

Karuvepillai thogayal with some hot rice and ghee...yum..

www.ruchikacooks.com

sra said...

Love the sound of 'karu-karu-nnu' hair. Have made chutney often, with red chillies. Want to make podi.

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

I just love the smell of this chutney but we make it slightly different... You chutney is melting me!!! Slurrp Slurrp!!!

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Mythreyi Dilip said...

I love this chutney, it had been very long time since i made it, ur making me crave for it da:)

Ramya said...

Nice one! My cousin loves this with rasam saadham. Tastes great with curd rice too :)

Jayashree said...

Thnx uma.
Sowmya, sometimes i mix both up too...that tastes good as well.
Jaya, I add jaggery to a lot of dishes, but not this one 'coz I like the gingery spiciness of it.
Pari, the flavours of both ginger and curry leaves are very distinct in this chutney.

Jayashree said...

Asha, I don't always necessarily garnish all my dishes with cilantro/curry leaves, but when I do, I absolutely love the aroma.
Ruchika, absolutely yum!!!
Sra, I too use red chillies....but I ran out of 'em....so subbed green chillies and found that it tastes just as good.
Ramya, true....the smell is what I love most about this chutney.

Jayashree said...

Mythreyi....go get some curry leaves and make it, girl.....
Ramya, this pairs up really well with rasam rice and also with molagootal.

Deepa G Joshi said...

very beautiful chutney..nice refreshing color.

www.foodlyrics.com

Sowjanya@Ruchikacooks said...

Yeshhh..I love vathakozhambu with thayir sadam..Esp on a summer evening with amma serving perfect ladle of rice on the palms drizzled with vathakozhambu..mmmm..and a bit of thogayal too.

www.ruchikacooks.com

Bharathy said...

I make karuveppilai podi, though I havent tried making the chutney!.I bet this is a healthier version than the former and MUST Try! :)

Malar Gandhi said...

Wonderful karivepillai thuvaiyal...looks wonderful...its been ages, I have seen curry here here:(

s said...

I would love to have this with hot dosas.....!!! lovely!
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