Puli inji / Inji Puli / Inji Curry

Puli Inji - the name itself gets my tastebuds active. But since I have some leftover from the last week's Sadya, I am good. I can have it for lunch today :). Now it is not something that I associate as a daily menu item. We generally make it only for Onam Sadya. And they can be stored well. So you could make it before hand and not worry about it among the "n" number of items you would be making on the day of Sadya.

If you are planning for a Sadya anytime, this is a must in your menu list. No Sadya can be complete without the mixed flavor of Puli Inji- a bit of tartness, a pinch of sweet and little spiciness. So here is the recipe to the Puli Inji.

Ingredients

1. 1 cup of finely chopped ginger
2. 1/4 tsp of mustard seeds
3. 1-2 strands of curry leaves
4. 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
5. A pinch of Asafoetida
6. An inch sized tamarind ball
7. 3/4 cup of warm water
8. 3-4 green chillies, chopped
9. An inch sized cube of jaggery, shaved (preferably dark variety)
10. 2-3 tbsp of Coconut oil
11. Salt to taste

Method

• Soak the tamarind in warm water for few minutes. Squeeze out the pulp out of it.
• In a pan, heat the oil. Once hot, add the chopped ginger and fry it on medium heat until they turn golden brown in colour. Remove it onto a tissue paper to drain off excess oil. 
• Once it cools down, transfer it into a mixer bowl and pulse it to crush them into finer pieces.
• Now, into the same pan(into the same oil in which you fried the ginger), drop in the mustard seeds. Once they pop, add in the green chillies and curry leaves and saute it until the raw smell goes off.
• Now add the tamarind water, turmeric powder, asafoetida, fried and crushed ginger and salt. Stir it all together. Bring it to a boil. Add the jaggery and stir it. Let it boil for another 5 minutes or untill the entire mixture comes down to a saucy consistency and the oil starts to float on top.
• Turn down the heat and remove it onto a serving dish.

Tips

1. Once it cools down, you could store it in an air tight container in the refrigerator for upto 2 weeks.
2. Take care that the ginger does not burn when you fry them.
3. Pulsing down the fried ginger is enough. Do not over grind them.