2 buttermilk or fresh curd/ yogurt (preferably homemade)
1 1/2 ghee/ clarified butter
salt to taste
For seasoning/ tempering/ tadka
2 ghee/ clarified butter
1/2 teaspoon rai/ mustard seeds
1-2 whole dry red chillies (broken into two)
3-4 curry leaves
Instructions
Heat 1.5 tsp ghee and saute the coriander seeds till aroma emits. Do not let it darken as the tambli will be bitter. Remove and let cool.
Then grind the coriander along with coconut to get a smooth paste by adding some water. May be slightly coarse but thats alright.
Transfer to a bowl, add in the curd/ buttermilk, salt and mix.
For the tempering, heat ghee and crackle the mustard. Add the red chillies, curry leaves & pour this tadka over the tambli. Mix & serve at room temp with some steamed rice or as soup too!
Note
Here the curd required must be thin/ medium thick, not hung or greek style. It should be slightly sour too. Homemade curd which is a day old is ideal for this. We usually add some curd directly to the ground masala to get the required sourness and thin it down by adding water at room temp to get the required consistency When grinding the coconut-coriander, add enough water to help to grind it easily but not so much that makes it watery. If you feel that the paste it watery, do not add water later on but add only some curd. This is a wonderful accompaniment with some hot steamed rice. Serve it as a soup too if you consistency turns out to be too thin to be served with rice.
Variations : You can prepare cumin or fenugreek seeds thamblis following the same method. In that case add 1 tsp cumin seeds/ jeera. For fenugreek seeds/ methi thambli, add 1/2 tsp methi and also add a pinch of hing/ asafoetida when you grind or into the tadka.