Spiced up South Indian curry that is delicious with plain steamed rice. It is also ideal when one has cold or fever linked with cold.
Ingredients
one lime size ball of tamarind
1 teaspoon or to taste red chilli powder
1 1/2 teaspoon coriander (dhania powder)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric (haldi powder)
2 teaspoons oil
To grind
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
1 tablespoon coriander (dhania seeds)
1 tablespoon red gram (tuvar dal)
1 medium onion
1 big tomato
4 curry leaves
1/2 teaspoon oil
To temper
1 1/2 teaspoon oil
1/2 teaspoon mustard (rai seeds)
1/2 teaspoon cumin (jeera seeds)
3 fenugreek (methi seeds)
1/2 teaspoon split deskinned black gram (urad dal)
12 curry leaves
1 medium onion (chopped)
2 teaspoons jaggery (gur)
salt to taste
Instructions
1. Soak tamarind in warm water for sometime. Squeeze pulp and extract juice. Strain and mix tamarind extract with chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder. Set aside.
2. Heat 1/2 tsp oil and fry ingredients in the order listed under 'To grind'. Then cool and grind to a paste. Add paste to tamarind mixture.
3. To temper, heat oil. Add mustard, cumin, black gram, fenugreek, curry leaves. Let splutter.
Add onions and fry till golden.
4. Add the tamarind+paste misture. Stir and cook till it begins to simmer.
Add jaggery, salt. Let curry simmer for 5 mins. Remove from heat and serve hot.
Note
You can replace tamarind piece with 2 to 2 1/2 tsp readymade tamarind paste.