Tamarind Pickle

This pickle is our Nellore (the place where I was born) special. We call it as “Minumula Chintapandu” in Telugu. This is a very delicious pickle eaten with rice. I learned it from my mom who is a great cook. My husband is also an expert in making this pickle. Actually I forgot some of the ingredients, but my hubby helped me in getting it right.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• Lemon sized ball of Tamarind
• ½ cup Urad Dal (Minappappu, Black Gram dal)
• ¼ cup Coriander Seeds (Dhaniya)
• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• 3 tbsp Oil
• 5 to 6 dry Red Chilies
• ½ tsp Asafetida (Inguva)
• Salt as required

Preparation:

Place tamarind in water just enough to soak it. Keep aside.

In a pan, heat half of the oil and add urad dal. Fry it for some time till the dal turns into golden brown in color. Then transfer it into a plate to cool.

Add the rest of oil to the pan and add the mustard seeds. When they splutter add the coriander seeds and fry well until the seeds turn light brown.

Then add the chilies and asafetida and fry well. Transfer the contents to a different plate and let them cool for some time.

In a mixer, add the coriander seeds + red chilies + asafetida mixture along with the soaked tamarind and add little water and run the mixer for 1 minute.

Then add half of the fried urad dal to the mixer along with salt and run the mixer again until all the contents mix well and it turns into a coarse paste.

Finally add the rest of the urad dal and run the mixer once. The dal shouldn’t be ground into a smooth paste. It tastes better when the pickle is little coarse.

Serve this tamarind pickle with hot rice and ghee.

This is my contribution for “JFI – Jihva For Tamarind” event being hosted by dear Sig of Live to eat. JFI (Jihva For Ingredients) is the brainchild of Indira of Mahanandi.

On a different note:

Dear Aditi of My Kitchen Stories has made me so happy by passing the “Good Chat Blog Award”. Thank you so much for your sweet gesture dear Aditi!