A very popular dish among the Tamil Brahmin and Kerala community. A very unsual curry made with coconut is roasted with fenugreek seeds and dried red chillies and cooked along with tamarind paste, makes it deliciously tangy and spicy.

A variety of vegetables can be used for this recipe. The most popular combinations are lonely drumsticks or carrots and green bell peppers or cut okra’s or eggplants. Experiment and add vegetables to suit your palate. The recipe below uses carrots and green bell pepper’s. This dish goes well with hot rice, dosa’s or with phulka’s as well.

Serves: 4 persons
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

NOTE: All vegetables to be cut 2” length wise

• ½ cup carrot
• ½ cup green bell peppers
• 1 tablespoon thick tamarind paste (or ½ cup freshly squeezed tamarind juice)

Ingredients for Coconut Curry

• 1 cup grated fresh coconut
• 3-4 dried red chillies
• ¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• ¼ teaspoon white urad dal
• 6 curry leaves
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon Vegetable/Sunflower oil
• Salt to taste

Method

Steam the Vegetables and set aside.

In a pan, roast fenugreek seeds, urad dal and red chillies until slightly browned and until it releases a roasted aroma.

Grind the roasted ingredients along with the coconut adding ¼ cup of hot water while grinding. The hot water makes sure that the coconut does not curdle and prevents it from getting sticky as well. Set aside

Heat oil in a pan; add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Allow it to crackle. Once it crackles, add the tamarind juice (If you are using tamarind paste – dissolve in ½ cup of water) and let it boil for 2-3 minutes.

Add the vegetables and the ground coconut mixture to the tamarind juice and let it boil for a couple of minutes.

Serve hot with rice, dosa’s or phulka’s.

Timely Tip

You can pressure cook the vegetables along with the tamarind water and season the mixture with mustard seeds and curry leaves later. This is if you are using a pressure cooker.

Healthy Tip

Try not boiling the entire curry too much, as boiling coconut mixture repeatedly releases a lot of saturated fat. Boil it only before serving and when boiling turn off when it reaches boiling point. The result is just as good and healthier as well.