Inji curry - Ginger curry pickle

Inji curry is one among the dish in any Kerala Sadya spread and it is called with a name " nooru kootan" in malayalam to give the impression of impact of this dish. It means equivalent to 100 curries. You can see this man in every sadya holding the first place in the plantain leaf and is served first in the leaf based on some belief I guess. I m a big fan of Kerala sadya, of course a foodie like me loves every food and how can I miss our own Sadya, which is supposed to be the biggest spread in terms of number of side dishes and rounds it carries.

A few things to make you understand about the rounds of sadya; I m from the south part of Kerala, Trivandrum which is the most famous place for veggie sadya in plantain leaf. The Sadya here consists of at least 20 side dishes in on side of leaf with Pappad, chips, fried chilly, and one side is reserved for the rounds of rice. First round of rice starts with moong dal curry and ghee. Yet another specialty of Trivandrum is this "parippu curry". Second round of rice is with sambar. Then starts the payasam rounds, usually 3 minimum. 2 jaggery ones and 1 milk n sugar one, accompanied by boli, a similar version if puran poli or boondi. Again the next round of rice starts with pulissery, something similar to north Indian kadi, then rasam and butter milk. So after this sadya, what we could just do is to slip into sleep, a deep snoring sleep...Lol

Oh my, the ginger pickle took me this long way to Sadya. Anyway coming back, this ginger pickle is made using coconut oil and sesame oil mix and a great pickle. My ginger pickle has even a history behind it. It is the first ever dish of mine my hubby has tasted, in fact before our marriage and publicized at his home. I was welcomed by his family with this appreciation, "Arun is in love with your inji curry"; a moment of shyness and a little pride :P

Ingredients

Ginger, sliced thinly - 1 cup
Green chilli - 3 nos chopped
Shallots thinly sliced - 10 nos
Curry leaves - 1 spring
Coconut oil to deep fry
Tamarind paste - 1 tbsp
Chilly powder - 2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Fenugreek powder - 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida powder - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly chopped - 1
Jaggery - 2 tsp

Method

Deep fry ginger, chillies , shallots and bring to smooth paste. Sputter mustard seeds, red chilly in renaming oil. Pour mixture and add tamarind paste and all powders. Cook till it thickens. Add curry leaves and jaggery. Now add sesame oil and turn off heat. You can keep it in clean dry air tight container for 1 month in refrigerator.

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UnknownSeptember 16, 2018 at 4:26 AM
You said it...
You are a super chef dear...Whatever u cooked till date was awsome and definitely in future also it will be awesome....And u r doing the Job with passion...It doesn't matter either in your role as a tech arch or as a home maker...
Skill and passion are your strength and hopefully me and our little gauthappan are your weakness ��
Though miles apart the taste is still in my lips .....

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