Kothamalli Thogayal

Kothamalli thogayal

Thoghayals can be classified under  chutney varieties , the difference being that they are not as liquidy and are usually mixed with hot rice after adding a few teaspoons of sesame oil. Thogyals can be made with a variety of vegetables, corriander, curry-leaves, ginger, mint, coconut, thuvaram paruppu and even with menthiyam(fenugreek seeds) and corriander seeds. Basically one has to roast ulutham paruppu and kadalai paruppu(optional) along with red chillies and asafoetida and powder them coarsely in a blender. Required amount of tamarind and salt have to be added.  Curry leaves, mint, ginger, corriander -leaves and coconut shreddings are used in their raw form. Brinjals should be cut and fried separately or broiled on a gas flame after smearing with oil and removing the skin. Tomatoes are fried slightly with green chillies and tamarind required is half the usual quantity. Other vegetables that can be used are chayote, snake-gourd, red pumpkin, banana flowers etc. which have to be cut finely and cooked before grinding. Now let us make Coriander Thogayal:

Ingredients:

• Kothamalli(Coriander)-1bunch sorted(remove the grass and weeds), washed and cut
• Tamarind- size of a lemon
• Salt-1teaspoon heaped
• ulutham paruppu( urad-dal)-2-3 tsps heaped
• kadalai parupu (chana dal) -1-2tsps(level)
• Asafoetida-a pinch
• Red chillies-3-4
• Oil- 2 tsps preferably sesame oil

 Method

• Take a fry-pan and roast the ulutham paruppu, kadalai paruppu , red chillies, asafoetida in oil till they become golden red.
• Spread on a plate to cool.
• Dry grind to a rava-like powder and keep aside.
• Next take the washed, cleaned cut coriander and add tamarind and salt and a little water(too much water will make it a chutney) and grind to a fine paste.
• Mix with the ground dals and your thoghayal is ready.

The same corriander leaves should be spread and dried and the same procedure  as above should be followed to get kothamalli podi which has a longer shelf life than the thoghayal and can be used like a pickle.

Courtesy : Smt Vjyayanthi Sundararajan