Ven Pongal….. The celebrated neivedyam in the month of “margazhi”, the most popular south Indian breakfast and frequently made “tiffin” in most homes. The buttery rice and dal mixture with a generous portion of ghee in which glisten cashew nuts, peppercorns, and Cumin seeds. Curry leaves and asafoetida add to the flavour.
Is this a post about ven pongal?? Definitely not… It’s all about “Puli”…. Pronounced just like the tamarind “puli” in tamizh and not the tiger “puli”.
As far as I know this accompaniment to ven pongal is made only in my household… A tangy concoction of tamarind spiced with green chilly … A simple “sides” but very popular in my family. In Fact it is always puli with Pongal and never the coconut chutney for all of us. I have had several discussions with my mother about the origin of this dish but all we could finally conclude was that it must have been a sudden brainwave of my grandmother to appease the tickling taste buds of her spice-loving family which finally stayed on and also passed to all of us. Puli is great with arisi upma too. A quick saute of onions and tomatoes which are further cooked in a thick tamarind extract. The Puli is spiced with green chillies predominantly. A dash of chilly powder, turmeric, and asafoetida adds to its flavour. My mother would repeatedly tell me that it’s always “pacchai perungayam” for this dish. So here is my simple dinner comprising ven Pongal and puli. Every spoon that I will gobble up will be a little of Pongal floating in the lip-smacking puli.
Puli Chutney Serving size: 3 – 4 & Preparation time: 15 minutes
Ingredients For Puli Chutney Recipe
- Tamarind 1 lemon size soaked in water
- Onion 1 medium chopped
- Tomato 1 medium chopped
- 4 green chilly chopped
- Curry leaves few
- Coriander chopped 1 tbsp
- Chilly powder 1 tsp
- Turmeric powder 1 tsp
- Asafoetida 1/2tsp
- Mustard seeds 1 tsp
- Rice flour 1 tsp
- Water to make the slurry 2 tbsps
- Oil 1 tsp
- Salt as required
Preparation Method
- Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds.
- When it splutters add onions followed by green chilly and tomatoes. Saute for 2 minutes.
- Extract the tamarind in 2 cups of water.
- Pour it into the onion-tomato mixture.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.
- Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Mix the rice flour in water to make a thick slurry.
- Add the rice flour slurry and stir till the Puli thickens to a consistency that is slightly thicker than that of a rasam.
- Serve hot with ven pongal or arisi upma
