Inji puli / Sweet and sour ginger pickle

Inji puli is ginger pickled in tamarind and jaggery .This is super sweet version of  inji puli Palakkad special,yet another ancestral home recipe.Dark, aged tamarind is only used to make it .A big difference here is ginger is not fried.

Inji puli balances the heat of all the fiery hot mango or lemon pickles that are served on the side of the banana leaf in a traditional feast(sadhya).

Oh wait I know whats running in ur mind
Jaggery / Sharkara phewww..tell me one thing...  have you ever taken out the brown gold  and did not put at least a teeny tiny bit into ur mouth before you closed the container.Ya mee too:).

Now are u ready to argue about inji puli and puli inji difference... ..just kidding.:)

Ingredients

Ginger- About the size of ur palm.Chop it very fine pieces.Show ur chopping skill here !!
Tamarind- about the size of  small lemon or 2 tsp of paste
Jaggery - same quantity as the ginger u are using.
green chili -2 cut into thin rounds
Mustard-1tsp
Whole red chili- 1
Curry leaves- few
Salt to taste

Method

1.Dissolve tamarind and jaggery in 1 cup water.Do it before you start even chopping ginger.

2.Heat oil crackle mustard then add red chili ,curry leaves and green chili saute for two minutes then add
the tamarind and jaggery dissolved .
(Do pour it through a fine sieve to make sure no impurities or pulp falls.)

3.When the mixture begins to boil add the ginger (it cooks well in the heat as it is finely chopped)and salt let it boil on medium flame till the whole thing reduces to a thick but falling consistency.As it cools it will become even more thick.When cool store in clean dry bottle.

Serve along with rice,spicy curry etc but ideally for a sadhya .

Note
Though coconut oil is used traditionally I find that veg oil is gives it more shelf life.
Use the darkest tamarind and jaggery available. Ahhhaaa..it will look black but I can assure u it will taste yummy...

Now don't blame me if you are going  to stick with this recipe fore ever.
Love to hear from you.

Meena