Puli Inji, Inji Puli, Sweet & Sour Ginger Pickle

          Onam is a festival, celebrated in the state of Kerala, India, and it is celebrated for 10 days. As much as the Pookkalam ( Art With Flowers ), the Onam Sadya is equally important and has become very popular, that many restaurants offer a Onam Sadya Special for at least 3 to 4 days. Last year I had the chance of having it and being a big fan of Kerala food, I loved it. The traditional Onam Sadya has a couple of pickles, number of curries, pachadis and pradamans/payasams and is served on a banana leaf. One of the items served is this Inji Puli or Puli Inji, a sweet, spicy and sour pickle with ginger and tamarind. I have adapted the recipe from a cookbook, this is a simple dish and it goes very well with just plain rice or as a side to curd rice too..

Need To Have

• Chopped Ginger - 1/4 cup
• Tamarind - lemon sized ball
• Jaggery - 1 tablespoon
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
• Green Chillies - 2, finely chopped
• Dried Red Chilly - 1, broken into pieces
• Curry Leaves - 10, roughly chopped
• Red Chilly Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Salt to taste

Method

          Soak the tamarind in a cup of warm water for at least 30 minutes and extract, strain the juice and keep. Heat some oil, add the mustard seeds, once it starts sputtering, add the fenugreek seeds followed by the green chillies, red chilly, curry leaves and ginger and saute for 2 to 3 minutes.

          Add the chilly powder, salt, mix, then add the tamarind extract. Bring it to a boil and then cook on medium low heat till it thickens. Add the jaggery and cook it till it dissolves well, remove cool and serve.

Note
Chop the ginger finely.
The final consistency is like a thin jam.
I have used gingelly oil for making it and this can be stored in the refrigerator for more than a week.