Puliinji /Inji curry is one of the traditional dishes of Kerala. It is more important for us to complete a meal with pickle or achar. Otherwise what will we do, during feast we need to fill the entire banana leaf with dishes? Last time when I made this I browned the ginger and then crushed and made the dish, however it did not go well with my hubby. So this time, I asked mother-in-law for recipe, she is a terrific, fast cook, and none can beat her. She makes 2-3 dishes simultaneously. I can’t do that, my mother took her own pace to cook; I think I follow my mother.
I had fond memories of this inji curry/ puliinji. In Trivandrum side, from where I am we call it as Inji curry where as in middle and northern part of Kerala it is called Puliinji. In northern Kerala they add coriander powder or some time coconut also. However my mother in law gave me this recipe and I made it as per her instructions. You call this by any name, but it tastes utterly delicious. During my childhood, I don’t remember my exact age at the time of the event; I may be 10-12. My uncle was getting married in a traditional village, Parassala. Appa didn’t want to go for the marriage, hence we both sister’s and mom reached their house a day earlier. As marriage was taking place at a nearby temple, the feast was organized in the house. Usually they start making the sadya by making pickles first and then curries, followed by rice and Payasam (sweet pudding). The preparation starts about 5 -6 in the evening and continues till the next morning. We kids are running around the house enjoying ourselves, until I noticed an aunt removing the skin of ginger. I was curious and went up to her and asked her what she was doing? She told me “I am making inji curry”. I asked her if I could help, she sternly told me I could not, and warned me not to touch any ginger, as my hands will get a burning sensation. I was in no mood to listen to her and started peeling the ginger. Then after an hour, both my hands started burning like hell. I was crying and running everywhere and shaking both hands. Amma tried to help me by applying coconut oil, but to no avail. Finally after 3 hours of pain, it subsided. Amma warned me not to touch again. Next day when they served this inji curry and even though it tasted great, I was angry as it had caused me too much pain.
Traditionally this dish is made by frying the ginger pieces into golden brown and then crushed. I modified this part by chopping the ginger into fine pieces first and then frying along with curry leaves and green chilies until it starts slightly brown and sticking to the pan. This way I was able to do it with 3 teaspoons of oil. Then a mixture of tamarind, jaggery, chili powder, turmeric and fenugreek powder is made and cooked with the fried ginger green chili curry leaves mixture until it starts leaving oil. If you want it semisolid, you need to make sure that there is some water left; otherwise upon cooling puliinji/inji curry becomes thick. It is a real marriage or all tastes, sweet, sour, salt and spicy. I think heat from the ginger is subtle when compared to chili’s heat. My hubby agreed to do a taste test and told me I passed it. So here goes the recipe.
One year ago Thattai: savory snack
Print recipe from here
What you need
Ginger: 2 cup (grated or minced)
Oil: 4 teaspoon (I used gingerly oil)
Green chili: 1 no ( I used Serrano pepper)
Jaggery: 3 teaspoon to taste
Chili powder: 2 ½ teaspoon
Turmeric powder: ½ teaspoon
Fenugreek powder: ¼ teaspoon
Tamarind: key lime size
Salt: 2 ½ teaspoon or to taste
Curry leaves: 2 ½ sprig
Mustard seeds: ½ teaspoon
Red chili: 2 no (Halved into two)
Water: 1 ¼ cup
How I made
In microwave safe bowl heat tamarind and ½ cup water for 15 seconds and extract tamarind juice and discard skin and seeds and set aside.
Wash and peel the skin of ginger and grate or mince them using a chopper, or food processor. If you are courageous you can do grating using box grater. It will cause burning sensation to hands.
In thick bottom pan heat 3 teaspoon oil and add grated/minced ginger, green chili and 2 sprigs curry leaves fry them in slow flame for about 15 minutes or until ginger starts to brown on the sides and starts sticking the bottom of pan. Switch off the flame and set aside.
In a small pot heat jaggery with ½ cup of water and brings to boil then remove from the flame and strain for impurities and set aside.
In a sauce pan heat rest of oil and add mustard seeds, halved red chilies and rest of curry leaves. When mustard seeds starts popping switch off the flame and add red chili powder, fenugreek powder and turmeric powder and fry for a minute in the hot pan (This switching off the flame step will prevent burning to red chili powder and fenugreek powder). Then bring the pot to heat once again and add tamarind water, jaggery water, salt and rest of water bring to boil then add fried ginger –green chili-curry leaves mixture and cook them with stirring in between for about 16 minutes or until entire water content is removed and mixture becomes thick and browned. If you need semi solid consistency you have to remove from fire earlier, as puli inji thickens while cooling.
Enjoy with your rice and curry or as side dish or thodu curry for coming Vishu feast.
Preparation time: 35 minutes
Yield: ¾ cup
Verdict: Spicy, yummy
Will you make it again: Yes I will
This is Swathi ( Dr. Ambujom Saraswathy Ph.D) from Zesty South Indian Kitchen who loves to explore cuisines from all over the world. Whenever possible I try to to give an Indian touch to several of the world cuisine, and has weakness for freshly baked bread. All the recipes you see here are created by me and approved after taste-test by my family.
Kalpana Sareesh says
for a long time was asking abt this recipe to many mallu frends now am so happy tat hv found perfect demo n recipe for me ..thanks bookmarked... love it...
Ananda Rajashekar says
i can never say no to pulinji best ever 🙂
Anu Menon says
i love how detailed your pics are!!!
VIshu Ashamsagal
Claudia says
This sounds so mouthwatering good. Would cure any sinus troubles for sure.
Lena Rashmin Raj says
vishu aasamsakal Swathi//.. i wl make this today... 🙂
Alea Milham says
I never realized that ginger could burn. I use it but, I must always hold on to the portion that still has skin when I am grating it. I will be careful in the future. I have a hard time using up ginger before it goes bad, so I put it in the freezer and pull it out and grate it frozen for whatever dish I am preparing. It creates a very fine grate when frozen.
Panchpakwan says
Looks tangy and spricy curry..Never taste but will love to try it soon.
Sanyukta Gour(Bayes) says
Wow...it looks simply amazing...mmm...truly mouthwatering..
Sanyukta
http://creativesanyukta.blogspot.com/
Preety says
i can almost imagine the sweet and sour taste of this chutney
RS says
Looks delicious and tangy 🙂
Sarah Naveen says
ooh !!! so perfect n adipoli!!!
a well detailed one too
Jyothi says
This might be my FAVOURITE part of our sadhya (apart from kurukku-kaalan, of course.. yumm!) And your pics sent me drooooling to the kitchen to make it rightaway... 🙂 But I used tamarind paste instead of actual puli, so there is a slight synthetic after taste.. 🙁
Have a great Vishu, Swathi! 🙂
Padhu says
Looks superb!Happy Vishu to you and your family
Vimitha Anand says
Tangy and spicy chutney... But healthy tooo...
Malar Gandhi says
This is a must try recipe...love the ginger flavor so much, this must be aromatic treat...
G.Pavani says
mouthwatering chutney..
kaveri says
Puli inji looks mouthwatering...yum yum!
Priya says
Fingerlicking puli inji..salivating..
PALATABLE says
Sweet and spicy, looks delicious!
http://treatntrick.blogspot.com
Sharmilee! :) says
Tongue tickling.....looks super yumm
Pushpa says
Utterly delicious,would love to have it with yogurt rice...
Señorita says
Looks super spicy... Don't know if I could handle it!!
http://ladyonaroof.blogspot.com/
Miriam says
Just delightful! Miriam@Meatless Meals For Meat Eaters
Mélange says
Looks awesome.who can resist inji curry ?
Rani acharyulu says
Pickle looks so nice and healthy.Great post.
Angela says
Beautiful. The color is so rich!
Nandini says
Yummy! It looks sweet and yummy!
Priti says
One of my fav....looking so gud yum
Sensible Vegetarian says
This is one of my favorite pickle. Yours looks simply delicious.
Kairali sisters says
I am planning to make this tomorrow. Ethu nalla kidilan recipe anallo Swathi..Advance vishu ashamsakal tto 🙂
Hamaree Rasoi says
Chutney looks so tasty and tangy. So inviting as well.
Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi
Reeni says
I would love to try this with all that zingy ginger! Thanks for showing us all the steps to make it!
sinfullyspicy.com says
Yum! I love such tangy chutneys.I gotta try this.Funny that a chutney is called curry.I saw in other blogs but always got confused.Now, I knw that its becoz of curry leaves.I like ginger, tamarind & gur all..would be making this.
Mehjabeen Arif says
Yum.. tangy.. but its new to me..
New to ur space n happy to follow u for more wonderful recipes..
Do visit me when u get time dear .
http://comeletseat.blogspot.com
Suman Singh says
Sounds new to me but it looks great! Nice and unique recipe..Thanks for sharing, Swathi!
SravsCulinaryConcepts says
looks so yummy and delicious !!
Sunshine And Smile says
This is something very new to me. But i like ginger so, i will give this a try for sure 🙂
http://www.sunshineandsmile.com
Suja Sugathan says
Wow adipoli aayitundu,looks so yummy,beautiful clicks dear..loved your version dear so much
Reshmi Mahesh says
aha super aayitundu...vayayil vellam urrunnu..:)
Rebecca from Chow and Chatter says
mum in law loves these pastes smell strong when cooking he he hugs
divya says
Ooooo....looks yummy!!
Yummy Team says
Adipoli inji curry..Njan ee Vishuvinu inji curry undakkunillenne vicharichatha..Ee pics ellam kandittu ennu thanne try cheythalonnu aalochikkuva..
Jaisy James says
aha adipoli engottu tirinjalum ingi curry enthayalum next ithonnu try cheyyanam