Curry leaves / Karuveppilai Thokku

Curry leaves / Karuveppilai Thokku

We can’t imagine a meal without Curry leaves flavor , if it is especially a South Indian meal.  Today I got really a very big bunch of Curry leaves from South Indian Stores .  So I planned to make it as a thokku after keeping some for day to day use.

Ingredients for Thokku :

Curry leaves : 2 cups

Tamarind Paste  :  1 tsp

Red chilly :  4

Black gram / Urad dal  :  2 tsp

Ginger ( chopped ) :  1 tsp

Hing Powder :  ¼ tsp

Salt to taste

Jaggery powder :  ½ tsp

Mustard :  ½ tsp

Til / Gingelly Oil  :  3 tbsp

Water :  ¼ cup

Mix tamarind paste in water and soak the well washed curry leaves, for an hour.

In non-stick pan , add half a tsp of oil and roast black gram .  When it starts changing colour , add chilly , hing and ginger. 

Fry it till chilly starts changing its colour.  Remove from flame.

Let it cool down.  Grind the roasted ingredients to a fine powder.

Take out curry leaves from tamarind water and add it along with ground powder and grind everything nicely to a smooth paste.  Add little bit tamarind water if needed while grinding. 

  Keep the leftover tamarind water in reserve.

In the same non-stick pan , add 2 tbsp of oil and temper with mustard seeds.   Add the ground paste + remaining tamarind water + salt to taste + jaggery powder. Close with a lid and cook in medium flame till it becomes fairly thick.  Now and then stir for uniform cooking.  At the end add 1 tbsp of oil and cook for a minute and remove from flame.

Very flavorful Thokku is ready to serve with Curd rice.   It goes well with Tiffin like Idly , Dosa , Upma too.

Curry leaves thokku helps in digestion and can have it in our daily meal.

Note : 

Ø   Increase the spice level as per your need.

Ø   This Thokku can be stored for a week in refrigerator.

Ø   Instead of tamarind paste , you can soak raw tamarind with curry leaves in water and grind it along with  curry leaves.