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Thoothuvalai Thuvaiyal

Ingredients
  

For the thuvaiyal:

  • 2-3 tablespoons of good sesame oil
  • 1 big handful thoothuvalai greens or substitute with mixed herbs and edible weeds from the garden
  • 3-4 dry red chillies can also use a combination of red dry and green fresh chillies
  • 10 sambar onions or kutti vengayam or use shallots
  • 4-5 garlic cloves
  • ½ ” piece of fresh ginger
  • ½ fresh coconut, scraped
  • Small bit of tamarind
  • Jaggery to taste
  • Salt to taste

To season:

  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • ½ teaspoon urad dal
  • ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 1 broken dry red chilli
  • pinch of hing
  • A few curry leaves

Instructions
 

  • Heat a spoon of sesame oil in a pan and lightly fry the greens. Allow them to wilt slightly but transfer to a plate to cool before they dull in color.
  • Add a little more oil to the pan, and repeat this process for the chillies, and then the onion-ginger-garlic. Transfer to the plate with the thoothuvalai greens to cool.
  • If the coconut is fresh, it need not be roasted. If not, roast it also.
  • Now transfer all the roasted ingredients to a blender jar. Add the tamarind, jaggery, and salt. Use as little water as possible and grind this to a thick paste. Adjust salt and tamarind if need be.
  • In a seasoning pan, heat the sesame oil and add the urad dal, mustard seeds, red chilli and hing—let these crackle and pop, and then add the curry leaves.
  • Once the curry leaves are well-fried, pour on top of the waiting thuvaiyal and mix
  • Serve with hot rice. Raw Khichli samba, illuppaipoo samba or any red rice variety: maapillai samba, kattuyaanam, kothamalli samba, matta rice, etc.