Milagai Mandi from Karaikudi Bangala Hotel – Chettinad Green Chilli Curry

chettinad-milagai-mandi-1

Chettinad Pachai milagai mandi recipe by Chef Karuppaiah of the heritage property – The Bangala. Its a spicy sauce simmered in a tamarind gravy.

The capital of Chettinad, Karaikudi sends you to another world with its amazing architectural legacy of palatial houses, food and the people. Chettinad is also famous for the labour intensive Handloom cotton sarees known as “kandaangi” with its “gopura-karai” – temple-tower motif. One of the other gems that can be found here is the Athangudi tiles, named after the place of the manufacture. Athangudi tiles are hand-made.

Chef Karuppaiah and Rakesh Raghunathan

This recipe for milagai mandi comes from The Bangala in Karaikudi. I first saw Chef Karuppaiah in an amazing show sutralam suvaikalam run by Rakesh Raghunathan of Puliogare Travels. Mr. Karupaiah is the most cutest, wittiest and the true master chef ever. He has been the Chef at The Bangala for close to about 50 years.

Bangala-hotel-karaikudi-Gate

Earlier known as “Senjai Bangala”, the property was established in 1910. It was a club for the chettiar men and the VIP visitors. It is said that the Governor of Madras, Sir Athur Hope, visited in the 1940’s. All the furniture, cutlery and crockery used from those times are still in use. In 1998, the Bangala was restored and converted into a heritage stay/resort. The place has all the old world charm.

Bangala-hotel-karaikudi-portico

The food at The Bangala is awesome. It does not get more authentic Chettinad than this.

Bangala-hotel-karaikudi-food

The folks behind the Bangala have even published a cookbook called The Bangala Table and it is entirely on the food of Chettinad. Its authentic, elaborately written and a must have if you love chettinad food. The recipes are awesome with photographs.  The Bangala Table: Flavors and Recipes from Chettinad

Here is Milagai Mandi from Chef Karuppaiah of The Bangala.
We need mandi for making this recipe. So what is Mandi?
Mandi in tamil means sediment. In cooking, mandi refers to arisi mandi or rice mandi. Its nothing but the left over water from washing rice. When we cook rice for lunch, just soak the rice in water for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes mix (rub) the rice and water well with your hands and drain. The starchy drained water is mandi. So what is the short cut for making mandi? If you are in a hurry, just mix 2 teaspoon of rice flour in 1.5 cups of water and mix well. Thats instant mandi for you.
We will need about 1.5 cups of mandi for this recipe. Discard the rest or store in the refrigerator for future use.

Soak a big lime size tamarind in 2 cups of mandi for 20 minutes. Once the tamarind has been soaked, squeeze it between the fingers to release all the juices. Strain the juice and set aside.

chettinad-milagai-mandi-water

We need de-skinned tomatoes for this recipe. Boil water in a kettle to a roaring boil. Make a cross on the tomato like the picture below (It makes it for easy peeling later) and drop the tomatoes in hot water. Let it cook for 3 minutes. Switch off the flame. Drain the water and peel the tomatoes. Blend the tomatoes in a mixie / blender to a coarse paste. Set aside.

chettinad-milagai-mandi-tomatoes

We will need the main ingredients Garlic, Shallots (small onions) and GREEN CHILLIES!!!!!!!!!! Lots of green chillies! Get them ready.

chettinad-milagai-mandi-ingredients

Heat sesame oil in a pan and add in the mustard seeds and the urad dal. Let it splutter. Then add in the garlic, shallots and green chillies and saute well until all the ingredients are roasted. About 3-4 minutes. The green chillies might splutter as they are added whole. So word of caution!

chettinad-milagai-mandi-fry

Add in the tomato paste. Fry till the tomatoes are cooked and almost dry. Add in the salt and the tamarind mandi water.

chettinad-milagai-mandi-cook

Cook on high flame for 10 minutes. The gravy will thicken up. At the end of 10 minutes, the gravy should be soupy. If its watery, mix two teaspoon of rice flour in 1/4 cup of water and add it to the gravy. Allow it to cook for couple of minutes until the gravy becomes thick.

chettinad-milagai-mandi-soupy

Serve hot with rice. Chef Karuppaiah says that this dish is traditionally eaten in Chettinad with rice only.

Chettinad Milaga Mandi Indian Style Green Chilli Gravy #curry #spicy #chettinad #authentic #recipe #bangala

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chettinad-milagai-mandi-karaikudi

Milagai Mandi from Karaikudi Bangala Karupaiah – Chettinad Green Chilli Curry

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Chettinad Pachai milagai mandi recipe by Chef Karuppaiah of the heritage property – The Bangala. Its a spicy sauce simmered in a tamarind gravy.

  • Total Time: 45 mins
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale

For Tamarind Extract

  • 1.5 cups Rice Mandi (see notes)
  • 1 lime size tamarind

Other Prep Work

  • 2 tomatoes de-skinned and ground to a paste

For Gravy

  • 4 tablespoon sesame (gingely) oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon urad dal
  • 20 cloves garlic
  • 20 cloves shallots (small onions)
  • 20 green chillies
  • 1 teaspoon coarse salt

For Thickening Gravy (Optional)

  • 2 teaspoon rice flour
  • 1/4 cup water

Instructions

  1. Soak a big lime size tamarind in 2 cups of mandi for 20 minutes. Once the tamarind has been soaked, squeeze it between the fingers to release all the juices. Strain the juice and set aside.
  2. Boil water in a kettle to a roaring boil. Make a cross on the tomato and cook for 3 minutes. Switch off the flame. Drain the water and peel the tomatoes. Blend the tomatoes in a mixie / blender to a coarse paste. Set aside.
  3. Heat sesame oil in a pan and add in the mustard seeds and the urad dal. Let it splutter. Then add in the garlic, shallots and green chillies and saute well until all the ingredients are roasted. About 3-4 minutes.
  4. Add in the tomato paste. Fry till the tomatoes are cooked and almost dry. Add in the salt and the tamarind mandi water.
  5. Cook on high flame for 10 minutes. The gravy will thicken up. At the end of 10 minutes, the gravy should be soupy. If its watery, mix two teaspoon of rice flour in 1/4 cup of water and add it to the gravy. Allow it to cook for couple of minutes until the gravy becomes thick.
  6. Serve hot with rice.

Notes

What is Mandi?
Mandi in tamil means sediment. In cooking, mandi refers to arisi mandi or rice mandi. Its nothing but the left over water from washing rice. When we cook rice for lunch, just soak the rice in water for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes mix (rub) the rice and water well with your hands and drain. The starchy drained water is mandi. So what is the short cut for making mandi? If you are in a hurry, just mix 2 teaspoon of rice flour in 1.5 cups of water and mix well. Thats instant mandi for you.
We will need about 1.5 cups of mandi for this recipe. Discard the rest or store in the refrigerator for future use.

  • Author: Kannamma - Suguna Vinodh
  • Prep Time: 20 mins
  • Cook Time: 25 mins
  • Category: Side Dish, Lunch
  • Cuisine: Tamilnadu

mandi-cal

4 thoughts on “Milagai Mandi from Karaikudi Bangala Hotel – Chettinad Green Chilli Curry”

  1. I would like to try this recipe, but I don’t know what type of chili you’re using. In my area, jalapeno, serrano, Thai and fresno chilies are the easiest to find fresh. Do you know if any of these would work in this recipe? Thank you in advance for your help!

  2. Vanakkam. It came out well. But I reduced the number of chillies to ten thinking tat it would be very hot. It was otherwise. So a decision made – don’t alter kannamma s recipe.






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