Description
Chettinad Pachai milagai mandi recipe by Chef Karuppaiah of the heritage property – The Bangala. Its a spicy sauce simmered in a tamarind gravy.
Ingredients
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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Add in the tomato paste. Fry till the tomatoes are cooked and almost dry. Add in the salt and the tamarind mandi water.
- 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.
- 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.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Category: Side Dish, Lunch
- Cuisine: Tamilnadu