Milagai gojju

When we were in school, we had rice three times a day. A typical morning would start with a glass of milk and just before leaving for school, since part of cooking would be ready, we ate rice with the vegetable and rasam and thayir (curds). Lunch was again a repeat of the breakfast with an additional vegetable dish and sambhar, rasam and curds if you came home during lunch hour. Else your lunch box would have been packed with the dishes you had for breakfast.
Tea time snacks were sometimes heavy that most nights we ate just rice with buttermilk.
It was much later during my college years that we had a 'tiffin' in the morning, and most likely carried the same for lunch. And the lunch box invariably was raided during the second hour of class by friends. Many days I have found an empty box in my desk and sometimes few friends were generous to buy us something from the canteen.
Holidays at our grand parents' place was a mandatory 'pazhaya sadham' and thayir with choice of sides. They would see to that there was rice left over when they cooked for the night. The choices of sides for the curd and rice were pickles galore and thenga podi, some thogaiyal etc. One of those were this milagai gojju, always cooked in the kachchatti and saved in the same. The gojju is a blend of flavours, the heat from the green chillis taking the prominance in the tamarind sauce with a hint of sweetness from some jaggery added to it.

It was not one of my favourites though, because I would opt for the thogaiyal or podi usually.
I was reminded of this gojju when I spotted nice and healthy looking green chillis at the vegetable shop, as it is  rare to find such fresh produce. Most days I may have to sift through the basket to pick passable as good chillis. I picked just about 50 grams of the chillis and made this gojju.
It tastes great as a side dish for dosais and adai or with arisi upma and such.

Ingredients:

50 grams/ 15 in number fresh green chillis
30 grams / 1/4 cup (loosely packed) tamarind
15 grams/ 1 tablespoon powdered jaggery
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 cup sesame seeds oil
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida powder
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
2-3 sprigs curry leaves
1/2 teaspoon rice flour

Method:

Wash the green chillis and cut them in fairly long pieces.
Soak the tamarind in water and extract a thick pulp. I usually soak the tamarind and run it in the blender and strain it.
Heat 2 teaspoons oil and add the mustard seeds. Allow them to splutter and then add the cut chillis and curry leaves. Sauté the chillis  for a few minutes and transfer to a dish. I think it is usually cooked in the tamarind during the whole process. That makes it very hot and spicy. So I kept the chillis in reserve to be added after reducing the tamarind pulp to a thick sauce - like consistency. If you can take the heat, try cooking the chillis along with the tamarind.
In the same pan, add a few more teaspoons of oil and pour the tamarind extract. Add the salt, turmeric powder and the asafoetida. Cook on a low heat until the tamarind cooks well and the pulp is thick. Add the rest of the oil in intervals so the sauce does not stick to the bottom and walls of the pan.
Add the powdered jaggery and cook further until the raw taste subsides.
Add the sauté-ed chillis and curry leaves.
To thicken the sauce, mix the rice flour with a little amount of water and add to the simmering pulp.
Allow them to come together and switch off the heat.
Transfer to a clean bowl.

This will stay at room temperature for four days and if refrigerated and handled carefully will stay good for over a week. Beyond that the taste will vary.


Serve this gojju with dosai, adai and upma. It tastes great with arisi upma kozhukkattai or with curd rice.