Coriander Thogayal / Coriander Thovayal / Kothamalli Thogayal ~ Indian Curry Trail

This thogayal has a balanced taste of spiciness, tanginess and sweetness. The spiciness is from dry red chili, tanginess is from tamarind and sweetness is from jaggery.

Whenever my family gets plentiful coriander this thogayal must enter into our the kitchen. This is quite famous in my native and also in certain parts of virudhunagar district, theni district, thoothukudi district of tamilnadu.

When I asked the origin of this thogayal, my grandpa said that the people who had migrated from rayalaseema of Andra pradesh to the south of Tamil nadu during the krishnadevaraya regime many years ago used make it and hence the preparation almost looks like it is derived from andhra cuisine. It also stays good for a week or more if handled and prepared well.

This thogayal goes well with curd rice and hot steamed rice. Sometimes it can also be served with dosa. The measurement for this thogayal can be very well altered and adjust according to the other ingredients in the recipe.

Basic Informaion:
Preparation Time: 20 minutes(cleaning and chopping coriander leaves)
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Makes: 1 cup

Ingredients:

Coriander Leaves - 1 large bunch, finely chopped
Garlic - 5 cloves
Tamarind - 1 gooseberry size
Dry Red chillies - 6 nos
Jaggery / Sugar - 2 teaspoon (Optional)
Salt - to taste
Oil - 3 teaspoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Video Recipe:

Method with stepwise pictures:

1) Wash coriander leaves and chop them finely.
2) Take a Kadai / Wide Pan and add the chopped coriander leaves. Saute them until they are mashed completely. No need to add oil. The moisture in the coriander leaves is enough.

3) Allow the mashed coriander to cool down.
4) Meanwhile, soak tamarind in a 1/4 cup of warm water.
5) Grind the mashed coriander leaves, red chillies, garlic cloves, Jaggery, soaked tamarind along with water and a little bit salt to a fine thick paste. While grinding, no need to add extra water.

6) Take a Kadai / Pan and heat oil in it.
7) Add mustard seeds and allow them to splutter.
8) Add the coriander paste to the kadai and stir fry it.

9) Continue frying the coriander paste until the paste's colour changes to olive green / thick green and the oil oozes out.
10) Coriander thogayal is now ready to be used as a side for Idly, Dosa, White Rice, Chapathi etc.

11) Store it in a dry container. You can also refrigerate this and use it for a week or even more depending on how good it is.

Serving Suggestions:

1) Serve as a condiment for idly/dosa
2) Serve it as a pickle for curd rice
3) Serve it as a thogayal for hot steamed rice.
4) It goes well with chapathi too.

Notes:
1) I usually select the size of the tamarind to be added according to the mashed coriander leaves.(i.e.) Tamarind size is 1/2 the quantity of mashed coriander.
2) Adjust the jaggery according to its sweetness.