Zingiber / Inji Vendhasaar Recipe

I couldn’t believe how fast time flies. It is as though I started the month long non stop marathon yesterday, but I am in the final day. I have been blogging recipes from Tamil cuisine in the order of A-Z and today is the day of Z, the final letter. Searching a Tamil word which starts with Z was very tough. There is no word that could start with Z and I was baffled. For this marathon, we created a whatsapp group and even two days back discussions were going on. Zucchini is an easy option but as it was not a traditional vegetable of Tamil Nadu, I didn’t want to use it. Priya suggested using zingiber for Z, which is nothing but the botanical name of ginger.

Then started the recipe hunt for ginger. Ginger is a really spicy root which is normally used along with garlic or used in less quantities and so I couldn’t pin point a recipe where ginger is the star ingredient. I have already blogged about inji chaaru and inji murappa and so I couldn’t find a recipe. Fortunately I stumbled upon Bhojana Recipes where there was this recipe.Venthasaar was a new word for me and I did some search for it. Venthasaar is a Tambram recipe which is mainly based on tamarind and shallots. This recipe was quite unique with ginger as the star ingredient and looking at the ingredients I was so tempted to try. This is a very easy recipe and the gravy is slightly on the thinner side. It is very hot and spicy because of the ginger and so my daughter didn’t eat it. But we enjoyed it with hot steamed rice.

Recipe Source: Bhojana Recipes

Ingredients:

Ginger – 50 gm

Gingelly Oil – 2 tbs

Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp

Fenugreek or Methi Seeds- 1/4 tsp

Hing / Asafoetida – 1/4 tsp

Curry Leaves – 2 sprigs

Shallots/ Pearl Onion – 6-7

Tamarind – a small lemon sized ball

Red Chilly Powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder – 1/4 tsp

Salt- to taste

Jaggery – little

Procedure:

Wash and peel ginger.

Cut into smaller pieces.

Pound them in a mortar and pestle until coarse.

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard, methis seeds and when they crackle add in hing and curry leaves.

Add the onions and saute for a minute or two.

Now add the ginger and saute on low flame for 2-3 minutes.

Extract water from tamarind and add it to the pan.

Add chilly powder, turmeric and salt.

Bring it to boil.

Reduce flame and let it boil covered until the raw smell of the tamarind is gone.

Finally add jaggery and mix well.

Serve it hot with rice and appalam.

Zingiber / Inji Venthasaar Recipe

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Ingredients

  

Ingredients

• Ginger - 50 gm
• Gingelly Oil - 2 tbs
• Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
• Fenugreek or Methi Seeds- 1/4 tsp
• Hing / Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
• Curry Leaves - 2 sprigs
• Shallots/ Pearl Onion - 6-7
• Tamarind - a small lemon sized ball
• Red Chilly Powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Salt- to taste
• Jaggery - little

Instructions

 

Procedure

• Wash and peel ginger.
• Cut into smaller pieces.
• Pound them in a mortar and pestle until coarse.
• Heat oil in a pan and add mustard, methis seeds and when they crackle add in hing and curry leaves.
• Add the onions and saute for a minute or two.
• Now add the ginger and saute on low flame for 2-3 minutes.
• Extract water from tamarind and add it to the pan.
• Add chilly powder, turmeric and salt.
• Bring it to boil.
• Reduce flame and let it boil covered until the raw smell of the tamarind is gone.
• Finally add jaggery and mix well.
• Serve it hot with rice and appalam.