Being a Gujarati who married into an Andhra family, I just automatically turned to Mrs.Sarala Surya Rao, my father-in-law’s sister to learn the basics of Andhra cooking. She was ever willing to teach and quick at sharing traditional recipes. Sarala Athaiyya also happily sent me dishes after dishes in her tiffin dabbas. Recipes using easy contemporary methods, yet retaining the flavours of yester years. That’s the secret of her popularity with family and friends.
When years later, Pratibha and I wrote “Cooking at Home with Pedatha”, Sarala Athaiyya who is Pedatha’s younger sister was equally delighted and wrote the foreword to the book.
Year after year, when the season is right, and the tamarind trees are lush with new fruit, Sarala Athaiyya makes her special Kotha chintakaya pachchadi and sends it to us. Lip smacking and eye-wateringly spicy, it is simply delicious with plain rice
This is Sarala Athaiyya’s recipe:
Fresh, raw tamarind – 150-200 gms.
Sesame oil – 2 tbsps
Salt to taste
The 1st Tempering:
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Fenugreek seeds – ¼ tsp
Dry red chillies (optional) – 3-4
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Asafoetida powder – ¼ tsp
Green chillies – 8-10
Fresh coriander leaves – 1 heaped tbsp, finely chopped
The 2nd Tempering:
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp
1. Wash the raw tamarind and scrape off the outer skin. Roughly pound the tamarind with a pestle so as to expose the seeds from within. Remove all seeds. (Once the seeds are removed, the quantity of tamarind should amount to 1 cup).
2. In a wok, heat 1 tbsp oil for the 1st tempering. Pop the mustard and then add the fenugreek. With the browning of the fenugreek, lower the flame and add the red chillies. As they turn bright red, switch off the flame and stir in the turmeric, asafetida, green chillies and coriander leaves. Allow to cool.
3. Grind this tempering into a coarse paste along with the tamarind and salt. Do not add any water as that will spoil the taste and consistency of the pachchadi..
4. Heat the remaining oil for the 2nd tempering. Pop the mustard and then add the cumin. Switch off the flame as soon as the aroma of the cumin rises. Garnish the pachchadi with this crunchy tempering.
Serve with steaming hot rice and a dollop of ghee.
Sarala Athiayya says:
1. Be sure to buy the tamarind when it first hits the market. Those will be the ones that are very raw and with hardly any seeds at all.
2. Make sure that the tamarind is sour, otherwise the fenugreek will make the pachchadi bitter.
3. The shelf life of this pachchadi is 3-4 days without refrigeration and 10-14 days with refrigeration.
