Puli Inji Recipe | Inji Puli - Kerala Style Ginger Pickle for Sadya
Puli Inji or Inji Puli is a traditional Kerala Style sweet, sour and spicy instant pickle made with ginger, tamarind, green chilies and jaggery. This sweet, sour and spicy pickle or relish is made for sadya meals during Onam and Vishu festival.
Servings 1 Bowl as shown
Ingredients
- 1 Lemon Sized Tamarind Ball check recipe notes below
- 2 ¼ cups Water ( 1 1/4th cup Hot Water and 1 cup Warm Water)
- ½ cup Finely chopped ginger or Adrak (heaped cup)
- 10 Fresh green chillies finely chopped
- ½ cup Roughly chopped Jaggery or Gud / Vellam
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon Red chilli powder
- Generous pinch of Asafoetida or hing
- 5 tablespoon Sesame Oil
- 1 ½ teaspoon Mustard Seeds
- 4 Whole dry red chillies
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Soak a lemon sized tamarind ball in 1 & 1/4 cup hot water for atleast 15 minutes and keep aside.
- Wash, peel and finely chop ginger as shown below. Note - Use ginger peel / skin when making tea.
- Wash, pat dry and roughly chop the green chilies
- Squeeze the soaked tamarind and extract pulp.
- Now add 1 cup of warm water to the tamarind, repeat the squeezing process to collect some more tangy liquid extract. Strain this and keep aside.
- Now heat a pan or wok, add oil.
- Add mustard seeds to the hot oil and once it crackles, add whole red chilies and some hing.
- Now add finely chopped ginger or adrak and sauté on low heat until the ginger slightly softens (say 3 to 5 minutes).
- Add the green chilies and sauté well for another 2 to 3 minutes.
- To the ginger and green chilies mixture, add the strained tamarind pulp.
- Add a tsp of turmeric powder and red chili powder and stir everything well. Add salt to taste.
- Now let this simmer on low heat until the raw tamarind smell vanishes and the liquid volume slightly reduces. This takes about 10 to 15 minutes on low flame. PS - Keep stirring this every now and then.
- Once the raw smell of tamarind is gone, add jaggery and mix.
- The pickle will slowly start to thicken with the jaggery melting.
- Check seasoning, add extra if required. If the mixture is too tangy, add extra jaggery.
- Keep stirring puli inji until it thickens and forms a dark caramel texture.
- Switch off the heat, allow puli inji to cool before transferring to a clean, dry and airtight glass jar.
Notes
1 cup is 250 ml, 1 tablespoon 15ml, 1 teaspoon 5ml
Ingredients and Substitutes
Tamarind - Use dark color tamarind variety. Seedless tamarind is convenient. Soak it in hot water to extract pulp.
If you cannot source dark color tamarind, use a light color variety. It will not affect taste. The color of puli inji will be light brown.
The important thing to remember is that tamarind variety differs and one should taste check and add jaggery to balance flavors.
Jaggery - I would not recommend substituting jaggery with brown sugar or any other substitutes.
Ginger - Use fresh, tender ginger. Tender ginger is easier to chop, has few or less fibrous strands. Do not use homemade or store bought ginger paste. The recipe calls for fresh ginger.
Green Chilies - You can leave the seeds out or chop the green chilies with seeds. The amount of green chilies depends on your heat tolerance levels. You can always add extra jaggery if the end result is too spicy for your tastebuds.
Oil - I have used Sesame Oil. Oil in any pickle increases shelf life, prevents formation of fungus. Do not use less oil as it will compromise shelf life and taste.
Storage / Shelf Life -
- Cool the pickle completely before transferring to a clean, dry, glass jar.
- Use a clean, dry spoon to scoop the pickle.
- Puli Inji stays fresh for more than a month, under refrigeration.