Pudhina Thogayal (Mint Chutney)

I love this dish a lot, It's great as a side dish for Chapathis, or you can even mix with rice and eat.
You can also use it a like a spread for bread, or even as a dipping for chips. It's just yummy!!!


Ingredients
Mint leaves (pudhina)- 2- 3 cups
Curry Leaves (karuveppilai)- 10-15 leaves
Shredded Coconut (thuruvina thengai)- 1/2- 3/4 cup
Red Chillies (chaeppu milagai)- 2-3
Split Urad Dhal (udacha ulutham paruppu)- 3-4 teaspoons
Tamarind (puli) - 1 small piece (1'' x 1'')
Asofoetida powder (Perungaya podi) - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt (Uppu) - 1/4 teaspoon
Oil (ennai) - 1 teaspoon


Wash the mint leaves and pinch out the leaves from the stems. Dry the leaves on a paper towel, it doesn't have to dry completely, just make sure most of the water is gone. Similarly wash curry leaves, and dry.

Heat oil in a pan. Add Asofoetida powder, ural dhal, red chillies, tamarind piece and fry till the urad dhall turns light brown. Now add the mint leaves, curry leaves and saute them. The mint leaves will start cooking and shrink considerably in size. When the leaves turn dark green after cooking, empty it to a bowl and let it cool. In the same pan, fry shredded coconut (dry or with little oil), till it turns light brown. Don't desiccate the coconut, let it have some moisture remaining in it. Turn off the heat and Let the coconut also cool down for a bit.

Grind the cooled down ingredients by adding little water at a time to form a thick paste.
Add salt to taste and mix it in. Pudhina Thogayal is ready for serving!

This dish can also be done without the coconut if you have sufficient mint leaves to substitute for the quantity of coconut. Adding coconut gives it a better taste and is more authentic.

Serving size: 4