Puli aval

Puli aval…Huli avalakki…..puli upma….all means the same! Tangy….spicy….aval upma! When my sister made a request for this recipe, it brought my favourite memories of having them hot from the pan with a roasted crust at the bottom! My mom and my chithi are the best in making this yummy! So…this recipe goes in for my sissi!

1 cup dagdi/getti aval/poha (Just pulse it in a blender to coarse)
1 small gooseberry size tamarind ball, soaked and squeezed
1 cup water
Salt to taste
2 teaspoon sambar powder
Pinch of jaggery
Dash of hing
3 tablespoon groundnut
1 spring of curry leaves
3-4 dry red chillies
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon urad dal
2 tablespoon oil

Method:
1. Mix sambar powder, salt, tamarind paste, 1 cup water, jaggery. Measure about 1 cup from this spice water. Spread the aval on a plate and sprinkle the spice water and mix with your hands. Add the rest of the spice water to the the aval and let is soak form 20 minutes. If it gets too dry before that keep sprinkling this spice water in between.
2. After 20 minutes, you will see they would have absorbed all of the water and come together as a solid mass.
3. Add oil to the pan, when hot add the groundnut and fry for a minute. Then season with mustard seeds, urad dal, red chilli, curry leaves and hing. Add the aval mixture to this and mix well.
4. Keep it on a medium flame and keep stirring to avoid burning at the bottom. Cook covered on a medium flame for about 5 minutes. Switch off the heat and let it cook with lid covered for another 5 minutes.
5. Serve hot with curd.