Centella/Brahmi, Ondelaga Chutney, Tambli Recipes (Ekpanni chutney/tambali)

Brahmi/Centella is so so so nutritious with so many health benefits. My mom makes delicious chutney/tambli with them in just 5 minutes. Yup, 5 minutes is all you need to give your family so much nutrition. 

I had to wait to get back home to Udupi or had to wait for my mom to come visiting with Brahmi. Thanks to @theorganicworldindia I get to enjoy them often now. 

So there 3 main ways you can make Brahmi chutney & tambli. (Tamblis are chutney with yoghurt in it.) 3 main ways depending on how much of a health freak you are cuz the taste changes with every way. 

1. If you are a total health freak like me & my mom & want to get all health benefits of Brahmin then you have to just grind fresh Brahmi leaves with few other ingredients. It'll be a little bitter but that's how Brahmi tastes & you get all the goodness from those leaves.

2. If you are not so much of a health freak & need a little taste to get food down your throat then fry Brahmi a little in ghee & then make chutney out of it. 

3. And if you don't care about health too much & taste is most important for you then cook Brahmi leaves fully, then make chutney out of it. You might also have to use a little extra coconut so that coconut overpowers the slight bitter taste of Brahmi & makes it taste sweet & delish.

Brahmi chutney could still taste a littleee bitter so the best way to reduce Brahmi's bitterness in the above mentioned 3 ways & to make it taste delicious is to use curds. Eat chutney mixed with curds & you'll have tambli. I bet you won't complain. You can have a very nice meal the South Indian way along with Brahmi tambli & some rice.

Ingredients:

• 15-20 Brahmi leaves 
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 1-2 green chillies
• 1/4 lemon sized tamarind
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• Salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon ghee (optional)

For seasoning: (optional)

• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 1/4 teaspoon of mustard seeds
• 1/2 dried red chilli
• 1 leaflet of curry leaves

1/2 cup curds to tambli

Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Preparation Method:

Method 1:

1. Fry cumin seeds in ghee/oil. Grind together all ingredients & season the chutney.

Method 2:

1. Heat ghee in a pan, add in cumin seeds. 

2. When they splutter, add in green chilli broken into pieces, roughly chopped & washed Brahmi leaves. Saute for 2 minutes such that the leaves wilt just a little on high heat.

2. Grind them along with coconut, tamarind, salt into a smooth paste using little water. 

3. Serve the thick smooth chutney on tempering.

4. Tempering: Heat a tempering pan, add in oil, mustard seeds. When they start popping add in dried red chilli broken into pieces, curry leaves. Add this seasoning to the chutney & mix well. 

Tempering is for added taste & most importantly the oil used helps your body absorb fat soluble nutrients. You could skip tempering too.

Method 3:

Fry Brahmi leaves for extra 3 minutes until the leaves wilt/cook completely. Brahmi aren't fully cooked to retain it's nutrition. But if you want your picky eaters to eat it, go ahead as something is better than nothing. 

To make Brahmi tambli (using curds):

Add curds to the above chutney & mix well. You have tambali ready. You can add as much curds as you wish. You can add curds & make tambli thick, semi-thick in consistency.

Another traditional method to make Brahmi (ekpanni) chutney:

You can also make this chutney using ginger instead of cumin seeds & use raw Brahmin leaves. Mom says it's made that way for Ashada duvadashi & is had with udha polo for breakfast.