Gooseberry Chutney/Tambli (Avale Chutney/Tambali)

Rice is the main constituent of any meal for most people in the South India. And a curry is a must to go with rice. As coconut is available freely in South India, people started using it to make different types of tamblis which are easy to prepare and are very tasty. 

Tamblis and chutneys are the two variations of the same preparation. Tamblis are watery coconut gravys prepared without cooking them. When you add curds, buttermilk to dry chutneys they are called tamblis in Kannada. In Kannada, tampu means cold and huli means gravy. Hence, the name tambli. As the name suggests, it is a cold recipe. You can prepare tamblis from a variety of ingredients. Infact, you can make tamblis from anything and everything!  

Here's the recipe for gooseberry chutney and gooseberry tambli. You can make gooseberry tambli, chutney using fresh or pickled gooseberries. While you use fresh gooseberries you might get a tinch of bitterness, flavour of raw gooseberries in your tambli, chutney. If you use pickled gooseberries you don't get that raw taste, bitterness of gooseberries in your tambli, chutney. You can use raw gooseberries when they are available in the market so that you don't lose out on all their health benefits. When you can't find gooseberries in the market then enjoy some yummy gooseberry chutney, tambli made from pickled gooseberries. Here's how you can pickle gooseberries for year long's use. When stored right they last for more than a year. 

Ingredients:

• 2 fresh/pickled gooseberries
• 3/4 cup coconut
• 1/2 cup sour curds/buttermilk
• 1 lemon sized tamarind (use only if your curds/buttermilk isn't sour)
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon ghee
• 4 dried red chillies
• Salt to taste

Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Preparation Method:

1. Roughly chop the gooseberries. Remove off the seed.

2. Fry dried red chillies with few drops of oil for few minutes until you get an aroma of fried red chillies. Remove off heat and let them cool completely.

3. Fry cumin seeds in ghee until they start popping. Remove off heat and let them cool completely.

4. Once cooled grind fried red chillies, fried cumin seeds with chopped gooseberries, grated coconut and salt into a smooth paste using as little water as required to grind. If your curds, buttermilk isn't sour then grind the masala using tamarind.

5. Transfer the ground chutney into a bowl. Serve the chutney with hot steaming rice and enjoy! You can also serve the chutney as a side dish for lunch, dinner.

6. Or you can add sour curds/buttermilk to the gooseberry chutney, add a little water if required to bring it to the desired gravy consistency and serve it as a tambli. Enjoy the tambli with a bowl of steaming hot rice!

7. For extra flavour you can also season the tambli and chutney. Heat a tempering pan, add in a tablespoon of oil. Add in mustard seeds, when they start popping add in curry leaves and let them sizzle for few seconds. Add this seasoning to the chutney, tambli and mix well.

Find more Konkani cuisine side dishes here. 

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