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Puli inji is my all time favourite. Its main ingrediants are Ginger, Green Chilli, Tamarind and Jaggery. Puli Inji can be enjoyed every day, as a tangy accompaniment to a simple meals. It takes very little cooking time and can be prepared very easy. We can just mix puli inji with plain rice and a spoon of gingelly oil or we can also have this as a pickle. This is also one of the travel friendly dish.

Puli Inji is a traditional pickle prepared during feasts (sadyas). There are lot variations for Puli Inji, the one that I am giving here is a method that my MIL follow. The spice from the green chili, spice from the ginger, sweet from jaggery and tanginess from tamarind makes this pickle unique and very tasty!

Table of Contents

Tips for making Puli Inji

Ginger and green chili are chopped, sautéed and then ground to paste. Grinding is optional. We can saute the ginger and green chili and add the tamarind extract directly. Grinding makes the pickle easier to consume instead of biting bits and pieces of ginger and green chili.
Adding urad dal is optional. Urad dal brings in more aroma and flavor and also makes the gravy thicker.
For ½ cup of ginger(50gms) we added 1 lemon size tamarind and 10 small green chili (small chili are more spicier). If you plan to increase the quantity of ginger, accordingly adjust the quantity of green chili and tamarind so that the flavors are balanced. If only ginger quantity increased the puli inji will taste bitter.
Adding jaggery is optional but it balances the taste of ginger+greenchili+tamarind.
Store the puli inji in an air-tight container and store in refrigerator to have longer shelf life.

You may also want to try:

Puli Milagai is a traditional chutney/pickle made by cooking green chili in the tamarind water along with other spices. It's a perfect accompaniment for Dosa, Roti & Curd Rice.
Inji chutney (Allam/Ginger chutney) is one of the interesting chutney made using ginger as a main ingredient. This chutney has a balanced blend of spice, sweet and sour tastes. A perfect accompaniment for Idli/Dosa and Pesarattu.
Inji Thayir is a yogurt spiced with Ginger & Green Chili. It's an essential part of Onam Sadya. Ginger has many medicinal value and help to balance the diet and in digestion.

Recipe card for Puli Inji Recipe | Tamarind-Ginger Chutney

INSTRUCTIONS WITH STEP BY STEP PICTURES:

Soak the tamarind in water and extract the juice and keep it aside. Finely chop the ginger and green chillies and keep it aside.

Heat the pan and dry fry the Urad Dal, Fenugreek Seeds and Curry Leaves and fry it till the dal changes its color to light brown. Take it to mixer jar.

Grind the dry roasted ingredients to a smooth powder.

In the pan pour the sesame oil. Add chopped ginger and green chili to the pan. Fry the ginger-greenchili till the ginger becomes light golden brown.

Take the ginger-green chili in a mixer jar and grind it to smooth paste. Set this paste aside.

In a pan, heat sesame oil. Add mustard seeds and allow it to sputter. Then add bengal gram and fry till light golden brown. Add asafoetida, curry leaves, give a mix.

Now, add tamarind extract to the pan along with turmeric powder and salt.

Let the tamarind mixture boils for 5 mins to get rid off its raw smell. Next, add the ginger-greenchili paste to the tamarind mixture and give a good mix.