Ulli Theeyal

Theeyal - Kerala dish, made from a mixture of roasted coconut and spices are ground to a paste and cooked in tamarind water with vegetables. Theeyal literally means burnt dish. This curry takes lots of time and patience to roast coconut and other spices.

My mom used to keep this once a week with different vegetables each time, yes !!! The base curry is same and the add-on differs - small onion, brinjal, lady's finger, drumstick, black Chana dal, yam, bitter-guard or garlic sometimes mix of all vegetables. Garlic has a special feature -Garlic Theeyal cannot be combined with other vegetables. Once this curry is learnt properly you can make different types of Theeyal each week.

Ingrediants : 

• Grated coconut - 1 cup 
• Black pepper - 15nos 
• Small onions - 6 nos 
• Curry leaves - 6 nos 
• Chilly powder - 1 tsp 
• Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp 
• Tamarind juice -1/4 cup 
• Salt - For taste 

For Dry roast 

1. In a pan, dry roast grated coconut, black pepper, curry leaves and small onions (3 nos) 
2. Keep in low or medium flame and dry roast, it takes around 10-15 minutes to become dark brown.
3. Once the coconut mixture gets roasted well, add chilly powder and coriander powder
4. Switch off the stove in 2 minutes after you add the powders (or else will get burnt)
   
5. Keep the mixture aside, once cools down, in a mixer add tamarind juice and grind into a fine paste 

For curry 

1. In a pan, add oil and chop small onions and fry 
2. If you want to add vegetables add at this stage and fry the vegetables (Small onion, brinjal, lady's finger, bitter-guard or garlic can be added directly. Drumstick, black Chana dal or yam must be cooked before you add) 
   
3. Once the onion gets roasted, add the paste 
4. Add water required for the curry and bring it to boil 
5. Serve hot with rice 

Since Theeyal is cooked with roasted coconut, you can keep this for next day also :) Time takes only for roasting coconut.