Nellikkai Arachukalakki

The last one in this month's blogging marathon is one of my favorites from the traditional palakkad-iyer menu. My mom used to make this but I have never tried this recipe. When I saw the recipe in palakkad-cooking, I thought of trying this. If we have gooseberries in salt-brine we can make this recipe in minutes.

Arachukalakki is a distinctive dish of the palakkad-iyers. It is often made with nellika or with mavudu (salted small mangoes).  he name arachu kalaki exactly translates to the procedure of how this dish is made: Arachu meaning grind and kalaki meaning mix. It is a curd based side dish



Ingredients                      

1.       Fresh or Preserved Nellikai/ Gooseberries/Amla – 2 big or 10 small
2.       Grated Coconut – 2 tblsps
3.       Sour curd – 2 to 3 tblsps
4.       Dried Red Chillies – 3 – 4
5.       Methi seeds – ¼ tsp
6.       Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp k
7.       Curry Leaves a few
8.       Coconut oil – 1 tsp
9.       Salt to taste





Method:

• Heat a small pan with ½ tsp of oil, fry the methi seeds and red chillies. 
• Deseed the Nellikai or gooseberries. Grind the nellikai pieces, grated coconut, fried, methi seeds and red chillies into a fine paste. 
• Add little sour curd to get a smooth paste. Add salt to taste. 
• Transfer the ground pastes into a bowl. 
• Now, adjust consistency by adding some more curd. Mix well. 
• Arachukalaki should not be very thick like thogayal, it should be like pachadi or raita. 
• Heat a small frying pan with the remaining oil, add the mustard seeds, when they splutter pour it on top of the arachukalaki. Garnish with a few sprigs of curry leaves.
• Nellikai Arachukalaki is ready to be served with rice and molagootal. You can also relish the taste of this arachukalaki with idly or dosai.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#78