Ulli Theeyal/Shallots in Tamarind and Coconut Sauce

Ulli Theeyal is a typical Kerala dish in which shallots are cooked in tamarind,roasted coconut paste and other spices.My mom learned this dish from one her colleague and I from her.Since everybody in my house likes this one she makes it weekly once(mostly on Sundays) and serve it rice and papads.Here goes the recipe......

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Shallots/Pearl onion	10-15nos.
Tamarind paste	2tsp
Turmeric powder	1/2tsp
Oil	2tbs
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Mustard seeds/kadugu	1/2tsp
Urad dhal/ullutham paruppu	1tsp
Salt	to taste

To roast and grind

Ingredient	Quantity
Coconut(grated)	1/2cup
Red chilly	4-5nos.
Coriander/dhaniya seeds	2tsp
Cumin seeds/jeeragam	1/2tsp
Fenugreek seeds/vendhayam	1/8tsp

Method
                         
                           Cut the shallots into small pieces,dry roast the ingredients given for roasting and grind it to a smooth paste with little water and keep aside.

Heat a pan with the oil and crackle the mustard seeds and urad dhal.Add the onions,curry leaves and saute it till it becomes transparent.Now add the tamarind paste,ground paste and salt.

Add a cup of water and turmeric powder,let it boil till the raw smell goes off and becomes thick.

Ulli Theeyal is ready.Serve it with hot rice and papad.

Enjoy.........................

• Instead of coriander seeds,coriander powder can be used which needs to be roasted after the coconut and red chillies fried.
• I used both Kashmiri red chilly and regular red chilly to get the color and taste.